After returning to the Sichuan army camp the next day, Deng Ming called several confidant officers to discuss Li Dingguo's letter with them.

"King Gongchang is worried that if there is an accident in Yunnan, it will not be easy for us to return to Sichuan." After learning that the Shuixian family had been destroyed and that Wu Sangui might launch a large-scale offensive against Kunming after the autumn, almost all the officers of the Sichuan army agreed with Bai Wenxuan's Jianyi, believing that it was time to consider withdrawing his troops.

"Do you all think so?" Deng Ming looked around and saw that almost every officer was nodding silently, most of them thinking that as long as a part of the army was left to ensure the survival of the reckless regime.

It has been almost half a year since I left Sichuan, and the officers and men of the whole army are very worried about what the current situation is in the capital. In the past, when the Ming army followed Deng Ming's expedition, the time to leave Chengdu was sometimes longer than this time, but the soldiers of the Ming army had never had such a strong sense of homesickness. Because this time it was in a foreign land, and before it was at least on the soil of his own country.

Although they did not sweep the occupied areas as Bai Wenxuan did, the Sichuan army also made a lot of money, and the Sichuan army collected a lot of taxes from the occupied areas, and also confiscated a large number of family property of the samurai who fought for Mangbai. The area around Ava was the most prosperous region of Burma, and there were many estates that the Burmese king had given to the high-ranking warriors, and these estates were not polite to the name, and they were all regarded as enemy property and given to the soldiers, who now had a large stockpile of precious stones, gold, silver, and ivory in the army.

Moreover, the Sichuan army also did business with the Dian army, and the Sichuan army explicitly ordered that it could not be plundered but Bai Wenxuan could, so the Sichuan soldiers exchanged the jewels they received with the Dian army in exchange for unmarried girls. When the Dian army heard this, they felt very strange, they felt that Deng Ming's rules were too strict, and they deeply sympathized with the Sichuan army, and they patted their chests and went to collect some people for the brother troops, and only received a small symbolic reward. A group of soldiers from the Yunnan army sent more than 100 women to the Sichuan army, just begging for a glass of wine as payment. In addition, when confiscating the property of Burmese warriors, the Sichuan soldiers also justifiably regarded female slaves and their dependents as trophies of war like gold and silver. According to the reports of his subordinates, the soldiers had sent many slave girls and asked them to transport them back to Chengdu, and were willing to bear the cost of freight and food along the way.

Although Deng Ming did not like this, he could not hurt the feelings of his soldiers for the sake of the people of the enemy country, and finally he ordered a high freight fee and announced that he would not compensate if he went on a business trip along the way. Finally, after living in Chengdu, all these women have to work in factories. The soldiers accepted the conditions, hung a sign around the neck of each slave girl, wrote the name of the master, and began to be evacuated.

Therefore, although they have not yet seen the pure gold pagoda that they had heard about before the army, the soldiers are satisfied with their income and begin to desire to return to their hometowns.

"If we retreat now, it is impossible for recklessness to hold on." The Ming army can leave some people, but it can't be many, if it is only two or three thousand Ming troops, then the nascent reckless regime will definitely not be able to withstand the reckless counterattack for a long time; The next time the Ming army crusades against Burma again, Mangbai's foundation will be much more solid than it is now, and the lessons of this failure will also be learned: "If the people who cooperate with us are retaliated against by Mangbai, if we lose our trust, then no one will believe in us next time, and they will not contribute to our army." ”

The officers of the Sichuan army admit that Deng Ming is right, but now that the soldiers are so full of hope that they will not return home, and if new comrades are killed every day, the Sichuan army will sooner or later have a general complaint—especially when they think that the property entrusted for transportation may have arrived in Chengdu or is on its way.

"If we retreat, Mangbai will have no scruples and dare to disadvantage the cabinet, and may even kill the prisoners of the Imperial Guards." Deng Ming did not mention the safety of the Emperor Yongli, and the emperor's life would not be threatened for the time being, and Mang Bai would never dare to do anything that would completely anger the Ming army before he was sure to withstand the attack of the Ming army.

Deng Ming didn't expect to rely on Yongli's safety to boost the morale of the Ming army now, and he, like Bai Wenxuan, revealed to his subordinates afterwards that the edict was true.

Deng Ming felt that all he needed now was a banner to maintain the status quo of the Anti-Qing Alliance, so as not to argue within the alliance over who to appoint as emperor; As long as everyone doesn't fight among themselves, Deng Ming doesn't care whether this flag is dazzling or tattered. He was unwilling to deceive his comrades in order to maintain Yongli's reputation, so after tearing up the edict, he honestly explained the true situation to the officers of the Sichuan army, and did not prohibit the officers from suing the soldiers, and did not prevent the spread of the news.

In order to maintain the reputation of the Son of Heaven, Bai Wenxuan also told his subordinates not to spread it to the soldiers, although the paper could not contain the fire, but at least he had the intention of respecting the emperor.

Like Bai Wenxuan's soldiers, although the Sichuan army obeyed the order to continue to attack Wacheng, they would never be able to sacrifice their lives and forget their lives; Officers often put the safety of their soldiers first when launching an attack, and carefully consider the risks and costs that may come with any order. If it weren't for this kind of psychology from top to bottom, a fierce general like Zhao Tianba would not have besieged the stronghold in Myanmar and killed three people in one day.

After listening to Deng Ming talk about the safety of the cabinet, the officers of the Sichuan army were still not too touched, they were not familiar with the cabinet elders, and the emperor was so disappointing that the prestige of the cabinet members was greatly reduced.

"If Burma kills our officials and soldiers, we will have to retaliate again, otherwise we will only make the Burmese look down on us." Don't forget that we still have troops in Annam, and Siam is also ambiguous, and has not been a vassal to the court for a long time. If we don't retaliate, or if we retaliate too late, it will make others think that no matter what they do, they don't have to worry about it; And now, at the very least, we must ensure that Annam and Siam do not fall to the Qing court, and the support of these two countries will at least help the king of Yanping and increase the pressure on the Qing army in Guangxi. Also, the Chinese in these places, if we protect them, they will be able to provide us with military expenses and other help in the future. Deng Ming told his subordinates his bottom line: "If General Bai is really in a hurry to leave, it will be okay if he doesn't defeat Ava; If the emperor really wants to come back, he doesn't necessarily have to save him, anyway, the Burmese don't dare to do anything to him. But we must keep our recklessness and ensure the safety of the Ming and the Chinese in Burma. ”

While Deng Ming was pondering how to achieve his goal, he received a report that Mang Bai had sent an envoy out of the city to negotiate. Now that the envoy went straight to Deng Ming's military camp every time he left the city, Ava already knew who the key person was.

"This is a chance, let's give it a try." Deng Ming thought for a while and ordered the reckless messenger to be brought in.

When the Ming army was in dire straits, the crisis in the city of Ava was getting worse day by day. Since the Ming army cut off Ava's external roads and took control of the surrounding villages, the city's food reserves were about to run out. In order to reduce the consumption of military rations, Mang Bai has ordered a reduction in the supply of rations for the citizens, and the ration of the soldiers is just enough to feed them. Despite the drastic measures taken, officials calculated that if the lines of communication were not opened for a long time, the city of Ava would be out of food by July.

Mang Bai had just seized the throne, and there were many people in Ava City who were not convinced, not to mention that there were still places in southern Myanmar that he could not control. Now the city of Ava is under siege, and the south is almost out of control. Mang Bai was unable to send troops from the south to Ava City to relieve him of the siege, and if it dragged on for a while, it was unknown whether there would be a rebellion in the south.

This time, the reckless envoy brought Deng Ming a lot of Ming cabinet documents, all of which were records of the discussion of Deng Ming by Yongli monarchs and ministers, as well as the impeachment of his past actions by the imperial history. After discovering that Deng Mingcai was the enemy, the Burmese court began to organize people to inspect the seized Ming Dynasty archives and interrogate the cabinet entourage, and they really unearthed a lot of information.

"The emperor is actually suspicious of the Guogong," the Burmese envoy looked bitter: "Guogong, please see, these are all written by Ma Shoufu to the emperor, and they are all to frame the Guogong." Ma Shoufu is the enemy of the Guogong. There is also the impeachment of Goshi. ”

Deng Ming read these texts with great interest, and there were indeed many conspiracies against him, but most of them were just words on paper, and it was obvious that a group of people who didn't know anything about the situation in Sichuan were working behind closed doors.

"It is their duty to impeach the prince; And Yuanfu took precautions to share the emperor's worries, how to check and balance the ministers, or avoid the appearance of the ministers, it is also Yuanfu's duty, how can this be called framing? Deng Ming didn't seem to care at all, and repeated the old tune: "If you want us to withdraw the army, you must release the emperor first." ”

"The emperor stayed in Ava voluntarily, didn't the emperor's edict also read it?" The Burmese envoy was disappointed by Deng Ming's indifference.

Deng Ming waved his hand: "Real people don't say dark words in front of them, if the Burmese vassal king wants to talk about a result, don't stare and lie." Okay, then I'll take a step back, what the hell are you going to do to return the emperor to us? ”

Deng Ming did not ask the Burmese envoy to answer immediately, but asked him to go back to the city and ask Mang Bai to understand: "As long as you return to the emperor, there is nothing that cannot be discussed, no matter what guarantee the Burmese vassal king wants, what conditions are there, we can talk." We want the emperor's family, the rest of the cabinet, the imperial history, and the imperial forest, if we really don't want to pay it back, we don't want it. You go back and ask and come back again, so that your host can rest assured and boldly say that everything is easy to discuss. ”

The front foot sent away the Burmese envoy, and the back foot Deng Ming called a meeting of all the officers of the Sichuan army: "This afternoon, I personally went to the front line to command, and the whole army attacked fiercely, and we must hit the city of Ava within three days." ”