"So that's how it is!" Deng Ming saw these surrendered officials in Wanxian attacking each other, and couldn't help but laugh: "You are worried that Xiong Bazhong will fight against the king's army, so you deceive Xiong Bazhong. When Xiong Bazhong proposed a plan to surrender, you pretended to agree."

"That's right!" The group of surrendered officials kneeling on the ground nodded. As accomplices, now everyone can only try to escape by placing all the blame on Xiong Lan. Although what the Ming army leader said seemed to be a satirizing everyone, the surrendered officials still agreed. They wished that the Ming army might have some use to surrender, and a sarcasm was nothing.

"Xiong Barbarians are worried that some people in Wanxian City do not understand the overall situation and resist the court to the end, so they came up with such a plan to convince everyone to surrender honestly." After Deng Ming said the second half, no one took the blame and immediately shut up. Xiong Lan couldn't figure out what Deng Ming meant, but just secretly observed Deng Ming's expression.

"So this is a misunderstanding. You are all like-minded people." Deng Ming waved his hand and couldn't help but smile: "Get up, let's loosen the bear."

But the group of people kneeling on the ground did not dare to stand up immediately. Although Deng Ming seemed kind, the group of people had no idea about him and felt that they might turn against each other in a moment.

"Why didn't you get up? Am I wrong? Is anyone thinking that's not what he thinks, but intends to find an opportunity to rebel against the court in the future?"

As soon as Deng Ming said this, anyone who couldn't get up would make sure that he had ulterior motives, so everyone stood up slowly with fear. However, many people had not dared to stand up completely, and secretly prepared. They waited for Deng Ming to shout and knelt down again and begged for mercy.

Seeing that Deng Ming was not going to kill anyone, Zhou Kaihuang frowned and shouted: "Mr. Deng!"

Deng Ming was very clear that these surrendered officials were all lies, but they did not intend to pursue them. Should they kill all the people who had just surrendered? Although Deng Ming had already killed people with his own hands on the battlefield, it was still impossible to kill a group of people who beg for mercy from him - after all, they are humans, not pigs and dogs.

Hearing Zhou Kaihuang's voice, Deng Ming knew that he was very dissatisfied with his decision, so he immediately explained: "Just as this Xiong Bar said, they joined the King's Army today and allowed us to enter Wanxian without a drop of blood. Since they did not let us bleed, why do we have to take their lives?"

After saying this, Deng Ming turned around to face the surrendered official in front of him and said seriously: "I am a person who advocates judging his actions and not judging his heart. Perhaps when you discussed this matter earlier, what you thought was different from what you said to me now, but you did abandon the darkness and turn to the light. I will not pursue the matter of following Tan Hong to betray the court because of this. As for the strategies you discussed and the defense you just made, they are all spoken with nothing. I am not letting you go because you defended well, nor will I punish you just because you said you wanted to go to the Tartars."

Deng Ming's law in his previous life emphasized the facts of crime, and what he said verbally could not be used as a proof of conviction, let alone death penalty. However, the surrendered people seemed to understand his words, but they felt relieved when they understood that there was no worries about life in front of them for the time being, and rushed to confess their feelings, expressing gratitude and respect for the grace of not killing.

At this time, Xiong Lan had loosened her ties and stood up to be a burly military man with a tall appearance. He had a strong and powerful voice when he spoke just now. It sounded like this man was quite responsive. Among the group of demoted officials in Wanxian County, Xiong Lan was the most scheming. For some reason, Tan Hong disliked this person so much. After today's internal strife, Xiong Lan offended many people at the scene and may not be able to stand firm in the army in the future. However, Deng Ming still attached great importance to such an incitement person and did not intend to let him go. He stared at Xiong Lan's eyes and said, "General Xiong, this time you took the lead in abandoning the darkness and turning to the light, so that the Ming army can successfully enter Wanxian City, so you make up for the merits. The matter of your betrayal of the court in the past was wiped out. But you must know that betrayal of the country is a crime after all, and it cannot be reborn!"

"Mr. Deng's advice." Xiong Lan bowed to the teachings.

The more Xiong Lan observed, the more she felt that Deng Ming was unfathomable. The conflict between the Sichuan Army and the camp was irreconcilable. However, the people in the two camps in front of her showed respect and obedience to Deng Ming. In this era of "his heart can be punished", Deng Ming used the strange and strange theory of "discussing the truth but not the heart" as a basis for pardoning everyone, but the Ming generals did not have any objections, which further showed that this person had a very high status in the minds of everyone.

"Xinjinhou is our prisoner now. I wonder if there are any prison cells in Wanxian City?" Deng Ming asked someone to send Tan Hong and his more than 50 best friends to the cell and hand them over to Xiong Lan and others for custody.

"There are cells, and cells." These people agreed immediately, led the way in front of Ming soldiers, escorted their old boss, and took Tan Hong and his gang to the prison in Wanxian to take care of them.

There was no other objection except Zhou Kaihuang. After Xiong Lan, Tan Hong and others left, Zhao Tianba was the first to speak out: "Mr. Deng is really too soft-hearted."

"Xiong Lan is useless," Li Xinghan said: "Why didn't Mr. Deng kill him to appease the hearts of the rest of the people? They will definitely be grateful to serve Mr. Dade."

"How could Xiong Lan be useless? He is a thief and knows Tan Hong's military information much more than we do. I want to tell me that the other guys should be killed." Zhou Kaihuang had an idea and wanted to recruit Tan Hong's remaining troops, so he gave up his murderous intention to Xiong Lan from the beginning: "How can these people be trustworthy when discussing such conspiracies?"

"They just don't discuss this conspiracy, or we don't know that they have discussed it like this, and I won't trust them either. Will you trust them?" Hearing these objections, Deng Ming shook his head and said, "If you kill Xiong Lan, will the remaining people be grateful and sincerely contribute to us? I don't think it's good to kill them." Although he said this, Deng Ming felt that weakness and compassion were completely different. Zhou Kaihuang and others might still not be able to tell the difference between the two.

Zhao Tianba kept listening to Deng Ming's defense seriously, as if to prove Deng Ming's suspicion, after he finished speaking, Zhao Tianba quickly asked: "Mr. Deng actually doesn't want to kill people, right?"

Seeing that Deng Ming was not right, Zhao Tianba repeated loudly again: "Mr. Deng is just too soft-hearted!"

"But the one that is concerned about in Wanxian City is Xiong Lan. I used to hear that he was a flattering rat. He still had many ghost ideas when he didn't want to do anything," Li Xinghan commented on the side: "Now he is incompatible with other rats, so we don't have to worry about the fact that these surrendered soldiers can cause trouble together."

...

After sending Tan Hong, Qin Xiucai and his group to the prison and sent someone to take care of it, Xiong Lan and his colleagues walked into the lobby of the county government. There were no Ming soldiers around, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward. Everyone looked at Xiong Lan with a complicated expression. They just wanted to kill Xiong Lan in order to relieve themselves of their crimes. Now they were lucky enough to survive. Several people were waiting with their breath. As long as Xiong Lan cursed herself for being unfaithful, they would retort and scold her and go back.

Xiong Lan first looked around and confirmed again that there were no soldiers from the Ming army, and then suddenly bowed deeply to the people around her: "Thank you brothers for helping you."

Everyone never expected Xiong Lan to be so surprised that she couldn't speak for a moment.

Xiong Lan made a scared expression, patted her chest with her hands, and said loudly: "Mr. Deng was going to kill me just now. He was worried that I was the leader of this army and wanted to kill me! Fortunately, all the brothers were eager to be wise and looked like they had a grudge against me. Oh, I was really scared at that time. Thanks to your quick reaction, I quickly followed the example and resolved Mr. Deng's intention to kill me."

No one thought so just now. They just wanted to push Xiong Lan out of the tank. Now, seeing Xiong Lan not only did not hold grudges, but also sighed and showed a gratitude as if she had survived the disaster. No one thought out what to say.

"Just just now, brothers put their heads on their belts to save me." Xiong Lan continued to sigh: "I thought you brothers would be safe for their lives, and denied that we had discussed this matter..."

Xiong Lan immediately analyzed to everyone that if there was no quarrel between the demoted officials in Wanxian County, Deng Ming would definitely think that they were a close group, and then in order to break up the group, Xiong Lan would definitely be killed. After everyone made such a fuss, Deng Ming thought that they each had their own plans and were a mess. There was no need to kill Xiong Lan, who left such an impression.

"I don't expect that brothers have come up with such a clever excuse to help me," Xiong Lan said, and greeted everyone again: "To be honest, I didn't expect that all brothers would be so righteous. If I were to change me, I might not have thought of it, and I might not have been able to do it."

After Xiong Lan's endless explanation and finding out why he was grateful to everyone, someone accepted his gratitude shamelessly and patted his chest and said, "What does Xiong Bar say? We were familiar brothers before, and we have been friends in times of hardship these days. Of course, we share the blessings and share the difficulties."

With the first one, there is a second one. Soon everyone generously told Xiong Lan that there is no need to keep this in mind.

"However, we have to do things in the future, so we have to do it accordingly." Xiong Lan pointed at one of his colleagues. Today, this person was the first to take the lead in trying to put all the blame on Xiong Lan. Xiong Lan praised him with a thumbs up and his quick reaction and quick thinking: "In front of them, we must attack each other in the future, which seems incompatible, so that Mr. Deng will feel that we can divide and treat us."

"That's right, that's what I thought at that time." The guy who was praised by Xiong Lan for his quick reaction nodded repeatedly. He was stunned for a while before he understood what Xiong Lan meant.

"High, it's so high!" Xiong Lan gave her two compliments.

Everyone's vision of this guy became complicated. I didn't realize that this guy who was like a fool on weekdays had a brain that was not inferior to Xiong Lan. Well, it was beyond everyone's imagination. It turned out that they were playing double acts at that time! If it weren't for Xiong Lan's explanation, I probably wouldn't have understood it yet.

After giving away the most scheming title in the camp, Xiong Lan struck while the iron was hot, approached the colleague and asked several questions in succession: "...Do you think that if we want to protect ourselves, we must work together?...Do you mean, we will discuss what we have to choose a place where no one is going to leak the news again?...Do you want to remind everyone...Oh, why can't I think of these?"

Under Xiong Lan's questioning, the other party mechanically answered "Yes" or nodded. Whenever he made any statement, Xiong Lan would exaggerately exaggerately, lowering his voice lower and lower, and the colleague's chin was raised higher and higher, making a look like a wise bead in his grasp.

Xiong Lan explained to everyone with great thoughts. He believed that if the matter discussed today was leaked again, everyone would point out the idea that this guy had when defending himself, and no longer report that Xiong Lan was the leader. This is also a self-protection method that is better than nothing.

Xiong Lan felt that Deng Minggao was the only one in the Ming army who was unfathomable. His way of handling things was different from others, and he couldn't understand them. The other Ming army officers were just like his colleagues, and they were all thinking clearly on their faces.

After successfully resolving the knot between everyone and himself, Xiong Lan felt relieved and felt a little joy of success. Then she hurried to assign work and arrange Mingjun to stay and rest.

...

The Ming army did not go on the road the next day but stationed in Wanxian. The wounded and sick needed herbs. After all, some of them might be collected in Wanxian, and it was even more difficult to go out in the wilderness. Once they got comfortable housing, the Ming soldiers who were busy for several days were eager to take a rest. Deng Ming himself also had a deep understanding of this. Deng Ming and the officers did not rush to urge their subordinates to go on the road. Zhou Kaiyuan, and Li Xinghan all determined that there were no threatening enemy troops near Wanxian, so they could rest assured. The benefits of the soldiers getting rest were also obvious. The state of the army became quite good. With the current physical strength of the soldiers, it was not a big problem to return to Fengjie in one breath - the distance from Wanxian to Fengjie was almost one-half of that from Chongqing to Wanxian.

The question is how to bring back more than 2,000 newly surrendered soldiers from Wanxian - Kuizhou now needs strong men, and the Ming army should have brought all these people back. Originally, hundreds of prisoners were captured in Tan Hong's Nanda Camp, and in addition, there were a total of 3,000 people in Wanxian, which was more reliable than their own soldiers. They needed to prepare a lot of food before they set off.

The warehouse in Wanxian was already empty. Taking advantage of the renovation, the Ming army asked the surrendered army to fish and hunt nearby. However, due to the limited income from the cold weather, it is estimated that according to this work progress, there is probably not enough food and grass for ten days and a half months to get enough marching. The people along the way are sparsely populated, and collecting food and grass will not only affect the speed of the march, but also the quantity is very unreliable.

"Leave some people in Wanxian." Someone in the Ming army made this suggestion, which was in line with Xiong Lan's wishes. The defense of Wanxian was severely damaged, leaving the Ming army's own defense was too dangerous. If a part of the retreating army was left to defend, although they might rebel again, the Ming army would have to return to Fengjie after all, and they could not stay here indefinitely.

The Ming army officers discussed in the county government office, but hesitated and could not make a decision. Suddenly someone rushed into the county government office and reported to the officers: "Tartars! The Tartars are here!"

"What Tartars? Don't lie about military affairs." Li Xinghan scolded dissatisfiedly.

"The Tartars are really here." The soldier said that he was monitoring the fishing soldiers on the shore upstream of Wanxian. From a distance, he saw ships descending along the river, carrying the green flag of the Qing army. According to him, the ships were definitely not one or two, but a fleet of considerable strength.

Zhou Kaihuang didn't believe it and asked the officers around him: "Do you think the Tartars have the strength to attack Fengjie?"

Everyone knows that Fengjie has Wen Anzhi's army, and after destroying Tan Hong, there will be no threatening enemy troops nearby.

"Will Chongqing send out a large army for us defeated soldiers?" It is common sense to deploy a large number of troops to consume a lot of supplies. If Chongqing was really willing to send out a large army to pursue the defeated soldiers, then they would have taken action long ago and shouldn't have waited until today.

"Because we are not defeated soldiers," Deng Ming whispered: "We defeated Tan Hong, and the noise caused was not small."

"I wonder how many people they came?" Li Xinghan always looked confident: "Mr. Deng said it well, we are not defeated soldiers, and the Tartars are just going to die when they come."

"Go and have a look." Everyone had no intention of discussing the issue of collecting food and grass. They seized more than a dozen horses from Tan Hong, and entered Wanxian Town and tried to get a few more horses, which was enough for the decision-making officers to use.

Deng Ming has also learned how to ride a horse these days. When he heard that an enemy was coming, he couldn't help but feel anxious, so he naturally refused to stay in the yamen and wait for news. Although his riding skills were not very good, he was definitely faster than walking, so he insisted on following everyone to the mountain to see the situation with his own eyes.

"I just look at the situation. I don't know how to fight and will not interfere with the decisions of these officers." Deng Ming, Zhou Kaihuang and others left Wanxian together and headed straight for the upstream.

Soon they rode up the mountain. Standing on the commanding heights, there were not many shades, and their vision was relatively wide in winter. There were terraced fields on the hillside. The Yangtze River flowed through the feet and could see the distant river surface.

I saw sails covering the distant river surface, and the Qing soldiers' ships covered the waterways of the Yangtze River.

"I'm afraid there are not three or four thousand people?" Zhou Kaihuang said in surprise when he saw this scene. He saw that there were more enemy ships sailing out from behind the mountains at the end of his sight: "More than just one, there may be four or five thousand people."—

Let me say something more here. In theory, I only authorized Zongheng to publish this article. Even if I don’t want to publish Zongheng and myself, I don’t seem to have any solutions. However, since Postba is my readers, I can at least add a link to give me a face and add a click...

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Chapter completed!