When he heard that He Zhen came, Deng Ming walked out of the camp to greet him. The Sichuan Army Water Camp was not far from Hanyang. From the gate of the camp, you could see a banner floating on the head of Hanyang City, which read: "Defend the Great Hanyang to the death." When passing by Wuchang, there was also a similar banner on the head of the city there, but the two words "Hanyang" were replaced by "Wuchang".

After Zhang Changgeng sent an envoy to Deng Ming's army to congratulate the great victory of Gaoyou Lake by the Admiral Changjiang, he informed him of the action plan of He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi. Therefore, Deng Ming was prepared for He Zhen's visit.

"General He."

"Admiral Deng."

After the two of them met, they walked into the Sichuan Army camp together. After hearing He Zhen congratulating him on his victory again, Deng Ming did not be humble but asked, "When will General Hao arrive?"

"It's probably the past two days that the Prince of Dong'an will come together. The Prince of Dong'an has long wanted to meet with Admiral Deng." When He Zhen first heard about Deng Ming, he regarded him as an ordinary figure of Dong'an Prince Zhu Shenglang. After the Kunming fire, he realized that Deng Ming was different from ordinary royal families. However, when he first met, He Zhen could not be called awe of Deng Ming.

After a series of battles in Hubei, He Zhen realized that this was a royal family that could bring hope for victory to the Ming army, which would at least make the XDong Army famous, and the soldiers could get rid of the situation of being unclogged and not being able to eat. After the victory in Gaoyou Lake, a craze of worship aroused aroused by He Zhen's army, which was already full of respect for Deng Ming. Not only his officers and soldiers, He Zhen himself no longer regarded Deng Ming as an equal ally, but began to regard him as the leader of the Anti-Qing Alliance.

"Is the admiral in a hurry to leave? It doesn't matter if I wait for two days, right?" He Zhen asked anxiously, fearing that Deng Ming would leave Wuchang.

"It doesn't matter, I'm not in a hurry to leave." Deng Ming originally agreed with the Southeast Governor that if the Eight Banners insisted on the southern expedition, he would return to the Southeast to participate in the war. Deng Ming planned to stay in Wuchang for a while and would return to Sichuan after confirming that the southeast was calm, and he could just wait for Hao Yaoqi to arrive.

"I have never admitted that I am a royal family. After the Prince of Dong'an arrived, I guess I can't hide this anymore." Deng Ming thought in his mind. Now he realized that it was not a minor crime to claim that the royal family was not a minor crime, but he asked himself that he had never admitted it. Besides, there was still great merits to kill the Emperor of Qing Dynasty, and even if it was discovered, there was nothing scary. Then he thought: "Even Master Wen may be sad, and the Prince of Yanping will be disappointed. Alas, I really have no way to claim that. I don't know anything about the situation of the royal family in each department. Besides, my parents and resume, how can this be compiled into a complete picture?"

After entering the central army tent, Deng Ming talked to He Zhen about his battle process, but He Zhen's attention seemed to be attracted by the Ming soldiers beside him.

Seeing that He Zhen was constantly distracted and his eyes kept sweeping towards his guards, Deng Ming asked curiously: "Does General He think our military uniforms are not good?"

"There's nothing wrong," He Zhen replied, still staring at a Ming soldier: "But can this military uniform be seen by the last general?"

"Of course." Deng Ming asked someone to take out a new set of Ming army uniforms and hand them to He Zhen. The latter immediately lowered his head and looked carefully.

Not only did He Zhen look at it himself, he also handed the clothes to his bodyguard. Deng Ming saw that the officer, like He Zhen, grabbed the clothes and touched the buttons on it.

However, the officer's scheming was obviously much worse than He Zhen. After touching the buttons several times, he exclaimed: "It's indeed copper! It's all copper!"

"Well, it's indeed copper." Along the way, Deng Ming made a batch of copper buttons with seized brass and nailed them to the Ming army's uniforms. As brass buttons were continuously produced, half of the uniforms now have these buttons on them. After establishing a water camp next to Hanyang City, many Sichuan soldiers put on their new military uniforms. He Zhen just saw the bright brass buttons on the Sichuan army soldiers at the gate of the camp.

The officer of the XU Dong loved to touch the Sichuan Army's dress repeatedly, and finally returned it to Deng Ming reluctantly because of He Zhen's urging. The buttons on this uniform were exactly the same as those sewn by ordinary soldiers in the camp gate and in the camp; and the big leather boots on the legs of Sichuan Army soldiers were also so jealous.

"Is this button very expensive?" He Zhen asked.

"It was not bought for money," Deng Ming replied honestly: "I seized a million kilograms of brass and copper in Tongling. I didn't think of any use at the moment, so I used them to make these buttons." As he said, Deng Ming also pointed to the swords on the waist of the guards. These were knights with three walls. Their hilts were replaced with exquisite brass handles. They were not only beautiful but also very good in the hand. They were very popular with the Sichuan Army. However, because production was difficult and the quantity was limited, the complete dressing has not been completed yet: "Some hilts were also made."

"I saw it." He Zhen nodded and asked to look at the swords of the three walls.

A guard walked forward, untied his sword and handed it to He Zhen. He Zhen touched the brass handle for a while and returned it to Deng Ming's guard, and his face showed unconcealed jealousy: "The admiral went to Jiangnan this time, but he made a fortune. Tsk tsk, even a million pounds of brass can't even think about what to use for."

"I did make a fortune, so I put some good clothes on the soldiers." Deng Ming smiled. He believed that the clothing of soldiers was very important and could not be just for practical reasons. Using expensive brass as decoration is something that ordinary rich people would not be willing to do. In addition to copper buttons, Deng Ming also designed shoulder decorations for military uniforms, which were similar to shoulder pads, making soldiers look more majestic. If you look at it simply from a practical perspective, it is undoubtedly a waste, but Deng Ming felt that the status of soldiers in this era was too low. Decent military uniforms helped to enhance the pride of soldiers, and they also had a certain effect on their social status. For example, when in Jiangxi, the impression that Sichuan soldiers left on the people was completely different from other armies.

"The admiral said very much," He Zhen hurriedly expressed that he agreed with Deng Ming's point of view, and believed that the status of soldiers needs to be improved: "Can these military uniforms be given to the generals? And these bronze sword hilts, if the admiral is rich, give some to the generals."

"I'm so sorry to General He. We are not enough of these. You see, our army has not changed all of them yet." Brass is not easy to obtain, unless we collect copper coins and melt them. Deng Ming knew that since He Zhen and Hao Yaoqi were here, they would definitely want to fight Qiufeng from him. He was willing to give some help to these two allies, but this scarce copper material was obviously not included: "I brought back a lot of food this time. Since General He came, I certainly can't let you come for free, so bring some food back."

However, He Zhen still refused to give up: "Admiral, Mo General is also your soldier. If the Mo General's men are too shabby, it is not good for the Admiral, right?" Last time Li Laiheng followed Deng Ming to Jiangnan, and after he came back, he became the richest man in Gaodong. This time Deng Ming went to Jiangnan alone. After returning, the Sichuan army used brass as buttons. He Zhen was of course very envious of this: "I don't know when the Admiral will go to Jiangnan next time, so take Mo General with him."

Deng Mingyan smiled, thought about it in his heart, and finally decided to make the statement clear: "General He, actually, you and me should be considered allies, right?"

"What do you say about the Admiral?"

"When I met the Tartars, General He and I were in a stalemate and fought against the enemy side by side. There was nothing to say about this; but I never interfered in General He's territory, and of course General He had the final say in the army, and I would never want to interfere." As he said that, Deng Ming bowed to the south: "We are all the emperor's ministers, and the soldiers under us are all the emperor's and his old men's soldiers. General He's army, I really don't dare to raise the emperor."

"Well." He Zhen said silently. Deng Ming's meaning was very clear. It was easy to help He Zhen some food, but it was absolutely impossible to treat him equally with the Sichuan Army. When fighting in Huguang before, Deng Ming didn't ask about the spoils of Kuidong Army. Whoever gave the power was his own. As for how much he gave to others, it was affection rather than obligation. This time, the same was true for Jiangnan under Deng's name. It was entirely his business to share the spoils he had obtained to his allies. As for whether he would use the Sichuan Army's fleet to take He Zhen to make a fortune together, it was even more impossible to force it.

"To be honest, it's very difficult for me to raise these tens of thousands of soldiers. When I return to Chengdu, I will probably have to lay off employees." Deng Ming smiled bitterly and spread his hands: "General He has been fighting for many years. I believe General He understands the difficulties of raising the army very well, and I am powerless."

However, Deng Ming certainly would not say anything. Strengthening the various princes of the Xong Army will not only help the overall situation, but also help increase his influence: "Since General He is in short supply of food and salary, I will give General He 50,000 taels of silver and 100,000 stones of food, how about it?"

He Zhen did not contribute in this battle. Deng Ming felt that this was already a lot. He was not a boy with money. Besides, compared to the Southern Ming court, which never paid military salaries, this was also a large amount of money.

With the things that Deng Ming gave him, He Zhen and his party returned to their military camp.

"Dad, there are a lot of these things." Seeing that his father was depressed, He Daoning comforted him: "Fifty thousand taels of silver and one hundred thousand stones of grain are enough for us to raise ten thousand soldiers."

"No big ambitions." He Zhen cursed. There are indeed many of these things, but even the soldiers in the Sichuan Army have cowhide boots. How can tens of thousands of taels of silver make He Zhen feel balanced?
Chapter completed!