Deng Ming could not refute Wu Yuewang's statement, and he also admired the other party's view of the infantry: "It's right, infantry should be able to participate in hand-to-hand combat, but Lieutenant Wu must know how precious those muskets are, right?"

More than 100 muskets were captured, and Chengdu does not have the ability to produce qualified muskets on its own for the time being. In today's battle, the soldiers commanded by Wu Yuewang were used to throwing muskets at the enemy's formation and then pulling their daggers to defend themselves.

"In the past, many crossbows were thrown out like this. Today, they threw the muskets as stones and let the muskets fight with short force on the front line. This is a double waste of precious resources for our army. I won't pursue it this time, but I must pay attention next time." According to the subsequent report, many of the muskets thrown out were broken by the follow-up troops. Deng Ming has ordered that all these equipment be picked up and tried to repair it. However, like the single crossbows in Huguang, there are a few that can be repaired, basically one less one.

Fortunately, another batch of muskets was seized from the Man Baqin. After a brief inspection, it was believed that even if the quality was not as good as that of the Imperial Guards, the gap was limited and could be used to equip the troops, which was considered to make up for the loss of equipment. Deng Ming instructed Li Jinge of Chengdu to give it to the blacksmith shop for research if the muskets could not be repaired, so that Chengdu could produce its own firearm equipment as soon as possible.

Wu Yuewang took the order to retreat, and Deng Ming then summoned a group of subordinates to deploy specific tasks to them, so that the Ming army would prepare to advance eastward and Yuan Zongdi to attack Li Guoying as soon as possible. While the Ming army was preparing, more interrogation reports were delivered to Deng Ming. Soon Deng Ming had a further understanding of Li Guoying's overall scale this time, and some captured Shanxi officers even heard of Zhao Liangdong's southward journey.

"The information is very chaotic. It seems that Li Guoying once ordered Zhao Liangdong and Wang Jinbao to reinforce Chongqing. They also brought 1, 20,000 armors with them. However, some auxiliary soldiers claimed that Sun Sick used all the ships for his own use, and did not see any ships going up along the Jialing River to pick up Zhao Liangdong. Even if there were a number, there were very few. Thousands of captured auxiliary soldiers followed from Chongqing. They all confirmed that no ships were going up."

This intelligence further supported Deng Mingxian's decision to attack Li Guoying.

Sun Sike, on the west side, had a large number of ships, and could quickly cross the Jialing River and return to Chongqing. Three thousand Han and Eight Banners and two thousand Sichuan and Shaanxi Green Camps, Deng Ming did not think he could take Chongqing quickly. This castle was built on the mountain, with the Yangtze River and Jialing River as moats, which was difficult to attack and blast. Moreover, even if it could break through the city wall, it had to be defeated by street fighting. The success rate and the required price discouraged Deng Mingwang. If he paid too much to conquer Chongqing, he could only watch Li Guoying leave, and the Ming army would lose its ability to attack in the short term. If he failed to take it quickly, he might encounter attacks from Zhao Liangdong and Li Guoying, which would be a worse situation.

Li Guoying on the east side has no solid city wall to rely on. It is easier to see if there is insufficient food and grass. Since Sun Sick has taken all the ships for himself, although he doesn't know when Zhao Liangdong will arrive, it will definitely not be fast. This will give Deng Ming more time to attack the isolated Li Guoying.

Until now, Deng Ming still knew nothing about Yuan Zongdi and the Qing army's previous battle, so his strength was estimated to be 10,000 Chengdu soldiers and 5,000 Wanxian soldiers. The other side was the 8,000 Ganzhou and Shaanxi green camps and 7,000 Shanxi green camps beside Li Guoying. The Qing army had an absolute advantage in the number of armorless soldiers. If a melee occurred, it was also a force that cannot be ignored. In addition, Li Guoying also had the advantage of inside combat and had a great opportunity to defeat the Ming army on both sides. Deng Ming and Yuan Zongdi's advantage lies in the water surface. You can carefully observe Li Guoying's movements and not give the other side a chance to ambush him. In order to prevent being defeated by each, Deng Ming planned to suggest that Yuan Zongdi let a small number of troops stay in Wanxian, and then lead the main force to join him on a boat, and then fight with Li Guoying.

"The military garrison in Chongqing is more impressive than we imagined." The captured Shanxi soldiers confessed that the Qing army's offensive was about 100,000 people, but when they passed by Chongqing, they did not see a military garrison in the west of Chongqing, and Deng Ming's ships passed by the Yangtze River. Therefore, Deng Ming judged that Li Guoying's army was placed on the north bank of the Jialing River to avoid the Ming army's reconnaissance. This is also part of Li Guoying's strategy of bullying the enemy: "After annihilated Li Guoying's main force, we joined the Jingguo Guild, and coupled with the second wave of mobilization from the capital, Wang Jinbao also had an advantage in the face of Zhao Liangdong; Li Guoying's military garrison was prepared for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. He brought all his men to Wanxian, and these crops were prepared for us."

After harvesting Chongqing's crops, they can surround Chongqing without Chengdu's burden of too much military supplies. Without this grain, Deng Ming believes that Chongqing cannot persist for a long time - the harvest is imminent, and Deng Ming estimates that Chongqing's warehouses will soon reach bottom. As long as there is no grain in the warehouse, Zhao Liangdong will still be hungry after arriving.

"Zhang Yong, Zhao Liangdong, Wang Jinbao, Sun Sike." After the subordinates dispersed, Deng Ming gently repeated the names of the four enemy generals while alone, and shook his head gently: "Am I fighting against the Boxer of Justice Wei?"

Although the Ming army made every effort to adjust and tried to advance eastward as soon as possible to launch an attack on Li Guoying, the Ming army was still unable to move for two consecutive days: the camp needed to be strengthened, and the contact with Yuan Zongdi and the reconnaissance of Li Guoying were underway, especially a large number of prisoners needed to be detained and dealt with. The Ming army's actions were quite rapid, but it only began to send the captive 14,000 Qing troops in batches two days later.

Mo Huaizhong was the chief general of the Shanxi Green Camp. He followed the general to Xi'an without hesitation, and then arrived in Chongqing along the river. Before he had time to rest, he participated in the offensive against Wanxian and was deployed to defend in the rear. The day before yesterday, under Sun Sike's command, he ran around for dozens of miles of mountain roads, and then fought with the full-strength Ming army. Friends and neighbors were quickly defeated, and Mo Huaizhong was surrounded with his subordinate troops. At one time, Mo Huaizhong planned to fight with his brothers until he died in a desperate situation, but when the officers of the Ganzhou-Shaanxi Green Camp came to persuade the Ming army to surrender with a sad face and loudly promised Deng Ming that he would never kill prisoners, the Shanxi Green Camp, which was hungry and weak, finally lost his fighting spirit and surrendered to the enemy with a lucky mentality, hoping that the enemy could keep his promise and give them a way out.

The Ming army did not kill them, and the generals were also picked out by the Ming army. After meeting Tan Hong, Deng Ming realized that the generals might not have any prestige among the auxiliary soldiers, but for the personal soldiers and war soldiers, the status of these benefactors is irreplaceable. Therefore, Deng Ming invited the generals of the Shanxi Green Camp to have a meal and allowed them to keep their mounts, swords and cloaks. This posture made many Shanxi Green Camp generals think that Deng Ming wanted to win over them.

Natou was still killing himself. Several generals of the Shanxi Green Camp were fighting against the gods and men. However, Deng Ming did not force them to make a decision immediately, but said that they would invite them to Chengdu as a guest. According to Deng Ming, if they did not abandon them, they would like to invite them to work in the Senate in Chengdu. In order to appease the two thousand captured Shanxi Green Camp's armored and personal soldiers, Deng Ming believed that it was necessary to treat their benefactor well. If more Shaanxi Green Camps were captured, they should do so.

Although it is not clear that the senator Deng Ming mentioned is equivalent to general or deputy general, after a little trial, the Shanxi Green Camp immediately found that they were right. The Senate was composed of generals under Deng Ming. Even if it was not the former general of Chengdu, they were also generals guarding the key passes such as Jiange and Jiangyou. Although the generals of the Shanxi Green Camp have not yet decided whether to surrender, they all secretly decided to go to Chengdu and talk about it, and there is no need to kill themselves immediately.

Today, when Mo Huaizhong was escorted on the ship and sent to Xuzhou, his benefactor was still on the shore. Seeing that the benefactor was safe and sound, his officers and their soldiers were also relieved. Instead of causing trouble, they cooperated with the Ming army to command the prisoners to board the ship. They knew in their hearts that if the benefactor was troubled, it would cause trouble to the benefactor. And according to convention and general logic, if the officers and soldiers openly expressed their disregard for the life and death of the old commander, then the general would have no value to win over. Just as the Qing court's expected treatment of Feng Shuangli, only when his subordinates showed respect and obedience, King Qingyang could be treated well. This was an exchange that both sides knew.

The Ming army did not kill people without blinking like the Han Baqin said. Mo Huaizhong and his colleagues and subordinates were not abused at all. They could not only eat enough but also live in camps. After boarding the ship, the Ming army only sent a small surveillance team to let the prisoners be responsible for internal management themselves. Anyway, there were Ming army warships around, and the prisoners on the ship had no weapons. Their generals were also in the hands of the Ming army. If they were smart, they would not cause trouble.

The hundreds of prisoners on this ship were all under the deck, while Mo Huaizhong and the responsible Ming army officer stayed at the bow. As an officer, the Ming army not only did not tie him up and monitor him, but instead allowed him to stay on the deck of the ship to watch the scenery on both sides of the strait to relax. The Ming army officers who were ordered to board the ship to monitor the prisoners would even answer questions from Mo Huaizhong and others, explaining to them the surrounding geography and the customs and customs of Chengdu and Xuzhou.

When they were moving upstream, cargo ships passed by the Ming fleet from time to time. After the Ming army resumed control of the river, a large number of Ming army merchant ships stagnated in Qijiang rushed south. The sailors on each passing merchant ship would cheer loudly to their business road defenders. When a team of salt merchants passed by, the shopkeepers who were escorting the drums were beaten by the ship, while the tents who were accompanying them beat the gongs.

After seeing so many merchant ships, Mo Huaizhong and his colleagues were very shocked, because when they set out from Datong, they were told that the Deng Ming bandits in Chengdu were just like the thieves in the Great East, and they were just a wandering bandit. The Shanxi Green Camp knew what the bandits should look like, but after encountering the Ming army this time, they found that they were completely different from the bandits. Now they saw the cloud-like warships covering the river surface, and the merchant ship fleet connecting the sky to the ground.

As for the performance of the sailors on the merchant ship, it was far beyond the expectations of the Green Camp. When they were in their hometown, the elders rarely cheered them so enthusiastically.
Chapter completed!