The Daning River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, although the riverbed is wide and the current is also very fast, but the water surface does not cover the entire riverbed, the water surface is only a few meters wide, and the narrowest place looks only one or two meters wide, and only smaller boats can be driven, which is far from Deng Ming's imagination before seeing it. On both sides of the river are steep rock walls that are unclimbable, and when walking at the bottom of the canyon, Deng Ming can only see the sky above his head when he looks up, and the cliff tops on both sides are obscured by the rock walls that go straight up and down.

This kind of landscape gives Deng Ming the feeling that it is not inferior to the Wuxia Gorge, and the sky above him is more expansive when he travels in the Wuxia River by boat, and now he walks on the bottom of the valley. Just as the Yangtze River splits the mountains of the western plateau, the Daning River, a torrent with a width of only a few meters, has been cut into a canyon hundreds of meters deep in the northern mountains of Wushan after hundreds of millions of years of unremitting impact. However, looking at the continuous black rock walls on both sides of the river, Deng Ming was very suspicious that a large number of crops could be grown here.

The guide who led the way to Deng Ming was a native of Dachang, and he was waiting for Deng Ming at the confluence of the Daning River and the Yangtze River early, and the boat he was originally taking could not get in, so Deng Ming and his party rowed a section of the way in a small boat, and finally the guide led the way to Dachang on foot.

"Can I farm here?"

After hearing Deng Ming's question, the guide immediately replied: "Originally, Dachang did not have the habit of farming, and we never had to farm here. ”

"Then how can the life of the Dachang people be maintained?" Observing the surrounding geography, Deng Ming thought that there were two county towns on the Daning River, namely Daning and Dachang, and there might still be places nearby where food could be grown, otherwise how could the two counties maintain their daily life?

"There is still some arable land in Daning, but it is also very limited, we Dachang people have not farmed since ancient times, and in recent years we have only learned to grow crops," the guide said, pointing to the rock wall: "We have salt in Dachang." ”

Deng Ming looked along the guide's arm, and on the towering rock wall, many caves could be faintly seen. According to the guide, these caves are thousands of years of Dachang people from the rock wall to dig out, the cave will continue to flow out of the salt, after boiling can get high-quality snow-white stone salt, Dachang people are using these salt from eastern Sichuan and Hubei to exchange for grain and cloth. In recent years, due to the war, the market has been affected, and the people of Dachang have to grow some crops and vegetables by themselves.

This news made Deng Ming even less optimistic about Yuan Zongdi's war potential. All areas that are not suitable for cultivation are generally difficult to feed a large number of people, and now the salt of Dachang can also go to the surrounding Ming army-controlled zhì area for the necessities of life, and it can also be smuggled to the Qing army-controlled zhì area, but in the future, when the Qing army goes all out to encircle and suppress the Three Gorges, the salt in Yuan Zongdi's hands can not be eaten as food.

Those caves are all on the cliffs like knives, Deng Ming looked at it for a long time, and he really didn't know how it was dug out in the first place. There are also some plank roads under these caves, and like those seen elsewhere on the Yangtze River, these plank roads are suspended from the rock wall, and they are located in a position that Deng Ming seems to have nowhere for even the birds to stay.

When Deng Ming said his question, the guide smiled: "Mr. Deng underestimated us Dachang people, this mountain wall seems to have no road, but it is a road for us Dachang people." ”

Some Dachang people built temporary shelters on the top of the cliff on both sides, and when they wanted to go to the cave to collect salt, they went down the cliff from the top of the cliff, carrying salt water on their backs, and then climbed back from the bare rock wall. If you want to go to Wushan to sell salt, you will carry salt directly down from the mountain to the bottom of the valley and take the river road, and you will not go around the mountains from the near and far. Deng Ming smacked his tongue when he heard it, this seemed to him to be a completely unprotected rock climbing adventure, it seemed that only special forces or the little Tang brother in the movie had this kind of ability, but the people of Dachang have been doing this for many years, and it is no longer a matter of course.

After a long journey, Deng Ming finally arrived in Dachang County before Rì fell. Compared with the canyon in front, the terrain here is slightly flatter, and the county seat has been repaired here. The small size of the city was also somewhat unexpected by Deng Ming, much smaller than Wanxian. When they were about to arrive in Dachang, someone flew to Yuan Zongdi first, and when Deng Ming arrived at the city gate, Yuan Zongdi was already standing there waiting for him.

Although Deng Ming insisted that everyone continue to call him "Mr. Deng", he no longer tried to explain their misunderstanding, but adopted a vague attitude of "not admitting or denying". Although the county seat of Dachang is small, the facilities inside it are quite complete, and it is not at all lower than the prosperity of Wanxian County, and Deng Ming not only saw all kinds of shops, but also a wine shop - wine is definitely a luxury at this time.

"Although Dachang is located in a remote area, it has the benefit of salt production, so it has always lived a rich life, and the people have spare money to drink." Yuan Zongdi noticed Deng Ming's gaze and explained. Not only in the past, but now Dachang's salt is smuggled into Hubei, and it can also be exchanged for very good liquor from the Qing military-controlled zhì area.

However, Deng Ming paid attention not only to this wine shop, but to a couplet at the door:

Win or lose, wine management;

Rise or fall, drink.

The rest of the camp has been holding out in the Wushan Mountains for more than ten years, Deng Ming looked at this couplet, thinking that the battle situation has not only not risen but has continued to deteriorate over the years, and the pessimistic atmosphere inside the camp is probably worse than a rì.

Seeing that Deng Ming didn't speak, Yuan Zongdi followed his gaze again, and immediately sighed that he was confused, and forgot to ask the restaurant to replace this couplet. At present, Yuan Zongdi can only comfort Deng Mingdao: "The Dachang soldiers are all the original salt people, and their ancestors have regarded trekking through mountains and rivers as leisure, and life and death are between breathing when climbing on the cliffs, and they are also regarded as ordinary things in Pingrì." The hearts of Dachang people are extremely tenacious, and even among the mountain people in the Three Gorges area, they are also the best soldiers. This couplet is just a joke, and it should not be true. ”

Deng Ming sighed softly, he remembered that one of the purposes of this trip was to understand Yuan Zongdi and the others' views on the future strategy, so Deng Ming asked Yuan Zongdi what he thought was going to be at the moment, whether he should not stick to this corner, but move to a place where the Qing court's ability to control zhì was weak.

But after Yuan Zongdi heard this question, his first thought was not how to analyze the strategic form to Deng Ming, but Deng Ming's question seemed to be alluding to his previous identity as a camp, and Deng Ming's idea of transfer and flow was a shadow of the former camp in it, so Yuan Zongdi immediately expressed his opposition: "Officers and soldiers should defend their territory without losing their intentions, how can they retreat without a fight?" ”

Deng Ming was quite surprised by this impassioned statement, which sounded to him not an expression of military opinions at all, but an expression of political attitude...... Well, the reason why Deng Ming asked Yuan Zongdi this question was of course because he used to be a general who broke into the camp, and he was one of the eighteen horsemen of Shangluo Mountain, and the shape of the camp when he broke into Shangluo Mountain was ten or a hundred times more sinister than the current shape of Nanming. I don't know how Li Zicheng thought about resolving this sinister situation at that time, Yuan Zongdi should undoubtedly be very mobile combat, Deng Ming wanted to know what the current situation was similar and different from Chongzhen's last years, and whether there was any experience to learn from.

"Isn't it also the art of war to avoid the real and attack the false? And what are the benefits of hitting a stone with an egg? Deng Ming also guessed some of Yuan Zongdi's thoughts, so he showed the other party that this was a purely military issue without political implications: "At present, ten points in the world, eight or nine points have fallen, and it is indeed a matter of life and death." But I don't feel hopeless, because the shape of King Chuang back then shì...... Well, if the Yasukuni Gong knows that there is any good way, it is better not to hide it anymore and take it out as soon as possible. ”

Deng Ming's words obviously didn't have any effect, and after hearing him clearly mention the word King Chuang, Yuan Zongdi's face turned pale, and after a while, he said with difficulty: "Mr. Deng, in the year of Jiashen, the last general was chasing Zuo Liangyu...... No, the last general is moving closer to Zuo Ningnan. ”

Although Wen Anzhi judged that Deng Ming might be the king of Tang, he had not told anyone else about this idea except Zhao Tianba, and at this time, Yuan Zongdi still thought that Deng Ming was the most likely to be the third prince of Chongzhen. He tried to clear up the relationship between himself and Li Zichengjia Shennian's attack on Běijīng to force Chongzhen to death, and today is not the first time, Yuan Zongdi had already made such an attempt when he was under the city of Chóngqìng.

However, in Deng Ming's view, this is a very ridiculous defense, similar to the defendant defending himself in front of the judge and saying: Your Excellency, I am definitely not a murderer, because I was robbing a bank in another place at the time of the crime.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that the presiding judge in the courtroom was the victim's son, and the defendant's defense was that I was beating up the security guard in your backyard when the murderer shot and killed your father in the bedroom, Your Honor.

Deng Ming asked himself if he was the defendant, he would definitely not want to see his enemy sitting in the position of judge, let alone imagine that he would support the enemy to seize power and gain the right to take his own life and death - from this point of view, it was natural and reasonable for the Yongli court not to trust the camp, because the rest of the camp had too good reasons to betray the Ming court, and the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty did not even know what reason to prevent them from betraying.

However, the rest of the camp has always insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty, and in the end there was no betrayal, most of the generals of the camp have a bottom line, even if they are completely desperate, they will not surrender to the Tartars, it is precisely because of such a bottom line that the rest of the camp can only choose to support the Ming court to the end. Yongli didn't know this bottom line, but Deng Ming knew that most of the generals in the camp could be completely trusted.

"Li Guoying is also Zuo Liangyu's old department, right?" Deng Ming knew a lot about the enemies on the other side, and he asked this question knowingly.

"Not bad." Yuan Zong's first face was guarded, and he nodded lightly.

"When Yasukuni Gong pursued Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu decided to give up Xiangyang, and before leaving Xiangyang, he looted the people in the city, killed all the men, and sold all the women to Jiangxi. Am I right? ”

Yuan Zongdi couldn't help but sigh. When Yuan Zongdi arrived in Xiangyang City, he saw a mountain of bones, and the river was full of floating corpses of people who had been slaughtered by Zuo Liangyu, and there were even children left.

"If a woman dares to cry, she will be killed on the spot, because Zuo Liangyu said that if you cry non-stop, you can't sell it for a good price, right?" Deng Ming asked again.

Yuan Zongdi didn't answer, just shook his head and sighed.

"At that time, Li Guoying was in Zuo Liangyu's army, Xiangyang, Jiujiang, and he never fell behind in the previous massacres of the city, but soon he was no longer a Ming army, he became a Qing army." Deng Ming did not use the disparaging term "Tartar", but used the term "Qing Army", which was rarely used by Ming officers and soldiers: "And the Duke of Yasukuni and the King of Shu became the Ming Army." Later, in Hanzhong and Yueyang, every time the Ming army attacked, Li Guoying still killed the people as he did back then, lest a man flee to the side of the Ming army, lest he sell one less woman and earn less money, am I right? ”

Without waiting for Yuan Zongdi to answer, Deng Ming also knew how the other party would answer this question, so he said to Yuan Zongdi in a loud voice that everyone around him could hear: "It was not wrong for the Duke of Jingguo to pursue Zuo Liangyu back then, the only thing that he did not do well was not to catch up with Zuo Liangyu, if Li Guoying had been slaughtered at that time, there would be no need to watch him arrogant today." ”

All the people were silent, whether it was the guards behind Deng Ming or Yuan Zongdi and his Dachang soldiers, no one knew how to take Deng Ming's words, but the more shocking remarks were still to come.

"Back then, the generals were under the tent of the king, under the banner of the army; The kings of Jin and them carried the banner of Xiying; And Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou are under the banner of the Ming army. More than ten years have passed, and now Wu Sangui and the others have raised the banner of the Qing army, and the generals have raised the banner of the Ming army, but many people on both sides of the war are still the same people...... When the Shaanxi soldiers attacked Henan under the banner of the Ming Army, they killed all the people they passed, such as Jiaxian; It was the Ming army that burned, killed and looted in Henan and now raised the banner of the Qing army, although they have changed the green flag, they are still the same people, and they are still doing things that harm the people. Let's just say that Wang Mingde, wherever he passes, there is no one among the common people, such as Baoning, and then chóngqìng. ”

Deng Ming's voice was very loud, ensuring that everyone present could hear it clearly: "I have already said it in Chóngqìng, and now I might as well say it again, King Chuang didn't do anything wrong to eliminate these beasts back then, and the only thing he didn't do well was not to wipe them out, otherwise why would there be a disaster today?" ”

"You have defeated them once in the camp and in the western camp, and now although they have recognized the Tartars as their masters, we still have to defeat them again, and we will definitely be able to defeat them again, this time together with the Tartar masters behind them." Deng Ming bit the two of us very hard: "This is my true words, Yasukuni Gong!" ”

……

stayed in Dachang for two days, and before leaving, Yuan Zongdi invited Deng Ming to the martial arts arena to watch the military training. I have to admit that all the Dachang soldiers do have the ability to fly the eaves and walk the wall, looking at their agility in climbing the wall, Deng Ming can't help but think that if the Ming army is in an advantage to launch a major counterattack at this time, these Dachang soldiers are good city-breaking soldiers.

In addition to offensive and defensive drills, there are also shè arrows, swords, spears, etc. The lack of training caused by the lack of materials led to the overall level of the Ming army was very low, so Yuan Zongdi carefully selected some outstanding warriors to show his skills, among which there was a young strong man who was particularly eye-catching, not only did he have several weapons, but also good equestrianism.

After Yuan Zongdi saw that Deng Ming noticed this person's outstanding ability, he ordered to take the props for acting and let him compete with other people on the spot. The arranged opponent Deng Mingna is all too familiar, but Zhou Kaihuang, who accompanied him all the way back to Fengjie from Chóngqìng, and the two fought inextricably on the field.

"It's really a good material, and a chess opponent." Zhou Kaihuang's martial arts Deng Ming knew very well, but the person he just met today was very familiar, and Deng Ming was sure that he had never appeared under the city of Chóngqìng.

"This is Yuan Xiang, the nephew of the last general." Yuan Zongdi introduced to Deng Ming that Yuan Xiang stayed in Dachang during World War I.

"It's better not to call yourself the last general." Although it was inconvenient for Deng Ming to deny the identity of the clan, he was also unwilling to leave an impression on others, as if he had already admitted it.

"Come and meet Mr. Deng." Yuan Zongdi asked Yuan Xiang and Zhou Kaihuang to come over to see Deng Ming, and he continued to call himself the "last general", but he was still cautious, and said: "I think Mr. Deng's guard still seems to lack an officer, Zhou Qian has been under me for many years, and it is very reassuring to do things......

After Zhou Kaihuang brought the troops back to Dachang, Yuan Zongdi felt that it was a mistake of Zhou Kaihuang that the strong men who participated in Deng Ming's guards in the Battle of Wanxian did not leave Deng Ming. But since everyone had returned to Dachang, Yuan Zongdi could not send them to Deng Ming again, so he decided to send Zhou Kaihuang to Deng Ming, who was his own guard.

"My nephew also has the strength to carry some luggage for Mr. Deng. If Mr. Deng is free, can you take him around for a long time? "Yuan Zongdi is not Deng Ming's boss, and he can't blatantly install people around Deng Ming, so only by trying to make Deng Ming appreciate their martial arts can he take the opportunity to recommend them, if Deng Ming doesn't want him, he can't force it, so as not to make people think that he wants to install eyeliner next to Deng Ming.

Although he is still a little unaccustomed to giving people as gifts, Deng Ming knows that Yuan Zongdi wants to arrange his relatives by his side, and when he has the opportunity, he will help Yuan Zongdi say some good things, not to mention that Yuan Xiang is a strong man, even if he is powerless, Deng Ming will not refuse. took Zhou Kaihuang and Yuan Xiang with him, and when he left Dachang, Deng Ming and his party became twelve.