Tan Hong, stationed in Wanxian, not only had thousands of soldiers, but also had his combat experience and long-term service in the army that Zhou Kaihuang, Zhao Tianba and Li Xinghan could compare with young officers such as such opponents. Even for such an opponent, both sides were equal in size, and several young people had no chance of winning, let alone the dangerous situation where the Ming army was originally in. It was just because of Tan Hong's pride and arrogance, overestimation of the strength of the Ming army, greed and various accidental situations, he ended up being defeated and captured.

Seeing that Tan Hong, who was arrogant and could be on par with his immediate superior, was tied up, Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan knew very well that he had indeed escaped from death this time. Not only them, but other Ming soldiers also understood that the biggest change in reversal was the prince of Han in front of him. Therefore, after the dust settled, there were waves of cheers among the soldiers. This was no longer excited for their victory, but congratulated Deng Ming, thanking him for the victory he brought to everyone, and sweeping away the pessimism, anger and loss of fleeing from the city of Chongqing.

"It's so powerful, Your Highness!"

The ordinary Ming soldiers around Deng Ming were proud to congratulate Deng Ming in person. They had no experience in dealing with the children of the royal family, so they just respectfully bowed to Deng Ming on one knee, and the few praises were tossed and turned:

"Your Highness's power!"

"Your Highness is mighty!"

Faced with the enthusiastic support of the people around him, Deng Ming was stunned at first. He had no experience in dealing with the army, especially the ancient army. Fortunately, a modern person has watched many movies. Deng Ming remembers many plots of the movies - whether in it, Western generals will show the soldiers their approachable side, such as slapping their shoulders, saying some encouragement words, or going further, shaking hands with the soldiers affectionately.

So Deng Ming began to shake hands with the soldiers around him "kindly" and said some film and television clichés such as "This is our victory for all of us". The ordinary soldier who received such courtesy was so excited that his face was flushed. The soldiers who had never gotten smiles from the officers never thought that they could reach the noble family members. Soon Deng Ming was surrounded by countless hands stretched out, and everyone asked Prince Han to treat him equally and shouted that he would be treated with the handshake.

During this period, Li Xinghan has been following Deng Ming and willingly played the role of a personal guard. The beads that Tan Hong took away were also taken back by Li Xinghan for Deng Ming and handed them to him solemnly. Deng Ming put it in his arms and continued to appease the soldiers. This kind of performance of valuing people over money made Li Xinghan admire the clan's son even more. Hearing the cheers to Deng Ming made Li Xinghan feel sincerely happy, and he grinned and laughed.

When the Qing soldiers entered the pass in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Xinghan was still young and not very sensible. During the whole process of his growth, he saw that the Ming court had been fighting with the Beijing regime, and Tan Wen once taught him to be loyal to the court. However, this court was still a very vague concept for Li Xinghan, far less vivid than a straight boss like Tan Wen. His loyalty to the court was because Tan Wen was kind to him, so he wanted to follow Tan Wen to fight for the court.

In the past, there were occasional royal families passing by Wanxian, but Li Xinghan had no chance to observe them up close. Even Tan Wen did not have the chance to have a close relationship with these royal families. This has always made Li Xinghan feel that the court is a noble person. Although he is majestic, he also refuses people from all directions. Deng Ming, who was smiling at his subordinates and holding their hands to praise their courage, made Li Xinghan feel a brand new image of the Ming court. This is the court that Li Xinghan fought for for many years. The previous strictness and pressure were greatly reduced, and he added an impression that could warm people's hearts.

Li Xinghan remembered the scene where Deng Ming was shooting archers on the front line and fighting side by side with the officers and soldiers today. He remembered that Tan Wen had once and the generals in the camp. The officers said that the battle situation in Yunnan and Guizhou was not smooth. If the battle situation was unfavorable, the court would probably enter Sichuan under the protection of King Jin.

"I wonder what the prince looks like?" Li Xinghan suddenly had a question in his mind. In the past, Emperor Yongli, who had been in his mind, had a majestic face, which was a hundred times more severe than the most severe general Li Xinghan had ever seen. Even if he fantasizes that he is in front of this face, Li Xinghan would be nervous, respectfully protruding himself, and dare not breathe.

"It must be the same as this Your Highness?" Li Xinghan could see the excited faces of his subordinates, but he didn't know that his expression was actually similar to them: "I will definitely hold the hands of our soldiers and thank us for fighting for their Zhu family. Yes, it must be so, so even the evil gangs of Western thieves would bow their heads. Oh, if I could get praise from His Majesty or His Royal Highness before I died for the court, I would not have lived in vain in my life."

When these thoughts were turned in his mind, Li Xinghan unconsciously fantasized Deng Ming, the "son of the royal family" in front of him, as the more noble Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the prince of the Eastern Palace, and tears filled his eyes because he was immersed in such fantasy.

Unlike Li Xinghan, Zhao Tianba was a little far away from Deng Ming, but at this time he also recalled Deng Ming's performance on the battlefield today: "The third prince has undoubtedly never been to the battlefield and knows nothing about how to shoot arrows. But he is not ashamed of going to the battlefield, nor does he hide it from him that he does not know how to shoot arrows at all. Instead, he politely asked me again and again until he shot arrows to kill the enemy to boost morale."

Zhao Tianba couldn't help but compare Deng Ming with other royal families, such as Emperor Yongli, and other royal families who were hiding under Li Dingguo or Sun Kewang's wings. In the past, when he heard that the war situation was unfavorable, the Yongli court would flee to the safe rear as quickly as possible. For victory, the court would certainly give generous rewards, but Zhao Tianba could feel that the court was not grateful for the sacrifice and efforts of the soldiers, but because of helplessness and in troubled times, he had to increase the reward to the military.

Before, Zhao Tianba was puzzled by why Li Dingguo swears to be loyal to the Ming court to the death. If it was just used this banner, it would be reasonable. After all, this banner could unite the Ming court's direct troops and even the old troops in the camp. However, Li Dingguo showed a loyalty to the Ming court far beyond this, which made Zhao Tianba, a person who was loyal to the Jin Palace, feel a little confused. On the contrary, the previous rebellion of Sun Kewang could make a considerable number of Xiying officers and soldiers feel normal: I am a hero who stands tall and upright, why should I be under your cowardly despotic?

Today, when he saw Deng Ming's image and remembered the face of the monarch and ministers of the Yongli court, Zhao Tianba sighed silently in his heart: "If Your Majesty looked like a third prince, there would probably be no dispute between Qin and Jin, right? The soldiers of the Xiying in Yunnan and Guizhou would not be secretly dissatisfied with the imperial court on their heads, right?"

At this time, Zhou Kaihuang ordered the ship to be docked on the shore and prepared to take Deng Ming on the boat to rest. After seeing Deng Ming's actions just now, Zhou Kaihuang was quite moved: "The third prince was brave, but in order not to let soldiers suffer casualties before the victory, this is benevolence and righteousness. As the saying goes, like a father, one must have a son, in other words, the father and son are very similar. The third prince is brave and benevolent and righteous. These days it seems that he is still a wise and virtuous person. The biggest problem is that he does not know the sufferings of the people. If Emperor Lie is also such a person, why would he ignore the lives and death of the people back then? But if Emperor Lie was not a wise and virtuous emperor, how could he have a son like the third prince?"

At first, the soldiers of the Sichuan Army were more excited. After being infected by them, the Dachang soldiers also crowded up to ask for the praise from Deng Ming. Although they had the status of the remaining troops of the camp, the identity of the nobles of the Tian family was still almost a god for these soldiers who even had a sense of upbringing to the scholars. The deep-rooted sense of superiority and inferiority and emotional infection of celebrating victory made them eager to hear the royal children’s gratitude for their heroic battles with their own ears. Deng Ming was thanking these combat soldiers one by one. This not only could be proud of their companions’ qualifications in the future, but some people also thought that this could even be told to their descendants after expelling the Tartars. When King Han was still young, he stood in front of your father (your grandfather) and patted my shoulder (sharing my hand) and said that I was a hero!

When everyone had their own ideas, Deng Ming suddenly woke up. Although it was exciting to play this role, Deng Ming still remembered that he was not a real clan after all, and not only knew that Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba were just acting together to unite Li Xinghan. If they continued to win people's hearts in the army without knowing how to advance and retreat, Deng Ming was worried that he might cause dissatisfaction among Zhou Kaihuang and others. After all, he still had to continue to go to Fengjie and would still live under the rule of the Ming court for some time in the future.

As soon as he played the role of **, he felt hungry and returned. Deng Ming’s biggest wish now is to hurry to go to Tan Hong’s camp. Like other Ming soldiers, he hadn’t eaten for nearly forty hours and was exposed to the wild. The little food he had previously distributed had been digested. Now Deng Ming is full of expectations for the enemy’s reserves, and he wishes he could enter the warm camp immediately.

There has not been a careful inventory of the prisoners, so I don’t know the specific numbers. However, the more than 300 Qing soldiers who surrendered in the end, plus the hundreds of defeated soldiers they had captured before, the more than 2,000 Ming troops now have at least seven or eight hundred prisoners in their hands. This number will continue to increase over time.

Zhou Kaihuang stopped the boat to the shore and wanted Deng Ming to board the boat and headed to the camp. This suggestion was unanimously supported by the Ming army of Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen. Deng Ming was surprised in his heart and could not help but look at Zhou Kaihuang who made this suggestion carefully, and thought in his heart: "Are you going to put me on the fire? Thanks to your credit and Zhao Tianba, I have become a clan of the royal family in everyone's mind, so they respect me very much and will not object to my boat ride. But I am not after all. When the truth is revealed, everyone will probably be angry at me for cheating them. If I still don't know how to restrain myself..."

Therefore, Deng Ming refused to take a boat, but wanted to walk with everyone to Tan Hong's camp. For him, this was a strict adherence to his duties, but in the eyes of others, it was naturally a different scene. As for Deng Ming's proposal to let the wounded soldiers take a boat, this idea was unanimously supported by officers from all teams. This was the world of the Zhu family, and their children should appease the army. Zhao Tianba even couldn't help but have a thought: Could these three princes have any thoughts about the throne and the one who sat on it?

"Your Highness kills the enemy!"

After the victory, the soldiers started chatting happily. Just now, the soldiers who saw Deng Ming's front line became Deng Ming's voluntary propagandists. The soldiers who heard this news seemed to respect Deng Ming more, which made Deng Ming feel that winning the morale of the army was not as difficult as heaven.

The Tan Hong Da Camp that had just occupied cannot be without presided over. Now that the Ming army has won a great victory, all the leaders need to stay together. So Zhou Kaihuang drove away and rushed back to the Daying to supervise the preparations for food and accommodation. The rest of the Ming army have also been preparing to set off one after another to advance eastward.

The Ming army captured about seven or eight hundred prisoners. For the winners of his army who had only more than two thousand people, it felt that so many prisoners were a bit too many. The Ming army did not have a lot of supplies, and the demand for the coolie was not very high. Besides, these prisoners had to eat and needed to be monitored, so the Ming army planned to quickly identify and deal with some of the prisoners. For example, those who were injured and looked weak and useless, would be dealt with as useless. There was another type, that was, prisoners who were more fierce and still threatening, and the Ming army would not save their lives for security reasons.

Of course, this kind of screening is not unified and large-scale, but a spontaneous action away from Deng Ming's sight, and the Dachang soldiers were fierce. Compared with the Dachang soldiers of Yuan Zongdi's army, Tan Wenyu's army was still more polite to the prisoners. They were also from Wanxian, and the prisoners in their hands were far more than those in the Dachang soldiers. After being captured by Tan Wenyu's army, these Tan Hong's subordinates hurriedly called out the names of the people they knew, hoping to find acquaintances to save their lives. The Wanxian soldiers did not kill them like the Dachang soldiers, but left them to fend for themselves.

The reason why some Ming soldiers are now attacking the prisoners is that they are as fast and slow as they charge, the morale of the Ming army is also uneven. The winner was not decided just now, and the morale of the Ming army soldiers is far less than that of the current ones. Some people want to secretly leave a way out for themselves. If the Ming army is defeated in the end, they may be able to save their lives by giving some favors to the captured enemy soldiers. For example, if they want to change the party and surrender to Tan Hong, they also need an intermediary to introduce them, right? So some soldiers reached an agreement with the prisoners they captured: if the Ming army wins, they are responsible for protecting the safety of these Qing soldiers, and if Tan Hong wins in the end, these Qing soldiers are responsible for capturing the lives of their Ming soldiers.

The officers knew all the little thoughts of the soldiers, that is, Deng Ming knew nothing about it. However, the Ming army was originally composed of defeated soldiers and had been a stray dog ​​who had been pursued by the Qing soldiers for two days. The morale was not surprising at all. Some officers did not have this intention. Only those who were particularly determined could do nothing. For example, Zhou Kaihuang and the dozen people around him did not catch a prisoner, while the team members following him caught some. When the outcome was clear, even Tan Hong himself was captured alive, these prisoners were completely useless burdens. The people who kept their promise continued their agreement with the Qing soldiers, and those who were not trustworthy would simply deal with these collaborators. After all, this kind of agreement was not good to spread and could easily cause trouble for themselves.

When the two thousand Ming troops escorted more than 600 prisoners into Tan Hong's camp, Zhou Kaihuang had already arranged a post and burned some water for the soldiers to drink. When he broke through the camp, Zhou Kaihuang captured four or five chefs who had not had time to escape. These unthreatening chefs Zhou Kaihuang did not eliminate the roots, but asked them to cook.

Now that a large number of prisoners arrived, the Ming army sent people to monitor them and asked them to chop firewood and burn fire. A pile of bonfires were lit in the camp. The winners surrounded these bright fires to warm their bodies, chatting happily about today's battle, and bragging about their bravery and good fighting to those whom they knew or did not know around them.

Several kids first prepared meals for the officers, and then guided the prisoners to wash rice, wash pots, and prepare food for the Ming army. The prisoners also worked hard. According to general practice, the best-performing prisoners could survive and become coolies in the army. Over time, they could gain trust and become combat soldiers again. Some of them had good skills and could seize opportunities. They could become kids. They were responsible for cooking, and they were not only full but also respected by the army. Although they could not participate in the battle and robbery, they did not have any worries about their lives.

Deng Ming watched the movements in the camp with great interest. He had never had the chance to know the operation of the entire camp before, but today he was surrounded by officers like stars. He reported all work arrangements to him, waiting for his instructions. Of course, Deng Ming did not know how to issue these orders, and adopted the suggestions of the officers around him.

"When these prisoners prepare their meal, will they give them some food?" Standing in the distance, looking at the Qing soldiers who were working hard in the cold night, and the surveillance whips around them, Deng Ming felt that this possibility was questionable.

The facts proved that Deng Ming's suspicion was very reasonable. After hearing this question, Zhao Tianba replied in a proper tone: "Of course there is no food for them. I hunger them for two days first, and I can't make trouble when my hands and feet are weak. After all, we still haven't returned to Fengjie and are still in danger."

"But I was so hungry that I had no strength to carry things, how could I help us move things?" Deng Ming already knew that these prisoners would be regarded as masters. Since they were porters, how could they have the strength to work without giving them enough food?

"With a whip, who dares to be lazy and slick?" Zhao Tianba answered decisively. He was a little surprised that Deng Ming didn't understand anything, but immediately realized that the opposite was a clan's family. He asked many strange questions these days, which shows that he didn't understand the world's civil affairs. Isn't there a whip in the palace? Maybe there is enough food in the palace, and the third prince didn't live for long. After escaping, he was loyal guards and could not use the whip.

While Zhao Tianba was thinking randomly, Deng Ming sighed softly in his heart. He didn't believe that whips could replace food, but it seemed that this era was treating prisoners like this. Deng Ming also figured out that whips could squeeze out the last bit of strength from prisoners. If they fell to the ground and died due to hunger and fatigue, these winners would probably not take it too seriously: "No wonder this era is very difficult to persuade surrender. There are only dozens of people left by Tan Hong. It is hard to make up the determination to surrender even though he has no way out."

Thinking of this, Deng Ming felt a little uncomfortable, so he looked back and greeted everyone: "Let's go to have a meal."

"Okay!" Everyone of the young officers were happy, and they had been looking forward to Deng Ming's words.

At this time, both the excited Ming soldiers, officers, and Deng Ming himself felt that the future was bright. Tan Hong had been defeated, and the most elite guards were captured. The remaining troops seemed to have lost their fighting spirit. Not only were there warm camps and plenty of food waiting for everyone, it seemed that the road to Fengjie was already smooth. The Ming army felt that it was natural to continue to march smoothly and return to Fengjie safely.
Chapter completed!