In Wuchang Mansion, Li Weiguo feasted the generals of the Wu Army, and all the surrendered officials and generals of the former Hunan Army Group, including Li Yuandu, also participated.

The hall was crowded with laughter.

The generals of the Wu army made new contributions, Li Weiguo rewarded them greatly, and Li Yuandu and other officials and generals who surrendered to the former Hunan army were also promoted and rewarded by Li Weiguo because of their initiative to surrender to sincerity.

Of course, not all the people in the Hunan army group accepted Li Weiguo's reward, and some stubborn officials and generals gave up the opportunity to become officials, saying that they would neither join Li Weiguo's shogunate, nor would they join other forces to contend with Li Weiguo, so they were pardoned by Li Weiguo, let them be dismissed and returned to their hometowns, and became ordinary people.

The banquet is to increase the friendship between the Wu army group and the generals of the Hunan army, and the two sides will work together in the future, which will be a big family, so put aside all kinds of prejudices and grievances in the past, and look forward together.

Li Weiguo was very generous, and he was very generous to the generals of the Hunan army, as long as he had the ability, he could still take the position, and he could even get a higher or even important position than he had previously under Zeng Guofan.

Of course, the treatment of military power was a sensitive issue, and the generals of the Hunan army also knew that it was impossible to expect Li Weiguo to return their original army to their command. However, the compensation given by Li Weiguo was also very generous, and the original Hunan army generals could choose to be demoted to the Wu army, or they could go to the military academy established by Li Weiguo for a period of three years of study, and the latter military academy could be reinstated after graduation, which became the choice of most Hunan army generals, and it was also a smart choice.

As for the ordinary soldiers of the Hunan army, they were scattered and sent to the new barracks for a three-month military training. The main thing is to study the military regulations and regulations of the Wu army, train in formation, and adapt to the combat mode of the Wu army as soon as possible.

Of course, the most important thing is brainwashing, to understand who their new master is, memorizing Li Wei's Chinese quotations is a must. Loyalty is always the most important military rule of the Wu army.

In the entire two provinces, there were more than 450,000 Hunan troops under Zeng Guofan, including 200,000 regular troops and 250,000 local garrison troops. These armies were led by generals such as Luo Zenan, Zeng Guoquan, Peng Yupho, Jiang Zhongyuan, Guo Songtao, etc., among which Luo Zenan was beheaded by Li Yuandu when he was defending Wuchang, and 20,000 troops under his account were controlled by Li Yuandu, Zeng Guoquan took more than 30,000 people from the elite of the Hunan army, including the Changsheng army, to Henan to fight with Li Hongzhang's general Ding Richang, and Peng Yupho led 25,000 troops to Sichuan and fought fiercely with the Qing army in Sichuan, both of which were Zeng Guofan's diehards. Therefore, they were transferred out of Huguang by Li Yuan's holiday order, so that they could not stop Li Weiguo's army from entering Hunan and Hubei.

Aside from the two Hunan armies of Zeng Guoquan and Peng Yupho, the other Hunan armies all surrendered to Li Weiguo, making Li Weiguo have nearly 400,000 troops for nothing.

However, among the 400,000 troops, they were all selected according to the standards of the former Hunan army, and only 150,000 were finally qualified by the standards of the Wu army.

Li Weiguo is not short of soldiers now, and for the purpose of weakening the strength of the original Hunan army, only these 150,000 elites are retained. The other 250,000 soldiers of the Hunan Army were all changed to second-line troops, and they were asked to build railways and roads, and they were named the Construction Corps.

The reason for this arrangement is that Li Weiguo has two considerations: safety and production.

If the 250,000 soldiers of the Hunan Army were all dismissed and sent home. They do not have jobs, which will cause social pressure on the local government, and if they join forces such as Li Hongzhang and Yixin under the instigation of people with good intentions, it will bring a military threat to the Wu army.

Now Li Weiguo dominates the ten provinces south of the Yangtze River. Except for Jiangnan Province and Zhejiang Province, which have modern infrastructure such as railways and telegraphs, the other eight provinces have none at all, considering future economic development and military convenience. Li Weiguo has ordered the Liangjiang Chamber of Commerce to start investing in the construction of railways, telegraphs and other infrastructure projects in the other eight provinces, and these 250,000 Hunan soldiers, what a good free labor, there is no place to find them with lanterns, Li Weiguo does not want to waste it. Therefore, imitating Taizu to form a production and construction corps is a multi-task.

The remaining 150,000 Hunan troops, although they were receiving military regulations and training from the Wu army, Li Weiguo did not distribute them with the standard equipment of the Wu army. The advanced weapons and equipment such as patriotic rifles, 59 infantry guns, radiums, and mines made the Hunan officers and soldiers blind, but Li Weiguo told them that they could only get them if they made meritorious contributions.

This is an encouragement, and it is also a hope for the soldiers of the former Hunan Army, otherwise directly distributing them with advanced weapons and equipment will not get good results.

After the banquet, Li Weiguo left Li Yuandu and seven others alone.

"You have lurked in the enemy's camp for twelve years, and now you have done a great job, and the king is deeply gratified and pleased. Back then, this king said that you 100 people will be the eternal myth and hero of S.H.I.E.L.D., as long as you come back after completing your mission one day, this king promises you that you can choose any official position within the scope of this king's authority. ”

Li Weiguo paused and said: "Now that you have returned from completing the task, you have helped this king get the two provinces of Huguang and Guangdong, and the credit is huge, let's say, what official position do you want?" ”

At that time, Li Weiguo secretly trained 100 agents, and once promised them that if Li Weiguo was the head of a county, they could choose any position in the county, and if Li Weiguo was the head of a province, they could choose any position in the whole province. No matter how high Li Weiguo's achievements are, they can choose any position within Li Weiguo's authority, such as county commanders, prefects, governors, and governors, they can choose at will, as long as Li Weiguo has it, they can ask for it.

Li Yuandu and the other seven people were one of the 100 people that year, and now that they have returned from completing the task, they naturally want to be rewarded, but they didn't expect Li Weiguo to really dare to fulfill the promise of the year.

This is not an ordinary promise, and now Li Weiguo is the king of Wu, with ten provinces under his jurisdiction, and the highest can appoint governors.

Li Yuandu and the others trembled in their hearts, excited, and eager, they have been lurking for twelve years, and none of them will definitely not be able to stay for so long.

"What? Don't say it? Li Yuandu, what official position do you want? Li Weiguo saw that the other party didn't speak, so he asked Li Yuandu to start.

Li Yuandu took a deep breath and said, "The prince took us in and taught us skills, and he has already recreated us with kindness, and the minister does not dare to have extravagant hopes." ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Okay, this king will be rewarded for his merits, and he will be punished for his mistakes." Since I promised you back then, I will now fulfill it. You must remember that you are the first batch of 100 people to return from meritorious service, and the others will come back in the future to take away their good official positions, so don't regret it. ”

Li Yuandu and the others were suddenly entangled. Of course, they didn't want that kind of result, but they really didn't dare to ask Li Weiguo for an official position.

Li Weiguo saw their doubts, so he said: "Forget it, this king will choose for you, if you don't like it, you can mention it to this king, how about it?" ”

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, so they all nodded in agreement.

Li Weiguo thought for a while and said, "Among you. Li Yuandu has the greatest credit, and the biggest official in the hands of this king is only the position of governor. Li Yuandu, this king appointed you as the governor of Huguang, are you satisfied? ”

Governor of Huguang? O Forehead God! This official is also very big!

Everyone was surprised, Li Yuandu's eyes were even more round, he guessed that Li Weiguo would give him a governor's position at most, but he didn't expect Li Weiguo to directly give him a governor of Huguang.

In the blink of an eye, he is a feudal official! This lurking for 12 years in exchange for a feudal official to sit on is really worth it and a lot of money.

Li Yuandu was pleasantly surprised. But he still said modestly: "This, the prince is very loving, and his subordinates are very grateful, but this Huguang governor is too big." Your Majesty can't afford it. ”

Li Weiguo was still very appreciative of Li Yuandu's modest attitude, so he said: "You were able to get the master of the Chu Palace's book under Zeng Guofan's hands before, which shows that your ability is there." Now that this king has just taken control of the two provinces of Huguang and Guangzhou, you must help this king completely control the two provinces. If this king appoints another person to be the governor of Huguang, I am afraid that there will always be a gap, so you are the best candidate. You try to take care of it first. The king will send men to help you, and you must have confidence in your abilities, and the king is optimistic about you. ”

Li Yuandu was immediately grateful, knelt down and thanked him: "Minister Li Yuandu thanks the prince for his support, and he will live up to the prince's great kindness." ”

Li Weiguo arranged for Li Yuandu to serve as the governor of Huguang, firstly, to reward and fulfill his promises, and secondly, he hoped to control the two provinces of Huguang as soon as possible, because Li Yuandu was familiar with the personnel within the Hunan military group and it was much easier to manage than others.

As for the other six agents, Li Weiguo also asked them about their wishes one by one and fulfilled his promise. Five of them were elected as the prefect, the county commander, the brigade commander, the regiment commander and the police chief, and the last person was named Cheng Kun, who just wanted to stay in the China S.H.I.E.L.D. to work, so Li Weiguo directly appointed Cheng Kun as the deputy director of the intelligence department of the China S.H.I.E.L.D., specifically responsible for training intelligence agents.

The other six people did not continue to choose to stay in S.H.I.E.L.D., Li Weiguo was still a little disappointed in this, only this Cheng Kun body made Li Weiguo feel a trace of real relief, an excellent agent who could lurk for twelve years without exposing the final successful completion of the mission, this is the person Li Weiguo needs, and it is also the person that China S.H.I.E.L.D. needs the most. For Cheng Kun, Li Weiguo wants to focus on cultivating him, and in the future, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be all over the world, and talents like Cheng Kun are needed too much.

After Li Yuandu and the others left, Li Weiguo stopped Cheng Kun alone.

"I just received a tip, Li Hongzhang has already gained insight into the plan carefully arranged by this king, it is his adviser Zhou Fu, at this moment Zhou Fu is being sent by Li Hongzhang to Wuchang to bargain with this king, what do you think of this matter?"

Cheng Kun thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty asks the king to get rid of Zhou Fu immediately, otherwise the agents arranged by the king to be by Li Hongzhang's side will be in danger." ”

Li Weiguo asked rhetorically: "How can you see it?" Like you, they have been lurking around Li Hongzhang for a long time, and Li Hongzhang should not suspect them. ”

Cheng Kun shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, your subordinates have dealt with Zhou Fu, this person is very shrewd, and he cooperated with Li Hongzhang to take charge of intelligence work when he was in the Hunan army. Since this person deduced that Zeng Guofan's rebellion was manipulated by Wang Shangwei behind the scenes, he would definitely keep an eye on Li Yuandu and analyze Li Yuandu. Li Yuandu has been by Zeng Guofan's side for 12 years, and he is deeply respected, and he began to support Zeng Guofan's rebellion five years ago, but now he suddenly framed Zeng Guofan in turn, for only two reasons, either he has an enmity with Zeng Guofan, or he has been the king's person from the beginning, otherwise it is impossible to do so. Obviously, with Zhou Fu's shrewdness, he will definitely think of the latter. Even people like Li Yuandu are people from the king, Zhou Fu will definitely suspect the people around Li Hongzhang, with his shrewdness, as long as he places a trap, it is estimated that he will catch the handle. ”

After hearing this, Li Weiguo immediately frowned, and said: "It's the king's carelessness, I didn't expect that there would be such a master under Li Hongzhang's hands." Cheng Kun, do you have a way to deal with it? ”

Cheng Kun thought for a while and said: "Qiqi Wang, when Zeng Guofan saw Wang Shang in Shanghai, he moved his mind, and ordered Li Hongzhang and Zhou Fu to arrange to sneak into Shanghai now, and install them around Wang Shang for surveillance, and later Li Hongzhang took Zhou Fu to Anhui, and those eyeliners that sneaked into Shanghai became Li Hongzhang's. According to the judgment of His Majesty, Li Hongzhang's eyeliner is in the palace and Wu Jun, and for the sake of today's plan, he will try his best to get rid of these eyeliner while getting rid of Zhou Fu. But this can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Eyeliner Li Hongzhang can be re-inserted, and the death of Zhou Fu may also alarm other shrewd people, after all, Li Hongzhang has a lot of capable people under him. ”

Li Weiguo stood up and walked back and forth, a little restless.

No one knows the importance of spy warfare better than Li Weiguo, and the victory or defeat of many wars depends on spy warfare.

It can be said unequivocally that if you lose the spy war, you basically lose the war.

Espionage warfare is a battlefield without gunpowder, which precedes the outbreak of conventional wars, but determines the outcome and success or failure of wars.

No one can be taken lightly, especially Li Weiguo.

This action against Zeng Guofan can be said to be another classic example of spy warfare, Li Weiguo tasted the sweetness, and he could feel the double-edged sword attribute of spy warfare, if he couldn't hurt the enemy, he would be injured by the enemy.

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo suddenly said: "Cheng Kun, you should immediately investigate the hidden enemy spies around us now, but don't touch them yet, report to the king, this king is of great use." As for Zhou Fu, don't touch him yet, we can try to use him, maybe we can achieve unexpected results. ”

Cheng Kun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked: "The king's intention will be calculated, and Zhou Fu's cleverness will be used to make it mistaken by cleverness!" ”

Talent! You guessed it!

Li Weiguo suddenly smiled, glanced at Cheng Kun more, and nodded with satisfaction, thinking that this Cheng Kun has two brushes, his mind is very flexible, and he is a material for a spy, so it is really a wise move to let him stay in the Chinese S.H.I.E.L.D.

"You're good!"

"Thank you for your compliment! It's all the king's training! ”

Looking at Cheng Kun's smile, Li Weiguo's smile quickly disappeared, but there was a little more solemnity in his eyes. (To be continued.) )