Late November.

With the full implementation of the new policy, the vast majority of the people in the Ming Dynasty can ensure food and clothing, and the boundless wave of displaced people in the winter of previous years has disappeared in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, the Ministry of National Defense also issued a "comprehensive suppression order" a month ago, and the garrisons in various places began to encircle and suppress bandits in their jurisdictions.

According to the prediction of the Ministry of National Defense, around the beginning of spring in the 19th year of Chongzhen, all parts of Daming will basically put an end to banditry.

Such a peaceful situation can be said to catch up with the rule of Zhenguan back then, which is extremely rare in history. Moreover, in order to reduce the military expenditure of the garrison troops in various places at the same time, Liu Yan ordered that all the proceeds of the suppression of bandits in various localities should be offset against the consumption of military expenses, and the rest should be used as rewards for meritorious soldiers, and the insufficient funds should be allocated by the Ministry of National Defense to support.

Now that the new policy and military reform policy have finally begun to bear fruit, Daming is like a critically ill strong man, after several rounds, he finally retracted one foot that entered the ghost gate, laboriously retracted, and began to glow with new vitality, and is slowly standing up again.

A cabinet meeting is being held in the Cabinet Office.

"Ge Lao, now that the Qing soldiers are constantly harassing on the border, and the border people are suffering deeply, when will the imperial court send troops to recover Liaodong?"

Facing the inquiry of Shang Shu Tian Huixu of the Ministry of National Defense, Liu Yan said: "My father said that after the beginning of spring, the three-way army will attack at the same time and sweep Liaodong!" ”

"How will the commanders of the various armies arrange?"

In each of the three armies, there were multiple commanders, and it was indeed difficult for the commander to decide.

Liu Yan immediately said: "The commander of the East Route Army is Ben Gong, and Ben Gong will lead the main army of the East Road out of Shanhaiguan and face the main army of the Manchu Tartars!" ”

"Commander of the Sea Route Army......"

Liu Yan looked at Zheng Zhilong, the secretary of the Admiralty, and said, "It's up to Zheng Shangshu to take the position, I don't know what Zheng Shangshu wants?" ”

The strength of the Sea Route Army is basically reorganized from the original Zheng Army, and its generals are basically the generals of the Zheng Army, and Zheng Zhilong is the most suitable commander.

Moreover, Zheng Zhilong himself is also a soldier, he has fought many big battles along the way, and he has also led the army to fight with the Dutch, without any defeat, and he is also a qualified commander.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong has no opinion, this is a great opportunity to leave a name in history, and immediately said: "Rest assured, the lower officials will definitely live up to the expectations of the imperial court, and this battle will definitely play the prestige of our sea route army!" ”

"Good!"

Liu Yan said: "As for the commander-in-chief ...... the Western Route Army, it is indeed difficult to decide on the commander-in-chief of this route. ”

The strength of the Western Route Army included the 11th Army to the 14th Army of the National Defense Army, and the seniority of the four chief officers Han Qin, Wei Han, Shang Zili, and Tian Zhenbei was almost the same, and it was difficult to select one of them as the commander-in-chief.

During this time, Liu Yan was indeed worried about this matter, and immediately thought about whether to select someone from other places to be handsome?

Everyone saw Liu Yan pondering, and they were all silent, waiting for Liu Yan to speak.

"Qin Liangyu has this qualification, but after all, I am a woman, and I am old, and I am already sick and bedridden, so this matter is not possible."

"Li Dingguo has this ability, you must know that in history, Li Dingguo has commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, defeated the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the famous generals who shook the world. According to the establishment of the Ministry of National Defense, the chief officer of the garrison is half a level lower than the chief officer of the National Defense Army, and with Li Dingguo as the commander of the Western Route Army, I am afraid that Han Qin, Wei Han, Shang Zili, and Tian Zhenbei will not be convinced. ”

Immediately, Liu Yan thought of a person: Yan Jizu.

As the governor of Shandong, Yan Jizu is suitable in terms of official position and has sufficient qualifications, but his ability is far inferior to Li Dingguo and Qin Liangyu.

However, with the strong combat power of the Western Route Army, as long as it is fought steadily, there will be no problems, so Liu Yan said: "Order Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, to lead the Fubiao battalion to Xuanfu Longmen Guard and serve as the commander of the Western Route Army." ”

Everyone was surprised at first, and then understood Liu Yan's difficulty, and Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, said: "Ge Lao, in terms of ability, Li Dingguo, the chief military officer of Huguang who graduated with the first grade in the Huangming Military Academy, is more suitable, and the imperial court can promote him first, and then order Li Dingguo to be the commander of the Western Route Army." ”

Tian Huixu's suggestion made Liu Yan hesitate, and then said, "How to improve??" ”

"Now there is no candidate for governor of Huguang, so Li Dingguo can be ordered to act as the governor of Huguang first, and then transfer him to be the commander of the Western Route Army."

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Okay, let's do it." In addition, after Li Dingguo became the commander of the Western Route Army, the chief military officer of Huguang was appointed by Gao Mingming, a staff general of the Baochen battalion, as the acting chief military officer of Huguang. ”

"Yes."

Then Liu Yan continued: "In addition, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, was ordered to lead the Fubiao Battalion, Qian Maoli, the staff general of the Yanqing Battalion, and the Mao Buyu Department of the Jidong Battalion to garrison in the capital. ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, although now with the full implementation of the new policy and military reform policy, the Donglin Party and opposition forces in the DPRK have basically been cleared, but Liu Yan is still very cautious, he led all the soldiers of the National Defense Army to Liaodong, in case there is any moth in the rear, it will be fatal, and it is worth all his efforts over the years will be in vain.

Therefore, it is necessary to garrison the capital with the troops of his cronies.

Tian Huixu, a Shangshu of the Ministry of National Defense, said: "The subordinate officer receives the order, and this will draft the order for the transfer of troops. ”

"Okay."

After the main general of the three-way army was selected, a stone in Liu Yan's heart finally landed.

Then, Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, reported to Liu Yan on the situation of fiscal revenue.

With the full implementation of the new policy, the tax of the Ming Dynasty gradually changed from the field tax and the poll tax to the substantial increase in commercial tax, customs duties and property tax, the steady growth of the field tax, and the sharp reduction of the poll tax.

Although the state treasury has basically bottomed out in order to raise enough money and grain for the army to go out of the customs, the current financial situation is very good, and by the end of the year, the state treasury has also begun to make new purchases, so that there will not be a financial shortage.

At the same time, new-style schools are also being built in an all-round way across the country, and school-age children and people with lofty ideals from all over the country are enrolled in school one after another.

Zhao Min, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, also issued a decree under Liu Yan's instructions, and the imperial court recruited graduates of provincial schools (the original Taoism, equivalent to later universities) in each province every year, and those who passed could be awarded official positions according to the official vacancies in the imperial court.

However, this kind of official position has a term of office, the term of office is five years, and the assessment will be carried out after five years, and those who pass the assessment can continue to stay in office, those who are excellent in the assessment can stay in office and be promoted, and those who fail to meet the requirements will be dismissed.

Although this move has caused a lot of shock in the government and the opposition, these official positions have a term of office after all, and under Liu Yan's insistence, they have also been implemented.

Liu Yan also took this opportunity to crack down on the way of selecting officials for the imperial examination, and he could slowly replace the existing "imperial examination officials" of the Ming Dynasty, and eventually replace them all with "new-style officials".

The cabinet meeting lasted a long time and did not end until the evening.

After Liu Yan walked out of the cabinet office, he said to Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense: "The order for Li Dingguo and Yan Jizu will be issued tomorrow, so don't delay." ”

Tian Huixu said with a smile: "Don't worry, the lower officials will be able to send it out tomorrow morning." ”

A few days later, Li Dingguo, the chief military officer in Wuchang Mansion in Huguang, received an order from the Ministry of National Defense, and saw that he was appointed by the imperial court as the commander of the Manchu Western Route Army, Li Dingguo was shocked at first, and then felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart, and his ambition finally had room to be displayed!

At the same time, Li Dingguo was also full of gratitude to Liu Yan and the imperial court, and his desire to serve the country skyrocketed, and he immediately convened his subordinates to discuss the matter.

When everyone heard the news that Li Dingguo would go to Longmen Pass to command the Western Route Army, everyone was excited and happy for Li Dingguo.

At the same time, everyone also regretted that this time the imperial court only recruited Li Dingguo, and did not recruit soldiers and horses from various departments in Huguang, so everyone had no chance to fight in this national war.

Li Dingguo said: "After the departure of this town, with the military order of the Ministry of National Defense, the general of the Chen battalion Gao Ming was appointed as the acting chief officer of Huguang, and the generals should fully support General Gao and continue to do a good job in the defense of Huguang!" ”

Everyone received orders one after another, and Gao Jie was also overjoyed, and immediately expressed his loyalty, saying that he would guard Huguang for the imperial court.

Liu Liangzuo on the side wanted to speak and stopped, and finally said: "The head town is going north this time, will the direct soldiers go all the way?" ”

Li Dingguo understood what Liu Liangzuo meant, and said: "This order of the Ministry of Defense has a clear meaning, this town is just going alone, and not a single soldier will be taken away. General Liu's meaning is understood in this town, and the generals should stay in Huguang with peace of mind. ”

Liu Liangzuo sighed, originally thinking that he would ask Li Dingguo to take him north with him as a general, but this idea was also lost.

The rest of the generals did the same, and they all sighed incessantly.

Li Dingguo said: "You don't have to be lost, in the opinion of this town, the imperial court has Liu Ge Lao, my Ming Dynasty's conquest will never stop at Liaodong, recovering Liaodong is only the first step, and then the imperial court will definitely recover the Duogansi Xuanwei Division, Wu Sizang, and the Western Regions in the west, which will be the goal of the imperial court." By the way, there is also North Korea, which defected to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, will definitely be requisitioned by the imperial court, and there will be many opportunities for our Ming warriors to fight in the future, and you will definitely have the opportunity to fight! ”

After listening to Li Dingguo's words, everyone's emotions were immediately mobilized, and they all congratulated Li Dingguo on his victory in going north this time and won the jackpot for the Huguang generals.

At the same time, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, also rectified the Fubiao camp, and the general Zu Yonghai led the Fubiao battalion to assemble outside the city of Jinan Prefecture, Yan Jizu also took a carriage out of the city, and Shi Kefa, the prefect of Jinan Prefecture, went out of the city to see him off.

"Futai has entered Beijing to garrison this time, it can be seen that the war of the imperial court to recover Liaodong is imminent, and the lower officials are really excited in their hearts!"

Shi Kefa laughed, even if the cold wind blew on his cheeks, he was overjoyed.

Yan Jizu got out of the carriage at this time, pulled Shi Kefa and said: "Yes, this is a grand event that the dynasty has not had for a long time, you and I can experience this scene, and it is not in vain to serve the country as an official in this life!" ”

Immediately, Yan Jizu instructed: "This time, not only the Fubiao battalion will go north, but the Yanqing battalion staff general Qian Maoli and the Jidong battalion staff general Mao Buyu have also led their troops on the road to garrison Beijing City together, and the garrison troops in Shandong are a lot empty." Although Shandong is the starting place of Liu Gelao, the prefect of Shi should also be cautious, there can be chaos anywhere in the country, only Shandong! ”

Shi Kefa suddenly felt the burden on his shoulders, and at this time Zhengse said: "Lord Futai, don't worry, the lower officials will do their best and will not let Shandong make any trouble." ”

"Good!!"

Yan Jizu said: "Today's Ming Dynasty can be described as a renewal of Vientiane, and the people are living a lot better, it is foreseeable that another prosperous era is coming, as Ming officials, only by serving the people wholeheartedly, can we live up to this prosperous era!" ”

Shi Kefa was taught.

At this time in Beijing, Liu Yan was in the mansion of the Duke of Lu, eating lunch with Wang Yunhe, Shang Shan, Ruoshui, and his six-year-old son Liu Sheng.

A wife and two concubines laughed and laughed, and his son Liu Sheng was tiger-brained, Liu Yan looked at all this, and his heart was full of warmth.

Now Liu Sheng has entered the county school in the capital to study, and his grades are not bad. As the imperial capital of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing not only has the best provincial school in the Ming Dynasty, but also has many government schools and county schools, which can be said to be the most developed place in the new education of the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Yan talked with his family, and then said: "I don't know what Lao Taishan is busy with during this time, will you go to Beijing for the New Year this year?" ”

Wang Yunhe glanced at Liu Yan and said: "Since my husband asked my father to be the head of the Chamber of Commerce, my father has been idle in business, and I wrote a few days ago that I will not enter Beijing for the Chinese New Year this year, and I want to take people to Fujian, saying that there are many maritime merchants there, and I want to contact maritime merchants for export of soap, glass, sea salt and other overseas businesses." ”

Liu Yan laughed when he heard this, and now the Ministry of Commerce is also developing the business of exporting goods to Japan and Western countries, with Zheng Zhilong's original way, the Ministry of Commerce has made contact with businessmen from the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries, and has even obtained a lot of orders for soap, glass, sea salt, soju, and cement.

It's just that Liu Yan didn't expect that the private businessmen also began to expand overseas, which is a good phenomenon, at this time Liu Yan was happy in his heart: "The great development of commerce and trade, the Liaodong war is imminent, this is a great prospect, I finally completely reversed the process of China's sinking, and was born new!" ”