Deng Ming thought hard and had no other better way, so he agreed to Yuan Zongdi's plan, and after dawn the next day, he asked the soldiers to escort Gao Mingzhan to the ship, and ordered thousands of soldiers to line up on the boat and shout to the Qing army in Chóngqìng.

"Gao Mingzhan and Tan Yi were captured."

"My army has already sent troops to the Sword Pavilion and smashed Sanqin."

"You're alone."

"Li Guoying hasn't come down early?"

Yesterday, the Ming army also prepared countless letters, and at this time, they also tied bows and arrows together, and asked the sailors to go to the opposite bank.

Today, after seeing the Ming army's sailors coming out, the Qing army on the shore estimated that they were going to make a big move, and they were all ready to fight. After hearing the news, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi also hurriedly climbed to the top of the city to watch the movement of the Ming army on the river, and at the same time put the Qing army sailors hidden in the Jialing River on guard, ready to rush out at any time to cooperate with the land to fight.

At first, Li Guoying thought that the Ming army was going to try to attack once, but after seeing that the Ming army's sailors were not close to the north bank, but lined up on the Yangtze River, he was also a little puzzled. Li Guoying continued to observe, and at the same time asked the sailors and the standard battalion not to move lightly, wanting to see what the Ming army planned before making a decision.

After hearing the shouts of the Ming army, the staff and generals around Li Guoying all changed, and they had already seen that the Ming army had tied a person to the bow of the current big ship, but the distance was too far, and they couldn't see whether it was Gao Mingzhan himself.

After the Ming army shouted a few times, they threw an overwhelming array of feather arrows to the shore, and some of them landed in front of the Qing army camp. Immediately soldiers ran over to pick them up, brought them back and handed them into the hands of the officers, who did not dare to delay and immediately asked the heralds to deliver the letters into the city as quickly as possible.

Soon the first letter was presented to the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Li Guoying opened the letter with a stern expression, saying that Gao Mingzhan and Tan Yi were defeated by the Ming army in Jiangyou, and the Qing army attacking western Sichuan was completely annihilated, and these two people had also fallen into the hands of the Ming army. Then more letters were sent by the other heralds, some of which were the same as the first letter, and Li Guoying hurriedly glanced at them and threw them aside. Others sent ridicule from the Ming army, saying that Deng Ming, the governor of Sichuan, had already seen through Li Guoying's plan, and it was Deng Ming who personally led a brigade to Jiangyou to eliminate Gao Mingzhan, and now Deng Ming had sent a partial general to take Guangyuan, Hanzhong, Xi'an and other places, and he rushed to Chóngqìng to meet Li Guoying.

After reading the contents of these letters, the faces of the people around Li Guoying all changed drastically, and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi dispatched the main forces of Baoning and Hanzhong to Chóngqìng, and the rear was already very empty. If Deng Mingzhen sent an army of tens of thousands out of the Sword Pavilion, Guangyuan would not have the slightest chance at all, even Hanzhong was estimated to be taken by the Ming army in one fell swoop, and even Xi'an would be threatened by Yan - now Shaanxi has neither jīng soldiers nor large soldiers in charge.

That is, Xi'an blocked the offensive of the Ming army, which did not benefit the crisis of Chóngqìng in the slightest, once the Ming army cut off the navigation of the Jialing River, tens of thousands of Qing troops from Boring to Chóngqìng would be isolated. In recent years, Liu Wenxiu and Wu Sangui have been fighting many times in this area, and they no longer have any ability to provide food and grass for the army, and if they lose contact with Guanzhong, this Qing army will end up with Gao Mingzhan's army.

Sooner or later, the people around the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi all figured out their current situation, and suddenly everyone's faces turned pale. Although Li Guoying, who was in the middle of them, was still strong enough to support himself, his heart was also turbulent at this time, and he was no less shocked than his staff and generals. Unlike his subordinates, they did not know the situation of the emptiness in the rear completely, and the specific numbers of troops stationed in various places were not clear everywhere, but Li Guoying knew very well how empty the rear was. Baoning and Hanzhong are the northernmost points of Hong Chengchou's 5,000-mile defense line, with a large number of fortresses and fortifications, but without sufficient defenders, no matter how strong the defense line is, it will not be able to exert its might. If tens of thousands of Ming troops were killed from the Sword Pavilion, then this line of defense that the Qing court had painstakingly operated for many years would be paper paste at all, and it would be broken with a single stab.

"Huh." Li Guoying calmed down: "This is a bluff of the thieves, it must be that they know that Governor Gao has broken through Chengdu, and the thieves are not allowed to advance, so they just want to disturb our army." ”

At this time, there was an express newspaper outside the city, and some officers who knew Gao Mingzhan leaned to the shore to look, and felt that the person who was tied to the boat by the Ming army seemed to be Gao Mingzhan himself.

The hearts of those who had just been appeased by Li Guoying were suddenly mentioned again.

Seeing that the people around him were all stunned, Li Guoying had no choice but to send a few of his men out of the city to the river, see the people on the Ming army boat clearly, and then come back to report.

After several staff members and generals took the order to leave, the people at the head of the city exchanged words one after another, and although Li Guoying did not say a word, he was also eager to know the truth or falsehood.

"If Gao Mingzhan and Tan Yizhen are defeated and captured, then the Chóngqìng army has already fallen into danger, and if they abandon the city and retreat immediately, they don't know if they will have time to escape from the danger." Li Guoying pondered in his heart, and felt that the best way was to rush back to Baoning at full speed in person, and at the same time bring back the sailor and the standard camp: "The thieves have no sailors on the Jialing River, it is difficult for tens of thousands of troops to cross the river quickly, and it is not easy to transport baggage, as long as I return in a hurry to maintain the morale of the army, plus the sailors patrol the river, and the standard battalion rushes to help, it is still very likely to keep the front line of Guangyuan and Boring." In this way, the army can also slowly retreat, and the whole army will not be destroyed. ”

However, Li Guoying also knew that now that the Qing army had penetrated deep into the hinterland of Sichuan and had become a hanging army, if he did not leave enough generals to break off, he was afraid that the army here would collapse as soon as he left. In that case, even if Li Guoying was able to hold Guangyuan and Boryeong, the main force of Sichuan and Shaanxi would be destroyed on the way to withdraw from Chóngqìng to Boryeong.

Thinking of this, Li Guoying glanced at Wang Mingde, and thought in his heart: "Last time Gao Mingzhan abandoned the city and fled, General Wang defended the lonely city alone, resisted the strong enemy, and did not waver and surrender, this courage is very rare; These rìzi came to him to command the army to advance and retreat to a certain extent, and it seems that the military strategy is also very good...... Well, if Gao Mingzhan's defeat is true, I will immediately return to the division with the standard battalion and the water division, and let General Wang preside over the overall situation, presumably he can properly bring these Ganshan green battalions back. ”

The people at the head of the city watched the people who went to distinguish the authenticity gallop out of the city and rushed towards the river, only to see those people stay by the river for a while, then they turned their horses' heads and flew back towards the chóngqìng.

"After seeing these people coming, the thieves sailed closer to the north shore, and seemed to be fearless, and most of the people on board were very discerning." After seeing the movements of the Ming army on the river, Li Guoying's heart gradually sank, and when he saw the spies rushing back at full speed, he already knew in his heart that the person in the hands of the Ming army must be a wise man, otherwise the movements of his subordinates would not be so flustered.

The people sent to inspect ran up to the city sweating profusely, and before they could rush to Li Guoying's approach, they wailed loudly: "Your Excellency, the big thing is not good, Governor Gao has really been captured." ”

"Hmm." Although Li Guoying still had a calm face and had been mentally prepared for the news, after he heard the bad news, his chest still seemed to have been hit hard, and his stiff face twitched nervously.

Li Guoying knew very well when Gao Mingzhan entered the Sword Pavilion, and he also knew when Gao Mingzhan would be able to arrive in Jiangyou: "Gao Mingzhan's army has been defeated for so long, and I haven't even gotten the news, it must have been wiped out by thieves, and no soldier can escape." God, with more than 10,000 paces to ride, not a single person or horse can escape back to Guangyuan to report the news...... When exactly did Deng Ming's army pass from Chóngqìng? Why don't I know at all? ”

There has already been a strategy and two governors who died at the hands of Deng Ming, and there is a private rumor circulating in the Qing court that Deng Ming is the nemesis of high-ranking officials, although Li Guoying dismissed it as nonsense, but it is inevitable that there is a pimple in his heart.

"Did Deng Ming find me this time? Am I going to follow in the footsteps of Hong Jinglue, Governor Hu, and Governor Lang? Li Guoying's heart flashed such a thought, there was no more time to delay, Li Guoying's eyes flashed, and he looked at Wang Mingde, intending to give this person the important task of stabilizing the army's heart and leading the chóngqìng army out of danger.

Shut down

"Ahh When the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi opened his mouth to speak, Wang Mingde, who had high hopes for him, suddenly let out a miserable scream, and just now after hearing that Guangyuan was in danger, Wang Mingde felt a whirlwind of the world, and a sense of despair surged overwhelmingly, almost knocking Wang Mingde down on the spot. Thieves lie! The thieves are lying! This was the only belief that supported Wang Mingde from falling down immediately, and when this last hope was ruthlessly broken, Wang Mingde could no longer hold on.

This time the shape shì was even more sinister than a year ago, and Wang Mingde could not stop comforting himself that time, saying that the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi and the king of Pingxi would come back at any time to reinforce him, and as long as he held on for a few more days, he could hope for reinforcements. But this time, Wang Mingde was caught in the net with the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Deng Mingjia had tens of thousands of soldiers, such a powerful force could not relieve the siege of chóngqìng unless the troops of the surrounding provinces were mobilized, but it would be the year of the monkey to mobilize the troops of several provinces?

"Retire." Wang Mingde's legs were weak, and he stumbled and almost fell to the ground, and after he reacted, he immediately pounced on Li Guoying: "Your Excellency, retreat quickly!" ”

After confirming that Gao Mingzhan was captured, the people around him were also dumbfounded, and they were speechless as if they were in a dream, they were all awakened from the nightmare by Wang Mingde's words, and they rushed up together to persuade Li Guoying to return to the division quickly.

Without answering the pleas of the people around him, Li Guoying stared at Wang Mingde for a while, feeling that something was broken in his heart, which was his ardent expectation for this person: "I can't hand over the army to this person, otherwise as soon as I leave, the army will collapse immediately." ”

There was a mess in the city, and everyone forgot to stop the spread of the news, and soon all kinds of rumors spread among the Qing army, and soon it turned into Guangyuan had been lost, and now everyone had fallen into death. These rumors spread outside the city and spread to the Qing army on the banks of the river, and after the Ming army came with a large number of feathered arrows, a few literate officers read the contents, and after seeing the chaos in the city, the uneasiness in the army gradually turned into fear.

Li Guoying also hid cannons and guns in his camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and they were all engrossed in waiting for orders, ready to meet the landing Ming army at any time. But now, both the firearms and the archers have become terrified, and some have even left their posts.

……

"The Qing army seems to be a bit chaotic." Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi had been observing the movements of the Qing army on the other side of the shore, and they waited for most of the hour, but did not see the Qing army take measures to eliminate the influence of the Ming army's propaganda, but listened to the Ming army's incessant persuasion to surrender on the ship.

"It seems that the Qing army by the river is stirring." Deng Ming tried to stand higher on horseback, wanting to see the situation on the other side more clearly, and his heart suddenly moved: "Is this an opportunity for us to land suddenly?" ”

"The Admiral must not be reckless." Yuan Zongdi hurriedly stopped: "Li Guoying is a general, although the incident happened suddenly, he will not be at a loss. ”

"Then why does the Qing army look restless?" Deng Mingyao pointed to the enemy troops on the other side: "And Li Guoying doesn't say drumming, just let us keep persuading him to surrender, is he frightened, and he doesn't know what to do?" ”

Yuan Zongdi squinted and looked at it for a while, then nodded slightly: "Tartar is a little strange. ”

"Does General Yuan think so?" Deng Ming asked with some expectation: "Are we going to land, let's try it." ”

"No, no." Yuan Zongdi pondered for a moment and said: "Li Guoying is not like this, there is something abnormal. Well, there must be a fraud. ”

"Fraud?"

"yes." Yuan Zongdi and Li Guoying have fought many times, and he feels that the other party is a calm commander, and he will not lose his self-control because a Gao Mingzhan is captured: "Most likely they want to lure us to land." ”

"Really?" Deng Ming has never met Li Guoying, since Yuan Zongdi said that Li Guoying will not be like this, then he naturally has no objection.

However, Yuan Zongdi did not know how empty Hanzhong and Guangyuan were now--although he and Deng Ming guessed that there would not be many left-behind troops in the rear of the Qing army, but they definitely did not expect that they were already approaching empty cities-so Yuan Zongdi could not imagine how much shock he and Deng Ming's casual remarks caused to Li Guoying.

"I can't see clearly." Although Deng Ming couldn't refute Yuan Zongdi's opinion, he still felt that the Qing army on the other side seemed to be abnormal, and he had not completely given up the idea of launching a surprise landing operation and taking advantage of the chaos of the Qing army to make a surprise attack: "Call a boat, I'll go to the front and have a look." ”

Deng Ming planned to go to the battleship in the middle of the river to see the shape of the Qing army camp up close.

But this time, the guards spoke out to stop them: "We don't know where the Tartars have hidden the artillery, and the Admiral must not take the risk lightly." ”

"It's not the first time I've been close to an enemy soldier." Deng Ming was a little disapproving: "What are you worried about?" ”

"It's not the same on a ship as it is on land." Li Xinghan shouted: "In the land battle, we can escort the commander on the left and right, but it is completely different on the river, what if the commander's boat is concentrated by the thieves' artillery?" ”

"How can it be so coincidental?" Deng Ming felt that this risk was obviously much smaller than charging with a sword, and besides, the Qing artillery on the opposite side did not have such a high hit rate, and the power was never so great that it could sink the ship with a single shot.

"Admiral, in the past, there were only limited soldiers and horses, or the situation was critical." Zhao Tianba also disagreed with Deng Ming to leave the land of Anru Taishan and go to the riverboat where he was at risk: "Now that the Admiral has tens of thousands of troops around him, how can he always be the same as a ranger?" ”

"Zhao Qianhu, they are loyal," Yuan Zongdi also persuaded on the side: "The Admiral is now the Lord of the Crowd, don't do such a risky thing anymore, if the Admiral's safety is shaken, the army will be in danger." ”

In short, no one went to call Deng Ming the ferry, and seeing that everyone thought like this, Deng Ming couldn't insist, so he could only stay on the shore and continue to look at the vague opposite shore.

After about half an hour, two cannons suddenly rang out at the head of the city, followed by a loud drum beat.

Li Guoying had already recovered from the shock at this time, and after seeing all the generals surrounding him and persuading him to withdraw from the army instead of going to Cāo to control the troops, Li Guoying, who woke up from a dream, was furious: "What are you all doing here? If the thieves suddenly landed, wouldn't they be caught off guard? ”

Looking down from the city, Li Guoying saw that the order on the side of the camp had also collapsed, and many officers and soldiers gathered together to discuss after the battle, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat: "What's going on down here?" Isn't it over when the thieves come ashore? ”

Li Guoying immediately ordered the opening of cannons and drums to wake up the officers and soldiers inside and outside the city.

"Shell the enemy ship immediately!" Li Guoying pointed to the Ming boat on the river and shouted: "They are not allowed to continue to demagogue." ”

In order to restore order as much as possible, Li Guoying did not hesitate to send his standard battalion out, and the troops outside the city returned to their posts, and the gunners began to attack the river from their hidden gun emplacements. These attacks did not cause any losses to the Ming army, but after seeing the Qing army's artillery fire, the Ming army also retreated to the other side of the river.

After the Ming army retreated, Li Guoying announced in public that he would not retreat from Chóngqìng, and then ignored everyone's advice, returned to his study, and sat alone behind the table to think about countermeasures.

"The withdrawal of troops is certain, but it can't be too rushed." Wang Mingde's expression made Li Guoying realize that he was the only one who could sit in the chóngqìng and leave safely with the Ganshan Green Battalion: "I must not leave, otherwise the officers and soldiers will think that I, like Gao Mingzhan, abandoned the army and escaped alone." ”

In addition to Wang Mingde, the tables of other generals also made Li Guoying very dissatisfied: "The strong generals of the jīng soldiers have all gone to Guizhou, and the rest are the second-rate generals selected by Hong Jing, if Zhao Liangdong, Daniel Zhang, and Wang Jinbao are here, they will not be able to do so." ”

After thinking about it, Li Guoying decided to wait for two more days: "Deng Ming can gather Gao Mingzhan to annihilate him with one drum, and his troops must be very strong." But Gao Mingzhan didn't know that I had already emptied the troops of Baoning and Hanzhong, and Deng Ming wouldn't know either, and his partial generals would also enter the army cautiously after leaving the Sword Pavilion, so I still have time. ”

"After waiting for two days, when the people here are a little settled, I will send Wang Mingde to lead the sailors back to the standard camp, all the artillery will be used to block the Jialing River, and I will personally lead the army to slowly retreat." Li Guoying felt that this was the best way to save the Qing army: "And the king of Pingxi also said that he would send reinforcements to Chóngqìng, I will wait for two more days, if they arrive in these two days, I will take them to withdraw the troops together, and I will be considered benevolent." ”