Wuchang City, which was twelve years old in Jian'an, has not changed much compared with three years ago, but the population is smaller, and nearly 20% of the people have moved to the newly completed Xiakou City.

Xiakou City is actually a military city. Most of the residents in the city are military families, while most of the land outside the city is military fields. The glory of the Jiangxia army is maintained with almost zero and extremely low taxes.

Liu Jing's army had already broken through the compromise reached in three years, reaching 18,000 people. It is impossible to support such a large army by relying on just one Jiangxia County, and the key is to rely on the support of the Tao family.

It can be said that a Xiakou City was built entirely with the support of the Tao family. When the Jiangdong Army evacuated Wuchang, it plundered all the stock money and grain in Guancang.

The Tao family's huge merchant fleet is active on the long Yangtze River line, reaching Bashu in the west and Yuhang in the east, making profits every year.

Most of these profits were continuously exchanged into food and transported back to Jiangxia, supporting Liu Jing's huge military and civilian expenses.

At dusk, a fleet of military ships coming from Xiakou were slowly reaching Wuchang Wharf. On the wharf, Tao Zhan, wearing a lavender long skirt, was looking forward to it.

After three years of marriage, Tao Zhan became more beautiful and gorgeous under the nourishment of love, and had more charming a bit like a young woman. Her figure is still plump and slim, with white and greasy skin and elasticity.

However, Tao Zhan also has something to worry about, that is, they have no children so far. She is nineteen years old, the best age to give birth to children, and her expectation for children has always been a concern for her.

As the big ship docked, the boatman working on the dock suddenly became busy. The little bun next to him pointed at the people who had disembarked, shouting loudly: "Madam, I saw it, the young master is coming down!"

If you want to evaluate the award for the beauty and skills, Xiao Baozi will undoubtedly win the highest gold medal. She is fifteen years old this year, but her appearance is still no different from five years ago. She has a fat and round face, round eyes, round small mouth, and her personality has not changed. She always looks like a child who never grows up.

However, she grew taller, and her figure also had the ups and downs and plumpness of a girl. She had a little thought. She didn't allow others to call her Xiao Baozi again, but she had to call her Xiao Baoniang, but Liu Jing was used to calling her Xiao Baozi, and she couldn't change it, so she could do nothing.

The Han Dynasty was always tolerant of women. Women could go out, go to public places, date men, and more importantly, they could divorce or remarry after losing their husbands, and the other party did not dislike them.

For example, Jiao Zhongqing is just a minor official. After he is forced to divorce his wife, his wife can even remarry the son of the prefect with a higher status.

For example, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Fan was willing to promise Zhao Yun his widowed sister-in-law to be his wife. This is actually very normal. Zhao Yun can think that he is not beautiful, or that the other party is old, but he cannot think that the other party is unfaithful. That can only be the author's personal opinion.

For example, Princess Pingyang, although she has married two husbands in a row, she can still marry General Wei Qing three times. This is certainly due to the princess identity, but it is more due to social customs. The royal family is like this, let alone the common people.

Even Wenjun Yeben, who has been passed down through the ages, is also a widow, and she also married Sima Xiangru, who has not yet married.

However, social tolerance does not mean that women can make friends at will, regardless of reputation, especially women with status, who usually will not interact with men of the opposite sex after getting married, which is also a respect for their husbands.

But unlike later generations, she was locked up at home all day long, so she could go to visit relatives and friends, and also travel far away. This tolerance for women continued until the Tang Dynasty, even the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was not until the rise of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty that women were finally imprisoned.

Tao Zhan is the wife of the prefect. She relied on her identity and naturally had her etiquette. This time, Liu Jing went to Xiakou and Chaisang to inspect the city defense. After a full month, she fell in love with her even more. When she got the news that her husband was going back, she came to the dock to greet her in person.

Liu Jing also saw his wife at first sight. He was happy and walked up quickly, stepped forward and bowed and smiled, "I've been waiting for a long time."

Tao Zhan smiled pursed his lips, "Do you want to go to the county government first, or go home directly?"

Liu Jing looked at the sky and it was already evening. Although he had something to discuss with Su Fei, he probably should go home now.

"My wife comes to pick her up in person, how can she not go home?" Liu Jing said with a smile.

Tao Zhan knew that he had gone home with him because it was too late, but she didn't say it out loud, and walked to the carriage with a smile. Liu Jing helped her into the carriage and drove towards the mansion.

In the carriage, Liu Jing stretched his waist long, closed his eyes and smiled, "I'm really tired after running outside for a month."

"My husband has become a little darker."

Tao Zhan took out his hand towel to wipe his sweat, and smiled and said, "This is early spring, my husband can actually turn black. I can imagine that he must be in the sun every day."

"No, it's important to add defensive weapons in the city. It's important to be careless, so I did it myself and worked hard for a month."

"Well! It seems to be quite hard, I have lost a few pounds. I will stew an old hen to replenish you at night."

"No need to stew chicken, just use you to make up for it." Liu Jing smiled ambiguously.

Tao Zhan pinched him gently, and Liu Jing suddenly remembered that Xiao Baozi was sitting behind him. He quickly changed the subject, "What's your wife doing at home during this period?"

Tao Zhan snuggled in Liu Jing's arms and sighed softly. Although she didn't say anything, Liu Jing understood that it must be related to the matter of asking for a child. He apologized in his heart and hugged his wife's shoulders tightly.

At this time, Tao Zhan sat upright and whispered: "There is one thing that I want to ask my husband whether he agrees?"

"What's up?"

"The day before yesterday, my father came to me and said that my grandfather had an old friendship with Zhang Ji, the prefect of Changsha. My grandfather wanted to ask Zhang Ji to take my pulse. I wonder if my husband agrees?"

Zhang Ji is Zhang Zhongjing, and he is naturally wise in medical skills, but Liu Jing knew that such things often occur to men. It can be seen that the Tao family was also very anxious about Tao Zhan’s childlessness.

Liu Jing smiled, "If Zhang Taishou was willing to come, of course, it would be fine, but he should take my pulse first. Jiu Niang, don't worry about this matter anymore, let it go."

Tao Zhan sighed in his heart. This kind of thing is related to a woman's lifelong happiness. How could she not be worried? However, although she is worried, she doesn't want to show it.

Tao Zhan asked with a reluctant smile: "This time my husband is going home, there is no plan to go out again, right?"

"It shouldn't be there for the time being!"

As soon as Liu Jing finished speaking, a soldier ran from a distance and reported urgently: "Report to the prefect, something happened to the Tao merchant ship!"

Tao Zhan was shocked and said, "Ah!" and held Liu Jing's hand tightly. Liu Jing patted her hand, comforted her, and then asked in a deep voice: "What's wrong?"

"It seems that a merchant ship was sunk by the Jingzhou navy. The specific situation is unknown. General Wei asked the prefect to go to the military yamen."

"I'll be here soon!"

Liu Jing was very annoyed and a little confused. For three years, they and the Jingzhou naval army have been in peace. Today, the naval army actually attacked the Tao family. What is the reason?

He said to Tao Zhan again: "I want to go there."

"Go quickly, husband! I guess my father is there too."

Liu Jing got off the carriage, turned over the horse, and urged the horse to run towards the military yamen.

The Jiangxia military yamen and the county yamen have been separated. The military yamen is located in the east of the city. The full name is the Jiangxia Superior Military Office. Liu Jing also served as the Jiangxia Chief Commander since the previous year and has controlled military power in the name of the Chief Commander.

After a while, he came to the military yamen, turned over and dismounted, and walked into the lobby quickly. Tao Sheng was like an ant on a hot pan, extremely anxious. Wei Yan and Xu Shu whispered to him, and had sent someone to notify the prefect, and the prefect arrived soon.

"My father-in-law, what happened?" Liu Jing quickly walked into the lobby.

Tao Sheng hurried forward and said, "Son-in-law! It was the last time we talked about stallions. We got more than a dozen of top-quality stallions from Hexi. Unexpectedly, they were intercepted by the Jingzhou navy in Yicheng County and stole the stallions."

Three years ago, a group of war horses were sold from Hexi, but the Qiang people were scrupulous and castrated all stallions. Although the war horses in the army did need to be castrated, the Qiang people's purpose was not to let the stallions flow out.

In the next three years, hundreds of war horses were bought one after another, all of which were castrated horses. Liu Jing wanted a few top stallions, so he entrusted the matter to the Tao family.

Unexpectedly, the stallion went through a lot of hardships, but was intercepted by the Jingzhou navy. Liu Jing's face changed drastically and he turned around and asked Wei Yan, "Isn't there a military ship guard?"

Wei Yan sighed and stepped forward to report, "The ten escort warships we sent were also severely damaged by the Jingzhou navy. Five warships were sunk, more than thirty brothers were killed, and many brothers fell into the water, and their whereabouts were unknown."

Liu Jing tightened the hilt of the knife, and murderous intent burst out in his heart. What a great person Zhang Yun dared to kill his man and stole his horse, and lived impatiently.

He turned around and said to Dong Yunling, the military officer, "Dong, the army, will order the troops to be ordered immediately, prepare two hundred warships and five thousand troops!"

Wei Yan next to him was startled and hurriedly stepped forward and advised: "Prince, this matter came suddenly, and the other party's intention was unknown. Perhaps it was to lead us to send troops and not act recklessly."

Liu Jing nodded, "I know that I will be polite first and then soldiers in this matter. Zhang Yunruo refused to admit his account, so he had to meet him."

At this time, Xu Shu, who had been silent, winked at Liu Jing. Liu Jing understood. He comforted Tao Sheng and ordered someone to send him back to Tao's mansion. Then he entered the inner hall with Xu Shu and called Wei Yan and Dong Yun together.

Dong Yun only stayed in Jiangxia Academy for less than half a year before officially becoming Liu Jing's aide, and then served as Xu Shu's assistant. Last year, he served as the governor of the capital's office to join the army, equivalent to Liu Jing's secretary. He went into the house and sat down aside without saying a word.

Xu Shu pondered for a moment and said to Liu Jing: "Zhou Mu is seriously ill. At this time, Zhang Yun suddenly attacked. Has the prefect considered a deeper reason?"

Liu Jing nodded silently. He had actually considered it on the way. This might be Cai Mao's plan to lure troops. He wanted to provoke a war before Liu Biao passed away and put himself injustice.
Chapter completed!