Wanxian.

Xiong Lan didn't have many soldiers, so he was always very alert to the Qing army in Chongqing and never ignored reconnaissance work. Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde's army marched downstream, and Xiong Lan was already alerted after leaving Chongqing for only two days after leaving Chongqing.

"There are at least five thousand people coming to Chongqing, what should I do?" After listening to the scout's report, the division master Qin Xiucai's face turned pale and he hurriedly shouted to Xiong Lan: "Send someone to Yunyang quickly and ask for help from Fengjie!"

"Why are you asking for a reinforcement?" Xiong Lan's face remained unchanged, and she made a decision almost instantly: "Let's surrender."

"Surrender again?" Qin Xiucai was stunned.

"Mr. Qian thought about it." As Xiong Lan's confidant, Park Fan hurriedly offered a loyal advice: "We have surrendered to Mr. Deng twice. If Mr. Deng returns to Sichuan again, what should we do?"

"Mr. Deng has already gone to Huguang, and he may not be able to return to Sichuan. Yunyang will definitely not be able to help us. Fengjie has not much force. Only the generals of Kuidong can send troops to rescue us, but the distance water cannot quench our near thirst. Kuidong may not be able to send troops to rescue us. With this spare force, they will probably go to Huguang to conquer cities and plunder land. What should we do if we save our Sichuan army? Besides, as you said, we have surrendered to Mr. Deng twice, and we have long been the repeated villains in their eyes. They will not care about our lives or death.

"Xiong Lan's mind was very quick. When the master and Pu Fan were still thinking about where to ask for help, he had already sorted out his interests: "Even if the generals of Kuidong were very merciful, they immediately sent troops to reinforce Wanxian as if they received the news. We had to resist Gao Mingzhan alone for ten days, half a month, right? Do you really think we can defend it? Who will block the city gate in a crisis?" Xiong Lan pointed to Qin Xiucai and Pu Fan and asked, "Is it you, Qin Xiucai, or, Pu Fan, you will? Anyway, I won't go."

Qin Xiucai coughed, no longer expressed objection, but thought to himself: "I am a scholar. I am a scholar. I am a writer for you. I am writing a report for Mr. Qian. I am so embarrassed to ask me to fight at the city gate."

But Pu Fan's blood was rising and he replied: "I am leaving my job, and I am willing to die for the Qian Zong."

Park Fan was originally an ordinary young man. Under Xiong Lan's promotion and care, he first became the head of the man and the general leader of the army. On weekdays, when soldiers from Wanxian saw him, they had to politely call him "General". Now that the disaster is coming, Park Fan suddenly feels like a tragic feeling of a soldier dying for his confidant.

"Good brother." Xiong Lan was also a little moved and patted Park Fan on the shoulder hard, but after the conversation changed, she still wanted to surrender: "I took you to share wealth and honor, how could you let you die? Listen to me, we surrender, and if we surrender, nothing will happen."

"But, what if Mr. Deng comes back?" Qin Xiucai hesitated. He had seen Deng Ming's interests. Even if Deng Ming is far away in Huguang, his deterrence is many times higher than Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde.

"Then you need to say it?" Xiong Lan's tail sound was raised high, as if she was scolding Qin Xiucai for asking questions knowingly.

"But Mr. Deng said that things are a matter of one thing, but they are no longer a matter of no more. He had warned his boss last time." Seeing that Xiong Lan was not devoted to helping Man Qing, Qin Xiucai hurriedly shouted: "Boss, we should escape to Fengjie and don't surrender."

"No!" Xiong Lan shook her head like a rattle and said generously: "I am the garrison of Wanxian. Wanxian is my territory and my foundation. Without Wanxian, I am a betrayal dog. No one will look at me directly. Even if I die, I will die in Wanxian."

"But if Mr. Deng comes back..." Qin Xiucai nagged and wanted to persuade him again.

"I'm not afraid, I remember Mr. Deng once said something, "It's only three things." I have surrendered twice, plus this time it was only three times. Mr. Deng's words are so good that he can't keep his words." Xiong Lan had made up his mind and did not hesitate anymore, and immediately ordered Pu Fan, "Go and gather all the soldiers in Wanxian, and I'll discuss with everyone how to defend Wanxian."

Although Park Fan expressed his objection, seeing that Xiong Lan had already made up her mind, she immediately made up her mind and showed a fierce look on her face: "Don't worry, if anyone dares to say no, I will give him a white knife and a red knife."

The current Wanxian soldiers are mainly locals, but some are soldiers from Yunyang and other places. After Xiong Lan became the Qiang General, Fengjie sent more than 100 soldiers. Originally, Wen Anzhi wanted to send more surveillance troops, but first of all, because of insufficient troops, he turned to Huguang and put down this matter. In Pu Fan's eyes, most of these foreigners would jump out to obstruct Mr. Xiong's plan.

In the afternoon of the same day, Xiong Lan gathered all the reclaiming troops in Wanxian. He stood on a high platform and explained to everyone the actions of the Qing army in Chongqing.

"I have always been committed to staying if they are in harmony, and if they are not, they will go if they are not. Everyone has their own ambitions and will never force them." Xiong Lan first set the tone and announced loudly: "We are determined to defeat the five thousand soldiers in Chongqing, and I will never let my brothers die in vain. So as long as Governor Gao arrives, we will open the city to surrender; but I will not force anyone who is unwilling to surrender Gao. You should pack up your bags today and go to Yunyang immediately. But I don't think Yunyang is safe. It is best if you don't stop there, and go straight to Fengjie to be foolproof."

Xiong Lan's speech once again stunned Qin Xiucai. He never knew what the boss believed in the saying "everyone has ambition". When he followed Tan Hong, Qin Xiucai also witnessed Xiong Lan's methods with his own eyes and tossed Tan Hong's personal guards to death. If he had not read and read, he would have to stay in prison and starve.

"The emperor is above and thick soil is below. If I have a half false statement, the sky will hit five thunders." Xiong Lan swears, saying that she will never make things difficult for the soldiers who are unwilling to surrender, and even announced in public: "The mountain road is hard to go, so you can go on the water road, take all the ships in Wanxian and bring more food to avoid starving on the road."

Xiong Lan then disbanded the troops. Most of the soldiers were unable to leave their hometowns, so they stayed with Xiong Lan. Hundreds of soldiers who refused to surrender did not encounter any trouble. Xiong Lan not only helped them load the baggage, but also asked them to take away all the ships in Wanxian, and the rations on the road were also given three times.

Seeing the Ming army's ship gradually fading away, Park Fan's face was full of confusion, and Qin Xiucai found the opportunity to ask: "Boss, have you thought about it from the beginning?"

"That's right." Xiong Lan replied. As early as when he was planning to surrender, he had already decided to politely send the Ming army away, and would never let his hands be covered with the Ming army's blood.

"The boss is a talented man." Qin Xiucai sincerely praised. Although Xiong Lan is not as born as a general like Tan Hong, after spending time together, Qin Xiucai has admired the talent of this new boss and believes that Xiong Lan will have more promising than Tan Hong. Today's handling has deepened Qin Xiucai's belief.

"Mr. Deng said in Jianchang that now that the emperor abandoned the country, the Ming Dynasty's law has been invalidated and it is useless. He made three rules with Sichuan soldiers and generals: Those who kill people will die, those who hurt people and those who steal theft will be punished. I did not kill people, and I did not hurt one. What reason does Mr. Deng have to blame me?" Xiong Lan said proudly: "As long as the emperor is still in Myanmar, there will be no rebellion."

"But this is still rebellious after all." Park Fan was still worried.

"Mr. Deng's noble family, I am just a little Qianzheng. Will Mr. Deng break his trust in the world for me?"

The next day, Wang Mingde and his vanguard quietly arrived near Wanxian, intending to attack the Ming army and catch the other party off guard. But as soon as his troops landed in a hidden place, a group of people came to greet him, and the leader was Xiong Lan. He once again tied his arms and called Wang Mingde "death crime".

After the first two failures, Xiong Lan's third surrender to the Qing Dynasty was finally successful. Wang Mingde personally released his ties and announced that all the surrendered officers and soldiers in Wanxian would remain in office. After learning about this, Gao Mingzhan from the back team rushed to Wanxian to appease the surrendered army, and then hurriedly reported the victory to the Sichuan-Shaanxi Governor of Baoning.

Li Guoying received the report many days later. When he saw Gao Mingzhan's personnel arrangements, he was a little puzzled and said to the envoy: "Xiong Lan's surrender was meritorious. Not giving a heavy reward is not enough to show the court's kindness. Why did Governor Gao just give some money and still be a general general of the Green Camp? I think it is time to give him a garrison in Wanxian County. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to have the title of guerrilla for the merit of offering the city?

"The Governor General doesn't know that Xiong Lan is a concubine who gave birth to a child," the envoy replied, "It was only when his aunt was a concubine for Tan Hong that she could get her general status."

"So that's it." Li Guoying nodded with satisfaction. General Qian said that he would not care about a small officer like General Qian. Xiong Lan asked casually and then turned his attention to Gao Mingzhan's subsequent military operations. Not long after, the war in Nanjing spread to the Sichuan-Shaanxi Governor's Office. Li Guoying was shocked and the matter of Wanxian was put aside for the time being.

...

On the day Xiong Lan surrendered, Deng Ming had already led his team to the northwest of Jiangning Town.

These days, the Ming army was hiding at night and was not discovered by the Qing army along the way. The Ming army's troops sneaked in Fangshan and the south of Niushou Mountain, using the mountains to hide their whereabouts and avoid the eyes and ears of Nanjing sentry detectives. In order to boost morale, Deng Ming no longer concealed his identity from these Zhejiang soldiers, and simply told them that he was a Jiangnan admiral who made a big fuss in Kunming and was intimidating Huguang. This did have a significant effect. The soldiers who were originally pessimistic about their future immediately ignited new hope.

Originally, the population around Yingtian Prefecture was densely populated, but after Zheng Chenggong approached Nanjing, the nearby people fled to avoid the war. After Zheng Chenggong arrived, he confronted the Qing army for more than ten days, and the people fled all over. The war had just ended, and there were a large number of Qing army activities near Nanjing. Now if they were robbed by the soldiers, the government would never ask about it. The people knew this, so they were still hiding. The places where the Ming army was passing by seemed even more desolate than those in Taiping Prefecture and other places, and there was no one everywhere. The doors of many farmhouses were not covered. Obviously, the owner was very in a hurry when he left home.

"Nanjing is in our north, and Dasheng Pass is almost west of ours, and Jiangning Town is southwest." Deng Ming gathered Zhejiang soldiers and generals to discuss the next military operation: "We must not bypass Nanjing, otherwise Nanjing will find our virtuality and reality all at once. Jiangning Town and Dasheng Pass, we will choose a place to camp, and then show off our military power around Nanjing with great fanfare. Next, we will see when General Li will arrive."

The journey from Gaochun to here was without any danger. This was not only because the people fled the famine, but also because the Qing army was completely unprepared. They did not expect that the Zhejiang army would seek death to advance towards Nanjing. The areas where the Ming army passed had neither avenue nor along the river. The few green camp soldiers they occasionally encountered were also quite unvigilant. They were either eliminated by the Ming army or fooled, and did not notice the large number of Zhejiang soldiers following behind.

The reconnaissance result was quickly reported to the camp. There were no Qing troops stationed in Jiangning Town, and there were a group of Qing troops at Dasheng Pass. According to Li Xinghan's observation, there were about one or two thousand people.

"Have they dug trenches?" Deng Ming asked.

"No."

"Have you built a wall?"

“No, either.”

Deng Ming said in surprise: "Da Sheng is close to the Yangtze River. It's okay if the Tartars are unaware of our way, but why are they so relaxed in monitoring the defense of the river?"

"Yanpingfan and Zhang Shangshu have gone far away from Nanjing. If Wuhu and Zhenjiang have no alarm, what are the tatars in Nanjing worried about Jiangbing?" When Li Xinghan was reconnaissing the movements of the Qing army around Dasheng Pass, he met a small group of hunting enemies by the forest. Li Xinghan waved to them from afar. After the narration, he smiled and said, "Admiral, we should have chosen Dasheng Pass to camp, right?"

"Yes." Deng Ming nodded: "Since the Tartars think that it is a good time to listen to music and watch operas, then let's join in the fun with them."

After saying that, Deng Ming explained to the Zhejiang generals and told them why they attacked Dasheng Pass: "The Tartars at Dasheng Pass are very close to Jiangning Town. If they are left alone, they will soon start to reconnaissance our troops, and the Tartars in Nanjing will know our virtuality and reality. If the Tartars at Dasheng Pass are on high alert, we have to go to Jiangning Town to camp for as long as possible. But now is a good opportunity. If they defeat them, they will make the Tartars in Nanjing unsure and think that we have strong troops, otherwise they will definitely not dare to attack actively. The Tartars who fled back from Dasheng Pass will also exaggerate our strength; and together this battle, it will definitely alarm the Jiang defense beacon fire, which is equivalent to notifying General Li for us."

"One or two thousand people, I'm afraid there must be hundreds of them in armor, but it sounds like a mob." Ren Tang and other Zhejiang generals were also full of confidence, thinking that the other party was probably a yamen runner-up who were summoned from all over the country, county dynasties and others.

"Let the soldiers have a good rest. At the third update, we get up and have dinner, and then we touch the edge of Dasheng Pass and ambush it."

Of course, it would be better to rob the camp at night, but this task needs to be carried out by soldiers with combat experience. The Zhejiang Army is not called an elite force now, so it must be suppressed by the entire army. If we go to the robbery in the middle of the night, an unpredictable melee would probably occur. Deng Ming did not intend to take this risk. When it was dawn, the Qing army was still sleeping. As long as we could see the enemy and us clearly, we would launch an attack immediately.

According to the agreed plan, as soon as the white light appeared on the horizon, Deng Ming and forty-five cavalry attacked first. In addition to his guards, the Zhejiang Army also had some soldiers with horses. Following this, the entire Zhejiang Army launched a raid together.

Someone immediately objected to this: "The admiral is the leader of a military force, and should not be easily taken into danger."

"My opinion is the opposite. As the leader of the army, I am not in danger. Why do the soldiers take risks?" Deng Ming retorted: "Maybe they can still find a way out if they are caught, at least they will not be cut into pieces, right? If I don't try my best, how can I get the soldiers to work hard? There is no need to say this."

The soldiers in the army went to bed early and were woken up at the third hour at night. The chef had prepared hot water and dry food. After everyone was full, the entire army was divided into many columns, each soldier connected with the people in front with ropes, led by the soldiers with the best eyes, and used the cover of the night to rush to Dasheng Pass silently.

Deng Ming walked in front of the army and first came to the Qing army's camp. Modern people are nutritious and have no night blindness. Deng Ming can see the things around him under the moonlight. As Li Xinghan said, the Qing army opposite did not build a camp wall, and they could directly see their tents in the night. After observing for a long time, Deng Ming did not even see the sentinels, and the Qing army did not deploy a bonfire surrounding the entire camp. There was a pile of things vaguely, as if it were a pile of bonfires, but there was no light in it - it was probably extinguished because no one added firewood.

After Deng Ming returned from the front reconnaissance, he went to find the Zhejiang generals in the army one by one to conduct the final pre-war communication. Then he returned to the back of the military formation and quietly guarded next to the mount with the commando soldiers.

A trace of grayish-white began to appear on the local gaze. Deng Ming signaled everyone to start preparing. The soldiers untied the ropes tied to the horse's mouth and finally checked the equipment and weapons on their bodies.

"Admiral, morale seems to be a little problem." Ren Tang is a person who reads and reads, and can also ride a horse. Before the war, he firmly demands to join the commando team. At this time, he came to Deng Ming and said in a low voice.

The soldiers of Zhejiang soldiers who lack combat experience were all nervous. They lay on the ground, holding the wooden stick in their hands tightly, and looking tightly at the direction of the Qing army camp. Many people's foreheads were covered with cold sweat. As the gray in the sky gradually turned white, these soldiers sweated more. Several of the soldiers who were preparing to follow Deng Ming to launch the assault also lacked war experience, and most of them were participating in a large-scale battle for the first time. Even the generals of the Zhejiang army only participated in a battle of thousands of people, and the Zhejiang army felt tremendous pressure from top to bottom.

"It doesn't matter. When we rush over, they will naturally follow." Li Xinghan said to Ren Tang.

"I hope they keep up faster," Zhou Kaihuang was a little worried. Once the cavalry rushed into the Qing army's camp, all the Qing soldiers would soon wake up. The Ming army's infantry must arrive quickly and not give the Qing army time to react: "The slower they follow, the greater the casualties."

"Yes." Deng Ming also noticed the general uneasiness in the army. He felt that instead of disconnecting the team, it would be better to rush in with the commando a little later.

It was almost done, Deng Ming turned on his horse, and other knights followed.

After passing through the crowd and coming to the front of the formation, Deng Ming did not immediately rush to the Qing army camp as planned, but instead tied up his war horses and turned around to look at the soldiers behind him who were still lying on the ground.

"You all recognize me, I am Deng Ming." Deng Ming shouted to everyone with all his strength. In the quiet dawn, his voice was spread far away.

"Admiral..." Seeing that Deng Ming did not launch an assault, but shouted under the noses of the enemy camp, Ren Tang was a little puzzled and surprised, but he forced himself to hold back, swallowed half of his words, and waited next to Deng Ming like everyone else.

"Whoever bleeds with me today is my Deng Ming's brother." Deng Ming shouted, unceremoniously plagiarizing a sentence from Shakespeare's great work. After pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath and shouted:

"The whole army stands up!"

Turning around the horse calmly, Deng Ming looked at the Qing army camp opposite him, as if someone had been alarmed and was coming out of the tent.

"Come with me."

Deng Ming drew out his horse's sword, and without looking back, he rushed towards the Qing army's camp with all his might.

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