For Deng Ming, because the expedition was launched in advance, the preparation was quite insufficient, and the emergency mobilization also had some impact on the formation of the army. In this mobilization, Deng Ming brought out almost all the standing troops assembled in Xuzhou, so the next wave of mobilized conscripts could not be accompanied by the same high proportion of veterans.

But for the Qing army, this was a belated enemy, two days later than Li Guoying's prediction. After seeing the beacon fire, Sun Sike unhurriedly commanded his Eight Banners soldiers to cross the river into Chongqing to ensure the safety of the city - according to Li Guoying's speculation, the Ming army urgently sent troops would be mainly water divisions, and the number of armor soldiers was very limited, and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi estimated that the number of armor soldiers would not exceed 3,000.

After Gao Mingzhan saw Sun Sike return, his originally nervous mood also relaxed: "General Sun, since the Eight Banners have returned, Chongqing will be as safe as Mount Tai." ”

"Leave it all to me." Sun Sike said triumphantly. With more than 3,000 well-equipped Han and Eight Banners, plus more than 2,000 armor left behind in Chongqing, if the sailors of the Ming army dared to land, they would definitely not be Sun Sike's opponents; If the enemy really had only a few armor soldiers as Li Guoying judged, Sun Sike even wanted to go out of the city to counterattack and let the green battalion see the strength of the Eight Banners: "General Zhao is too slow, we won't wait for him." ”

These words made Gao Mingzhan suddenly chuckle in his heart, and he felt that Sun Sike seemed to have the intention of going out of the city to fight. If the Ming army was strong, Sun Sike would definitely not take the risk; But even if the number of Ming troops is small, Gao Mingzhan also knows very well that it will definitely be the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion who will take the lead at that time. If he wins, it's okay, even if he suffers heavy casualties, Gao Mingzhan can also share a lot of credit as the governor of Sichuan; But in case of a bitter battle, I don't know if the Eight Banners are willing to fight side by side with the Green Battalion regardless of casualties - Gao Mingzhan can't be lazy, if he is defeated, he will definitely have to carry the black pot, if the Green Battalion retreats first and lets the Han Eight Banners break, Sun Sike will not agree to this kind of thing, and Gao Mingzhan will not dare to do it.

After hearing Sun Sike's words, Gao Mingzhan was submissive verbally, and he was already thinking about how to persuade Sun Sike to dispel this idea. At this time, the Ming fleet close to Chongqing also slowed down, and Deng Ming planned to reconnoiter the situation around Chongqing before passing, so the two armies began to reconnoiter each other.

"Li Guoying is not here?" Deng Ming and his subordinates analyzed the brief military situation obtained, the Qing army around Chongqing was heavily guarded, and not even a single transport ship could be found in the Yangtze River, so they could only judge which commander was by the banner: "It's not Gao Mingzhan, Wang Mingde or anyone else." Conductor's surname Sun? It is still the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, and Beijing actually sent its direct troops to Chongqing. ”

When passing through the Jialing River, the Ming army found a large number of Qing troops gathered on both sides, looking like they had just returned to Chongqing from the east on the Chaotianmen side.

"Does this mean that Wanxian is safe?" Mu Tan was keenly aware of the abnormality and immediately put forward his opinion: "If Li Guoying is smooth sailing, then why did the Han Eight Banners return to Chongqing?" ”

"Maybe Wanxian was lost quickly, so the Qing army began to return?" Ren Tang analyzed.

"Impossible!" As soon as Ren Tang's words came out, they were refuted by Li Xinghan and Zhou Kaihuang in unison. Zhou Kaihuang was very dissatisfied with Ren Tang's despisance of Yuan Zongdi's combat effectiveness; And Li Xinghan refuted as a former garrison of Wanxian, he followed Tan Wen at the beginning and was very familiar with the geography of Wanxian: "Wanxian is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is difficult for the Qing army's sailors to attack the city without an advantage, and there are so many enemy ships in the Jialing River, I think the Qing army's sailors have almost withdrawn, which can only show that Li Guoying gave up the idea of attacking Wanxian many days ago." ”

Now the Jialing River is densely packed with Qing ships, guarding the estuary under the cover of the armies on both sides, and once again sealing the river with iron cables to prevent the Ming army from breaking through or raiding the ferries that are carrying troops.

"Let's search downstream to see where the Qing army is moving." Just by simply watching, Deng Ming felt that he could not judge, so he ordered to pull the anchor and set off, slowly down the river, carefully observing the movements of the Qing army on the north bank.

At this time, there was also an uproar in Chongqing, and Deng Ming did not hide his banner, so the Qing army easily found that the commander of this Ming army was Chongqing's number one rival.

"It turns out that Deng Ming wants to take advantage of the Governor's absence to attack Chongqing," Sun Sike showed a hint of excitement on his face. Deng Ming's intentions were exposed, and of course he was the hero who stopped Deng Ming, if he hadn't made a quick decision to intercept all the ships to carry the Han Eight Banners, wouldn't Chongqing be in danger?

After hearing that Deng Ming personally led the army, Gao Mingzhan, who did not want to attack, completely lost the courage to fight, and tried his best to persuade Sun Sike to stick to the city. But Sun Sike, Yuan Jiawenbi and the generals of the Han Eight Banners suddenly had the urge to take the initiative. Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi are completely different, most of the banner people in the Beijing division regard the generals of Yudong as bandits, if a large number of Han Eight Banners are damaged, then no matter how many bandits are killed, there is no benefit, and the court may be heartbroken, blaming them for putting the green battalion cannon fodder and ruining the central troops in vain; But Deng Ming has the blood debt of the emperor in his hands, and he can become famous in one day by defeating Deng Ming. If you are lucky enough to kill this person, then you will not worry about the title of merit - there are too many rumors about Deng Ming, and everyone doesn't know which set to believe, anyway, the former emperor once clearly ordered that the dead should not be captured, and the empress dowager and auxiliary ministers reiterated this request. If Deng Ming can be caught, it is certainly very pleasant to sacrifice the prisoner, but no one knows what kind of turmoil will be made.

"Didn't the Governor say it, Deng Ming came in a hurry, and there were some sailors around him, and the armor soldiers were hundreds, and thousands of them died." Sun Sike was very dissatisfied with Gao Mingzhan's serious attitude: "If he dares to land, we will have to face it." ”

"That's not what the Governor said," Gao Mingzhan hurriedly corrected: "The Governor said that the Ming army who came in a hurry will not have a lot of armor, no more than three thousand at most, not a few hundred at most!" Moreover, the Governor did not expect that Deng Ming would personally lead the troops, since it was Deng Ming who came, then there must be more than three thousand armor around him. ”

"Why does the governor want to grow the morale of others and destroy his own prestige?" On this issue, Yuan Jiawenbi also supports Sun Sike. If the Ming army did not have many soldiers and horses, Yuan Jiawenbi also tended to go out of the city to fight, let the green camp see, their Han Eight Banners were unwilling to fight with Yuan Zongdi not because they were afraid, but because they held their own identities and did not kill unknown generals under the sword: "Could it be that dignified officers and soldiers, can't even a group of bandits be defeated in a battlefield confrontation?" The green camp can't be defeated, will the flag people be afraid of them? ”

This battle did not need to be a big victory, as long as there were mutual casualties and then a great victory, Yuan Jiawenbi concluded that the imperial court would hype up and reward the soldiers who participated in the battle to boost morale and eliminate the bad influence of Shunzhi's killing.

Gao Mingzhan smiled bitterly and thought: "Could it be that in the first battle of Gaoyou Lake, the whole army was wiped out by the green battalion?" ”

Gao Mingzhan also thought about this in his heart, and he didn't have the courage to say it at all, but Yuan Jiawenbi's agitation method was useless to Gao Mingzhan. If it weren't for Deng Ming's leadership, then Gao Mingzhan felt that maybe there would be a chance to win, and if Sun Sike had to go, he wouldn't be able to afford to lose the second prince; But now it is Deng Ming, Gao Mingzhan feels that attacking is to send him to death, and there is no hope of victory, and Gao Mingzhan is not willing to accompany him in anything. If he was defeated by Deng Ming this time, most of the imperial court would not blame Gao Mingzhan for watching from the sidelines, and maybe he could still think that he was calm and steady, and he was the savior of Chongqing after the defeat.

While Gao Mingzhan and Sun Sike were arguing, the Qing army observed that the Ming army did not land, but went down the river, and soon sailed away from Chongqing, leaving hundreds of boats to monitor the river estuary, and the rest headed downstream. However, the Ming army walked very slowly, obviously carefully observing the deployment of the Qing army on the shore.

"Ahh Hearing the report, Sun Sike shouted, hurriedly ran to the city, and saw that the ships of the Ming army were gradually moving away: "It turns out that the Deng thief wants to land on the east coast." ”

"General, should we catch up?" Yuan Jiawenbi saw the credit in his hand fly away, and he was also very anxious. The more he pondered just now, the more he felt that he was right, even if it was just a confrontation with Deng Ming on the ground, it could also be said that the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty forced Deng Ming back, and the court would announce the world and reward meritorious deeds.

"Of course." Sun Sike immediately ordered the troops who had not yet crossed the river to stop crossing the river, and the troops that had already crossed the river regrouped to Chaotianmen Wharf, preparing to cross the river to follow the Ming army: "Deng Ming only has a hundred ships, and the soldiers and horses are at most 10,000. ”

"More than that, more than that!" Gao Mingzhan hurriedly stopped: "In addition to sailors, these hundred ships can also hold 20,000 soldiers, and there is no need for too many armorless boats, and it is not unusual for Deng Ming to bring more than 10,000 armor soldiers." ”

"Don't you believe the Governor's speculation?" Sun Sike saw that the Ming army ships were walking and stopping, as if they would start landing at any time, and he couldn't wait to fly over. Now, in addition to the consideration of merit, Sun Sike is also worried that Deng Ming will harass him on the east coast, where there are still many unarmored soldiers of the Qing army: "Besides, the Governor is still on the way to retreat, isn't the Governor worried about the safety of the Governor?" ”

"That's not right." Gao Mingzhan keenly discovered the loophole in Sun Sike's words: "If Deng Thief only has one or two thousand armored soldiers, then he can't harass anything, there are nearly 100,000 troops of our army along the way, and 20,000 are armored." ”

"I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of what if, just now the governor decided that Deng Thief had 10,000 armor to prevent us from fighting, and now he is preventing us from reinforcing the Governor, and he changed his words to say that Deng Thief only has 1,000 armor. How can a major military event be so reversed? Yuan Jiawen shouted: "Even if Deng Ming has a few thousand armor, the governor also knows that there are 100,000 of our troops along the way, as long as he sets foot on the shore, we can attack him in groups to ensure the back of the governor." Fighting thieves with ten times the force, what else is there to worry about? ”

Yuan Jiawenbi not only asked Sun Sike to take the Han Eight Banners, but also took away half of the armor soldiers in Chongqing.

On the other side, there was Li Guoying, as well as the Manchurian Taijun who accompanied the army, Sun Sike and Yuan Jiawenbi picked up the big hat of not saving him if he saw death, Gao Mingzhan immediately realized that he had no room for resistance, and his face turned pale: "If we can really fight openly, our army is several times more than thieves, of course, there is nothing to be afraid of." But if you fight with the Deng thief, you will definitely lose in the end. ”

"The Governor is overly concerned." Sun Sike saw that Gao Mingzhan was so afraid of the enemy like a tiger, and he was angry and funny in his heart.

"General Sun has never fought with Deng Thief," Gao Mingzhan lamented, remembering the fake maps and brine wells he had encountered, "Loyal to his words, General Sun will definitely want to fight head-on in the end but cannot get it." ”