After breaking through Hu Quancai's camp, Liu Tichun, He Zhen and Hao Shaoqi brought back more than a thousand crying women. ”

"It's all Wuchang's advocacy!" He Zhen said happily: "We have already discussed the big gift given to us by the thief, let the admiral pick first, then the generals, and finally the rest will be distributed to the sergeants." ”

Deng Ming disagreed, but he didn't come out immediately. The moral concepts of this era are too different from him, and many things that he takes for granted will make others feel that he is a maverick.

"It's not all about advocating excellence." Liu Tichun said on the side: "Some seem to be women from good families. ”

"And a woman of a good family?" Deng Ming was even more surprised when he heard this, and asked, "The thief actually robbed the women of the good family under his rule?" ”

"The Admiral doesn't know what this thief is trying to do, does he?" Liu Tichun asked some prisoners and learned about Hu Quancai's plan, so he told Deng Ming: "Hu thief thinks that the admiral has won consecutive battles, relying on either demon magic or cannons. If it is a demon law, he plans to collect the menstrual blood of these women and smear it on weapons and banners to break it; If it is a cannon, the thief plans to set up a yīnx gate array. ”

"What?"

Deng Ming was confused when he heard this, and Liu Tichun and others had no choice but to continue to popularize military knowledge to him: the so-called yīnx gate array is to let a large number of women stand naked in front of the army, and women belong to yīn, which can restrain the cannons of the five elements of fire. If a sufficient number of women are concentrated, it can even lead to a cannon to blow up the chamber, or even rush out after the cannonball.

"Isn't that nonsense?" Deng Ming shouted.

"It's true!" Contrary to Deng Ming's imagination, Liu Tichun, Hao Shaoqi and other battle-hardened generals came out to testify, and almost everyone had heard of similar battle examples.

"The thief also underestimates us too much," He Zhen said triumphantly, "I have been fighting horses all my life, will I not know?" In the past, it didn't matter if there were no artillery, but after the artillery was captured this time, all of them in our army were fat and strong with black dogs. ”

"What do you do with a black dog?" Deng Ming remembered that he had indeed seen black dogs in He Zhen's army, not only in He Zhen's army, but also Liu Tichun, Hao Shaoqi, and Yuan Zongdi. At that time, Deng Ming thought that they were going to be raised to eat, or used as pets, but he didn't expect that listening to He Zhen's tone, it was actually a weapon.

Liu Tichun opened his mouth to interrupt, Yuan Zongdi and others also agreed, Kui Dongzhong was unwilling to let Deng Ming lose face in front of the public, but Deng Ming did not hesitate to ask, and finally He Zhen had no choice but to continue to explain to the third prince who lacked professional knowledge: "The yang energy of dog blood is extremely heavy, especially the blood of black dogs is better than other dogs, so the other party sets up a yīn array, and we will sprinkle dog blood, which can keep the cannon safe and sound." ”

"It's ridiculous." At the time when Deng Ming was born, everyone no longer delved into the yīn yang genus xìng and the five elements genus xìng of various objects, but instead focused on chemical and physical principles, so Deng Ming was completely unable to understand these methods.

But He Zhen didn't feel the slightest ridiculous look on his face, Deng Ming's appearance of complete disbelief made him feel even more pressure, if Deng Ming didn't keep such important knowledge in mind, then the march and war in the future would definitely suffer.

"Actually, the best way is the Yangmen Formation." He Zhen used more examples to deepen Deng Ming's impression, trying to convince Deng Ming: "Monks are not close to women, they belong to the body of pure yang, when they encounter the yīnx gate array, if there are many monks at hand, they can put out the yang gate array, which can not only break the other party, but also greatly strengthen the power of the cannon." He Zhen also pointed out the witnesses to Deng Ming: "When General Yuan and General Liu attacked Kaifeng, they set up a yīnx gate array under the city, and suddenly the cannon stones on the Kaifeng city were poured out, killing and injuring many defenders; Fortunately...... No, it was the unfortunate governor of Henan, Gao Mingheng...... Ah, no, fortunately, the governor of Henan Gao was familiar with the art of war, gathered all the monks in the city to set up a large array of Yangmen, and the power of the city's artillery doubled, so he defended the city. ”

When introducing the battle examples, He Zhen kept pointing at Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi with his fingers, and shouted: "If the admiral doesn't believe it, you can ask them." ”

During this period, Hao Shaoqi always wanted to protest, but was stopped by Liu Tichun, because he also felt that it was necessary for Deng Ming to remember this tactic, and the specific details could be discussed later. After He Zhen finished speaking, Liu Tichun began to retort: "General He is generally good about this matter, but he remembers that in the third battle of Kaifeng, General Liu captured a large number of artillery pieces from Zuo Liangyu, a total of more than 130 guns, and wanted to use this batch of artillery to bombard the city wall of Kaifeng; We didn't have much artillery before, and we rarely saw this thing, so where did we know what taboos there were? However, Master Niu is familiar with military books and has extensive knowledge, so let's invite some eminent monks in advance. ”

Speaking of this, Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi both looked at Hao Shaoqi, and Hao Shaoqi hurriedly nodded, confirming Liu Tichun's account: "Originally, I planned to invite the senior monks of Daxiangguo Temple, but Niu Junshi said that the masters of Daxiangguo Temple have strict precepts, and they are people with Taoism, so they should not be disturbed. And the monks of Dengfeng do not avoid wine and meat, swagger and deception, and often use juggling to win the charity of rich merchants, and the Buddha will not blame them for disturbing them a little. So the last general led an army to Dengfeng and invited the masters of Shaolin Temple to Kaifeng. ”

I didn't see any expression on Deng Ming's face, Hao Shaoqi was afraid that the other party would have an opinion on this kind of behavior that disturbed Buddhism, and hurriedly explained a few words: "When the last general rushed to the Shaolin Temple, he saw that some Shaolin disciples were performing sticks, fists and feet to the pilgrims, and there were big words on the hall 'Shaolin Kung Fu A World', and some pilgrims did not go to the Dharma, but specifically to see what Shaolin Kung Fu. Shaolin disciples talked and laughed with female pilgrims, and also taught those female guests various kung fu and postures. The abbot has a fat head and big ears, and he is full of wine and meat, and there is leftover meat in the kitchen. At the end, the monks of the whole temple were invited to Kaifeng together, and there was no neglect of the number of rituals along the way. ”

When Hao Shaoqi explained in a wordy manner, Liu Tichun and the others were already impatient, and they then told Deng Ming that when Liu Zongmin bombarded the city wall with cannons, suddenly one day the cannons repeatedly exploded, or often muted fire, Niu Jinxing concluded that it must be Gao Mingheng who put up a yīnx gate formation in the city. So Hao Shaoqi invited the Shaolin abbot and disciples to go into battle together, and put out a large array of Yangmen, and sure enough, the artillery was restored as before, and the whole army sang in unison on the day to praise Niu Venus for being far-sighted and prescient.

"Did you see Gao Mingheng set up with your own eyes?" Deng Ming asked reluctantly.

"Of course not, he was put out behind the wall, how can we see it?" Liu Tichun replied confidently: "But if not, why are our cannons exploding one after another?" ”

"It's clear that you haven't used a cannon, and you're in a hurry, and you want to blow up the city wall at once, so there's too much filling!" Deng Ming felt that this was an obvious matter.

"If there is no formation in the city, we will ask so many Monk Lin to help, it is said that the power of the artillery should be greatly increased, but it is not stronger than before, and the city wall still can't be exploded." Yuan Zongdi recalled the scene at that time, and pointed out that there must have been some action inside the city that counteracted the effect of the Yangmen Array outside the city.

"Because the Yangmen Array is useless at all." Deng Ming felt that he couldn't explain it clearly to these people, but when it came to military operations, how could he tolerate this kind of child's play-like tactics to continue to circulate? Deng Ming could only argue stubbornly: "If the Yangmen Array is really useful, why didn't you use it earlier?" Is it that the army with artillery will take a few monks and stand in front at the critical moment, won't the landslide and the city collapse? ”

"The Admiral must not have such thoughts!" Liu Tichun was shocked when he heard it. When Niu Jinxing introduced this tactic and cracking method to everyone, a general who broke into the camp put forward a similar idea, and Niu Jinxing immediately categorically denied it: "The other party uses evil magic in the front, we use it later, and the Buddha will not blame him very much." Niu Junshi said that if we are greedy for profit, we will repeatedly take the initiative to use it first, so that the disciples of Buddhism will be disgraced, and we will be disgusted by the gods and Buddhas, and we will be punished by heaven! ”

"Sin, sin." Yuan Zongdi also repented in a low voice. He still remembered that Niu Jinxing sternly pointed out that using evil magic first might be able to dodge the artillery, but it could not dodge the heavenly thunder. Whenever he thought of this, Yuan Zongdi would repent again and ask the gods and Buddhas in the sky for forgiveness.

Seeing that the people around him looked solemn, and even his own guards had stern faces, obviously agreeing with their views, Deng Ming sighed weakly. He had heard that during the Opium War, the Qing soldiers tried to use this trick against the artillery of the British ** team.

"But it's useless at all, and of course the British artillery hasn't been affected in the slightest......" Deng Ming suddenly had an idea when he thought of this, and proposed to everyone to verify it with real yàn.

"How do you do it?" Liu Tichun feels very helpless now, so many people know things, and there are countless examples of battles that have been confirmed, and they are in line with the law of the five elements of yīnyang, why doesn't Deng Ming believe it?

"Naturally, we divided into two groups, each with ten cannons, one with a woman standing on the side, the other without. The number of cannon charges in both groups is exactly the same, see if there will be a difference. Deng Ming said that if you are worried about safety, you can use a delay fuze to solve it, and for the sake of fairness, both teams must use the same test conditions, that is, both use delay fuses to ignite.

"After the real yàn is finished, try to sprinkle the dog's blood again to see if you can make the cannonballs with the same charge go farther, or reduce the number of dumb fires." Deng Ming looked around at the expressions of the people around him and found that all the people, including Zhou Kaihuang and other guards, cast distrustful glances at him. Just now, Li Xinghan had been secretly tugging at the corner of Deng Ming's clothes behind his back, suggesting that he should not openly challenge military common sense, so as not to make a fool of himself before the army.

But Deng Ming turned a deaf ear to Li Xinghan's construction, and even challenged Kui Dongsi: "I sit in the village, it's useless to bet on this kind of array and dog blood, one loses ten, which of you dares to bet with me?" ”

He Zhen and Hao Shaoqi were both angered by Deng Ming's ignorance and refusal to learn humbly, but they didn't intend to offend Deng Ming to death, they both said that they didn't need to pay ten for one, as long as one for one, and each of them bet a hundred taels of silver with Deng Ming.

"A hundred taels? Is that all you have in faith? Deng Ming smiled: "Forget it, just pay one hundred, if I lose, I will give you one 10,000 taels of silver." I have tens of thousands of taels in General Yuan's deposit, and I will definitely be able to afford it. ”

"Then 10,000 taels!" He Zhen was embarrassed to win too much against Deng Ming, but seeing Deng Ming pressing so closely made his anger rise: "If the last general loses, he will also pay the admiral 10,000 taels of silver." ”

Under the encouragement of He Zhen and Hao Shaoqi, Liu Tichun also advanced and retreated with the two and gambled 10,000 taels. Only Yuan Zongdi sternly refused: "I don't like to gamble in my life." ”

No matter how the other three people provoked, Yuan Zongdi was unmoved. He pondered in his heart: "The third prince is a fire virtue, and this kind of array is mostly useless around him. ”

Although Yuan Zongdi quietly did a blasting test behind everyone's back, proving that Deng Ming was not needed to blast the city wall, Yuan Zongyi had never fought a battle that he was not sure of, and today he made up his mind to see the results of the gambling first. If the third prince wins today, Yuan Zongdi plans to wait until he breaks up with Deng Ming, and then repeat today's test. As for whether the yang energy of the dog's blood can strengthen the shè and power of the artillery, Yuan Zongdi didn't think that it was of much significance to do experiments around Deng Ming. The amplification effect of the third prince of Huode on the artillery is likely to be too huge, and the bonus effect of the guide zhì sprinkled with dog blood has become very insignificant. He also plans to look at this experiment first, and then do it behind closed doors in the future.

……

Li Laiheng left the large army behind, and he galloped all the way to Zhongxiangcheng with his personal guards, and finally arrived at Fucheng before dark. After the briefing, Deng Ming was soon seen running out of the camp gate to greet him.

After seeing each other, Deng Ming and Li Laiheng both had a thought in their hearts: "It's so young." ”

Li Laiheng, who was in his early thirties, took the lead in saluting Deng Ming: "Meet the Admiral." ”

"Don't dare to be, don't dare to be." Deng Ming knew that although Li Laiheng was young, he was in charge of the largest branch of Kui Dongming's army. Li Laiheng's adoptive father, Li Guo, was Li Zicheng's nephew and heir, and inherited the zhōngyāng lineage of Dashun. Although this army suffered losses in the years of resistance against the Qing Dynasty, it was still the most powerful in the camp. After Lee's death, this army was in the hands of Lee.

There were also Liu Tichun and others who came out with Deng Ming, and Li Laiheng saluted these elders very politely:

"I've seen Uncle Yuan."

"I've seen Uncle Liu."

……

After greeting with everyone, Deng Ming invited Li Laiheng to have dinner together. Before entering the tent, Li Laiheng quickly glanced at the guy who was cooking behind the tent, and immediately guessed Deng Ming's next military plan.

Not long after entering the account and sitting down, Deng Ming really asked Li Laiheng what he thought of the Huguang battle situation. Just now, Li Laiheng noticed that Zhong Xiangming's army had killed a lot of black dogs for cooking, and since they had destroyed all such important military supplies, it was obvious that they had no further plans.

Although he was a little disappointed, Li Laiheng did not intend to persuade Zhong Xiangzhong to continue the march to Wuchang, because Li Laiheng also felt that the territory of the Ming army was expanding too rapidly, and he needed to slow down a little, appease the local people, and use the materials he had obtained to strengthen the army, and then go for a greater victory. If Zhong Xiang's generals are still aggressive, Li Laiheng will be willing to participate in it and march to Wuchang together; Now that everyone has made up their minds to go home, Li Laiheng knows that he can't take Wuchang with his own strength.

"Hunan Governor Zhang Changgeng has fled back to Wuchang, no matter what unhappiness he had with Wuchang Wenwu and Jingentry before, they will still collude to fight against the officers and soldiers together." Li Laiheng pondered the words and said: "The Admiral is powerful and the Tartars are frightened, and the local scholars are now wide-eyed to see how the Admiral treats the people and gentry under his rule. If the Admiral treats the scholars and the people well, we will get twice the result with half the effort when we attack Wuchang in the future. ”

"Doesn't General Li think it's a good time to attack Wuchang?" Deng Ming was slightly surprised, he had been with He Zhen for a long time, and he was a little unaccustomed to meeting people like Li Laiheng.

"Exactly. This time, the sailors of Dongting Lake were taken away a lot by Zhang Changgeng. Li Laiheng, who was in the lower reaches of the Han River, didn't expect the Qing army to escape so quickly, and before he completed the blockade of the Han River, Zhang Changgeng had already arrived with the sailors and soldiers and horses.

There is a cloud in the art of war: "Don't stop when you return to the division", the Qing army knew that they could go home if they rushed over, and their eyes were red, and they just broke through most of the Ming army's defense line. Seeing that even Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Hunan, personally went into battle, standing on the bow of the ship to inspire the soldiers to desperately break through, Li Laiheng did not have much motivation and such a hard bone, he explained: "Since our army does not have an advantage in the naval division, and Wuchang has high walls and deep pools, I am afraid it will be difficult to take it in a hurry." The last general thought that he could make a feint and scare the Qing army back into the city, and we could just collect the grain and grass from the place. ”

After letting go of Zhang Changgeng, who jumped off the wall in a hurry, Li Laiheng stopped all the Qing troops who fled back by land without much effort, and captured a lot of materials and strong men. When Li Laiheng went to cut off Hu Quancai's retreat, Liu Tichun and others promised to give him a share of the seizures in Hu Quancai's camp, and Li Laiheng thought that he could be satisfied. And looking at the meaning of Zhong Xiangmingjun, most of them will go back to their homes immediately, so that most of the harvest around Wuchang and Hanyang can be included in their own pockets.

Deng Ming nodded: "What General Li said coincides with us. ”

Li Laiheng said with a smile: "This is the same thing that the hero sees, and before the last general enters the account, he knows that the admiral also has the intention of returning to the teacher." ”

"How did General Lee know?" Deng Ming was a little curious.

At this time, the chef had already brought the dishes into the camp, and Li Laiheng saw dog meat on the plate, and he smiled and said, "If the admiral doesn't plan to return to the division, how can he slaughter the black dogs in the army?" ”

At this time, Liu Tichun looked at the dog meat in front of him, and was in a very bad mood, if it weren't for He Zhen and Hao Shaoqi desperately pouting, he wouldn't have made a bet with Deng Ming. It's good now, I can't get my 10,000 taels of silver back. If this money is used to marry his soldiers, it is enough to say 200 marriages. Hearing Li Laiheng's words, Liu Tichun replied angrily: "Because the yīnx gate array is useless, and it is useless to sprinkle dog blood." ”

Li Laiheng was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Uncle Liu said that he laughed, this is common sense in the art of war." ”

Before Liu Tichun could answer, He Zhen suddenly jumped up from his seat and challenged Li Laiheng: "Bet 10,000 taels of silver!" ”