It’s autumn, but the weather is still muggy. This is what the so-called autumn tiger refers to.

Looking at the people around him, they were all wiping the sweat from their foreheads from time to time. Liu Xuan did not have this problem. Now that he has cultivated his first golden dragon, this small change in temperature will not bring any problems to him.

No matter what trouble, Cao Bao would still order his subordinates to prepare some things to relieve the heat.

After taking a piece of fruit, Liu Xuan took two bites and then looked at Xu Chu and Dian Wei beside him.

As the saying goes, a man is judged by his clothes, and this is true. Putting these two big men in bright clothes made them look completely different from the first time they saw them.

Coupled with the physiques of these two people...Although Liu Xuan didn't need it, he did have a particularly safe feeling with such two big men by his side.

"No wonder they all like to use these two people as their personal bodyguards!"

He withdrew his gaze and glanced a few more times in the direction of the north. Liu Xuan already knew the situation in the north: Gongsun Zan couldn't hold on any longer!

While the imperial army was in Yuzhou and other places to restore people's livelihood and wipe out the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, the war in Hebei also reached its final critical moment.

Although Yuan Shao, who received the help of Zuo Ci, did not immediately show any particularly strong fighting power, Zuo Ci's ability in several key battles ensured that Yuan Shao's army could win the final victory while ensuring that he would not bear too much.

big loss.

After several consecutive battles, Gongsun Zan had no chance of winning. At present, Gongsun Zan's troops had begun to shrink, and in Liu Xuan's eyes - shrinking meant that Gongsun Zan's defeat was irreversible.

What are Gong Zan's elite troops? They are the cavalry of the White Horse Yi Cong.

Even in order to deal with the foreign tribes across the Northeast, Gongsun Zan always had a lot of cavalry, and let such a force that is good at large-scale mobile attacks shrink and defend...

"The world is missing another elite cavalry unit!"

Gongsun Zan was about to be defeated, so it was inevitable that Yuan Shao would unify the four counties of Hebei. It was precisely because Liu Xuan received this news that he led everyone back to Chang'an.

The winner is determined in Hebei, and Yuan Shao becomes the lord of Hebei. So where will Yuan Shao set his sights next?

Liao?

There is no need to pay too much attention to Liaodong. Moreover, in the eyes of people of this era, Liaodong is too remote and there is no benefit in defeating it. On the contrary, it will lengthen one's own front line. At the same time, it will be threatened by foreign races.

Yuan Shao will definitely not do such a thing. He will still set his sights on the Central Plains region, because these places are the truly enviable treasures.

In other words, if Yuan Shao really expands his huge ambitions, then his only goal is: to compete in the Central Plains!

At the same time, during this battle with Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao had established a certain relationship with Wuhuan, which meant that Yuan Shao did not have to worry about his rear in a short period of time.

The most important thing is that Zuo Ci ran to Yuan Shao. After this guy had a conflict with Liu Xuan, he wanted to cause trouble for himself. As long as he was with Yuan Shao, he would definitely do his best to incite Yuan Shao to go against him.

What's more, after seeing Zuo Ci's immortal magic, Yuan Shao would probably be so hot-headed that he was invincible, right? After all, Yuan Shao didn't know that the imperial court or the emperor was also an immortal.

Therefore, the war in the north is inevitable!

Liu Xuan is going back to Chang'an now to prepare for this battle in advance.

In addition to the continued expansion of the Forbidden Army, several elite troops must also enter the final stage of preparations for war, and at the same time, the Weapon Refining Department needs to start making war armor for themselves.

Of course, this armor will not be some ordinary armor, nor is it even the kind of lightweight protective armor that the Weapon Refining Department is currently designing for Yu Linqi.

It's the kind of armor that I helped Lu Bu make that can allow generals to display more powerful strength. This kind of armor will directly open an insurmountable gap between the strength of the imperial army and Yuan Shao's army, even if Zuo Ci is there to help Yuan Shao.

, then Yuan Shao cannot stop his generals.

"If the Weapon Refining Department does well this time, maybe it can be expanded?"

What Liu Xuan is now considering is to directly expand the scale of the Artifact Refining Department, or to transform the various workshops under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry into workshops that meet his own requirements and can produce cultivation and civilization items?

The first method means that cultivation technology is still limited to only a small number of people, which is not in line with my original intention.

As for the second one? At present, it seems that I don’t have enough talents to be responsible for popularizing it. The young children in the Weapon Refining Department haven’t grown up yet!

"I have a headache!"

After struggling along the way, Liu Xuan finally returned to Chang'an City.

Because there was no large army following him on the way back and the speed was much faster, Liu Xuan did not stop and look at the scenery this time - he had seen enough when he came, and at the same time there were still many things to deal with in the court.

For example, at this time, as soon as he returned to the palace, the three ministers, six ministers and nine ministers all asked to see them. Liu Xuan directly arranged them in a small hall, and he went to take a bath, change clothes, and tidy up before coming to see them.

Anyway, even if you are in a hurry, this is not enough. In addition, although I don’t feel tired along the way, there will inevitably be some dust. I am not afraid, but my clothes will inevitably be stained.

What's more, he was wearing casual clothes when he came back and was meeting with important ministers to discuss matters. He couldn't just go like this.

By the time he finished all this, half an hour had passed, but when Liu Xuan entered the hall, no one at the table showed dissatisfaction, and even a few old guys showed a slight look of appreciation.

Liu Xuan naturally knew what they were thinking. It was nothing more than that an emperor had to have an emperor's bearing. Even if there was something urgent, an emperor could not panic. Liu Xuan's calmness showed that emperor's bearing.

, these old ministers think that such a king is a wise king who can revive the Han Dynasty.

However, appreciation is appreciation, and this matter still needs to be discussed in detail.

"Now Hebei Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are attacking each other, and they do not take the court or your majesty into consideration at all. Your majesty immediately issued an edict and ordered them to stop their troops!"

The first one to speak was Wang Yun. This old man moved much faster than Liu Xuan. He went back, changed his clothes, packed up briefly, and ran out. However, because of this, he was the last to arrive in the palace.

Liu Xuan looked at Wang Yun and didn't care much about what this Situ said, but the edict was definitely going to be issued, and he had to make the court's attitude clear.

"What Situ said is true!"

However, everyone present knew that this edict merely expressed the court's attitude and was of no use to the war in Hebei.

Saying this is just the beginning of today's events. What everyone is concerned about is how should everyone deal with Hebei after it falls into Yuan Shao's hands?

Speaking of the war, Liu Xuan turned to look at Liu Bei and Cao Cao aside... Cao Cao also returned to Chang'an after fighting this big battle, but his generals were still left in two places to clean up the mess.

There is no need to trouble Cao Cao with those things.

"After several years of reorganization, recruitment and expansion, the Forbidden Army currently has a total of 150,000 soldiers!"

Liu Bei, the Central Protector, was in charge of all affairs of the Forbidden Army except fighting, so when Liu Xuan looked at him, he knew what to say.

"At the same time, the recruitment work has not slowed down. There are currently 30,000 new recruits being trained. Within two years, they will be able to meet the standards set by His Majesty and become a qualified Forbidden Army soldier!"

Liu Xuan originally set strict standards for the Forbidden Army soldiers, so the expansion of the Forbidden Army has been very slow, because each soldier needs a considerable amount of time to train after being recruited.

Two years later...

Liu Xuan lowered his head and calculated. Two years later, in 1966, or the seventh year of Jian'an, he would have 180,000 Forbidden Army soldiers at his disposal.

Although it was still far from the 800,000 that he had in mind, 180,000 was enough to securely defend the dangerous locations and at least 100,000 to 80,000 soldiers could be used.

In addition to the Forbidden Army, he also has four elite troops: the Yu Lin Cavalry, the Tiger Ben Army, the Tiger Leopard Cavalry, and the soon-to-be-formed Tiger Guard Army. These four troops also have a size of 20,000.

"One hundred thousand troops!"

It is enough to deal with one Yuan Shao, and it is not difficult to take advantage of the situation and take care of Liaodong as well.

Thinking of this, he had a clue in his mind, and Liu Xuan nodded: "That's it, these soldiers are already strong enough, there is no need to expand the scale of conscription!"

When the emperor said this, some people in the palace let out a sigh of relief while others felt slightly worried.

I was relieved because I felt that His Majesty did not recruit soldiers in order to confront Yuan Shao, so the newly restored people's livelihood would not be destroyed because of this.

What worries me is that these soldiers are not enough, right?

Yuan Shao controls the four states of Hebei, and Hebei is a very rich area with a large population. It is not impossible for Yuan Shao to be ruthless and raise an army of one million, but the imperial court only has more than 100,000 in hand. Does it seem too pitiful?

These people didn't know how strong the imperial army was. Even if they defeated Li and Guo Si first and then annihilated the Yellow Turban bandits, they only felt that these battles could not explain anything. After all, there was a huge gap in military strength between Li Guo Si and Li Guo Si.

Not big, but a yellow turban thief? They didn’t take a serious look at it

On the other hand, Cao Cao, Lu Bu and other military generals were quite confident in this, and felt that no matter how many soldiers Yuan Shao had, they were just a bunch of chickens and dogs, not even as good as the Yellow Turban thieves.

"So Your Majesty, when should the problem in Hebei be resolved?" In fact, several people think it would be better to resolve Hebei directly while Yuan Shao is still entangled with Gongsun Zan.

But after Liu Xuan thought about it, he said directly: "Now Sizhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Xuzhou are in ruins and are waiting to be revitalized. It is not appropriate to use weapons at this time!"

Even if he wants to take action, he has to wait until Yuzhou recovers its vitality, so that Liu Xuan can conquer one place and govern another, and then continue to march to one place after strengthening his own strength.

The advantage of doing this is that you can concentrate all your efforts on the development of one place. This is better than conquering the whole world in one go, only to be devastated and unable to start.

After discussing some more things, and having a general idea, everyone dispersed, but Liu Bei stayed and made a request to Liu Xuan: "I want to go to Hebei, and I hope your majesty will allow it!"
Chapter completed!