Just when Li Guoying was thinking about writing the memorial and the issue of Chongqing, Zhou Kaihuang took Li Siye to Fengjie. Although Li Dingguo's order to Li Siye was to go directly to Fengjie, the development in Xuzhou was far beyond the King of Jin's expectations, and Li Siye arrived in Jiading Prefecture.
The news soon spread to Xuzhou. He went to Xuzhou to supply supplies and exchange horses, and met Deng Ming who was discussing a special tax.
Deng Ming happily accepted the appointments of Duke Bao Guo and Governor Zuo. In his view, this was part of the previous agreement with Li Dingguo. Accepting the title and title that the King of Jin helped him obtain was also an agreement between the two. And Deng Ming happened to
Ming also needed to report the course of this battle to the Wen'an Peace Committee in Fengjie, so he asked Zhou Kaihuang, who was in charge of the matter, to take Li Siye and his entourage on board a ship.
Wen Anzhi had heard about the outbreak of a war between Chongqing and Wanxian before, but the specific situation was not very clear. When Zhou Kaihuang, a general under Deng Ming came to report, Wen Anzhi knew that the scale of this war must be large;
And Li Siye was the prince's eldest son, and his status was of no small importance. Wen Anzhi expected that he must have brought important information.
After hearing that the title was requested by the King of Jin for Deng Ming, Wen Anzhi remained calm, but secretly murmured in his heart: "What does this kid want to do? Has he changed his gender and no longer covets the big position?"
What surprised Wen Anzhi even more was that the duke had a special instruction not to pursue the title of three generations. After Li Siye handed over the imperial edict to Wen An with a complicated expression, the old governor's face remained calm, but his heart was full of turmoil.
The experiences of Wen Anzhi and Deng Ming are completely different. Although Wen Anzhi's knowledge of science and geography cannot be compared with Deng Ming's, and he has not eaten so many kinds of good food, he is not naive enough to think that this title is normal——
Deng Ming did not attach much importance to the title, he only cared about the stability of the agreement and alliance.
"Did Duke Baoguo know about this?" Wen Anzhi did not express his opinion, but asked Li Siye if he had notified Deng Ming.
After receiving a positive answer, Wen Anzhi asked again: "Did Duke Bao Guo accept the order to express his gratitude?"
"Yes." Li Siye replied. After learning that Yongli gave it to the Duke, Deng Ming's generals were a little dissatisfied and felt that it seemed a bit low, but Deng Ming didn't care and accepted it happily.
"That's good." Wen Anzhi didn't intend to make matters worse. He admitted that he could no longer understand Deng Ming. Moreover, Wen Anzhi's energy was deteriorating now, much worse than three years ago, and he often forgot things. Wen Anzhi
After pondering for a moment, he felt that his energy was low and he could no longer think deeply: "Prince Jin, rest for two days, and then I will introduce the committee's envoys to you."
Although Wen Anzhi was a little tired, he was still willing to hear the news of Deng Ming's victory. After Li Siye left, he asked Zhou Kaihuang in detail.
"Why did you go to Chongqing this time?" Wen Anzhi asked straight to the point, "Don't talk about recovering the land. Deng Ming definitely didn't go there for this. Tell me, what did he sell?"
"The Superintendent clearly saw that the Zuo Dudu wanted to cut Li Guoying's rice..."
"I knew it." Wen Anzhi snorted and waved his hand to signal Zhou Kaihuang to continue.
...The troops currently defending Fengjie and Yunyang are left behind by Deng Ming. They are from the same lineage as the main battalion in Yuan Zongdi's hands. They are the backbone of the Wanxian Battle and number more than a thousand. The officers of this group of troops
They were all promoted by Deng Ming, and the soldiers also respected Deng Ming. Weapons and supplies were sent to Fengjie by Deng Ming through repeated trips to the south of the Yangtze River.
After listening to Zhou Kaihuang's account of the battle, Wen Anzhi felt happy, and then told Zhou Kaihuang that his energy was now even worse than last year, and it was difficult for him to handle the tedious domestic and military affairs, not to mention that Deng Ming had just messed up the committee again
The matter was left to him. Wen Anzhi asked Zhou Kaihuang to go back and tell Deng Ming that he would send some capable officers to help him manage the army in Fengjie. It would be best to imitate Chengdu's military system and turn those who once followed Deng Ming into fighting.
standing army.
Zhou Kaihuang comforted Wen Anzhi for a long time, saying that the supervisor was always strong and strong. Every time he came to Fengjie, he felt that Wen Anzhi was more energetic than before. Wen Anzhi just smiled and said nothing, and finally insisted on Zhou Kaihuang telling Deng Ming his request.
"Don't worry, Supervisor, I will definitely bring you the last general." Although Deng Ming gave Zhou Kaihuang and their military ranks as still school officers, they all regarded themselves as generals, and both friendly and enemy forces viewed them this way.
"Every time I hear you talk about Chengdu, I feel very good, but I never have time to see it with my own eyes. Alas, my old bones can't withstand the bumps." Wen Anzhi said with some emotion: "If it weren't for
With this committee holding me back, I was thinking of going to Chengdu anyway."
"If the governor comes to the capital in person, the left governor and all the soldiers and civilians will be very happy." Zhou Kaihuang said hurriedly.
"Of course there is joy, but I'm afraid Deng Ming is also a little nervous. Although he hesitates, I know that he must have created a lot of messy things there. I am not deaf or blind, nor is there any rumors.
I've never heard of it." Wen Anzhi chuckled, and then shook his head: "Besides, the Holy Emperor asked me to build a palace to honor the festival. Without the decree of the Holy Emperor and the cabinet, I have to guard the festival for the imperial court. And... and it's so far away from here.
Yiling is also relatively close."
"Why did the supervisor say this?" Zhou Kaihuang hurriedly objected.
"Eighty-year-old man, what else is there to be taboo about? I have already chosen the auspicious points in Yiling." Wen Anzhi smiled disapprovingly: "My three dogs are all with the Holy Master now. If they arrive,
At that time, there wasn’t even anyone wearing sackcloth or wearing filial piety, it was really sad.”
"The general is willing to take my place..." Zhou Kaihuang said without hesitation, but then he immediately realized that such words could not be said smoothly at all, and he choked up.
"It's okay, it's business for them to assist the emperor." Wen Anzhi's face became solemn, and after a moment he slowly said: "In the future, I will need Governor Zuo to help take care of us."
...September 15th, Xuzhou.
After the war in Chongqing, Deng Ming's camp has been located here. In addition to constant communication with the parliament, Deng Ming and his troops stationed in Xuzhou can also help Yuan Xiang better survive the initial period of chaos. After all, he accepted more than 100,000 prisoners this time.
The original population of Xuzhou.
At the same time, Deng Ming was still making preparations for another expedition to the south of the Yangtze River. Zhou Pei agreed with him to discuss matters. The two rivers needed to be deterred, the sea ban needed to be used, and the operation of Chongming Island also needed to be inspected. Going to the south of the Yangtze River was inevitable. The problem was just
When to leave.
This seemingly certain action was challenged today. An envoy rushed from Kunming brought a report of the imperial court being in danger. The generals around Deng Ming all changed their faces.
"Supervisor Wen..." The first thing Deng Ming said after the initial shock was: "The three sons of the Supervisor are all in Burma, right?"
In order to show his favor to Wen Anzhi, Yongli promoted his sons to be his attendants. They were all scholars, so they were not in the Jin army but acted with the cabinet.
"Yes." Zhao Tianba replied solemnly.
"Do you have any news about them?" Deng Ming asked Li Dingguo's envoy.
The envoy shook his head. Only a few imperial guards escaped, and Yongli's group of followers and the cabinet fell together.
"Don't talk about it over at Fengjie yet." Deng Ming thought for a moment and felt that such a big thing couldn't be hidden for long, so he said to the envoy: "If you want to do me a favor, tell the governor's sons that they are back safely."
Now he is assisting King Jin in Kunming."
"As you command, Lord."
Wen Anzhi was already eighty, and Deng Ming felt that this kind of white lie had to be told. Then he discussed the situation with the surrounding officers for a while, and basically accepted Li Dingguo's speculation, that is, Mang Bai planned to side with the Qing court.
, and wanted to win people's hearts with the finances carried by Yongli's monarchs and ministers.
"I can't go to the south of the Yangtze River. I have to go to Kunming. This time I really have to take thousands of soldiers with me." Deng Ming didn't think for too long and sent an order to rectify the troops: "It just so happens that our food and grass are also gone."
After gathering them together, I will take three thousand soldiers and seven thousand civilians to Kunming. No, these seven thousand people are not counted as civilians. Anyone who is willing to go to Kunming with me will be given the status of a soldier."
Although Feng Shuangli assisted along the way, the Ming army lost its biggest water advantage after leaving western Sichuan. Mobilizing 10,000 troops to go to Kunming would be a big burden and would consume a lot of food.
"Captain Zuo." After a moment of silence, Mutan spoke first: "If we go deep into the unpredictable wilderness, I'm afraid there will be no money to be made in this battle."
"Yes, Governor Zuo," Ren Tang, who now vaguely prides himself on being an imperialist, also agreed. In his opinion, although Deng Ming's move was very moral, for the sake of Wen Anzhi's previous kindness, Deng Ming could not do anything to him.
His sons ignored him, but marching to the south of the Yangtze River was the consensus of all walks of life in western Sichuan. Countless people worked hard for this expedition and made a lot of preparations. Now Deng Ming completely changed the strategic direction with one sentence: "The admiral cannot
Emotional."
After looking at Li Xinghan for a while, Deng Ming found that he also expressed disapproval, and finally turned his attention to Zhao Tianba: "What do you think, Brother Zhao?"
"I will go with the admiral," as soon as Zhao Tianba said this, the other three people showed hesitation on their faces. They felt that Zhao Tianba was also acting emotionally and put aside the Western Sichuan Group's plan for the sake of his old relationship with Li Dingguo:
"But I think it's okay for the admiral to take less people with him. If there are not enough people, we can ask King Qingyang to make up for it."
"Why do you agree?" Deng Ming stared into Zhao Tianba's eyes.
"The Holy One is the co-owner of the world. No matter what people dare not say openly in their hearts, the world can no longer withstand a dispute between Tang Gui and Tang Lu. If there is anything wrong with the Holy One, there will definitely be disputes. If we don't fight, others will.
We have to fight. We may not live to see the outcome of the fight, and if we can't fight, hehe, we will all become bandits without status in the eyes of the world." Zhao Tianba smiled: "I think Admiral
This is not a sentimental thing, but a natural move, and we must also ask King Qingyang to send troops to serve the king."
"Brother Zhao knows my heart." Deng Ming praised sincerely.