When they first heard that the Qing army was going to attack Chengdu, Deng Ming and his guards saw it as a godsend to make it easier for the Ming army to win. Now there is almost no man's land between Chóngqìng and Chengdu, and it is impossible for the army to collect grain and grass on the spot, so if the Qing army sets off from Chóngqìng, all the military rations need to be transported from the place of departure.

If you take the waterway, the Qing army will need to take a relatively long detour, and it will be upstream, and the speed will be relatively slow. During this period, the Ming army could conquer Wanxian first, and also go upriver to the city of Chóngqìng. Once the Ming naval division entered the Yangtze River near Chóngqìng, the supply lines and retreat routes of the Qing army's front-line troops were cut off, leaving only a dead end; If the Qing army chose to take the land route, it also needed to be provided with all the supplies by chóngqìng, and also needed to provide all the auxiliaries - because when marching in a no-man's land, not only could they not collect food, but they could also find strong men to carry supplies.

The Qing army in the city of Chóngqìng has always relied on the waterway of the Jialing River to survive, and the Jialing River in Shaanxi Province can transport as many supplies as the Chóngqìng can raise. The capacity of this supply line is increasing, but it still appears to be quite limited. If the Qing army had spent a lot of resources on maintaining the army that was attacking Chengdu, it was conceivable that there would not be many soldiers and horses left, and the Ming army could easily capture Chóngqìng first, and then wipe out the Qing army in western Sichuan, which had become a lone army.

However, after Pu Fu recounted the information obtained by Xiong Lan, Deng Ming found that the Qing army was not as stupid as he thought.

In front of Pu Fu, Deng Ming spread out the map of western Sichuan, slid his fingers along the trend of the Jialing River on the map, and finally stopped near the Sword Pavilion.

The Sword Pavilion is located in the territory of Boryeong Province, a little west in the north of the palace city, not far from the Jialing River waterway. From here, along the Jialing River to the north, not far away is Guangyuan, an important town in the north of Boryeong. Guangyuan is located at the junction of Shaanxi and Sichuan, and the supply center in southern Shaanxi, Hanzhong, is connected to Guangyuan by road, and both soldiers and materials can be quickly transported from Hanzhong to Guangyuan; The Jialing River and its tributary Baishui converge in Guangyuan, and the transportation along these two waterways to Gansu and central Shaanxi is also relatively convenient.

"Whether transporting grain and grass to Boryeong or Chóngqìng, the Qing army loaded ships in Guangyuan, then transported them down the river to the front, and then returned empty. If the news obtained by Mr. Xiong Qian was correct, the Qing army would definitely start from Guangyuan and go straight to the Sword Pavilion along the Jialing River, and the Qing army would arrive at such a short distance. Abandon the ship in Jiange and take the land route, take the Shu Road from Jiange to Jiangyou, and then go to Mianzhu and break into the western Sichuan Plain. Deng Ming thought about it for a while, the transportation from Guangyuan to Sword Pavilion was too convenient, and it would basically not cause any logistical pressure on the Qing army. The problem lies in the section of the road from Sword Pavilion to Mianzhu.

Deng Ming asked, "How many people do you think the Qing army needs to carry grain and grass?" ”

Guards, you and I have our own opinions.

"There are no more people along this road, and if the Tartars want to ensure food and grass, they feel that they need three auxiliaries to help one soldier."

"I think two are better than one."

"Even if it's two to one, fifteen hundred soldiers need three thousand auxiliaries. There are about 1,000 soldiers under General Liu in the capital, and the number of Tartars is probably not less than that. ”

"Fifteen thousand soldiers? The tartar is too big, and there will inevitably be damage on the road, so it takes 3,000 people to be enough. ”

"Three thousand armor soldiers need 6,000 to 9,000 auxiliaries, and the whole army is 9,000 to 12,000 people, can you make up so many troops?"

Deng Ming felt that there were mostly Han people in the Qing army, so Jianyi's subordinates used the Qing army instead of Tartar to call their opponents, but everyone was not used to it.

Deng Ming stood on the side and listened for a while, and then asked Pu Fu: "When the Qing army was in Wanxian, what was the maximum number of troops?" ”

"About five thousand." Pu Fu said, and then told Deng Ming: "This is not counting Xiong Qian's total 2,000 people. ”

"Don't count, because Xiong Qian always uses his own reclamation to raise soldiers. The Qing soldiers sent 5,000 soldiers, and they still had the ability to continue to advance towards Yunyang. Deng Ming said in a low voice, and asked Pu Fu again: "After the 5,000 people of the Qing army arrived in Wanxian, will the reserves of Wanxian become less and less, or will they gradually increase?" ”

"More and more. At first, there was no food in the warehouse, and Xiong Qian always let most of the retreating people take it away, but the Tartars quickly brought in the grain and stocked some before continuing to attack Yunyang. Pu Fu replied honestly.

"I guess that's the case." Deng Ming nodded.

The expressions of the surrounding guards were already stern, and after more than half a year of crusade and western, they all knew very well what Pu Fu's information explained.

"The distance from Guangyuan to Chóngqìng is about the same as the distance from Chóngqìng to Wanxian, and the mode of transport is basically the same, with fully loaded ships going down the river, unloading at their destination, and then returning with empty boats against the current. Even if the water transportation distance from Chóngqìng to Wanxian is slightly closer, and the Yangtze River shipping is better than that of the Jialing River, the Qing army has operated Baoning Mansion for many years, and its control and familiarity with waterways are far above Chóngqìng's mansion. I think the loss of transporting grain from Guangyuan to Chóngqìng will definitely not be greater than the section from Chóngqìng to Wanxian. Deng Ming said to the guards: "Since the Qing army is able to raise 5,000 soldiers in Wanxian County, and the reserves are still increasing, it is absolutely no problem for them to raise 10,000 soldiers in Chóngqìng." Well, when Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde came to Wanxian, it was impossible for chóngqìng not to leave people to defend, let's not guess much, even if chóngqìng can raise 15,000 soldiers now. ”

Although Deng Ming's estimate is conservative, this strength is still much higher than the strength of the Qing army when Yuan Zongdi attacked Chóngqìng last year, when there were only more than 4,000 soldiers in the city, of which only 1,000 were armored soldiers. The fact that the total strength of the Qing army is now at least three times that of that time, and the courage to try to attack Fengjie shows that Chóngqìng has a large number of armored soldiers, estimated to have reached as many as four or five thousand.

"It seems that the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi has really not been idle this year, and has built a lot of ships, and there will definitely be more and more. If we sit idly by, Li Guoying will be able to raise at least 30,000 soldiers and horses in Chóngqìng by this time next year. ”

Deng Ming's words made many guards have mixed expressions on their faces. The worry is that the difficulty of attacking chóngqìng this time has been greatly increased, but fortunately, the Ming army is ready to start attacking chóngqìng, otherwise it will inevitably become more difficult in the future. Zhao Tianba glanced at Deng Ming, and after Deng Ming understood what he meant, he asked Pu Fu to go out and wait outside.

"Originally, we planned to set off in Layue and drive to the city of Chóngqìng to break the city in one fell swoop, but now it seems that this is not easy." After Pu Fu went out, Zhao Tianba immediately stood up and spoke: "And the sailors of the Chóngqìng Tartar are estimated to have become stronger, we must march carefully so as not to be ambushed by the Tartars." ”

Others have similar concerns. Even if Wanxian is not a concern, the Ming army on the way from Wanxian to Chóngqìng is swimming against the current, and the advantage of hydrology is on the side of the Qing army. When attacking Chóngqìng last year, Wang Mingde did not have a large army and a navy worth mentioning, so the Ming army approached the city very easily, and a few thousand people dared to land near Chóngqìng in a swaggering boat, and set up camp under the noses of the Qing army, not too worried about the enemy going out of the city to counterattack. But the situation was completely different now, and the Ming army had to march cautiously, which meant more preparation time and a succession of camps and forward bases further away from Chóngqìng – the large no-man's land meant that the Ming army's maneuver was also affected.

"I'm afraid that the Zhejiang army is not very familiar with the geography of Sichuan, and I think this battle will be easy. It's a great opportunity to give them a bit of exercise. Li Xinghan smiled bitterly.

Now Deng Ming's hands of 30,000 men, of which only a quarter have armor, although there is a training in Huangzhou, Hubei, but the training and actual combat experience is still lacking. The Qing army of Chóngqìng was strong, and the Ming army did not have the advantage of overpowering Xìng, and if it was not careful, it might even be defeated.

Shut down

"We must wait for the arrival of the Yasukuni Gong before we set off together." Zhou Kaihuang spoke out loud.

Even with the addition of Fengjie's defenders, the Ming army still did not dare to say that it was a stable victory. But if Yuan Zongdi rushed to Fengjie with a part of his troops to join Deng Ming's division, the Ming army would have at least 12,000 soldiers, and even if he went to Chóngqìng to challenge the 5,000 Qing army armor soldiers, there would be no great danger.

"Even if you send someone to Yasukuni immediately, and then Yasukuni will set off immediately when you hear the news, it will take 20 days to a month, right? The army has not moved, the grain and grass go first, we must first take Wanxian, and then transport the troops and baggage, and march to Chóngqìng by water. The closer you get to chóngqìng, the more you need to guard against the Qing army's counterattack, and the speed of the march will be much slower; At this time, the enemy army of Chóngqìng must have been reported, and Li Guoying now has so many ships in his hands, and it is likely that a support army will be sent immediately, so the battle of Chóngqìng will be protracted. Deng Ming counted with his fingers. If you must capture Chóngqìng first, then it will be too late to reinforce Chengdu anyway: "The Qing army will not transport Chóngqìng's soldiers back to Baoning with great difficulty, and it must be another Qing army that sets out from Guangyuan to attack Jiange." This is not a big problem for Li Guoying, he only needs to reserve his baggage in Guangyuan, and then transfer a green battalion from Ganshan, they may set off at any time. ”

"Since Gao Mingzhan has inquired, he is likely to be the main commander of this battle." Ren Tang reminded Deng Mingdao.

"That's a good point. Li Guoying was the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and sitting in Baoning helped him to easily transfer troops from Shaanxi, and he was not necessarily willing to run around; Gao Mingzhan is the governor of Sichuan, and it seems that he should be responsible for this matter. "Just now, Pu Fu has already reported that Gao Mingzhan is Wanxian who left half a month ago, Deng Mingdao: "Count the rìzi, he has already returned to Baoning." After he reported the matter to Li Guoying, when the green camp and supplies were assembled in Guangyuan, it was time to set off, which was probably within half a month. ”

"I didn't expect that the Tartars still have the strength to divide into two ways, and we must immediately send a report to the capital." Li Xinghan shouted.

Since the capture of Chóngqìng by the Qing army, Chengdu's main attention has been on the east, believing that it is more likely that the Qing army will attack from the direction of Chóngqìng. This kind of jǐng ring was originally of little significance, and if the Qing army really launched an attack, it would be almost impossible for Chengdu to resist on its own. However, when Deng Ming returned from Xingdusi, Sichuan, because of the alliance with Feng Shuangli in Xiying, Liu Yao felt that the shape around Chengdu had improved greatly, and he could ask Feng Shuangli for help if necessary.

At present, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai still think that Chóngqìng is the most dangerous direction, and the attention of the Ming army in the capital and Jiading Prefecture is now focused on the side of Chóngqìng, and they are a little negligent about the north. Liu Yao even thought that if the Qing army was going westward, he would not only be able to get a report from Feng Shuangli for help in advance, but Fengjie would not sit idly by, so Chengdu was still quite safe.

"Well, I'm afraid that it won't be until Jiangyou is lost, and the capital will not find out that the Qing army is heading south. When they knew that the number of this Qing army was at least tens of thousands, it was too late to ask for help. Deng Ming knew that the biggest problem in Chengdu was that its strength was too weak, and it was impossible to focus on the east and the north, and the whole city could not afford to raise a few stagecoaches, let alone establish a reconnaissance network or post station system.

Even if Chengdu issued a jǐng report, it was not possible to say that Jianchang's rescuers would be able to arrive in time, but the road on the side of the Snow Mountain was not easy to walk, and Jianchang might not be able to respond in time.

"I'll go to the capital myself." After thinking about it, Deng Ming felt that it was best to go on his own immediately. In case Chengdu is in distress, Deng Ming feels that his fame can also play a role in calming people's hearts; If it was known that Deng Ming had rushed to Chengdu in person, Jianchang would probably have realized that the situation was urgent, and might be able to send reinforcements in time: "You all follow me." ”

As for the candidates to go to Jianchang to report the news, none of the guards were willing to go, feeling that not only did they have to run a long and unjust road, but they also had no chance to make meritorious contributions. Under Zhou Kaihuang's suggestion, everyone unanimously recommended Zhao Tianba to be this envoy, the reason was that he was from Xiying, and he was good to talk to Feng Shuangli and Di Sanxi.

But Zhao Tianba refused to agree, arguing that it would only be worse if he went, and it was possible for them to fight with Feng Shuangli on the spot. Seeing that Zhao Tianba reacted so violently, and the reason was also high-sounding, Deng Ming naturally couldn't force him to go, so he had to find a few more riders from Fengjie and ask them to rush to Jianchang immediately to ask for reinforcements for Chengdu.

However, it is still unknown whether the Qing army will send troops, and the time of the attack is completely uncertain, in the final analysis, this is all based on Xiong Lan's intelligence, so Deng Ming is not good to ask Feng Shuangli to mobilize urgently, and only let him send a team of jīng soldiers to Chengdu to assist Deng Ming, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai in defending the city according to the situation.

After sending the envoy, Deng Ming rushed to see Wen Anzhi and reported his new news and his decision to leave for Chengdu soon.

"Is what Xiong Lan said credible?" Wen Anzhi was obviously skeptical of this information, and he had no confidence in Xiong Lan's character at all: "Sending troops from Guangyuan, he actually let him find out about such a distant matter?" I also sent someone to hide nearby, and I will report as soon as you come back. ”

"The last general thinks it's still credible. If this was Li Guoying's ploy, the last general felt that they would not mention Jiange and Jiangyou, but would coax us that Chóngqìng's forces were weak and that the Qing army had already attacked western Sichuan along the Yangtze River, so as to lure us to attack Chóngqìng with light troops. As for Xiong Lan inquiring about this matter, it is actually not surprising. Gao Mingzhan may have asked casually, if there happened to be a native of western Sichuan in the Wanxian garrison, he would have taken it away. He didn't expect Xiong Lan to be bent on correcting, and staring at his words and deeds more attentively. After Deng Ming finished explaining, he pleaded with Wen Anzhi on behalf of Xiong Lan: "Although Mr. Xiong Qian defected to the enemy again this time, he really didn't hurt our people, and he also detected the enemy situation and made such a great contribution." In the opinion of the last general, let him be spared one more time. ”

"You've said yes, what else can I say?" Wen Anzhi said dissatisfiedly: "Next time, if you sincerely want to intercede for someone, don't agree first, and then come to talk to the old man; Instead, I had to tell the old man first, and then promise him when the old man gave him permission. ”

"What the superintendent pointed out is that the last general knows that he is wrong."

…… Sixty or so horses were selected from Fengjie's good horses, Deng Ming took twenty guards and Pu Fu on the boat, and hundreds of soldiers also boarded the boat and marched upstream. The last time I went to western Sichuan, Deng Ming and others had been taking a boat to Changshou, and then got off the boat and went to Chengdu, but this time there were Wanxian in the way, and Deng Ming needed to solve the problem of Wanxian if he wanted to go to Changshou.

Yunyang was now in the hands of the Ming army, and the Qing army outposts who stayed behind immediately retreated after seeing the Ming army's vanguard reconnaissance force. After arriving in Yunyang, Deng Ming led his troops to disembark and rest, handed over a fast horse to Pu Fu, and asked him to return to Wanxian County immediately to report to Xiong Lan.

"Why didn't Mr. let Xiong Lan cheat and then blend in?" Mu Tan asked. On the way, he proposed this to Deng Ming, but was vetoed by Deng Ming in front of Pu Fu.

"Chóngqìng's Qing army has many soldiers and horses, and it may not be useful for him to blend in. Moreover, first, he may be recognized, and second, even if he is not recognized, the Qing army may kill him to set an example. Xiong Qian always has few subordinates, and because he is a concubine, everyone looks down on him, I think this possibility is very big. Deng Ming replied.

"It's a little dangerous, but it's not up to him, his sin is so great, let him atone for his sins, do he dare not agree?" Mu Tan said a little strangely: "There is no harm in trying. ”

"It's not a big bad thing for us, but it's a big bad thing for Xiong Lan. He surrendered to us again because he knew I would leave him alive. Deng Ming shook his head: "If he thinks that there is little chance of survival, maybe he will be ruthless and follow the court to the end." ”

On the night of Pu Fu's arrival, Xiong Lan suddenly attacked and wiped out the more than 1,000 Qing soldiers left by Wang Mingde in Wanxian. These Qing soldiers who stayed behind also heard about Xiong Lan's past, knowing that before he surrendered to the Qing army, he let go of the Ming army who refused to surrender, and announced in public that he believed in the maxim that "everyone has his own ambitions" - this proves that Xiong Lan is a straw bag and does not even have the courage to kill. When getting along with these Qing soldiers, Xiong Lan personally admitted these things, not only claiming to be soft-hearted, but also saying that she believed in Buddhism and did not want to kill.

After learning that Yunyang was lost, Wang Mingde's subordinates felt that Xiong Lan, a straw bag, might not have the courage to surrender to Deng Ming for the third time, but they didn't expect Xiong Lan to turn his face and deny people, and the speed of his action was so fast. And he was steady and ruthless, and he didn't give the Qing army any chance to resist at all.

"Bear thief, didn't you say that everyone has their own ambitions?" Several of Wang Mingde's officers were taken to the dungeon by a large number of flowers, shouting desperately on the way.

Xiong Lan's master, Qin Xiucai, stood next to him and couldn't help but sneer when he heard the shout. In his memory, this kind of means is Xiong Qianzong's essence. As long as Xiong Lan doesn't kill Deng Ming's people, Deng Ming won't kill Xiong Lan in the future; But if you are dealing with Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde, what is the point of letting these officers go?

"Shut up all the Tartars, and don't give them food." Qin Xiucai conveyed Xiong Lan's order majestically: "But don't kill them, wait for Mr. Deng to come and deal with them." ”