Songshan, Zhuxian Town, and Jiaxian, these famous battles in recent years are all examples of battles repeatedly mentioned in military training courses, and most of the Ming army officers present here have taken cultural classes for about half a year and are quite familiar with the process of fighting.

"As in the Battle of Matsuyama, our sailors would suddenly withdraw during the night, and then the teams would leave the camp with fire. It happened suddenly, Li Guoying's courage may not be as big as Hong Tai's, and he probably didn't dare to pursue it immediately. Sooner or later, he will feel that something is wrong, and when he finds that the ship and my flag are gone, he will understand. At this time, his scouts will also report to him, saying that our troops who have withdrawn from the camp have no banner to guide them, and the formation has collapsed. ”

Deng Ming thought that at the latest, Li Guoying would launch a full-army pursuit. And if the Ming army was able to restore order before the Qing army arrived, it would have won a favorable opportunity for an encounter.

"I can't tell the soldiers yet, but sooner or later they will all know about our military plans. We will inevitably fall behind in the retreat, and every soldier must understand that our victory, the survival of the whole army, depends on the success or failure of the decoy enemy, and they must keep it secret for as long as possible. If they confided in our military plans to the Qing army after being captured, it would be tantamount to murdering his comrades. ”

It would be of great benefit to inform the whole army of the military plan, lest the soldiers really think that Deng Ming had abandoned the army and absconded, so that the army's morale would collapse and be out of control. But this would also pose a huge risk of the Ming army having their plans leaked.

The lesser of two evils, Deng Ming still decided to inform the soldiers of his true intentions before the battle, and now what he said is also to the officers present: "Gentlemen here, I know that you all have friends and absolutely trustworthy subordinates, but before I give the order to inform the whole army, no one can leak the plan, any leakage will increase the risk of our army's defeat, as I just said, that is, murdering all the officers and men of our army." ”

After communicating all the plans, Deng Ming gave the officers some time to think before starting to ask them questions. One specific question after another was raised, and if Deng Ming had already considered it, he would come up with the answer and share it with everyone; If Deng Ming hasn't thought about it yet, let everyone discuss it together.

A new question was raised: "What about the captives in Guizhou?" ”

No one believed that the captives in Guizhou were able to keep secrets like the volunteers in Zhoushan.

"That's why I said I can't leak the plan for the time being." Deng Ming replied.

But this answer obviously did not satisfy the subordinates, and sooner or later the captives would know about it.

"Yes, when our army begins to retreat, these people of Guizhou will definitely hear some rumors, and even if the soldiers are tight-lipped - this is simply impossible, they can see something unusual. If they reported to the Qing army, it would inevitably cause Li Guoying's jǐngti. Deng Ming was not unaware of this doubt, in fact, his guards had already raised this question: "As the saying goes, the mouth of the dead is the strictest, if I pit these Guizhou people, I don't have to worry about them leaking secrets." ”

Some Zhejiang officers were already turning this idea in their hearts, but after being broken by Deng Ming, these people did not answer the phone.

"Fortunately, there is another way, that is, let the sailor transport all the 10,000 people of Guizhou, although our sailor can't transport all the troops, but 10,000 people can still be squeezed." Deng Ming said to the officers present: "Rather than saying that these Guizhou people are prisoners, I prefer to regard them as people who have been kidnapped by the Qing army, and we are at least still soldiers. ”

"If that's the case," said another officer, "wouldn't it be strange if Li Guoying found that the people of Guizhou had not fled back and surrendered to him?" Under normal circumstances, we would definitely not send the people of Guizhou away by boat. ”

"If he could calmly think about the day, as he had when he had as much time as he did in Chóngqìng, he might be suspicious, but I don't think he had that much time to think about this time; And even if he is suspicious, will he not chase and kill our defeated army for the sake of the people of Guizhou, who don't pay attention to it at all? Didn't he waste so much energy just for this time? ”

After making a schedule for going in batches to familiarize himself with the road topography, Deng Ming announced that the meeting was adjourned.

After returning to his Zhongjun account, he immediately picked up the pen and wrote a challenge letter to Li Guoying. Yuan Zongdi once described the embarrassment of Li Guoying and the others when they were being pursued, and in Yuan Zongdi's view, the futile attempt to challenge the enemy army was a harbinger of collapse.

…… Shut down

After discovering that the Ming army had stopped, Li Guoying immediately ordered the Qing army to stop and confront the Ming army several miles away.

"The thieves are starting to get out of control." Li Guoying, who thought he was experienced, made a judgment: "Hehe, this Deng Ming is really young, I thought he could hold on a little more, but he couldn't continue to march so early."

In the past, whenever Li Guoying felt that the soldiers were starting to get restless, he would reluctantly stop and camp on the spot to calm the morale. However, this kind of work is very hard, and morale will still be quickly depressed after the resumption of the march, when he heard the challenge letter sent by the army, Li Guoying was first shocked, and then his heart was excited, if it was not for the need to maintain the majesty of the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi in front of his subordinates, Li Guoying almost laughed out loud.

Despite this, when the envoy of the Ming army handed over the challenge book, Li Guoying couldn't help but smile on his face. After reading the war book twice, Li Guoying raised his head with a full face and looked at the messenger below who was waiting for a reply.

"I don't know how Governor Li replied to Admiral Deng." Seeing Li Guoying raise his head, the envoy of the Ming army asked impatiently.

"Well, the official has been unwell for the past two days, and after the official recovers, he will go out of the camp as the commander of the army and be with Admiral Deng for a while." After Li Guoying finished speaking, he ordered the envoys of the Ming army to be sent out left and right.

The next day, Deng Ming sent a messenger to deliver the war letter, and Li Guoying was slightly shocked when he heard it: "Is he so anxious?" ”

Li Guoying repeated yesterday's excuse, and sent the envoy out of the camp with the war letter. As a result, Deng Ming seemed even more uncomposed, and sent a team of men and horses to scold outside the camp in the afternoon.

At first, the Ming army scolded more subtlely, implying that Li Guoying did not dare to fight, and then clearly pointed out that Li Guoying was a coward, and finally used foul language together. Hearing that the more the Ming army scolded, the more unpleasant it became, Li Guoying ordered the beating of gongs and drums to cover the sound of the Ming army, and at the same time asked the scout cavalry to step up monitoring the movements of the Ming army.

The Ming army insulted the governor outside the camp gate, but the insulted man and his more than 25,000 men were very happy. Although I don't know the specific situation in the Ming military camp, the more anxious the Ming army is, the worse their situation is, and after word of mouth from officers and soldiers, soon all the Qing army understood this truth.

So the Qing army pricked up their ears one after another, trying their best to find the enemy's invective from the sound of gongs and drums.

"Listen, they're still scolding the Governor." One soldier said with a smile on his face: "They've been scolding for a whole day." ”

"yes, haha, what a terrible scolding they had." Several other Qing soldiers also patted their thighs and laughed. The more the Ming army outside the camp scolded the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the more his subordinates loved to listen, and they all rejoiced from the bottom of their hearts: "It seems that we will soon be able to receive the reward, and then go back to Chóngqìng." ”

The high morale made Li Guoying very excited, and in his opinion, Deng Ming was simply helping him. When the Ming army sent an envoy to deliver the war book the next day, Li Guoying's childlike heart suddenly rose, and he ordered not to let the envoy enter the camp, and at the same time asked each battalion to build a wooden sign with a large book on it, and one was placed at the door of each camp.

Seeing that everything in the commentary appeared in the army, the Qing soldiers were even more laughing, and they giggled and hung the war-free card on the camp gate. The enraged Ming army then sent a large number of soldiers to the Qing army camp to insult, and the Qing soldiers guarding the camp wall looked at these Ming soldiers with mocking eyes. Things have come to this point, even people with dull minds can see that Deng Ming's defeat is imminent, and as long as the Qing army does not fight, they can sit back and watch the Ming army defeat itself.

After a while, the people sent by Deng Ming sent a gift in addition to the war letter, and when they saw that the Qing army would not let them into the camp, they put their things in front of the camp gate and left by themselves.

The soldiers guarding the camp gate sent gifts to the Chinese military tent, and Li Guoying and the generals opened the seal to inspect it and found that it was actually a set of women's dresses.

"Haha, haha." Although he was in front of everyone, Li Guoying couldn't bear it anymore, and looked up to the sky and laughed: "Deng Mingxiao'er, it's really useless, and the military heart has been lost in so many days." ”

Li Guoying played Zhuge Liang in the empty city in chóngqìng, and now he plays Sima Yi in Wuzhangyuan, Deng Ming is so funny, is there a more considerate opponent and more enjoyable enjoyment in the world? Li Guoying glanced at the dresses in the box, and said to everyone humorously: "It's a pity that the old man is an official of the imperial court, and his every move is related to the system of the imperial court, otherwise the old man really wants to laugh at Deng Ming's gift, and let the soldiers of the three armies see the old man's heart." ”

There was a lot of noise around, and Li Guoying ordered this suit to be put on the flagpole and spread to the battalions.

In the past few days, spies have reported that the Ming army has entered and exited the barracks, but no large group has left. Li Guoying knew that the main force of the Ming army had not completely collapsed, but after seeing the skirt sent by Deng Ming, he was even more convinced that this day was just around the corner.

"Lord Qiyu!"

In the darkest hour before dawn, the sleeping governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was suddenly woken up by the guards: "There is chaos in the thief camp. ”

"What kind of mess?" Li Guoying jumped up when he heard this, and he fell asleep in a blink of an eye.

Before he reached the camp wall, Li Guoying heard a chaotic commotion. After ascending the lookout, I saw that the guards on the camp wall were pointing at the defense line of the Ming army's camp, and as far as the eye could see, there were lights from torches everywhere.

The number of these lights is innumerable, as if there are as many as one or two thousand. At a glance, Li Guoying, who had been in the army for many years, saw that there was no order at all, and thousands of enemies were scattered, ranging from more than a dozen to a few, scrambling to leave the west.