Before the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, civil and military officials stationed in various parts of Hunan rushed to Changsha one after another to hold the first military meeting of the new year at the Yamen, the governor of Huguang.

The Battle of Huguang was imminent, and the coverage of this military conference was very complete, except for those who could not leave the front line, the relevant civilian and military generals basically came.

Among the generals include Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu, Huang Chaoxuan, Cao Zhijian, Liu Chengyin, Chen Youlong, Hao Shaoqi, Wang Jincai, Wang Yuncai, Lu Ding, Ma Jinzhong, etc., plus Dong Ying, the chief soldier of He Tengjiao's standard battalion, the so-called "Huguang Thirteen Towns" are almost all together, in addition, there are a large group of deputy generals and guerrilla generals, a total of dozens of generals.

The standard of civilian officials is relatively high, and those who can participate in this military conference are all civilian officials who have the right to speak in the military, such as magistrates above the prefect level, and those who control the military power and salary, such as the sub-guarding road, the sub-patrol road, the supervising military road, the grain road, and several Huguang feudal officials, such as He Tengjiao, Wang Kefan, Du Yinxi, Fu Shangrui, etc.

The so-called civil officials in charge of the army at the end of the Ming Dynasty refer to the governors and governors who have the power to control the troops, but the specific implementation of management in the local area is the two Taoist members of the guarding road and the sub-patrol road, they are the superior leaders of the army, and they are more majestic than the prefect in front of the military generals.

On the other hand, the military supervision road and the grain supervision road are in the nature of special commissioners, and the power is less than that of guarding the road and sub-patrolling the road, and they can control logistics and wages, but they do not directly control the military power in peacetime. (Hong Chengchou was born in Shaanxi Governor's Grain Road, but Hong Chengchou is a very capable person, and he has made achievements in an ordinary position.) ）

Due to the large number of people participating in this military conference, a temporary conference room was arranged in the side hall of the governor's yamen, according to the practice of officialdom, the general civil and military officials waited here first, and the lower the rank, the earlier it came, and He Tengjiao, Wang Kefan and other feudal officials did not appear until the last day.

These civilian, official and military generals were stationed in various parts of Huguang in peacetime. It's rare to see each other a few times a year, but today it's all together. There are many factions in the officialdom of Huguang, and the relationship between civil and military officials is complicated, and those who have a good relationship get together, and hold small meetings in groups, and those who have a bad relationship will raise their eyebrows and sneer at each other, and even sneer at each other. Fortunately, today's occasion is special, although there is chaos in the house, no one really dares to make trouble in the governor's yamen.

Between idle conversations, the topic is naturally inseparable from the upcoming Huguang battle. The situation was so critical, but most of the civil and military officials looked very relaxed, and they all gloated when they mentioned the loyal battalion and the Chu army in Hubei.

"Wen Tian Wu Huan, the building will fall!" Zhang Kuang shook his head secretly, from the heart. He did not like Wang Kefan's Chu army and was hostile to the loyal battalion from the peasant army. But see this group of pig teammates of their own. My heart was also filled with disgust.

He could more or less guess the mentality of these colleagues.

At the moment when the great enemy is present, they can't show too much fear, and it's useless to be afraid, and they have actually considered the way out in the future, but they can't say anything to others...... That's why they put on a cynical look. or hip-hop and pretending to be confused, in fact, it is all a cover-up.

Because of several ineffective work, Zhang Kuang was gradually not reused by He Tengjiao, and he has always been a military supervisor with no real power for more than a year. Fu Shangrui, who has similar qualifications to him, has become the governor of Biyuan, and after being sent to the cold palace, Zhang Kuang has thought about a lot of things, and some of his thoughts are gradually changing.

However, He Tengjiao had the grace to support him at the beginning, and he couldn't easily change camps in the officialdom, otherwise he would be labeled as a grass on the wall and would not be welcomed anywhere. So these thoughts have been hidden in Zhang Kuang's heart, and he has not told anyone, until Kong Youde's Qing army entered Huguang in a big way, he felt that he should do something.

Just a few days ago, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Kuang happened to hear that Wang Kefan's younger brother Wang Kebin actually liked his daughter Miss Zhang. So, he ordered his eldest son to come forward and sent an invitation to Wang Kebin, ostensibly a normal communication between young people, or a matchmaking for his daughter, but in fact it was a test for Wang Kefan.

Unexpectedly, the other party first politely refused, but soon changed his mind and accepted the invitation, Wang Kebin really came to visit, Zhang Kuang had to order his son to be polite, but he resolutely avoided it.

"Self-defeating!" Zhang Kuang regretted it very much, he just wanted to make a hint to Wang Kefan to express his goodwill, he didn't really want to marry the other party, he didn't expect the Wang family's reaction to be so positive and so direct, if this matter reached He Tengjiao's ears, it would cause trouble......

At this time, there was a sudden commotion at the door, and a guard announced loudly that Wang Kefan and Du Yinxi had arrived together.

Zhang Kuang subconsciously stood up, ready to step forward to greet him, but before his feet could take a step, he stopped again, before there were no major changes in Huguang officialdom, he didn't want to get too close to Wang Kefan.

Other civil and military officials also stood up and saluted Wang Kefan and Guan Yinxi one after another, with respectful or indifferent expressions on their faces, and so on, and several veteran civil and military generals still looked a little arrogant, as if they didn't look at Wang Kefan in their eyes.

Admiral Caojiang belongs to the feudal officials, and most Hunan officials are envious and jealous of Wang Kefan's rocket-like promotion speed, but this is Changsha Mansion, and most of these officials belong to He Tengjiao's faction, and they are not controlled by Wang Kefan, and there is no relationship between their superiors and subordinates, so they are not too respectful.

Wang Kefan's expression has always been very calm, he smiled at everyone, stopped when he came to Zhang Kuang, and chatted cordially.

"Zhang Observation, I haven't seen you for more than half a year, your face is much better, but your face is flushed, and your lungs don't seem to be very good, is there more cough recently?"

"Not much, not much...... Cough! Cough! Cough! Zhang Kuang suddenly coughed violently.

"Oops, isn't it coughing again!" Wang Kefan frowned slightly: "Have you seen it in the observation of Xunlang?" His younger brother Wang Kebin also suffered from cough and asthma the year before last, and he met a famous doctor who specializes in treating lung veins, so he just gave an introduction to observation. ”

"Thank you Wang Junmen for your kindness, no need, no need!" Zhang Kuang's face became even redder, and he hurriedly retreated to the side.

At this time, there was chaos at the door again, and He Tengjiao and Fu Shangrui walked in together.

He Tengjiao was wearing a seven-point old official robe, the cuffs and neckline were all worn out, and there were several patches, the wrinkles on his face seemed to be deeper, his face was as thin as an old tree, and his complexion was much worse than at the beginning.

After he saw Wang Kefan and Du Yinxi, he immediately showed a sincere smile on his face, ignored the other civil and military officials, and walked over quickly while arching his hand, his face full of spring breeze. (To be continued......)