"If we retreat for a few miles, won't Li Guoying see the flaws?" Now Deng Ming has a feeling that Yuan Zongdi seems to have a sense of fear of the city defended by Li Guoying.

"There will be a plan in the end. We can pretend that the camp is on fire and then retreat. Retreating in the event of a fire is a completely normal countermeasure, and the Tartars should not be suspicious, and if Li Guoying is weak-hearted, he will definitely take this opportunity to withdraw his troops. We are following the pursuit, we must defeat them and destroy the main force of the Ganshan Green Battalion, so that there will be no worries in the future. Yuan Zongdi pondered for a moment: "If Li Guoying leads the front army to retreat first, it will be much easier for us to defeat the Tartars, but Li Guoying will probably break off the rear in person, even when we are pursuing, we must be careful." ”

Deng Ming didn't know much about Li Guoying, and he didn't know anything about this history of his previous life. In the history of the world before Deng Ming, it was Li Guoying who finally eliminated the Ming army in Kuidong - in the encirclement and suppression organized by the Qing army on all sides, Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun successively defeated the main forces of the Qing army in other directions, leaving only the Sichuan army all the way; Li Guoying personally led a small number of soldiers and horses to hold on to Wushan County, which had just been captured, against the main force of the Kuidong Army. Li Laiheng, Liu Tichun, Hao Shaoqi and others led a large army to besiege the city, and they were helpless to attack him in turn; Li Guoying took this opportunity to exhaust the Kuidong Army's food and grass, time to recuperate, and a large number of troops; The Qing army in other directions also took this opportunity to regain its strength, and took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Kuidong army was attracted by Li Guoying to press forward step by step again, leading the complete defeat of the Ming army in Kuidong.

After arriving at the city of Chóngqìng, Deng Mingduorì came to observe the positions of the Qing army every day, but Li Guoying's camp was very complicated, making full use of the cover of the terrain, and even the exposed camp also used a lot of false and indistinguishable flags. Needless to say, Deng Ming, who had just arrived, was that Yuan Zongdi had been here for so long, and he was not sure about the specific deployment of the Qing army, so he was more cautious and cautious about the attack.

Although he felt that chóngqìng was not easy to attack, Deng Ming felt that his fear of difficulties seemed to be inferior to Yuan Zongdi, so he asked: "General Yuan and Li Guoying have dealt with many times, tell me about it." ”

When Yuan Zongdi first met Li Guoying, Li Guoying was still the chief soldier under Zuo Liangyu. However, at that time, Zuo Liangyu was the attacker, and Yuan Zongdi did not think that Li Guoying had anything special, and the level of field warfare was not stronger than that of other Ming generals, and he was not famous. When it was Yuan Zongdi's turn to attack Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu repeatedly fled, and Li Guoying also ran along. At that time, Yuan Zongdi was very contemptuous of this defeated general. After the Battle of One Stone, the Qing army entered the customs, and Li Guoying surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty with Zuo Mengeng and was transferred to Shaanxi to serve.

When Li Guoying arrived in Shaanxi, the main battlefield of the Ming and Qing dynasties had been transferred to Jiangnan, and Shaanxi became a secondary battlefield for Běijīng, and Li Guoying had been responsible for defense. Later, the Xiying army drove out from Yunnan and Guizhou and launched a comprehensive attack on Huguang, Jiangxi, and Ganshan. Li Guoying's job is to defend, defend, and defend, and it is undeniable that Li Guoying has completed this task very well.

“…… A few years ago, the king of Shu and Sun Kewang repeatedly mobilized the army, vowing to capture Hanzhong and enter the pass. At that time, the imperial court once believed that Hanzhong did not have to hold on, and concentrated all efforts to defend Xi'an as the top priority. As an outpost of Hanzhong, Boryeong is just a beacon in everyone's eyes. But Li Guoying stayed in Baoning, besieged by the army of the King of Shu and Sun Kewang, and when the officers and soldiers were tired, Wu Sangui was killed from Hanzhong. Yuan Zongdi gave Deng Ming a detailed introduction to Li Guoying, although he was an enemy, but Yuan Zongdi did not belittle him, but said to Deng Ming very seriously: "The last general came to Chóngqìng, and when he saw that it was Li Guoying defending the city, he thought that if it was not a last resort, it was best not to attack." ”

Zhao Tianba, who was on the side, snorted softly and muttered in a low voice: "That's because Li Thief has never met King Jin." However, this sentence is just Zhao Tianba's excuse for Xiying, and Zhao Tianba also can't deny the defensive ability shown by Li Guoying.

"The two Han army banner generals in Ganshan and Shaanxi, Li Guoying is good at defending, and Zhao Liangdong is good at attacking." Because of his defensive exploits against the two battalions of Chuang and West over the years, Li Guoying has been raised by the Qing court. Yuan Zongdi said to Deng Ming again: "Hong Chengchou attacked Yungui and transferred Zhao Liangdong and others, who were good at attacking, away, and now the Ganshan Green Battalion has more than enough to defend and not enough to attack. Even if it is to attack the capital, Li Guoying can only send Gao Mingzhan a descendant like Tan Yi, if Zhao Liangdong, Daniel Zhang and others are here, it will not be easy for the governor to win so easily. Although Li Guoying is good at defending the city, he is not good at attacking and fighting field battles, so we just need to be careful not to hit his head in front of his fortified city and break the bloodstream. ”

…… When the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was resting at night, a guard suddenly came in to report that the Ming army camp on the opposite bank was on fire. Hearing this, Li Guoying hurriedly put on his robe and hurried to the city to watch.

I saw that the opposite bank was really blazing, and the bright fire even dispelled some of the fog on the river. Under the red mist, it seems that a large number of Ming soldiers are rushing back and forth between the Yangtze River and the camp, busy carrying water to put out the fire. On both sides of these burning camps, the Ming army's positions were also brightly lit, and countless soldiers did not help extinguish the fire, but lined up in front of the camp with torches held high, obviously to prevent the Qing army from taking advantage of the chaos to cross the river and attack.

After determining that the Ming army camp had accidentally caught fire, a thought suddenly rose in Li Guoying's heart: "There is no endless road to heaven!" ”

Li Guoying estimated that the Ming army could not tell for a moment whether they had accidentally caught fire or whether the Qing army had infiltrated the camp and set it on fire.

"Here's your chance!" Li Guoying immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity for the Qing army to retreat. After the camp was burned, the Ming army might be nervous all night, and most of them would have to retreat and camp after dawn for safety. If the Qing soldiers can seize the opportunity to break through quickly, they can open up the distance between them and the Ming army before the enemy can react.

A series of retreat methods that echoed each other automatically came to mind, and Li Guoying immediately asked himself a question: "What would I do if I were Deng Ming?" ”

Li Guoying planned to predict Deng Ming's movements, and then start deploying a retreat against Xìng. Almost at the same time as asking his own question, Li Guoying gave a number of answers: in addition to the necessary measures such as retreating and camping, screening battalion soldiers, and inspecting outposts, it was also necessary to transfer the sailors who had always blocked the mouth of the Jialing River and patrol along the Yangtze River to prevent the Qing army from sneaking across -- the immediate task of the Ming army was obviously not to pursue the Qing army that might retreat, but to guard against a counterattack by the defenders of Chóngqìng -- if this fire had been carefully lit by the Qing army.

But these answers did not occupy Li Guoying's brain for a long time, and he did not come up with any strategy against xìng.

"What would I do if I were Deng Ming?" Li Guoying muttered to himself, this time he unconsciously read the question out loud.

After another moment, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi suddenly shouted: "If I were Deng Ming, what would I do?" ”

This sudden loud shout and question startled the guards around Li Guoying, and they all looked at their bosses blankly.

Shut down

Li Guoying didn't ask the meaning of others, he no longer observed the situation on the other side, but paced back and forth rapidly on the head of the city, and his brain turned quickly: "If I were Deng Ming, after eliminating Gao Mingzhan and letting the partial division out of the Sword Pavilion, I would secretly sneak to the city with a large army, hide in the shadows and wait; When Chóngqìng received the news of the attack on Baoning, he saw that Chóngqìng sent a part of the reinforcements back to the defense, and then asked Yuan Zongdi to suddenly take out the captured Gao Mingzhan and the captured banner; When the defenders hurriedly retreated, Deng Ming suddenly appeared again and launched an all-out pursuit. Well, if I were Deng Ming, I would probably do it. ”

Li Guoying stopped, looked at the other side again, and fell into a long silence: "Looking back now, it seems that the rumors of thieves leaked a little early, as if they wanted to scare me away." And today's fire seems to be a bit too coincidental, when I was looking forward to a good opportunity to break through at night, suddenly the enemy camp caught fire. ”

Heavy footsteps came from behind, and Wang Mingde and others also rushed after hearing the news. As soon as they climbed the city tower, they saw the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, who had arrived early, and just when everyone was about to step forward to ask for a plan, Li Guoying, who was still facing the other side, raised a hand without looking back, stopping Wang Mingde and the others from speaking out: "Don't say anything, this official is a little confused now, you have to think about it carefully." ”

At noon the next day, Li Guoying walked out of the yamen again and climbed the city wall full of concern. When everyone greeted him, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi did not seem to hear at all, and did not react in the slightest.

After walking up to the city, Li Guoying saw that many generals had joy on their faces, because the Ming army retreated for several miles overnight, and the Ming army's naval division, which was always threatening the Jialing River, was also scattered on the entire Yangtze River at this time.

"The reason why I asked Gao Mingzhan to choose this time to attack Chengdu is because the mountains are covered by heavy snow in winter, and Chengdu will not have time to ask Jianchang for help even if he knows that the Sword Pavilion is lost; Even if they asked for help in time, Jianchang's western thieves didn't have time to send reinforcements. In addition, before Gao Mingzhan sent out his troops, I asked Wang Mingde to maintain pressure on Fengjie and Wanxian, and before I arrived at Chóngqìng, there was absolutely no large number of thieves in the fleet. Gao Mingzhan shouldn't have encountered a large number of thieves, Jianchang didn't have time to send troops, and I kept a close eye on the eastern part of Sichuan. ”

Li Guoying's eyes looked at the Yangtze River, and he was still pondering the question that he had been thinking about all night: "If Gao Mingzhan was not defeated by a large army, then the news leaked, and Deng Ming knew in advance that Gao Mingzhan would attack Chengdu." He cleared the wilderness in advance, and then set up an ambush, and defeated the impetuous Gao Mingzhan and Tan Yi with Chengdu soldiers. Due to the difficulty of the road, few soldiers fled back after Gao Mingzhan was defeated. This battle may not have been fought in Jiangyou at all, but under the city of Chengdu. Although I'm guessing blindly, I'd rather believe that the news was leaked than tens of thousands of troops appearing out of thin air, so that Deng Ming was prepared. ”

When Li Guoying went to the city this time, he had been fiddling with a copper coin in his hand, and neither his staff nor his generals knew why the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi had been playing with this copper coin, and no one dared to ask.

Seeing that the Ming army's actions were just as he had predicted in advance, Li Guoying's face not only did not have any joy, but was stained with heavier worries, and he read in his heart: "If Gao Mingzhan was not defeated by the army, but by the strong wall Qingye, then Deng Ming might not have sent an army out of the Sword Pavilion at all." He knew that if I had left a few troops behind, his partial division would have been in vain, and would have suffered the same fate as Gao Mingzhan; And now I see a qiē is a thief's jiān scheme, who wants to trick me out of the city, so that I can mistakenly think that I can take advantage of this time to get rid of the pursuit; If my guess is correct, as soon as I left Chóngqìng with my front foot, the enemy's ships, which looked like a plate of scattered sand on the river, would suddenly gather and rush into the Jialing River together. And the main force of thieves hiding several miles away will also kill back as quickly as possible, biting our army tightly and preventing us from getting out safely. ”

Thinking of this, Li Guoying suddenly shook the copper coin in his hand hard. Although the river in front of him seemed calm, Li Guoying felt that there was an infinite killing opportunity hidden in it: "If I guessed wrong, the thief did accidentally catch fire, this is the last chance for the soldiers to escape; If I refuse to go because of my thoughts, it will not be long before the thieves will come back closer, and we will never be able to leave lightly; And within ten days, maybe even within five days, news came from the upper reaches that the thieves had been killed from the Sword Pavilion and attacked Baoning and Guangyuan, and because of my suspicion, tens of thousands of soldiers fell to death. ”

Li Guoying looked around at the generals around him, as well as the soldiers in the city, he knew that the decision he was about to make was very important, and if he misjudged it, it would mean the destruction of the Ganshan Green Battalion.

Last night, and all this morning, Li Guoying couldn't tell whether this was Deng Ming's hidden trap or the last chance to escape from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Green Battalion. Like all the generals of this era, Li Guoying thought of divination when he was undecided.

"The villain dares to ask the Lord of Heaven to have mercy on these tens of thousands of soldiers." Li Guoying prayed silently in his heart, walked to the battlement, left all the generals behind, and he planned to secretly throw the coin: "If this fire is really Tiangong yù saved my chóngqìng officers and soldiers, dare to ask Tiangong to let this copper coin face up." ”

After the silent prayer, Li Guoying put his hand on his chest, blocked all the gaze from behind with his body, and with a flick of his thumb, the copper coin flew into the air, and after a slight pause at the highest point, it fell rapidly towards the wall battlement, and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi stared intently at the yellow sè trajectory drawn by the copper coin in the air.

…… A few miles away from Chóngqìng, Deng Ming was discussing the military situation with Yuan Zongdi and other generals. Whether it was Yuan Zongdi's 4,000 soldiers or Deng Ming's 8,000 armor soldiers, they were all full of spirits, and there was not a trace of fatigue on their faces. Yesterday afternoon, the Ming army had already arranged the camp here, and when the fog began to rise on the river at night, the Ming army's 12,000 soldiers, tens of thousands of auxiliaries and sailors came here to sleep and rest. In fact, there are only a few thousand strong men acting at the scene of the fire.

"Li Guoying has been on the battlefield for a long time, if he really wants to retreat, he will show signs today, and he will start acting tomorrow at the latest." The main forces of the Ming army were ready to launch a pursuit operation at any time. As for the naval divisions that were now cruising in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the officers were also ordered to be ready, and once the Qing army withdrew from Chóngqìng, they would cooperate with the army to launch an offensive and catch up with the Qing army by land and water.

"Li Guoying is resolute, and he will personally lead the standard camp to break down." Yuan Zongdi once again sent praise to the enemy: "But the journey from Chóngqìng to Boryeong is long, and he will definitely not be able to escape." ”

Yuan Zongdi introduced some experience of pursuit to Deng Ming, and most of the examples he gave were the situation of breaking into the camp to pursue the Ming army in those years -- after getting along with Deng Ming for a long time, Yuan Zongdi had fewer and fewer scruples, and he knew that Deng Ming only cared about the military situation, and never took these political issues to heart, at most he only needed to pay attention to the title.

Finally, Yuan Zongdi also mentioned Li Zicheng's experience in pursuing Sun Chuanting: "At that time, Sun Inspector commanded the allied army of the seven provinces, with 200,000 soldiers and horses, half of which were the Ganxi Green Battalion - at that time they were still called the Qin army. After the grain road was cut off, Inspector Sun commanded the whole army to return to Tongguan in the west, and King Chuang followed closely behind. At the very beginning, Inspector Sun also challenged King Chuang several times, but King Chuang should not fight. Because it is still far away from Tongguan, Inspector Sun still has the strength to fight, if King Chuang is unfortunately defeated, then Inspector Sun will be able to return to Tongguan safely. Therefore, King Chuang is the rear army that attacks Sun Governor's division, and if he sees that Sun Inspector intends to fight a decisive battle, King Chuang will stop and confront him, and Sun Inspector will not be able to fight it. The wounded in the camp can be rescued, and Inspector Sun has to keep leaving the wounded behind. At first, Inspector Sun's rear team could still fight and retreat, but as they got closer and closer to Tongguan, the rations received per rì became less and less, and Inspector Sun's military spirit was finally in turmoil, and no one was willing to stay behind, so Inspector Sun himself abandoned the army and fled back to Tongguan. ”

"In the end, the army can't control it?" Deng Ming asked.

"Exactly, there are 200,000 people in the coalition army of the seven provinces, and only 300 people follow Inspector Sun back to Tongguan." Yuan Zongdi couldn't help but smile smugly: "So, don't be impatient when pursuing." The retreating side is getting more and more chaotic, and it is easier and easier to clean up, especially if the opponent's main general runs away, then it can win lightly. ”

"Thank you, General Yuan, for your teachings." Deng Ming knew that Yuan Zongdi was reminding himself not to be greedy for merit but was run away by Li Guoying.

"As long as the Tartar army leaves Chóngqìng City, they will definitely not be able to enter Boryeong City alive." Yuan Zongdi laughed: "Li Guoying defended the city well, but there was nothing outstanding about retreating. General Liu and I chased him three times, and on two of those occasions he was wiped out and spared. The time he let him run away was because he was too anxious, and the pursuers were defeated by the broken troops led by Li Guoying. ”

"yes, I see." Deng Ming turned to look at a middle-aged officer beside him and said to them, "You have just come, and you will have to work hard." ”

"To be able to serve the Admiral and go into battle to kill the enemy is exactly what we want." The middle-aged officer beside him responded generously. A few days after he arrived in Chóngqìng with his brothers, in addition to bringing Li Laiheng's greetings, he also brought his own military flag, which was embroidered on the three walls painted by Deng Ming.