Just in case, Deng Ming asked everyone to bring a set of Qing soldiers' uniforms, so that they could get through if they encountered a blockade. In addition to the military uniforms, there were some military waist cards seized from the Qing army. Deng Ming picked up a piece of Baoning Qiang's hand with him.

His subordinates did not agree with Deng Ming's concerns. Due to years of war and repeated tug-of-war, Sichuan's population plummeted, and those people who were not killed also fled into the mountains. Now there are large areas of unmanned areas everywhere. Both the Qing army and the Ming army are not very interested in these unmanned areas, and there is no garrison or blockade line. Therefore, although the controlled areas of the two armies seem to be intertwined from the map, they are just some strongholds. The messengers of both sides can freely pass through the unmanned areas. As long as they are not too close to the prefectures or important fortresses of each prefecture, there is no need to worry about the enemy's patrol team.

Deng Ming and his team had twenty people. Compared with those three, the sender group of two people was a big goal. After they got off the ship, they headed west. Deng Ming divided the outposts and defenders from this team, and carefully explored forward. Some subordinates suggested that they take a shortcut and avoid Chongqing, but Deng Ming was very careful and asked the local guards sent by Wen'anzhi to lead the way. It was needless to say that they would avoid Chongqing. Even the roads that Qing army messengers often took when delivering messages were far away. For this reason, he would rather take a small path and go around a big circle.

The possibility of encountering enemy soldiers is very low. Even if you happen to meet enemy cavalry with a minimum of one, two, and three or four, you don’t have to worry about them actively attacking the Ming cavalry team with up to twenty people. Although it is not common, there are also when messengers on both sides meet. Generally, no one will launch an active attack, but will go to their own destinations. The messengers each have their own tasks, and they all know that the other party is a brave and brave player in the enemy army, and they are peers who perform the same dangerous tasks. They also have a similar feeling of compassion for each other.

Since the communication soldiers will not attack each other and there are no garrisons in the unmanned area, Deng Ming's subordinates naturally feel that there is no need to be so careful. However, Deng Ming is unmoved. Not only does he insist on detours and outpost investigations, but if he finds any disturbances, he will hide them all until the danger is eliminated before continuing to rush on the road. Even if all the "dangerous situations" encountered along the way are proved to be false alarms, Deng Ming is still the same. It is not surprising that Li Xinghan and other old acquaintances in Zhou Kaiyuan. They have seen Deng Ming's "timidity" along the way from Chongqing to Fengjie, and the people who have just come to Deng Ming to serve feel that he is a little too cautious and wasted time, which is a bit unworthy of the loss.

Deng Ming also knew this very well. He explained to Liu Jinge, Yuan Xiang and others: "This time we go to Jianchang is of great significance. We must arrive no matter what. Since we cannot fail, we should not be careless. If the Wu thief army arrives, we cannot defeat Jianchang, but it would be fine if we are not careful and lead to the failure of this trip for one or two enemy cavalry, wouldn't that be too unfair?"

After hiding all the way east, Deng Ming finally arrived at Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan on March 20th.

"The capital (Chengdu) is ahead." After looking at the city walls of Chengdu, the guards of western Sichuan, as the guide, breathed a long sigh, and finally saw the city where the Ming army was stationed. Next, they were all areas controlled by the Ming army along the way to Jianchang.

"This is Chengdu." Deng Ming looked at the tall and magnificent city wall in front of him, which is worthy of being the capital of Sichuan. His scale and momentum are not comparable to Chongqing at this time, let alone Fengjie.

Soon Deng Ming and his party approached under the city wall.

He looked up and saw no flags on the city wall. This was very different from Chongqing and Fengjie. The walls of the two cities were full of flags, and they could also see the soldiers densely covered with battlements and the weapons in their hands. But after walking along the city wall in Chengdu for a long time, Deng Ming saw neither a flag nor a soldier, and walked down the city tower.

"Why is there no one on the city wall?" Zhou Kaihuang looked up at the city wall. Not only was the city gate closed in broad daylight, but the city wall was as empty as the city wall that had just passed.

"This door is closed." The guard who had been to Chengdu also looked up for a while. When he saw that there were no flags on the city tower, he explained to his companions: "Not all the city gates here in Chengdu are open. If there were no flags on the city tower, it means that the door was blocked."

Seeing everyone looking in disbelief, the guide added: "I remember only opened one door, and the rest were blocked. But I forgot which one I opened, so I had to walk along the wall."

Deng Ming and others walked under the empty city wall for a long time. They encountered a urn city that was also not equipped with flags. The gate was also closed. The guide shook his head and wanted to continue moving forward. However, Zhou Kaihuang did not give up. He shouted at the top of his throat for a long time under the urn city, trying to open the door, but in the end he had to give up.

The third urn city I encountered did not disappoint everyone. You can see a lonely red flag trembling on the urn city from afar. But when you approached, you found that the city gate here was still not open. They looked at the urn city for a long time, but they did not see any guards.

"Call the door." Deng Ming ordered, and then shouted in unison with everyone:

"Is anyone?"

"Is anyone?"

After shouting a few times, an answer came from the top of the city: "Someone!" Then a head poked out from behind the battlements and looked at Deng Ming and the others.

Everyone reached out to point to the red flag held by the flag soldiers. After looking at the head for a while, they shrank back. Then Deng Ming and the others heard the battlements and shouts: "San Wu, go and report to the general, you are here to come down from the city!"

As soon as the shout fell, the man poked his head out again and shouted to Deng Ming and the others: "Wait for a moment, and we will only open the city gate when our general comes."

I don't know how long I waited, but finally more heads appeared behind the battlements. On the city and under the city reported their identities, Deng Ming learned that the two people who were talking to him this time were General Liu Yao and Deputy General Yang Youcai. It was said that he came with the order of the commander Wen Anzhi, and the suspension bridge was lowered from the city. Through the moat, he went straight to the city gate. Deng Ming took out the letter Wen Anzhi wrote to the Chengdu general. A basket was hanging from the city, and he put the letter in it and hung it up by the defenders. Now, in Deng Ming's heart, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, has a beacon tower, and the status of General Liu is similar to that of a postmaster.

But what surprised Deng Ming was that the hanging basket used to lift people did not appear, and the two generals disappeared behind the wall. Then Deng Ming heard a heavy sound of moving the door bolt from behind the door - Chengdu finally saved her last dignity as the capital of Sichuan: the soldiers guarding the city gate walked out of the door and began to test Deng Ming and his party's defenses.

"It turned out to be Mr. Deng." After reading the letter Wen Anzhi gave them, Deputy General Yang Youcai showed a hint of excitement. They also heard about the war between Chongqing and Wanxian. Although Yang Youcai had told his subordinates before that the so-called clan affairs were mostly false, now when he saw the real person, his views were immediately different.

However, Liu Yao did not react much. He said to Deng Ming in a light tone: "Mr. Deng may not be able to get all the horses he wants for a while. I have to worry about staying in Chengdu for a few days so that we can get the horses out. The mounts brought by the teacher can also be used to recover their strength."

This means that Chengdu can't even handle the work of the post station. Before Deng Ming could speak, a follower couldn't help asking: "Why do you have to stay for a few days? What about the horses in Chengdu?"

After hearing this question, Yang Youcai's face changed and seemed to be considering how to answer, but Liu Yao didn't think much about it and replied in that calm tone: "We've all gone to work in the fields."

Following the footsteps of the two generals, I saw that the city was filled with cultivated fields, with crops planted on them, and there were still people ploughing.

"Why is the city gate of Du Mansion not open during the day?" Deng Ming asked Liu Yao.

"No one comes anyway." General Liu replied in a low voice. This big city in Chengdu can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. During the Wanli and Tianqi periods, there were tens of thousands of weavers in Chengdu alone. Large weavers did not rest overnight, producing the world-famous Shu brocade and sold to all parts of the country. This was also the commercial center of the western Sichuan plain. Foreign merchants came here to buy tea and other local products from Qingcheng, Emei and other places. The prosperous business also led to a wide variety of industries. At that time, there were endless crowds in front of many city gates in Chengdu every day.

"What about woodcutting?" Deng Ming still felt a little strange. Even cities like Wanxian need to obtain wood from outside the city, otherwise where does the torch of cooking and cooking come from?

"Is there any woodcutter who enters the city in Fengjie?" Liu Yao asked back. He had not left Chengdu for many years and knew nothing about the current situation in Kuizhou.

"Of course." Deng Ming replied that Fengjie not only had woodcutters, but sometimes nearby hunters would also come to the city to sell their prey, and the surrounding mountain people also received the city from exchange for salt.

"It's so prosperous." Liu Yao sighed, waved at the buildings in the city, and explained to Deng Ming: "Now there are only more than 13,000 soldiers in Chengdu, and more than 10,000 military families. There are so many houses full of wood. We can't use them even in a few years, so we don't have to go out to pick wood. Besides, there are no woodcutters around the Du Mansion."

Then Liu Yao pointed to the new field that was only opened this spring: "These lands were originally houses, so we flattened the farming ground, but the wood we demolished had not used up yet."

"Why do you have to farm in the city?" Deng Ming saw a large area of ​​barren land outside Chengdu, and he didn't understand why the Ming army had to slaughter this power.

"The journey is close," Yang Youcai came to explain this time. He answered Deng Ming's question for Liu Yao: "And there is a city wall that can't even enter. Even if you go out before dawn in the morning, you don't have to worry about meeting a wolf."

Deng Ming sighed after hearing this and said nothing. Seeing that Deng Ming had no problem, Li Xinghan began to ask: "Ship Liu, Shuai Yang! I don't understand why you didn't send troops to stand guard on the top of the city. This is very dangerous."

"There are not many wealthy people, and everyone has to go to the ground to work." Yang Youcai replied with confidence: "The land around the capital has been abandoned, and even people have fled to the mountains if they don't die. We soldiers have to have a meal."

"But if there are no sentinels, what should I do if the Tartars come?" Li Xinghan admitted that what the other party said made sense, but he felt that some basic sentinels should be deployed no matter what.

"There is not enough manpower..." Yang Youcai replied, explaining that in order to maintain the operation of Chengdu city, even military families had to participate in labor. Many of the irrigation land depended on well water, which required farming, someone to carry water, and someone to chop firewood... There was a shortage of manpower everywhere, so people could not be sent to guard the city walls again.

"Even if you don't do anything," Yang Youcai concluded in the end: "All 13,000 soldiers went up to the city wall. When Tartars came to attack the city, these soldiers were not enough to defend the entire city wall. There was no one around the capital, so there was no war in recent years. Only we who were ordered to guard Chengdu were still there. If the Tartars really came, we would die, but if we didn't farm, everyone would go hungry even if the Tartars didn't come."

Several other city gates in Chengdu have been blocked for several years. In Yang Youcai's words, this is to prevent thieves. Although there is no people around, sometimes there will be some scattered bandits and bandits passing through the border. The Chengdu defenders are afraid that they will sneak into the city at night and secretly open the city gate to steal the food they have worked hard to grow, so they blocked all the city gates and deployed posts in the only unblocked door. In this way, even if there are thieves coming, even if they climb over the x wall and enter the city without alarming the guards, there is no way to steal a large amount of food.

Liu Yao brought Deng Ming and others to the Sichuan Governor's Office. The senior generals in Chengdu all worked here. Liu Yao lived here. There were some chickens and ducks in the yard, and there were some empty rooms to live in. After Deng Ming and others put down their salutes, Liu Yao explained to the negligence of his subordinates at the city gate: "The messengers who reported the news to the capital in various places only arrived in the afternoon. There would be no one to come when Mr. Deng came today, so the guards did not go to the city to watch. Please forgive me."

Deng Ming was immediately excited when he heard this. Their group ran on the uninhabited road for ten days and knew nothing about what happened during this period. Since there were still a fixed messenger here in Chengdu, he immediately asked Liu Yaoke what big things happened and told them that he had never contacted anyone since he left Fengjie at the beginning of the month.

After hearing Deng Ming's question, Liu Yao, who was already depressed, looked even more depressed, while Yang Youcai suddenly asked excitedly: "Don't Mr. Deng know about the court?"

"What's wrong with the imperial court?" Deng Ming's heart sank. It probably wasn't good news.

"It's just the emperor's hunting west. Didn't Mr. Deng hear that?" Yang Youcai's tone became higher.

"I heard that the emperor left Kunming and went to southern Yunnan." Although Wen Anzhi had always claimed that this was a rumor in Fengjie, Deng Ming and Wen Anzhi knew it was most of the true true.

"Mr. Deng really doesn't know." Yang Youcai shouted.

"What's wrong with the emperor?" This time it was not only Deng Ming, but also the guards beside him shouted together, and those who were standing behind came forward.

Liu Yao just kept shaking his head, while Yang Youcai looked sad and lowered his head to the ground.

"What's wrong with the emperor?" Everyone shouted again.

"The emperor has abandoned the country!" Yang Youcai raised his head and screamed in grief and anger.

Everyone was shocked by the shout. After a moment, Li Xinghan jumped up and scolded, "Nothing!"

"I didn't say nonsense, the news came from Jianchang," Yang Youcai defended: "On the 20th or 21st of last month, the King of Jin and the thieves of Wu fought in Nujiang..."

The guards behind Deng Ming held their breath and waited for Yang Youcai's next article.

"The killing and injury are quite good, King Jin failed to defeat the Wu thief..."

As soon as Yang Youcai said this, everyone looked depressed, and Deng Ming sighed in his heart. He knew that Li Dingguo is now in a remote mountain with sparsely populated and nowhere to collect materials. As long as it is either a big victory or a failure, killing is equivalent to a big defeat.

"The emperor abandoned his country and had already hunted Myanmar in the south." Yang Youcai lowered his head again after saying that. The Sichuan Governor's Office was silent, leaving only heavy breathing.

Li Dingguo originally tried to wipe out Wu Sangui's pursuers in Mopanshan, revitalize the morale of the Ming army and give Yongli the confidence to return to the army, but Lu Guisheng found an opportunity to defect to Wu Sangui's army after the Qing army had already entered the ambush circle of the Ming army, and reported the Ming army's plan and location to Wu Sangui, which led to the Qing army being able to withdraw from the ambush circle, but also launched an attack on the Ming army scattered throughout the ambush circle. Although Li Dingguo bravely repelled Wu Sangui's attack under extreme disadvantage, the elite troops in the Xiying suffered heavy losses and were forced to continue.

Continue to retreat. As early as before this battle, the Emperor Yongli led the Imperial Guards to flee into Myanmar despite the fact that the Ming army soldiers were still fighting behind them. When the Myanmar soldiers guarding the pass asked the Imperial Guards to put down their weapons, two thousand well-equipped Imperial Guards abandoned all their weapons and armor without hesitation, and rushed into Myanmar with bare hands. The personal soldiers of the Emperor Yongli court could still put their arms on the border without pity, and piled up a hill that took Myanmar several days to move away, but refused to turn back to help their comrades who were still fighting hard behind them.

After the Battle of Mopanshan, Li Dingguo completely lost the ability to conceal the news that the emperor abandoned the country, and it soon spread throughout Yunnan. In just ten days, more than 30,000 Yunnan Ming troops refused to continue to obey Li Dingguo's orders, but surrendered to Wu Sangui.

"The emperor has abandoned his country, so you still have peace of mind to farm?" After a while, Li Xinghan suddenly jumped three feet high. Although he didn't know what to do, he felt that he had to do something to deal with this change.

"What are we doing if we don't farm? We still have to eat." Liu Yao said with a sad face: "The emperor has abandoned the country. What else can we do besides continuing to farm?"

Deng Ming was the calmest among the crowd. Although he didn't know about this, he was still mentally prepared for Yongli's escape to Myanmar. The reaction to the other people was: How could this happen? Deng Ming's reaction was: Sure enough, it happened.

"Is this news coming from Jianchang?" Deng Ming asked.

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