August 15, Chongqing. Gao Mingzhan held a feast in the city to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since the day before yesterday, reports of urgency have been sent to Chongqing like snowflakes. Soon the officers and soldiers of the whole city knew that the battle of Zhongxian had ended, that the nearly 80,000 troops under the personal command of Li Guoying had suffered a crushing defeat, and that the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi and the governor of Shaanxi had broken through with some soldiers and horses, and that the army had gone to seven or eight percent of the army. Now what is left in Zhongxian is the 5,000 Shaanxi Green Battalion, which is holding the lonely city under the command of Wang Mingde, and is surrounded by the Ming army in Zhongxian, and it is estimated that it is only a matter of time before it is destroyed.

Such detailed information was mainly revealed by the Ming army. Deng Ming, the commander of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, had already climbed 6 east of the Jialing River not far from Chongqing, and cleared the outposts and stragglers of the Qing army along the coast, and the Ming army consciously released many Qing troops to report the news.

At first, some people suspected that this was the Ming army's plan to attack the heart, but Governor Gao declared in public: Although Admiral Deng is an enemy, he has always been true to his word, since Admiral Deng said that the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi ran away with thousands of remnants, then he must have run away; Since Admiral Deng said that Wang Mingde was surrounded in Zhongxian and could not break through, it was impossible to break through for the time being.

This blatant adherence to enemy propaganda certainly caused panic on an even larger scale. In addition to the 600 armor armor brought back by Deputy General Wang Xincheng, there are also some strong men and a small number of recruits from the Ganshan Green Battalion and Shanxi soldiers, all of which add up to less than 1,000 armor soldiers, and the fighting spirit cannot be compared with the standard battalion taken away by Li Guoying.

Relying on these thousand armor soldiers to hold Chongqing is almost wishful thinking. Originally, there was still hope for the 3,000 Han and Eight Banners, but after Sun Sike returned to the Jialing River at the beginning of the month, he saw that there was no sailor for him to cross the river, so without saying a word, he pulled out the camp and went north, heading in the direction of Baoning -- Sun Sike sent someone to shout across the river, saying that he was going to meet Zhao Liangdong and fight with the Shaanxi Green Battalion and one side. But anyone with a discerning eye knows that at that time, General Sun was afraid that Deng Mingwei would chase after him, and if he didn't run away, he would be blocked on the shore and couldn't run away. Shouting to Gao Mingzhan is not so much a notification as a shirk of responsibility.

As a result, there was a panic in the city of Chongqing, and many people were thinking about fleeing the empty city. But at this time, Governor Gao showed extraordinary courage, sat in the yamen in a big way, and opened the door to let everyone see that he had indeed not escaped. Vice General Wang Xincheng, who was appointed by Gao Mingzhan as the commander of Chongqing's four walls, was also unusually calm and calm, and his expression was very relaxed when he took his own soldiers to inspect the city defense in the past two days, and he talked and laughed with the officers and soldiers of the city defense.

Seeing this kind of appearance of the governor of Sichuan and the governor of the city defense, the thousands of people in Chongqing were no longer afraid, and everyone discussed it in private, and they all felt that Governor Gao must have a good plan to retreat from the enemy. Since Chongqing's chief and deputy were confident, the rest of the people also calmed down and were determined to honestly arrange the city defense according to Deputy General Wang's explanation.

However, Vice General Wang's cousin was a little too indifferent, he neither arranged plum blossom piles outside the city, nor organized manpower to deepen the trench - although Chongqing was short of manpower, the so-called "grinding guns in battle, not fast and light", is better than doing nothing, right?

But Vice General Wang just didn't do anything, and today the Mid-Autumn Festival was early to take his soldiers to the yamen to celebrate the festival with Governor Gao. His 600 soldiers were the most powerful force and the last hope in Chongqing at the moment, but in the afternoon they also began to happily slaughter pigs and sheep, preparing for the festive season, as if it was Deng Ming and not Li Guoying who suffered a great defeat in Zhongxian.

"The best time of the year is now, why are there always some people sad autumn, what is sad about this autumn?" Gao Mingzhan drank so much that his face was red and his ears were hot, and he sighed to Wang Xincheng: "Brother, what I like is autumn." ”

"Exactly, Lord Governor is high-minded, and the same is true for the last general." Wang Xincheng drank no less than Gao Mingzhan, and there were fresh vegetables and vegetables, fat fish and shrimp on the table in front of him: "Every year in the Mid-Autumn Festival, this fish and shrimp are fat, new rice has also come down, and vegetables are everything, even the flowers used by women are of many varieties, and it is the time to live as much as possible." ”

Gao Mingzhan laughed, and raised his wine glass to Wang Xincheng: "General Wang, please." ”

"Your Excellency, please."

The two talked and laughed while admiring the moon while drinking until midnight.

Seeing that there was no more alcohol, Gao Mingzhan finally got down to business. Now that there are no others around, Gao Mingzhan said confidently and boldly: "The Governor's 100,000 army has almost been wiped out, and General Zhao's reinforcements have been delayed, even if this Chongqing can't be defended, it is not your responsibility and mine, but we still have to hold on for a few days, otherwise the court will not look good." ”

"What the Governor said is very true. In the opinion of the last general, General Wang's soldiers held on to Zhongxian County, and it must have been the result of peace with Governor Deng, most likely because they sold all the unarmored soldiers to Governor Deng, and then ended up in peace. The last general dared to assert that after ten days and half a month, General Wang and his troops should 'break through', and not only would they come out unharmed at that time, but they would still be meritorious. Wang Xincheng believes that Chongqing should also hold on for ten days and half a month before giving up: "This defeat is also carried by the governor." We held on to the lonely city until we ran out of ammunition and food, and finally had to break through the siege, and nothing would happen. ”

"Well, I just don't know if Admiral Deng is willing to give us a few days?" Gao Mingzhan groaned and said: "How can this Chongqing city be worth thousands of cattle, right?" What's more, we still have a lot of farm tools in our warehouse, all of which are brand new. The Governor originally wanted to build a military camp, but later dismissed this idea, and none of these farm tools were used. ”

In addition to farm tools, there are also pig iron, grain, and cloth in the warehouse, and Li Guoying's supplies in Chongqing are enough for 100,000 troops for several months, which is really extraordinary.

"Exactly, as soon as Admiral Deng crosses the river, we will send people to negotiate peace. If Admiral Deng agrees not to embarrass us, we will leave the city and the storehouse to him; If Admiral Deng doesn't agree, we'll burn down the warehouse and run away, and Admiral Deng won't be able to catch up with us. ”

In addition to supplies, there are also many military dependents in Chongqing, and Gao Mingzhan and Wang Xincheng also plan to sell these valuable hostages to Deng Ming depending on the situation, or break through the siege together to gain favors.

……

However, Deng Ming did not cross the Jialing River as soon as Gao Mingzhan imagined. Through the interrogation of the captives, Deng Ming knew that the city of Chongqing was quite empty, so he thought that Gao Mingzhan would abandon the city again and escape. However, after staying on the east bank of the Jialing River for two days, the Qing army in Chongqing did not move, Gao Mingzhan and Wang Xincheng did not escape, and the defenders did not flee in large numbers.

"Gao Mingzhan doesn't run, this thing is a bit weird." On August 16, Deng Mingyao looked at the green flag on the head of Chongqing, and he was slightly undecided.

Gao Mingzhan planned to wait for Deng Ming to besiege the city and then send his henchmen out of the city to negotiate peace, now there are many factions in Chongqing, he and Wang Xincheng are afraid that the premature action will be revealed, so they first vigorously advocate the strength of the Ming army, and when the Ming army arrives in the city, when the people are panicking, he will let the messenger go out of the city under the banner of asking for help, and go around to find Deng Ming, instead of crossing the river to the enemy camp in full view.

However, Gao Mingzhan's appearance actually played a role in stabilizing the morale of the army, and the Chongqing defenders, who were kept in the dark, did not flee in large numbers - if they all fled all at once, Gao Mingzhan would not be able to "hold on" for a while, and it would not be in the interests of the governor of Sichuan.

And Deng Ming even had a misunderstanding, in his opinion, Gao Mingzhan is so fearless, it is likely that the reinforcements of the Qing army are about to arrive, and there may even be ambushes hiding in Chongqing. Although Deng Ming also guessed that Gao Mingzhan might want to negotiate peace, he could not let the army take risks based on a single guess.

So Deng Ming ordered to first control the mouth of the Jialing River to the east, and then reconnoiter and search along the riverbank, rather than rushing to approach the fortress of Chongqing with 7,000 armor soldiers.

After the Ming army took control of half of the riverbank, they soon began to reconnoiter the river and cover the sailors into the Jialing River. For the Ming army, this was the first time they had close contact with the Jialing River, and the hydrogeography was completely unfamiliar, so the Ming army searched and advanced very carefully, and recorded everything they saw in detail - if they attacked the Jialing River valley again in the future, they would not be blind to the terrain.

After the Ming army began to invade the Jialing River, Wang Xincheng immediately gathered the last few ships of the Qing army back to Chaotianmen Wharf. Now he was a little anxious, if he waited until Deng Ming surrounded Chongqing to negotiate, wouldn't he have to deduct the ransom fee of six hundred armor soldiers? Now that Wang Xincheng has a far-sighted vision, the governor of Sichuan has not rebuilt his own standard camp at all. No debt, whether it is direct negotiation or negotiation after the Ming army encircles Chongqing, Gao Mingzhan has no burden.

Although the captives said that they had not seen any military camps, Deng Ming still did not believe it, and he felt that it was impossible for Li Guoying to let the auxiliary soldiers in Chongqing have a leisurely meal, so he continued to search upstream along the Jialing River. This was not only to find Li Guoying's crops, but also to familiarize himself with the recorded geography, and more importantly, to eliminate the threat of ambushes. While cautiously advancing by water, Deng Ming sent people back to urge the rear army to come to Chongqing as soon as possible to support, so as not to be caught off guard by the enemy ambush soldiers who might be in the air.

Deng Ming's actions made Wang Xincheng so anxious that he hurriedly told Gao Mingzhan, and then sent his troops out of the city and marched along the other bank with the Ming army. Wang Xincheng made up his mind, this time he would definitely not pay another ransom fee for his subordinates, he had just paid it once, and it would be too unfair to pay it again so soon.

Wang Xincheng's actions caused another wave of fluctuations in Chongqing, and those military dependents were even more upset in their hearts, lest this be the prelude to Governor Gao's abandonment of everyone and escape. Therefore, after Wang Xincheng's troops left the city, more people went to Yamen to inquire about the news. Fortunately, Gao Mingzhan still sat in the yamen in a big way, and Wang Xincheng, who was determined to get a piece of the pie, did not go with the troops, and also stayed in Chongqing.