Early in the morning, Deng Ming left the camp with his army, and in order to prevent Zhao Liangdong from learning Han Xin to steal the camp, he also put 200 soldiers and 4,000 auxiliaries in the camp to defend.

At first, Deng Ming had planned to set up a formation not far from the camp, but this idea was only saved for a short time, the camp of the Ming army was located at the corner of the Qijiang River and the Yangtze River, and the Ming army could not fully deploy its forces. Therefore, Deng Ming took the initiative to advance towards the Qing army camp and drove until he saw the Qing army front before stopping.

After Deng Ming saw the banner of the Qing army from afar, he did not rush forward, but first carefully spread out the formation. After the 20,000 army opened the military formation, it was simply boundless, and the terrain near Jiangjin was also hilly and undulating, and Deng Ming asked Zhao Tianba, Zhou Kaihuang, Li Xinghan and Mu Tan to be responsible for each way. The four of them found Shanbao one after another and erected banners, each of which was responsible for controlling the army nearby, so that the orders sent by Deng Ming from the Chinese army could be conveyed to the whole army.

In addition to these four people, Deng Ming felt that Ren Tang seemed to have more command talents, and he could always have his own opinions at military meetings. Now Ren Tang stayed with Deng Ming and the other guards, this army was mainly composed of Zhejiang soldiers, Ren Tang spent much longer with them than Deng Ming, and he was also familiar with the temper and Bing of the officers and soldiers.

"Why is the Qing army motionless?" Under the influence of Deng Ming, now the officers are not without exception "Tartar" to call the enemy, sometimes mixed with a few "Qing army", Ren Tang looked at the motionless enemy soldiers opposite, and said a little strangely: "The Tartars did not try to interfere with our army's formation at all. ”

"Probably because we have a good grasp of the distance, Zhao Liangdong has no chance to take advantage of it." At the military meeting, everyone pointed out that it was necessary to guard against a sudden attack by the Qing army, because Deng Ming attached great importance to Zhao Liangdong, so Deng Ming launched a formation early to avoid falling into a chaotic battle due to enemy interference.

Deng Ming's standard-bearers continuously signaled the whole army to advance slowly, and Deng Ming carefully controlled the speed to ensure that the whole army could keep up and not let the Ming army's battle line be divided by rough terrain.

Seeing the Ming army coming slowly, the Qing army still did not move. The Ming army advanced to the farthest distance of the bow and arrow before stopping, and Deng Ming began to observe the enemy's appearance again.

"They scattered their cavalry?" Deng Ming said with some surprise that the Qing army looked like there were more than 10,000 people. But their formation was not as thick as that of the Ming army, and there were some small gaps in the battle line, so they also pulled out a very long front, only slightly shorter than the length of the Ming army. At the front of the Qing army's battle line, at intervals stood a Qing army armored cavalry with a full body of armor.

"Do you want these hundred or so cavalry to lead their infantry charge?" Ren Tang was also a little puzzled, such a small number of cavalry scattered in the infantry battle line did not play a role, and judging by their attire, they should be the general's family members: "Why don't they gather around the general and wait for the fighters?" ”

After two more glances, Ren Tang let out a surprised voice again: "Is Zhao Liangdong planning to let the auxiliaries take the lead?" ”

The Qing army that followed behind those cavalry looked very poorly equipped and had uneven banners. On the side of the Ming army, it was a standard lineup of armor soldiers in front, and 12,000 armorless auxiliaries were hiding behind the armor soldiers, and only when victory was in sight, Deng Ming would let them participate in the pursuit.

Deng Ming was also very puzzled, if the auxiliaries took the lead, they would be severely harmed by the Ming army's long-range weapons, and the weapons in their hands would not have much effect on the Ming army's armor. Only in the time of pursuit and melee can the auxiliary soldiers pose a greater threat to the armor soldiers, and if the auxiliary soldiers are allowed to rush forward at the beginning, they will suffer great casualties but cannot achieve any results, which is a serious waste of military resources.

"Maybe Zhao Liangdong hid his jīng soldiers behind the auxiliaries in the front row?" Deng Ming pointed to the military formation on the opposite side and said, he guessed that Zhao Liangdong might be in the suspicious formation, and his jīng soldiers might be hiding behind the battle line with their short bodies: "Is he trying to paralyze us, and then suddenly let the auxiliaries in front retreat and the soldiers rush out?" ”

"How could we fall for this?" Ren Tang shook his head and asked Deng Mingjian, "Admiral, start attacking." ”

"Okay." Deng ordered the drummers to start beating the drums in a soothing rhythm while waving the flags to let the archers come forward.

The archers, who had been protected behind the armoured soldiers, walked to the front of the army from the path let out by their companions, and began to form in front of the position without hurrying.

The officers who led the archers observed the movements of the enemy soldiers on the opposite side, always on the lookout for enemy soldiers rushing up or suddenly bursting out of the platoons of cavalry, but none of their fears happened, and the Qing army did not make any moves, nor did they intend to send archers against shè. After seeing the archers of the Ming army coming out of the ranks, the cavalry of the Qing army in front of the formation also turned their horses' heads one after another, and the passage on the battle line through Guò was hidden behind the battle.

By this time the archers had come to a standstill, the officers gave orders, and all the archers bent their bows and arrows, and then pointed at the sky at an angle of forty-five degrees.

"Put!"

One after another, the trumpets sounded, and a feathered arrow was thrown into the sky by the archers, and after shè out of the arrow, the archers did not put the second one on the string, but hung down their arms and looked at the opponent's position. And their coach was also engrossed in watching the effect of this tentative attack at this time.

A large number of feathered arrows fell into the enemy's formation, and Deng Ming saw that only some of the arrows that were fired at the extreme distance fell on the heads of the Qing army - this was completely expected by Deng Ming, but what he did not expect was that the Qing soldiers did not squat and raise their shields to defend, but pushed and dodged on the battle line.

This tentative attack did not cause much damage, Deng Ming saw that some Qing troops were hit, but at such a distance, even if they were injured, most of them would not be very serious, but the other party's behavior was enough for Deng Ming to conclude: "It is indeed not a soldier." ”

After the tentative attack, the Ming archers did not stay in place, but stepped forward, and after walking a long distance, they stopped again, followed the officer's command, took out the second arrow, and put on the bowstring.

"Put!"

This time, the number of feather arrows that fell into the position of the Qing army greatly exceeded that of the last time, and Deng Ming saw that there was a burst of confusion in the lineup of the Qing army, some people instinctively squatted down to dodge, and some people still stood upright.

"There are no armor soldiers hidden behind the battle." After the second bow and arrow, Deng Ming confirmed that the front of the enemy formation were all auxiliary soldiers without armor: "What is Zhao Liangdong thinking?" And what about his archers? What about cavalry? Just watching us go round and round? ”

"Then let's go down and see what he wants?" Ren Tang also shook his head again and again, indicating that he also couldn't understand: "One more shè, and then walked into shè to see how many rounds Zhao Liangdong's auxiliaries can eat." ”

When the archers of the Ming army took out their bows and arrows again and put them on the wind, the Qing army on the opposite side suddenly let out a shout and rushed towards the archers of the Ming army.

"It's still a little bit like that." Ren Tang nodded in satisfaction, and the situation finally began to develop in the direction he was familiar with.

After seeing the Qing army rushing up, the archers of the Ming army flattened their bows that were originally pointing obliquely to the sky, closed one eye and aimed at the enemy directly in front of them.

"Put!"

The bows and arrows of the front row were horizontally shè, and when there was a heart-rending cry of pain from the enemy's side, the archers of the Ming army had already retreated behind the formation, and their next job was to cross the front behind the armored soldiers, according to the officer's order. After the archers passed the guò, the armor of the Ming army closed the battle line, and after all those passages disappeared, the drumming of the Ming army became a little more abrupt, and the pikemen put down their spears and pointed their sharp spears forward, and the sword and shield soldiers on their sides bent down slightly, ready to meet the battle.

...... "Retreat slashes!" ”

The shouts of the cavalry came from behind him, and Tan Xiaozhuang stumbled forward with his companions with his spear in hand. During the pre-war deployment, Tan Xiaozhuang was in the fourth row, and he had heard that the reputation of Deng Ming, the commander on the other side, was also widely spread in Guizhou, but compared with Deng Ming, the generals of his army were more feared by Tan Xiaozhuang.

Along the way, Tan Xiaozhuang had seen too many auxiliary companions die, and he knew very well that several generals of the unified army could kill people for no reason, so Tan Xiaozhuang did not have the slightest suspicion about the threat of the cavalry of the prison army. The 12,000 auxiliaries present all believed wholeheartedly that if there was even the slightest hesitation at their feet, they would be killed by the overseers behind without hesitation. When the troops were arranged today, the auxiliaries who were placed in the first row did not complain in the slightest, and everyone knew that if there was a trace of complaint, they would die immediately; The soldiers didn't even have the courage to complain in their hearts, but prayed vigorously to the Bodhisattva for protection.

Now Tan Xiaozhuang is also doing the same thing: "Bodhisattva bless, Bodhisattva bless, bless us to win this battle, bless General Zhao to kill all the thieves." ”

In the past, Tan Xiaozhuang would surrender without thinking when he encountered the enemy, because he felt that the victory or defeat had nothing to do with him, but this time it was different, Tan Xiaozhuang felt that he could only survive by defeating the Ming army, and now he didn't even dare to look back to see how far away the prison army was from him, because the prison army had already explained before the war, and he would be killed when he turned back.

"Bodhisattva bless me from Guizhou to here, so many people have died, but I am still alive......" Tan Xiaozhuang ran forward while silently reciting in his heart: "I won't die here, I will live, go to chóngqìng, I will get military salaries in the future, I will eat imperial grain, I will marry a good mother-in-law, and I will have a lot of children......"

Another wave of flying arrows fell on his head, and countless screams sounded around him, and a companion on Tan Xiaozhuang's left side was not hit, but tripped by the wounded. The man howled loudly, and got up from the ground with his hands and feet, afraid of being killed by the prison guards, and did not dare to turn back and rush forward again.

Tan Xiaozhuang didn't know the situation behind him, he still kept up with him at full speed, and the screams around him made him rejoice for a while: "Thank you Bodhisattva, thank you Bodhisattva." ”

The companion in front of him had stopped, and there were constant sounds of fighting and dying cries in front of him.

The person in front of him screamed and fell, Tan Xiaozhuang's eyes suddenly lit up, and when he saw the enemy on the opposite side, he was pushed by the person behind him, just like he pushed the person in front of him just now, and quickly narrowed the distance between him and the enemy.

"The Bodhisattva save me, the Bodhisattva save me." Tan Xiaozhuang stared at the enemy on the opposite side with a bloody face, and the other party was also looking at him viciously, Tan Xiaozhuang was still muttering in his heart: "Kill this guy, kill one for each person, and we will win, that's what General Zhao said." ”

Several spears stabbed past Tan Xiaozhuang's side, pinning several of his companions to the ground, and a knife flew behind him, hitting the enemy in front of Tan Xiaozhuang.

"Did you kill him?" Tan Xiaozhuang, who was about to stab out the spear, was stunned, but he saw that the knife was bounced off by the armor on the other party's body.

Shut down

Almost at the same time, a cold light also cut down on the side, and a Ming army sword and shield soldier on the opposite side slashed it with a knife, cutting through the cloth and military uniform between the chest and abdomen of the Qing soldier next to Tan Xiaozhuang, and suddenly blood splashed everywhere, and the skin and flesh on both sides of the long knife edge were opened, revealing the white bones and internal organs below.

But Tan Xiaozhuang didn't have time to pay attention to the movements around him, he let out a loud shout with all his strength, and struggled to stab the spear in his hand into the other party's body.

The enemy on the opposite side flicked it with his spear, but he couldn't completely block Tan Xiaozhuang's blow that poured all his strength, and the spear that was deflected still hit the opponent's chest.

"Kill him!" Tan Xiaozhuang watched his wooden spear stab the enemy, and shouted with joy in his heart: "I am alive." ”

But there was a strong force from the shaft of the spear, and the tip of Tan Xiaozhuang's spear was so strong that it shattered on the opponent's armor, and he used all his strength to pierce it, but he only pushed the opponent back two steps back. The enemy on the opposite side had a look full of anger on his face, and the barrel of the gun turned around and slammed into Tan Xiaozhuang's ear.

"Ahh Tan Xiaozhuang's hat was knocked out, and his body involuntarily fell to the side.

Before falling heavily on the ground, Tan Xiaozhuang had already fainted, and when he lost consciousness, Tan Xiaozhuang was only sad in his heart: "From Guizhou to here, I have suffered so much, and finally I still can't live......

...... "What is this?" Deng Ming looked at the slaughter on the battlefield, and the Qing army that rushed up like crazy was ruthlessly cut down by the armor soldiers of the Ming army, and the other party could not attack the battle line of the Ming army at all.

"Could it be that Zhao Liangdong is trying to flank me?" Although the Qing army in front of him was brave, there were obviously no soldiers among them, Deng Ming suddenly had a thought, his heart tightened, and he quickly glanced at each side.

Although he didn't see anything unusual, Deng Ming hurriedly ordered the two wings to rotate, and since the Qing army's battle line was shorter than that of the Ming army, the outermost ends of the Ming army had already begun to wrap towards zhōngyāng.

"Stop immediately, let the ends go back, and then spin outward." Deng Ming realized the crisis, and while rotating the troops, he also sent a large number of scouts to both sides: "Quickly find out, where are Zhao Liangdong's jīng soldiers?" ”

However, Deng Ming's military adjustment was not successful, the person in charge of the far end of the left flank was Li Xinghan, who had already outflanked the Qing army front, after seeing the banner of the Chinese army, Li Xinghan did not know what was happening, thinking that there was an enemy approaching behind him, he hurriedly ordered the entire left flank to break away from the battle, and then all rotated to prepare to meet the enemy coming from behind; Zhao Tianba on the right flank didn't figure out the meaning of Deng Ming's order, and when he carried it out, he let the section of the Ming army that was longer than the Qing army's battle line rotate.

Whether it was Li Xinghan or Zhao Tianba, their sudden orders led to the rupture of the Ming army's battle line, and also caused quite strict chaos. The soldiers and auxiliaries on both flanks pushed each other and became a mess, and many of the soldiers who were advancing felt inexplicable at the sudden retreat, and some people thought that the front was defeated, and it also caused a lot of panic.

The long distance and the undulating terrain, Deng Ming was also in a hurry but there was no good way, in a hurry, he and Ren Tang also issued a few new orders to try to further adjust the position of the two wings, but these orders made the Ming army more chaotic, and Li Xinghan and Zhao Tianba also became more overwhelmed. Fortunately, Deng Ming and Ren Tang soon found out that they were getting more and more chaotic, and wisely stopped the remote control. It took a long time for both ends to be chaotic before they were reinforced, but it took a long time for Deng Ming's request to be executed.

At this time, the Qing army in front finally collapsed, seeing that the Qing army that had just bravely assaulted, suddenly collapsed like a landslide, tens of thousands of enemy soldiers either surrendered on the ground or trampled on each other and retreated, Deng Ming and Ren Tang looked at each other, and they didn't know what was going on.

"No trace of Zhao Liangdong was found in either wing, where did he go?" When receiving the report of Tanma, the Ming army had already launched a pursuit of the retreating Qing army, and the Qing cavalry that appeared in front of the formation at the beginning also fled without landing. Deng Ming's sentinels not only did not find Zhao Liangdong's shadow, but several other Qing army generals also disappeared, and all the banners that Deng Ming saw just now were false.

"Zhao Liangdong actually abandoned the army and absconded!"

After making trouble for a long time, Deng Ming finally accepted this incredible fact: "He actually threw down 12,000 subordinates, abandoned the army and absconded!" ”

"Anyway, they are all auxiliaries, and he called the golden cicada out of the shell with this hand." Zhao Tianba said hatefully, they had thought about everything before the war, but they didn't expect that Zhao Liangdong would leave most of the soldiers and run away without a fight.

After interrogating the captives, Deng Ming learned that not only Zhao Liangdong was not there today, but also the other generals were not there, only a group of officers and hundreds of cavalry supervised the formation, arranged a formation for the 12,000 Qing army, and told them that Zhao Liangdong would attack from the flank in order to boost morale.

"Most of them are the people of Guizhou who have been arrested, and some of them are people from our Xiying!" Zhao Tianba shouted, and then commented: "But they are all Sun Kewang's Qin soldiers, King Jin has long said that their old Qin soldiers are unreliable, and they are so willing to be a substitute for Zhao Liangdong." ”

"They are not loyal to Zhao Liangdong." After Deng Ming asked more about the situation, he sighed: "They died nine times along the way, they were just too scared." ”

"But why didn't Zhao Liangdong flank us?" Thinking of the chaotic situation between the two wings just now, Deng Ming was still a little afraid: "If Zhao Liangdong lets a few people take ...... Well, it doesn't take much, it's good to take a thousand soldiers to fight the front, with a thousand soldiers, we will see the flaws later, and these frightened people of Guizhou can hold on longer. Zhao Liangdong took the opportunity to attack from the side, although he didn't dare to say that he would definitely win us, but he still had a chance. The chaotic situation just now made Deng Ming suddenly understand, why the military training in his previous life emphasized rotation training so much, and he secretly made up his mind that in the future, he must promote this previously despised training program in the whole army: "I don't think Zhao Liangdong is a coward, and he is also very capable, for example, he was able to let these Guizhou people who were ruined by him come to fight with us!" Why did he so willingly abandon the army and flee? ”

"He is obviously trying to join Li Guoying as much as possible, plus Chóngqìng's tartars, the Qing army already has more than 10,000 armor, we have to retreat quickly." Zhou Kaihuang's face was a little heavy, and now the Ming army had learned that Zhao Liangdong and others had brought more than 3,500 armored soldiers from Guizhou, out of the importance of Zhao Liangdong, the Ming army concentrated the surrounding troops in the large camp in Jiangjin, and there were tens of thousands of soldiers in the other camp, so they were completely unaware of the enemy's actions.

After Yuan Zongdi left, the Ming army's naval superiority was also weakened, and there were still many ships to transport supplies back to Chengdu, and the rest was not enough for the Ming army to leave by boat - originally Deng Ming thought that Li Guoying needed to leave part of his troops to guard against Yuan Zongdi, and he had no ability to pursue himself, so it didn't matter if the army returned on foot, but Zhao Liangdong's sudden appearance sooner or later made the situation very uncertain.

…… At this time, near Ba County between Jiangjin and Chóngqìng, Zhao Liangdong had already set up a camp, and now only their armored soldiers were left in this camp. Until now, Zhao Liangdong still has some opinions on everyone's refusal to fight with Deng Ming, and feels that running away without a fight will give Deng Ming greater confidence, and it will inevitably affect his own military morale.

Yesterday, although everyone felt that Zhao Liangdong's plan was reasonable, no one was willing to stay in the Chinese army to take up the task of luring the enemy -- those who stayed behind were worried that their colleagues would leave them alone, and even if they did not have this intention at first, they might escape alone when the war was unfavorable.

Since all the people asked to participate in the flanking operation, then there was not much chance of success in this operation, if there were not enough soldiers left in the front, it would not be able to support the unarmored soldiers for long, even if they could flank the Ming army in time, Deng Ming was still able to calmly turn around and face the battle after quickly defeating the Qing army in front.

But it's no wonder that others, even Zhao Liangdong himself, refuse to stay and take on the job of seducing the enemy head-on, he is also worried that his colleagues will escape, and he doesn't trust their ability to break through. And getting in touch with Li Guoying's spies was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Li Guoying had long observed that Deng Ming had transported a large number of baggage away, so after Yuan Zongdi retreated and Deng Ming burned down the water camp, Li Guoying immediately sent a horse to cross the river by boat and launched a fan search on the south bank to determine whether the Ming army had really left.

The Ming army found out that Zhao Liangdong's whereabouts and the abnormal movement was also seen by Li Guoying, he immediately sent additional horses, expanded the scope of search, yesterday Li Guoying's horses met Zhao Liangdong's people.

After learning that the Ming army had lifted the blockade of the Jialing River and that the Qing army's naval division had returned to the Yangtze River, Zhao Liangdong's colleagues said that they would not agree to fight this battle. Zhao Liangdong is not the commander after all, let alone the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, since everyone wants to give up the auxiliary troops and retreat, he can't stop it, so last night they were led by Li Guoying's exploration horses, and the soldiers fled east with their own equipment on their backs, leaving only some henchmen on horseback, urging the auxiliary soldiers to attract Deng Ming's attention for a while.

"If this news spreads, won't I become a laughing stock? I am a veteran general on the battlefield, but I abandoned the army and fled after the tactics, although they are all strong men who are pulled, but they are also my soldiers. When outsiders heard about it, they didn't know the danger of the situation, they didn't know the cowardice of Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao, and they would only say that I, Zhao Liangdong, were afraid of the enemy like a tiger. Zhao Liangdong sat sullenly in the camp, and what he wanted to do most at the moment was to challenge Deng Ming again. However, Zhao Liangdong himself could not do this matter, after throwing away all the auxiliary troops, this Qing army had lost most of its mobility, and looking at Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao's appearance after they escaped, they would definitely not follow him to fight Deng Ming again, unless they could get Li Guoying's support.

"The Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi has arrived!" The guards outside the tent sang loudly.

After hearing this voice, Zhao Liangdong was taken aback, and hurriedly jumped up and was about to go out to greet him.

But Zhao Liangdong immediately chaired, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi opened the tent door, swaggered in, after entering the camp he did not wait for the guards to inform their commander to come out to greet them, but kept riding to follow, until Zhao Liangdong did not dismount outside the tent, almost at the same time as the reported guards.

"Your Excellency the Governor, how dare the last general come here to greet the Governor?" Zhao Liangdong never imagined that Li Guoying would actually leave Chóngqìng and run all the way to Ba County to meet him.

"Naturally, there is something important." Li Guoying laughed loudly, strode to the main seat in the camp, and sat down calmly.

"The last general will send men to the camp of several generals, and let them come and see the governor." Saying that, Zhao Liangdong was going to send the guards out.

"Slow, there's no rush in this matter." Li Guoying drank Zhao Liangdong's guards, motioned for Zhao Liangdong to sit down and talk, and after the latter sat down, Li Guoying impatiently asked about the situation of the reinforcements in Guizhou.

Zhao Liangdong's soldiers and horses were in the best condition, and Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao were okay, but the remaining 1,000 soldiers under the command of the three Ganshan generals were not very good, and after they fled with their equipment on their backs last night, the condition of these soldiers became even worse.

"Well, it's two thousand five hundred armor that can fight at once." Li Guoying had always been worried that the Guizhou reinforcements had lost their combat effectiveness after a long journey to chóngqìng, but after hearing that they had auxiliary soldiers to serve them along the way, and their bodies were well preserved, he suddenly showed joy: "The remaining thousand, although they can't hurry anymore, it should be no problem to defend the city, right?" ”

"Of course it's okay to keep chóngqìng." Zhao Liangdong pondered Li Guoying's words, and asked tentatively: "Does the Governor want them to defend the city, so that the officers and soldiers of Chóngqìng can fall out and take the last general to pursue Deng Ming?" ”

"If that's not the case, why did the official come to the south bank?" Li Guoying said with a smile that after learning that he had made contact with the Guizhou soldiers yesterday, he immediately rushed out of the city to the south bank, and the heavy armored cavalry of the 1,000 governor's battalion also crossed the Yangtze River with him, and the follow-up troops were starting from Chóngqìng one after another: "If this is not the case, why should this officer be in a hurry to meet with the general." ”

Zhao Liangdong was pleasantly surprised: "The last general is willing to be a striker." ”

"Good!" Li Guoying stroked his palms and smiled: "With the general's words, the official will be relieved, and the general will send someone to call the other generals." ”