When Li Guoying and Wang Mingde were discussing their strategies, Yuan Zongdi on the side of the Ming army camp was also putting forward his tactical opinions to Deng Ming, and in his opinion, Deng Ming's deployment was too weak and powerless. The Ming army was satisfied with not letting the Qing army pass through their defense line from beginning to end, and did not launch a pursuit in time, and now Li Guoying is obviously short of military food, Yuan Zongdi thinks that the most correct way is to bite it hard, so that Li Guoying does not have room to flicker around.

"Why didn't Admiral Deng camp with a tartar?" Yuan Zongdi asked puzzledly, time is the most precious for Li Guoying, as long as Deng Ming puts on a melee posture, the other party must deal with it, and after a few days of fierce competition, even if Li Guoying wins his army food, he will run out, and he can only flee in a hurry when the time comes, and Yuan Zongdi, who pursued the fleeing enemy, thinks that it is his strength, and can also give Deng Ming a good opinion: "If Li Guoying is cowardly, we will dig a ditch close to his camp, and then fill it with water, and surround his army to death, he will definitely come out to stop us, Then we mobilized the whole army to fight him, and after a few days of fighting, he couldn't hold on to himself. ”

"I can't fight like this," Deng Ming spread his hands and said helplessly: "I don't have so many troops." ”

"Admiral Deng has quite a few troops." Yuan Zongdi said confidently, it seems that the Ming army is 50,000 to the Qing army 75,000 or 6,000, it seems that it is less than the other party, but the Ming army has the advantage of a water division, and the burden of mobilization is smaller than that of the Qing army, so the gap is not as big as it seems. Moreover, although Yuan Zongdi only observed for a few days, he thought that Deng Ming's army was quite high, and even the auxiliary soldiers were all fierce and fierce, and they were obviously well nourished; Moreover, these auxiliaries can skillfully carry out the orders issued by the officers, and the team has a tacit understanding with each other, although there is no armor, but according to Yuan Zongdi's standards, they are all soldiers, but they are not armored: "Absolutely able to dig trenches around Li Guoying's camp." ”

"No, very little, I have only fifteen thousand troops, of which three thousand are sailors, and the rest are people." Deng Ming had to correct Yuan Zongdi's opinion: "They are not soldiers, they are not auxiliaries, but people's husbands!" ”

"They are all good soldiers, and even the people can be used as soldiers." Yuan Zongdi didn't understand what Deng Ming was talking about at all.

"They want me to use them as soldiers." Deng Ming smiled bitterly, and told Yuan Zongdi the agreement he had reached with the people: "But I can't marry so many people, how to solve the bonuses and daughters-in-law of the soldiers who participated in the war this time, I don't have any money now." ”

When the Qing army attacked, Deng Ming could let the people participate in the defense of the camp, even if he didn't give the order, these people would definitely help, needless to say, even the people from Chengdu could not watch the Qing army break through the camp wall to kill them. And Deng Ming can also say that he did not use these people as soldiers, and they volunteered to help the war; And if the whole army approached Li Guoying's camp, fought with the enemy in the field, or braved the fire and harassment of the Qing army to dig trenches, Deng Ming would not be able to refuse to treat these people's soldiers.

"Anyway, Li Guoying has no food, and when he withdraws his troops, I will follow behind and capture the prisoners." Although Deng Ming had 35,000 well-trained, morale-filled, and even willing to participate in the war, he had no money in his pocket, so he took the initiative to retreat to the next best thing, thinking only of achieving a limited victory without pursuing the total annihilation of Li Guoying's troops: "When Li Guoying escapes, I will follow behind, and after capturing all his unarmored soldiers, sooner or later his armor will have to abandon his armor and flee." ”

"But!" Yuan Zongdi then remembered that Deng Ming was different from him and other Kuidong generals, and the political model in Chengdu was also very different from that of other warlords, and Deng Ming did not say that he had the right to do nothing, but wanted to bargain with the people under his rule - now they are all scholars, and their status is higher than that of the people in the late Ming Dynasty, but they are not the kind of serf soldiers who are casually kneaded in the military camp.

"But if Admiral Deng doesn't press up, Li Guoying is likely to just throw down the auxiliaries and run away in the end," Yuan Zongdi understood Deng Ming's difficulties, but he couldn't agree with the other party's strategy: "In the end, most of the armored soldiers can escape, even if they throw off part of the armor, everyone can escape." ”

In Yuan Zongdi's view, the auxiliary soldiers are as many as they want, and the armor soldiers are the key, if they do not eliminate the opponent's loyal and combat-effective armor troops, then the opponent's vitality will still be there, and the next time a group of masters from Shanxi and Shaanxi will be regained. Yuan Zongdi's values are also the general view of this era, the auxiliary soldiers are all effective under whomever they are, timid and cowardly, they work as coolies in the military camp in peacetime, and carry armor to the soldiers in wartime, and all they consume is a whip.

"I don't see it that way, I think these auxiliaries are more important, the key is that there are more people." However, Deng Ming's value orientation is completely different from Yuan Zongdi's, it is relatively difficult for the opponent's soldiers to be absorbed into the Chengdu system, and the loyalty chain of generals, officers, pro-soldiers, and soldiers is strong and powerful, in order to digest the two thousand Shanxi armor captured, Deng Ming has to treat their generals well, and Yuan Xiang also needs to come up with additional resources to envelop the officers; But it was much easier without armor, and their huge numbers were also more helpful to Chengdu's production.

Yuan Zongdi and Deng Ming couldn't talk about each other at all.

At this time, Li Guoying still did not agree to Wang Mingde's request for war, and he knew very well what these people had in their hearts. Even from Li Guoying's point of view, if the safety of the armored soldiers can be exchanged for sacrificing the master who has no combat effectiveness, it is also a very cost-effective deal, but the key is that Li Guoying feels that this is detrimental to the dignity of the imperial court, didn't the ancients have a saying? It is called "Han and thief do not stand together", and now Li Guoying is an officer and soldier, and he is the governor of the imperial court, and he is unwilling to make any deal with Deng Ming in his heart.

But if he is rash, Li Guoying is worried that the final result will be the loss of the armored soldiers, whether it is the armor of the Shanxi Green Battalion or the Sichuan-Shaanxi Green Battalion, they are all soldiers, and one life is worth more than a dozen people who have been requisitioned. And because of the danger, Li Guoying knew that his prestige had also been affected, he first concluded that Deng Ming could not mobilize the army in time to rescue, and then misjudged that Deng Ming only had more than 20,000 people to stop the Qing army from breaking through on all fronts, which was probably disgruntled by the generals, as for Sun Sike's indiscriminate command and then fled on his own - this is also Li Guoying's appointment, right?

Seeing that Li Guoying could not make up his mind to break through the siege, the commander of the Eight Banners stationed in Chongqing felt that it was necessary for him to come out and say something, and the news that he was captured together with Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde was covered up by Li Guoying, and reported to the imperial court that they were looking for an opportunity to kill the guards and break out on their own.

"General Bing Wang is right, the army can't continue to stay in this dangerous place any longer." When the Manchurian capital was unified, it set the tone for the discussion: "We, the Eight Banners of Manchuria, also stayed with General Wang to serve the Governor-General, Admiral Zhang, and Shanxi Green Battalion. ”

As soon as the words of the Manchurian capital were spoken, the generals of the Shanxi Green Battalion suddenly felt that the sky had fallen, and if the two hundred Manchurian soldiers who accompanied them did not leave, who would dare to go first? Along the way, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi held the two hundred garrison eight banners in his hand and was afraid of dropping, holding it in his mouth for fear of melting, and now that the Manchurian soldiers are all broken, then everyone seems to have to die together in this dead place where food is about to run out.

To the surprise of Shanxi Green Camp, Li Guoying looked at Manchuria in surprise for a long time, and finally confirmed with difficulty: "Will the garrison of the Eight Banners also be broken?" ”

"Yes, it is the duty of us slaves to shroud the emperor's horse leather." The Manchurian commander looked solemn and his tone could not be questioned.

"Okay." Li Guoying finally nodded, announcing that he would take the armored soldiers of the Shanxi Green Battalion to break through first, and after leaving the garrison of the Eight Banners and the Ganshan Green Battalion, he did not forget to instruct Wang Mingde: "We must protect the safety of the Manchurian soldiers." ”

"Rest assured, Your Excellency, if the errand is broken, the last general will never return alive to see the Governor." Wang Mingde and other Ganxi generals who had been ordered to break off made generous speeches.

The military meeting ended like this, and the generals of the Shanxi Green Battalion were confused, they only knew that they had a good life, and Li Guoying asked the Manchurian Taijun and his descendants to break off and fight for them a way to live. But why is there such a strange arrangement, they can't figure it out anyway, and what makes everyone feel even more incomprehensible is Wang Mingde's final statement - are you obviously good after the break? There was no chance to go back to see Li Guoying alive, and he said that he would protect the Manchurian Taijun to the death...... Also, how can the Manchurian Taijun judge the two of them, didn't they stay in the Chinese army on the way here for fear of being in danger? To say that the previous appearance of the Manchurian Taijun was very normal, which was very in line with the impression of the Shanxi Green Battalion, but now it is extremely abnormal, so that the Shanxi generals have to secretly sigh that there are still good Taijun in this world after all. It's a pity that these good princes died soon, but fortunately, the court held Li Guoying accountable, and Li Guoying went to resist, Shaanxi is really good, there are good princes, there are governors who take responsibility, and generals who treat friendly troops well.

"How does it feel like we're the ones who broke through first?" After the meeting, the Shanxi generals were still whispering, scratching their bald heads and feeling as if something was wrong. There is also that Daniel Zhang Admiral Zhang, who was almost a bare-rod commander after escaping alone, and under normal circumstances, he must have been thrown behind to "make meritorious deeds", but this time he actually got a good errand to follow the vanguard to break through - but Admiral Zhang not only did not feel grateful, but his face was gloomy as if someone owed him millions of taels of silver, although he did not get angry in front of the Manchurian Taijun, but after leaving the camp, he spat fiercely on the ground and went back to his tent in a huff.

"Wang Mingde," Li Guoying gave the final explanation to the generals after the break, he would take the armored soldiers of the Shanxi Green Battalion to the north inland tonight, in order to avoid being discovered, he must not bring a large number of auxiliary soldiers, so in addition to weapons, the armor must also be left in the camp. In this regard, Li Guoying's explanation to the Shanxi Green Battalion was to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the broken troops, which was also understood and approved by them: "Seven thousand pairs of armor, you can't throw them away for me." ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, rest assured, a total of 12,000 pairs of armor will definitely be brought back to Chongqing intact." After Wang Mingde finished assuring, he also said with concern: "Your Excellency the Governor, take the horses away." ”

"Yes, Lord Governor." The Manchurian Metropolitan also accosted on the side: "The mountain road is not easy to walk, let's take a boat back to Chongqing." ”

I don't know how many people have to get lost in no man's land, and having a horse means that there is a better chance of survival.

"I have enough horses," Li Guoying did not want the 200 horses of the Manchurian Taijun: "Besides, when you return to Chongqing, you may not necessarily have a boat." (To be continued)