While the Ming army was seriously exploring the terrain along the Jialing River, the Ming ships transporting prisoners also began to pass through Chongqing to transport valuable labor back to Xuzhou. The sight of these passing ships is enough to further confirm the Qing army's crushing defeat in Zhongxian, but Gao Mingzhan and Wang Xincheng sat firmly on Diaoyutai despite the wind and waves. And Wang Xincheng's military actions further deepened Deng Ming's vigilance, because this can be regarded as the Qing army's deliberate cover around Chongqing to shield the intelligence work of the Ming army, and hundreds of Qing soldiers dared to go out of the city, which can also be regarded as evidence that the Qing army has hole cards.

In previous battles, Deng Mingdu had a considerable intelligence advantage, or absolute water control, but now not only had to advance in an unfamiliar land, but the Jialing River on the flank was also shared by the two armies, and the survival of the fortress of Chongqing brought great benefits to the Qing army, neutralizing the advantage of the western Sichuan naval division in a considerable way, and also restricting the movement of the Ming army.

"Let's set up camp here first and continue to look for Li Guoying's military camp." Deng Ming felt that he had gone quite deep, Chongqing was also left behind, and the Ming army formed a long snake formation along the Jialing River, if it continued to forcibly stretch the front, it would be difficult for Deng Ming's 7,000 soldiers to fully obtain the surrounding intelligence and provide enough warning time: "We don't know where to hide ambushes around, where are the secret warehouses and fortresses built by Li Guoying." Since ancient times, arrogant soldiers will be defeated, and we still have to be cautious. ”

Although Deng Ming asked the soldiers and horses near Zhongxian to reinforce the front line, but now Ren Tang is still continuing to transport prisoners, and he also needs to maintain the deterrence of Wang Mingde and others, so after receiving the order, he can only let 3,000 soldiers rush to Chongqing, and the remaining 2,000 people still have to stay in his hands to prevent the prisoners from making trouble or Wang Mingde from making any stupid moves.

At this time, the agreement between Deng Ming and Minfu showed its drawbacks, Deng Ming wanted to save military expenses and refused to put Minfu into military operations, so although there were many soldiers and horses with combat effectiveness, the army that could be used was very limited. Fortunately, it was no problem for these people to stay in Zhongxian County to deter Wang Mingde and the prisoners, otherwise they would not even be able to draw out 3,000 soldiers......

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Ming army still kept evacuating prisoners, and now Ren Tang and Mu Tan are looking forward to completing the transfer of prisoners as soon as possible, and after only Wang Mingde's soldiers are left in Zhongxian County, the Qing army does not have enough auxiliary troops and no ships, so their mobility is basically zero, and they no longer pose the slightest threat to the Ming army.

In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Wang Mingde also sent a small group of soldiers and horses to camp close to the camp of the Ming army, and was responsible for reporting safety to the rear every day - the Ming army could moor warships near the camp of the Qing army to observe their movements, but the Qing army did not have such an early warning capability; In order to reassure Wang Mingde, Deng Ming, coupled with the consideration of propaganda work, told Wang Mingde that he had always treated people fairly, and not only agreed to the stationing of this small group of Qing troops, but also allowed them to communicate with the forward posts of the Ming army.

These days, from time to time, passing merchant ships docked to sell goods to the Ming troops stationed there. Over the course of a few days, Wang Mingde's soldiers became acquainted with the Ming troops at the forward posts, and it was common to see the Ming soldiers taking out pieces of paper from their bodies to buy goods from merchants.

A merchant selling tobacco came down from the docked ship today, and the Qing soldiers saw that the Ming army took out the beautifully printed pieces of paper and bought some tobacco from the merchants.

Tobacco has always been an important military need, in Deng Ming's previous life, during World War II, tobacco was included in the necessary supply items of many countries. During the Ming Dynasty, soldiers were equally fond of this narcotic. Emperor Chongzhen once thought that "eating tobacco" and "eating swallow" were homophonic, which was very unlucky for the Ming royal family of the Yan Dynasty, so he ordered a ban on smoking in the border army. This ban was canceled by Hong Chengchou, who said that the ban could not be stopped, and the soldiers were addicted to smoking, but they were cheap smugglers.

"We Admirals also want to ban smoking, you know, they can't hear the word 'smoking'." This Ming army was a native of Huguang, and it was determined that Deng Mingnai was the king of Fu. On the issue of banning smoking, those Ming soldiers who believed that Deng Ming was the third prince also held a similar view, that is, Deng Ming tried to stop everyone from smoking because of superstition: "The admiral said that eating tobacco is not good, it will damage the whole body, it will fall into many diseases, and it will reduce life expectancy......

As he spoke, the Ming soldier handed the tobacco he had just bought to his new friend, and the Qing soldier took it with great gratitude, and he had long seen that it was a very rare commodity; In Wang Mingde's army, not to mention such good tobacco, even ordinary soldiers can rarely get it.

"This is a cigarette from Huguang, although the admiral has said many times that eating tobacco is not good, but he has not explicitly banned it, but he is just desperately collecting taxes." The Ming soldiers lit their pipes, took a deep breath, and let out a sigh of satisfaction as they spit out the cigarettes, and then complained: "Such a small bag of cigarettes actually costs ten yuan, which is too expensive." ”

"Ten dollars? How much is that? "The Qing soldiers lacked understanding of IOUs, and although they had heard from Ming soldiers that this thing could be used as silver in Chengdu and Xuzhou, they had no idea about its price.

"It's the equivalent of a penny." Ming Jun waved the small pocket in his hand, just now he bought ten small bags of cigarettes, although Deng Ming tried his best to raise the cigarette tax, but the soldiers still refused to give up.

The Qing soldier began to smoke after asking the question, and when he heard the answer, he just took half a puff, and when he was startled, he spewed out, and he looked at the drifting smoke with regret, and cried out in heartache and amazement; "Didn't you just spend a tael of silver on cigarettes?"

"Even if what the Admiral said is right, whether it is to reduce life expectancy or hurt our bodies, we soldiers today do not know what will happen tomorrow, what is the matter with two puffs of cigarettes?" The Ming soldier said flatly.

"But it costs a tael of silver!"

"Well, that's good." The Ming soldiers nodded, and like most of their companions, the Ming soldiers were particularly willing to spend money on this kind of narcotics, and they bought the best tobacco.

"What's wrong with a tael of silver?" The Qing soldiers felt sorry for the enemy.

"There is food and drink in the army, what can you do if you don't buy cigarettes for military salaries?" The Ming soldier replied disapprovingly. He was a conscript, and from the day he was drafted into the army, he had a special allocation, and the salary allowance of the soldiers of the standing army was even higher than his, and he didn't care about this money.

"Save it, go home and save it for your mother-in-law." Qing soldiers offer advice.

"There is no mother-in-law." The Ming soldiers shook their heads. Chengdu and Xuzhou are good at everything, but there are too few women, and this expedition is also fighting in Sichuan, and it seems that most of them can't get a daughter-in-law immediately.

"So you have to save money," the Qing soldier said loudly, with a hint of reproach in his tone: "Smoke less cigarettes and save some dowry as soon as possible." ”

"Don't save, if you can ask your mother-in-law next time you go to Huguang, the admiral will lend us a dowry, fifty taels!"

"Borrow? Isn't that still going to be paid? Having said that, the Qing soldier was still envious in his heart, he worked hard to save money, but it was still far from enough to get enough bridal money: "Fifty taels, tsk, everyone can afford it, right?" ”

"When the time comes, let the mother-in-law do the work, and the debt will be forgiven." The Ming soldier replied without thinking.

"Fifty taels are all exempt?"

"Yes, and the mother-in-law can still earn some money to go home. The work is all serious work, weaving, sewing clothes or something, and there are mothers-in-law in the workshop, and there is not a single man, so it is very safe. Seeing the suspicious look on the faces of the Qing soldiers, the Ming soldiers estimated that the other party was crooked, and hurriedly explained that the work done by the military subordinates of the Sichuan Army was definitely not the traditional Ming army of letting wives and daughters go out to laugh.

After listening to the Ming soldiers' explanations, the Qing soldiers showed some fascination in their eyes. Ming Jun said with a hint of pride: "Look, my military salary is to buy some cigarettes." If you can live to beg your mother-in-law, you don't have to worry about the bride price; If we didn't have that life, at least we would have enjoyed our military salary. ”

"River fish, river crab, freshly brewed rice vinegar, and chili peppers and peppercorns." In the distance, another boat stopped, and the cries of the vendors floated over.

Although there was a supply of food in the army, the soldiers of the Ming army still took out pieces of paper and bought some fresh food from the merchants. As usual, Wang Mingde's soldiers had embarrassed smiles on their faces and went to the side of the Ming army to try to get a little food. The soldiers of the Sichuan army had the ability to enjoy the condiments, especially the kind of chili peppers eaten by the Sichuan army, and several soldiers of the Shaanxi Green Battalion liked it after tasting it, and the taste was even better than their favorite dogwood. The soldiers of the Qing army learned from the mouths of the soldiers of the Ming army that this is also the crop that the governor of the Yangtze River brought back to be planted in Sichuan, and the first local harvest has just been made this year, because the output is small, the price is high, and only the officers and soldiers of the army can afford to consume it.

Mala Jiangxian was sweating profusely, and the Qing soldiers felt a little embarrassed, and they said another important use of silver: "You still have to save money, don't you have to be a soldier for the rest of your life?" In the future, I will have a savings of a few dozen taels to buy two acres of land to plant, what a good day it is. ”

"Buying land? No, the land in the capital is planted casually, as long as it is cultivated, it is your own. Ten acres of land only pay 100 yuan a year, oh, only pay a rent of one or two silver, and pay it directly to the government. ”

"Really......"

On August 20, while Ren Tang was still busy transporting prisoners, someone suddenly reported that Wang Mingde's envoy had asked to see him.

The angry envoy entered the door, although he tried his best to restrain himself, Ren Tang could still clearly see the envoy's extremely dissatisfied look: "In the past few days, our soldiers have been fleeing to your army, if there are only a few scattered, my head of the family will pretend not to see it, but yesterday more than 100 people fled in a gang. Aren't you afraid of damaging Admiral Deng's credibility by inciting our soldiers to defect in such a reckless manner? ”

"We ...... When did we incite it? Ren Tang was puzzled by what he heard.

"Does General Ren still want to deny it? It's too much damage to your reputation. The envoy had a large amount of evidence in his hand, and the Qing army was shocked and tortured the deserters who were captured, and grasped a lot of incitement by the Ming army: "The head of the family asks General Ren to return the deserters and stop continuing to sabotage the peace agreement between our two armies." ”