Before meeting Inspector Wen, Deng Ming estimated that the other party would first ask him about the details of the Battle of Kunming, and Deng Ming was also ready to report back according to the truth. Unexpectedly, after he sat down and took a sip of tea, Wen Anzhi was the first to talk about Dachang.

Shortly after Deng Ming left Fengjie for Chengdu, what he had said to Yuan Zongdi in Dachang reached Wen'an's ears. The reason why he learned so late was because Wen Anzhi didn't care as much about Deng Ming's words and deeds as Liu Tichun, and he didn't send someone to inquire carefully like the latter. When Wen Anzhi got the news, Deng Ming had already left Fengjie to go to Jianchang, and this remark made Wen Anzhi quite dissatisfied in his heart, and felt that it was necessary to have a good talk with Deng Ming.

Later, the battle between Jianchang and Dongchuan came before and after, and Wen Anzhi felt that it was not easy for Deng Mingsheng to die in life, so he planned to lightly reproach a few words, and his tone should not be too heavy, so as not to hurt the upward heart of this heroic young vassal king. In the subsequent Battle of Kunming, Deng Ming's exploits were even more dazzling, and although Wen Anzhi thought that it was extremely inappropriate for the children of the clan to blame the martyred emperor in any case, he was ready to put his tone more calmly.

Wen Anzhi thought that Deng Ming would immediately admit his mistake when he mentioned this matter, so it would be the end of it. Unexpectedly, although Deng Ming nodded in agreement after listening to his reproach, he obviously showed an insincere look, and at a glance, he knew that Deng Ming did not categorically refute it out of the courtesy of respecting the elders.

"Deng Ming, if you have something to say, just say it." Wen Anzhi felt that it was a bit awkward to call this young man "sir", so he simply called him by his name...... It's not the little prince's real name anyway, right?

"I've heard a saying that people's faults are like ......."

"The fault of a gentleman is like the eclipse of the moon, and everyone sees it, and even more, everyone looks up to it." Wen Anzhi quickly said this allusion for Deng Ming.

"Exactly." Deng Ming nodded.

"Even if the monarch's father occasionally has a small mistake, as a courtier, he refuses to give direct advice, but instead raises troops to advocate chaos, isn't this a thief?" Wen Anzhi asked coldly.

"Chuang Ying and Xiying are all people, how can they see the Lie Emperor, and how can they have the opportunity to make a statement to the Son of Heaven?" Deng Ming muttered in a low voice. He didn't want to continue arguing when he saw Wen Anzhi so angry, but he was obviously determined not to fight, but he still had to add such a sentence.

"If it were an old man, the old man would go to the capital and cry outside the palace," Wen Anzhi had good ears, and after hearing Deng Ming's last words, he said loudly: "Cry until the monarch's father corrects it." ”

Deng Ming's stomach suddenly had several words coming up, but he puffed out his mouth, and finally stood up and thanked him: "Thank you for the teachings of the superintendent, the next child has been taught." ”

Wen Anzhi saw that Deng Ming was not convinced. According to Wen Anzhi's thoughts, although the other party is a troubled vassal king, but since he grew up, there will always be a few eunuchs and guards around him, and those people must be holding him like a fairy, so that he can't help but feel that he is superior everywhere, and now he can bow his head is already to give Wen Anzhi face. In fact, Wen Anzhi did not have malicious intent, the birth of this sect disciple made Wen Anzhi feel that it seemed that Emperor Taizu Gao had appeared, and if Deng Ming wanted to ascend to the throne in the future, Wen Anzhi would not stop him - he felt that he would not have a chance to stop him at all, and with Wen Anzhi's age, he would definitely not be able to see that day.

But Wen Anzhi felt that since ancient times, the Son of Heaven not only needed to make meritorious contributions, but also to show benevolence, what kind of virtue is it to criticize the martyred emperor in order to win the hearts of the military? Isn't it to be despised by the ages? Even if there is a dynasty and Deng Mingzhen's martial arts are outstanding, he still needs the princes and ministers to be the co-master, and then make three concessions, which may not be able to leave a good reputation in the history books, not to mention buying people's hearts nakedly.

Wen Anzhi sighed, the heavenly family and the clan have rarely had a good temper since ancient times, and it seems that they are in a hurry. He no longer continued to try to persuade Deng Ming, but asked about a series of wars in Jianchang, Dongchuan and Kunming.

Wen Anzhi listened to this paragraph very happily. However, there are many deviations between Deng Ming's account and the Qing court's mansion newspaper, and the Qing court said that Deng Ming first turned sideways to Hong Chengchou's side, and then used this as a springboard to Zhao Liangdong on an errand, and then used these two layers of relationships to blend into the key warehouse in Kunming City. But Deng Ming said that he had never met Hong Chengchou, although Zhao Liangdong was a key figure, he was not the most important link, and it was Wu Sangui who really played a decisive role.

"I see." Of course, Wen Anzhi believes in Deng Ming. From this point of view, Hong Chengchou suffered an injustice for Wu Sangui. But this is not surprising, and Wen Anzhi has no sympathy for Hong Chengchou, but only feels happy.

Next, let's talk about the aftermath of Jianchang. After hearing the three chapters of Deng Ming's covenant, Wen Anzhi sighed again: "You just want to calm people's hearts and appease the generals, this old man knows it very well, but what will the people of the world think in the future?" Those who do not understand your loyalty will mistakenly think that you have a disobedient heart and damage your reputation; And those who know that you are a loyal servant will also feel that you are not careful enough. ”

As an old minister and loyal minister, Wen Anzhi can only imply that Deng Ming's behavior is inappropriate, and Yongli is still running rampant like this, which is likely to arouse the disgust of those who attach importance to Gangchang - if it were not for the outstanding achievements of the Shaotang King, Wen Anzhi would also be very disgusted. Even now he is a little unhappy, suggesting that Deng Ming should still pay attention to his image and not make people feel that he is in a hurry to seize the throne.

"There is no time to make a living for the country." Just like last time, Deng Ming didn't understand Wen Anzhi's hint at all.

Wen Anzhi shook his head lightly again, thinking in his heart: "I know that he can't listen." ”

Then we talked about the arrangements for the peasants. Hearing Deng Ming say that ten acres of land only need to hand over one stone of grain, Wen Anzhi felt that it was not enough at all, and at the same time, he also thought that the name of protection fee was too ugly.

"Master Inspector Mingjian, even if you collect one stone of grain per mu, I'm afraid it won't be enough for the needs of the army, anyway, it's not enough, so just collect less. As long as the grain collected can meet the needs of the registration and punishment of the yamen. Deng Ming's idea was to try to attract the people who had fled into the barren mountains to return, and at the same time encourage the cultivation and production, as long as there is food produced, even if it is only enough for the people to feed themselves, it is much better than the people who are hungry and full now.

"Without three or five years, it may be difficult to achieve small successes." Wen Anzhi felt that it was not urgent, and he was worried that the Qing court would not give the southwest three or five years to develop with peace of mind.

"In the next three or five years, you can rely on the military tun." Deng Ming said with relief. Now Fengjie and the Three Gorges area are all military camps, and all the people are soldiers, and those who do not join the army to fight also have to farm land for the army, but people's labor enthusiasm is not necessarily stronger than that of the Sichuan Xingdu Division, and the escape to the Qing court's rule area has occurred from time to time. Not everyone swore to fight the Tartars to the end like Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan, and some auxiliary soldiers felt that there was no end in sight to the suffering rìzi, and would rather shave their heads and go to Huguang to reclaim the wasteland. Because of the war, there was a lot of abandonment, and the officials on the Qing court were also encouraging reclamation. Even if you have to pay half of the output to the Qing court, at least you can still have half of it left, and you can still have a piece of land of your own.

However, most of these people will not reclaim large areas of land, because the tax is very heavy, if the yield per mu cannot be guaranteed, the harvest of the year will be 70 or 80 percent to the government. Instead of cultivating large areas of land to reduce the average yield per mu, it is better to cultivate it carefully and increase its own yield.

For the people of Sichuan, the return on investment in the plains is lower than that of planting fields on Mount Emei: when they return to the plains, they are likely to encounter the army to arrest Ding, and even if they become yeoman farmers, their production will basically have to be handed over to the government. Although the mountainous area is barren, the production is still their own, and the threat of war makes the people even more reluctant to go down the mountain.

A small amount of tax may stimulate the people's desire to restore production, and the protection fee of ten mu and one stone does not need to be cultivated at all, and the income will increase dramatically if the land is reclaimed. As long as the people have a large amount of grain in their hands, even if they cannot collect it by means of taxes, there may still be other ways to get it, either by borrowing or buying. If there is no food harvest at all, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice.

Although Deng Ming said that it was a one-tenth tax rate, Wen Anzhi felt that the tax rate of ten acres and one stone was probably less than one-twentieth. However, Wen Anzhi's intention to Deng Ming can still be understood, since ancient times, light taxation has been the method of resuming production. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the people's livelihood withered, and the Son of Heaven could not make up four horses with the same face, and the minister rode an ox cart to the court. A tax of one-thirtieth was introduced to restore production, and the people at that time were happy to open up the wasteland, and soon even the families of the middle class had three years of grain savings.

However, it was a means of resuming production in peacetime, and during the war, in order to feed the army, the government was eager to take every grain of grain. Although the peasants' enthusiasm is getting lower and lower, the flight continues, and production continues to shrink, if there is no such grain to continue to live, the imperial court will be dying. Wen Anzhi knew that it was to quench his thirst, and he had no choice but to do so, he could only hope to defeat the Manchu Qing before squeezing out all the potential of the military tun.

Since Deng Ming insisted, Wen Anzhi no longer objected. He weighed it, maybe this would also be beneficial, while using the military cantonment to renew this breath to the court and the army, and at the same time using light taxes to resume production. If the war is not over when the military cantonment is drained, then it can still be counted on a large area of fertile land that has been reclaimed.

As for the appointment of Feng Shuangli and other generals, they were all trivial matters, and Wen Anzhi recognized all these appointments issued in his name.

After all these things were reported, the teacup in front of Deng Ming had been filled with water several times, and he still felt a little dry: "If the supervisor has nothing else important, I will retire first." ”

"Don't leave yet, the old man still has something to do." Wen An told Deng Ming that Zhao Tianba had returned to Fengjie from Fujian, and he arrived a few days earlier than Deng Ming and his party.

"The old man has informed the king of Yanping, and the king of the county wants you to go to Fujian, and he wants to meet you." Wen An said as he observed Deng Ming's reaction.

Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong are both famous heroes, Deng Ming heard that Zheng Chenggong actually wanted to see him by name, his first reaction was of course excitement, and after the excitement, Deng Ming felt a little strange in his heart, so he asked: "Why does the king of Yanping want to see me?" ”

After seeing Deng Ming's excitement that he couldn't hide, Wen An secretly said in his heart: "Sure enough, it is not what the old man expected." Hearing Deng Ming's question, Wen Anzhi had a feeling of "the kid has an axe and wants to put garlic in front of me".

"Are you going to go?" Wen Anzhi asked, he estimated that Deng Ming would definitely be willing to go.

Sure enough, Deng Ming asked rhetorically, "When do you need me to leave?" ”

Wen Anzhi thought for a while: "It's not in a hurry, Yanping plans to attack Nanjing, if he is smooth, maybe you can go to Nanjing at that time, if he is not smooth, then it is not too late to go to Fujian when the dust settles." ”

"The king of Yanping County wants to send troops to Jiangnan?"

"yes."

Zheng Chenggong did not hide his and Zhang Huangyan's plans from Wen Anzhi, on the contrary, he also asked Wen Anzhi if he was willing to lead Kuidong's soldiers and horses down the river and join him in Jiangxi - looking at Zheng Chenggong's tone, Wen Anzhi felt that the other party thought that it would not be a problem to take Jiangnan.

However, Wen Anzhi was not very optimistic about Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan's attack, because these two people each had a small calculation in their hearts, and their loyalty to the Yongli court was also problematic. When Li Dingguo defeated Kong Youde and Nikan in a row, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong were not very happy about the momentum of the Yongli Imperial Court, but they looked a little like the end was approaching and the catastrophe was coming. Therefore, Wen Anzhi was skeptical about their willingness and determination to send troops. Secondly, the ability of these two people to disturb the coastal area is okay, but whether they have the strength to fight inland with the Qing army also needs to be investigated. Therefore, although Zheng Chenggong strongly invited, Wen Anzhi did not intend to rashly mobilize the Sichuan army to prepare for the attack on Hubei and Jiangxi. Originally, there was not much grain and grass left in Kuizhou, and they didn't even have the ability to fight chóngqìng, if Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan could really take Nanjing, it would not be too late for them to provide some military food and mobilize again.

"They will probably send troops next month," Zheng Chenggong told Wen Anzhi that his offensive would probably be launched in May, and Wen Anzhi relayed this information to Deng Ming: "Although Yanping is eager to see you, the old man thinks that it will be too late for you to leave for Fujian immediately." If you are willing to wait, you can also go first and wait in Xiamen. ”

Zhao Tianba returned to Fengjie half a month earlier than Deng Ming, if Deng Ming had stayed in Fengjie and did not go to Yunnan, he might have time to go to Fujian to try his luck. However, Deng Ming did not make a decision immediately, and after hearing Wen Anzhi say that Zheng Chenggong was eager to see him, Deng Ming suddenly suspected that there was something wrong with this. However, sometimes listening to Wen Anzhi is like listening to Zen, once it comes to the royal family and the throne, Wen Anzhi feels that he has made it very clear, but Deng Ming still doesn't understand anything.

It turned out that Wen'an sent Zhao Tianba to go to Fujian. Although Wen Anzhi's words are not easy to understand, it is still easier to deal with Zhao Tianba. Deng Ming asked to see Zhao Tianba first. Wen Anzhi knew that Deng Ming probably wanted to inquire about Zheng Chenggong's situation before making a decision, so he naturally would not disagree.

After Deng Ming said goodbye from Wen Anzhi, he planned to go back to his residence to take off his clothes and go to Zhao Tianba, but he didn't think that Zhao Tianba had already come to the door, and was talking to Zhou Kaihuang, Li Xinghan and others. After the Kunming fire incident, Deng Ming and his party are famous all over the world, Zhao Tianba couldn't help but blush, he asked himself that his martial arts were stronger than Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan, and he was even more bold and careful, but this kind of good thing that went down in history did not have his share.

For Jianchang's Xiying generals, Zhao Tianba was mostly dismissive. Zhao Tianba's father is Li Dingguo's descendant, he is the Jin Wangfu personal guard and Jinyi Wei Qianhu at a young age, usually those who are not from the Jin Dynasty are polite when they see him, and Zhao Tianba in the West Camp respects a few people such as the King of Jin and the Prince of Jin.

"King Qingyang? I've met him, and it's twilight...... Di Sanxi? In the past, when I talked to King Qingyang, he could only stand on the side and listen. ”

Before Deng Ming walked to the door, he heard Zhao Tianba commenting on Jianchang's characters loudly inside.

After the two met, Deng Ming immediately asked about the trip to Fujian. Although Zhao Tianba is proud, he is more careful in doing things, and when he sees that there are many people around, he hums and wants to talk about it in detail later. Deng Ming knew what Zhao Tianba was afraid of, so he seemed to casually tell the story of birth and death with everyone during this time, and finally said that the friendship during this period would be unforgettable.

Hearing Deng Ming say this, everyone was happy and also expressed their humility.

Zhao Tianba looked at Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan with a smile on their faces, suddenly sneered, and said loudly: "Mr. Deng didn't say this to you, Mr. said it to me, let me have something to say, he doesn't want to hide it from you." The gentleman didn't say it clearly, because he didn't want me to get into trouble with you. ”

Then Zhao Tianba said: "The superintendent asked me to go to Fujian and report to the king of Yanping County that Mr. is the king of the young Tang Dynasty." ”

Zhou Kaihuang immediately glared at him and scolded: "What are you talking nonsense? Mr. is obviously the third prince! ”

"Sir didn't say that," Li Xinghan and a group of guards from the Sichuan army retorted: "Sir Shiyou Jiǔ is the king of Shu." ”

Originally, Zhao Tianba still wanted to refute Zhou Kaihuang's two sentences, but after hearing Li Xinghan's group of Sichuan troops speculate that Deng Ming was the king of Shu, he didn't even bother to refute it, and thought to himself: "Why fight with these uninformed guys? As soon as I looked at Mr. 's string of beads, I knew that it couldn't be taken out by the Shu Wangfu. I think that the Shu Wangfu was washed by my Lao Tzu, how many catties and taels are very clear. ”

Deng Ming asked Wen Anzhi for another explanation, as well as Zheng Chenggong's reaction, it seems that the misunderstanding is getting deeper and deeper, and it is difficult to solve.

In order to persuade Wen Anzhi to hand over the Shaotang King to him, and also to allow the Shaotang King to muster up the courage to defect to him, Zheng Chenggong took great pains and tried to show Zhao Tianba his military strength - Zheng Chenggong felt that if he could not show his strong strength, then the Shaotang King might not have the courage to cross the enemy territory and go to Fujian.

Along with Zhao Tianba, there was also a confidant of Zheng Chenggong, and after being brought to see Deng Ming, this person suddenly took out a letter from his arms: "Mutan, the lowly Funing Qianzong, this is the king's humble position to be handed over to His Royal Highness." ”

"Just call me sir." Deng Ming took the letter with some surprise.

Zhao Tianba was also surprised, this person came back with Zhao Tianba all the way, lived in Fengjie for so many days, and didn't confide in anyone that he still hid a letter on his body.