The Ming army only had more than 2,000 reliable soldiers, and it had to control 3,000 surrendered troops who could fight back at any time, and the destroyed city defense of Wanxian County suddenly became a mortal wound to the Ming army.

Wanxian is not far from Fengjie, and Yunyang is located between these two cities, which is closer to Wanxian, where there are outposts of the Ming army stationed. During the two days of rest in Wanxian, the Ming army had already made contact with the defenders of Yunyang. The appearance of the Qing soldiers in the brigade here, it can be said that they are acting under the nose of the Fengjie Ming army, and everyone did not expect the enemy to be so bold.

"Our army must retreat immediately." Seeing the momentum of the enemy troops coming down the river to cover the river, all the officers immediately came up with this idea, and some of them had already spoken it.

"Where to retreat?" Zhao Tianba's gaze was also firmly anchored to the enemy ship on the river. The enemy's sailors had already appeared in view, and they would definitely not be able to retreat to Yunyang in time by walking on two legs, and there were only some outposts of the Ming army there, and they were not capable of sending a force to support Wanxian.

The first to mention the retreat froze, and after a while, others shouted: "Retreat to the north, let's go up the mountain!" ”

Zhao Tianba was silent. In the past two days, seeing that Fengjie was in sight, I took it for granted that the Qing soldiers would never dare to appear here. But when a large number of Qing troops really appeared, Zhao Tianba suddenly found that the Ming army was likely to have nothing to do with them. In the short term, the Ming army could not mobilize a large number of troops to leave the base area again, and the lack of ships made it difficult for them to compare with the Qing army.

If they really retreated into the mountains, they could only hope that the Qing army would retreat in a hurry because they were afraid of the strength of the Ming army, but what if they didn't retreat? Can the Ming army really come in time to blast this Qing army away and relieve the siege for itself? If it is delayed, it will not take a few days before the Ming army, which lacks supplies after entering the mountain, will begin to disintegrate.

"Yes, retreat north." Others may have similar concerns as Zhao Tianba, but the enemy's sailors seem to be so large, how can they be able to defeat them? Everyone echoed the withdrawal of troops, including Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan, and they all strongly demanded that Deng Ming immediately order the withdrawal of troops.

Deng Ming didn't answer them but continued to look at the enemy troops on the river, and after a while he turned around and wanted to talk to everyone, but found that Zhao Tianba was the only one left behind him.

"What about them?" Deng Ming asked.

"I've gathered troops back in Wanxian County." Zhao Tianba replied honestly.

Just now, everyone urged a few times, and seeing that Deng Ming didn't react, he couldn't wait any longer, and rushed back to the station to urgently gather the troops in his hands. Including Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan are also the same, they all feel that Deng Ming usually does not like to interfere in military operations, and retreat is already an inevitable thing, there is no need to delay time in order to wait for an order that will be given, and now the earlier the troops are gathered, the sooner they can act.

"Can we get out of danger by retreating into the mountains?" Deng Ming didn't understand military affairs at all before, but these rìzi have been staying in the army, and they hear people talking about military topics every day: "You have been talking about military rations and military rations before, how can you maintain an army without military rations?" Besides, if you plunge headlong into the deep mountains and old forests, how can the armies contact and command each other? ”

Of course, Zhao Tianba couldn't solve any of the problems raised by Deng Ming: "Mr. Deng, the city gates and city walls of Wanxian County have been damaged, we only have more than 2,000 people, and the enemy soldiers here are at least twice as many as ours, and we can't hold the city." What's more, there are still 3,000 troops in the city, and if they are not good for us, they will turn against us. Staying is a dead end, and some people can survive if they go into the mountains. ”

"How much will you survive?" Deng Ming asked reluctantly.

"Hmm......" Zhao Tianba pondered for a moment, if the pursuers did not encircle and suppress here for a long time, or if reinforcements were sent within a few days of Fengjie, then most of the people could get out of danger, and there would be no problem for the army to last for a few days. If the situation were the opposite, the Ming army would have suffered heavy losses, and it is optimistically estimated that perhaps half of them would be able to escape and retreat across the mountains to Yunyang.

"Humble duty will definitely keep Mr. Deng safe." Zhao Tianba finally said. He was full of confidence in this guarantee, no matter what, the current shape shì was completely different from the shape shì that was blocked in front of Tan Hong's camp, there were more ways out, it was not too far from Yunyang, and there were no major obstacles on the road.

"We have gone through so many difficulties to finally get here, since the chance of evacuating the troops is less than fifty percent, why don't we stay and fight to the death?"

"If the Inspector Wen sends reinforcements in time...... Zhao Tianba said in a low voice.

"Counting on reinforcements? That's not reliable. Deng Ming felt that it was inappropriate to pin his hopes on Wen Anzhi, and judging from Zhao Tianba's words just now, the possibility of reinforcements arriving in time was very small.

He glanced back at Wanxian, and the Ming army inside may not know that the catastrophe was coming. Whenever he encountered the problem of prisoners, as soon as Deng Ming saw the eyes of those people and thought that they were living people, he couldn't ruthlessly spit out the word "kill"; And those Ming soldiers in Wanxian County, they are not only living people, but also share the weal and woe with Deng Ming, and many people have shaken hands and talked with Deng Ming. Although he has the protection of Zhao Tianba, it is not difficult to get out of danger, but what about those ordinary soldiers of the Ming army? Leaving them to escape for their own lives, it is likely that half of them will be chased and killed by the Qing soldiers and hacked to death in the mountains.

"We should share the difficulties, either we will all leave, or we will not leave at all."

According to Li Tianba, in an optimistic situation, he may be able to escape half, so what is the unoptimistic situation? In the end, only Deng Ming and a few people around him escaped? Throwing Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan and more than 2,000 Ming troops in the mountains north of Wanxian County, the two of them would definitely not leave their subordinates and escape alone.

Listening to Deng Ming's tone became categorical, Zhao Tianba sighed. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't have any subordinates, he might have gone to urgently assemble the troops now: "What Mr. said is good, but the morale of the army has been dispersed, if Mr. could have made up his mind just now......

Zhao Tianba thought about it and shook his head again, even if Deng Ming made up his mind just now, it might not be useful. The shape of the enemy's strength and my weakness is too obvious, and it is impossible for Wanxian to defend it. If it weren't for the fact that everyone saw this obvious prospect, they wouldn't have scattered and rushed back to Wanxian County for emergency mobilization.

Deng Ming saw that some more soldiers had run back from the upper line of defense, and more and more Ming soldiers spotted the approaching enemy fleet, and these soldiers shouted and rushed all the way towards Wanxian, needless to say, the news would spread throughout the city in a few moments. The Ming army was not strong enough to control the army, and it was too close to the Yunyang X base area, maybe some soldiers would start to retreat on their own, and some officers might do the same.

"I was reminded of a famous battle in ancient times, and our situation was somewhat similar."

Zhao Tianba's eyes suddenly lit up, although he would have all kinds of thoughts about this sect disciple, he admitted that the other party was indeed more knowledgeable than himself.

"I remembered the Battle of Kunyang." Deng Ming said to himself: "At that time, Liu Xiu led the army to block Wang Mang's army, and Liu Xiu's subordinates saw that Wang Mang's army was strong, advancing by land and water, and the soldiers and horses were overwhelming, so they advocated withdrawing their troops one after another. However, Liu Xiu felt that his own people were already afraid in the face of a powerful enemy, and if he withdrew his troops in this case, most of them would be wiped out and the army would collapse. ”

"Who is Liu Xiu that Mr. is talking about? Who stopped Wang Mang's army? "Zhao Tianba knows Wang Mang, Wang Mang's fame is very great, and almost no one knows it.

"Liu Xiu is the Guangwu Emperor of the Han Dynasty, the son of heaven who revived the Han Dynasty."

"Oh, it turned out to be the Son of Guangwu, how can you call him by his name!" Zhao Tianba thought secretly in his heart: "Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty is named Liu Xiu, okay, I learned another hand today." ”

"Seeing that the generals had unanimously asked for the withdrawal of troops, Emperor Guangwu had no way to persuade everyone, so he had to tell a lie, saying that Wang Mang's army did not come to our Kunyang, but went directly to Wancheng. When the people heard about it, they believed it and happily did not leave. Not long after, Wang Mang's army surrounded Kunyang, and everyone couldn't leave if they wanted to. ”

Deng Ming said this allusion, believing that Zhao Tianba had understood what he meant: "If we fight against the city, is the chance of victory smaller than the chance of escaping back to Yunyang?" ”

"Two thousand five hundred soldiers, even a few hundred can escape, right? Even if it's five hundred, that's a 20% chance of escaping, right? Relying on a city without walls, the enemy army is twice as large as ours, and there are three thousand troops who will definitely defect......" Zhao Tianba shook his head and said: "There is no victory in ten, it is still cost-effective to withdraw the troops, maybe there are more than five hundred who can be withdrawn." ”

Deng Ming found that he couldn't convince anyone, so he could only sigh and stop arguing.

"Let's hurry back to the city, everyone is probably reorganizing the troops, and they will be in a hurry if Mr. Deng doesn't go back," Zhao Tianba urged, and then asked casually: "In that battle of Kunyang, is the shape of Emperor Guangwu of Han as critical as we are today?" ”

"Well, yes." Deng Ming said: "Emperor Guangwu has a total of 3,000 soldiers and 7,000 auxiliary soldiers. On the opposite side, Wang Mang's army was led by the Taishi and the general, with 420,000 people, and the naval division had more than 3,000 ships, and the soldiers could walk from the south bank of the Yellow River to the north bank. ”

"Ten thousand to four hundred and twenty-two thousand...... Zhao Tianba's face darkened as he spoke, and he felt embarrassed by the question just now, and the serious expression of Deng Ming when he replied made him feel that there was a kind of irony in it.

"Yes," Deng Ming nodded, and said again sternly: "It's as critical as us." ”

"So the battle of Kunyang...... Did Emperor Guangwu of Han win in the end? Zhao Tianba's face darkened, he felt that since Emperor Guangwu had finally become emperor, he had probably won, and his own question seemed redundant.

"Seeing that Wang Mang's army was surrounded by the city wall, and there was no way to retreat, the generals had no choice but to make up their minds to follow Emperor Guangwu to fight." Sure enough, I saw Deng Ming nodding heavily and replied: "Emperor Guangwu led 3,000 people out of the city to counterattack, killed 400,000 soldiers in Guanzhong, beheaded Wang Mang's general, and pursued for 50 miles in a row, burning 3,000 of the enemy's boats, the Yellow River did not flow, and the country changed hands. ”

"Hmm." Zhao Tianba lowered his head and was silent, silently looked at the ground under his feet, and commented in a low voice: "Is this still human?" ”

"Emperor Guangwu was only in his twenties that year, and he was about the same age as Brother Zhao." Deng Ming added.

"Really?" Zhao Tianba raised his head and asked softly, and a trace of anger flashed across his face.

If people can be, so can I!

……

After returning to the city, the officers immediately contacted their subordinates and asked them to prepare to leave the city. The Ming soldiers, who were caught off guard, hurriedly returned to their residences to pick up their weapons and armor, and asked each other what had happened.

While gathering the troops in a hurry, everyone also needed to gather their masters again, because the Ming army also needed them to help carry grain, grass and baggage, without these supplies, the Ming army out of the city would soon lose its combat effectiveness. Some people felt that it was too dangerous to have unreliable captives with them at this time, and that the time to gather the master was too tight now.

Everyone was arguing in the county office, and Zhou Kaihuang had been anxiously waiting for Deng Ming to come back. He felt that Deng Ming didn't know much about military affairs, and he was soft-hearted, and he didn't look like a good leader, so he wanted to send him to the safe rear. As for Zhou Kaihuang himself, he was already determined to follow his subordinates and lead them to try to escape from the dangerous situation. If Deng Ming left safely early, Zhou Kaihuang would have no worries, and he would no longer have to worry about Deng Ming's safety.

But Deng Ming did not return for a long time, and the guards arranged for him had been assembled, and everyone unanimously agreed to hand over the few twenty horses to this guard, but Deng Ming and Zhao Tianba never appeared, which made the Ming army officers even more anxious.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, Deng Ming and Zhao Tianba walked in slowly.

Seeing that Deng Ming still looked unhurried, Zhou Kaihuang rushed over with an arrow, pulled his arm and shouted: "How did Mr. Deng come back, the guards selected for you have been waiting in the hall for a long time." ”

Without waiting for Deng Ming to answer, Zhou Kaihuang complained to Zhao Tianba: "You didn't say to bring Mr. Deng back quickly." ”

After complaining, he instructed: "It's not far all the way to Yunyang, but the enemy soldiers are behind you, be careful." ”

At the end of the entrustment, it was to break up and say goodbye, and Zhou Kaihuang did not give Zhao Tianba any chance to interject: "The road ahead is precious, go quickly." ”

Saying that, Zhou Kaihuang said goodbye to Zhao Tianba and Deng Ming. He still has a lot of things to do, and he doesn't have time to talk with the two of them, so when he sends Deng Ming, he has to discuss the marching route with the officers, and deploy the forward and rear guards.

"We met a messenger from Yunyang...... Zhao Tianba finally found a chance to speak, and he suddenly laughed halfway through his speech: "Laugh at me, you cowardly rats, all the grain ships that come up from the river are grain ships." ”

"What, grain ship?"

"Yes, it's all grain ships. You all ran out in a blink of an eye, and Mr. Deng and I got closer to take a look, and found that the ship was full of grain, and it was grain! Not a soldier! Zhao Tianba laughed at everyone and said, "You are really heroes." ”

"What's going on?"

"How is that possible?"

Everyone is gossiping, obviously not very convinced.

Zhao Tianba also had a person with him, it was a Ming soldier he and Deng Ming intercepted by the river, and it took a long time for the two of them to teach the soldier what to say, and they reviewed it several times before they were relieved to bring him back.

Zhao Tianba pointed at this person and said: "When Mr. Deng entered the city gate of Wanxian County just now, he happened to meet this soldier, you can ask, you will understand as soon as you ask." ”

With Zhao Tianba's hint, the soldier immediately reported to everyone that he had just come from Yunyang, Yunyang suddenly encountered a large number of Qing soldiers besieging last night, and he himself broke through from the city with great difficulty, and some of the people who traveled with him went to Fengjie for help, and he came here to inform the Ming army in Wanxian to be careful.

"The grain on these ships was obviously transported to Yunyang City, and the Tartars sent a large army to attack Yunyang, but they failed to break the city immediately, and they needed to continuously transport grain from the rear. Although we have no ships that we can't intercept, we also have to think carefully about how to cut off the river, and we have to find a way to help the overseer intercept the Tartars who have retreated from Yunyang. Zhao Tianba didn't allow everyone to think deeply, and immediately said the words he had already thought of.

"Why didn't you say it earlier?" Zhou Kaihuang asked angrily. Zhao Tianba is right, if the target of the Tartars is Yunyang, of course the Ming army in Nawan County will try to share the pressure, and there is no need to escape now. If this matter spreads, Zhou Kaihuang feels that he will also be a big laughing stock - the Qing army has not succeeded in attacking Yunyang, so it will scare Zhou Kaihuang, who is far away in Wanxian County, into the deep mountains and old forests.

"You didn't even give me a chance to speak." Zhao Tianba said with a smile.

"When did the Tartars pass?"

"Why didn't we see anything?"

Although everyone relaxed a lot, some people immediately discovered all kinds of suspicious points and discussed them with gossip, and some people wanted to interrogate the "Yunyang Messenger" to learn more about the specific situation.

"Yes, you have to ask." Zhao Tianba knew that the actor they brought in temporarily would not last long, and it was estimated that he would soon be exposed as soon as he was interrogated, so he immediately came forward to stop everyone: "You hurry up and appease the morale of the army, don't let the soldiers panic too much, if we are frightened by a fleet of grain ships and the whole army is scattered, it will be a big joke." I didn't have time to ask more about this envoy just now, but now I and Mr. Deng will ask carefully, you should hurry up and stabilize the army, go quickly! ”

The officers left in a hurry, and Deng Ming, Zhao Tianba and the "messenger" were left in the county hall.

Looking at the worried appearance of the "messenger", Zhao Tianba comforted: "Don't worry, the Tartars will come ashore in a while, and we won't have to lie to them anymore." ”

……

After setting off from Chóngqìng, Tan Yi marched all the way. In the past two days, he had good luck and had a smooth journey, but no matter how fast he hurried, he still failed to catch up with the Ming army before arriving in Wanxian.

After Wanxian, it is too close to Fengjie, Tan Yi knows the danger and is reluctant to take the credit, not to mention that this credit has already been promised to Wang Mingde, although there is no need to contribute, but if Wang Mingde does not get his share in the end, Tan Yi knows that the other party will definitely not be happy.

It was not until near Wanxian County that the traces of the Ming army were finally discovered, and the boat in front sent a signal that it was the capture of a few Ming soldiers - all of them were fishing on the shore.

"Quickly dock," After hearing that the army was in Wanxian County, Tan Yi hurriedly gave the order to the boat, and at the same time asked the front boat to send the prisoner immediately, and he wanted to interrogate him personally.