For Deng Ming, his expedition had already been launched in advance, and the preparations were quite insufficient, and this emergency mobilization also had some impact on the formation of the army. In this mobilization, Deng Ming brought out almost all the standing troops assembled in Xuzhou, so that the next wave of mobilized conscripts could not be equipped with such a high proportion of veterans.

But for the Qing army, this was a belated enemy, two days later than Li Guoying's prediction. After seeing the beacon fire, Sun Sike unhurriedly commanded his Eight Banners soldiers to cross the river and enter Chongqing to ensure the safety of the city - or Li Guoying's speculation, the Ming army urgently sent troops will be mainly naval divisions, and the number of armor soldiers is very limited, and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi estimates that even if there are, they will not exceed 3,000.

After Gao Mingzhan saw Sun Sike return, his originally nervous mood also relaxed: "General Sun, since the Eight Banners have returned, Chongqing will be as safe as Mount Tai." ”

"Leave it all to me." Sun Sike said triumphantly, with the well-equipped 3,000 Eight Han and Eight Banners under his command, plus the armor of more than 2,000 people left behind in Chongqing, if the sailors of the Ming army dared to land, they would definitely not be opponents; If the enemy really had only a few armor soldiers as Li Guoying judged, Sun Sike even wanted to go out of the city to counterattack and let the green battalion see the strength of the Eight Banners: "General Zhao is too slow, we won't wait for him." ”

These words made Gao Mingzhan chuckle in his heart, he felt that Sun Sike seemed to have the intention of going out of the city to fight, of course, if the Ming army was strong, the other party would definitely not take risks, but even if the Ming army was scarce, Gao Mingzhan also knew very well that it was definitely the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion who took the lead. If he wins, it's okay, even if he suffers heavy casualties, he can also get a lot of credit as the governor of Sichuan; But in case of a bitter battle, Gao Mingzhan doesn't know if the Eight Banners are willing to fight side by side with him regardless of casualties - but Gao Mingzhan hasn't been lazy yet, if he is defeated, he will definitely have to bear the black pot, and Sun Sike will not agree to the matter after the Green Battalion retreats first and the Han Eight Banners are broken, and Gao Mingzhan does not dare to do so.

Therefore, after hearing this, Gao Mingzhan was submissive in his words, and he was already thinking about how to persuade Sun Sike to dispel this idea. At this time, the Ming army close to Chongqing also slowed down, and Deng Ming planned to reconnoiter the situation around Chongqing in front of Tongguò, so the two armies began to reconnoiter each other.

"Li Guoying is not here?" Deng Ming and his subordinates analyzed the brief military situation obtained, the Qing army around Chongqing was heavily guarded, and the Ming army did not even find a transport ship, so they could only judge the commander by the guò banner: "It's not Gao Mingzhan or Wang Mingde or anyone else in command, Sun?" Or the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, Beijing actually sent directly subordinate troops to Chongqing? ”

When passing through the Jialing River, the Ming army also found a large number of Qing troops gathered on both sides, and it appeared that a large number of troops had just returned to the Chaotianmen side of Chongqing from the east.

"Does this mean that Wanxian is safe?" Mu Tan was keenly aware of the abnormality and immediately put forward his opinion: "If Li Guoying is smooth sailing, then why did the Han Eight Banners return to Chongqing?" ”

"Maybe Wanxian was lost soon? So the Qing army began to return? ”

"Impossible!" As soon as Ren Tang's words came out, they were refuted by Li Xinghan and Zhou Kaihuang in unison, and Zhou Kaihuang was very dissatisfied with Ren Tang's despisance of Yuan Zongdi's combat effectiveness. And Li Xinghan retorted as a former garrison of Wanxian, he was very familiar with the surrounding geography when he followed Tan Wen: "Wanxian is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the Qing army's sailors have no advantage, so it is difficult to attack the city, and there are so many enemy ships in the Jialing River, I think the Qing army's sailors have almost withdrawn, which can only show that Li Guoying gave up the idea of attacking Wanxian many days ago." ”

Now the Jialing River is densely packed with Qing ships, guarding the estuary under the cover of the armies on both sides, and once again sealing the river with iron cables to prevent the Ming army from breaking through or raiding the ferries that are carrying troops.

"Let's search downstream to see where the Qing army is moving." Just by simply watching, Deng Ming felt that he could not judge, so he ordered to pull the anchor and set off, slowly down the river, carefully observing the movements of the Qing army on the north bank.

At this time, there was also an uproar in Chongqing, and Deng Ming did not hide his banner, so the Qing army easily found out that the commander of this Ming army was Chongqing's number one rival himself.

"It turns out that Deng Ming wants to take advantage of the Governor's absence to sneak attack Chongqing," Sun Sike's face showed a hint of excitement, Deng Ming's intentions were exposed, and of course he was a great hero to stop Deng Ming, if he hadn't made a quick decision to intercept all the ships to carry the Han Eight Banners, wouldn't Chongqing be in danger?

After hearing that Deng Ming personally led the army, Gao Mingzhan, who did not want to attack, completely lost the courage to fight, and tried his best to persuade Sun Sike to stick to the city. But Sun Sike, Yuan Jiawenbi and Han Baqi General Zuo suddenly had the urge to take the initiative. Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi are completely different, most of the banner people in the Beijing division regard the generals of Yudong as bandits, if a large number of Han Eight Banners are damaged, then no matter how many bandits are killed, there is no benefit, and the court may still be heartbroken, blaming them for putting the green battalion cannon fodder and not using it, and ruining the central troops in vain; But Deng Ming has the blood debt of the former emperor in his hands, if he defeats Deng Ming, he can become famous once he is killed, and if he can be lucky enough to kill this person, he will not worry about the title of meritorious title - there are too many rumors about Deng Ming, everyone doesn't know what to believe, anyway, the former emperor once made it clear that the dead should not be captured, and the empress dowager and auxiliary ministers reiterated this request: Kangxi's case made the auxiliary ministers anxious, if Deng Ming can be caught, it is very pleasant to sacrifice his majesty, but no one knows what kind of turmoil will be made, After weighing it repeatedly, everyone felt that Deng Ming was still the cleanest dead.

"Didn't the Governor say it, Deng Ming came in a hurry, and there were some sailors around him, and the armor soldiers were hundreds, and thousands of them died." Sun Sike was very dissatisfied with Gao Mingzhan's serious attitude: "If he dares to land, we will have to face it." ”

"That's not what the Governor said," Gao Mingzhan hurriedly corrected: "The Governor said that the Ming army who came in a hurry will not have a lot of armor, not more than three thousand at most, not only a few hundred at most!" Moreover, the Governor did not expect that Deng Ming would personally lead the troops, since it was Deng Ming who came, then there must be more than three thousand armor around him. ”

"Why does the governor want to raise the morale of others and destroy his own prestige?" On this issue, Yuan Jiawenbi also supported Sun Sike, if the Ming army did not have many soldiers and horses, Yuan Jiawenbi also tended to go out of the city to fight, and let the green camp see, their Han Eight Banners were unwilling to fight with Yuan Zongdi not because of fear, but because they held their own identity and did not kill the unknown general under the sword: "Could it be that the dignified officers and soldiers, the battlefield confrontation can't even beat a group of bandits?" The green camp can't be defeated, will the flag people be afraid of them? ”

The great enmity of the emperor, this battle does not need to be a big victory, as long as there are mutual killings and injuries and then report a great victory, Yuan Jiawenbi concluded that the imperial court will hype up and reward the soldiers who participated in the battle to boost morale and eliminate the bad influence of Shunzhi's killing.

Gao Mingzhan smiled bitterly and thought: "Could it be that the whole army that was defeated in the first battle of Gaoyou Lake was also the green battalion?" ”

Gao Mingzhan dared to think about this in his heart, and he didn't have the courage to say it at all, but Yuan Jiawenbi's agitation method was useless to Gao Mingzhan. If it weren't for Deng Ming's leadership, then Gao Mingzhan felt that maybe there would be a chance to win, and if Sun Sike had to go, he wouldn't be able to afford to lose the second prince; But now it's Deng Ming, Gao Mingzhan feels that attacking is to send him to death, since there is no hope of victory, then Gao Mingzhan will not accompany him if he says anything, and if he is defeated by Deng Ming, then the court will probably not blame Gao Mingzhan for watching from the wall, maybe he can still portray himself as steady, and he is the savior of Chongqing after the defeat.

When Gao Mingzhan and Sun Sike were arguing, the Qing army observed that the Ming army did not land, but pulled anchor and set off, and soon the Ming army sailed away from Chongqing, and hundreds of boats except for two fast boats left to monitor the river estuary, the rest went downstream, but the Ming army walked very slowly, obviously carefully observing the deployment of the Qing army on the shore.

"Ahh Hearing that Sun Sike shouted, he ran to the head of the city and saw that the ships of the Ming army were moving away: "It turns out that the Deng thief wants to land on the east coast." ”

"General, should we catch up?" Yuan Jiawenbi saw that the credit of his hand flew away, and he was also very anxious, the more he pondered just now, the more he felt that he was right, even if it was just a confrontation with Deng Ming on the ground, it could also be said that the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty forced Deng Ming to retreat, and the imperial court would announce the world and reward meritorious deeds.

"Of course." Sun Sike immediately ordered the troops that had not yet crossed the river to stop, and the troops that had already crossed the river reassembled at Chaotianmen Wharf, preparing to cross the river to follow the Ming army: "Deng Ming only has 100 ships, and the soldiers and horses are at most 10,000. ”

"More than that, more than that!" Gao Mingzhan hurriedly stopped: "In addition to sailors, these hundred ships can also hold 20,000 soldiers, and there is no need for too many armorless boats, and it is not unusual for Deng Ming to bring more than 10,000 armor soldiers." ”

"Don't you believe the Governor's speculation?" Now in addition to the consideration of merit, Sun Sike is also worried that Deng Ming will harass him on the east coast, and there are many unarmored soldiers: "Besides, the governor is still on the way to retreat, isn't the governor worried about the safety of the governor?" ”

"That's not right." Gao Mingzhan keenly discovered the loophole in Sun Sike's words: "If the Deng thief only has one or two thousand armored soldiers, then it won't be able to harass anything, there are nearly 100,000 troops of our army along the way, and 20,000 armored soldiers." ”

"I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of what if, just now the governor decided that Deng Thief had 10,000 armor to prevent us from fighting, and now it is still to prevent us from reinforcing the Governor, so he changed his words and said that Deng Thief only has 1,000 armor, and the military affairs, how can it be so upside down?" Yuan Jiawen shouted: "Even if Deng Ming has a few thousand armors, the governor also knows that there are 100,000 of our troops along the way, as long as he sets foot on the shore, we can attack him in groups to ensure the back of the governor." Fighting thieves with ten times the force, what else is there to worry about? ”

Yuan Jiawenbi not only asked Sun Sike to take the Han Eight Banners, but also took half of the armor soldiers in Chongqing.

On the other side, there was Li Guoying, as well as the Manchurian Taijun who accompanied the army, Sun Sike and Yuan Jiawenbi picked up the big hat of not saving him if he saw death, Gao Mingzhan immediately realized that he had no room for resistance, and his face turned pale: "If you can fight openly, of course there is nothing to be afraid of being several times more than a thief, but if you fight with a thief Deng, you will definitely lose in the end." ”

"The Governor is overly concerned." Sun Sike saw that Gao Mingzhan was so afraid of the enemy like a tiger, and he was angry and funny in his heart.

"General Sun has never fought with Deng Thief," Gao Mingzhan lamented, remembering the fake maps and brine wells he had encountered, "Loyal to his words, General Sun will definitely want to fight head-on in the end but cannot get it." ”