After staying in Beijing for a few days, Liu Jun left Beijing after the first seven days of Mei and Li. The emperor was concerned about the situation in southern Liaoning and urgently urged Liu Jun to go back to preside over the overall situation. Even at the strong request of the cabinet, Liu Jun had to go back to Hubei first to transfer more troops and horses into Liao.

Whether it is Zhou Yanru or Wu Fu, the two first-time assistants who did not deal with each other after coming to power are surprisingly consistent on this issue. They all hoped that Liu Jun could launch a greater offensive in southern Liaoning, and beat the Tartars to the throat in order to contain and attract more Qing troops.

But Liu Jun didn't want to go deep into Liaodong immediately, and he didn't want to have a hard time with the Tartars. Although Liu Jun has the advantage of naval guns and firearms, he can still understand his advantages and disadvantages, the firearms of the nine-headed bird are powerful, but after all, the artillery of this era is still extremely heavy, and the transportation is inconvenient. And it is naturally no problem to deal with a small group of Qing troops, but in case of being attacked by a large group of Qing troops or encountered during a field march, Liu Jun has no confidence that he can win tens of thousands of fierce cavalry under such circumstances.

In the end, at Liu Jun's strong request, Chongzhen agreed to a new battle plan proposed by Liu Jun. That is, after Liu Jun swept the coast of Liaodong, he first sent troops to North Korea, forced North Korea to return to the Ming Dynasty, stopped providing grain and grass to the Qing army, and had to cooperate with the Ming army to attack the Qing army when necessary.

After forcing North Korea to rejoin the side of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jun wanted to launch a wave of attacks when the summer grain was harvested, grabbing grain and burning grain, and inflicting heavy losses on the Tartars.

The cabinet agreed to this plan, but asked Liu Jun to increase troops to southern Liaoning, and to transfer soldiers and horses from the other two towns of Huguang to eastern Liaodong.

As a reward for Liu Jun, Chongzhen crowned Liu Jun as the general of the conquest, the title of Duke of Jin and Chu, and the title of Zhu State. As soon as this reward came out, there were originally many impeachment attacks against Liu Jun, which immediately disappeared.

The Ming Dynasty was founded more than 200 years ago. A total of ten national dukes have been sealed, and now there are still five families of Wei, Ding, Qian, Cheng and Ying, and Liu Junjin was crowned duke, which shows that the emperor is very honored with him. In particular, he also added a title of Shangzhu, although it is said that Shangzhu is only a rank.

But adding the pillar country is even more rare than sealing the country, because the Ming Dynasty has sealed ten princes for more than 200 years. Only Young Master Xia Yan and Zhu Guo can be added to the Shangzhu Kingdom, even Zhang Juzheng was given to the Shangzhu Kingdom after his death, the founding marshal Xu Da was only in the Zuozhu Kingdom, and Chang Yuchun was also given to the Shangzhu Kingdom after his death.

Even Yan Song, who was powerful all over the world back then, did not dare to accept the title of Shangzhu State.

Many people have lamented Liu Jun's identity as the son of heaven and righteousness, which made him so glorious, and many people understand that it is because Liu Jun can fight and make money. But there are also many people who are jealous and secretly curse Liu Jun for climbing high, and he will fall miserably in the future. At the age of twenty-one, he was crowned the Duke of the Kingdom and the Pillar State. So what to do after that?

When the imperial court pacified Liaodong, it must be the day of Liu Jun's death, and Wu Changshi, an official of the ministry, sat in the study of Zhou Yanru, the first assistant, and hated the uneven way.

"Don't mess with Zhu Ciye for the time being, when the emperor's favor on him is incomprehensible, provoking him at this time is just afraid that it will make the emperor unhappy, let him be proud for a while." Zhou Yanru waved his hand. Originally, he listened to Wu Changshi's words. For Liu Jun's power to mint coins and seal coupons, he was very angry. He wanted to give the court the right to mint money, print money, and even issue bonds.

But now, when Liu Jun is red and purple, it is not appropriate to act rashly.

"Wu Fu is becoming more and more arrogant, he doesn't take me as the first assistant in his eyes at all, openly forms a party, and doesn't get him down. I, the first assistant, can't sit firmly. Come, I need to get the full support of the Restoration Society, and you can find a way to talk to Zhang Pu, so that he can mobilize the Restoration Society's connections and influence in Shilin, and get Wu Fu down for me. If this happens. I will appoint you as a servant of the ministry. ”

"I'm afraid this matter is not easy, Zhang Pu is now very close to the fourth son, and the fourth son is close to Li Chunjiang. In addition, he is also very close to Wu Fu, Zheng Sanjun, Liu Zongzhou and others. ”

"You have to think of a way, in short, you have to let Zhang Pu, the leader of the Restoration Society, take the lead in supporting us." Zhou Yanru said, "If he has to go with Wu Fu and them, then find a way to get rid of him and change someone to lead the resumption." Speaking of this, there was a little coldness in his eyes. It was not easy to sit in this position of first assistant again, and he was not driven down again. Whoever threatens his position is his mortal enemy.

was stopped by Mei Zhicang once before, and finally this Mei Zhihuan didn't live long, and he died after only being the first assistant for less than a year. However, the second assistant Li Changgeng also died, so that he finally turned around again and was able to regain the position of the first assistant. I thought that after the death of Mei and Li, the Donglin Party should fully support him, but who knew that after Wu Fu became the second assistant, he openly attracted many Donglin Party members and began to sing against him.

Moreover, Wu Fu, the Donglin Party, is obviously more supported by the Donglin Party than his non-Donglin Party. Many people have already voted on Wu Fu's side, and his position as the first assistant is in jeopardy.

"You go and contact the Restoration Society and try to get them to come to our side. I went to win over Liu Jun, now he speaks very much in the court, especially with the support of many local governors, faintly forming a group of people, if we can get Liu Jun's support, then we can gain the upper hand over Wu Jun. Zhou Yanru said. He has now regarded Wu Fu and his gang as mortal enemies, and he can't wait to get rid of them immediately, at this time, he wants to use the power of Liu Jun, the favored minister of the Son of Heaven who has just sealed the country and the pillar country.

Before Liu Jun left Beijing, he went to Liu Qiao's house for a meal, and now it seems that Liu Qiao is still very stable in the position of the commander of Jinyiwei. After Mei Li's death, Liu Jun needed Liu Qiao's support more and more.

"Your Majesty has agreed to your resignation from the post of Hubei General Army, and your subordinates have also been approved." Liu Qiao held his wine glass and asked with some puzzlement, "Why did you resign from the post of Hubei General Army?" Wouldn't that be nice? ”

Before leaving Beijing, Liu Jun proposed to the emperor to resign from the post of general army in Hubei and promote his subordinate Zhang Shan to be the general army. He also promoted another subordinate, Wang Qian and Fu Shan, to the post of chief soldier.

The three towns of Huguang plus the Beiyang Naval Division each have a chief military officer. In addition, under the three towns, each town has jurisdiction over two divisions, and each division has jurisdiction over three associations. Each division has 15,000 people, each association has 5,000 people, and each of the six divisions has a deputy general soldier, and each association has a staff general. The Beiyang Naval Division is organized into three sub-fleets, with a general corps and three deputy commanders.

"It's all for the convenience of commanding operations." Liu Jun replied.

After this period of exploration, Liu Jun also found that the original establishment was not very suitable for the current combat needs. And the practice of temporarily setting up combat brigades. There are also quite a few flaws. Therefore, Liu Jun planned to readjust the new army and make some changes.

Now the request has been approved by the Emperor.

Liu Jun is now in charge of the three towns of Hubei plus the Beiyang Naval Division, with a total of 100,000 horses.

The three towns were 30,000 yuan each, and they were organized into two divisions and six associations. There are also four levels of standard battalion companies below the association.

This new group is not just a name change. The biggest change is that at the co-ordination level, the composite arms are formed. The maximum establishment of a single arm is only to the standard, and above the standard, the co-division town is a composite unit.

A town has a town headquarters and three divisions, plus a heavy artillery mark.

A division has a division headquarters plus three associations and a heavy artillery battalion.

Each division consisted of an assistant headquarters, two infantry battalions, a cavalry battalion plus an artillery battalion, a baggage battalion, an engineer company and a reconnaissance company.

A association of 5,000 people. The standard is nearly 2,000 people, while the battalion is more than 600 people, the company is about 200, and the team is more than 30 people.

The original battalion of three or four thousand people has been greatly reduced, but above the battalion, it has increased by several levels. In particular, at the level of cooperation, the various arms began to be combined, and the infantry and cavalry artillery assisted in the battle. It is also equipped with a baggage battalion, an engineer company, a medical company, and a communications and reconnaissance company. In this way, there is no longer a need to laboriously temporarily organize troops and horses in each operation, and the troops at the level of cooperation can independently undertake campaign tasks and fight alone at any time.

The headquarters at all levels include the staff operations department and the logistics equipment department, and also have a communications company, a military prison and military police company, a guard company, a medical team, and a military band.

The whole town was organized into six divisions and eighteen associations, which were eighteen independent battle groups. You can pull it out and fight at any time. There is no need to go through the reorganization and establishment, and they are all equipped with corresponding auxiliary troops.

Such a synthetic class of troops is also a tactical change that comes with the development of weapons.

The original car battalion was abolished, but an engineer battalion was added, which was to accompany the fire and artillery crews. Dig trenches for them, build fences and earthen walls, and even take on the task of opening roads and building bridges in order to make the artillery more mobile.

Originally, the baggage battalion was equipped with a Franco machine per vehicle, and the baggage battalion, like the soldiers and horses of the standard battalion, was equipped with lighter infantry grenades. It turned out that all kinds of old-fashioned artillery in the army, such as tiger squats, exterminators, Francos, and general guns, were all eliminated.

Each association was equipped with a field artillery battalion, and each division was equipped with a heavy artillery battalion, and each town also had a heavy artillery mark. Under the Xie, each 170-pound and 12-pound infantry grenade is equipped as a battalion-level fire support. Each battalion is equipped with a 110-pound and eight-pound infantry grenade. Each company was equipped with a fifty-five-pound four-pounder infantry grenade. It is used as fire support for the third level of the standard battalion company.

Each association's field artillery battalion was equipped with twenty guns, four of which were four-pounder cannons, two eight-pounder canons, and one twelve-pounder canon. There were also four four-pounder, two eight-pounder, and one twelve-pounder cannon howitzer, plus three six-inch twenty-four-pounder howitzers, and three eight-inch sixty-four-pounder mortars.

The guns of these auxiliary artillery battalions are relatively lightweight, but they are not small, especially when equipped with these two large-caliber guns, six-inch grenade and eight-inch mortar, they also have a strong siege ability.

The division's heavy artillery battalion, on the other hand, had seven four-, eight-, and twelve-pound long-barreled cannons, four 24-pound and 32-pound cannon grenades, two eight-inch and 64-pound grenades, and one 10-inch 10-pound and 12-inch 158-pound mortar.

The artillery configuration of each unit of the Hydra is quite luxurious, and this will also be the most ferocious place of the Nine-headed Bird. Moreover, after the standardization of the unified standards of artillery, Liu Jun also made changes to the equipment of the infantry. Originally, half of the infantry was equipped with firecrackers, but now it is an infantry battalion with three infantry companies, each company has four teams, only one cold weapon team is retained, with long contradictory cards, and the rest are all organized into flintlock guns.

All the guns were equipped with flintlock firearms, plus sleeve bayonets, and waist knives, and the officers were equipped with handcuffs.

The Nine-Headed Bird has now embarked on a completely different path from other Ming and Qing troops, possessing a large number of firearms, and becoming a firearms army.

This is already a truly new type of army, which relies on the power of firearms, requires less physical fitness and requires shorter training time. However, the requirements for logistical supplies are also higher, the psychological quality of the soldiers, and the discipline of the soldiers are higher.

A fierce Qing army armor soldier may have practiced martial arts since he was a child, and after more than ten years of training, he became a qualified armor soldier, but Liu Jun's firecrackers, but only two months and months, can go into battle, with the help of artillery fire and cavalry support, they line up in a gun, and can also kill those armor soldiers who have been trained for more than ten years.

However, such an army is also difficult for the imperial court and the Qing army to learn, and he has extremely high requirements for equipment and supplies. Let's not talk about these guns, let's just say that those artillery, each field artillery regiment, need dozens of tractors and ammunition trucks, and hundreds of horses and mules.

And it is not enough to have a cannon, you must also have an excellent gunner, and you must have a strong shell production capacity.

In the final analysis, such an army needs more money to support it, and it also needs more professional soldiers.

Except for Liu Jun, there are few people in the world who can raise such an army of 100,000 at this time. Even the emperor can't afford to raise it. The three towns of Hubei plus the sailors, the imperial court basically didn't spend a penny, on the surface, it was the Huguang local support, but the local army was just a joke.

Unless we wait for a few more years to stabilize the output of the military cantonment, stabilize the local commercial taxes, and stabilize the tariffs, then it will be possible to pay this money. Now the nine-headed bird raises the army, relying on the income of the salt farm, checkpoint fees, prize fundraising, commercial taxes, and the income from ordnance such as guns and armor sold in the ordnance workshop. In addition, the income of Liu Jun's Sihai Bank, Jiangnan Bank, and the East India Company, as well as the harvest of the war, etc., can be regarded as supporting the maintenance and expansion of this army by raising funds through various channels.

The new shelves are being pulled up, but when they will become elites, this is not something that will be waited for for a while. Pull it out to fight, since the imperial court has asked for it, Liu Jun also happened to pull these soldiers and horses to Liaodong to practice well.

When 100,000 horses are really trained to become elite, they will surely sweep the world, change the world, and dominate the world.

When he left Beijing, hundreds of officials sent each other, especially the officials of the Ministry of War, who kept following Liu Jun's buttocks, and kept asking, "When will the more than 1,000 artillery pieces that the lord promised to the imperial court arrive?" ”

"As long as the Ministry of Industry prepares the materials promised to me, you can transport this artillery to Hubei at any time."

Fu Zonglong immediately pulled Li Banghua, the secretary of the household department, and asked how the materials were prepared.

"There are all the warehouses of the Ministry of Materials and Industry that the Duke of Chu wants, and you can come and receive them at any time!"

"Okay, please trouble the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to help me transport things to Tianjin Port, and I will send a ship to transport them."

Fu Zonglong turned his gaze to Liu Jun again, "What about the cannon for us?" ”

"If you can't believe so, you can send someone to follow me south to Hubei now, and then you can directly transport the cannon away. What was promised to you was definitely a big hit. ”

"This is what the Duke of Chu said, and if the word is settled, the official will immediately send someone to the south to escort the cannon."

On the same day, Liu Jun left Beijing, accompanied by Mei Qing and Li Chunjiang and other people from the Mei and Li families in Beijing, who escorted the coffin and returned to Hubei with Liu Jun. (To be continued......)