The Ming army had only more than 2,000 reliable soldiers, and had to control 3,000 surrendered soldiers who could fight back at any time. The destroyed city defense in Wanxian suddenly turned into a fatal injury to the Ming army.

Wanxian is not far from Fengjie, and Yunyang is located between these two cities, closer to Wanxian, where the Ming army's outpost troops are stationed. When resting in Wanxian these two days, the Ming army had already contacted the Yunyang defenders. The brigade of Qing soldiers appeared here, and it was simply said that they were acting under the eyes of Fengjie Ming army. Everyone did not expect that the enemy would be so bold.

"Our army must retreat immediately." Seeing the momentum of the enemy troops hiding downstream from the river road, all the officers immediately had this idea, and some people had already spoken it out.

"Where to retreat?" Zhao Tianba's gaze was also firmly tied to the enemy ship on the river. The enemy's navy had appeared in his field of vision. He would definitely not be able to retreat to Yunyang in time by walking on his legs. Moreover, there were only some outpost troops of the Ming army there, and they were not able to send a force to support Wanxian.

The first person who proposed to retreat was stunned. After a moment, others shouted: "Retreat to the north, let's go to the mountain first!"

Zhao Tianba was silent. Seeing Fengjie in the past two days, he took it for granted that the Qing soldiers would never dare to appear here. But when a large number of Qing troops really appeared, Zhao Tianba suddenly found that the Ming army might really have no choice but to do anything with them. This time, the Ming army mobilized a large number of food and grass, but lost all its strength. In the short term, the Ming army could not mobilize a large number of troops to leave the base again, and the lack of ships made their mobility difficult to compare with the Qing army.

If they really retreat into the mountain, they can only hope that the Qing army would retreat in a hurry because they feared the strength of the Ming army. But what if they did not retreat? Can the Ming army really come to bombard the Qing army in time and rescue it? If it delays the time, the Ming army, which lacks supplies after entering the mountain, will begin to collapse.

"Yes, retreat to the north." Others may also have concerns similar to Zhao Tianba, but the enemy's navy looks so huge, how can it be able to compete with the enemy? Everyone agreed with the proposal to withdraw troops, including Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan, who strongly demanded that Deng Ming immediately order the withdrawal of troops.

Deng Ming did not answer them but continued to look at the enemy on the river. After a while, he turned around and wanted to talk to everyone, but found that Zhao Tianba was the only one left behind him.

"Where are them?" Deng Ming asked.

"I've returned to Wanxian to gather the troops." Zhao Tianba answered honestly.

Everyone urged him a few times just now. Seeing that Deng Ming had no reaction, he didn't care about waiting. He rushed back to the garrison to gather the troops in his hands. This was also true, including Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan. They all felt that Deng Ming usually did not like to interfere in military operations, and retreat was inevitable. There was no need to delay time in waiting for an order that knew it would be issued. Now, we can act sooner if we gather the troops earlier.

"Can we escape the danger by retreating into the mountains?" Deng Ming used to have no idea about military affairs, but he has been staying in the army these days, and he heard people talking about military topics every day: "You have been talking about military rations, military rations, and how can the army maintain without military rations? Besides, diving into the deep mountains and forests, how can the army contact and command each other?"

Of course, Zhao Tianba could not solve any of the problems raised by Deng Ming: "Mr. Deng, the city gates and walls of Wanxian County have been damaged. We only have more than 2,000 people. The enemy soldiers here are at least twice ours. We cannot defend the city. Moreover, there are still 3,000 surrendered soldiers in the city. If the situation is a little unfavorable to us, they will turn against each other. Staying there is a dead end, and some people can survive when they enter the mountains."

"How much can you survive?" Deng Ming asked relentlessly.

"Um..." Zhao Tianba pondered for a moment. If the pursuers did not encircle and suppress them here for a long time, or if reinforcements were sent within a few days of Fengjie, most of them could escape the danger, and there would be no problem for the army to last for a few days. If the situation was the opposite, the Ming army would suffer a lot of losses. It is optimistic that half of them could escape the danger and cross the mountains to retreat to Yunyang.

"The humble position will definitely keep Mr. Deng safe." Zhao Tianba said at last. He was confident about this guarantee. In any case, the current situation is completely different than the situation blocked in front of Tan Hong's camp. There are more ways out. It is not too far from Yunyang, and there are no major obstacles on the road.

"We have finally arrived here after so many difficulties. Since the chance of escaping troops is less than 50%, why not stay and fight to the death?"

"If General Wen sends reinforcements in time..." Zhao Tianba whispered.

"Relying on reinforcements? That's not reliable." Deng Ming felt that it was inappropriate to pin his hopes on Wen Anzhi, and judging from Zhao Tianba's words just now, the possibility of reinforcements coming in time was very small.

He looked back at Wanxian. The Ming army inside may not know that the disaster was coming. Whenever he encountered the problem of captives, Deng Ming saw the eyes of those people and thought that they were living people, he could not make up his mind to spit out the word "kill"; while the Ming army in Wanxian were not only living people, but also sharing weal and woe with Deng Ming. Many people shook hands and talked with Deng Ming. Although he had Zhao Tianba's protection and it was not difficult to escape, what should those ordinary soldiers of the Ming army do? Let them escape each of them, and half of them were likely to be chased by the Qing soldiers and killed in the mountains.

"We should have difficulties together, either leave or not leave."

According to Li Tianba, half of them may be able to escape under optimistic circumstances. What is the unoptimistic situation? In the end, only Deng Ming and the few people around him were escaped. Zhou Kaihuang, Li Xinghan and more than 2,000 Ming troops were thrown into the mountainous area north of Wanxian. The two of them would definitely not leave their subordinates and escape alone.

Hearing Deng Ming's tone become decisive, Zhao Tianba sighed. If it weren't for his lack of any subordinate, he might have gone to gather the troops urgently: "Mr. I'm right, but the morale of the army has dispersed. If Mr. Hun had made up such a determination just now..."

Zhao Tianba thought about it and shook his head again. It might not be useful if Deng Ming made up his mind just now. The situation of the enemy being strong and we being weak is too obvious, so Wanxian could not defend it. If it weren't for everyone's understanding of this obvious prospect, they wouldn't have scattered and ran back to Wanxian for emergency mobilization.

Deng Ming saw that some soldiers ran back from the upper defense line, and more and more Ming soldiers discovered the approaching enemy fleet. These soldiers shouted and rushed towards Wanxian. Needless to say, the news would spread throughout the city in a moment. The Ming army's control was not strong enough and was too close to the Yunyang x base. Maybe some soldiers would start to retreat on their own, and some officers might do the same.

"I remembered a famous battle in ancient times, and our situation was a bit like that."

Zhao Tianba's eyes suddenly lit up. Although he had various ideas about this royal family, he admitted that the other party was indeed more knowledgeable than him.

"I remembered the Battle of Kunyang." Deng Ming said to himself: "At that time, Liu Xiu led his army to block Wang Mang's army. When Liu Xiu's subordinates saw that Wang Mang's army was powerful, advancing with water and land, and overwhelming soldiers, they all advocated withdrawing troops. However, Liu Xiu felt that his own people were already afraid in front of powerful enemies. In this case, if they withdraw troops, they would probably be disbanded for thousands of miles and be defeated."

"Who is Liu Xiu the sir talking about? Who is blocking Wang Mang's army?" Zhao Tianba knew Wang Mang. Wang Mang was very famous, and almost no one didn't know it.

"Liu Xiu was Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, the emperor who restored the Han Dynasty."

"Oh, it turns out that it is Emperor Guangwu, how can you call him by his name!" Zhao Tianba thought to himself: "The Emperor Guangwu of Han is Liu Xiu, okay, I learned it again today."

"Seeing that the generals had unanimously asked to withdraw their troops, Emperor Guangwu could not convince everyone, so he had to lie, saying that Wang Mang's army did not come to our Kunyang, but went directly to Wancheng. Everyone believed it after hearing this, and happily stopped leaving. Not long after, Wang Mang's army surrounded Kunyang, and everyone could not leave even if they wanted to."

Deng Ming said this allusion, and believed that Zhao Tianba had understood what he meant: "If we fight back to the city, will the chance of victory be smaller than the chance of escaping back to Yunyang?"

"Two thousand five hundred soldiers, even if they are short of hundreds of escape, right? Even if there are five hundred, there will be 20% chance of escaping, right? Relying on a city without a wall, the enemy soldiers are twice as many as ours, and there are three thousand surrendered troops who will definitely turn against each other..." Zhao Tianba shook his head and said, "No one wins in one, it is better to withdraw troops. Maybe more than five hundred can be withdrawn."

Deng Ming found that he could not convince anyone, so he could only sigh and stop arguing.

"Let's go back to the city quickly. Everyone is probably rectifying the troops. If Mr. Deng doesn't go back, they will be anxious," Zhao Tianba urged, and then asked casually: "Is the situation of Emperor Guangwu of Han in that battle in Kunyang, is it as critical as we are today?"

"Well, yes." Deng Ming said: "Emperor Guangwu had a total of 3,000 soldiers and 7,000 auxiliary soldiers. Wang Mang's army opposite was led by the Taishi and the General, with a total of 420,000 people. The navy had more than 3,000 ships. The soldiers could walk from the south bank of the Yellow River to the north bank on the surface of the ship."

"Ten thousand to 420,000..." Zhao Tianba's face darkened while speaking, feeling that the question just now embarrassed him, and Deng Ming's serious expression when he answered him made him feel that there was a kind of irony in it.

"Yes," Deng Ming nodded and said seriously: "It's as critical as us."

"Then in Kunyang's battle... Emperor Guangwu of Han won in the end?" Zhao Tianba's face became darker. He felt that since Emperor Guangwu finally became emperor, he probably won, and his problem seemed redundant.

"Seeing Wang Mang's army surrounded the city walls repeatedly and had no way to retreat, the generals had no choice but to make up their minds to fight with Emperor Guangwu." Sure enough, Deng Ming nodded heavily and replied: "Emperor Guangwu led 3,000 people out of the city to fight against the enemy, killed 400,000 Guanzhong's general, killed Wang Mang's general, chased and chased him fifty miles north, burned 3,000 boats, and the Yellow River did not flow, and the country changed its ownership."

"Um." Zhao Tianba lowered his head and silently looked at the ground under his feet for a while, and whispered: "Is this still a human?"

"Emperor Guangwu was only in his twenties that year, and he was about the same age as Brother Zhao." Deng Ming added.

"Is that true?" Zhao Tianba raised his head and asked softly, a hint of anger flashed across his face.

People can be, and I can be!

...

There was a riot in Wanxian City now. After returning to the city, the officers immediately contacted their subordinates and asked them to prepare to leave the city as soon as possible. The Ming soldiers, caught off guard, hurried back to their residence to pick up their weapons and armor, and asked each other about what major changes had happened.

While gathering the troops in a hurry, everyone also needed to gather the Master again, because the Ming army also needed their help to transport food and supplies. Without these supplies, the Ming army leaving the city would soon lose its combat effectiveness. Some people felt that it was too dangerous to carry unreliable prisoners at this time, and it seemed too nervous to summon Master now.

Everyone was controversial in the county government, and Zhou Kaihuang was anxiously waiting for Deng Ming to come back. He felt that Deng Ming did not know much about military affairs, and was soft-hearted, and did not look like a good leader, so he wanted to send him to a safe rear. As for Zhou Kaihuang himself, he was determined to follow his subordinates and lead them to try to leave from the danger. If Deng Ming left safely early, Zhou Kaihuang would have no worries and no longer had to worry about Deng Ming's safety.

But Deng Ming was reluctant to return, and the guards arranged for him had already gathered. Everyone agreed to hand over the few twenty horses to the guard, but Deng Ming and Zhao Tianba never appeared, which made the Ming army officers even more anxious.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, Deng Ming and Zhao Tianba walked in slowly.

Seeing that Deng Ming was still calm, Zhou Kaihuang rushed over and pulled his arm and shouted: "Why did Mr. Deng come back? The guards you selected have been waiting in the hall for a long time."

Without waiting for Deng Ming to answer, Zhou Kaihuang complained to Zhao Tianba: "You don't say you should bring Mr. Deng back quickly."

After complaining, he gave another instructor: "I'm not far away from Yunyang, but the enemy soldiers are behind me, be careful."

The end of the instructions means breaking up and saying goodbye. Zhou Kaihuang did not give Zhao Tianba any chance to interrupt: "Take care about the road ahead, go quickly."

As he said that, Zhou Kaihuang bowed farewell to Zhao Tianba and Deng Ming repeatedly. He still had a lot of things to do and had no time to chat with them. After sending Deng Ming away, he had to discuss the marching route with the officers, deploying a vanguard and a defender.

"We met an envoy from Yunyang..." Zhao Tianba finally found a chance to speak. He suddenly burst into laughter when he was halfway through his words: "I'm so laughing to death. You timid rats, all the people coming up from the river are grain transport ships."

"What, the grain ship?"

"Yes, they are all grain transport ships. You all ran away in a blink of an eye. Mr. Deng and I walked closer and took a look and found that the ship transported all grains, food! Not soldiers!" Zhao Tianba mocked everyone and said, "You are really heroes."

"What's going on?"

"How is that possible?"

Everyone talked all the time, obviously not very convinced.

Zhao Tianba also brought a man next to him, a Ming soldier who was intercepted by him and Deng Ming by the river. It took him a long time to teach the soldier what to say, and he reviewed it several times before he could bring him back with confidence.

Zhao Tianba pointed at the man and said, "Mr. Deng just came across this soldier when he entered the Wanxian gate. You can ask, and you will understand as soon as you ask."

With Zhao Tianba's suggestion, the soldier immediately reported to everyone that he had just come from Yunyang. Yunyang suddenly encountered a large number of Qing soldiers besieged last night. He himself finally broke out from the city. Some of the people who were with him went to Fengjie for help, and he came here to inform the Ming army in Wanxian to be careful.

"The food on these boats was obviously transported to Yunyang City. The Tartars dispatched a large army to attack Yunyang, but failed to break the city immediately. They needed to transport grain from the rear. Although we had no ships to intercept, we also had to think about how to cut off the river road and find a way to help the supervisor intercept the Tartars who retreated from Yunyang." Zhao Tianba did not allow everyone to think deeply, and immediately said the words he had already thought of.

"Why didn't you say it earlier?" Zhou Kaihuang asked angrily. Zhao Tianba's words were reasonable. If the Tartars' target was Yunyang, then the Ming army in Wanxian would of course try to share the pressure. There was no need to escape at all. If this matter was spread, Zhou Kaihuang felt that he would be a laughing stock. Before the Qing army could succeed in attacking Yunyang, he scared Zhou Kaihuang, who was far away in Wanxian, and rushed into the mountains and forests.

"You didn't give me a chance to speak at all." Zhao Tianba smiled.

"When did the Tartars pass?"

"Why didn't we see anything?"

Although everyone felt a lot of relaxed, some people immediately discovered various doubts and started discussing them all over the place. Some people wanted to interrogate the "Yunyang Envoy" and learn more about the specific situation.

"Yes, I have to ask carefully." Zhao Tianba knew that the actor they brought temporarily would not last long, and he would probably be exposed soon after being questioned, so he immediately came forward to stop everyone: "You should hurry up and calm the morale of the army, don't panic the soldiers. If we were scared by a team of grain transport ships, it would be a big joke. I didn't have time to ask this messenger just now. Now Mr. Deng and I ask carefully, go and stabilize the army quickly, go!"

The officers all left in a hurry, and Deng Ming, Zhao Tianba and the "Envoy" were left in the lobby of the county government.

Looking at the worried look of the "messenger", Zhao Tianba comforted: "Don't worry, the Tartars will come ashore in a while, and we won't have to lie to them anymore."

...

After leaving Chongqing, Tan Yi marched all the way. He had good luck in the past two days and had a smooth journey, but he could not catch up with the Ming army before arriving in Wanxian.

After Wanxian, he was too close to Fengjie. Tan Yi knew the danger but was reluctant to give up the credit, let alone the credit was promised to Wang Mingde. Although he didn't have to work hard, if Wang Mingde did not get his final share, Tan Yi knew that the other party would definitely not feel happy.

Until we approached Wanxian, we finally found the traces of the Ming army. The ship in front sent a signal saying that we had caught several Ming soldiers - all fishing on the shore.

"Door quickly," after hearing that the army was in Wanxian Town, Tan Yi hurriedly ordered the boat to take the boat, and asked the front boat to send the prisoners immediately, and he wanted to interrogate him in person.

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Chapter completed!