After asking Wang Mingde and Hu Wenke one after another, Deng Ming confirmed that Chongqing could not be attacked by his own strength, but the navy around Chongqing could not threaten the Ming army's fleet. Since this is the case, the significance of hidden whereabouts has become not very great. Deng Ming asked Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde and the other two to pick a few of their confidants back to the city to get coupons.

"Admiral Deng, the official wants to ask you for a convenience." Seeing Deng Ming so happy, Gao Mingzhan quickly put forward new requests.

"Governor Gao, but it's okay."

"If we are captured again and again, it will be too bad in appearance." Gao Mingzhan said to Deng Ming: "So the officials hope that Admiral Deng will not say he will catch us, but will surround us, more than a hundred people, in a valley. However, you are in a hurry to rush and withdraw your siege after you can't capture it for a long time."

"This is easy to deal with." Deng Ming agreed happily: "But this may not be hidden from anyone with discerning eyes."

"That's our business, so don't worry about it." Gao Mingzhan was not too worried about this. Such things were simply hidden from the superiors and subordinates. Chongqing was thousands of miles away from Beijing, and it was not afraid of something even more outrageous. Shunzhi was not a clue, and he was calm. Moreover, there were many grasshoppers on the same line as Gao Mingzhan, and a large number of generals and officials in Chongqing had been captured. Even Zhang Yong and others asked Deng Ming to return to a hundred personal soldiers, and everyone worked together to conceal the truth.

"When Chongqing has the Eight Banners, you can't feel so relieved, right?" Deng Ming asked with a smile.

"Admiral Deng is unparalleled and righteous. What else should the officials worry about?" Before asking Deng Ming, Gao Mingzhan and others had already done the work of the Manchu Niulu. The latter did not want to go back alive and did not want to leave the reputation of being captured, so they hit it off with Gao Mingzhan. He planned to say that they were not captured, but were surrounded by Bai Deng, similar to the Han Taizu. In the end, Deng Xiongnu was trapped by the Qing army and evacuated voluntarily. As for the person who received bribes to speak for the Qing army, it was naturally Mu Tan, and he happened to go to war with the army this time.

"Okay." After the details were discussed clearly, Deng Ming told Gao Mingzhan that he would lead the Ming army to continue moving forward and would leave them behind: "Of course I can't let you go back in advance to inform us of the facts of our army, although I think Governor Gao actually knows nothing."

"Does Admiral Deng still go to Wanxian?" Gao Mingzhan asked. He also expected this. Deng Ming must have not come to hunt around Chongqing, and it is easy for them to go back to show that Deng Ming's purpose is not Chongqing.

"Yeah, not bad." Deng Ming nodded.

Soon Gao Mingzhan's messenger ran back and forth and brought the coupon back from Chongqing. After the verification was made, Deng Ming ordered the release of the person, leaving Gao Mingzhan and others on the shore.

When he broke up with Deng Ming, Gao Mingzhan and Wang Mingde came to thank Deng Ming again. The Manchu Niu Lu also hid behind them with a complicated expression and looked at Deng Ming without saying a word.

"I guess I will be able to pass Tongluo Gorge in two days, and you will be able to Chongqing at that time." Deng Ming said casually: "The food I left for you should be enough to eat."

"It's enough to eat. Admiral Deng is very kind, and he will never forget his subordinates (the last general)." Although he didn't understand Deng Ming's words, Gao Mingzhan already understood the general meaning. They were originally worried that Deng Ming would force them to persuade them to surrender to Chongqing, or to bring people to disguise themselves and sneak attack the Qing army. Although the possibility of success is not high, Zhang Yong and Zhao Liangdong were very careful, they would have no way out.

"Don't take it to heart. I have always believed that being captured and surrender are different things. I have no intention of forcing the captive to surrender." Deng Ming waved his hand and boarded the ship and drove downstream.

"Prison, surrender." The Ming army's ships drove downstream in a mighty manner, and the released Qing army officers and soldiers were still thinking about Deng Ming's words.

...

After the Ming army "withdrew the encirclement", it waited until the fleet passed through Tongluo Gorge that the Chongqing navy sent two ships out of the Jialing River and brought Gao Mingzhan and others who were "encircled" on the other side back to the city.

"This discount coupon is really interesting." Two Qing army officers in Chongqing discussed privately, one of them said: "Deng Ming is indeed open-minded and honest, and he is trustworthy when he sees the certificate."

"Yes, it would be great if I had one more. When I met Deng Ming again, I could go home safely by taking out the coupon. This coupon is a talisman, which is much more powerful than the Bodhisattvas invited from the temple, and it is foolproof." Another officer also praised.

"It's a pity that we can only use it once," the first officer sighed: "Besides, we don't have a single one."

"It's good to save lives once. People shouldn't be too greedy. Besides, Governor Gao will have more things in the future, as long as he fights Deng Ming for a few more battles." Another officer said disapprovingly: "My general also has a few pictures, and I have seen them once."

The second officer was captured by Deng Ming last time with his immediate superior. After the war, his commander exchanged a cow and was fortunate to see Deng Ming's discount coupon with his own eyes. He carefully described the thing to his companions.

"Can you still be upgraded to a very important person?" The first officer escaped with Li Guoying, and was stunned.

"Yes, why did you say why Deng Ming didn't even want a cow and put Governor Gao, General Wang and others, including my elders?" asked the captured officer.

The other Qing army thought for a long time and shook his head: "I don't know."

"I just think they will become very important people sooner or later. They are very important to Deng Ming, but not very important to the court."

"Why is it very important to Deng Ming?" The first officer had not yet thought about it.

"Because the prisoners have to exchange for cattle, even the discount coupons can only be given. You think that if it is Governor Gao, General Wang, and my elders, there are 500 officers every year, and the personal soldiers are captured and have to go to Deng Ming to ask for it, but they have to send Deng Ming five hundred cows and harnesses every year. For Deng Ming, isn't it important for him to give him so many cows every year?"

"That's right, that's right." The first officer suddenly realized his mind and slapped his thigh: "It took two years for the Governor to transport more than 1,000 cows from Shaanxi to Chongqing. If someone gave Deng Ming five hundred cows every year, he would have sent him for three consecutive years, Deng Ming shouldn't have called him a very important person for life."

"That's why Deng Ming would return Governor Gao and the others so happily. If they don't let them go, who will send the cows to Deng Ming in the future? If Governor General Zhang and the others were caught by Deng Ming, would you see Deng Ming release them?" The officer sneered: "In Deng Ming's eyes, I am at least worth a cow. My elders are like Governor Gao, and I will release them in vain if I don't want anything. I dare say that Deng Ming still hopes that my elders will follow Governor Gao to attack again and again, so that we will be captured by him again and again, and then change the cows from here again and again."

"Oh, it seems that we can't follow Governor Gao to fight Deng Ming in the future." The first officer shook his head and sighed: "We still have to be with General Zhang, Deputy General Zhao and others to rest assured."

"That's wrong." Another person sneered: "Look at General Zhang, Deputy General Wang and his subordinates all ended up, and they came back less than one-fifth of them. The rest were unknown. Maybe they had been sold to the Tibetan barbarians in the edge of Sichuan. Their subordinate Deng Ming refused to exchange a cow. If they wanted to survive, they would be relieved to follow Governor Gao. I have already figured out Deng Ming's details. When I can't beat him, just throw the weapon to the ground, hold his head in his hands and squat on the ground, or sit down..."

Seeing a sceptical expression on his companion's face, the experienced officer said, "Don't believe it, Deng Ming just asked, there is nothing special, otherwise how dare I say that I have figured out his background?"

At the request of my companion, the second Qing army officer immediately carried out a demonstration action with his head in his arms. The other person watched it seriously and silently remembered it in his heart. After standing up, the second officer continued, "Dangming must ask my adult for a discount coupon. When the crisis comes, I first squat down with my head, then I took out the discount coupon and patted my butt and left. Hey, isn't there anything left? If there is no discount coupon, I have to stay with Deng Ming in a hurry, for fear that we won't have enough cows here, and then I will be sold to the Tibetan man."

"Yes, too, I must ask for one for me." After thinking for a while, the first Qing army officer's face appeared a little puzzled again: "I heard that the several Manchu soldiers who were 'encircled' this time were also put back with a discount coupon."

"Yes, I just heard it strange. After thinking about it carefully, the feelings are in Admiral Deng's heart. This Manchu soldier is the same as us, and it is the price of a cow."

In Chongqing City, Manchuria Niulu, who had just returned safely, was surrounded by his subordinates, and their confidants came to care about their well-being.

Seeing Niu Lu and the other four Manchus in good looks, the other Manchu soldiers were very surprised. They originally suspected that these five people would not be able to come back alive in the end, and even if they came back, they would have to be tortured to the point of being unhealthy, and most of them had become disabled.

But Niu Lu personally told his subordinates that when they had not received any abuse in the past few days, the other Manchu soldiers still felt it was unbelievable. After a long time, someone said, "I heard that Deng Ming did not make things difficult for us Manchus in Jiangning (Nanjing). At that time, I thought this rumor was too ridiculous. I didn't expect it to be true."

"yes."

"yes."

Many other Manchu soldiers also felt the same way. When they came to Sichuan to serve, they also received letters from home from Beijing. The incident of the Eight Banners stationed in Nanjing garrisons was repeatedly mentioned. This unprecedented incident caused heated discussions in the Beijing bannermen circle. Many people think that Deng Ming had the idea of ​​surrendering to the court, and many people think that Deng Ming could not have such kindness. Their first thought was similar to the Eight Banners here in Chongqing. They suspected that the captives of the bannermen had been ruined by Deng Ming.

He was quick, and then he put it back hypocritically. When he heard that the prisoners returned were both good and good, a large number of bannermen turned to support the former speculation, all of whom believed that Deng Ming's tendency to surrender to the court was already obvious. Some bannermen's relatives even suggested sending envoys to launch an immediate recruitment operation, and even believed that Deng Ming should be rewarded. After Deng Ming used practical actions to break the common view of bannermen, they became even more puzzled, and even the top leaders of the Manchus could not explain the reason.

When I came to pay homage to Niu Lu today, many Manchus even brought ointments, but they couldn't use them all.

"We have not been hungry these days," said Manchu Niu Lu with a calm face: "Deng Ming gave us food, which was fresh food, and there was no rotten, and no one urinated into our bucket."

"Ah." More exclamations were heard among the Manchu soldiers. Not only did they give the Manchu prisoners, but they didn't even urinate and defecate in the bucket. The treatment was so good that they were unimaginable.

"When I broke up with Deng Ming three days ago, I heard...heard him say..." After making a great decision, Manchu Niu Lu finally bit his teeth and said to the people around him: "I heard him say 'I guess', and I don't know if I heard it wrong."

The people in the room were silent. After a moment, the whole room was in an uproar. Several people jumped up regardless of etiquette: "Sir, you must have heard it wrong!"

For Deng Ming, "it is probably a very ordinary spoken language, but when it comes to these Manchu soldiers, it feels like the sky collapses and the earth collapses. At this time, this is still a Manchu word and has not been integrated into Beijing dialect.

"I can't say it either." Niu Lu backed down.

"No, sir, you may have heard it right." Another captured Manzhou soldier suddenly shouted. He was shocked just now, but he was about to jump up and waved his arms hard and shouted. Once when he was having a meal, Deng Ming came to inspect the treatment of the prisoners and said something when he answered: "Deng Ming asked the villain to wipe the 'drake' and then reply to his words. At that time, the villain thought he had heard it wrong."

Everyone was even more uproar, but apart from these two exceptions, no more discoveries were found.

"In general, Deng Ming hid it well and could not see any abnormalities. These two times were his unintentional mistakes." After careful analysis, Niu Lu ordered everyone that he should keep the secrets during these two discoveries and not talk nonsense everywhere. After the senior officials stationed in the Eight Banners arrived, they would report secretly. Finally, Niu Lu also summarized: "If it weren't for this discovery, I wouldn't compromise and would be determined to come back alive to report."

...

After arriving in Wanxian, Deng Ming actually met Yuan Zongdi.

"Why didn't General Yuan return to Daning?" Deng Ming asked with some wonder.

"It's not that the admiral in Daning is not unaware of it. There is too little land." Yuan Zongdi told Deng Ming that he had just sought permission from Wen Anzhi and moved his garrison from Daning to Wanxian. In the future, Yunyang and other places will also be his defense areas. Although Wanxian and Yunyang are also mountainous areas, there are countless times more arable land than Daning. After the war in Huguang, Yuan Zongdi's strength has also expanded a lot. If there were no such land for military garrison construction, he would have a headache about how to support the growing number of troops.

"Daning has salt." Deng Ming asked in confusion. When he passed by Daning for the first time, he asked Yuan Zongdi for some salt for money, but he had not used up until Jianchang.

"Don't worry, admiral, I left some salt workers in Daning." Yuan Zongdi thought Deng Ming was worried about the military supplies of the Ming army, so he told Deng Ming that Daning was still producing salt. Although Li Laiheng and his team expanded a lot, if they were to save some use, it should be enough. In the past, Yuan Zongdi had to smuggle salt because he had no other production. Now that he had to reach such a large defense zone from Wen Anzhi, he was eager to transfer all his hands to produce grain.

"General Yuan really holds a treasure pot and doesn't know how to use it." Deng Ming shook his head repeatedly when he heard it. He told Yuan Zongdi that he was going to Huguang to force Zhang Changgeng to trade salt with him: "Three Gorges are in our hands, and Huguang lost the salt production land and could only rely on Hui merchants to transport Huai salt. It is not only expensive, of poor quality, but also has limited quantity. If I were General Yuan, I would definitely not give up on salt production."

But Yuan Zongdi was not optimistic about Deng Ming's plan. He believed that he should focus on producing grain: "If you have grain in your hands, you are not panic. No matter how much salt is produced, you cannot be eaten as a meal at critical moments. Admiral, it is not appropriate to put your hopes on Zhang Changgeng with the last minute. He can buy our salt today and not buy it tomorrow. And we farm ourselves, and the grain grows from our land and no one can take it away."

At first, Deng Ming thought that Yuan Zongdi was still an old-fashioned mind, that is, only self-sufficiency could make him feel at ease. However, Deng Ming thought about it and felt that Yuan Zongdi was not wrong. Deng Ming also began to think about selling salt to Huguang on the basis of ensuring the grain production in Chengdu.

After listening to Deng Ming's explanation, Yuan Zongdi still disagreed: "From the last sentence, there is always no need to worry about the large amount of food. Since the land has not been fully reclaimed, it is better to reclaim more land than waste manpower to make salt. If Zhang Changgeng did not buy the admiral's salt, wouldn't these strong men have done nothing?"

"Don't Zhang Changgeng buy my salt?" Deng Ming laughed at him and gently patted the sword on his waist with his right hand: "He dares!"

"Since the admiral has the confidence to win, why not attack Wuchang and occupy Huguang?" Yuan Zongdi felt that Deng Ming's strategy was completely different from what he knew. Since ancient times, there has been no business with the enemy. It is even more bizarre to threaten the other party to agree to a transaction with force. Since force has the upper hand, it should be used to seize land. After reaching a balance, they will farm their own fields. After an imbalance occurs again, they will fight again, and the border will also change again. A balance is reached - losing balance - and a balance is reached, and this cycle continues until the world is unified.

"General Yuan and I have different views. If I seize a large area of ​​land, I need to use my troops to defend and lose the initiative. Just like Wuchang, if I seize it, it is meaningless to not defend. If I defend, I will lose a large amount of mobile troops and cannot continue to oppress Baoning and Chongqing Qing army, giving them the opportunity to turn defense into offense. In order to ensure that I have an army that can threaten all parts of the Yangtze River Basin, I would rather give up some land that I might seize. Moreover, if I seize Wuchang by force from Zhang Changgeng, my salt can certainly be sent to Wuchang, but it cannot be sent to Hunan, even Jiangxi, Henan, and Fujian. Judging from the current situation, Zhang Changgeng's control of Wuchang is more beneficial than I control myself. And since I can threaten the strength of Wuchang, I will show my strength to Zhang Changgeng and get what I want."

"Does the admiral plan to be the first to be polite?" Yuan Zongdi felt something.

"Yes, I once told someone that if my purpose was to open a window, the best way was not to ask the opponents for permission, but to threaten to lift the roof, so that there was no need to discuss it. They would beg me to open the window so that I would not lift the roof."

"If this is the case, General Liu will definitely help the admiral." Yuan Zongdi told Deng Ming that Liu Tichun boasted that he had just made a major breakthrough in blasting technology.
Chapter completed!