For the next ten days, the Ming army was busy clearing obstacles under the city of Chóngqìng. As they got closer and closer to the city wall, the battle between the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties became more and more intense, and Yuan Zongdi was busy supervising the progress and directing the battle on the front line, so he had no spare time to chat with the children of this clan. Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang often accompany him, and these two people are already acquaintances of Deng Ming. Deng Ming is also very satisfied with this arrangement, and he knows only a few people in this world. He felt that the attitude of the other Ming soldiers towards him was a little strange?-respectful, but kept his distance.

Deng Ming was very happy that he did not need to consider the issue of shaving his head in the Ming army for the time being, but he was inevitably worried when he thought that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would inevitably sweep the country in the future. If the joking aliens or future people don't send him back, Deng Ming feels that he is in danger, but he can't think of any way out of danger for a while, and this distress can't be discussed with anyone.

At noon today, Deng Ming was a little nervous when he saw a fleet of ships coming from downstream, but he was relaxed when he saw Zhao Tianba beside him. Remembering that he had been listening to Yuan Zongdi and their introduction that the downstream was the sphere of influence of the Ming army in the past two days, Deng Ming secretly scolded himself for being a coward, and craned his neck to look at the fleet. Sure enough, the people who came to the ship were all red flags, and they were reinforcements from the Ming army.

This new Ming army did not drive along the Yangtze River to Yuan Zongdi's camp, but sailed into the Jialing River and went to Tan Wen.

"It's the army of the Marquis of Renju." Zhao Tianba opened his mouth and said.

"Oh?" Deng Ming didn't know who Renshou Hou was.

"Mr. Deng," Zhao Tianba heard the hesitation in Deng Ming's answer, so he turned his head to look at him: "Does Mr. Deng know who Renshouhou is?" ”

Deng Ming's face turned red, shook his head and replied, "Lonely and unheard." ”

Zhao Tianba did not show suspicion or ridicule his ignorance as Deng Ming guessed, but immediately replied: "Tan Hou is the same as Fu Hou is the guard of Wanxian. ”

Fuhou is Tan Wen, this Deng Ming has already heard Yuan Zongdi say. He understood that the new arrival was another one of the "Three Tans", Tan Yi, so he nodded: "Thank you Brother Zhao for your advice." ”

"It's so late." Zhou Kaihuang couldn't help but complain.

It has been ten days since Yuan Zongdi arrived from Dachang, and Tan Wen, who was stationed in Wanxian with Tan Yi, has arrived for twelve days. According to the plan of the Ming army in advance, the Ming army and Yuan Zongdi in the Wanxian area should strive to destroy all the Qing army fortifications outside the city before the arrival of the army, and immediately attack the city as soon as the main force of the Ming army arrives. The Ming army's material reserves were very limited, and it was difficult for the army to stay under the city for a long time, and it was also necessary to prevent Wu Sangui from returning to the division again. The time of the Ming army was so tight, and Tan Yi's late arrival made Yuan Zongdi's subordinates quite dissatisfied.

"It's good to be here, Xinjinhou doesn't know how long it will take to arrive." Zhao Tianba actually has prejudices against these officers and soldiers, and the Xiying has fought hard with these Sichuan troops for many years, and now although they are all under the banner of the Ming Court, the estrangement is still there. Zhao Tianba then explained to Deng Ming that the Marquis of Xinjin is Tan Hong: "The Marquis of Xinjin is surnamed Tan, and he is obscure. ”

The rumbling sound of cannons could be heard from time to time on the city, this was the first time Deng Ming had seen war and death with his own eyes, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh when he saw some more Ming soldiers falling.

Zhou Kaihuang knew that Deng Ming couldn't bear it, Yuan Zongdi had quietly told him, a soft-hearted sect disciple was easily moved, and he was more likely to help say good things, which was not bad.

Zhou Kaihuang said: "The casualties in front of us are not large, and when our army clears the plum blossom pile and fills the trench, our army should arrive, and then the soldiers attack the city is the decisive battle, if you are afraid of death, you will not be able to succeed." ”

Deng Ming nodded slightly, and sighed lightly.

……

At this time, in the city of Chóngqìng, the Qing army guard Wang Mingde was restless.

Originally, there were seven or eight thousand Ming troops of Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen under the city, and Gao Mingzhan, the governor of Sichuan appointed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, saw that there were so many horses on both roads, and knew that the follow-up army was even more numerous, so he immediately made a decision, under the pretext of going to Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, to ask for reinforcements, and rushed out of the encirclement from the junction of Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen's two armies, and ordered the general soldier Wang Mingde to wait for reinforcements when he left. Wang Mingde knew that Gao Mingzhan abandoned the city and absconded, but he dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, so he had to stay in the city to resist.

"The governor is far away in Boryeong, and after seeing the governor, it will take time to ask about the situation and gather troops and horses, and I am afraid that he has not set off at this time." Although the garrison of the governor of Sichuan was set in Chengdu, Chengdu was currently in the hands of the Ming army, Wu Sangui took all the good generals to fight Yunnan, and Li Guoying's remaining troops were unable to conquer Chengdu, so they had to stay in Baoning temporarily, and finally wrote a letter to the Ming generals in Chengdu to persuade them to surrender.

Seeing that a new Ming army came to the city, Wang Mingde was even more worried, and he complained to Wu Sangui vigorously: "Wu Shuai said that the thieves and the Ming court have old grudges, and they are suspicious of each other, and they didn't please chóngqìng last time, so they will never contribute again this time, Wu Shuai is blind this time, and I am afraid that there will be more people who come back this time than in July." ”

Wang Mingde secretly speculated that the governor Li Guoying was still struggling to deal with the relatively weakly garrisoned Chengdu, and it didn't look like he could send troops to relieve the siege. For ten days, the Ming army has been attacking the city wall, although they are not fast at cutting stakes, but due to the shortage of defenders in the city to go out of the city to counterattack, the Ming army has been advancing. Today, there were several city wall guards who complained to Wang Mingde, and he climbed the city wall and saw that the Ming army was already approaching the wall in these places. Especially the Tan Wen Department, which came first, they have already begun to fill in the trenches. Although the progress on Yuan Zongdi's side was a little slower, it seemed that it would only take a day or two to reach the trench.

Wang Mingde knew that the situation was already very critical, and once the Ming army was allowed to fill in the trenches in many places, they would be able to attack the city on all fronts when the main force of the Ming army arrived. At this time, the Qing army in the city of Chóngqìng was unstable, and someone asked Wang Mingde to break out of the siege - of course this could not be; There are also people who ask for battle, and they advocate taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Ming army has not yet arrived, and go out to fight to the death with the Ming army outside the city. Wang Mingde could not agree to this plan either, the Ming army outside the city was much stronger than the defenders, and once defeated, the chóngqìng would be lost immediately.

Standing at the head of the city, Wang Mingde could only watch as Tan Yi's army converged with Tan Wen—it looked like the new Ming army was as many as 5,000. Soon, Tan Yi took over Tan Wen's position, and Tan Wen moved the camp to the center, so that the battle line of the Ming army was closed. Now, even if Wang Mingde wants to follow Gao Mingzhan's example, there is no way out for him to abandon the city and escape.

"Alas, Wu Shuai is really blind this time." Wang Mingde thought sadly. A thought suddenly came to mind: "While I still have nearly 10,000 horses in my hands, plus such a chóngqìng, if I descend to the past, I should be able to save Xìng's life, right?" ”

But in a blink of an eye, Wang Mingde shook his head and suppressed this thought: "Now that the imperial court has almost unified the world, there is only a little territory left in Sichuan and Yungui, and surrendering in the past is just a matter of early death and late death, maybe the governor can really relieve me of the siege!" ”

After pondering for a while, Wang Mingde gritted his teeth and encouraged himself: "Even if I die in battle, the court will always sympathize with my sons." In the end, it is still impossible to escape death, and it will affect the whole clan, so why bother? ”

After holding this thought, Wang Mingde was determined to stick to chóngqìng, and he could drag on for a day.

……

Contrary to Wang Mingde, Yuan Zongdi seemed to be in high spirits when he returned to the camp today, and invited Deng Ming to come over for dinner, and there was talk and laughter during the banquet. Although Deng Ming was not very clear about the etiquette of this era, he felt that Yuan Zongdi's attitude towards him was absolutely unusual. Deng Ming thought that if he was lucky, he would act as a staff member at most, but Yuan Zongdi did not discuss things with him and did not need his own help to analyze. In addition, Yuan Zongdi's courtesy to himself far exceeded that of his superiors' treatment of his subordinates, even a confidant like Zhou Kaihuang would not be treated so politely, let alone other subordinates.

"Renshou Hou brought news, Inspector Wen crossed Wanxian two years ago, and now it is estimated that he has arrived in Fengdu." Yuan Zongdi said with a smile.

Wen Anzhi was the superintendent sent to Sichuan by the Yongli Emperor, stationed in Fengjie, and his main job was to pacify and control the rest of the camp gathered in eastern Sichuan and northern Huguang. Wen Anzhi's army would arrive two or three days later than Tan Yi's sailors by land. Now that Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen's camp was solid, and there was enough grain and grass for tens of thousands of troops, the fortifications on the outskirts of Chóngqìng had been almost swept away. Today, both Tan Wen and Yuan Zongdi began to tentatively attack the city gates and city walls to find out the reality of the defenders, and when the army arrived, they could storm Chóngqìng.

Zhao Tianba remained silent, but he was very disdainful of Tan Yi in his heart.

Unlike Zhao Tianba, Zhou Kaihuang immediately said loudly as soon as he heard the news: "No wonder Renshou Hou is here, the superintendent will be able to arrive in chóngqìng in three days and five days in five days, if he doesn't come again, won't he have no share in this credit." ”

"You can't say that, it's all about contributing to the country, and Renshouhou also has the difficulties of Renshouhou," Yuan Zongdi didn't have no thoughts about these Ming army descendants, otherwise he wouldn't have separated the camp from Tan Wen. In normal times, Yuan Zongdi would most likely nod his head in approval for Zhou Kaihuang's undisguised sarcasm, or at least smile and say nothing, but today Deng Ming, a disciple of the clan, is on the side, and Yuan Zongdi will have room for it.

"What difficulties can there be......" Zhou Kaihuang was still arguing.

Zhou Kaihuang couldn't stop talking when he opened the chatterbox, the more he talked, the more excited he became, Zhao Tianba knew that this guy was going to start scolding Ming Ting soon, according to his previous experience-Zhou Kaihuang was by Deng Ming's side these days, and he couldn't talk casually, so he should be about to suffocate. At the same time, Zhao Tianba noticed that Yuan Zongdi was looking at Deng Ming's expression, and it was estimated that the Jingguo Gong was also beginning to feel uneasy.

"To take Chóngqìng is to cut off the retreat of the Wu thief. I heard that there are a lot of savings in the city, enough to support the operation of tens of thousands of troops. It is said that Zhao Tianba should not talk about how the Sichuan-Hubei Ming army should act in front of Yuan Zongdi, after all, his identity is just a messenger, but he still diverted the topic: "If the Wu thief refuses to return to the division, maybe he will have to trouble the commander of the three armies to march south." ”

"Of course," Yuan Zongdi immediately nodded and said: "When we take Chóngqìng to isolate southern Sichuan and northern Sichuan, even if the King of Jin doesn't say it, we will also write to the imperial court to let us meet the Wu thief, but he owes us a lot of blood debts." ”

Deng Ming was very interested in this topic, and it was just right to answer the questions in his heart, so he asked Yuan Zongdi's opinion, and at the same time pricked up his ears to listen to the other party's answer.

Yuan Zongdi is an old soldier, and he is quite clear about the things of war, and he is the first to say it.

In his opinion, the grain transported by the Yangtze River alone was certainly not enough to supply Wu Sangui's huge army, and Wu Sangui still needed to collect a large amount of grain from the people during the march. Yuan Zongdi believed that since Sun Kewang had the direction to guide him, the route Wu Sangui chose to enter Yunnan must have a dense enough population for him to use. However, Wu Sangui had returned to the division once before, and then sent troops again, even if the population was dense, the two large army crossings would definitely toss the common people to nothing. Yuan Zongdi felt that after the Ming army obtained the grain and grass of Chóngqìng, the reinforcements sent by Sichuan to Yunnan could pass through Jianchang, which was operated by Liu Wenxiu for a long time, and it was estimated that there was a lot of grain and grass savings, and there was enough strong population to use for the reinforcements. When the Ming army of the two major systems of Chuang Ying and Xiying meet, even if they deal with Wu Sangui, they will not be left behind.

In short, Yuan Zongdi was quite optimistic about the battle situation after taking Chóngqìng, and decided that Wu Sangui had become a hanging master. The larger the number of Qing troops attacking Yunnan, the more difficult it will be to last because of the lack of materials, and the retreat will be blocked by the Ming army, and the end can be imagined.

Zhao Tianba nodded frequently when he heard this, obviously very much in agreement.

Deng Ming felt a wave of confusion as he listened. These days, in Yuan Zongdi's camp, listening to them repeatedly talk about how if they can capture Chóngqìng, they can reverse the situation in the southwest, Deng Ming gradually feels that they have a point. Now that the plum blossom piles on the periphery of Chóngqìng are close to being cleared, the city walls and gates have been exposed, and two days later, Jīng Rui will follow Wen Anyi to arrive, and at least tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, then Chóngqìng will fall into the hands of the Ming army. However, Deng Ming knew that the situation in the southwest was not reversed in the end, so Chóngqìng should not have been overcome, and the Qing army did completely defeat Li Dingguo......

The more optimistic Yuan Zongdi was about the battle situation after the capture of Chóngqìng, the more nervous and uneasy Deng Ming felt.

Because of the distance and inconvenient communication, no matter Yuan Zongdi, Zhao Tianba, Zhou Kaihuang or Deng Ming, they did not know that the battle situation in Yunnan at this time was 108,000 miles away from their optimistic expectations. In fact, after Wu Sangui led the Qing army south to approach Kunming, the Yongli Emperor fled in a hurry. The main force of the Ming army in Guangxi was ordered to return to Kunming, and Han Jiān Geng Jīng Zhong took the opportunity to launch an offensive and seize large swaths of the Ming army's territory, while Hong Chengchou also set out from Huguang to participate in the attack on Yunnan.

When he returned to the camp at night, Deng Ming tossed and turned and couldn't sleep: "If the Ming army's attack on Chóngqìng fails, then what is it for?" ”

Yuan Zongdi said several times that with the current population of Sichuan, it could not withstand the tossing back and forth of the army at all, so he did not think that the Qing army could still send a large number of men and horses from Shaanxi to reinforce the army. Moreover, the Qing army in Shaanxi no longer has any decent troops, even if it has time, it is too late.

Deng Ming judged that it might be because the city of Chóngqìng was strong and difficult to attack, and it would lead the Ming army to return in vain, so he followed Yuan Zong back to the base of the Ming army first, and then thought about what to do next. But it was clear that Wen Anzhi's main force was about to arrive in two days, and with the advantage of the Ming army, it would be difficult for Chóngqìng to support, and it was estimated that it would soon fall.

"Something unexpected must have happened! Could it be that a Qing army suddenly arrived and relieved the siege? A thought flashed through Deng Ming's mind, but he couldn't imagine how it happened: "If Yuan Zongdi is right, there is no Qing army in Shaanxi and Sichuan that can defeat the main force of the Ming army, but there is another Qing army reinforcement that suddenly arrives, and the number is extremely large!" Then this sudden arrival of the Qing army should be ......"

Thinking of this, Deng Ming felt that the cold hairs on his whole body stood up, this Qing army should appear before the main force of Wen'an arrived, so it was only within two or three days.

"How do I remind Yuan Zongdi? Do you want him to send more detectives to investigate? But if he asks me how I came to this judgment, how should I answer? Where did this Qing army come from, which way to go, and in which direction did it appear? I don't know anything about marching and fighting, I don't know anything about this era, I don't know where the Qing army is stationed in Sichuan, how can I convince Yuan Zongdi that there will be a Qing army suddenly appearing? ”

Deng Ming thought hard, but found nothing. He felt a storm about to fall from the sky, and great danger lurked around him. There is a beast hidden in the darkness of the night, and although you can't see the fierce light in its eyes now, you can't hear its hungry gasps, and you don't know which direction it will pounce on, but there is no doubt that it is peering at you from some nearby corner, and is approaching you step by step.

Suddenly, there was a noisy shout, and then a man in the uniform of a Qing soldier opened the tent, rushed in with a torch, and slashed at Deng Ming without saying a word.

Facing the sword light, Deng Ming sat up suddenly, only to realize that it was Nan Ke who was dreaming, and he had fallen asleep unconsciously just now. With his heart pounding, Deng Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead, got up in the dark, and walked out of the tent gently. The moonlight shone all over the camp of the Ming army, and the surroundings were quiet, and the snoring could be heard from the nearby tents. In the distance, the tall sentries on the camp wall were clearly visible, and they were guarding the safety of the camp.

Deng Ming looked at the starry sky - this world was full of dangers, and the only thing that made him feel calm and relieved was the starry sky, he had never found the starry sky so beautiful before. Deng Ming sighed silently. Fate is unknown to others, but to him it is knowable and even terrifying. Deng Ming knew that he and the soldiers of the Ming army who had treated him well these days had embarked on a road of no return, and what awaited them was undoubtedly destruction. But Deng Ming didn't know how to change this qiē.

"It is very likely that an enemy army has approached us, and the Ming army will be completely wiped out, but I can't help General Yuan. How can I bear to tell them that the work they have fought for all their lives will eventually come to naught. ”

In fact, Deng Ming did not guess wrong, the Qing army he was worried about had already arrived at the city of Chóngqìng.