The fleet entered the port, and countless people and merchants at the dock cheered.

Liu Jun led a group of officers to take the lead in getting off the boat, and Yuan Jixian, Zhu Dadian, Ma Xianglin, Qin Yimin, Huang Daozhou, Yang Tinglin and other officials and generals from the Dahu, Guangzhou, civil, and military circles had been waiting for a long time.

In the autumn of last year, Liu Jun led the Chu army to go on an expedition, first defeated the fifth battalion of the left in Huaixi, and then went to sea, and defeated the Yiren, and now he came back with such a huge fleet, and the officials of Huguang were extremely proud.

And Liu Jun has now become the emperor's righteous son, and his status is even better than in the past. Liu Jun set off from the mouth of the Pearl River, went around most of the circle into Hubei, and disembarked at Wuchang.

Although it is a long detour, it is very easy to sail on the sea and river, and it is more time-saving and labor-saving.

After a long absence of more than half a year, and then returning to Hubei, Liu Jun found that after leaving for more than half a year, Hubei seemed to be more lively and prosperous.

There are a lot of ships at the wharf, and there are also many people, and only half a year after the bandits were pacified, Hubei, the thoroughfare of the nine provinces, recovered faster.

Yuan Jixian, the governor of Huguang, said to Liu Jun with a smile, "For more than a year, Huguang has been changing with each passing day, and business and trade transactions have become more and more prosperous. After exterminating the bandits, and sweeping away the bandits and bandits in various places, and the military guards in various places have also been rectified, although we dare not say that the road is not left behind, and the house is not closed at night, it is indeed a peaceful scene. ”

The eunuch Wang Kun returned to Hubei after the Huaixi War last year, and he lived more comfortably for most of the year, and he took a lot of money. "The salt production of Yingcheng Salt Farm is now very large, and the quality is good, and there are many vendors from all over the country who come to buy salt, which also adds a bit of excitement."

Huguang has indeed changed a lot, let's just say that those guards have been rectified and changed from guards to tunding. Not only have their identities changed, but they have also changed from poor tenant farmers to military tun households, and their living conditions have changed greatly, and their lives have become more prosperous. Each person was divided into dozens of acres of land. Liu Jun's Sihai Bank took the initiative to issue low-interest loans to these tundings, which greatly increased the demand for commodities such as cattle, farm tools, and seeds in Hubei.

In addition, the issuance of silver coins and silver dollar coupons also boosted the prosperity of the commercial market in Huguang.

There are also nearly 100,000 new troops in the three towns, and their high incomes can naturally drive consumption growth and stimulate market prosperity. It's a virtuous cycle. One ring pushes one ring, and it has become this prosperous scene today.

And this time, the triumphant Hydra warrior also brought back a lot of money, which will definitely add another fire to this prosperity.

"Master Hou, someone from the family has come." The kingdom came to report it.

It was the old family of the Liu family, Bao'er's eldest brother. I haven't seen him for more than half a year, and Bao'er's eldest brother is also wearing a silk gown, but he also has a few shopkeeper styles. Because my sister was accepted by Hou Ye. Therefore, since then, Brother Bao'er's life has indeed changed dramatically.

"Is there something going on at home?"

"It's a happy event, Mrs. just gave birth to a boy yesterday morning, and Bao'er asked me to come and tell Master Hou."

Liu Jun was stunned, and his face showed excitement. He has children, he has sons.

"Congratulations to Master Hou, happy to be a linzi."

"Congratulations to Zhang."

When the officials next to him heard the good news, they also congratulated Liu Jun one after another.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming. Rong came to thank him, and Ben Hou took the first step. Leave! Liu Jun hurriedly said goodbye to everyone at the dock, explained the matter to Wang Qian and other generals briefly, and hurried back to Macheng.

He marched all the way with the guards and rushed to Macheng's house half a day later.

In Xiwan, the tree in front of the house is still there, but the Liu family's house has changed greatly. Craftsmen sent by the emperor to the Ministry of Works. The Liu family's mansion has been completely renovated. It is said to be renovated, but in fact, it is re-covered, with heavy eaves and tiles, deep courtyards, and more than ten times the scale of the original. Even the house of the old neighbor of the Liu family, Zhang Tuhu's family, was torn down, and that piece of land became part of the Hou Mansion built by the Liu family.

The tall archway in front of the door, the high gatehouse of the house, the vermilion lacquer gate, the stone lion.

"Master Hou is back." There were several family members standing in front of the gate of Liu's house, and when they saw Liu Jun coming from a distance, they immediately shouted.

The door of the mansion was wide open, and the Liu family rushed to greet them. Liu Jun entered the house, first saluted Liu's father and mother, talked a little, and rushed to the backyard to see his wife Xueqi.

Xueqi had just given birth, and she was still a little weak, lying on the bed in the room, and her face was full of surprise when she saw Liu Jun come in.

"Husband."

"Thank you, ma'am, for not being able to get back in time."

The nurse hugged the child, and Liu Jun reached out to take it, a big fat boy with a tiger head. Liu Jun hugged him, he didn't cry or make trouble, Liu Jun teased him, and he actually giggled at Liu Jun.

"This kid." Liu Jun laughed, and he laughed too.

"Master Hou, you haven't named him yet."

"Look at him like this, let's call him Xiaohu."

As for the child's name, it is usually taken by the grandfather, but now that Liu Jun has entered the genus, this name has to be taken by the Ministry of Rites. Liu Jun is a Ci character generation fire line, and Xiaohu is in the order of Zhu's family tree, and the word generation is a local line, so it can only be called Zhu He, the first two words have been decided, and the latter word must also be next to the word soil.

For many days, Liu Jun was immersed in the joy of being a father, and the second day after arriving home was the third day of the child's birth. Liu Jun also held three banquets for the children as usual, and countless officials, generals, wealthy businessmen and landlords came to congratulate them. Liu Jun's guests were all entertained, but the gifts were confiscated. If you want to collect it, you only accept some things that are not valuable.

For today's Liu Jun, he is not Zhu Dadian, and he has to rely on banquets to make money.

A few days later, the Divine Decree arrived.

The emperor decreed that Tiannan in Nanyang was Liu Jun's fief, and gave Liu Jun's son the name Zhu Hekun, and also rewarded a large number of imperial gifts and three things.

After the two rewards, the third will was to order Liu Jun, who had already been recruited as a general, to lead the Chu army to Liaodong before the first day of the fifth month.

At this time, it was already mid-April, and there was less than half a month left before the first day of May.

The eunuch who delivered the decree also sent a private letter, which Liu Qiao wrote to him.

The letter was very long, and Liu Qiao wrote to him in detail about the situation in Beijing for most of the past six months. Among them, there are some important things, such as Cao Huachun leaving Beijing, going to Nanjing to retire, and serving as a Nanjing garrison eunuch. Chongzhen finally decided to fight Yizhou, and had already dispatched Sun Chuanting from Shaanxi and Qin Liangyu from Sichuan to lead the Sichuan and Shaanxi troops into Liao, and cooperated with Hong Chengchou to launch the Battle of Yizhou.

And the most important thing is that Mei Zhihuan is seriously ill, Mei Zhihuan's condition suddenly worsened after the year, although the emperor sent the imperial doctor to give medicine, but it still can't be improved. Although Mei Zhihuan is still the first assistant, he is actually no longer able to serve as a director, and he is no longer in charge of the cabinet at all, and he is only recuperating in Beijing, but according to the imperial doctor, Mei Zhihuan's situation may only be a few months.

This result surprised Liu Jun, when he was in Beijing last year, Mei Zhihuan was in a good situation, but he didn't expect it to be bad now. Mei Zhihuan is now in the position of first assistant, if he dies, the situation in the DPRK is likely to change, and Liu Jun will also lose a strong support from the DPRK and China.

Although Mei Zhihuan died, Li Changgeng will take over the position of first assistant without accident, but Li Changgeng is also very old. In addition, there is a vacant seat in the cabinet, and Zhou Yanru is very likely to enter the cabinet, or even be promoted to the second assistant. Although this Zhou Yanru returned to the court with the power of the Restoration Society, he was different from Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng, and his philosophy was completely different from that of Liu Jun.

Of course, for Liu Jun, the most important thing is that the imperial court should gather troops and horses to fight Yizhou.

A decisive battle is about to begin, and in history, the Ming Dynasty seems to have fought a decisive battle with the Qing army outside the pass before its demise, and then lost the last elite, so that the land outside the pass was lost, and the Central Plains was extremely empty, and finally internal and external troubles, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, and then the Qing army entered the pass, and the Ming Dynasty fell to the country.

Liu Jun couldn't understand why Chongzhen wanted to fight this battle? Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng opposed it with all their might, but they didn't persuade them.

However, Liu Jun was a little surprised that Mei Zhihuan finally played again to transfer him to Jinzhou to fight a real decisive battle with the Qing army. But Chongzhen refused again, he really couldn't understand them.

Fortunately, there is no need to go to Jinzhou, Liu Jun doesn't want to go to Jinzhou at all.

Daming just began to show some excitement and some hope, but the north is still in that situation.

Putting down the letter, Liu Jun knew that his days of teasing his son at home were over.

"Pack my bags, and we'll go back to the barracks tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Liu Jun packed his luggage and left home to return to the camp, and Lu Xueqi saw him off with his children and family in his arms. Liu Jun rode back to the military camp in Huangzhou and immediately summoned the generals of various ministries to discuss the matter.

"The emperor's will has been issued, and the Marquis has been awarded the seal of the general, and the Marquis has been ordered to lead the Chu army to officially lead the troops before the first day of the fifth month."

Liu Jun announced his will in public.

"This expedition, there is not much need for soldiers, Ben Hou plans to let the three towns take turns to fight, the first batch will be attacked by the eighth town Yunyang Town, and after March, the ninth town Wuchang Town will be rotated to attack, and then the tenth town Changsha Town will attack. In order to facilitate command and command, from now on, a staff operations department and a logistics equipment department will be set up, and the soldiers and horses of each town will be mixed with the fleet and artillery brigade to be organized into three battle groups, each of which will have jurisdiction over the fleet, artillery, cavalry, baggage, and infantry. ”

"Each battle group will have a command headquarters under its jurisdiction of the General Staff Office, the Operations Office and the units of all services."

Liu Jun once again reiterated the will of the imperial court, "The marshalling must be completed by May 1 and set off on time." ”

"Now, I appoint Fu Shan as the commander of the first battle group, Wang Qian as the commander of the second battle group, Zhang Shan as the commander of the third battle group, Liu Yun as the commander of the naval fleet, and Ben Hou as the commander-in-chief of the expedition to Liao!"

"The last general obeys!" The four appointed commanders stood up together, stood upright, and saluted Liu Jun to accept the appointment.

The Nine-Headed Bird now has three towns of land and a naval division, with no less than 100,000 soldiers and horses. With so many troops, the main establishment is still battalions, but directly dividing the operation into battalions is not very suitable for this offensive against Liao.

In order to adapt to the characteristics of this battle, Liu Jun had to carry out a mixed formation of his troops, form a multi-arm mixed battle group, and divide it into several small battle groups, so that they could better coordinate operations.

This is also an inevitable reform of tactics in the era of firearms, and Liu Jun hopes that he can be at the forefront and defeat the Tartars. (To be continued......)