Deng Ming left Badong and went straight to Fengjie. Although there was no delay in the middle, it took several days to arrive. It was already early March when he arrived. After entering the city, Deng Ming immediately went to pay homage to Wen Anzhi, who met him immediately.

"The whereabouts of the imperial court are unknown?" Deng Ming immediately asked after seeing Wen'an.

When he arrived at the end of the Ming Dynasty three months ago, he did not care much about the victory or defeat of the Ming army, but gradually became closely related to himself. Some time ago, General Deng Ming was worried about how to explain his origin to the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty in the future. If Emperor Yongli sent someone to ask in detail, Deng Ming could not think of a reason to refuse. But this time, when he saw Wen Anzhi's letter, Deng Ming immediately became worried about the safety of the Ming court. If the Southern Ming collapsed, Deng Ming's current reputation would definitely be wanted by the Qing court.

"Maybe I went to southern Yunnan." Wen Anzhi's face was full of worries. There are all kinds of statements at present, but most of them say that Li Dingguo protected the Emperor Yongli to continue to move southwest, and it was getting further and further away from Fengjie, making it increasingly difficult to get in touch.

In the past two months, people in the Ming army in Sichuan have been in panic. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Wen Anzhi has been promoting that the Emperor Yongli would enter Sichuan soon. The court originally gave orders to prepare for the acceptance of the command. However, news continued to come, saying that the court changed its mind after leaving Kunming, and did not go north but went south. Wen Anzhi denounced this kind of news as a rumor, but he also had some belief in it. When Zi's temperament is not ignorant, the roads in southwestern Yunnan are harsh, the mountains are high and the roads are long and the population is sparse, and it is definitely not suitable to lead the soldiers who are still resisting in various places, but they are not easily pursued by the Qing army.

"Qingyang (Feng Shuangli was named King of Qingyang) has arrived in Jianchang. This is an urgent matter he sent to me." Wen Anzhi handed a letter to Deng Ming.

He himself hadn't noticed that since he met Deng Ming, he had become more and more dependent on Deng Ming. Wen Anzhi was nearly 80 years old. Sichuan was not only in a serious military situation, but also in a complex faction. There were many honor towns. Wen Anzhi felt very tired when it was run. However, there was no assistant who could both trust and help him share the heavy responsibility before - until Deng Ming appeared. This young man was energetic, diligent in his work, and was also a member of the Ming Dynasty. The old man who worked very hard to walk grabbed a crutch, and naturally he became more and more reluctant to let go.

Deng Ming quickly looked at the letter very long, and he didn't know some of them. So Deng Ming asked while looking, Wen Anzhi was explaining at any time. Feng Shuangli told Wen Anzhi that they had been waiting for the court to come, but kept learning that the court and the King of Jin were getting farther and farther away. Jianchang's deserters were emerging from mid-February. Although Feng Shuangli tried every means to suppress the troops, it was useless. The letter was written on February 20. Just two days before writing this letter, Ai Jiye, who was ordered to go to Jianchang to prepare for the reception of the troops, suddenly disappeared. He and several personal guards left the military camp at night. After discovering it during the day, Feng Shuangli sent people to chase him but found nothing.

"Ai Jiye is Ai Nengqi's son..." Wen Anzhi explained to Deng Ming that Ai Nengqi was also Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son. He was ranked as the four princes of the Great Western Dynasty, along with Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, and Liu Wenxiu. After Yongli recruited the Western Camp, he also made Ai Jiye king. Although he was not old and had many subordinates, he still had a certain appeal in the Western Camp.

Deng Ming nodded and continued to look down. Feng Shuangli complained that the army was in a sudden uproar. When Ai Jiye's subordinates saw that the prince had abandoned the army and fled, they immediately dispersed. Now Jianchang is already shocked three times a day. The soldiers circulated rumors about Wu Sangui attacking Jianchang all day long. No matter how he dispels the rumors, he could not suppress the spread of these rumors. Even if he beheaded some soldiers who spread the rumors, he would not care about it.

The last thing Feng Shuangli wrote was even more worrying, that is, Wu Sangui had sent people to persuade the surrender three times. Feng Shuangli wanted to kill the envoy to stabilize the morale of the army, but many subordinates firmly opposed it and brought out the statement that the two countries would not kill the envoys to stop him from doing so. Moreover, some subordinates were still secretly urging him to agree to Wu Sangui's persuasion to surrender. Now the surrendered faction in the army is equal to the pro-war faction. Feng Shuangli asked Wen Anzhi to try to send him a team of reliable soldiers in any case to help him stabilize the situation in Jianchang, and as fast as possible.

"Jianchang is in a crisis." After reading the letter, Deng Ming also understood that the situation there was very dangerous, but Jianchang was the retreat of the imperial court and Jin King Li Dingguo to Sichuan. If Jianchang fell into the hands of Wu Sangui, the road to Yongli and Li Dingguo north would be blocked.

"I have also seen Feng Shuangli, a loyal minister with a firm mind and mortality with the Tartars, and he would not ask for help easily. Since he wrote this letter, he must be helpless." Wen Anzhi had told Deng Ming before that when Liu Wenxiu was running Sichuan, he used Jianchang as a base, which not only had the food stored by Liu Wenxiu, but also a large number of strong men and agricultural equipment he transported from Yunnan to prepare to reclaim Sichuan: "Jianchang now has about 40,000 men, which is more than Chengdu's population."

"The supervisor asked me to go to Jianchang when he asked me to go to Jianchang?" Deng Ming saw that Wen Anzhi was reluctant to give up Jianchang, and wanted to help Feng Shuangli with his help. If this matter was not used, Wen Anzhi would not send an urgent letter to Badong.

Deng Ming guessed well. Although Wen Anzhi wanted to help Feng Shuangli, he could not send out the army at all. At most, one or two hundred people might not help. After thinking hard, he did not come up with any good ideas. At first, he wanted to reply and said that he could not help. Later, Wen Anzhi had a sudden inspiration and thought that Deng Ming was a royal family and could play a role in calming people's hearts, so he wrote to Jianchang and asked Feng Shuangli to persist as much as possible. At the same time, he hurriedly asked Deng Ming to rush back to Fengjie.

"It is very dangerous to go to Jianchang this time. At most, I can only give Mr. Deng a hundred people. If there are too many, I cannot avoid Chongqing's eyes and ears, and I can't move quickly." It was a forced choice for Wen Anzhi to let Deng Ming go to Jianchang. If there were other ways, he would not be willing to let Deng Ming take the risk. After all, Deng Ming'an was like Mount Tai in the Kuizhou army. Wen Anzhi said the truth: "If there were other ways, he would never trouble Mr. Deng."

"The supervisor is serious, and I have no choice but to go to Jianchang to stabilize the morale of the army," Deng Minggang talked to Liu Tichun, knowing that his strategic core is in Chongqing, and attacking Chongqing must rely on the power of Xiying. If Jianchang loses, Liu Tichun's strategy will be declared bankrupt, and the Ming army will be trapped in a corner of the Three Gorges: "No further ado, I am ready to set off now."

Wen An was stunned. He didn't expect Deng Ming to be so easy to talk to. He was worried that Deng Ming would not take risks, so he prepared a set of words that would be cold-hearted. Of course, if Deng Ming refused to go, he wouldn't be able to do it: "Thank you Mr. Deng, I will choose a hundred elite soldiers to accompany him."

There are still some military horses in Kuizhou, although there are not many, but there are definitely one hundred horses. Wen Anzhi plans to send a team of ships to transport Deng Ming and his guards to Chongqing at the same time. After arriving at the destination, Deng Ming and his guards disembark. For example, in the Changshou area, the fleet returns to Fengjie: "Sailors and ships can be prepared within two days. Mr. Deng bypasses Chongqing and goes straight to Chengdu. There should be some horses in Chengdu, and there must be dozens of horses. Mr. Deng can change some horses there and then go to Jianchang."

Deng Ming first said yes, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "No need to have so many people. I have twelve guards now. Just pick ten heroes for me. This way, you should be faster when you prepare. Just give more than 60 horses. We will ride three horses in one person, and it will be much faster to take turns to change horses, and it will be easier to change horses when you go to Chengdu."

If only twenty people were to go and more than thirty horses were brought in, Wen Anzhi would be able to prepare ships and sailors tomorrow, but he was a little worried: "Are there too few people?"

"The key is that I'm going to Jianchang. What's the difference between one hundred and twenty people?" Deng Ming thought about it again and directly asked Wen Anzhi for someone: "President Li Qian, who accompanied me back from Chongqing last time, was extremely brave. The supervisor lent him to me for use. In addition, just give me six more people, gather twenty people and sixty horses."

Although many people in the Ming army were still watching the situation, with unrealistic and beautiful hopes for the future, and believed that opportunities would always appear, Deng Ming knew that the Southern Ming Dynasty was about to be destroyed, and Yongli was the last emperor he knew of. If he could not change history, Yongli would flee to Myanmar, and then the Qing court would unify the world. Now Deng Ming was eager to do something and do his best to break a different historical path, so he was even more versatile than Wen Anzhi.

Although I don’t know why Deng Ming is so anxious, Wen Anzhi still felt that Deng Ming had a vigor that he had not seen for many years, and his attitude of striving to win was also inspiring, which made Wen Anzhi feel that things had a lot to do, and most of the gloom in his heart over the past few days was cleared away. A few days ago, Wen Anzhi was so worried that he couldn’t eat before learning about the great victory of Wanxian. Now he smiled and sighed: “Thank you Mr. Deng, who is so diligent in the king’s affairs.”

"Supervisor," Deng Ming laughed and said, "Can there be anyone in this world who is more diligent in the kingly affairs than me? If the war is unfavorable, will I be the one who suffers the most? If the kingly army can expel the Tartars and restore the Central Plains, can there be someone who benefits more than me?"

Wen Anzhi also smiled and nodded. Although he thought what Deng Ming said made sense, he still secretly admired him.

The two of them didn't say much, and they made preparations separately.

After leaving Wen Anzhi's room, Deng Ming suddenly woke up by the cold wind: "What does it mean that there is no one who benefits more than me? I am not a royal family, what is the matter of Zhongxing of the Ming Dynasty? I will definitely not be able to pretend by then. Alas, I am pretending to be a royal family and pretending to be a real person. I will be cheating people and almost cheating myself in."

After taking two more steps, Deng Ming was shocked again and stopped: "Didn't I tell Master Wen that I am not a clan member? I repeatedly explained to him that I have nothing to do with Emperor Lie, and that when I went to Sanxia, ​​I was just like the fake King of Han he made to calm the morale of the army. How could he see that his expression seems to agree with me? Could it be that he didn't believe me at all? He still believed that I was a clan member."

At this time, Wen Anzhi recalled Deng Ming's words in the study, and couldn't help but exclaim: "If all the children of the Tian family understood the truth as much as the Young Tang King, how could the Ming Dynasty become like today? If the Ming Dynasty was gone, the royal family would no longer have any status. Only the Young Tang King could see such a simple truth."

"Well..." Wen Anzhi sighed, and suddenly another suspicion rose from his heart: "Young King Tang just said, if the officers and soldiers expel the Tartars and restore the whole country, would he benefit the most? No, it should be the one who is today."

However, the suspicion disappeared after a moment. Thinking of Deng Ming's heroic appearance, Wen Anzhi's face smiled again: "I'm seventy-seven. I don't know if I can see the officers and soldiers restoring the two capitals and 13 provinces. When I became an official three years ago, I thought that I could not let down the grace of the late emperor. As long as the Ming Dynasty revives, I will be at ease under the nine springs. Who is the emperor and what does it have to do with me? Alas, I really want to see the day when the king's army restores the Shenjing with my own eyes. Then I can go to see the emperor when I get underground."

...

When Wen Anzhi called Li Xinghan and heard that such a dangerous task was to be handed over to Deng Ming, Li Xinghan immediately objected and advised Wen Anzhi to take back his fate. However, after Wen Anzhi said that Deng Ming's determination had been made, Li Xinghan expressed his willingness to set off with him.

When Wen Anzhi and Li Xinghan carefully considered the other six candidates, Deng Ming also told his guards the mission. Zhou Kaihuang had nine companions who had fought with him in Wanxian and all expressed their willingness to follow him to Jianchang, while Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang opposed it in unison. They believed that this was not the risk that Deng Ming, who had a noble status, should take.

"Sir, do you have a heavy responsibility, how can you deal with the dangerous situation?" Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang's words were basically the same. In short, Deng Ming is too important. If you have to choose one of Jianchang and Deng Ming, they will definitely choose Deng Ming's safety first. Moreover, they do not think that Deng Ming would be in danger if he didn't go to Jianchang. In Yuan Xiang's words, Feng Shuangli was named King of Qingyang by the court, so he must have some ability and be able to stabilize the situation in Jianchang. Seeing that Yuan Xiang opposed so fiercely, Zhou Kaihuang, who supported Deng Ming, became ambiguous and no longer spoke up for Deng Ming's decision, but hid next to him without saying a word.

"If the country does not exist, will I still matter?" Deng Ming knew that these people regarded him as a royal family, so he put on a royal style. I have to admit that Deng Ming felt that pretending to be a royal child can really satisfy his vanity: "General Yuan and General Liu are both loyal people, and they have no time to seek self-employed for the country. For me, it is for the country and for myself, and we should not be left behind."

Seeing that Yuan Xiang and Liu Jinge had the intention to persuade him again, Deng Ming said, "I have made up my mind. If you still don't agree, then I will let the supervisor keep you in Fengjie. This trip may be in danger. I need my brothers who agree with me. If you think it's inappropriate, I won't force you. It's better than having another disagreement on the road. I will ask the supervisor for two more people." As he said, Deng Ming glanced at Zhou Kaihuang, who was silent: "If Mr. Zhou Qian doesn't agree, I will want three."

Liu Jinge was furious when he heard this: "What did Mr. Deng regard our kindness as?"

As soon as he said that Liu Jinge realized that there seemed to be something wrong with his attitude. He just tried hard to persuade Deng Ming not to take risks, but to follow his father and his master's instructions, but now he suddenly remembered that the master said that he should "serve the king only loyally", and not argue with Deng Ming in everything, and not be the first to oppose Deng Ming's decision - this explanation is obviously contradictory.

Liu Jinge, who was confused, became mute after just half of his words. Yuan Xiang next to him made up for him the second half: "Since Mr. Deng has this determination, I will follow him to the death."

Zhou Kaihuang didn't say anything, but just clasped his fists to Deng Ming.

"Okay, let's prepare, we're going to set out tomorrow."

...

That night, Wen Anzhi made preparations and inspected Deng Ming and his party's dry food and weapons repeatedly. Finally, Wen Anzhi also asked Deng Ming to make a final explanation: "Qingyang is the old subordinate of the King of Shu."

"Oh?" Deng Ming was a little puzzled by this.

Wen Anzhi had long expected that Deng Ming would not understand, and the latter made many jokes in this regard. When he first talked about King Shu, Deng Ming thought that King Shu was a member of the Ming royal family. In fact, King Shu was killed by the Western Camp and was defeated by Yongli to the former Prince of the Western Camp, Liu Wenxiu, which also caused many Sichuan soldiers to be dissatisfied.

"The King of Shu and King of Jin are a little disagreement..." Since Wen Anzhi already knew that Deng Ming was a person with no clue, he would no longer suggest it, but explained it clearly to him. Since Li Dingguo put down Liu Wenxiu's house until his death, he also classified many of Liu Wenxiu's subordinates as "old Qin soldiers" - meaning that they were the Sun Kewang faction, Liu Wenxiu's generals secretly had opinions about King of Jin. Wen Anzhi meant that after Deng Ming arrived in Jianchang, he should emphasize the importance of Jianchang to the court more to Feng Shuangli. It is best to mention King of Jin less to avoid causing Feng Shuangli to be unhappy: "Qingyang Gongzhong is in charge of the country, but..."

Wen Anzhi's words made Deng Ming feel another bump: When is it now, and you still have to care about this?

Wen Anzhi had told Deng Ming many similar precautions before. He knew that Wen Anzhi had to pay attention to these things as a supervisor in Sichuan, which was a place with many factions. He also knew that Wen Anzhi was so tired that he told himself that these things were completely in love and good intentions, for the unity of the Ming army. However, Deng Ming still felt absurd - it was not that he thought Wen Anzhi was absurd, but that the Southern Ming Dynasty was too absurd in this era. He had been beaten by the Qing Dynasty and was almost without a foothold, but his views on the door were still so heavy. The army had to be divided into the Chuangying camp, the Xiying, and the direct line; Xiying also had to be divided into the Jin King, the Shu King, and the Qin King; not only the Xiying, but also the Chuangying and the direct line.

"Don't worry, the supervisor." Deng Ming promised Wen Anzhi: "I will definitely not say anything good to King Jin in front of Qingyang, nor will I ask him to stick to Jianchang to guarantee King Jin's retreat, so as not to withdraw from Chengdu in anger."

Wen Anzhi heard the ridicule in Deng Ming's words, but he also knew that this was not directed at him. He sighed softly: "It's fine if you know it in your heart."
Chapter completed!