The unscrupulous Ming army built a large number of wooden platoons in the upper reaches of Wanxian County, and then began to cross the Yangtze River.

Only Deng Ming, who was completely unfamiliar with the hydrology and geography near Wanxian, was a little worried, and the other Ming officers were confident that there were no enemy soldiers nearby that could threaten their own army. And their judgment was not wrong, and the Ming army crossed the Yangtze River without any interference.

After more than 1,500 soldiers successfully crossed the river, they no longer waited for the follow-up troops, but drove straight to Wanxian according to the pre-plan. In the plan, the remaining Ming army was responsible for monitoring the prisoners and protecting the supplies, and there was no need to immediately march to Wanxian, unless the front line needed to ask for additional troops in the rear, so there was no need for the vanguard to continue to wait for those who were still on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

At this time, Deng Ming in the remaining troops was still standing on the south bank, looking at the team crossing the river, he was very emotional, not only weapons, armor, but also a large number of flags seized from Tan Hong's hands, and now there is no trace of the breath of defeat from the Ming army on the other side. This majestic army, under the gaze of Deng Ming and the rest, drove away in a mighty manner.

It took several more hours for the troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River to get through, and by the time Deng Ming set foot on the north bank, the first messengers had already hurried back to report the military situation to their remaining companions.

As many officers had expected, Wanxian now has no ability to defend himself. When Wen Anzhi's tens of thousands of troops passed through this place, when they returned to Fengjie, they not only demolished the city gates of Wanxian, but also destroyed a section of the city wall. Obviously, the Ming army went in vain, and there was nowhere to vent their anger, and they used all their strength here in Wanxian, if it weren't for the Ming army's food and grass running out and not being delayed for too long, it is estimated that the city wall of Wanxian County would be more ugly.

After hearing this news, Deng Ming first breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that the Ming army did not have to carry out a tragic siege battle. Judging from the excited tone and expression of the envoy, it is obvious that the Ming army will not let go of the great opportunity to get it, and will definitely launch an attack on Wanxian. When Deng Ming saw the clothes and food piled up on the shore after crossing the river, he set up a left-behind officer to organize people to pack up these things and build a simple camp.

"What do you do when you set up a camp?" A left-behind officer asked, it sounds like he will be able to enter Wanxian County soon, why bother with all this effort? Although the main work is done by captives, there is always some work that will be spread on their heads. Besides, the Mr. Deng in front of him was always kind-hearted, and every time he asked the prisoners to work, he would use this as an excuse to increase the food for the prisoners.

"This ...... Isn't it a good practice to camp cautiously? Deng Ming is not familiar with ancient tactics and modern tactics, but he remembers that he has read some biographies of Ming generals before, and it seems that they are very careful about the construction of the camp. Where are the soldiers resting tonight? ”

"The rout of Wanxian is more than a thousand at best," Zhao Tianba was still guarding Deng Ming's side today and did not go to the front line, hearing this, he hurriedly defended the officer: "The city gates have been demolished and burned, and a large section of the city wall has been stripped off, and the thieves will not be able to resist stubbornly." It is estimated that Zhou Qianzong and they have already entered the city at this time. Mr. Deng, although Zhuge was only cautious in his life, it is really useless to build a camp here, and it can only consume the soldier's body in vain. ”

Many of the soldiers in Tan Hongbei's battalion are actually auxiliaries, not to mention armor, and they are not even equipped with swords. Li Xinghan and other people from Wanxian County made it very clear that Xiong Lan, who led the troops, not only did not have the ability to fight, but also was not treated well by Tan Hong - if he was Tan Hong's important confidant officer, he would not be tasked with resisting Wen'an's army alone. This guy's reputation for being incompetent and cowardly has spread to Tan Wenjun. Obviously, an incompetent man with no prestige led a group of old and weak soldiers, and in the face of the newly victorious army of the Ming army, Zhao Tianba did not see any possibility of defeat for the Ming army.

When Zhao Tianba stated why Wanxian could be taken lightly, the faces of the other officers were full of approval. Deng Ming, who was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts a month ago, often admonished himself to be self-aware and that he had no outstanding insight or right to speak on military issues. Seeing that the left-behind officers disagreed with their opinions, Zhao Tianba refuted them even more publicly, and Deng Ming no longer insisted. Although there is nothing wrong with being cautious, there are brave warriors on the other side, and they may be muttering too much.

Shortly after Zhao Tianba finished speaking, as if to prove his correct judgment, the new messenger rushed back to the ferry. The man seemed even more excited, and rushed over and reported loudly: "Mr. Deng, Wanxian has surrendered to us!" ”

After hearing the news, Zhao Tianba was happy in his heart, but he didn't come out, but glanced at Deng Ming. He prevented Deng Ming from going to the front line so that Deng Ming would gain more prestige, although he achieved his goal in the battle of Wanxian, but the other party might wake up and understand his intentions when he saw that it was so easy to win. But Zhao Tianba doesn't have to worry about this, after all, Deng Ming has nothing to do with himself, and he will return to Fengjie immediately, wouldn't Wen Anzhi, the superintendent of the imperial court, approve of suppressing the ambition of a person who pretenders the throne?

Deng Ming really didn't see Zhao Tianba's intentions, because he was not a disciple of the clan and did not covet the position of the son of Yongli, on the contrary, he felt that Zhao Tianba's judgment of the military situation was accurate: "It's me who is worrying about the sky, or Brother Zhao is right." ”

After receiving the good news, the troops left behind began to march towards Wanxian, and today they can live in the strong houses in the city, and the soldiers are very happy. Zhao Tianba carefully observed Deng Ming again, and found that the other party did not doubt that he was satisfied, but the guilt in his heart also increased: "Third prince, you are a person who does not understand the world, isn't it good to be a prince of peace with peace of mind?" When I return to the imperial court in the future, I will definitely say a few good words for His Royal Highness, and I hope that the imperial court can give His Highness generously. ”

Before the rearguard troops entered Wanxian, Li Xinghan happily brought a group of people to greet Deng Ming. After seeing Deng Ming, Li Xinghan reported loudly: "There are 2,300 thieves in Wanxian County, and they have all surrendered to us!" ”

"So much?" Deng Ming was taken aback.

According to the reports of the previous prisoners, Tan Hong's strength in the camp on the north bank was only more than 2,500 people, including either the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, or the coolie auxiliaries. According to the analysis of the Ming military first, it would be good to be able to organize thousands of people to flee back to Wanxian, but I don't want to be almost all brought back.

"Xiong Lan is quite demagogic, I really haven't heard of him having this ability before." Li Xinghan grinned. Although the other party is more able to win the hearts of the army than he imagined, this kind of ability is only meaningful when he is willing to resist the Ming army. And Xiong Lan is a waste after all, and he surrenders collectively without firing a single arrow, so the more he can gather the soldiers, the greater the benefits to the Ming army.

Li Xinghan was followed by a group of people, in addition to the escorted Ming soldiers, there were also some people with bare hands, standing respectfully with their heads bowed, obviously the officers of the Wanxian garrison who had just surrendered. One of them was tied up with five flowers, brought to Deng Ming's body and knelt on the ground.

Deng Ming saw that this person was similar in age to Li Xinghan, and he was tied up strongly, so he pointed at him and asked, "Who is this person?" ”

"This thief is Xiong Lan!"

Xiong Lan had an aunt who was Tan Hong's concubine, and his father was able to serve under Tan Hong because of this relationship. But with the death of her parents and aunt one after another, Xiong Lan became more and more unpopular in front of Tan Hong. This time she camped on the north shore, although she was responsible for the task of almost replacing the dead ghosts, Xiong Lan did not complain, but took advantage of the psychology of everyone in the camp on the north shore who dared not speak out, and got close to the people in charge of the camp to get close to each other and win over the relationship.

After learning of Tan Hong's defeat, Beiying almost dispersed in a hurry, but Xiong Lan persuaded everyone to act in unison: if more than 2,000 people could be twisted into a rope and occupy Wanxian County and dedicated to the Qing court in the future, then the credit that originally belonged to Tan Hong would belong to everyone; If everyone disperses and Tan Hong is gone, then there will be no status in the future, and it is difficult to say whether he can eat military rations with peace of mind under the Qing court.

Everyone admits that what Xiong Lan said makes sense, but many people are still worried that they will be attacked by the Ming army. However, Xiong Lan continued to persuade them: if everyone acted separately, the few stragglers would be more likely to be treated as soft persimmons and water dogs, and would be beaten.

After Xiong Lan's explanation, Beidaying did not disperse in a hurry, but returned to Wanxian County and stationed down. In Xiong Lan's calculations, the Ming army probably would not arrive soon, so he tried his best to win the hearts and minds of the people and reorganize the troops in the city in the past two days, planning to turn this rout army into his own force and sell it to the Qing court in the future. Xiong Lan's biggest weakness is that he has no foundation in the army, he plans to spend some more time to strengthen his control power, and then take some people to the north of Wanxian County to avoid the limelight - if the Ming army comes, it will not be unlucky; If the Ming army does not come, he can come back when he goes out of the city, so that the credit for the city will not be robbed by others.

Unexpectedly, people are not as good as heaven, the Ming army did not delay along the way, and before Xiong Lan had time to establish a reliable force, the Ming army rushed to the city of Wanxian. At this time, if Xiong Lan abandoned the city and fled, as he said to his colleagues before: he will only be able to dig in the soil for the rest of his life.

If you escape, you will have nothing, and Wanxian County will not even have a section of the city wall, and the defense is obviously to death, so Xiong Lan persuaded her colleagues to surrender the city - we must pass this hurdle, it is best to persuade us to stay and defend Wanxian, then there will be a chance to sacrifice the city in the future; If we can't get Wanxian, then follow the Ming army to Fengjie, at least we can eat food as soldiers.

After convincing everyone, Xiong Lan led a group of accomplices to surrender by tying herself, and all the ropes of everyone were untied, and only he was still tied. After Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan asked about the situation in Beidaying, although they seemed to be indifferent on the surface, they were actually a little jealous of Xiong Lan's demagogic ability. However, although both of them had thoughts of being unfavorable to Xiong Lan, first of all, Xiong Lan surrendered without a fight, and the victor was extremely contemptuous of him, which helped Xiong Lan; In the second week, I didn't find a particularly good excuse for opening up the wasteland, after all, Wanxian surrendered without a fight, and there was still some justification for killing people. Out of this ambivalence, Li Xinghan brought Xiong Lan over to see Deng Ming - with Deng Ming's soft heart, they felt that Xiong Lan would probably not die.

After Deng Ming heard Li Xinghan say the cause and effect, he really felt that it was inappropriate to still tie Xiong Lan up, and immediately ordered: "Since you surrender sincerely, why don't you loosen the bond for Xiong Zong?" ”

"Can't put it!"

Just when the soldiers were ordered to untie Xiong Lan, Zhou Kaihuang's roar suddenly came, followed by the sound of people, Zhou Kaihuang rushed to Deng Ming's side like a whirlwind, staring viciously at Xiong Lan who was kneeling on the ground, his eyes were full of murderous aura.

"What's the matter?" Deng Ming asked in surprise.

"Hey, hey, thief!" Zhou Kaihuang sneered twice, and then told Deng Ming about Xiong Lan's discussion about whether he could stay in Wanxian County so that he could sacrifice the city in the future.

Because Xiong Lan had no foundation and no friends of her own, after surrendering, a county guard who had no loyalty to Xiong Lan betrayed Xiong Lan in order to show loyalty to Zhou Kaihuang.

After saying what he had just learned about the conspiracy in a few words, Zhou Kaihuang's face became even more murderous, and his gaze swept over the faces of the other Wanxian officers who had just surrendered: "These are all accomplices!" They are all thieves who want to deceive us into rebelling against the court! ”

When they heard Zhou Kaihuang tell them about their plan, the faces of the rest of Tan Hong's department had already changed, and when they heard Zhou Kaihuang's murderous conclusion, the group of people in Wanxian County, who had just been untied, immediately fell to their knees, and the timid and incompetent began to beg for mercy loudly.

There were also one or two who were anxious, and suddenly pointed at Xiong Lan and shouted: "General Zhou Mingjian, the lowly officials are just echoing the bear thief, we didn't want to do this, but if we didn't agree to the bear thief at that time, he would fight to the death." ”

Everyone quickly reacted, so they all said: Xiong Lan is the only one in Wanxian who has repeated ideas, and the others are loyal to the court with a naked heart. It was only in order to deceive and defeat Xiong Lan, a villain who held power in Wanxian, that everyone had to follow Xiong Lan and deceive him so that he could surrender to the Ming army. Now that the stupid, evil, and insatiable Xiong Lan has fallen into the hands of the Ming Wangshi, everyone demanded that the Ming army immediately execute her.

Listening to the shouts and killings around him, Deng Ming asked Xiong Lan, who was silent: "What else do you have to say?" ”

When everyone was in a mess just now, Xiong Lan had been observing the words, and he had already found that Deng Ming was the central figure, the one who said the count, and now when he heard Deng Ming's question, Xiong Lan asked in a deep voice: "Sinners dare to ask how to call the general?" ”

"Just call me Mr. Deng." Deng Ming pondered for a moment and felt that there was no more appropriate name.

Since you need a pseudonym, this identity must be amazing!

Xiong Lan thought so in her heart, and she didn't hesitate in her mouth: "The first army of Wanxian County is Tan Hong's old department, including the sinners, and when they heard that Mr. Deng's army was coming, people's hearts were different, and there were not a few people who were worried that they would be killed by Wang Shi. Under the panic of people's hearts, some people will inevitably have the idea of stubborn resistance, this kind of person will die by himself, if it causes damage to the king, isn't the sinner guilty on top of the crime? Even if there are not many people who dare to resist, maybe some people will escape from Wanxian County, and maybe they will go to Tartar. Sinners often think that although Tan Hong has done evil, but now the country still has to use people, as long as the sinners change their minds, the court will still use us, and being able to leave one more person is to contribute to the court. ”

"Just!" Xiong Lan said in an accentuated tone: "Mr. Deng must also know that sinners have no foundation in the army, and can only try to be a lobbyist and cannot command an army, so he came up with this argument and wanted to coax the whole army to surrender to Wang Shi first. Saying that I can sacrifice the city in the future is just my strategy to serve the imperial court, not my real thoughts. ”

Zhou Kaihuang sneered several times in the middle and wanted to interject, but was stopped by Deng Ming, and finally waited for Xiong Lan to finish speaking, Zhou Kaihuang immediately scolded: "You said you didn't think so?" Are you all fools when we are? ”

"Sinners don't dare." Xiong Lan looked up at Deng Ming's expression. Although Zhou Kaihuang looked disdainful, there was no unkindness on Deng Ming's face, so he continued to intercede for himself: "Mr. Deng Mingjian, no matter what kind of rhetoric the sinner uses, in the end he still brings more than 2,000 soldiers to serve Mr. and the imperial court, if Mr. Rì kills me now, how can I persuade others to vote in the future?" ”

Zhao Tianba noticed that Xiong Lan had put Deng Ming in front of the imperial court, and snorted softly, waiting for Deng Ming's reaction on the side.

Regarding Xiong Lan's statement, the accomplices who surrendered with Xiong Lan were stunned for a while, and they opened their mouths to object, because Xiong Lan's subtext was that if they didn't use this plan to surrender to the enemy, they wouldn't surrender, and if Xiong Lan's defense was established, then they would be guilty if they didn't do it well.

And Xiong Lan also unceremoniously retorted, swearing to Deng Ming's gambling curse that if he didn't use this kind of temptation, then the rest of Tan Hong's ten people present would not surrender honestly.

Xiong Lan's words of course further angered his accomplices, who turned up Xiong Lan's old accounts, and assured Deng Ming that this person was an out-and-out scum who knocked on the widow's door at night and dug up the grave of the dead, and repeatedly strongly demanded that the Xiong scum be executed immediately.

In this piece of infighting, Zhao Tianba was still waiting quietly, waiting to see if Deng Ming would open up to this person because Xiong Lan put him in the imperial court.

And although Li Xinghan felt that Xiong Lan was eloquent, he knew in his heart that Xiong Lan was already a mortal person, and he had offended many of his fellow officers, and Deng Ming must have said something if he wanted to appease this surrendering army, Xiong Lan's head was ready-made, and the important xìng of one person was compared with the important xìng of a group of officers...... Li Xinghan believes that Deng Ming still knows which is more important.

Just now, Zhou Kaihuang was bent on killing Xiong Lan, but now he suddenly had another idea: Xiong Lan had already offended all the people around him, if Deng Ming expressed his belief in Xiong Lan, he could use this as an excuse to kill this group of demoted officials, even if he didn't kill them, he could take away their military power; Xiong Lan no longer has any support, so she can only devote herself to Deng Ming, so that she can completely take the surrendered army of Wanxian County for her own use, and this result is to let a group of officers who surrendered continue to control the surrendered army...... Zhou Kaihuang believes that Deng Ming can still see the pros and cons lightly.