The collapse of the Ming army in front of him made Li Guoying a little unexpected.

He carefully observed for a while and determined that the Ming army did not line up to cover the troops, nor did they march in orderly steps, but in groups and in groups rushed towards the mountains to the west.

"Deng Ming, what are you going to do? Seeing that it was almost dawn, couldn't he wait another hour even if he wanted to march? Li Guoying thought that even if he marched with torches, the troops would be easily confused, and if there was no absolute necessity, he would not choose to march at night.

When the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was puzzled, suddenly the soldiers at the camp gate reported that an outside sentinel had asked to return to the camp. These spies were all deployed by Li Guoying near the Ming army camp in case the Ming army came out to rob the camp on a large scale, and under normal circumstances, they would wait until after dawn to return to the camp, which was also for safety - to prevent the Ming army from impersonating and blending in. Especially when the opponent is an enemy like Deng Ming, Li Guoying does not dare to be careless at all, Hong Chengchou, Hu Quancai, and Lang Tingzuo have too many bloody precedents.

Li Guoying looked around the camp, most of the Qing officers and soldiers were awakened by the movement outside, and it was impossible for the Ming army to launch a sneak attack, so he ordered: "Let them in." ”

The soldiers at the camp gate bent their bows and arrows and pointed at the dark area outside the camp gate, and the soldiers behind the camp gate also unsheathed their swords and were on guard when they opened the camp gate. There were no accidents, and there were no death squads of the Ming army behind them. After letting them into their own night scout, the soldiers immediately closed the heavy camp gate again, and when the strong latch was lowered, the Qing soldiers on the wall and behind the door were not on their combat alert.

The spy was quickly brought to Li Guoying, and before the spy finished saluting, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi hurriedly waved his hand to let the visitor stand up: "What happened to the thief?" ”

This was a spy lurking near the Ming camp, and about half an hour ago he heard shouts from an enemy camp, all saying that Deng Ming had abandoned the army. Soon this shout spread to all the camps of the Ming army, and then a large number of Ming soldiers left with fire.

"Deng thief abandoned the army?" Li Guoying was surprised and delighted, almost couldn't believe his ears, and his arms couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"Exactly, I heard the leader of the thieves giving orders." The spy told Li Guoying that he heard someone shouting that Deng Ming had ordered the whole army to concentrate in the east and prepare to leave at full speed.

"Oh?" Li Guoying immediately asked: "Can the thieves who leave the camp carry the flag, and do they have the flag to lead?" ”

"No, I don't see any flags under the mark." The spy replied without hesitation.

"Hmm." Li Guoying immediately concluded that this could never be Deng Ming's deliberate order, and there was absolutely no such way to assemble troops, and that it was most likely that some generals were looking for excuses for abandoning the camp with their personal guards.

"Could it really be that Deng Ming abandoned the army?" Li Guoying glanced at the Ming army camp again, a large number of torches were going away, and they still looked disorganized.

At this time, a few spies asked to enter in front of the camp gate, although Li Guoying was anxious to ask more information, but he still did not dare to be careless, and the Qing soldiers guarding the camp gate were also as preoccupied with guarding as the first time they were released into the camp.

Sure enough, as Li Guoying had hoped, these people brought back more news, and a spy lurking near the river reported that after yesterday's landing, people kept sneaking on the boat, and they didn't raise fires, and they tossed all night. The spy was unable to infiltrate the heavily guarded anchorage of the Ming army, but he was sure that countless people had left the Ming camp by water.

Because the ships did not sail in the direction of the Qing army camp downstream, the spies did not send out a battle report, but continued to lurk and observe. It wasn't until there was chaos in the Ming military camp that the spy knew that there was a big change, so he secretly returned. Another spy close to the Yangtze River also confirmed the first person's account, and he also heard the sound of a large number of boats passing by on the river.

Others said that he heard the Ming army refuting the rumors that Deng Ming was still there, but the voice was overwhelmed by more shouts. In short, there were shouts of everything in the camp of the Ming army, and some people said that the reinforcements were thirty miles to the west and asked everyone to rush to the rendezvous.

"It's all nonsense." The more Li Guoying listened, the more he understood, it seemed that Deng Ming had indeed fled, so there was such a big chaos in the Ming army: "Deng Ming, Deng Ming, this official really thinks too highly of you, you actually only held out for so many days and fled." ”

Several Qing army generals stationed in the same battalion as Li Guoying could no longer bear it at this time, and asked Li Guoying for battle. But the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi thought for a while, and still shook his head: "Pursuing after dark, our army will easily run away." ”

Looking up at the horizon that was about to turn white, Li Guoying ordered a fire to be lit and cooked: "Let the soldiers have a full meal first, and then it's not too late to chase after dawn." ”

When Li Guoying ordered cooking, the generals of several other camps sent envoys to Li Guoying's camp. It turned out that the generals also learned the news of the Ming army's bombing of the camp from the sentry port, so they sent people to report to Li Guoying, and at the same time asked the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi to order the whole army to go out to pursue the fleeing enemy.

Li Guoying asked these envoys to go back to tell the generals of the battalions, so that they could rest easy and wait until dawn before setting off: "Anyway, there is no stronghold of thieves on the way from here to Xuzhou, and these thieves have no way to escape. ”

Although Li Guoying said it well, the pursuit of this rout was really a vain achievement, and seeing that the sky was already dark, Daniel Zhang and others pulled the army out of the camp, just waiting for Li Guoying's order to set off. Seeing this, the generals of the other camps also followed suit, even the generals around Li Guoying couldn't help it, and asked to leave the camp and line up, and set off as soon as it was dawn.

Finally waited until dawn, Li Guoying found that the riverside was indeed empty, and all the Ming ships that were still there last night had disappeared, and Deng Ming really fled. Li Guoying estimated that Deng Ming took the sharpest troops away first, and the remaining Ming army was not to be feared.

Before the Ming army also captured more than 10,000 Guizhou auxiliaries, since Deng Ming fled, then most of these Guizhou soldiers should have taken the opportunity to escape, Li Guoying has always wanted to find a few people to ask, to understand the truth of Deng Ming. But after waiting for so long, there was not a single Guizhou soldier who fled to the camp of the Qing army, which couldn't help but make Li Guoying a little strange, could it be that the Ming army had pitted them all?

In addition to the possibility of being pitted, there is also an explanation that they were all locked up in the original Chinese military camp of the Ming army. Li Guoying had already discovered that there was still a group of Ming troops who had not left the camp, and the spies he sent to reconnoiter came back to report that the flag of General Deng Mingming over the barracks of the Ming army had disappeared, and now it was carrying a large banner with the word "Ren" written on it. According to the spies' report, the Ming soldiers on the camp wall looked like there were still thousands of them, waiting for the inevitable attack of the Qing army.

"There is no doubt about it. I heard that he was a native of Zhejiang, Zhang Huangyan's staff, and later followed Deng Ming to Sichuan. Immediately, some staff members reported to Li Guoying what they knew: "But I heard that he is already Deng Ming's henchman, why didn't he go with him?" ”

"Most of them are unwilling to abandon these Zhejiang compatriots." Li Guoying couldn't help but feel sorry for his talent when he heard this: "Whether Deng Ming doesn't take him away, or he doesn't want to go with him, he will no longer have any thoughts of allegiance to Deng Ming." Send someone to persuade him to surrender, and tell him that if he surrenders to this governor, I will keep him and his men rich and safe. ”

But Ren Tang refused Li Guoying's persuasion to surrender, and stood on the camp wall and shouted at the messenger, saying that he was born a Ming man and died a Ming ghost.

"I really don't know the times." didn't expect his kindness to be treated like this, Li Guoying was furious in his heart, and wanted to order his soldiers and horses to attack Ren Tang's garrison. But before this order could be spoken, Li Guoying's mind changed: "There is no need to lose soldiers and horses for this point, first go to pursue those who escaped." As for this Ren Tang, he may be willing to surrender after two days of surrounding. ”

The surrounding generals were similar to what Li Guoying thought, Ren Tang and his subordinates were already turtles in the urn, as long as they were monitored. There are captives everywhere that can be caught at hand, and no one wants to gnaw on the hard bone of the Ming army camp when their colleagues have easily gained credit.

After dawn, Li Guoying confirmed with the spies again, and learned that the Ming army that fled to the west did not carry any banner, so he ordered the whole army to start the pursuit. Of course, Li Guoying will not forget his standard battalion, let them go out together, and instruct them to eliminate all the fleeing enemies.

After the standard battalion and most of the generals rushed to the west, only Zhao Liangdong remained still. After learning that Deng Ming abandoned the army and fled, Zhao Liangdong felt indescribable disappointment and sadness in his heart: "It seems that Deng Ming's strength is obviously weak, and he can't control these new recruits, but that day Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao just refused to attack him with me, and they were frightened by his fame." Later Governor Lee was the same. If you had listened to me earlier, how could he have escaped so lightly? ”

For Zhao Liangdong not participating in the pursuit, his subordinates were a little puzzled.

Zhao Liangdong sneered: "Deng Ming took away all the strong generals of the jīng soldiers, this is called pursuit, it is really a robbery, I am not interested in participating." After a pause, Zhao Liangdong finally said what was in his heart: "Captives are captured all over the mountains, and they will be tired enough after chasing them for a day, and when they are almost caught, the governor will inevitably let the sailors go after Deng Ming." Deng Ming's ship will inevitably be slow, and a number of ships will be caught up by our army, and the thieves on board can only flee to the shore. By then, the others have already been exhausted and half dead, and only our battalion can use it, so the matter of sweeping up the thieves ashore can only be left to us, right? You say, "How much credit can we get from so many people?" Is it the great credit for chasing down the auxiliary soldiers, or the great credit for capturing Deng Ming's direct generals and jīng soldiers? Maybe we can catch one or two of Deng Ming's henchmen. ”

…… Deng Ming rode his horse and stood at the entrance of the valley with his guards, so that every soldier who walked through the valley could see him.

When the soldiers greeted Deng Ming, they raised their weapons to greet him. It can be seen from the joy on the faces of these soldiers that although they have a lot of trust in Deng Ming, they still have a trace of doubts about whether he will really wait for the army here. After the last doubt was dispelled, the soldiers trembled one by one, as if they had just won a great victory, rather than a big battle.

Many of the auxiliaries with armor on their backs were out of breath when they arrived, and they ran quickly after seeing Deng Ming, ran past Deng Ming's horse, and hurriedly sent their equipment to the valley. The auxiliary officers who were already waiting there would unload their equipment from their backs and hand it over to the soldiers who were already impatient.

According to Deng Ming's plan, Ren Tang led 2,000 armor soldiers and auxiliaries who did not have the task of carrying to continue to hold the camp, and his main task was to stick to the Qing troops who left the camp, forcing them to engage the Ming army; The remaining 6,000 armor soldiers were divided into four teams and handed over to Zhao Tianba, Zhou Kaihuang, Li Xinghan and Mu Tan as commanders, and Deng Ming took the remaining fifteen guards and two hundred cavalry on three walls.

Shut down

The Ming army would fan back to the west, southwest, and south. Scattering the army, in addition to confusing the Qing army, is also to be able to make full use of the road and quickly retreat and regroup. Eventually, the Ming army would assemble in a valley surrounded by hills, cover the Guò valley, and then attack the pursuers. After defeating the enemy, he pursued for twenty miles, and Ren Tang waited for an opportunity to intercept the main force of the Qing army. After the battle, the army returned to the camp to rest and eat.

Having been familiar with the geography for so many days, and every lieutenant and his sergeant had walked this road more than three times, Deng Mingben thought that the whole army could complete the march in an hour to an hour and a half, and after regrouping, they could rest for an hour, and then engage the Qing army that was chasing after them. However, more than two hours have passed since leaving the camp, and there are still a large number of soldiers who have not arrived, and the number of lost people and those who have been separated from their commanders is far greater than imagined, and there are even a large number of road congestion.

"Fortunately, the Qing army did not pursue immediately, otherwise we would have had to rush to the battle." Before the war, Deng Ming also made the worst plan, that is, the army had not gone far, and the rear team would be caught up by the Qing army and could not be separated, if that was the case, Deng Ming would order the Ming army to reflexively respond to the battle and fight a complete melee. Originally, Deng Ming thought that as long as the Qing army could not react quickly, his retreat decisive battle plan would be successful, but now it seems that it will take much longer than pre-estimated.

"Much slower than I thought." Deng Ming whispered to the guards beside him.

"If we hadn't used the scolding array to pride the enemy in the past few days, maybe Li Guoying would have been able to chase him out later." Deng Ming speculated about the actions of the Qing army. Originally, Deng Ming was afraid that Li Guoying would not pursue or besiege Rentang with all his might, so that even if the Ming army returned to the division, it might not be able to force the Qing army to fight with the main force. But now, seeing that the troops have not been able to complete the assembly for a long time, they have begun to worry about the safety of the officers and soldiers behind.

Hearing Deng Ming's words, many guards had smiles on their faces. Li Xinghan said: "Admiral, except for the romance story, probably no one can scold the success of the war, right?" ”

In such tense times, Deng Ming and the guards would usually chat to relieve the pressure, and the soldiers would also gain more confidence when they saw the commander talking and laughing.

"As far as I know, only once. In the battle of Chenggao of Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu ordered the great Sima Cao to command the Chu army to defend it, and ordered three orders not to fight. Han Taizu sent people to scold the formation under the city for ten days, Cao Ji couldn't hold his breath, and went out of the empty city to pursue Taizu. When the Chu army crossed the river on foot, it was just halfway through when it was suddenly attacked by Han Taizu, and the Chu army was completely annihilated. ”

Not only Deng Ming's guards, but also the officers of the three walls listened with relish, and the current tensions of the great enemy had dissipated a lot. Immediately, many people either lamented for Xiang Yu or ridiculed Cao Yu's stupidity.

Mu Tan, who was in charge of commanding the first army, was also beside Deng Ming at this time, and after he laughed a few times, he suddenly showed some confusion on his face: "Well, because Cao Ji was scolded, he left the city empty, and let the Chu army cross the river on foot?" ”

Hearing Mu Tan say this, several other guards with faster brains and officers with three walls also felt as if something was wrong.

"Yes, when I was a child and I read books, I also thought that Cao Ji was too stupid, but when I thought about it later, it felt a little wrong." Deng Ming nodded, and said in a lengthened tone: "The Chu army is brave and crosses the river on foot to pursue the Han army, is it possible that the Han army is not only scolding Cao Zhi alone, but scolding every Chu officer and soldier in a hurry?" It sounds like ......"

"It's as if the Chu army thinks that it has the chance to win, and is chasing the fleeing rout." Mu Tan immediately said the second half of the sentence out loud.

"Yes, I feel that way, too. If Cao Zhi was just because he was scolded, in order to kill a few Han soldiers who were scolding, he ordered the whole army to go out of the city to chase and kill without leaving behind, and when he crossed the river, he was so angry that he couldn't care about looking for a boat, then Cao Ji was the biggest fool in a thousand years, King Xiang didn't notice it at all, and promoted him to Da Sima, and handed over half of the soldiers and horses of Chu to this person. Deng Ming glanced around at the officers around him and saw that they all had thoughtful expressions on their faces.

"Or maybe it's another situation," Mu Tan thought after a moment that he had sorted out his thoughts: "This is the only case of success in the scolding array, and in fact, it was not won by the scolding array. Han Taizu's scolding array, like ours, was to confuse the enemy's eyes and ears, so that Cao Ji was convinced that the Han army had weaknesses that he could grasp; It was precisely because he did not have the slightest doubt about victory that Cao Ji would abandon the fortified city and Xiongguan, and the whole army went out to attack the Han army. What Cao Ji saw in front of him was as he expected, the Han army seemed to have been defeated by the Chu army, and fled the river in a crush. At this time, Cao Ji concluded that the Han army had broken up, and was eager to achieve the results of the battle, and might be able to capture Han Taizu himself, so he ordered to wade through the water on foot without thinking. ”

"Not only Cao blames one person, but the entire Chu army is convinced that it will win, otherwise it may not be carried out even if the order is given." An officer on the side added.

"Exactly." Mu Tan nodded and said, "The Chu army scrambled across the river to pursue the Han army, maybe their formation was completely chaotic because of the pursuit, and the officers and soldiers were separated; But when they crossed the river, the Han army, which was obviously waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly gathered and attacked the scattered Chu army. Just a moment ago, the Chu army, from the commander to the small soldiers, thought that it would undoubtedly win, and suddenly the shape suddenly turned, and the generals, officers, and soldiers, everyone would suddenly understand, and the 100,000 army shouted in their hearts at the same time, 'Zhongji'! Although it was a jīng soldier who followed King Xiang's expedition to the east and west, in this case, the army's morale would collapse and he would no longer be vulnerable. ”

"Yes, my speculation about the battle of Chenggao is similar to yours, but it's a pity that the historian's record of the battle array has always been as precious as gold, so we don't know how Han Taizu won." Deng Ming nodded.

"But ......" Wu Yuewang shook his head while thinking: "Han Taizu wants to command the army to pretend to retreat to the river from before Chenggao Pass, and then cross the river in a hurry, and after crossing the river, he must grasp the scale, not only so that Cao Ji can see the flaws, but also make the Chu army unwilling to retreat." When counterattacking the Chu army, it must also be just right, not only to let the Chu army cross the river, but not to wait for them to stabilize their position. This qiē is still done in broad daylight, in front of the eyes of the great Sima of the Chu State, this difficulty is too great, ten times more difficult than our defeat today, but we ......" Wu Yue looked at the valley behind him, the dense soldiers were still messing around, the time was already an hour longer than expected, and the work of restoring the system was only about two-thirds completed. Although Wu Yuewang didn't continue, everyone could hear the meaning of his words.

"Han Taizu can lead 100,000 soldiers, like an arm, how much stronger than me, a junior? I can't even command 20,000 men. Deng Ming said with a smile: "We can also believe the original statement, that is, Cao Ji doesn't know anything about military affairs, but he is still bold, and King Xiang has not been long-sighted to promote this person to a high position as a commander second only to himself." It's easy, and we don't have to have a headache. ”

"Simple is simple, but it's even less credible." The guards shook their heads together with the officers and soldiers of the three walls, and many of them frowned and pondered, apparently speculating in their hearts about the details of the battle of Chenggao.

"In other words, this defeat of the Admiral is not unprecedented?" Mu Tan suddenly remembered something again.

"No, as long as I win, it's unprecedented." Deng Ming categorically refuted: "Taishi Gong said that the battle of Chenggao Han Taizu was just good luck, and Cao blame was stupid to death, so of course I am the first person." ”

Mu Tan felt that Deng Ming's reasoning was obviously crooked, but he didn't know how to refute it for a while, and after being stunned for a moment, Mu Tan suddenly shouted again: "The historian cherishes ink like gold, maybe the history is above the history, and the record of our great victory today is: the admiral made people scold the five rì, the national hero was angry, the empty camp went to war, and the admiral annihilated his army." After making the pseudo-history, Mu Tan laughed and said: "That's fine, after a thousand years, Cao Da Sima finally has a companion." ”

"Haha, haha." Deng Ming looked up to the sky and smiled: "I hope we don't suffer such a bad luck." ”

Everyone laughed, all of them were full of ambition, and their hearts had already taken victory for granted.

"Report!" A scout horse galloped and fixed the war horse in front of Deng Ming.

There were many roads leading to this valley, and this scout reported that Li Guoying's standard camp had approached, and pursued from one of the roads on the left, not only crushing the slowest Ming army on that road, but also outflanking the front of the Ming army on the other road, blocking their way to meet Deng Ming.

"It's coming so fast." Wu Yuewang said softly.

And Wu Baoping corrected on the side: "It's us who are walking too slowly." ”

In charge of the two flanks and two armies were Zhao Tianba and Li Xinghan, and their gathering place was not in this valley. Until now, Deng Ming had not seen their envoys, indicating that their assembly work had not been completed. The assembly point in this valley is Mu Tan and Zhou Kaihuang, according to the plan should have 3,000 armor soldiers, and now there are probably more than 2,000 people wearing armor.

Deng Ming immediately made a decision and ordered Zhou Kaihuang to allocate a part of his subordinates to the commander of Mu Tan, who would follow him with 1,500 armor soldiers to meet the pursuers. And Zhou Kaihuang stepped up to gather his troops, sorted out the follow-up troops, and did his best to reinforce himself.

At the same time, Deng Ming sent people to give orders to Zhao Tianba and Li Xinghan, asking them to act cheaply according to the situation - they were responsible for collecting the Ming army retreating to the west and south, respectively, and the two of them must have followed the Qing army behind them. Now that the Ming and Qing armies were scattered, Deng Ming could not command the whole army, nor did he intend to command the whole army.

Just after Deng Ming issued the order, another scout arrived, saying that Li Guoying's standard cavalry had begun to attack the Ming army on the road they had intercepted, and after seeing that they could not get rid of the pursuers, those Ming troops also stopped and began to resist.

"Li Guoying has been scolded by us, and now is the time for us to annihilate his army." Deng Ming smiled and pulled out the horse sword and raised it straight up: "Gentlemen, kill the thief with me!" ”

"Kill the thief!"

"Kill the thief!"

Fifteen guards and the cavalry of the three walls also raised their weapons together and shouted in unison in response.

"Let's go!" Deng Ming took the lead and rushed out of the valley. Behind him, a Ming cavalryman held high the three-wall military flag that had just been tied to the flagpole, and today this will be Deng Ming's general flag.

When this group of cavalry rushed out of the valley, the dense Ming infantry in the valley was also moving. Mu Tan took over the command of part of the troops from Zhou Kaihuang's hands, and after Mu Tan's banner was raised high, 1,500 Ming soldiers stepped forward and drove back the way from which the flag came.

"Give the Tartar a look!" Many of the Ming army's auxiliaries sat on the ground, and when they saw their fellow soldiers wearing the armor they had worked so hard to carry and walking out of the valley in high spirits, they all waved their fists at Mu Tan's army regardless of the fatigue on their bodies: "Let them know how powerful we are!" ”

…… Deng Mingxing, who was the first to rush out of the valley, was not far away, when he heard shouts of killing from the front, and he guessed that this was the situation that Tanma had just reported, and that Li Guoying's standard camp and the intercepted Ming soldiers were fighting.

"Let's go and investigate the real ......," an officer with three walls on his side asked Deng Ming for instructions.

"No need to probe." Deng Ming said softly: "The Spartans only ask where the enemy is, not how many they are. ”

Deng Ming clamped the horse's belly hard, allowing the mount to gallop away. Neither Deng Ming's guards nor the cavalry officers and soldiers on the three nearby walls understood what he was talking about, but they didn't know what Deng Ming meant, and everyone shouted and followed.

Beyond the highest point of the hills, the entire battlefield suddenly appeared in front of you. Deng Ming's mount did not stop, and rushed towards the fierce battle.