"Be kind to the soldiers and be proud of the doctors." Zhou Peigong replied to Hu Quancai. This was Chen Shou's evaluation of Guan Yu in "Three Kingdoms", and he felt that it was quite appropriate to use it on Deng Ming.

"I don't know if I treat the soldiers well, but I am sure that the scholar is arrogant, he is deliberately humiliating Huguang Shilin." Deng Ming also gave one or two pieces of silver to each staff member, and Hu Quancai had already heard about it from everyone just now. Although he hasn't figured out why Deng Ming did this, he will not let go of the opportunity to stir up the relationship between the local gentry and Deng Ming.

"He didn't mean to humiliate." Unexpectedly, Zhou Peigong did not echo Hu Quancai's statement, but retorted: "It seems that Deng Ming didn't know that he was humiliating the scholars by doing this, so it can't be called intentional humiliation." ”

"Oh?" Hu Quancai was very surprised by Zhou Peigong's answer. As a feudal official of the Qing court, he was not used to being so bluntly refuted by others; Deng Ming is an enemy, even if he really didn't mean to humiliate Huguang Shilin, Zhou Peigong should stand in the position of the governor of Huguang and say something to crusade against him and attack him.

"If he deliberately humiliated, then he should have gloated at us and got angry, or admired and laughed at the shame on our faces...... "Zhou Peigong did not notice the Governor's displeasure, and still babbled down.

When he first got the one or two pieces of silver, Zhou Peigong, like everyone else, thought that Deng Ming was humiliating them scholars, but he didn't show it immediately, and the others couldn't hold their breath. When Zhou Peigong saw the old staff member thundering, Deng Ming was at a loss, and when the man yelled and threw the silver on the ground, Deng Ming was even more shocked, obviously not expecting the consequences of his actions, so it didn't seem to be done sincerely, and it had nothing to do with intentional humiliation.

In Zhou Peigong's view, Deng Ming's behavior can only show that he is ignorant and ignorant and does not know how to get along with scholars; Or rather, Deng Ming was arrogant, he looked down on the gentry and the ordinary soldiers—looking at the ground above the Nine Heavens, of course, elephants and voles looked the same, almost like ants—so Deng Ming treated different people the same.

"Alright." Hu Quancai waved his hand impatiently, he was not interested in discussing with Zhou Peigong what kind of person Deng Ming was: "This official has already ordered the transfer of soldiers and horses from Yiling, Jiangling and other places. ”

Sooner or later, the matter of transferring the Jiangfang troops back to Wuchang will be known to everyone, and Hu Quancai told Zhou Peigong in advance to show his trust in him.

"Why is that?" Zhou Peigong asked puzzled.

Only then did Hu Quan know that Zhou Peigong did not have any military experience, and Zhou Peigong's nonsense about Zhongxiang's city defense deepened this impression. However, he also hoped that this young man would have some talent and wit, and that he would be able to understand Hu Quancai's military deployment. But as soon as Zhou Peigong's question came out, Hu Quancai felt completely disappointed, feeling that this person's sense of smell in military affairs was too poor, and he actually stayed in the Ming army's camp for two days and didn't know anything about the Ming army's attack intentions.

However, for young people, education should still be the priority. As the saying goes, "don't bully young people to be poor", Zhou Peigong is so young, it is difficult to say how far he can go in the officialdom in the future, even if Hu Quancai himself does not need it, he must accumulate some contacts for future generations as much as possible.

Hu Quancai told Zhou Peigong again about his previous analysis, pointing out that the general attack of the Ming army on Wuchang was imminent. As for Deng Ming's intention to release these staff, in fact, it was not simply to humiliate them, but to use their mouths to release some smoke bombs to create a false impression and paralyze the Qing army in Huguang. However, of course, Hu Quancai would not fall for such a shallow trick, and the enemy's intentions have been exposed.

After some analysis, Hu Quancai sat back and waited for Zhou Peigong's praise. Seeing that the other party didn't speak for a long time, Hu Quancai thought that Zhou Peigong was shocked by his own watertight reasoning and was speechless.

"The Governor has misjudged!" But he didn't expect Zhou Peigong to veto Hu Quancai's inference as soon as he opened his mouth, and what was even more unexpected was that although Zhou Peigong couldn't come up with any reasonable reasons to refute it, he just insisted that he had seen Deng Ming himself, and felt that the other party was not a villain full of ghost tricks, so he couldn't use this kind of means.

"What does Deng Ming mean that he is not this kind of person?" When Hu Quancai heard this, he couldn't help but be furious: "You said that Deng Ming is not this kind of person, then you mean that the old man is a villain with a belly of ghosts?" ”

After more than half a sentence, Hu Quancai immediately got up to serve tea and sent off the guests, and drove Zhou Peigong away. If the other party was not a young man, Hu Quancai might have someone drag him out and beat him. The Governor of Huguang has rarely suffered from this kind of wretchedness since he took office.

No wonder Deng Ming gave him a tael of silver and bombarded back to Wuchang, what a fool who doesn't know what to do! failed to enjoy the praise but got angry, and the governor of Huguang hated Zhou Peigong.

Leaving the Huguang Governor's Palace, Zhou Peigong returned home. He was originally from Jingmen, his parents died, and he took his wife to live in Wuchang to study, and was recruited into the shogunate of the governor of Huguang after being promoted in the examination.

When she saw her husband come home, Mrs. Zhou was of course pleasantly surprised. Although someone had already come to report his safety earlier, he was still sad and happy after seeing that Zhou Pei'an was unharmed, and couldn't help crying and crying.

Talking about the experience during this time, his wife also asked Zhou Peigong about the commander of the Ming army and the mysterious Governor Deng.

"Be kind to the soldiers and be proud of the doctors." Zhou Peigong's evaluation of Deng Ming remains unchanged. In front of the Governor of Huguang and other Qing officials, he didn't talk much about Deng Ming, but in front of his wife, he had a lot less scruples: "As far as I can see, the Governor of Huguang and the late Hanyang General didn't treat every soldier under him as a human being. But Deng Ming was able to release the prisoners and not mistreat the surrendered soldiers, even those enemy soldiers who had just fought with him, he also had compassion. ”

Zhou Peigong sighed.

When he was just captured by the Ming army, he was also very scared, worried about being killed, worried that he would affect his wife or never see her again, but Zhou Peigong did not think about the life and death of those captured Qing soldiers. It wasn't until he heard that Deng Ming had released the Wuchang soldiers that Zhou Peigong suddenly realized that these soldiers had escaped death, although they were illiterate and had a humble status, they also had the same fear and sorrow as himself. The captured staff and Qing soldiers were enemies of the Ming army not long ago, and Deng Ming was able to know their suffering, which really surprised Zhou Peigong.

"Is it similar to Wu Qi?" Mrs. Zhou thought that her husband meant that Deng Ming was good at winning people's hearts.

"It's not." Zhou Peigong shook his head and said: "Wu Qi has his purpose in finding a way to alleviate the suffering of the soldiers, which is to let the soldiers die for him; Deng Ming, on the other hand, is able to perceive the pain of others, and the suffering of the people around him will make him feel unbearable. ”

"Isn't that Ren?" Mrs. Zhou was surprised when she heard her husband's evaluation of the enemy chieftain.

"Yes, it's obviously different from Wu Qi, this is compassion."

Still, Mrs. Zhou was incredulous. After hearing Zhou Peigong talk about what he had just seen in the governor's yamen, Mrs. Zhou also felt that Hu Quancai's analysis was more reasonable.

"Otherwise, I have been in Zhongxiang for several days, and I have seen this person more than once. Therefore, when the Hanyang army led the army to storm the gap in the city wall, he always stood on the city wall with a big banner in his hand, without fear. The usual conversation is by no means like a jiān cunning person. Zhou Peigong turned his head sideways as he spoke, letting his wife look at the back of his head.

Mrs. Zhou exclaimed softly, and by the light of the candle, she saw that her husband's braids were still there.

"Not only a few of our staff, but also the people around Zhong Xiang, I saw that many people still have braids."

In the past, the Ming army cut off all the people who combed their braids, in order to make people fight to the end with the Qing court because there was no way out. But Deng Ming felt that this approach was actually of little significance, the officials of the Qing court were not ignorant of the art of power change, and the loss of braids was just an excuse for the Qing court officials to harm the people, and in any case, it was those ordinary people who suffered in the end.

Therefore, after the battle of Yicheng, Deng Ming agreed with the generals of Kuidong that since the Ming army of Kuidong did not plan to defend the territory in Huguang, then he should not forcibly cut off the braids of the people, and those soldiers who participated in the Ming army should be treated differently.

After Zhou Peigong and several other staff members were captured, the Ming army was also more polite to these scholars, and they were locked up not far from Deng Ming's camp. The Ming army did not cut their braids, because cutting them would not prevent them from returning to the Qing court; Secondly, Deng Ming thought that unlike the Manchus, the Manchus were forced to shave their heads, and if the Ming army forced them to cut their braids, it would be reduced to the same level as the Manchus.

"He also showed us his hair." Zhou Pei's wife, Deng Ming also had braids, and his guards also had them, and they spread their hair out in the Ming army-controlled zhì area, and tied it up before they mixed into the Manchu-controlled zhì district: "For the first day or two, he told us that we could keep it first, maybe one day he would need us to blend into the imperial court territory with him, and it would be inconvenient to cut it off immediately." ”

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhou was stunned for a long time and did not speak.

Zhou Peigong sighed again: "He knew that we would do everything possible to escape, and he knew that we were unwilling to cut our braids, so he helped us find an excuse." If that's not benevolence, I don't know what it is. ”

"But he only gave one or two pieces of silver to each of the courtiers," Mrs. Zhou whispered, "just like those who were soldiers." ”

"That's why I told Governor Huguang that Deng Ming was too ignorant and too proud, and he didn't seriously consider this issue, instead of deliberately humiliating us." On the way back to Wuchang, Zhou Peigong repeatedly recalled the experience of the past few days, and felt that Deng Ming was not a person who took pleasure in humiliating others.

"Only the Lord will tell the Governor the truth!" Mrs. Zhou was a little worried: "Do you think that no one else can figure it out?" Think others can't see what kind of person Deng Ming is? But everyone didn't follow the Governor and scolded him together. ”

At today's banquet, the staff showed the braids to Hu Quancai, and everyone condemned Deng Ming for being unkind and ill-intentioned, and what kind of bad intentions were waiting for Governor Hu to excavate.

Seeing that Zhou Peigong was silent, Mrs. Zhou slowed down her tone and cautiously asked, "Master, isn't it?" ”

"Nope!" Zhou Peigong knew that his wife doubted his loyalty to the imperial court, and immediately flatly denied it: "I was originally a white body, and all my fame was given by the imperial court. Let's talk ......" Zhou Peigong paused slightly, and his voice was lowered: "A person with affection and righteousness, even if he is a hero, he can't compete in the Central Plains." This Deng Ming can't let go of compassion, does he still want to compete with today's saints for the world? ”

……

After bombing Zhou Peigong away, Hu Quancai sat in the yamen and pondered the deep meaning behind Deng Ming's various actions, whether it was snubbing the gentry or allowing the people not to cut their braids, it was very suspicious. Hu Quancai pondered again and again and analyzed a series of problems, and although he thought of many ways to prevent them, he did not dare to say that he had insight into all the sinister intentions of the enemy.

"Useless scholar!" As soon as he thought of Zhou Peigong's nonsense, Hu Quancai was angry for a while, Zhou Peigong actually thought that the other party didn't have too many scheming, which really surprised Hu Quancai, could it be that Zhou Peigong had read so many years of books, and he had read them all to the belly of a dog?

If Deng Ming is really an anonymous disciple of the clan, which of the eunuchs and chiefs in the palace is not a sinister and cunning person, he can't learn anything else from these people, and he can't learn less bad tricks! If Deng Ming was born in a reckless manner, it would be even more remarkable, I heard that he was only in his twenties, and he became the leader of a group of thieves at a young age, how could it be easy?

recalled over and over again in his heart the various scheming people he had seen in his life, and Hu Quancai felt that Deng Ming's methods had never been seen before, and he could not learn from these life experiences; Then I examined the books I had read in my mind, trying to find similar behaviors from the great evil people in history.

Hu Quancai's worries became heavier and heavier, and when he thought of those famous Jiān Xiong, he felt that Wuchang was in danger.

Hu Quancai summoned a staff member and asked him to quickly write a new order, ordering the Dongting Lake Sailors in Yuezhou not to continue to protect the mouth of the lake in accordance with the previous order, but to return to Wuchang at full speed with the garrisons of Jiangling and Yiling. Hu Quancai handed this order to a personal guard along with an arrow and asked him to set off in the starry night to deliver the order.

After sending the heralds, Hu Quancai sat in the study in a daze, not knowing how long he could sit in this yamen, and he was not sure whether he could hold Wuchang at all.

After being stunned for a while, Hu Quancai looked at the full quiver on the table, and suddenly felt ruthless in his heart, the military situation is so urgent, and the only purpose is to hold Wuchang at the moment, and he must not be greedy for stability and weakness everywhere, but in the end he couldn't hold anything.

"Someone's coming!" Hu Quancai called a large number of staff members and asked them to work together to quickly draft orders to the prefectures and counties in Hunan.

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Today's double update is 10,000 words, originally I changed every day at 0:00, and wrote one more day, as long as there will be nothing in the next 48 hours, it will not be interrupted, and now there is only a buffer period of 24 hours. And I really don't have a manuscript anymore, this section has more than 4,000, and now I have 1,000 words left in my hand.