Seeing Wang Ju leading the troops out, Zeng Guofan thought about it and felt that it would be terrible to have a Wang Ju, and he had to think of a countermeasure! He left Guo Songtao, Liu Rong, and Luo Zenan, and sent everyone else back to wait for news.

The three of them all know the meaning of Zeng Guofan, Liu Rong has always been silent, but often speaks amazingly, he said Zeng Guofan's heart, "Long hair has the king of heaven, the king of the east, and the king of Han with short hair, our Hunan army must also have its own commander, this matter must be clear now, otherwise the Hunan army will fall apart, and now several adults in Changsha officialdom: Governor Luo Bingzhang, Admiral Bao Qibao and others are not our people!" Zhang Liangji, who could be counted on, was also transferred to Hubei, and now he can count on nothing more than three people. ”

Guo Songtao and Luo Zenan felt that what he said was very reasonable, and kept nodding, Guo Songtao saw that Liu Rong deliberately stopped and didn't speak, and couldn't hold his breath and said: "Brother Xiaxian, what are you selling, keep talking!" ”

Liu Rong looked at Zeng Guofan with admiration and said, "The first is of course the group training master!" Zeng is resourceful, no one can compare with the people here, what is more admirable is that he is ambitious, the group often says that he is 'not an official and a gentleman, and he is not effective', I think this sentence should be reversed to say 'also an official and a gentleman, and the work will be done', Zeng once worshiped the official Lang, and his influence in the court is beyond any of us can reach, he can get along with a group of military attachés, and it is not something that ordinary scholars can do, and now the banner of the Hunan army depends on Lord Zeng. ”

Zeng Guofan listened to Liu Rong's words and did not express his position, as the minister of regimental training, it was natural for him to be the commander of the Hunan army, and he was very interested in Liu Rong saying that he was 'an official and a gentleman, and he would succeed in doing things', which made him realize that his embarrassing identity could also give full play to his specific advantages.

Liu Rong saw that no one objected, and continued: "Of course, the second person in the Hunan army is Jiang Minqiao, he is now an official in Hubei according to the inspection envoy, and there are 4,000 brave men who can fight well, this is the highest official position in our Hunan army system, the most important reason why we have repeatedly encountered many difficulties in Changsha is that we lack such a position as Xiang Minqiao in our Hunan army. ”

Zeng Guofan's face is glorious, Jiang Zhongyuan is his student, and he feels honored to be recognized by everyone.

Guo Songtao and Luo Zenan agreed.

Liu Rong said in the end: "I think the third person in the Hunan army is Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang, who has the local food and salary and the personnel of the two lakes in his hands, which are urgently needed by the Hunan army, and what is more important is that Lord Wu and Zeng are teachers and students, with this relationship, at least for the time being, it can help the Hunan army through the dangerous period." ”

Luo Zenan looked at Zeng Guofan with a look of surprise, but he didn't expect that Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang who had just been transferred a month ago, was actually his teacher! In his heart, he was excited and bitter, he originally wanted to compete with Zeng Guofan for the leader of the Hunan army, but he didn't expect Zeng Guofan's relationship to be so strong, Jiang Zhongyuan was his student, and Wu Wenrong was his teacher! At this moment, this idea was completely dispelled.

Guo Songtao said: "I have a friend named Zuo Zongtang, who is from Xiangxiang like everyone, is a rare talent, and is by no means an ordinary idle person, he is very influential in Hunan officialdom, if he can rush to Changsha and enter the shogunate of the governor, he can communicate the connection between Hunan officialdom and the Hunan army, which is very important to the Hunan army." He didn't know that Zuo Zongtang was abducted to Nanjing by Li Yunzhong half a year ago.

Everyone unanimously agreed with this opinion and asked Guo Songtao to contact Zuo Zongtang as soon as possible.

After the last day, Zeng Guofan said: "Since everyone has no opinion, in order to avoid the appearance of people like Wang Zhu in the Hunan army in the future, I plan to set up two institutions, one is the camp office, and the other is the food and salary platform, the camp office will be responsible for operations, personnel appointment and dismissal, and promotion, and the food and salary station will be responsible for the logistics support of the Hunan army, including raising military salaries, grain and grass to the front line, etc., Brother Guo is talented, he can be in charge of the camp office, and Brother Zhong Yue will take the responsibility of the food and salary station, what do you think?" ”

Guo Songtao is now a ghost, and he is dedicated to the front line activities to make contributions, how can he have the heart to serve as the chief of staff? So I didn't want to refuse on the spot: "Thank you Brother Disheng for your trust, it's just that at this time, long and short hair is rampant, I'd better go to the front line!" ”

Luo Zenan also doesn't want to be a grandson everywhere all day long in order to raise money, begging grandpa to sue grandma! Shaking his head and vetoing, "Disheng or choose another virtuous, I have to go to the battlefield to gain fame as a civilian, so I can only live up to Disheng!" ”

Seeing that they were unwilling, Zeng Guofan did not force it, anyway, after this conversation, he already knew the organizational framework of the Hunan army, as the commander of the Hunan army, he would really show his authority and lead it in a unified manner, "Now that the Hunan army has been created, it is not suitable to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, you will be wronged for a few more days, and go back to persuade the battalion officers and commanders below." ”

…………

Zeng Guofan didn't expect to persuade Guo Songtao and Luo Zenan to slow down the day before, and today he received a letter from Jiang Zhongyuan asking for help, so he had to send troops to help, so he had a headache, and he used to persuade him with morality and other great truths, so he reluctantly let Guo Songtao, Luo Zenan, Li Xubin and others stay, this time Jiang Zhongyuan was promoted to the governor of Jiangxi, there is a better future there, I am afraid that forcing them to keep will really split the Hunan army, it is better to let them happily go to support Jiangxi!

In September, Luo Zenan, Guo Songtao, Zhu Sunyi, Li Xubin and others set off from Hengyang with 1,000 people from the 3rd battalion at the order of Zeng Guofan, passing through Xiangxiang and recruiting 3,500 new people, and only 1,000 Yongding from Xinhua stayed with Zeng Guofan.

Luo Zenan, Guo Songtao, Li Xubin and others led a purely scholarly force, they were all high-spirited, but they didn't know much about marching and fighting, and Li Xubin, who had the most experience, had only suppressed bandits in his hometown, and it was the first time to fight in the province.

Along the way, although they ate and slept in the open, they were very interested, and often drank and wrote poems.

Guo Songtao is fantasizing that he is already a powerful figure, galloping on the battlefield like Zhou Yafu, invincible. was a little fluttering, and said to Luo Zenan: "Brother Zhongyue, with such a beautiful day, I don't want to make a poem to help the fun!" ”

Luo Zenan couldn't see his thoughts, and excused himself: "It's better to ask Bochen first!" You were selected as a Jinshi in the fifteenth year of Daoguang and were selected as the Jishi of the Hanlin Academy, which is a model for my generation! ”

Guo Songtao smiled, he had been working on this poem for three days, just waiting for this moment to show off, "Ha Luha, then I won't shirk anymore,

Jiangxi looked west to pick up Wu Jing, and Wu Chu was in danger of fighting.

The drizzle of the lonely city passed today, and the autumn breeze was born last night.

Heng furnace was in different places, and Zhang Gong exchanged to Haiping.

If the thieves are so rampant, who should know the Yafu camp?

What do you think? ”

Li Xubin complimented: "Good poetry, now that we are fighting with the short hairs in Jiangxi, we must be invincible like Zhou Yafu, and when the time comes, we will also be the marquis and worship the prime minister, so that this life will not be in vain." ”

Jingdezhen, Jiangxi

The Third Army was transferred to Jiangxi when it hit a wall under the city of Suzhou, Zeng Shuiyuan led the Third Army back to Nanjing to take a boat north to Anhui Province, disembarked at Anqing Mansion, and went straight to Jingdezhen after entering Jiangxi.

The Third Army did not expect that as soon as Jingdezhen was captured, it would face a quarrel.

Jiao Liang looked at Zeng Shuiyuan angrily, "I am the governor of Jiangxi, you have to listen to me, I will order you to lead the army to raid Nanchang now, as long as you occupy Nanchang City, Jiangxi will be decided." ”

Zeng Shuiyuan felt that this was too risky, and retorted: "The Qing demons in Nanchang City have been prepared, if the Qing demon reinforcements can't be attacked for a long time, our third army will be in danger of being wiped out, or feint to attack Nanchang City, and wait for the Jiangxi Qing demons to gather in Nanchang to go south, attack Shangrao and Yingtan, so that it will be connected with Jiujiang Mansion, and we will be able to completely gain a foothold in Jiangxi Station, and then cooperate with the water army of Jiujiang, Nanchang can be captured as well." ”

Jiao Liang knew that what he said made sense, but he still wanted to be a veritable governor like Hu Yihuang and Meng Sheng, and said stubbornly: "The Qing demon is vulnerable, as long as our army reaches the city of Nanchang, there is a chance that the army will occupy Nanchang without blood, think about it, how happy the King of Han will be to learn that our army occupies Nanchang, and Jiangxi will definitely allow the Third Army to expand its establishment like the First Army and the Seventh Army, 30,000 people!" Fifty thousand! Or even a hundred thousand! Don't you want to command 100,000 men? ”

100,000 people! Zeng Shuiyuan instantly became enthusiastic, in order not to interfere with the production of the people, the king of Han has not allowed the army to expand privately, if the third army independently captures Jiangxi this time, His Royal Highness the king of Han will be very happy. But if it fails, it will definitely suffer heavy losses, "I still think that it is appropriate to be steady, Jingdezhen and Nanchang are separated by Fanyang Lake, and our army has no water division, so we must make a detour to Fuzhou, which will delay for another day." ”

Jiao Liang saw that he really couldn't convince Zeng Shuiyuan, and he couldn't resist the temptation to capture Nanchang, so he immediately threatened: "The third army was brought out by me, you see if they listen to you or listen to me, if you don't agree, I will lead the third army to attack Nanchang, and then the king of Han will learn that the blame will come down, you and I can't afford it!" ”

"How can you do such a thing!" Zeng Shuiyuan said angrily

Jiao Liang regretted it just now, this word will reach the ears of the King of Han, not to mention the governor of Jiangxi, even the prefect of Nanchang can't do it! Immediately he breathed in harmony, "Water source! Don't be angry, I was wrong just now, we are all thinking about the great cause of the King of Han, and it is normal to have a little disagreement, let's think about it again, do you want to capture Shangrao first? OK! There are more than 9,000 people in the Third Army, plus 1,000 firearms battalions, that is, tens of thousands of people, you and I each bring 5,000, divide the troops! You hit yours, I'll hit mine. ”

Zeng Shuiyuan also felt that this proposal was very good, "That's it, you take the Fifth Division to fight Nanchang, I will take the Sixth Division to fight Shangrao, and the firearms battalion is also one and a half!" ”

Jiao Liang said: "Jingdezhen is our back road, we have to defend it, let's leave a thousand people to guard the city, you can see it." ”

"Okay, that's it!"