Feng Shuangli and Jianchang's friendship with Chengdu was gradually deepened by the continuous exchanges in the past two years, whether it was the previous exchange of population, or the later reinforcement of Chengdu by Di Sanxi, Deng Ming had a reasonable return, and left an honest impression on Jianchang. For example, Deng Ming frankly told Feng Shuangli how Chengdu benefited from the exchange of population, and how much benefit it could get. This time Deng Ming also brought some gold to Jianchang, precious metals are always in demand, and Jianchang can be used to trade with Tibetans.

Now Jianchang's militarization is similar to that of Kunming, or even higher, and the 100,000 men are all auxiliaries of the army, raising 10,000 armor soldiers, and making every effort to build outposts to guard against Kunming's attack. Due to the inventory, tools and military tun left by Liu Wenxiu, Jianchang's life was stronger than Kunming's, and the armor's equipment was also good. Deng Mingjian and Feng Shuangli eased relations with Li Dingguo, which Feng Shuangli did not object, because if relations were relaxed, Jianchang would not have to invest so much financial resources in border posts; Deng Ming also sent troops to assist Chengdu in the battle, and afterwards distributed the spoils of war to Jianchang in proportion, which made Feng Shuangli a little moved.

Feng Shuangli's request to Yunnan on behalf of the Jianchang forces was that Li Dingguo must first help them obtain the legal right to rule Jianchang from the imperial court, and in addition to this name, Kunming must first withdraw all the garrisons on the border. Second, Jianchang demanded that Yunnan ensure that it would not tempt and accommodate Jianchang's fugitive population, and if Jianchang's auxiliaries fled to Yunnan, Li Dingguo should intercept and return them. On this basis, Jianchang agreed to provide grain to Yunnan.

Feng Shuangli's conditions caused an uproar among the generals around Li Dingguo, which was basically to ask Li Dingguo to admit the fact of the secession of the Jianchang Xiying Army and completely abandon the idea of unifying the Xiying.

"Jianchang is in fact no longer under the command of the king, even if the king does not agree to the request of the king of Qingyang (Feng Shuangli), they will not return to Yunnan." Deng Ming argued with reason and tried to persuade Li Dingguo to agree.

Deng Ming did not sue Li Dingguo, he promised to give Jianchang some subsidies - the grain provided by Jianchang to Kunming was purchased by Chengdu, and Chengdu could settle the compensation with grain, gold, silver, cloth or other materials that Jianchang was willing to accept. Because of Jianchang's suspicion of Kunming, it was not easy for Deng Ming to persuade Feng Shuangli to agree to help Kunming, and Di Sanxi also helped a lot to suppress the voice of the opposition. The opposition suspected that giving Li Dingguo food was to help Kunming obtain military rations for the attack on Jianchang, which was an act of "financing the enemy."

"What if we withdraw the troops on the border and Jianchang sends troops to plunder the population of Yunnan?" Li Siye loudly expressed his dissatisfaction. The military confrontation between Kunming and Jianchang escalated gradually, and the estrangement and mistrust between the two sides led them to alternately increase the security force on the border, for fear of being caught off guard by the other side.

"King Qingyang has promised not to fight in the same room, and he built yì to keep only the post stations along the way, which are used to ensure communication and transportation of food. As soon as the Jin king withdrew his troops from the border, the king of Qingyang would immediately send 100,000 stone of grain to Kunming. Deng Ming said loudly.

The centrist Bai Wenxuan and the suspicious faction He Jiuyi were silent, the natural conditions of Kunming are far inferior to Chengdu, if 100,000 stone of grain is saved, it can supply the needs of 20,000 troops for a year, which can be described as a charcoal in the snow for Kunming.

Li Siye also hesitated, no longer arguing but waiting for his father's reply.

But Ma Bao was still unwilling, he felt that the grain and grass that Liu Wenxiu had saved in Jianchang was for the Northern Expedition to Hanzhong, and it was also the only intact grain depot in Xiying in a catastrophe, and now Feng Shuangli had to use the grain to bargain with Kunming, where life was hard.

"If the king of Qingyang breaks the contract and plunders Yunnan, then he is betraying the imperial court, and the king will definitely fight back against the traitor." After listening to Deng Ming's words, Ma Bao realized that Deng Ming did not have much binding force on Jianchang, so he threw out a multiple-choice question: "If there is a conflict between the king and the king of Qingyang, will Admiral Deng be a watchman?" ”

Li Dingguo wanted to stop Ma Bao's temptation, but the other party's words had already been spoken, so he would not say anything, so as not to make his subordinates lose face in front of outsiders, or make Deng Ming think that there were differences within Kunming - even if there were different opinions, they should be said behind closed doors.

"I'm not going to sit on the sidelines." Deng Ming knew that he could not be vague on this issue, otherwise he would be seen as weak and more likely to be misunderstood.

After this sentence came out, Ma Bao's expression moved, and he asked: "Admiral Deng is a loyal minister of the imperial court, right?" ”

As soon as this question came out, Li Dingguo and Chen Zuocai also looked at Deng Ming seriously. The Sichuan and Yunnan Ming armies are still fighting under the banner of Yongli, including Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong, who are also under the Zhengshuo of Yongli; Even if Yongli abandons the country, if Deng Ming openly questions the legitimacy of Yongli, he is denying Li Dingguo's authority, and the basis for cooperation between the two sides will no longer exist.

"Of course, Weichen is the emperor's child." Deng Ming hugged his fist to the southwest and saluted the exiled court from afar. This is indeed a major question of right and wrong, if Deng Ming or anyone else raises other banners now, then the world will know that Nanming has split again -- in the Son of Heaven abandoned the country, Nanming is only left big

It would be disappointing that there was another division and infighting in the land of about two provinces.

Ma Bao's reaction was exactly what Deng Ming was worried about, he was afraid that the other party would misunderstand Chengdu's willingness to join forces with Kunming to eliminate the internal unstable factors, so he quickly added after his statement: "If Jianchang attacks Kunming, Chengdu will send troops and ask King Qingyang to withdraw his troops, otherwise he will not hesitate to meet each other; But if Kunming attacks Jianchang, the king Mingjian, the last general, has already promised the king of Qingyang, and Chengdu will also send troops to help the king of Qingyang resist the army of the king of Jin......"

There were already angry shouts and reprimands around him, but Deng Ming still finished his words calmly: "Before King Qingyang promised to provide 100,000 stone of grain to the king, he had already asked the general to make such a guarantee, which was one of the conditions of King Qingyang. However, the last general also explained to the king of Qingyang that even if Jianchang was attacked and Chengdu sent troops to help, the Sichuan army would not set foot in Yunnan. ”

Deng Ming and Li Dingguo met for the first time, but he still had the confidence to say such things without worrying that Kunming was not good for him, and this confidence came from the battle of Gaoyou Lake. If it were not for the merit of killing the Manchu emperor, Deng Ming would undoubtedly express his position in a more tactful tone, but now as long as Li Dingguo dares to kill himself, then it means the split of the Ming army, and Li Dingguo's reputation will be discredited.

"The king is a hero of the world, hundreds of years later is still admired by all people, the king and the king of Yanping are the greatest figures of this era, the national heroes of China." After Deng Ming finished speaking, he looked at Li Dingguo quietly, and silently thought in his heart: "You won't let me down, right?" It's another world, but your name will be sung through the ages, right? ”

……

Despite the first meeting, Li Dingguo reached a preliminary agreement with Deng Ming, and he wrote a warrant ordering the troops monitoring Jianchang to return to Kunming quickly, and ordered the guards to leave for the front line in the presence of Deng Ming.

"Duke Linguo (Li Laiheng), Duke Wanguo (Liu Tichun) and I made a declaration in Yiling, presumably the king has also heard of it, right?" After easing the tense atmosphere between Kunming and Jianchang, Deng Ming said another thing.

Li Dingguo nodded, he heard about it, and then Hao Shaoqi and He Zhen also announced that they had joined the committee, and sent a permanent envoy to Fengjie. After these four people joined, the party Shousu, who succeeded Liu Tichun in Badong's territory, had no choice, and also announced his participation and sent representatives to Fengjie. The other last force in Kuidong, Wang Guangxing of Enshi, did not react at first, but changed his mind after receiving a letter from the king of Dong'an County.

"King Qingyang also swore a few days ago that he would never use force against each other, and the messenger of King Qingyang is on his way to Fengjie with his oath." Deng Ming said to Li Dingguo sincerely: "The king is fake Huang Yue, on behalf of the Son of Heaven to punish thieves internally and beg for disobedience, we hope that the king will not regard our committee as an enemy, we dare not ask the king to also write an oath, but I hope that the king can also send a messenger to pay tribute." ”

Li Dingguo's eyebrows furrowed. Although this committee did not say it explicitly, it obviously had the implication of establishing a separate imperial court, implying hostility to the Yongli imperial court, and it was also quite inappropriate for Wen Anzhi to be in charge of the judicial power.

Ma Bao was already resentful, so he couldn't help but say: "Isn't Governor Deng actively running for this committee of Fengjie to target the emperor and the imperial court?" ”

"It's not." Deng Ming hurriedly shook his head: "We can't fight on our own, otherwise we will be broken by the Tartars." This committee did not give the generals the right to give orders, just for communication. If anyone needs reinforcements, others can know through this committee; If someone lacks rations, others will know about his troubles; For example, if the king has an envoy to the festival and tells us that the king needs military rations, or needs us to respond, then we may understand the king's strategy. ”

"Isn't this just treating the court as nothing?" Chen Zuocai couldn't help but retort: "Now that the country is in danger, you should put aside your prejudices and respond to the orders of the imperial court." ”

Deng Ming has already known Chen Zuocai's experience through others, and knows that he is a scholar similar to Ren Tang, who abandoned his pen and became a general manager under Mu Tianbo. When Wu Sangui attacked Kunming, Chen Zuocai was going to Jianchang to inspect the inventory reserves and prepare for Yongli's move to Sichuan; But then learned that Mu Tianbo fled abroad with the Son of Heaven, Chen Zuocai rushed to Burma and tried his best to persuade the Son of Heaven to return to Li Dingguo's army, but was disgusted by Ma Shoufu and other scholars, so he wanted to send him back to Yunnan to contact the righteous soldiers, so as not to add to the blockage in front of him. Just learned of the Kunming fire, Wu Sangui withdrew from the army, and Chen Zuocai was ordered to send back Huang Yue, who was returned by Li Dingguo.

Chen Zuocai was very disgusted with the warlord style of Deng Ming, Kuidong Group, and Jianchang Biaoxiàn, and he had reached the point of hating the disease, he didn't understand why at such a juncture, the warlords represented by Deng Ming were still playing their own small calculations, and at this time he couldn't hold back anymore: "You ignore the righteousness of the imperial court, and ignore the country and clothes for your own selfishness, aren't you afraid of becoming sinners through the ages?" What face will you have to see your ancestors underground? ”