Ren Tang and Mu Tan have a heavy workload these days, the two of them are responsible for transporting tens of thousands of people, and Deng Ming is still urging very tightly. Unlike in the past, these people did not voluntarily follow the Ming army. A few days ago, the two of them, who had been complaining a few days ago, had asked Deng Ming to raise their salaries in order to hire staff members - whether they were civil officials or military generals in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they had to ask for their own pockets, and under normal circumstances, this fund was obtained by embezzlement, empty salaries and other methods. After the Ming Army in Western Sichuan adopted the standing army and conscription model, Ren Tang and Mu Tan couldn't eat empty salaries, so they asked Deng Ming: first give the two of them a salary increase of more than ten times, and then add it if it is not enough. Before getting paid, these two people could only do the work of several people by themselves, and they had to "pull strong men" from the officer corps and let them help with things.

was already very busy, but Ren Tang was afraid that something would go wrong with Wang Mingde, so the Qing army envoy immediately received him as soon as he asked to see him.

After hearing the words of the Qing army envoy, Ren Tang's face sank: "There is no such thing!" ”

Without waiting for the Qing army envoy to distinguish again, Ren Tang stretched out his hand and pointed at the Qing army: "Take it, beat it with twenty sticks, and then throw it out of the camp!" ”

The surrounding guards responded in unison, rushed up and arrested Wang Mingde's envoy, and dragged him outside the camp for execution without saying a word.

"Don't beat him to death, if you break your leg, give his companion a stretcher and carry him away." Ren Tang whispered to one of the guards. After this person received the order, Ren Tang explained to another subordinate: "Go and ask if someone is really inciting Wang Mingde and their soldiers to escape." ”

"Yes."

……

During the lunch break, Mu Tan came to Ren Tang's tent to have lunch with him.

"When will the Admiral give me a gift," Mu Tan shouted after entering the door, looking up to the sky, "I'm really going to be tired!" ”

"The army is the most greedy, you don't have the money to hire staff, who will believe it?" Ren Tang joked. He and Mu Tan have a good relationship, both of them are from the Southeast Alliance, if they were left in the past, they might still look down on each other, but now that they are in Sichuan, the two feel that the relationship is different, symbolizing the traditional friendship between Zhang Juren and Zheng Jiansheng.

"Wronged, ninety percent of the gifts I received were taken away by the admiral, if the admiral didn't take taxes and allowed me to eat empty salaries, of course I wouldn't ask for any more money." Mu Tan sat down to eat while shouting grievances, and the two of them also had to discuss work during the stipulated lunch break.

Ren Tang casually talked about Wang Mingde's envoy coming to make trouble this morning, and asked Mu Tan if he had sent someone to incite the Qing army to defect, Mu Tan said that he had never done such a thing: "You and I still have this idle time?" The more I defect, the more work I'll have. ”

"Well, I think so, I've already sent someone to find out what's going on, and I should be able to figure it out in the evening." Mu Tan's answer was not unexpected, it was impossible for two people who were so busy to have such a boring idleness.

"You might have broken a leg of Wang Mingde's envoy?"

"Of course, we are the emperor team." Ren Tang replied confidently. His explanation of the empire was agreed with by the vast majority of military officers, including Mu Tan, only Deng Ming still refused to admit that "empire" and "robber" were synonymous: "Only our emperor ** official to warn others not to tear up the treaty, when will it be the turn of others to warn the emperor ** official?" ”

"That's a good point." Mu Tan nodded approvingly: "Wang Mingde, they are shameless, the admiral is just for the needs of the next battle, so he didn't kill him casually, he thought we were afraid of him; Especially now, if we are kind and good-spoken, maybe they really think that we are afraid of them, and maybe they will have some restless thoughts. ”

That night, Ren Tang got a brief report and figured out the ins and outs of the matter, these defected Qing soldiers were all worried about going to Chengdu to farm, so they mixed into the Ming army; After learning that the Ming army did not recruit soldiers, these defectors were greatly disappointed, but they did not dare to go back, and when they heard that the captives were transported to Xuzhou and Chengdu, they were free men, so they expressed their willingness to be transported away as prisoners.

"I see." Ren Tang thought about it, the Ming army officers in charge of receiving them had already carried out the screening work, and these combat soldiers would be handled in the same way as the armored soldiers of the Shanxi Green Battalion who were captured before. Ren Tang expressed satisfaction with this, saying that he had nothing more to add.

At noon the next day, when Mu Tan and Ren Tang were having lunch, the guards reported that Wang Zongbing had come in person.

"I guess it's still for that incident, it's really not for people to eat well." Ren Tang stood up and wanted to go out to receive him, but after thinking about it, he sat down again and continued to eat: "Let Wang Mingde wait, tell him that I am eating." ”

Finally waited for Ren Tang and Mu Tan to come over after eating, Wang Mingde said with a smile on his face: "General Ren, General Mu, that dog couldn't speak yesterday, and the last general beat him up again, which really caused trouble for the two generals." ”

After the envoy went back yesterday, Wang Mingde asked, guessing that the envoy's words were too fierce to annoy the generals of the Ming army. Because Deng Ming's attitude has always been very kind, the temper of the Qing army has been used to it, and now Ren Tang suddenly changed his face, and the Qing army was still a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, and only after suffering a loss did he remember that Deng Ming was no longer here.

"Yesterday I said, 'Nothing happens,' and I was wrong." Ren Tang said with a big grin, with no shame on his face: "Well, some people came over, you didn't lie, well, pay attention to yourself, I don't have time to worry about this leisure for you." ”

"Thank you, General Ren." Wang Mingde had already found that Ren Tang and Deng Ming's attitudes towards people were completely different: "Then you can take people away from this?" ”

"Take it? What a hassle, my subordinates have already screened it, so they can't work hard in vain, right? This time I overlooked, and if you didn't lie, I won't bother with you. You can go back and take care of your camp in the future, and you don't have to apologize in person. Ren Tang shook his head, suing Wang Mingde that the people would not return, and if someone ran over in the future, the Ming army would still not return it.

Wang Mingde's eyebrows raised and he began to argue, first pointing out that the Ming army's collection of fugitives was similar to harboring stolen goods, which was an infringement on the private property of the Qing army generals; Then Wang Mingde took a step back and expressed his willingness to exchange things for things - according to Wang Mingde's impression, the Western Sichuan Army led by Deng Ming was open-minded when he saw the money.

"You're going to buy people back?" Mu Tan on the side interjected and asked.

"Exactly." Wang Mingde nodded hurriedly.

"No, the Admiral said, we don't do human trafficking, we can sell anything in western Sichuan, but we are not allowed to sell people as slaves." Mu Tan said unashamedly, as if he had completely forgotten about Deng Ming's prisoner and Jianchang's substitution, but that was also a previous thing, and Deng Ming's betrayal a year ago did not affect his announcement half a year ago that he could not do human trafficking.

"But didn't Admiral Deng just make a deal with the last general?" Wang Mingde was extremely surprised, and couldn't help but retort: "Five people are worth a cow......"

"That's when we buy slaves from you, but we don't sell people." Mu Tan unceremoniously interrupted Wang Mingde's words: "If you think your soldiers are very valuable, take care of it yourself, when you come to our side, they will be our people, we will not pay it back, General Wang doesn't have to talk in vain." ”

Deng Ming has always been very polite to the Qing army generals, Mu Tan and Ren Tang both knew that this was to get benefits from the Qing army generals, and just now the two discussed it and felt that if they returned the fugitives, they would lead the Qing army to not dare to defect, which was an unacceptable situation no matter what; Don't look at Deng Ming and the Qing army generals are polite, but Mu Tan and Ren Tang both believe that Deng Ming will never agree to return the person who asked for asylum to the Qing army for punishment - take a step back, even if Deng Ming is willing, it will not be impossible to pay it back in the future, but Mu Tan and Ren Tang must not take the initiative to damage Deng Ming's reputation.

Wang Mingde was still chattering and arguing, Ren Tang was too lazy to talk nonsense, slapped the table heavily, and shouted: "Wang Mingde! You and I are enemy soldiers, Admiral Deng is polite to you, that's because Admiral Deng is a good person, I am not a good person, and if you talk too much, I will destroy you. ”

These words made Wang Mingde startled, and after thinking for a while, he sneered: "I have an agreement with Admiral Deng. ”

"Yes, if you stay honest, you'll be fine, but the Admiral has told me that if you don't be honest, I'll kill you, so you won't have trouble for us." Ren Tang also gave his opponent a sneer: "I'll count to three, if you don't get out of my tent, I'll tell Admiral Sù that you came to spy on the military today and want to sneak attack me, so I have to send troops to destroy you." ”

Wang Mingde's eyes widened, staring at Ren Tang's face and observing his expression carefully, trying his best to distinguish the truth of the other party's words.

"One!" Ren Tang saw that Wang Mingde hadn't left yet, so he shouted.

"Okay, I'm leaving." In the face of the threat of nakedness, Wang Mingde immediately made a wise choice, and while retreating towards the tent, he was still making a final protest: "In the future, I will find Governor Deng to evaluate the judges." ”

Hearing this, Mu Tan laughed, and smiled at Wang Mingde, who was about to leave the tent: "You generals of the defeated army, the admiral can crush you to death with one finger, but he just talks to you well, and does not beat or scold." Do you think the Admiral will yell at us for you? Do you really think so? ”

"I paid for the coupon!" Wang Mingde shouted aggrievedly: "Those who escaped, the last general has also paid the coupon......"

"Two!" When Ren Tang saw Wang Mingde stop and start to distinguish again, he shouted again.

Seeing Wang Mingde stumbling away with the guards, Ren Tang commented disdainfully: "Bullying the soft and fearing the hard." ”

Ren Tang turned his head to look at Mu Tan: "Didn't the Admiral yell at you?" ”

"Nope." Mu Tan replied without thinking, and asked rhetorically: "Have you ever yelled at you?" ”

"Well, it's thundering." Ren Tang nodded: "Actually, you came a little late that time." In the future, you can try it for yourself, just eat the Admiral's dinner and you will be able to see it. ”

Recalling Deng Ming's style of doing things, Ren Tang summoned a guard and asked him to send a batch of release coupons to the camp of the Qing army, anyway, it was just paper: "Isn't he wronged?" Give him back the coupon. ”

After returning to the camp, Wang Mingde immediately called everyone to discuss the matter. After listening to what happened today, the generals of the battalion all turned pale and complained to each other, didn't they just lose a few soldiers, why should they provoke a strong enemy who could put them to death? The most important thing is that Deng Ming is not here now.

The Qing army immediately reached an agreement and immediately transferred back the early warning troops sent to reconnoiter the movements of the Ming army. Although Deng Ming advertised that he was fair, if he annoyed Ren Tang and Mu Tan, where should he go to cry if they sent troops to destroy him? After the envoy who sent the release coupon for Ren Tang arrived, the Qing army general took out good wine and meat to entertain the envoy and ate it beautifully, and then Wang Mingde, Hu Wenke and others sent the envoy to the door with a smile on their faces, and watched him leave-

Author's note: It's the last two days of August, and I am very grateful to readers who have already voted for their monthly passes, so you don't have to deliberately look for them; Those who still have a monthly pass in hand should vote for me quickly, it will expire if you don't use it.