"But this death-free coupon, no, the coupon says it's a person!" Yuan Zongdi asked Wang Mingde: "How many do you have?" You can't take all of your people with you, can you? ”

There are still 300 people behind Wang Mingde, among them are elite veterans, all of whom have good equipment, for the sake of Deng Ming's great cause, Yuan Zongdi can just let Wang Mingde go, but he must not indulge so many soldiers.

"Of course, of course," Wang Mingde nodded and said, "Then do it according to the previous example?" Yuan Gong has no objection, right? ”

"What precedent?" Of course, Yuan Zongdi didn't know the specific details of Deng Ming's handling method.

Wang Mingde had long concluded that Yuan Zongdi didn't know, because if Yuan Zongdi was clear, then he would definitely know that this coupon was not extended, and his question just now was just to increase his persuasiveness: "The last general will let the soldiers lay down their weapons, all their armor and weapons are captured by Yuan Gong, and the last general will have fifteen coupons, according to the rules of Admiral Deng, in addition to the last general, fourteen people can be ransomed." Admiral Deng has always allowed the last general to take his mount away, I wonder if Yuan Gong is different here? In addition, Admiral Deng promised to entertain the last general's subordinates with good food and drink, and when the last general exchanged cattle, the last general would also repay the food and drink expenses for these days. ”

Wang Mingde took a bite of Admiral Deng's rules, and listened to Yuan Zongdi's clouds, and seeing that Yuan Zongdi had begun to loosen, Wang Mingde hurriedly added: "Admiral Deng's rules are like this, if Yuan Gong doesn't believe it, you can call other people with coupons to ask." ”

Yuan Zongdi nodded and ordered to bring up the few Qing generals he had just captured.

These people were all depressed, and they were all tied up by the five flowers, and after being brought by the Ming army, they saw Wang Mingde, and these generals cried loudly: "Wang Shuai, you are also here?" ”

But there were also sharp-eyed people who saw Wang Mingde standing upright, and there was no rope tied to his body, so he stopped his sadness and looked Wang Mingde up and down quickly.

"Less nonsense." The escorted Ming army pushed these generals and asked for Yuan Zongdi: "That coupon is also a test-free ticket, what are the rules?" ”

Under Wang Mingde's encouraging gaze, the two people who had coupons hurriedly explained the rules, and they were similar to Wang Mingde, that is, to release people when they saw coupons, even Manchurian Taijun applied.

After having witnesses, Wang Mingde struck while the iron was hot: "Yuan Gong, the last general didn't lie to you, right?" People also entrust you to take care of them first, let them eat every day, and the compensation will be doubled in the future. ”

At this time, whether it is Yuan Zongdi or his cronies, they can figure out what this is all about, and the feelings of Deng Ming are kidnapping. If it were someone else, Yuan Zongdi might not have believed that there would be such a thing, but Deng Ming was possible, after all, he went to Jiangnan to sell salt.

"Okay." Yuan Zongdi felt that Deng Ming's move might also have the intention of buying people's hearts or some other purpose, since this Wang Mingde could be released by Deng Ming twice, and the other party did not have the blood of the Ming Army on his hands today, then Yuan Zongdi felt that it should indeed not be an important person, so let it go. Besides, Yuan Zongdi values the nearly 300 Wang Mingde's personal soldiers the most, and Yuan Zongdi will definitely not let go of the equipment on their bodies, but if they work hard to capture them, most of them will die for these equipment, and on the eve of victory, Yuan Zongdi is not willing to let his subordinates sacrifice needlessly. Since Wang Mingde was willing to let his subordinates put down their weapons, Yuan Zongdi was also happy to be bloodless.

"Duke Yuan and Admiral Deng are really believers." Wang Mingde repeatedly said: "Then I will pick out fourteen people." ”

"Wang Shuai, Wang Shuai, and us." A few people who didn't have coupons hurriedly shouted: "Wang Shuai will pick us away first." ”

"Hmm." Wang Mingde pondered for a while, feeling that these colleagues were indeed more important, and anyway, his subordinates could exchange cattle and sheep for back, so he said to Yuan Zongdi: "Yuan Gong, these people will be the last generals." ”

"Okay, this time my father promised you." Yuan Zongdi thought for a while, nodded, and ordered to loosen the ties of a few people, the personal soldiers of these generals were all left, and they were all toothless tigers, and their performance today really made Yuan Zongdi feel no sense of threat - first he did not move, then swarmed into the encirclement, and then threw the flag together and fled, the most shameful thing is that none of them escaped.

"Wang Shuai, the grace of saving your life, you won't forget it." Several Qing army generals who did not have coupons burst into tears, and then thanked Yuan Zongdi together: "I have heard for a long time that the Duke of Jingguo and Admiral Deng are in the same breath and have a deep friendship, and it is indeed worthy of the name." ”

"Wait, my father still has one more thing." Yuan Zongdi was not completely confused by the top hat sent by the Qing army generals, he said coldly: "You should be very clear about Li Guoying's military deployment, right? It's not too late to leave after the explanation is clear. ”

"This ......" Many people hesitated, openly leaking the military secrets of the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, this is inappropriate, everyone is secretly complaining in their hearts, Yuan Zongdi, since you want to know, why don't you ask it privately, who dares to say it in public?

"The last general is here to negotiate peace, and he cannot betray the Lord and be ungrateful," Wang Mingde replied solemnly, and then pointed to those colleagues who had just been untied: "But Duke Yuan can ask them, they are all captured by Duke Yuan." ”

Before everyone could complain, Wang Mingde said empathetically: "Yuan Gong might as well ask them one by one, so that they won't know who leaked it, so they dare to let it go." ”

In addition to reminding Yuan Zongdi to pay attention to ways and means, Wang Mingde also taught the other party a trick: "Admiral Deng has a way, that is, let everyone say it in detail, and whoever says it is different from others, that is, if there is a coupon, it will not be released." "The last time Wang Mingde and Hu Wenke were captured, Deng Ming used this method to ask Chongqing's troops to leave, and Wang Mingde confessed honestly at that time, and he estimated that others always confessed: "Admiral Deng said that it is best not to use torture when questioning, otherwise others will only follow your words, or ask the truth amicably; Admiral Deng also said that this is called the 'prisoner's dilemma', anyway, unless everyone is not honest, don't want to get by, even if the collusion is good, it is useless, as long as one person says something different, it will be exposed; Admiral Deng also said that he will ask several times in different orders, and people lie along with their thoughts, such as what they did the day before yesterday, what they did yesterday, and what they did today, if they suddenly ask in the opposite direction, they will definitely not be able to answer, or hesitate, or have flaws. ”

"Is this all what Admiral Deng told you?" Yuan Zongdi was taken aback.

"Not bad. Before questioning, Admiral Deng carefully explained these truths to the last general, and then began to ask questions. Wang Mingde replied, at that time, Deng Ming said more coherently than he repeated, so Deng Ming answered whatever Wang Mingde asked, and Wang Mingde has not been so honest since he was born in his mother's womb.

After listening to Wang Mingde, the generals of the Qing army on the side also fell into deep thought.

"So you're honest?" Although Wang Mingde did not continue, Yuan Zongdi also guessed the follow-up of the matter.

"Of course not, the last general is a loyal minister of the court, of course he doesn't say a word." Wang Mingde replied loudly.

Hearing this, the contemplative Qing army generals raised their heads one after another, and everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Hmm." Yuan Zongdi stopped talking nonsense with Wang Mingde, and according to Deng Ming's interrogation method that he relayed, he separated several prisoners and interrogated them, and then released them all back.

"Wang Shuai, the last general is also a loyal minister of the court, and he didn't say anything." When everyone returned to Wang Mingde, they all impassionedly repeated what Wang Mingde had just said.

"Good man." Wang Mingde praised loudly.

The last general was released, and then Yuan Zongdi also returned to the crowd and waved his hand from them: "You can all go." ”

"Go back, this guild will hand over all the prisoners to Admiral Deng, whether to let them go or not, Admiral Deng has the final say." Yuan Zongdi couldn't figure out Deng Ming's true intentions, under normal circumstances, these generals who would definitely not be able to be incorporated Yuan Zongdi would definitely kill him, but thinking of Deng Ming's various behaviors in Huguang, Yuan Zongdi felt that Deng Ming's handling method would probably be different from his own: "When the time comes, you will have to pay as much ransom as Admiral Deng wants." Rest assured, I won't starve them. ”

……

After learning that there were no other green battalions for the time being, Yuan Zongdi searched for prisoners in the vicinity, and dispatched auxiliary soldiers to pick up all the weapons he could find. There are still thousands of Qing troops in Zhongxian County, which Yuan Zongdi can easily capture, and Li Guoying also came with tens of thousands of Shanxi green battalions in armor, so he still has to accept it when he sees it.

In this battle, more than 200 Ming soldiers and auxiliaries were killed, the captured Ming soldiers were all solved, and the defeated troops were all gathered back under their banners. After completing the general battlefield clean-up work, Yuan Zongdi did not stay in the dangerous place for long, and immediately escorted more than 8,000 captured Qing troops back to Wanxian. More than 1,000 of the 4,000 armor soldiers who participated in the Qing army were killed, more than 1,700 were captured, and the rest all fled.

The three auxiliaries who went to search for Daniel Zhang did not find their prey in the end, they chased all the way to the river, but there was no longer a living person here, and the Qing soldiers who fled here just now were blocked by the Yangtze River, and finally surrendered to the Ming army. The three Ming army auxiliaries walked along the river for a while, and finally stood next to a corpse of the Qing army who had fallen in the river and discussed, reluctantly admitting that they might indeed be delusional.

The corpse of the Qing soldier beside them appeared to be an old auxiliary, with tattered clothes, a pair of old straw sandals on his feet, and no trophies worth mentioning. The old pants on the corpse were almost as torn as a beggar's, and they could no longer cover the body, and from the large hole in the torn pants, you could still see a terrible wound on the old auxiliary's leg. If you look closely, you can find that it was a gunshot wound, which should have been many years ago, as if it was caused by a sharp blade stabbing to the bone when lying on your stomach; Of course, this auxiliary soldier did not have a helmet worth picking up on his head, but a straw hat, and his head and upper body were buried in the river, only the straw hat was still floating on the water, as if hanging by pigtails, floating above the back of the corpse's head.

The disappointed three Ming army auxiliaries slowly walked back to the way they came, and after they walked away, the corpse that was half cut down in the river was still unmoving.