Li Guoying's Chóngqìng army plus Guizhou reinforcements, the Qing army that came to pursue Deng Ming sent out 1,000 commanders and 1,000 armored cavalry, as well as 10,000 armored and 18,000 unarmored soldiers. Today, Zhao Liangdong did not move, Li Guoying left 200 standard battalion guards and 2,000 armor in the camp, and the rest of the armor set out to pursue and kill the Ming army.

When Deng Ming defeated the cavalry of the two-way standard battalion, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was sitting in the camp, drinking tea and thinking about the next move easily, after hearing that Zhao Liangdong did not send troops, Li Guoying understood his intentions after thinking about it, and smiled left and right: "General Zhao is really arrogant, since this is the case, let General Zhao be the vanguard when you continue to pursue." ”

The sailors of the Qing army were not very familiar with the hydrology and geography of the upper reaches, and Li Guoying told them not to panic, and after the river fog completely dissipated after dawn, they set off to follow the fleeing Ming sailors. Although Deng Ming's ship was unlikely to catch up, it was generally impossible for the Ming army's naval division, which was loaded with a large number of armor soldiers and weapons, to go very fast, and even if the Qing army's naval division was half a day late, it would certainly be able to catch up with the Ming army before it arrived in Xuzhou -- in Li Guoying's view, Xuzhou was the closest stronghold that might give the Ming army a little respite, and if the Ming army had to flee all the way back to Jiadingzhou, it would of course be better, which meant that the Qing army could achieve greater results.

The Ming army, which was busy fleeing, certainly did not have any fighting spirit, and would not turn around to reinforce the attacked companions, and the Qing army's sailors chased all the way, and they would definitely be able to destroy a large number of Ming troops on the river. Unlike the Ming army that was lost here today, it was Deng Ming's combat troops who escaped by boat, so Li Guoying also sent a search force to kill those Ming troops who abandoned the ship and went ashore, and he already planned to hand over this work to Zhao Liangdong.

Whether it is a naval division following the pursuit, or having the troops search the two sides of the strait by boat, if they can better understand the local geography, they can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Li Guoying has some maps of the upper reaches in his hand, but like all maps of this era, the details are not very accurate, so he still needs locals to be guides: "It's a pity that there are no people in this area, and it would be best if I could catch some thieves and captives who knew the way." ”

However, Li Guoying also knew that there was little hope, since Deng Ming abandoned the army and absconded, he would definitely take away all the people who were familiar with geography, and would not let this kind of talent stay and wait for death with useless auxiliaries. However, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi still had the idea of what happened, hoping that he could have a little more luck and make the pursuit of the Qing army smoother.

"Why are there so few captives?" After waiting in the camp for two hours, Li Guoying never saw a large group of Ming army prisoners escorted back, less than one-tenth of what he expected: "Tens of thousands of Zhejiang people who have no weapons, armor, and don't know the way are running blindly all over the mountains, is it so troublesome to chase them?" ”

After hearing that the generals had chased out more than ten miles, Li Guoying was even more puzzled, it was not surprising that a small number of scuds in the rout fled quickly, if it was a local who was familiar with the road, such as the king of Pingxi in the Battle of Songshan, it was normal for him to retreat. But the rout of tens of thousands of Ming troops, all of them can fly and flee, which makes Li Guoying feel a little incomprehensible. Escaping quickly is not an easy task, it requires good organization and a fully trusted guide, if an army can still do this when it is defeated, it is definitely a strong army in the world, but if it is really such a jīng sharp army, how can Deng Mingyou be willing to abandon them?

"These captives must be asked." Originally, Li Guoying did not intend to ask his generals how to deal with today's prisoners, he was in the high position of the governor, and he did not take this kind of prisoner to heart at all, except as coolies, but today's situation made Li Guoying curious, and planned to personally interrogate a few prisoners to find out how they managed to escape so quickly.

Several generals sent people to report to the battalion, saying that the captured prisoners were all in the mouth, saying that Deng Ming abandoned the army and absconded.

"Some of the thieves replied with flickering eyes," one of Wang Mingde's heralds reported to Li Guoying: "General Wang beat them all the way, and some people said that today was a fraud planned by Deng Ming himself, intending to retreat twenty miles and then ambush our pursuers." ”

Although it was in front of the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the herald couldn't help but smile when he said this.

"Hahahaha." Li Guoying laughed: "Defeat twenty miles, and then ambush our army?" General Wang fought too hard, where can he ask such questions? ”

Ordinary scholars who have just passed the imperial examination and become an official of one of their parents are often convinced of the effect of extorting confessions by torture, but Li Guoying is well-informed and knows that the criminal law must be done in moderation, because when the person being interrogated cannot bear the severe punishment, what he says may not necessarily be the truth, or he may follow the intention of the interrogator. Therefore, in addition to the punishment of the interrogators, it is not only necessary to ask questions that contain tendencies, nor to allow the captives to guess in the minds of the interrogators, otherwise they will confirm the interrogators' suspicions in order to avoid the pain of flesh and skin.

"Yes, the Governor has seen that General Wang has already scolded those questioners." The herald replied with a smile, and when Wang Mingde heard the report of his officers, he immediately rebuked the person in charge of interrogation.

"Twenty miles, hum, why don't you say that you have lost two hundred miles?" Li Guoying shook his head again and again, this kind of confession has no value.

"Not really, a few captives who changed their words all said the same thing, they were all deceived and defeated for twenty miles, one mile is not more, and one mile is not less." The herald replied.

"General Wang should teach his men well." At this point, Li Guoying had completely understood that the officer in charge of the interrogation must have such suspicions in his heart, and he was too obvious in front of the captives, so he would get such a ridiculous confession again and again. Although he blamed him, Li Guoying did not have the slightest anger on his face, because he knew that interrogation skills also depend on experience, and this kind of mistake was a common thing.

"Your Excellency the Governor reproaches." The herald also understood that Li Guoying did not mean any accusation, but was just expressing his concern for Wang Mingde: "I retired first." ”

"Well, go ahead." Li Guoying waved his hand, and the confessions of these prisoners showed that the enemy army really had no special arrangements, because if these soldiers knew any more important information, they would definitely confide it in exchange for peace, and even fabricate important information to get through the immediate difficulties. But they were obviously beaten very hard, and they could only follow the blind guesses of the interrogators, and they could not produce the slightest important information.

The doubts in his heart could not be explained in any way, which made Li Guoying's curiosity even heavier: "There is no local, they are all Zhejiang soldiers, what secret recipe can they have to escape so quickly?" ”

The Qing army's naval division began to march upstream, and Li Guoying asked Zhao Liangdong to find him and discuss the follow-up pursuit with him, neither of them thought that at this time, Deng Ming was outflanking the middle road, and there was already a fierce battle with the Qing army in that direction.

When the two of them were talking, several generals sent back envoys, and like Wang Mingde, they all more or less pry out the plan of Deng Ming's defeat for twenty miles from the mouths of a few Ming prisoners, and then turn around and counterattack.

When he heard this report for the first time, Zhao Liangdong smiled silently and watched his colleagues make a fool of themselves in front of the governor. One after another, several colleagues repeatedly made the same ugliness in Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong, and Zhao Liangdong's smile finally dissipated a little.

"Deng Ming spent four or five days in advance and sent thousands of men to familiarize himself with the surrounding geographical roads, and now the whole army retreats under the leadership of these guides, and sets up a assembly site in advance twenty miles away, tempting our army to pursue, and ambushing the officers and soldiers when our army catches up; Ren Tang stayed in the thief camp in order to cut off our army's retreat after Deng Ming launched an ambush. "Another herald arrived, and loudly reported to Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong the information obtained by his commander, unlike others, the commander of this herald, Hu Wenke, was a general who had just been promoted to guerrilla, and he did not have much battlefield experience, and Hu Wenke was shocked when he learned of this, and he had ordered the troops to stop advancing while sending the herald back.

If he hadn't heard countless reports of the same kind, Li Guoying might have ridiculed Hu Wenke, but now he didn't answer immediately, but pondered for a moment before asking, "What is the official position of the thief caught by General Hu under Deng Ming?" ”

"Tell the Governor, it's a small soldier." The herald replied.

"How small?" Li Guoying asked, if Hu Wenke caught a Ming army general, then although this matter is absurd, it is not completely impossible: "Isn't it even President Qian?" ”

"Back to the Governor, no, it's just a pawn."

"At least a boss, right?" Li Guoying is still unwilling.

"It's not even armor, it's just an unarmored strong man with armor on his back." The herald replied honestly.

Shut down

"Will General Hu even believe the words of a strong man?" Li Guoying said angrily, his anger was not because Hu Wenke believed the report of the prisoners, but because the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi had more and more confusion in his heart, and he began to worry because he couldn't figure it out: "Could it be that General Hu wants to fight how to fight, will he tell Sù to have a small soldier?" Especially a big event like an ambush, will an unarmored soldier know? ”

After blasting Hu Wenke's herald out of the Chinese military tent, Li Guoying was still angry, and he no longer cared about talking to Zhao Liangdong, but pondered why there were so many captives who confessed the same information. But Li Guoying couldn't think differently no matter how he thought about it, which made him feel even more angry. Li Guoying had imagined that this was a lie used by Deng Ming to appease the army before he escaped, so that the Ming army could help him delay more time, but after thinking about it, this conjecture was full of loopholes. If Deng Ming wanted the abandoned troops to help him delay more time, he should try his best to hide the news of his abandonment, at least as Li Guoying had done every time he had decided to abandon the army and abscond. Throwing out this news first disturbed the morale of the army, and secondly, these routs would collapse quickly after fleeing the camp, and it would be difficult to help Deng Ming buy time, Li Guoying didn't think Deng Ming would be so stupid.

Raising his head, Li Guoying saw that Zhao Liangdong was also thoughtful, so he asked, "What does General Zhao think about this?" ”

"The last general has an idea, but it is a bit ridiculous, if he says the wrong governor, don't blame." Zhao Liangdong also thought hard for a long time just now before forming a conjecture.

"Tell me about it." Li Guoying jīng God was shaken.

"Maybe Deng Ming really wanted to deceive Twenty Miles, and it was indeed the exploration geography he arranged," Zhao Liangdong felt that if what the prisoner said was true, then many things could be explained: "That's why the thief can run so fast, and the people who are caught will use the same statement." ”

"It's ridiculous." Li Guoying replied without thinking: "The defeat of the army is like a mountain, let alone twenty miles, even running five miles is a big mess." "Li Guoying carefully observed the formation of the Ming army this morning, and he was very sure that the Ming army did not retreat in an orderly manner.

"What the Governor said is extremely true, if you lose twenty miles of deception, and nine out of ten military horses, even if Sun Wu is resurrected and Wuhou is reborn, she is helpless. The Governor is well versed in the art of war, and the general will admire him to the end. Zhao Liangdong first gave a compliment, and then changed the conversation: "But Deng Mingnai is a stinky kid, who has become famous, how can his art of war be compared with the Governor?" ”

"Oh?" Li Guoying was stunned for a moment, and after a while, his face showed disbelief, mixed with an ecstatic look, and leaned over in the direction of Zhao Liangdong, his voice trembling with excitement: "Is General Zhao saying that Deng Ming has really deceived twenty miles?" ”

"The last general thinks it's really possible." Zhao Liangdong nodded, and at this time he was also heartbroken: "If this is really the case, I should really add it." ”

Li Guoying stood up and paced in the tent, if Deng Ming really deceived twenty miles, then he would definitely be unable to form an army by now. Easily defeated Deng Ming and wiped out the main force of the Ming army in western Sichuan, Li Guoying felt that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of him.

"It's just," Li Guoying felt that there was still a question that could not be answered, and he said while thinking: "The ambush must be kept secret, of course this official will not come up with such a suicide plan, but if the official is in the position of Deng Ming, then he must keep it secret, except for his henchmen and generals...... Well, no, you need to let everyone know; After telling the people where they will assemble, let the main force in armor ambush in the pre-position...... Well, no, the number of people can't be too many, otherwise you'll be discovered...... After letting a small number of jīng rui lay an ambush in advance, let people spread rumors in the camp, so that the army really thought that the governor had abandoned the army and absconded-" Li Guoying couldn't say anything about it at all, and he had just concluded that this plan was not feasible, but after careful consideration, Li Guoying found that the danger of Deng Ming's deceitful plan was still ten times higher than what he had just envisioned, and the complicated and chaotic Cheng was completely uncontrollable.

"Therefore, Deng Ming is an ignorant child, he doesn't know how to command an army at all, and he doesn't know how to keep ambushes secret." Zhao Liangdong did not let Li Guoying continue to deliberate, but said as a matter of course: "Your Excellency Governor, don't treat Deng Ming as an opponent of military affairs, he can't control the army at all, he doesn't know how to keep secrets, and he can't keep secrets at all." ”

"What General Zhao said is extremely true." Li Guoying's various thoughts were entangled, and his thoughts had become very unclear, and Zhao Liangdong's words gave him a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

"If this is the case, most of the Deng thieves have changed from deception to real defeat, and after seeing the chaos of the army, they really fled, and the governor should strike urgently, don't let him escape to the navy." Zhao Liangdong then recommended himself: "Dare to ask the Governor to send the last general to rush westward by boat, copy Deng Mingtou and land to intercept him, even if he can't intercept himself, he will stop most of his minions." ”

"How can General Zhao tell where the Deng thief has fled?"

"Deng thief will definitely try to gather some troops, and only after seeing that it is irretrievable will he have to really escape......" Zhao Liangdong analyzed Li Guoying, calculated the time, and felt that the landing thirty miles away should be able to bite Deng Ming's tail: "But in this way, the thief's sailor should hide upstream, if he encounters the thief's sailor to help him halfway, then the general will have to give up, but after unloading the general's personal barracks, the sailor can pursue for a while, this time the Deng thief is really going to escape, and the last general can also prevent more thieves from boarding the boat and escaping." ”

"Okay." Li Guoying immediately threw an arrow and ordered the remaining clippers to quickly chase after the sailors who had been deployed, and let them return immediately: "The soldiers are very fast, and the governor originally arranged some ships to patrol the river, but now they are also transferred back and used to transport General Zhao's personal barracks." ”

At the same time as Li Guoying gave the order, Daniel Zhang, who escaped on the river patrol boat, finally convinced the sailors of his identity: "Hurry up and take me back, I will report to the Governor." ”

……

A line of Qing troops appeared in front of them.

"Who is leading this army?" Deng Ming asks about the prisoner he has just caught.

"It's Hu Wenke, Hu guerrilla......" The prisoner recognized the military flag on the opposite side and replied to Deng Ming.

"Newcomers." Deng Ming said left and right, the prisoner explained very clearly, the enemy general on the opposite side had just been promoted to guerrilla, this was his first time leading the army in a field battle, and most of Hu Wenke's subordinates were recruits, far from being comparable to those Qing generals that Deng Ming had met just now, let alone Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao who had met earlier.

"But in the Qing army in the middle lane, the only enemy general who can stand in line should not be taken lightly." Deng Ming said softly, the other Qing generals thought they were going to win and pursued frantically, the soldiers were overdrawn, the formation was also chaotic, and they collapsed at the touch of a touch after encountering the Ming army.

"Forward!" After Deng Ming finished speaking, he waved his horse sword lightly and led the troops to force towards the Qing army.

Although there were 500 infantry from Zhao Tianba, there were only 200 cavalry left with Deng Ming, and because the Ming army had been advancing at a high speed, the infantry and cavalry were disconnected.

Now the Qing army in the middle is almost divided into two by Deng Ming's flank attack, and nearly 10,000 Qing troops are sandwiched between Deng Ming and Zhou Kaihuang's troops, their organization is chaotic, and the war and auxiliary are mixed, and they are simply unable to attack the small Ming army that is holding the danger in their retreat, and it is only a matter of time before they are annihilated.

The mountain trail guarded by Hu Wenke was the last hope of these Qing soldiers on the middle road, and Deng Ming was determined to win this, and after defeating the hundreds of people around the Qing army's guerrillas, Deng Ming could also take advantage of the situation to insert behind Wang Mingde on the south road, and divide and surround the thousands of Qing troops pursuing Li Xinghan.

……

"Deng Ming, it's Deng Ming."

Hundreds of rout soldiers shouted and ran towards Hu Wenke's banner, and after hearing the shouts of these people, Hu Wenke and his men's faces were so white that there was not a trace of blood.

"The other side is cavalry, and if you escape, you will definitely die." Hu Wenke forced himself to calm down and ordered the infantry to form a formation and prepare to resist: "Don't let the rout get close to our formation, otherwise there will be no mercy!" ”

After ordering the pursuit to be halted and the army reorganized, Hu Wenke also sent the mouths he had received to his colleagues, but all of them were more senior than him, and Hu Wenke was unanimously ridiculed by them.

The ridicule of his colleagues made Hu Wenke hesitate, and while he was hesitating, the situation of the battle suddenly turned upside down, Deng Ming went straight down from the north, no one was his enemy along the way, one general, three guerrillas were captured, and tens of thousands of troops were crowded into a ball and could not move. Only Hu Wenke gathered his troops for a while in advance, and now there are more than 300 soldiers around him, and his body is barely able to fight.

"Your Excellency, your Excellency." Although Hu Wenke's order was carried out, his personal guards did not have the slightest confidence: "Deng Ming came from the north to kill, General Zhang, Deputy General Wang, and Biaoying should all be finished, right?" ”

Hu Wenke estimated in his heart that most of the time was the same, and the prestige of the commander on the opposite side brought heavy pressure, so that Hu Guerrilla was almost out of breath. However, although Hu Wenke had no experience in field command, he knew very well that escaping in front of the cavalry would only result in faster death: "We will hold out for a moment, and it will be good for a moment." Hu Wenke pointed to the southwest: "If the officers and soldiers in front want to escape, they will come from this road, and when they come, we will run, and with them in the way, we will have a chance to escape!" ”