Although Liu Jun himself has never established any Chu Party, and Zhang Guowei, Yuan Jixian, Li Shuchu and others have not said that they are Chu Party, but because they have maintained a neutral attitude in the current struggle between Wu Fu and Zhou Yanru, and have a closer relationship with Liu Jun, they were classified as a party by Wu Fu and Zhou Yanru's people, because Liu Jun is from Hubei, so this party is naturally called the Chu Party.

The strength of the Chu Party is strong, controlling the southeastern half of Nanzhili, Lianghu, Liangguang, Fujian and Zhejiang, Taiwan and Hainan. Although it is said that in the provinces, these people only occupy the upper positions such as governors, and the squires below have not been united with them, but this alone is enough for Zhou Yanru to treat them carefully.

"These Chu parties carried out tax reform, built a city department, a tax bureau, a customs, collected customs duties, and collected business taxes. I have heard that many Jiangbei Party members have also been affected by the same shock, and they are also dissatisfied with the Chu Party. The salt factory established by Liu Jiye in Hubei now produces a large amount of salt every year, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou, who have a close relationship with the Jiangbei party, have a great impact. Wu Changshi said to Zhou Yanru, "My lord, since these Chu parties don't drink toasts, then give them a fine for drinking, let's just unite with the Jiangbei party people and beat these Chu parties first." ”

"It's very risky." Zhou Yanru said, "If the Jiangbei Party and the Chu Party join forces, then wouldn't we be in danger?" ”

"The Chu Party always wants to maintain a neutral attitude, they will not join forces with the Jiangbei Party, not to mention, as long as the Chu Party is defeated, then the Chu Party now occupies a lot of important positions, and then they will be vacant, how can Wu Fu and the others not be moved?" Wu Changshi smiled and offered advice to Zhou Yanru, "Liu Jiye has a lot of money-making industries, and we will join forces then." Let the emperor decree that Hubei Yingcheng Salt Factory, Hutoubao Firearms Workshop, Huangzhou Cannon Foundry, Qizhou Iron Factory, Wuchang Shipyard, Sihai Bank, etc. will be returned to the imperial court, and then we will divide the two sides, how can they not be moved? ”

Zhou Yanru was already moved.

"As long as we announce the abolition of the Municipal Shipping Department, the Taxation Bureau, and the Customs Department, and the abolition of commercial taxes, will the people of the world not support us?"

Zhou Yanru was moved, but he also knew that the Chu Party was not so easy to move down. These governors of the southeast were not in power for long. But it has brought a lot of money to the imperial court, how can the emperor not know.

"As long as Liu Jun is brought down, then the Chu Party will be leaderless, and it will naturally be easy to deal with." Wu Changshi said coldly.

"Liu Jiye has won the trust of His Majesty, can fight well, and can manage money."

Wu Changshi said with a smile, "Because of this, it is easy to bring it down." My lord, the emperor reused Liu Jun before. That's because the court is worried about internal and external troubles, but now the situation is very different. Neikou has been calm for a long time, and the Central Plains is stable. And externally, the Tartars are now no longer the opponents of the imperial court who have their hands freed, you see that in the past year, the official army has entered a no-man's land in Liaodong, and in Liaoxi, the Tartars have also withdrawn from the siege of Jinzhou. There have been repeated defeats, and now the imperial army has won successive battles in western Liaoning. Seeing that he was about to recover Ningyuan and fight back to the edge of the Liao River. ”

"My lord, the situation is very different, this time, and that time."

Wu Changshi analyzed to him, "Now the Central Plains is stable. And the imperial army is winning again and again in Liaoxi, and it is only a matter of time before Jianyu perishes. At this time, do you think that the emperor can really rest assured that Liu Jiye has more than 100,000 troops? ”

The soldiers in Liu Jiye's hands are different from other soldiers in the imperial court, those soldiers were recruited by Liu Jiye himself, and most of them were soldiers from his hometown. Those officers were also selected by Liu Jiye himself. are all his henchmen. Even the most important point is that the army under Liu Jiye has never relied on the imperial court to provide food and salary, and they are all self-sufficient. ”

"My lord, you say, such an army, and it is also a very strong army, he does not rely on the imperial court to provide food and salary, and he is also all Liu Jun's children, and the officers are also his henchmen, can such an army still be called the military horses of the imperial court? This army, I'm afraid that I only know that there is Liu Jun but I don't know that there is a court, right? ”

Zhou Yanru stroked his long beard and listened carefully, without interjecting.

Wu Changshi smiled and said, "The ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty has always used literature to control the military, and there are also ministers to supervise the army. Originally, the military generals had a low status, and they were ruled by civil ministers, and the imperial history and ministers supervised the army, which naturally guaranteed the control of the army. But adults look at the Chu army, Liu Jun is in Liaodong and in the Chu army, his prestige is unparalleled, even if it is a governor like Fu Zonglong, who is the secretary of the military department as the governor, and a governor like Fan Zhiwan, but in Liu Jun's army, he can't control him at all. Fan Zhiwan also reported to the adults, Liu Jun held a military meeting, and even excluded several officials from the supervision and supervision army, my lord, you say, this court really restrained him? ”

"My lord, look at it again, Liu Jun obviously has a very strong combat power, but now he has surrounded Gaizhou for half a month, and the cannons have blasted through the walls of Gaizhou countless times, but he just doesn't take the city, but instead digs trenches and builds walls, it is said that he has already repaired and dug six moats around the city, what is Liu Jun doing? Obviously, this is the self-respect of raising a thief. ”

"Liu Jun is like this, how can the emperor rest assured. It turned out that the situation was difficult and he needed to be used, so he repeatedly indulged him and gave him an official promotion. But now, Liu Jun's wings have been completed, and if he doesn't control it, he will not be able to lose his tail by then. I believe that the emperor must also have this concern, if there is a cabinet to support the impeachment of Liu Jun, I believe that the emperor is also happy to see Liu Jun's authority reduced at this time, and even we can transfer Liu Jun back to Beijing and take away the actual command of his Chu army. ”

The birds are all hidden, and the rabbits are dead and the dogs are cooked. Although that time has not yet come, the situation is indeed not the same as before. With the Liaoxi army winning one after another, the Liaodong Army is no longer as important as it used to be, at least, it is no longer necessary for Liu Jun.

"Jianyu's strength is still there, and the emperor still has to rely on Liu Jun." Zhou Yanru said when he looked at Wu Chang.

"There are also many ways to rely on it, such as the Beijing camp is abandoned, and it is precisely the need for a capable minister like Liu Jun to rectify the training. The cabinet can ask the emperor to transfer Liu Jun to Beijing as the governor of the Beijing camp and lead the three major battalions of the Beijing camp to form the soldiers and horses of the nine towns. From the three towns of Liaodong to the nine towns of Jingying, which is a great improvement. Wu Changshi said.

Originally, there were three battalions in Beijing, with more than 300,000 soldiers and horses, many of whom came from the squad troops from all over the country. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Beijing camp was the main force of the Ming army. But after the change of the civil fort, the main force was gone, and although it was cheered up later, it has been abandoned until now.

In the reorganization of the new army of the imperial court, the three major battalions of the Beijing camp were organized into nine new military towns, with 270,000 people. Each town was led by a marquis, and each battalion was led by a eunuch and a noble admiral. Now Wu Changshi proposed to transfer Liu Jun back to Beijing to serve as the governor of the three battalions and nine towns, which was naturally a higher position than the governor of Liaodong, and he commanded more soldiers and horses.

But in fact, Liu Jun was transferred from Liaodong and from the Chu army. This is a bright rise and dark fall, no matter how strong Liu Jun is, he can leave the army, and when he arrives in Beijing, it can only be a dragon trapped in the shallows from the sea. At that time, how will Liu Jun be their opponent? It's not like you can handle it however you want.

And for the emperor, this transfer is also acceptable, not only can he take precautions early, but also avoid Liu Jun controlling the Chu army for too long, and it will be difficult to lose the tail. And being transferred back to the capital is a high promotion, at least on the surface, it won't offend Liu Jun too much. And the three battalions of the Beijing Division and the New Army of Nine Towns do need training, and Liu Jun is the right person. Moreover, in case the situation in Liaodong repeats again, the imperial court can also send Liu Jun out at any time.

"As long as Liu Jun is transferred back, and then the generals and colonels of the four towns of the Chu army are slowly replaced, it won't be long before these more than 100,000 soldiers and horses will be controlled by the imperial court. Liu Jun has no descendants, but he is just a nobleman. As for his appointment as the governor of Jingying, there is no need to worry, hundreds of thousands of troops can not be trained immediately if they want to, and there are not enough henchmen and generals, Ren Liu Jun has great ability, and it is impossible to control the soldiers and horses of these nine towns. ”

"First collect Liu Jun's military power, then cut his wings, and then replace his southeast governor's henchmen, then Liu Jun can only let us handle it."

Zhou Yanru snorted, "This Liu Jun will bring a few soldiers, and he is really the eldest and his second, the old man kindly invited him to join forces, but he ignored it." After all, he is only a young man in his early twenties, who can fight, and he is still too young to mix in officialdom. ”

Chongzhen looked at Dongchang's report about Liaodong, and he also frowned for a while.

Liu Jun's performance really disappointed him, he had repeatedly opposed the decisive battle with the Qing army before, not to mention, this time he had made a special intention with Liu Jun to explain the situation clearly, the imperial court had launched a counterattack in Liaoxi, and asked Liu Jun to cooperate with the troops to counterattack Shenyang. Liu Jun agreed very happily, and the troops were dispatched very quickly.

But under Gaizhou City, a stop is half a month, what are you waiting for?

If Kong Youde and other generals stubbornly resisted, it would be forgotten if they could not attack for a long time. But Liu Jun has sharp artillery and repeatedly blasted through the city wall of Gaizhou, but Liu Jun gave up great opportunities again and again, just bombarded and then dug trenches to build walls, which can be regarded as dedication?

What the hell is Liu Jun thinking?

In Chongzhen's view, Liu Jun is passively avoiding war, and Yang is disobedient. On the surface, he obeyed the order to send troops, but in fact, he refused to pay attention at all. After besieging the city for half a month, the Liaodong Army did not lose a single soldier.

Is this still a war?

Liu Jun controlled 780,000 soldiers and horses in the three towns of Liaodong, but only dispatched about 30,000 people, surrounded the city of Zhou for half a month, and not a single soldier was broken, which was obviously a passive avoidance of war.

Moreover, he also found a problem from the report of Dongchang, Liu Jun has a lot of artillery, all of which are new artillery, and his cannons are very sharp when attacking the city, and it is easy to break through the city wall. But when Liu Jun was in Beijing before, he actually hid these from himself, and the court asked him for cannons, and he only pulled out some old small cannons.

In private, Liu Jun gave Qin Liangyu and Wu Sangui a large number of cannons, it is said that Qin Liangyu's cannons were given for free, and Wu Sangui's cannons were exchanged for horses.

If the court doesn't give it, go and trade it in private, this Liu Jun's behavior has made Chongzhen very dissatisfied.

Now, it's so war-avoiding.

On the western side of Liaoning, the soldiers and horses of Ningjin Zhuzhen advanced day by day, and the good news was frequent, recovering more than a dozen castles, relieving the siege of Jinzhou, and besieging the Qing army in Yizhou. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you Emperor is my support!