While bond promoters rushed downstream, Deng Ming also mobilized the first conscripts and began the recruitment of military laborers.

Newly arrived immigrants were not allowed to join the army, except that they had not received sufficient military training, and the parliament's ban was not intended to be violated, although the Imperial Diet did not prohibit them from being recruited for the civil army. Therefore, Deng Ming plans to use all new immigrants for the people, because if Tongxiucai joins the Minfu team, there will inevitably be more conditions, and it is attractive enough to use new immigrants as long as they add a "Tongxiucai status will be obtained after one year".

Sure enough, although Deng Ming announced that it was impossible for the Minfu team to be converted into a formal army and could not give the same bonus as the soldiers, a large number of people still signed up enthusiastically after the list was posted. So much so that the Chengdu Provincial Council immediately came to Deng Ming to intercede, saying that he could obtain citizenship after serving for one year, and if he retired halfway due to injury or illness, he would also issue a rule of more than 12 points as appropriate, that is, the skilled workers under them were eager to try.

"Since you are worried, why don't you immediately add a ban on the right of the capital to sign up for military labor, such as Xiucai, who must have a letter of consent from his employer, otherwise he himself will have to pay compensation to the employer." Deng Ming thought about it, but now Sichuan is not in crisis enough to send everyone who can fight to the battlefield, so the recruitment of skilled workers is undoubtedly a waste.

The legislators came to ask Deng Minggao to raise their noble hands, and never thought that they could use the parliaments at all levels to directly defend their rights, so one of the legislators hesitated and asked: "Will this Senate agree?" ”

Obviously, the Imperial Diet will definitely agree to limit the army and prevent it from taking away the resources vital to Sichuan's production, but the Senate is not easy to say.

"The senators were all appointed by me, and only when I was away would they consider for me whether a parliamentary decree was feasible, and now that I am all here, my opinion is theirs." Deng Ming said without thinking, this was originally Liu Yao's opinion, so the last time mobilization, taxation and bond issuance were passed, the Senate went through a formality and unanimously passed Deng Ming's request: "The words are so clear, are you still worried that this bill will not pass?" ”

After 500 standing troops, 400 personal guards, 2 levies, 1,000 sailors, 3,000 laborers, and 7,000 men boarded the fleet, Deng Ming pulled anchor and set off. This time, Deng Ming left Li Xinghan and Ren Tang to guard Chengdu and Xuzhou, and the other three people will continue to recruit troops in Chengdu and Xuzhou, and then take them to catch up with Deng Ming's footsteps.

Zhao Tianba volunteered to be a striker, but Deng Ming did not give him this task: "Isn't it me who is the striker every time?" Besides, Huguang and Liangjiang may be ready to move now, and the sooner I arrive, the easier it will be for them to be honest. ”

Before leaving Chengdu, Deng Ming had the Imperial Diet hold a delegated vote, which not only gave Deng Ming the freedom to take military action and decide on diplomatic countermeasures and terms, but also ordered him to attack those prefectures that refused to buy the Ming War Bonds.

"Is this an excuse for the Duke of the Kingdom to break the contract?" Ren Tang saw that Deng Ming deliberately made such a resolution, and asked sarcastically, but he thought that this was simply covering his ears and stealing the bell, even if there was this resolution, everyone would think that Deng Ming broke the contract.

"In the event of life and death, personal promises are not worth mentioning, but if we break the contract for no reason, then no one will believe in the contract with us in the future, so we must let everyone know what our rules are, as long as we follow these rules, they will be safe." Deng Ming explained, and then said with a smile: "Now that the Son of Heaven is hunting in the south, this duke is not Cao Cao, so he obeyed the orders of the council to show that the Grand Duke was selfless and did not take advantage of the absence of the Son of Heaven to steal the authority for himself." ”

Ren Tang paused for a moment, and retorted again: "Guogong thinks that he has set up an imperial council, so isn't it Cao Cao?" ”

"If I were Cao Cao, would I still be able to tolerate you Ren Xunyu talking nonsense here?"

……

When Deng Ming went downstream, the two British merchants also set off, and the two of them were originally recording the prices and handicraft varieties in Chengdu, but after learning of the sudden change in the situation downstream, these two men observed the mobilization in Sichuan with great interest. For these two men, this was the most important piece of information to determine whether they were still interested in doing business with the Ming army. And when Deng Ming set off, the two British businessmen also hurriedly asked to follow him, Deng Ming thought for a while, agreed to their request, and there was no harm in showing military strength to potential trading partners.

"The members of the Duke Parliament are more complex than those of our country, and they can collect more taxes and mobilize more soldiers without avoiding dissatisfaction, but this will also cost more money, which can be regarded as more advantageous and disadvantageous." When a British merchant and Deng Ming were chatting on the side of the ship, he stretched out his hand and pointed to the bustling crowd on the shore: "If it were in our country, the sailors would not have to pay at all, they could catch them directly from the shore, and the fishermen would not be represented in the parliament anyway." ”

Deng Ming looked along the arms of the British, and the Sichuan fishermen on the riverside had already seen the two military flags on Deng Ming's flagship, although they were not familiar with the Broken Arrow Flag, they both recognized the three wall flags, and they all beat the water with wooden pulp and sticks, cheering the Imperial troops on the march.

Retracting his gaze from the faces of these smiling and eager supporters, Deng Ming turned to the British businessman and asked, "You are not an army, and it is not illegal to arrest your own fishermen?" ”

"Of course we don't break the law, we will pay taxes to the King and His Majesty, and the merchants are represented in Parliament." The English merchant replied with a look of reverence, reminiscing about Queen Elizabeth: "Her Majesty found that England had too few sailors to withstand attrition in the event of a great war, and legislated that no meat but fish should be sold three days a week, and this greatly increased the number of English fishermen." The navy or when we set sail to sea, we catch fishermen on the coast and serve, and we never worry about the shortage of sailors. ”

According to the accounts of British merchants, the British fishermen were now in a similar or even terrible situation to the Chinese tenants because they had no parliamentary representation, because they could be captured by a passing warship or privateer at any moment. According to the British merchant, he docked a large number of his merchant ships in Chongming, where he had so kidnapped fishermen, and when they docked, these low-ranking British sailors were chained to the decks of the ships or cannons to prevent them from escaping.

"These men are cruel and ignorant beasts," said one of the English merchants, who was evidently clever and proficient in Chinese, and the other was studying hard, and could discuss some elegant topics of art and music with Deng Ming, but when it came to their fellow Englishmen who were tied to the lower deck, the merchant apparently did not take them very seriously: "They had all day in their muddled minds the thoughts of rebellion, and would murder the gentlemen and senior sailors who led them at every opportunity; Either they tortured the poor black slaves in the cargo hold, and some of them were disabled and could not be sold; When they arrive in your country, they must not be let ashore, or they will kill people in the streets and cause trouble. ”

Deng Ming was noncommittal about the assessment of the British merchants, and in any case, it was these British captains who were full of adventure spirit and had no moral burden at all who could provide the Ming army with goods, not the poor sailors who were locked below deck.

On the way from Chengdu to Xuzhou, the people of western Sichuan who heard the news greeted the Ming fleet, and when they passed through Xuzhou, the people there already knew that the army was urgently mobilized to ensure the interests of the empire in the lower reaches, and all kinds of supplies had already been prepared with the cooperation of various trading houses, so that the Ming army could pass through Xuzhou without stopping and advance to the destination as soon as possible.

In the private diary of an English merchant, he wrote his impression of Deng Ming: "The duke was young and intelligent, well educated, and respectable. The duke's guard was well-armed and morale-high, but the duke also told me that there were not many such troops—no doubt about it, because if the whole army under the duke's command were such warriors, the Tatars would not have been able to occupy most of China. In the face of Tatar pressure, the duke did not crush to the bottom of the sea with his power, but generously shared it with friends and his lords in exchange for their loyalty and service. I must admit that the Duke has won my affection, and that the Duke's subjects are wise and willing to obey the commands of gentlemen and officers who are more noble than them, unlike the simple-minded peasants of the Tatars, many of whom are as rebellious as our stupid fishermen, and who must be whipped with leather whips and pointed at weapons before they can fight. ”

Before arriving in Chongqing, Deng Ming already knew the outcome of the negotiations, and Gao Mingzhan honestly purchased 20 million yuan of war bonds, and paid 250,000 taels of silver to the Sichuan Industrial Bank for this purpose. Zheng Chenggong's death made the situation dangerous, if Gao Mingzhan and his gang dared not take the threat of the Sichuan army seriously, then even if they did not do jewelry business, they would have to drive them out of Chongqing, although he did not think that this situation was very likely, but Deng Ming was still ready for a landing operation, and now he could lift his guard and let the fleet move eastward at full speed.

"Did you tell them we'd pay it with an IOU?" Deng Mingxun asked Yu Youming's partner.

"Tell," another director of the Industrial Bank hurriedly nodded, according to the agreement between Deng Ming and the Industrial Bank, they only needed to provide Ming Jun with 190,000 taels of silver, so that they would earn 60,000 taels of silver in a blink of an eye: "The board of directors of this bank has unanimously decided that from today onwards, it is willing to purchase the Imperial War bonds in full, hoping to give priority to the sale of the public bonds to the Bank." ”

"You go and negotiate with President Xiong, he is responsible for the issuance of the follow-up war bonds, and when Mr. Gong comes back, the two of them will be jointly responsible." Deng Ming replied: "You serve the country, and I think they will do their best to meet your requirements." ”