After conquering Hu Quancai's camp, Liu Tichun, He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi brought back more than a thousand crying women. Deng Ming was surprised to see this and asked, "Who are these?"

"It's all Wuchang's advocacy!" He Zhen said happily: "We have already agreed on the great gift given to us by the Hu thief. Let the admiral pick first, then the generals pick, and the rest will be distributed to the sergeants."

Deng Ming disagreed in his heart, but he did not show it immediately. The moral concepts of this era were too far from him, and many things he thought were rightful would make others feel that they were independent.

"It's not all about advocating for excellence." Liu Tichun said on the side: "Some of them seem to be good women."

"There are good women?" Deng Ming was even more surprised when he heard this and asked, "The Hu thief actually robbed the good women under his rule?"

"The Admiral doesn't know what this thief wants to do?" Liu Tichun asked some prisoners and learned about Hu Quancai's plan. He told Deng Ming: "The Hu thief believes that the Admiral's victory in a row depends on either a demonic technique or a cannon. If it is a demonic technique, he plans to collect the menstrual blood of these women, apply it to weapons, and break it on the flag; if it is a cannon, the Hu thief plans to set up the Yinx Gate Formation."

"What?"

Deng Ming was confused when he heard this, and Liu Tichun and others had to continue to popularize military common sense for him: the so-called Yin x Gate Formation is to let a large number of women stand naked in front of the army. Women belong to Yin and can restrain cannons with the five elements belong to fire. If a sufficient number of women are concentrated, it can even cause the cannon to explode or even rush out after the shells.

"Isn't this nonsense?" Deng Ming shouted.

"It's true!" Unlike Deng Ming's imagination, Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi and other generals who have experienced many battles came out to testify, and almost everyone heard of similar battle examples.

"The Hu thief underestimated us too much," He Zhen said proudly: "I have been fighting for the rest of my life, don't you not know? It would be fine if you didn't have cannons before. After seizing the cannons this time, our army brought black dogs every day, and they all grew fat and strong."

"What are you doing to raise a black dog?" Deng Ming remembered that he had indeed seen black dogs in He Zhen's army. Not only did He Zhen's army, but also Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi, and Yuan Zongdi and others have been raising dogs recently. At that time, Deng Ming thought they were going to raise them for food or as pets, but he didn't expect that when He Zhen's tone was actually weapons.

Liu Tichun interrupted, Yuan Zongdi and others agreed. The Kuidong generals were unwilling to let Deng Ming be embarrassed in public, but Deng Ming refused to ask questions. In the end, He Zhen had no choice but to continue to explain to the third prince who lacked professional knowledge: "The yang energy of dogs is extremely heavy, especially the blood of black dogs is better than other dogs, so if the other party sets up a yin array, we will sprinkle dog blood to keep the cannon safe."

"It's so ridiculous." When Deng Ming was born, people no longer delved into the yin and yang attributes and five elements attributes of various objects, but instead focused on chemistry and physics principles. Therefore, Deng Ming could not understand these methods at all.

But He Zhen didn't look ridiculous on his face. Deng Ming's completely disbelief made him feel even more pressured. If Deng Ming did not keep such important knowledge in mind, he would definitely suffer a loss in the future marching and fighting.

"In fact, the best way is the Yangmen Formation." He Zhen used more examples to deepen Deng Ming's impression, and wanted to convince Deng Ming: "The monk is not close to women, and belongs to the pure Yang body. When he encounters the Yinx Sect Formation, if there are many monks at hand, he can set up the Yangmen Formation, which can not only break the opponent, but also greatly strengthen the power of the cannons." He Zhen also pointed the witness to Deng Ming: "When General Yuan and General Liu and others attacked and opened the seal, they put out the Yinx Sect Formation on the city. Suddenly, the cannon stones on Kaifeng City were leaked, killing and injuring many defenders; fortunately... no, it was unfortunate that Henan Governor Gao Mingheng... Ah, no, it was still fortunate that Henan Governor Gao was familiar with military tactics and gathered all the monks in the city to set up the Yangmen Formation. The power of the cannons in the city doubled, so he defended the city."

When introducing the war example, He Zhen kept pointing at Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi and shouting: "If the admiral doesn't believe it, you can ask them."

During this period, Hao Yaoqi wanted to protest, but was stopped by Liu Tichun because he also felt that it was necessary to let Deng Ming remember this tactic. The specific details could be discussed later. After He Zhen finished his speech, Liu Tichun began to retort: ​​"General He was generally right in this matter, but he remembered it incorrectly. In the third battle of Kaifeng, General Liu (Liu Zongmin) seized a large number of artillery from Zuo Liangyu, with a total of more than 130 pieces, and wanted to use these artillery to bombard the city walls of Kaifeng. We didn't have many artillery before, and we rarely saw this thing, so we didn't know what taboos were there? But Niu Junshi (Niu Jinxing) was familiar with military books and had extensive knowledge, so let us invite some monks in advance."

Speaking of this, Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi looked at Hao Yaoqi. Hao Yaoqi nodded quickly and confirmed Liu Tichun's narrative: "I originally planned to invite the monks from Daxiangguo Temple, but Mr. Niu said that the masters of Daxiangguo Temple are rigorous in precepts and proficient in Buddhism, so they are people with Taoism, so they should not be disturbed. The monks in Dengfeng do not avoid drinking and meat, cheating, and often use performances to win the donations of wealthy merchants. If they harass them a little, the Buddha will not blame them. So the last general led an army to Dengfeng and invited all the masters of Shaolin Temple to Kaifeng."

Not seeing any expression on Deng Ming's face, Hao Yaoqi was afraid that the other party would have any objections to this kind of disturbing Buddhism, so he hurriedly explained: "When Mo Jiang arrived at Shaolin Temple, he saw some Shaolin disciples performing sticks and fist techniques to pilgrims. The hall was hung with a large word 'Shaolin Gongfu'. Some pilgrims did not go for Buddhism, but went to see some Shaolin Kung Fu. Shaolin disciples talked and laughed with female pilgrims, and taught the female guests various skills and postures. The abbot was fat and big, full of wine and meat, and there was still leftover meat in the kitchen. Mo Jiang invited all the monks from the temple to Kaifeng, and did not neglect the etiquette along the way."

When Hao Yaoqi explained in a long and long way, Liu Tichun and others were already impatient. They then told Deng Ming that when Liu Zongmin used cannons to bombard the city wall, one day the cannons repeatedly exploded or were often silenced. Niu Jinxing concluded that Gao Mingheng must have set up the Yinx Gate formation in the city. So Hao Yaoqi asked the Shaolin abbot and his disciples to join in the battle and set up the Yangmen formation. Sure enough, the cannons returned to the same day. The crusade army praised Niu Jinxing for his far-sightedness and foresight.

"You have seen Gao Mingheng form the formation with your own eyes?" Deng Ming asked relentlessly.

"Of course not. He was put out behind the wall. How can we see it?" Liu Tichun replied with confidence: "But if not, why would our cannons explode one after another?"

"It's clear that you have never used cannons and are anxious. You want to blow up the city wall in one go, so there are too many medicines to fill in!" Deng Ming felt that this was obvious.

"If there is no formation in the city, we will ask so many monks Lin to help. In theory, the power of the cannon should have increased greatly, but it is not stronger than before, and the city walls will still not be blown up." Yuan Zongdi recalled the scene at that time and pointed out that there must be some actions in the city that offset the effect of the Yangmen formation outside the city.

"Because the Yangmen Formation is useless at all." Deng Ming felt that he could not explain the truth with these people, but it was related to military operations. How could he tolerate such tactics that would continue to spread? Deng Ming had to bite the bullet and argue: "If the Yangmen Formation is really useful, why didn't you use it earlier before? Will the army with cannons bring a few monks and stand forward at a critical moment, and then the land will collapse and the city will collapse?"

"Admiral must not have such an idea!" Liu Tichun was shocked after hearing this. When Niu Jinxing introduced this tactic and cracking method to everyone, a camp general proposed a similar idea, and Niu Jinxing immediately denied it: "The other party uses evil magic first, and we use it later, and we urgently follow the power, and the Buddha will not blame him very much. Military master Niu said that if we are greedy for profit, we will use it first and make the disciples of Buddhism shame, which will make the gods and Buddhas disgusted and will be punished by God!"

"Sin, sin." Yuan Zongdi also whispered to confess. He still remembered Niu Jinxing's stern pointing out that first using evil magic might be able to avoid cannons, but he could not avoid the thunder of heaven. Whenever he thinks of this, Yuan Zongdi would repent again and ask the gods and Buddhas in heaven for forgiveness.

Seeing that the people around him looked solemn and even his guards were full of seriousness and clearly agreed with their views, Deng Ming sighed weakly. He had heard that during the Opium War, the Qing soldiers tried to use this trick to deal with the cannons of the British team.

"But it's useless. Of course, the British cannons were not affected at all..." Deng Ming suddenly had an idea when he thought of this, and asked everyone to use experiments to verify it.

"How to conduct the experiment?" Liu Tichun felt helpless now. So many people know about it, and countless battle examples have been confirmed, and it conforms to the laws of Yin and Yang and Five Elements. Why doesn't Deng Ming believe it?

"We naturally divide into two groups, each group arranges ten cannons, one of which has a woman standing by the side, the other group does not. The number of cannons in the two groups is exactly the same, so see if there will be any differences." Deng Ming said that if you are worried about safety issues, you can use delayed fuzes to solve it. Moreover, for fairness, both groups must use the same experimental conditions, that is, use delayed fuzes to ignite.

"After the experiment is over, try to sprinkle dog blood to see if the same amount of shells can be hit farther, or reduce the number of times of silence." Deng Ming looked around the expressions of the people around him and found that everyone, including the guards such as Zhou Kaihuang, had cast distrustful eyes on him. Just now, Li Xinghan had been secretly pulling Deng Ming's clothes behind his back, hinting that he should not openly challenge military common sense, so as not to make a fool of himself before the troops.

But Deng Ming turned a deaf ear to Li Xinghan's suggestion, and even challenged the four generals of Kuidong: "I am a banker, and it's useless to bet on this formation or bloody. If you pay ten, who dares to bet with me?"

He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi were both angered by Deng Ming's ignorance and unwillingness to learn humbly, but they did not intend to offend Deng Ming to death. They all said that they would not have to pay ten per person, but as long as one per person, they would bet on Deng Ming to 100 taels of silver.

"One hundred taels? You just have this confidence?" Deng Ming smiled and said, "Forget it, just pay one hundred. If I lose, I will give you ten thousand taels of silver alone. I have saved tens of thousands of taels in General Yuan, and I will definitely be able to pay it."

"Then it's 10,000 taels!" He Zhen was embarrassed to beat Deng Ming too much, but seeing Deng Ming pressing step by step made him angry: "If the last general loses, he will also pay the Admiral 10,000 taels of silver."

Under the instigation of He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun also advanced and retreated with the two and bet 10,000 taels. Only Yuan Zongdi refused righteously: "I have not been interested in gambling in my life."

No matter how the other three people provoked, Yuan Zongdi was unmoved. He thought to himself: "The third prince is Huo De, and this kind of formation is probably useless around him."

Although Yuan Zongdi secretly conducted a blasting test behind everyone's back, proving that Deng Ming was not required to blast the city wall, Yuan Zongdi had never been sure of fighting. Today he made up his mind to see the results of the gambling first. If the third prince won today, Yuan Zongdi planned to wait until he broke up with Deng Ming and repeat today's test. As for whether the bloody yang energy can enhance the range and power of the cannon, Yuan Zongdi did not think that it would be of much significance to do the experiment around Deng Ming. The third prince of Huode's amplification effect on the cannon may be too huge, resulting in the addition effect of sprinkling blood becoming very insignificant. He also planned to take a look at this test first and then close the door to do it in the future.

...

Li Laiheng left the large army behind, and led his personal guards to gallop towards Zhongxiang City. Finally, he arrived at the mansion before dark. After the notice, he soon saw Deng Ming running out of the camp to greet him.

After seeing the other party, Deng Ming and Li Laiheng both had an idea in their minds: "He is so young."

Li Laiheng, who was in his early thirties, took the lead in saluting Deng Ming: "Go to the Admiral."

"I dare not take it, I dare not take it." Deng Ming knew that although Li Laiheng was young, he controlled the largest group of the Ming army in Kuidong. Li Guo, Li Zicheng's adoptive father, was Li Zicheng's nephew and heir, and inherited the central direct troops of Dashun. Although this army suffered serious losses in many years of Anti-Qing War, it was still the most powerful in the camp. After Li's death, this army was controlled by Li Laiheng.

Liu Tichun and others came out with Deng Ming. Li Laiheng saluted these elders very politely:

"I've met Uncle Yuan."

"I've met Uncle Liu."

...

After having a meeting ceremony with everyone, Deng Ming invited Li Laiheng to have dinner together. Before entering the bill, Li Laiheng quickly glanced at the chef who was cooking after the bill and immediately guessed Deng Ming's next military plan.

Shortly after getting the money, Deng Ming asked Li Laiheng what he thought about the war situation in Huguang. Just now, Li Laiheng noticed that Zhong Xiangming's Ming army killed many black dogs to cook. Since they destroyed all such important military supplies, they obviously had no plans to go further.

Although he was a little disappointed, Li Laiheng did not intend to persuade Zhong Xiang and his generals to continue to march towards Wuchang, because Li Laiheng also felt that the territory of the Ming army was expanding too quickly, and needed to slow down a little, appease the hearts of the local people, use the materials they have obtained to strengthen the army, and then strive for greater victory. If Zhong Xiang and his generals were still proactive, Li Laiheng would be willing to participate and march towards Wuchang together; now that everyone has made up their minds to go home, Li Laiheng knows that he can't win Wuchang with his own strength.

"Hunan Governor Zhang Changgeng has fled back to Wuchang. No matter what unhappy he and Wuchang's civil and military officials were, they would still collude to fight against the officers and soldiers." Li Laiheng said carefully, "The admiral was so powerful that Huguang, the Tartars were frightened, and the local scholars have opened their eyes wide now, and they want to see how the admiral treats the people and gentry under his rule. If the admiral treats the scholars and the people well, our attack on Wuchang will be twice the result with half the effort."

"Don't General Li think that now is a good time to attack Wuchang?" Deng Ming was a little surprised. After spending a long time with He Zhen, he was a little uncomfortable with people like Li Laiheng who knew the general.

"That's right. This time, the navy in Dongting Lake was taken away by Zhang Changgeng." Li Laiheng, who was downstream of the Han River, did not expect that the Qing army would escape so quickly. Before he could complete the blockade of the Han River, Zhang Changgeng had already brought the navy and troops.

The military strategy says: "Return to the army to stop the task." The Qing army knew that they could go home after rushing over, and their eyes were red. They forced to break through the Ming army's defense line. Seeing that even the governor of Hunan Zhang Changgeng personally put on the battlefield, standing on the bow of the ship to motivate the soldiers to break through the siege, Li Laiheng didn't have much motivation to fight with such a hard bone. He explained: "Since our navy does not have the advantage, Wuchang has a high wall and deep pool, it may be difficult to capture it hastily. The last general thought that he could have a feint attack and scare the Qing army back to the city. We can just collect the local food and grass."

After letting go of Zhang Changgeng, who was desperate, Li Laiheng blocked all the Qing army fled back by land without any effort, and seized a lot of supplies and men. When Li Laiheng went to cut off Hu Quancai's retreat, Liu Tichun and others agreed to give him a share of the capture from Hu Quancai's camp. Li Laiheng thought he could be satisfied. And according to the meaning of Zhong Xiang and Mingjun, Liu Tichun and others would probably go home immediately, so that most of the harvests around Wuchang and Hanyang could be taken into their own pockets.

Deng Ming nodded: "What General Li said coincides with us."

Li Laiheng smiled and said, "This is a similar view of the hero. Before the last general entered the tent, he knew that the admiral had also wanted to return."

"How did General Li know?" Deng Ming was a little curious.

At this time, the chef had already brought the dishes into the camp. Li Laiheng saw dog meat on the plate. He smiled and said, "If the admiral had not planned to return, how could he slaughter the black dog in the army?"

At this time, Liu Tichun looked at the dog meat in front of him and was in a very bad mood. If He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi had not tried their best to instigate him, he would not have made a bet with Deng Ming. Now, he would not have been able to get back his 10,000 taels of silver. If the money was used to talk to his soldiers, it would be enough to say 200 marriages. Hearing Li Laiheng's words, Liu Tichun replied angrily: "Because the Yin x Gate Formation is useless, it is useless to sprinkle dog blood."

Li Laiheng was stunned at first, then laughed: "Uncle Liu was joking, this is common sense of military strategy."

Before Liu Tichun could answer, He Zhen suddenly jumped up from his seat and challenged Li Laiheng, "Go 10,000 taels of silver!"
Chapter completed!