Li Guoying's Chongqing army and Guizhou reinforcements came to pursue Deng Ming to produce 1,000 armored cavalry, and 18,000 armored soldiers. Today, Zhao Liangdong did not hold his troops, and Li Guoying left behind 200 armored guards and 2,000 armored guards in the camp, and the rest of the armored soldiers set out to hunt down the Ming army.

When Deng Ming defeated the two-way camp cavalry, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was staying in the camp, drinking tea easily while thinking about the next action. After hearing that Zhao Liangdong did not send troops, Li Guoying understood his intention after thinking about his thoughts after a brief thought, and smiled at his left and right, "General Zhao is indeed arrogant. Since that's the case, let General Zhao be the vanguard when he continues to pursue."

The Qing army's navy was not very familiar with the hydrological geography of the upstream. Li Guoying told them not to panic. After the river fog completely dissipated after dawn, they set out to track the escaped Ming army navy. Although Deng Ming's ship was unlikely to catch up, the Ming army navy carrying a large number of armored soldiers and weapons could not go very fast overall. Even if the Qing army navy set out half a day late, they would definitely be able to catch up with them before the Ming army arrived in Xuzhou. In Li Guoying's view, Xuzhou is the closest stronghold that could give the Ming army a little breath. If the Ming army had to escape all the way back to Jiadingzhou, it would be better, which means that the Qing army could achieve greater results.

The Ming army, who were busy escaping, would definitely not have any fighting spirit and would not turn around to reinforce the attacked companions. The Qing navy chased them all the way and would definitely destroy a large number of Ming troops on the river. Unlike the Ming army who were left here today, those who escaped by boat were Deng Ming's combat troops, so Li Guoying also had to send a search force to kill the Ming army who abandoned the ship and landed on the shore. He had already planned to hand over this work to Zhao Liangdong.

Whether it is the navy following and chasing or asking the troops to search the two sides of the Taiwan Strait by boat, if they can better understand the local geography, they can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Li Guoying has some maps of the upstream areas, but like all maps of this era, the details are not very accurate, so locals still need to be guided by: "It's a pity that there are no people in this area. It's best if some thieves who recognize the way can be captured."

However, Li Guoying also knew that the hope was slim. Since Deng Ming abandoned his army and fled, he would definitely take away all those who were familiar with geography, and would not let such talents stay and wait for death with the useless auxiliary soldiers. However, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi still had the idea of ​​being in trouble, hoping to have more luck and make the pursuit of the Qing army smoother.

"Why are there so few prisoners?" After waiting in the camp for two hours, Li Guoying never saw a brigade of Ming army prisoners being escorted back, less than one-tenth of what he expected: "Ten thousand Zhejiang people who have no weapons, armor, and do not recognize the way are running around the mountains and fields. Is it so troublesome to chase them?"

After hearing that the generals had chased for more than ten miles, Li Guoying was even more confused. It was not surprising that there were a few scythes among the defeated soldiers who escaped quickly. If it was a local person familiar with the road, such as King Pingxi in the Songshan Battle, it would be normal to escape unstoppable. But if there were tens of thousands of Ming troops who could escape like flying, Li Guoying felt a little difficult to understand. Escape quickly was not an easy task, it required a good organization and a guide with full trust. If an army could still be like this, it would definitely be a strong army in the world. But if it was such an elite force, how could Deng Mingyou be willing to throw them away?

"This group of prisoners must be asked carefully." Originally, Li Guoying did not intend to ask his generals how to deal with today's prisoners. He was in the high position of governor and did not take this prisoner who had no other use except as a coolie. However, today's situation made Li Guoying curious and planned to interrogate several prisoners in person to understand how they escaped so quickly.

Several generals sent people to report to the camp, saying that the captured prisoners were called "a common word" and that Deng Ming abandoned his army and fled.

"Some thieves flickered their eyes when they answered," said a messenger from Wang Mingde, who reported to Li Guoying: "General Wang beat them up, but it hurts. Some people said that today was a fraudulent defeat planned by Deng Ming himself, and planned to retreat twenty miles and then ambush our pursuers."

Although it was in front of the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the messenger couldn't help but smile when he talked about this.

"Hahahaha." Li Guoying laughed: "Fake a defeat of twenty miles and then ambush our army? General Wang fought so hard, how could he ask such questions?"

Generally, scholars who have just passed the imperial examination and became parents and officials in one party often believe in the effect of torture and confession. However, Li Guoying is knowledgeable and knows that the criminal law must be stopped at the right time, because when the person being interrogated cannot bear to punish the severe torture, what he says is not necessarily the truth, but may also be talking randomly according to the meaning of the person being interrogated. Therefore, torture must not only be controlled, but also cannot ask questions that contain tendencies. The prisoners cannot understand the speculation in the hearts of the interrogator, otherwise they will confirm the interrogator's suspicion in order to avoid the pain of flesh and blood.

"Yes, when the Governor sees Wanli, General Wang has scolded the people who are asking questions." The messenger replied with a smile. After Wang Mingde heard the report of his officers, he immediately blamed the person in charge of the interrogation.

"Twenty miles, hum, why don't you say you're going to be defeated by two hundred miles?" Li Guoying shook his head repeatedly. Such confessions have no value.

"No, the few prisoners who changed their words all said the same, they all failed to be defeated for twenty miles, not more than one miles, not more than one miles." The messenger replied.

"General Wang must teach his subordinates well." At this point, Li Guoying had completely understood that the officer responsible for the interrogation must have such suspicion in his heart, and it was too obvious in front of the prisoner, so he received such a ridiculous confession again and again. Although he was blamed, there was no slight anger on Li Guoying's face, because he knew that interrogation skills also depended on experience, and such mistakes were very common.

"What the Governor-General blamed." The messenger also understood that Li Guoying had no intention of criticizing him, but was just expressing his concern for Wang Mingde: "I will retire first."

"Well, go." Li Guoying waved his hand. The confessions of these prisoners meant that the enemy did not have any special arrangements, because if these soldiers knew something more important, they would definitely reveal it in exchange for peace, and even fabricate important information to overcome the difficulties in front of them. But they were obviously beaten very hard, and they could only follow the interrogator's random guess and could not produce a slight important information.

The doubts in his heart were not explained, which made Li Guoying's curiosity even worse: "No local is a soldier from Zhejiang. What secret recipe does they have to escape so quickly?"

The Qing army navy began to march upstream, and Li Guoying asked someone to go and Zhao Liangdong came to discuss the follow-up pursuit with him. Neither of them expected that Deng Ming was circumventing the middle road and had already fought fiercely with the Qing army in that direction.

While the two were talking, several generals sent back envoys. Like Wang Mingde, they all more or less pry out the plan of Deng Ming's plan to defeat him for twenty miles and then turn around and fight back from the mouths of several Ming army prisoners.

When he first heard this report, Zhao Liangdong smiled and watched his colleagues make a fool of themselves in front of the Governor. One after another, several colleagues repeatedly showed the same ugly appearance in Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong, and Zhao Liangdong's smile finally dissipated a little.

"Deng Ming spent four or five days in advance to send thousands of people to familiarize himself with the surrounding geographical roads. Today, under the leadership of these guides, the entire army retreated, and set up a pre-assembly site twenty miles away to tempt our army to pursue, and ambush the officers and soldiers when our army chased. Ren Tang stayed in the bandit camp to cut off our retreat after Deng Ming launched an ambush." ​​Another messenger came and reported to Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong loudly the information obtained by his commander. Unlike others, the commander Hu Wenke, the commander of this messenger, was a general who had just been promoted to guerrillas. He did not have much experience on the battlefield. After learning about this, Hu Wenke was shocked and ordered the troops to stop advancing while sending the messenger back.

If it weren't for hearing countless identical reports, Li Guoying might have ridiculed Hu Wenke, but now he did not answer immediately, but instead pondered for a moment before asking: "Where is the thief who was caught by General Hu?"

"Report to the Governor, it's a small soldier." The messenger replied.

"How young?" Li Guoying asked. If Hu Wenke caught a Ming army general, then this matter was ridiculous but not completely impossible: "Isn't even Mr. Qian?"

"Return to the Governor, no, just a small pawn."

"At least he is a boss?" Li Guoying was still unwilling to give up.

"I'm not even wearing armor, but a strong man without armor on his back." The messenger replied honestly.

"Can General Hu even believe a strong man's words?" Li Guoying said angrily. His anger was not because Hu Wenke believed the prisoner's report, but because the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi was increasingly confused. He began to worry because he couldn't figure it out: "Will General Hu tell his subordinates how to fight? Especially for the major event of setting up an ambush, will an armorless soldier know?"

After the Hu Wenke's messenger was knocked out of the central army tent, Li Guoying was still angry and could not talk to Zhao Liangdong anymore. Instead, he pondered why such a prisoner had given the same information. But Li Guoying thought differently, which made him feel even more angry. Li Guoying once imagined that this was a lie used by Deng Ming to calm the morale of the army before he escaped, so that the Ming army would delay him more time, but on the other hand, this conjecture was full of loopholes. If Deng Ming wanted the abandoned troops to delay him for more time, he should try his best to conceal the news of his abandonment. At least Li Guoying did this whenever he made up his mind to abandon the army before. First, he would disturb the morale of the army. Secondly, these defeated soldiers would collapse quickly after they fled from the camp. It was difficult to help Deng Ming buy time. Li Guoying didn't think Deng Ming would be so stupid.

Li Guoying looked up and saw that Zhao Liangdong was thinking, so he spoke and asked, "What do General Zhao think about this?"

"The last general has an idea, which is a bit ridiculous. Don't blame the governor if you say it wrong." Zhao Liangdong had thought hard for a long time before forming a conjecture.

"Let's talk quickly." Li Guoying was excited.

"Maybe Deng Ming really wanted to betray twenty miles away, and it was indeed his arrangement to explore geography," Zhao Liangdong felt that if the captives said it was true, many things would be explained: "So the thief can run so fast, and the people caught will use the same statement."

"This is ridiculous." Li Guoying replied without hesitation: "The army is defeated like a mountain. Not to mention twenty miles, even if you run around for five miles, it will be difficult to fix it." This morning, Li Guoying carefully observed the formation of the Ming army, and he was very sure that the Ming army did not retreat in an orderly manner.

"What the Governor General said was that he had lost twenty miles, and the army stopped nine out of ten, even if Sun Wu was resurrected, Wu Hou was helpless again. The Governor General was well versed in military tactics, and the last general admired him." Zhao Liangdong first gave him a compliment, and then changed his subject: "But Deng Ming is a child who is still young, and he has gained great reputation. How can his military tactics be compared with the Governor General?"

"Oh?" Li Guoying was stunned at first, and after a moment, there was an incredible look on his face, and there was also an ecstatic expression mixed with it. He leaned over toward Zhao Liangdong, and his voice trembled with excitement: "General Zhao is saying that Deng Ming has really lost twenty miles to death?"

"I think this is really possible." Zhao Liangdong nodded, and at this time he was also filled with thoughts: "If this is true, I really should add it."

Li Guoying stood up and paced in the tent. If Deng Ming really defeated twenty miles, then he would definitely be defeated now. He easily defeated Deng Ming and captured the main force of the Ming army in western Sichuan. Li Guoying felt that there was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of him.

"But," Li Guoying felt that there was still a doubt that could not be answered. He thought, and said: "Ambushes must be kept confidential. Of course, I will not come up with such a suicide plan, but if I am in Deng Ming's position, I must keep the secret. Except for the confidant generals, I need to keep the secret. I don't know anything except the confidant generals... Well, no, I need to let everyone know; after telling the generals where to assemble, let the main force in armor ambush in the pre-position... Well, no, the number of people cannot be too large, otherwise I will be discovered... After a small number of elite troops ambushed in advance, people will spread rumors in the camp, making the army really think that the governor abandoned the army and fled-" Li Guoying could not continue here. He just concluded that this plan was not feasible, but after careful consideration, Li Guoying discovered that the risk of Deng Ming's deception and defeat was still ten times more than he had just imagined, and the complexity and chaos were completely uncontrollable.

"So Deng Ming is ignorant and does not know how to command the army or ambush the most important thing." Zhao Liangdong did not ask Li Guoying to continue to ponder, but said for granted: "Governor-General, don't treat Deng Ming as an opponent who is proficient in military affairs. He can't control the army at all, don't know how to keep it secret, and can't keep it confidential at all."

"General Zhao said very well." Li Guoying's various thoughts were entangled, and his thoughts had become very unclear. Zhao Liangdong's words gave him a sudden sense of enlightenment.

"If this is true, most of the thief Deng has gone from a fraudulent defeat to a real defeat. When he saw the army was in chaos, he really fled. Governor should attack quickly. Don't let him escape to the navy." Zhao Liangdong recommended himself: "I dare to ask Governor to send the last general to go west by boat, and log in to Deng's title and stop him. Even if he can't stop him, he will stop most of his minions."

"How did General Zhao determine where the thief Deng had escaped?"

"The thief Deng will definitely try to gather some troops, and after seeing that it is irreversible, he has to really escape..." Zhao Liangdong analyzed Li Guoying and calculated the time. He felt that landing thirty miles away should be able to bite Deng Ming's tail: "But in this way, the thief's navy should be hidden upstream. If the thief's navy returns to the rescue in the middle of the journey, the general had to give up. However, after removing the personal camp of the general of the General, the navy can pursue it for a while. This time, the thief Deng really wants to escape, and the general can also stop more thiefs from boarding the ship and escaping."

"Okay." Li Guoying immediately threw an arrow and ordered the remaining fast ships to chase the navy that had already set off, and asked them to return immediately: "Soldiers are the most important. The Governor originally arranged some ships to patrol the river, but now they are transferred back to transport General Zhao's personal military camp."

While Li Guoying gave the order, Zhang Yong, who fled to the cruiser's cruise ship, finally made the sailor believe his identity: "Take me back quickly, I want to report to the Governor."

...

A formation of Qing troops suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Who is the leader of this army?" Deng Ming asked about the prisoners he had just captured.

"It was Hu Wenke and Hu guerrilla..." The captive identified the military flag opposite and replied to Deng Ming.

"Newcomer." Deng Ming said one after another. The captives explained it very clearly. The enemy generals on the opposite side had just been promoted to guerrilla. This was his first time leading the field battle. Moreover, Hu Wenke's subordinates were mostly recruits, and they were far from comparable to those Qing generals Deng Ming encountered just now, not to mention Zhang Yong and Wang Jinbao whom he met earlier.

"But in the Qing army in the middle, the only enemy general who can be arranged in a row should not be taken care of." Deng Ming said softly. Other Qing generals thought they were bound to pursue their own victory. The soldiers were overdrawn and their formation was in chaos. They were about to collapse after encountering the Ming army.

"Progress!" After Deng Ming finished speaking, he waved his horse sword in his hand and forced the Qing army with his troops.

Although there were five hundred infantrymen from Zhao Tianba, only two hundred cavalry were left by Deng Ming. As the Ming army continued to advance at high speed, the infantry and cavalry were disconnected.

Now the Qing army in the middle was almost hit by Deng Ming's side, and nearly 10,000 Qing troops were sandwiched between Deng Ming and Zhou's troops. Their organization was chaotic and the war assisted were mixed, and they could not attack the small Ming army that was defending their retreat. It was only a matter of time before they were annihilated.

The mountain path that Hu Wenke guarded was the last hope of the Qing soldiers in the middle. Deng Ming was determined to win this. After defeating the hundreds of people around the Qing army guerrillas, Deng Ming could also take advantage of the opportunity to penetrate Wang Mingde on the south road and separate the thousands of Qing troops pursuing Li Xinghan.

...

"Deng Ming, it's Deng Ming who is here."

Hundreds of defeated soldiers ran towards Hu Wenke's flag. After hearing the shouts of these people, Hu Wenke and his men's faces were pale and bloodless.

"The other side is all cavalry, and you will definitely die if you run away." Hu Wenke was calm and ordered the infantry to form a formation to prepare for resistance: "Don't let the defeated soldiers approach my formation, otherwise there will be no mercy!"

After ordering to stop the pursuit and rectify the army, Hu Wenke also sent the supplies he received to his colleagues, but all his colleagues were more experienced than him, and Hu Wenke was unanimously ridiculed by them.

Hu Wenke also hesitated. Just as he was hesitating, the situation of the war suddenly changed drastically. Deng Ming rushed straight from the north, and no one along the way was his enemy. One general, three guerrillas were captured, and tens of thousands of troops were crowded into a group that could not move. Only Hu Wenke had gathered his troops for a while in advance, and now he had more than 300 soldiers around him, and his physical strength was barely enough to fight.

"Sir, sir." Despite carrying out Hu Wenke's order, his personal guards had no confidence: "Deng Ming came from the north, General Zhang, Deputy General Wang, and Biaoying should be all finished?"

Hu Wenke probably thought that was the case. The reputation of the commander on the opposite side brought heavy pressure, which made Hu Guerrilla almost unable to breathe. However, although Hu Wenke did not have the experience of field command, he knew that only death could die faster when escaping in front of the cavalry: "We hold on for a moment, just a moment." Hu Wenke pointed southwest: "If the officers and soldiers in front want to escape, they will come from this road. When they come, we will run away. With them blocking us, we will have a chance to escape!"—
Chapter completed!