Among the warlords in Hunan, Wang Jincai had the closest relationship with the Chu army.

He is the same as Hao Shaoqi, he turned out to be a partial general under Yuan Zongdi of the Dashun Army, but his status was several levels worse than Yuan Zongdi, after Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain, the Dashun army was leaderless, Wang Jincai and Hao Shaoqi seized the opportunity to contain the defeated soldiers, desperately expanded their strength, and became the head of the army with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Wang Jincai and Hao Shaoqi did not dare to return to the loyalty camp, and turned to He Tengjiao, He Tengjiao also wanted to divide and win over the remnants of this peasant army, and the two sides hit it off, and Wang Jincai and Hao Shaoqi became one of the warlords in Hunan.

At the beginning, Wang Jincai, Hao Shaoqi and He Tengjiao blended oil in honey and got along very well, and after the honeymoon period, they found that the life "after marriage" was not as perfect as imagined.

In all fairness, He Tengjiao is not bad for the two of them, from personal treatment to the food and salary of his troops, he tries his best to arrange it to the best, but Wang Jincai has too many soldiers and horses, and there are 70,000 or 80,000 people in miscellaneous, and the monthly consumption is all calculated, almost 200,000 taels of silver, and He Tengjiao can't afford it.

Although He Tengjiao is known as the governor of the military affairs of the five provinces, the real territory is Hunan, the monthly tax income is only more than 200,000 taels of silver, but there are more than 10 large and small warlords under his hands, plus administrative expenses and his own supervision battalion, the military salary allocated to Wang Jincai has never exceeded 30,000 taels of silver, and he has to solve the rest by himself.

How can you feed the army without money in hand? Wang Jincai gradually realized that he had too many soldiers and horses, which caused He Dufu's taboo. had to be streamlined and downsized again and again, and then tuntian raised troops and exploited the people in the garrison. tightened his belt and worked hard, trying his best to barely maintain the situation, but his soldiers and generals gradually complained, and there was also an estrangement between him and He Tengjiao, and they became more and more inseparable.

After three or four years, the hard life seemed to never end, and the soldiers fled Hunan one after another. When he went to Hubei to join the Loyal Battalion, at first it was an ordinary soldier who deserted in twos and threes, and later it was an officer who slipped away with the formed troops. Wang Jincai was helpless in this regard, and even if he caught the deserted officers and soldiers, he did not dare to severely punish them, so as not to cause an even greater mutiny.

At the critical moment, Wang Kefan lent a helping hand.

followed the Chu army to make a trip to Huangzhou Mansion. Wang Jincai also really made a fortune. Not only did he solve the food and salary for several months, but he also updated the armor and ordnance of the pro-barracks, and then armed more than 1,000 soldiers with the old armor that had been eliminated. Since then, Wang Jincai has been in contact with Wang Kefan, even if he was driven to Guangdong by the Qing army, he did not break the line, and this time he met in Hengyang, of course, there were many private things to discuss.

After more than half an hour, Wang Jin quietly left the Chu army garrison. But he turned around and came to Zhang Kuang's camp, and he didn't leave until very late......

is different from Wang Jincai. Hao Shaoqi has always been the focus of He Tengjiao's target to woo, just like Cao Cao to Guan Gong, eager to undress, push food and eat, Hao Shaoqi does not have a lost big ear brother, he Tengjiao as his object of allegiance, Dong Ying, Liu Chengyin, Huang Chaoxuan and others surrendered to the Qing army, but also became the most effective general under He Tengjiao, fire and Chen Youlong, seized Baoqing Mansion, and made great contributions.

Huo and Chen Youlong are no problem, but in front of Wang Kefan, he has become more regular than his little daughter-in-law, although he has almost nothing to gain in the battle to conquer Hengyang, Hao Shaoqi does not dare to express any dissatisfaction.

Hao Shaoqi set up a banquet that night, and invited Zhang Kuang, Wang Jincai, Cao Zhijian, and Niu Zhongxiao to his camp for a gathering, and tens of thousands of troops rushed to Hengyang for hundreds of miles, but almost nothing was built, and now it is a dilemma, so we have to discuss how to explain to He Tengjiao and how to act next.

Zhang Kuang couldn't refuse, and the reason was very good.

It's a gathering of a group of generals, and if he comes, everyone will be restrained, so he won't come to join in the fun. This is a reasonable explanation, there are their own circles between civil officials and military generals, and since Zhang Kuang wants to put on the governor's shelf, Hao Shaoqi is no longer reluctant.

Niu Zhongxiao couldn't refuse, the reason was very far-fetched, he was sick.

Isn't this a liar? Yesterday, when I divided the spoils, I was still in good spirits, my face was full of red light, and my mouth was grinning behind my ears, why did I get sick today!

Wang Jincai couldn't refuse, and to Hao Shaoqi's surprise, he was also sick.

"What the hell is this guy messing with! Can you pretend to be sick for Lao Tzu? Hao Shaoqi and Wang Jincai have the same background and experience, and their relationship is closer than others, and they can't help but feel uneasy when they see him pretending to be sick at such a critical moment.

Cao Zhijian was the only guest, poured himself a drink, drank it very moist, and said coldly: "Hao Shuai can't see it?" Right now, it's the father who is dead and the mother is married, and everyone takes care of everyone, and He Dufu is afraid that he is going to lose power. ”

He is similar to Liu Chengyin and Huang Chaoxuan, both are native Hunan warlords, although they are attached to He Tengjiao, they do not belong to his lineage, just like a couple who have an affair and have different dreams in the same bed, just live together.

"Damn, my dad isn't dead yet! As long as He Dufu is still the governor of Huguang for one day, Hunan will be up to him! Hao Shaoqi gritted his teeth and cursed constantly, he was too deeply entangled with He Tengjiao, and offended the loyal battalion and other Ming troops, like grasshoppers on a thread, difficult to separate.

"That's right! Although the Chu army occupied Hengyang, the future prefect still had to be appointed by the governor Yamen, and it is difficult to say whether Hengyang's surname is Wang or what his surname is. Cao Zhijian suddenly put on a smiling face, hooked Hao Shaoqi's shoulder and said, "Come on, come on, let's drink!" These are all things that civilian officials worry about, why do you care so much? He Dufu should be here in the past two days, and he will naturally preside over the overall situation at that time. ”

"Hey, I didn't expect Luck Dehun and Geng Zhongming to be so unbeaten!" Hao Shaoqi picked up his wine glass, frowned and said, "I'm afraid that the Chu army has won such a big battle, and He Dufu can't suppress them!" ”

"What are you afraid of, it's a big deal to rob Changsha, even if you can't rob Changsha, He Dufu wants to return to Changsha to open a government, who can stop him?" Cao Zhijian persuaded with a smile, Hao Shaoqi poured himself wine again and again, and the amount of alcohol decreased greatly when he was depressed, and it didn't take long for him to get drunk and hazy, and lay on the table.

Cao Zhijian showed a sneer of contempt, but in a blink of an eye, he looked as usual, took the wine jug and filled it for himself, and drank dry: "This guy is really a stubborn fool, I have reminded you, you don't listen to yourself, you deserve to be unlucky." Hey, I'm just too kind-hearted to see others jumping into the ditch......"

He Dufu, who Hao Shaoqi was looking forward to, never appeared, but sent a messenger.

The messenger was a subordinate official under He Tengjiao, and also had a five-grade official body, and after seeing Wang Kefan, he was very flattering, and presented He Tengjiao's handwritten letter, in which he enthusiastically praised the great victory of the Battle of Hengyang, expressed heartfelt congratulations to Wang Kefan and all the soldiers who participated in the war, and mentioned that Yì immediately sent troops to Changsha to recover the entire territory of Hunan......

Back at Hao Shaoqi's barracks, the messenger's face changed.

"I heard that the Chu army occupied Hengyang, He Dufu dropped three cups in a row, fell one and was angry, and then fell another, and when he got up the next morning, he fell again." The messenger looked distressed, Hao Shaoqi couldn't help frowning, but Wang Jincai and the others were expressionless.

"In the battle of Hengyang, the soldiers also tried their best, but the Chu army broke the city first, and the matter was irreparable." Zhang Kuang took over the conversation and said calmly: "It is always a good thing to recover Hengyang, you can't make trouble between your own family, you go back and persuade the superintendent, you should still come to the army and discuss the plan to resist the Qing Dynasty with Wang Junmen." ”

casually sent someone to deal with the scene, and he hid and didn't meet Wang Kefan, obviously he was playing a temper and making trouble, so that outsiders could see it, and he wouldn't say that Wang Kefan had no face, but he would say that He Tengjiao had a small belly and chicken intestines.

"The military gate doesn't know anything, He Dufu has rushed to Xiangxiang at this moment to plan to attack Changsha." Zhang Kuang also belonged to the feudal officials, the envoy did not dare to slack off, replied respectfully, turned his face to face the generals, but changed a stern expression: "Although Hengyang was occupied by the Chu army, the governor of the two dynasties, He Dufu and the governor of the two dynasties, are the old friends of the current saint Nanyang, so he can naturally hold Hunan in applause, but at present, there is a lack of a big victory to boost the morale of the people, all the monarchs should work hard to move forward, and be sure to seize Changsha in front of the Chu army!" ”

In a nutshell, as long as you can win this battle, Hunan will still be our world.

"Please rest assured, I will swear to the death!" Hao Shaoqi took the lead and patted his chest with the generals to express his position......

As soon as he said to leave, several troops under the command of He Tengjiao pulled out the camp and marched to Changsha that night, and at the same time informed the Chu army and the loyal battalion to cooperate with the action. Seeing their impatient appearance, many generals of the Chu army proposed to postpone the dispatch of troops, so that they could go to the death of Shang Kexi and Xu Yong, after all, after the Battle of Hengyang, the casualties of the Chu army were not small, and it was best to rest for two more days.

"No, it's a big matter to resist the Qing Dynasty, we have to send troops immediately, cooperate when it's time to cooperate, and go up when it's time to go up." Wang Kefan said: "Shang Kexi's 40,000-strong army should not be underestimated, if he fights a big victory, the shape of Hunan will change again, and it will take a long time to attack Changsha and delay the war in other places." ”

Teng Shuanglin, Lu Renqing and others persuaded: "I'm just afraid that He Tengjiao has bad intentions, let's resist Shang Kexi in front, and he snatches Changsha in the back." ”

"The big picture counts." Wang Kefan said lightly: "Let him rob it, there will always be a saying after the incident......"

Back to his military tent, Wang Kefan had a simple meal, and then ordered someone to invite Pang Tianshou's secret messenger.

The messenger is also a eunuch, surnamed Fu Jing, and he is Pang Tianshou's henchman, after listening to Wang Kefan's briefing, he nodded and smiled: "This matter is not what my father-in-law expected, since He Tengjiao does not know how to advance and retreat, then blame the saint for being ruthless!" (To be continued......)