On the one hand, Zhao Liangdong's anger is for himself. Because Deng Ming used an open letter to humiliate Wu Sangui, the Qing court and the civil and military officials in the world doubted Wu Sangui's ability, and this momentum would also play an exaggerated role in Wu Sangui's defeat. After such a heavy influence, it was impossible for the Qing court not to investigate Wu Sangui's culpability, so as to show the Qing court's principle of rewarding and punishing. Of course, the punishment of Wu Sangui will make Zhao Liangdong unlucky, if Wu Sangui is forced to be anxious, maybe he will push the responsibility on Zhao Liangdong in order to reduce the guilt.

On the other hand, Zhao Liangdong is very worried about the situation in Yunnan. After the Qing army suffered this heavy setback, the morale of the people was greatly hit, and if Wu Sangui was blamed or demoted at this time, it would easily make the sense of defeat of the Qing army in Yunnan even stronger. Looking at the overall situation, Zhao Liangdong believes that Wu Sangui's attack on Yungui has been completed quite outstandingly, and although the chaos in Kunming has the problem of Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong's carelessness, there are also other accidental factors, and it is not appropriate or necessary to blame Wu Sangui completely.

Zhao Liangdong raised the flag because of his merits within a few years after he joined the Azig army, and his love for the Eight Banners was from the heart, and the Manchu Qing's successive victories made him feel happy and satisfied. In Zhao Liangdong's view, Li Dingguo was only one breath away, and now the top priority of the Qing court was to quickly send support to Kunming, especially the grain and grass urgently needed by the Qing army in Yunnan, which were sent from Liangguang, Guizhou and other places at any cost. At the same time, do not hold Wu Sangui accountable -- and certainly not hold yourself accountable, appease the Qing army in the southwest, and deal a final blow to Li Dingguo.

Wu Sangui seemed much calmer than Zhao Liangdong. When he heard that Deng Ming had fraudulently spread the order to "act cheaply", he was a little surprised, and felt that this kid was young but ruthless, and the open letter strengthened Wu Sangui's impression: if Deng Ming wrote a triumphant letter announcing the results of the war, then the first reaction of the local Qing court officials was instinctive suspicion. However, the first half of Deng Ming's letter was only a few words, saying that many of the actions were presided over by him, and he did not mention the results of the battle, and the second half hinted that these actions were very successful, so that the people who received the letter were curious and inquisitive.

"The envelope says 'open letter', this person didn't mean to deceive, and I really didn't think much about it." Wu Sangui looked calm. It's not surprising that what Deng Ming wrote was so amazing that it was widely disseminated. In addition, even if it is not spread to the people, just for the officialdom to know, it is bad enough for Wu Sangui: "With the experience of Kunming, I still take him so lightly, it is too much to say." ”

Wu Sangui felt that from a military point of view, the war situation in Yunnan had become irretrievable, and if he wanted to reduce his losses, the best way was to temporarily abandon Yunnan and let the army return to Guizhou to eat. Of course, before leaving, Yunnan would be completely destroyed, and all the people who were unwilling to move away would be treated as enemies, so that Yunnan would lose the ability to support the Ming army. The Qing army raised jīng in Guizhou for a few years, and attacked Yunnan again, which could defeat the Ming army again.

However, the military perspective is not the only way to look at the problem. Before this expedition to Yungui, the Qing court repeatedly told Wu Sangui that as long as the Yongli court could be eliminated, Yungui would be handed over to him in the future, and let him become a vassal king similar to the king of Joseon. When the military campaign was progressing smoothly, the Qing court reiterated this reward many times, asking Wu Sangui to make persistent efforts to get his rightful vassal territory in his hands as soon as possible.

Therefore, for the territory of Yunnan and Guizhou, Wu Sangui has already regarded it as his own property, and Yongli and Li Dingguo are the enemies who compete with him for family property. During this period, there were also lobbyists in the Yongli Imperial Court, who wanted to persuade Wu Sangui to "raise Nanming self-respect" on the grounds of "rabbit dead dog cooking", but Wu Sangui disdained these lobbyists. First of all, the credit of the Qing court is good, and this reward Wu Sangui has to share with many Han generals, he feels that the Qing court will not offend many generals in the southwest in one go; Secondly, as long as Yongli and Li Dingguo are alive, they will continue to disturb Yunnan, and they have taken out a lot of resources for this expedition to the Qing court, and the future conquest of Yongli and Li Dingguo will mainly rely on Yungui's efforts, in the eyes of Wu Sangui, who has regarded Yungui as his own, raising Nanming is to pay out of his own pocket and cannot get more military expenses from the Qing court, this kind of loss-making business Wu Sangui will definitely not do.

It is precisely because of this mentality that Wu Sangui has always hoped to solve the Nanming problem as much as possible. After the capture of Kunming, Wu Sangui had already managed to blast away the reinforcements from Liangguang, and he didn't want these guest troops who were sure to leave Yungui to stay in his future land for nothing, and Wu Sangui also expected that they would not treat the local people well. It is indeed as Wu Sangui expected, those generals who will share the territory of Yungui with Wu Sangui in the future are most concerned about the local people's livelihood and have the best military discipline, while those guest troops who will definitely leave will plunder the place on a large scale. The Liangguang reinforcements, which had the worst military discipline, plagued the place all the way, and after being bombed away by Wu Sangui, they also forcibly abducted the people of Yunnan on the way back, and Wu Sangui didn't know if this was the instruction of their master Geng Jimao.

There are also guest troops led by Zhao Liangdong and others, Wu Sangui is also full of hope that these troops will leave Yunnan and Guizhou as soon as possible, and the Yongli court will be wiped out, and the guest army of Zhao Liangdong and others will have no reason to continue to stay in Yunnan and not leave. Until the Kunming fire, Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong had the same goal, and they both couldn't wait to eliminate Yongli and Li Dingguo. Not only that, Wu Sangui was also preparing for a military operation against the Shuixian clan, exerting pressure from many sides, and definitely forcing the An clan to raise troops to respond to the remnant Ming and Li Dingguo. Wu Sangui had already made up his mind to exterminate these Tusi who had been entrenched in Yungui for thousands of years once and for all, to ensure that he would be the sole master of this territory in the future.

However, in the past few days, Wu Sangui has become hesitant about whether to immediately eliminate the Yongli court and Li Dingguo. He estimated that the Qing court would punish himself for the Kunming fire, but how heavy would this punishment be? After careful consideration, Wu Sangui found that he might not be a big deal, he did not believe that the Qing court would deprive him of a position of power, Wu Sangui was a great hero who sacrificed Shanhaiguan to the Qing court more than ten years ago, and with this credit, it was impossible for the Qing court to punish himself too heavily, not to mention that Wu Sangui still had army subordinates. As long as the military power is in hand, coupled with the old exploits of the Shanhaiguan back then, Wu Sangui will not be too miserable even if he is questioned, and there will be no room to turn over.

But I don't dare to say whether the promised Yungui feudal country can be kept. Since the death of Kong Youde and Nikan, the Kunming fire was the biggest defeat of the Qing court, and Wu Sangui felt that the Qing court might deprive itself of its vassal state in anger, or subtract a province from the fiefdom of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

Two days ago, Wu Sangui was still hesitating, he had two choices, or hoped that the Qing court would not deprive the vassal state or reduce the fiefdom, conceal the responsibility to keep the position of commander of the southwest army, and continue to crusade against the Yongli court; Or take retreat as advance, first shoulder all the blame, and wait for the Qing court to be angry, and feel that the Yongli court cannot be destroyed without Wu Sangui's horse, so it is in the best interests of Wu Sangui to reiterate Yungui's reward, and then make efforts to crusade against the Yongli court. But he was worried that if he retreated, and others leveled the Yongli court, then the position of the vassal king would fall into the pockets of others.

But Deng Ming's open letter made Wu Sangui no longer have to continue to hesitate, it is impossible for things to be big and small, and Wu Sangui is already thinking about which step he should retreat to "retreat as advance" at this time. The only thing to plan for is that when he is in obscurity, he must do his best to ensure that others cannot destroy the Yongli court, so that sooner or later the Qing court will have to reclaim his own vassal reward.

Of course, Wu Sangui did not intend to say anything to Zhao Liangdong, a loyal dog of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Militarily speaking, when retreating from Yunnan, a scorched earth policy should be carried out, killing all the people who refused to retreat, and burning materials and facilities that could not be moved, just as Wu Sangui intended to do to Jianchang. It's just that Wu Sangui is still planning to include Yunnan in the future, and carrying out a scorched earth policy in Yunnan is tantamount to burning his own family property, and Wu Sangui would rather leave it to Li Dingguo -- as long as he gets it back in the future, Li Dingguo will not carry out scorched earth resistance in Yunnan anyway.

Seeing that Wu Sangui did not support it, Zhao Liangdong scolded Deng Ming alone and scolded him boringly, so he turned the topic back to the military: "The last general thinks that he should ask for grain from Guizhou and Liangguang as soon as possible, and do his best to quell the chaos in the province." ”

"In five days, the army will run out of food." Wu Sangui has lost interest in quickly eliminating Li Dingguo, and if the latter has the possibility of being eliminated by others, it is even difficult to say what Wu Sangui will do: "Even if the grain from Guizhou is transferred, it will not last long." As for Guangdong, will the kings of Jingnan and Zhennan lend me their military rations? ”

"During this period, please ask the imperial court to reopen the Yangtze River shipping, levy Ding Zhuang from the south of the Yangtze River, and replenish us with grain." Zhao Liangdong admitted that the Qing army in Yunnan was currently in great difficulty, but Li Dingguo was also very difficult, and it was difficult to say who would not be able to hold on first.

But Wu Sangui still shook his head: "Far water can't save the near fire, if the grain in Guizhou is exhausted, the grain in the south of the Yangtze River has not yet arrived, then the situation in the southwest will be out of control." ”

"What does Dashuai mean to withdraw to Guizhou?" Of course, Zhao Liangdong was very dissatisfied with Wu Sangui's plan, and it was not a small crime to give up the land of a province.

However, Wu Sangui estimated that the Qing court would not put him to death, and in the case of a maximum punishment, it would be more beneficial for him to concentrate all the blame on one time: "It is not difficult for the army to retreat to Guizhou first to eat, and then attack Yunnan when the grain and straw in the south of the Yangtze River arrive." ”

Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong couldn't convince anyone, so in the end they had to agree to discuss it again tomorrow, and then all the generals would be summoned to discuss the current military situation in Yunnan.

Before the plenary session, Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong each went to persuade the other generals, and without the support of another Hong Chengchou, who was desperately loyal to the Qing court, Zhao Liangdong's work was very difficult, and he could hardly find allies to support him. Wu Sangui is different, his descendants have common interests with him. Wu Sangui is unwilling to use his lineage to fight hard, and they themselves are not willing to spend all the capital they relied on to make profits in troubled times before they can see a return; Even those in the non-descendant family who want to stay in Yungui also agree with Wu Sangui's opinion: if you support Wu Sangui now, you can expect to get Wu Sangui's reward in the future, Wu Sangui doesn't want to fight the old book, and they are the same; There is also a group of people who are going to leave Yunnan in the future, seeing that Wu Sangui doesn't want to work hard, how can he expect them to work hard?

At the military meeting the next day, Wu Sangui easily defeated the lonely Zhao Liangdong without much effort, and the latter's plan was indeed not convincing, and Hong Chengchou could still force Lianghu and Liangguang to urgently supply military rations, but Zhao Liangdong could not have this ability. Everyone unanimously agreed to leave for Guizhou before the military rations were completely exhausted, and some people even asked Wu Sangui to leave Zhao Liangdong to guard Kunming. Wu Sangui can say that he did not completely give up Yunnan, and transferred a considerable part of the responsibility to Zhao Liangdong, everyone took away the army and military rations, and it was strange that Zhao Liangdong could hold Kunming alone, and if he refused to defend it, he could only flee back to Guiyang.

However, Wu Sangui didn't do things so desperately, anyway, there must be an upper limit to the punishment he receives, and it doesn't matter if he takes the responsibility of giving up Yunnan. Now he needs Zhao Liangdong and himself to help each other in the Kunming fire, and he may also need Zhao Liangdong's talent when he invades Yunnan again in the future. Even if you don't use Zhao Liangdong, you may need the assistance of other guest troops, and Wu Sangui is happy to be a favor.

In a letter to the Qing court, Wu Sangui admitted that Kunming had suffered great losses, and the army was about to run out of food, so in order to keep more troops, Wu Sangui ordered the Qing army in Yunnan to temporarily retreat to Guizhou. He said that the southwestern generals were acting on orders, and that he was willing to take the responsibility for giving up the decision to give up Yunnan -- since he wanted to sell favors, he would simply sell his favors -- and Wu Sangui planned to do so.

More than 100,000 Qing troops retreated to Guizhou, and they would certainly not be able to support one province alone. After the Qing army abandoned Yunnan, Li Dingguo would most likely return, of course, the momentum was far from comparable to that before the loss of Yunnan. If the remnant Ming had the intention of making a comeback, then of course the Qing court could not let Wu Sangui fight with the Ming army out of his own pocket, and would definitely allocate more grain, grass and military salaries.

With the material support of the Qing court, Wu Sangui felt that he could endure for a while, and when the Qing court reassured his status as a vassal king and the territory of Yungui, Wu Sangui could attack again. It is not without a small supplement to take the food and salary of the Qing court for a few years first, and it can be regarded as letting Běijīng share some of the losses of the Kunming fire for himself. If the Qing court tried to let other generals compete for the credit of the feudal domain, Wu Sangui would definitely make all the competitors unable to eat and walk around.

Most of the Qing troops in the outer defense circle were not Wu Sangui's cronies, and after Wu Sangui made his decision, he immediately informed those cronies who were not in Kunming as quickly as possible, and those who were not cronies would naturally be a little later. If Li Dingguo fails to respond quickly, everyone should be able to withdraw safely, and if Li Dingguo reacts quickly, after the non-descendant troops are broken, Wu Sangui's cronies and generals can also lead the whole army back to Guizhou.

……

On the way back to Jianchang, Deng Mingyi did not walk very fast, and at this time they did not know all the results of the Kunming fire and how much impact it would have on the Jianchang army. Deng Ming decided to go slowly, leaving time for the news to reach Jianchang first, and he himself had to observe Feng Shuangli's reaction before making a decision.

During this time, in addition to summing up lessons and lessons, Deng Ming took a little time every day to teach Zhou Kaihuang, Li Xinghan and others to read and write. When they excavated the grain buried on the way south, they found that the grain had been touched by people, and the amount reduced exceeded the amount of food for one person, everyone was very happy, and it seemed that Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang were both safe and sound.

Before Deng Ming and others returned to the territory of Xingdusi, Sichuan, the news of the Kunming fire spread like wings in the southwest, along with Deng Ming's open letter. Feng Shuangli learned of the general situation of the incident as early as the arrival of the Xiying army in the north, and quickly sent someone to inform Di Sanxi that the latter was still entangled with the Qing army commander, and Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge were currently served in the camp by Di San's penchant.

The vanguard of the northbound troops of Xiying had already stepped into the territory of Xingdu Division in Sichuan at this time, and the envoy they sent to Jianchang was ordered to ask Feng Shuangli about the life and resume of this Deng Ming - now the Xiying troops believed that Wu Sangui had misunderstood, but there was no turning back when they opened their bows, they surrendered and rebelled, killed Wu Sangui's people under the city of Kunming, and surrendered again It is estimated that there will be no good end; Moreover, these people also had a strong interest in Deng Ming, and the Kunming fire made many people who were originally desperate feel that the Qing army was nothing more than that, and they could be disturbed by more than a dozen people.

After Di Sanxi received the good news, don't mention the happiness in his heart, Di Sanxi, who didn't mention Deng Ming before, now talks about Deng Ming all day long, talking to his subordinates, and talking to the newly surrendered Qing soldiers, lest anyone know that Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong also suffered a big loss under Deng Ming. Every time he advocated for Deng Ming, Di Sanxi couldn't forget to add: "When the general was in Jianchang, he was also defeated by Mr. Deng with nineteen people." ”

What do you think? Nineteen! There are two more people than Deng Ming used to deal with those three guys in Kunming. And after these star athletes came on the field, Di Sanxi suddenly found that it didn't seem to be a shame to be able to participate in this game, maybe his name as a good general could be spread all over the world - he Di Sanxi was valued by Deng Ming, Cheng Dù was similar to Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong, and they all had to deal with it personally.

The fly in the ointment is that the good general Di Sanxi still failed to capture the first Qing army stronghold in Dongchuan Mansion. I don't know if there is a hunting expert or something in the camp opposite, the Qing army can always hunt a large animal such as a deer, and a wild boar was also hunted a few days ago. Since most of the Qing soldiers had already surrendered to Di Sanxi, the Qing army stronghold on the opposite side continued to survive on one or two big prey. And there are too many mouths to eat in Di Sanxi's camp, and the main jīng force has to be put on hunting, and he can't interfere with the other party's hunting with all his strength.

However, Di Sanxi no longer planned to continue to drag on like this, and he was determined to take advantage of the great victory in Kunming to launch a thunderous offensive against the Qing army camp and end the long-lasting offensive and defensive battle of Dongchuan Mansion in one fell swoop.