Not only Zhou Kaihuang, but Deng Ming also noticed the whispers in the crowd, and the whispers became louder and louder, and some people began to question whether it was a scam, and also mentioned that the thieves and Xiying were never credible. Seeing that Li Xinghan remained silent and did not echo these doubts, Deng Ming did not know how long Li Xinghan's apparent neutrality could be maintained.

The increasing pressure made Deng Ming feel that he had to further win the trust of others, but he didn't know what to say, so he had to turn to Zhou Kaihuang for help: "Mr. Zhou Qian, how do you know?" ”

Deng Ming hoped that Zhou Kaihuang would help him to lie and come up with a reasonable explanation - he would definitely not be able to come up with it, so he hoped that Zhou Kaihuang would once again exert his wits to get through the current difficulties.

Zhou Kaihuang frowned, and muttered in his heart: "If you don't want to say it, don't say it, no one can force you to say it." That Li Xinghan's expression seemed to have believed, and his subordinates were making a fuss, so naturally there was a leader who controlled them and suppressed them. But when you ask this, it's as if you're confessing to me, and let me come up with a reason for you. ”

However, since Deng Ming asked, Zhou Kaihuang replied: "Of course I know......"

Zhou Kaihuang felt that in the camp of Chóngqìng before, Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi had a lot of conversations, and Deng Ming's words were almost acknowledged.

"Your Highness, don't you have a string of orbs? We've met ......."

Zhou Kaihuang suddenly recalled Yuan Zongdi and Zhao Tianba's praise for the string of beads, they guessed that Deng Ming had a noble background based on that string of rare treasures in the world, so many people in Tan Wenbu may have knowledge, right?

"Your Highness, why don't you take out the orb and save everyone from suspicion."

Zhou Kaihuang pondered that Deng Ming seemed to be unwilling to admit the identity of the third prince, and this identity was indeed too sensational, and the questions raised were probably no less than those that were calmed, since Yuan Zongdi and Zhao Tianba both said that the string of beads was so remarkable, as long as there was an insightful person on the other side, wouldn't it be convincing to everyone?

Hearing Zhou Kaihuang talk about the pearl, Deng Ming's heart was relieved: "It turned out to be this string of pearls!" Can't you think my pearls are worth a lot? Perhaps in this era, pearls are all naturally generated, and no one has even heard of basic cultivation techniques, and pearls are still a very rare thing. In any case, all of you listen to Zhou Kaihuang, get through the current hurdle first, and then apologize to this President Li Qian after getting out of danger. ”

Thinking of this, Deng Ming took the string of beads off his neck and handed it to Li Xinghan: "Mr. Li Qian, please take a look." ”

Li Xinghan's ancestors are ordinary people with good rules, but they have not participated in robbing the palace like Yuan Zongdi or Zhao Tianba's father, and they have never seen royal treasures. He took Deng Ming's pearl with both hands and looked at it with a completely layman's eye. Because of the coating, the surface of artificial pearls is more brilliant and crystal clear than natural shells, which makes people feel good at first sight.

"A pearl that has been heard for a long time is worth a fortune, let alone a pearl, even an ordinary bead has never seen one." Li Xinghan held the string of beads and looked at it, and muttered in his heart: "This Mr. Deng is such a big string casually, he must be able to do it, maybe he is really a highness." ”

Thinking of this, Li Xinghan didn't look at it anymore, and respectfully returned the string of beads with both hands: "Thank Your Highness for your humble duties." ”

Li Xinghan didn't understand, and others didn't understand, but he knew that Deng Ming had an amazing good thing, and in the exclamation of everyone's chatter, Deng Ming put this string of beads on his neck again.

……

After the re-salute, the people put away the big sticks and sticks, the soldiers sat down to rest, and the officers sat in a circle under the tree, and let Deng Ming sit in zhōngyāng. Li Xinghan and other Tan officers accounted for half of the number.

"How many of you are there?" Li Xinghan asked.

"More than 1,200." Zhou Kaihuang did not hide it.

"How many knives and guns?"

"Three hundred and twenty-seven swords, twenty swords, forty-six spears, fifteen bows, and more than three hundred iron-tipped arrows."

"We have fifteen swords, more than two hundred knives and eleven guns, and we picked up some axes on the way," Li Xinghan took the initiative to report to Deng Ming after listening to Zhou Kaihuang's introduction: "There are also three firearms, although there is no gunpowder, but they can still be used as hammers." ”

Then asked about Tan Hong's precautions, Zhou Kaihuang explained what he learned in detail, and also talked about his plan of action, Li Xinghan nodded silently. Now that he knows Deng Ming's identity, it is not difficult to understand Zhou Kaihuang's plan to break through, Li Xinghan found that this guy who broke into the camp was still quite loyal, and his name for him had changed.

Drawing a simple Tan Hong's defense map on the ground, Li Xinghan pondered for a while, raised his head and said resolutely: "Wait a while, I will rush through the pass with Brother Zhou, and let His Highness and that ...... Let's walk the mountain road together. ”

"Wait," Deng Ming was anxious when he heard this, why did he finally pull in more than a thousand reinforcements, but still have to go to Tan Hong's camp to die? He didn't wait for Zhou Kaihuang to speak, and then preemptively said: "Only a thousand rì are thieves, and there is no thousand rì to prevent thieves, we can wait for the opportunity." ”

If you can really not send you to death, of course, it is better not to die, Li Xinghan asked Zhou Kaihuang again: "Do you have anything to eat?" ”

Zhou Kaihuang shook his head, yesterday I caught a few small animals in the woods, caught some fish, everyone just shared a mouthful, today morning is hungry, if you don't fight today, and then be blown by the cold wind at night, tomorrow you will have the heart to kill the enemy and have no power to kill the enemy.

This answer was expected by Li Xinghan, and the group of them also didn't eat at all, but just wanted to insist on escaping from the danger and finding something to satisfy their hunger.

After pondering for a moment, Li Xinghan asked, "Is there a boat near Tan Thief's camp?" ”

Tan Hong didn't have many boats, and some were borrowed by Tan Yi, and the remaining few were sent downstream to monitor Wen Anzhi's movements or to transmit news and orders to the north bank, otherwise Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan and their two groups would have been discovered long ago.

"I didn't see it, otherwise we wouldn't be alive now." Zhou Kaihuang replied immediately.

"There should still be a few, but you have to leave two for the messenger, or be prepared to flee for your life." Li Xinghan muttered, stretched out his hand and pointed out the location of Tan Hong's camp on the map drawn on the mud floor: "Is it hidden by the camp, you don't see it?" ”

"Tan thieves dug trenches, and there are people patrolling, and my people can't get that close." Zhou Kaihuang also felt that there was such a possibility.

"It's still possible." Li Xinghan sighed: "Our lives are saved by His Highness, after nightfall, I will lead a team to dive over to rob the boat for His Highness, if we grab His Highness, we can get out of danger, if we can't come back, Brother Zhou will lead people to attack the camp, let His Highness escape from the mountain road." ”

Unexpectedly, after their discussion, they actually changed the way of sending death from one to two. Deng Ming asked himself, cooperating with Zhou Kaihuang to deceive people in order to allow more Ming soldiers to get out of danger, not to give himself one more chance to escape - of course Deng Ming wanted to escape, but he would not see hundreds of people die in vain for his own escape.

Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan saw Deng Ming's opposition and knew that there was little hope of success, but they both knew that there was no chance to break through Tan Hong's defenses and rush over to escape. The almost encounter between Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan just now made them realize this more clearly, Zhou Kaihuang could not efficiently command the whole army to attack, and Li Xinghan was the same, and the latter's army was still scattered on the road a few miles long at the moment, and not all of them had arrived.

The nearby terrain created a situation that was extremely favorable to the defenders, and the only thing that the attackers could effectively use was a narrow section of the riverbank, and the rest of the area was complex and difficult to navigate, and it was conducive to concealed ambushes, so that the attackers could not deploy their forces and it was difficult to communicate and command. Even if Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan had enough weapons, their soldiers would have exhausted themselves by walking a few miles along the muddy river bank to Tan Hong's camp, and then they would have been slaughtered by the defenders who had been waiting for their work without any suspense.

"You say my beads are valuable?" Deng Mingteng stood up and asked Zhou Kai urgently, he just remembered an allusion to escape, which is a bit similar to the current shape, although he didn't dare to say that it would work, but the dead horse should be regarded as a live horse doctor, and after asking, Deng Ming looked at Zhao Tianba again: "Do you think so too?" ”

Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba thought to themselves: Don't you know that it is priceless?

Seeing the expressions of the two, Deng Ming nodded slightly, took the beads out of his arms again, and asked Zhao Tianba, "How are your archery skills?" ”

"It's usual, I don't know what His Highness commands." Zhao Tianba had a proud expression on his face, and his waist was straight, which meant that his archery skills were quite good, which was also the real situation, and the Yongli Imperial Court chose him to escort important envoys to Sichuan, not because Zhao Tianba was bold and careful, and his martial arts were strong.

However, Deng Ming didn't understand his polite words too much, and the contradiction between the other party's words and expressions made him a little confused, so he frowned and asked, "Are you really ordinary or are you modest?" ”

This kind of straightforward question made Zhao Tianba a little uncomfortable, and he had to explain clearly: "Please show Your Highness, the humble position will definitely not disgrace the mission." ”

"Okay, pick ten, um, no, twenty jīng sharp soldiers, put on armor and bring good knives and guns, you take a good bow and come with me to see Tan Hong." This was the first time Deng Ming had given orders to others since the crossing, and he had to admit that this feeling was very good.

"What is Your Highness going to do?" Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan asked loudly at the same time.

"Me?" Deng Ming chuckled lightly, holding the string of orbs in his hand: "I'll go buy a road for everyone." ”

……

This afternoon's situation made Tan Hong feel suspicious, yesterday and this morning, there had been a Ming army rout who had been coming to be hunted and killed by his men, and the number gradually increased as he expected, but this momentum came to an abrupt end in the afternoon. From afternoon to dusk, Tan Hong never caught a single Ming army again.

"Looks like there's an army coming." Tan Hong smiled and made his own analysis of his master Qin Xiucai, the defeated Ming army in Chóngqìng had no place to stay, no food and clothes, and would definitely march downstream as much as possible. Based on the distance calculation, Tan Hong thought that more routs should be hunted down this afternoon, and the peak would appear tomorrow. Now that the Ming army has suddenly disappeared, there must be a Ming army that has restored order and prevented the rout from acting alone.

"Let's let them live one more day, haha." Although such a judgment was made, Tan Hong did not feel any worries about the entire Ming army. Today, the downstream reported that Wen Anzhi was retreating, indicating that he had been stopped by the news of the defeat. Tomorrow, Tan Hong will be able to use the ships to reconnoiter the upstream and find out the size and strength of the remnants of the Ming army. Tan Hong's camp was full of food, and the Ming army upstream could only drink wind and dew, and he was not in a hurry to attack at all.

Outside Tan Hong's camp, Deng Ming, Zhao Tianba and other twenty Ming soldiers slowly walked towards the sentry, they had no intention of hiding their whereabouts, and they stood a stone's throw away from the camp wall, and the twenty soldiers shouted in unison: "The prince of Han Wang is here, please come out to meet the Marquis of Xinjin!" ”

When the soldiers on the camp wall heard this call, they did not dare to act without authorization, and immediately someone went to the Chinese military tent to report Tan Hong.

"King Han, I know that it was in Fengjie some time ago, but I didn't hear that there was a Han Shizi." Tan Hong was also confused when he heard the report, but since someone shouted like this, he decided to go over and take a look.

Master Qin Xiucai didn't remember that there was a Han Shizi, and he was also full of suspicion: "Is it an impostor?" But what's the benefit of impostoring, if he doesn't call himself Han Shizi, we'll let him go. ”

"It doesn't hurt to see." Tan Hong couldn't figure it out for a while.

When Tan Hong walked to the camp wall with Qin Xiucai, the soldiers beside him immediately shouted back: "Master Hou is here, if anyone has something to say, just talk about it." ”

Deng Mingyao looked at a general with brilliant armor on the camp wall, and walked forward, Zhao Tianba dissuaded: "Your Highness doesn't have to risk your life, just go to your humble position." ”

"I'll go, and I bet they won't let go of the arrows." Deng Ming asked the twenty guards to stay at a safe distance, and swaggered to the camp wall so that the other party could see his face clearly, and Zhao Tianba followed behind him with a bow on his back.

Standing in the scrutinizing gaze of the other party for a moment, Deng Minglang said to the general: "I know that Hou Ye wants to be the noble of the new dynasty, and I can't force everyone to have their own ambitions, but my family has raised the world for three hundred years, and I still have some kindness to Hou Ye, and I hope that Hou Ye will look at this sentiment and let me and my guards live." ”

After finishing speaking, Deng Ming slowly took off the bead from his neck, held it high for Tan Hong to take a look at it first, and then said loudly: "This is the jewel given by Emperor Taizu Gao to the Han family, which has been passed down from generation to generation for three hundred years, and today I am willing to dedicate it to Hou Ye, and I hope that Hou Ye will smile and give me a boat that can carry me and these people around me." ”

After saying that, Deng Ming turned around and handed the bead to Zhao Tianba beside him, and when the latter tied it to the shaft of the arrow, Deng Ming continued to explain to Tan Hong in a loud voice: "If you don't work hard, the marquis will send someone to fetch it, and my chief will put it on the camp wall." After a while, I won't have to send the marquis off, just send one or two people to row the boat out and hand it over to me. ”

Zhao Tianba tied the beads with a thin rope, checked them carefully, and then bent his bow and arrows, and put it on the camp wall with a "whoosh".

After the arrow flew into the camp, someone immediately rushed to pick it up, Tan Hong looked at Deng Ming below with a stern face, and asked Qin Xiucai on his side softly: "What do you think?" ”

Qin Xiucai shook his head and said: "I don't know you at all, but this young man looks pretty good, and he also looks generous and calm." ”

Tan Hong nodded: "I feel this way too." ”

"Master Hou!" One of the guards came running and offered the beads along with the arrows.

As soon as Tan Hong got the string of beads, his eyes straightened. When he was a child, he saw his grandmother's and mother's jewelry, and his grandmother had two pearl hairpins, and there was only one bead on each hairpin, which was his grandmother's treasure, which was solemnly stored in the jewelry box. Later, those hairpins passed to his mother, and now they belong to his wife, and they are worn to show off when relatives have birthdays, marriages and other major events.

"What is this?" Qin Xiucai didn't understand.

"This is the treasure of the sea, a true pearl! You see it's silver, but as long as you shake it, you can see all kinds of pink, blue, and yellow faces, and the beads growing out of the sea shell have such brilliance, and only the sea pearls have such a metallic luster. Tan Hong pointed to the beads coated with a layer of metal film and said, and couldn't put it down and gently stroked the pearl with one finger: "Such a big bead is really unheard of, this string is really a royal treasure, extraordinary!" ”

"Are you sure this is a royal thing?" Qin Xiucai, who was illiterate, heard Tan Hong say so sure, and he also believed in Deng Ming's identity a little.

"How can there be such a thing among the people?" Tan Hong said categorically, and groaned slightly: "Well, maybe it's still the Pearl of the Night." ”

As he spoke, Tan Hong closed the pearl in his palms and slightly loosened a small slit, wanting to see if it would glow in the dark.

Seeing that Tan Hong was so happy, Qin Xiucai quickly shook his head and made a look of fascination, and opened his mouth wide for a long time without closing. The soldiers all came up to see how the Night Pearl glowed.

Tan Hong cautiously looked at the crack for a long time, and he was not sure whether this bead could really shine, but a pro-soldier behind him shouted: "Oh, it really shines, the small one can be regarded as an eye-opener, and he has not lived in vain in this life." ”

With this approval, many voices also sounded, indicating that they had also seen it, and even the peripheral soldiers who were far away thought they had caught a glimpse of the pearl and began to praise the venue.

"It's really glowing."

"Night pearls, it's still a long string."

"One is priceless, then this string is at least worth a province."

Even Qin Xiucai vaguely felt that he saw the pearl light coming out of Tan Hong's palm, and immediately sighed: "The royal treasures are really eye-opening, Hou Ye is really well-informed, if it weren't for Hou Ye's advice, how would we recognize the Night Pearl?" ”

Tan Hong was suspicious by everyone, he felt as if he didn't see the beads glowing, but everyone was praising his discerning eyes...... Tan Hong looked harder, as if he also saw a little glimmer or white light, I don't know if he was dazzled.

At this time, a stupid guy suddenly spoke, he kept stretching his neck behind Tan Hong to look, but he never saw the pearl: "Why can't I see it?" These beads aren't very bright. ”

"Stupid!" A few of the soldiers chirped, "Do you think it will be as bright as the sun?" Then it's not a bead, it's a torch! ”

As soon as these words came into his ears, Tan Hong also felt reasonable, he had only heard that there was a night pearl, and he had never seen it. But as everyone said, no matter how good the beads are, they can't be as bright as the torches, since everyone has seen them, they can't be wrong, anyway, there is time, the beads can be seen slowly all night in their hands, and the top priority now is-

Tan Hong put the beads into his arms, and when he looked at Deng Ming under the camp wall, his face was already full of fierce light-

Author's note: There are really not many manuscripts, so 5,000 words a day, but since everyone is in a hurry, I will double change 10,000 words on the weekend, and the second update at noon on Saturday.