"The prince asked us to tie him up and surrender to Wu Sangui."

"This is absolutely not possible!"

Di Sanxi brought Feng Shuangli's meaning to discuss with everyone, and Feng Shuangli's subordinates expressed their opposition in a wide range of words.

The Qing court's surrender clause was very clear. As long as the Ming generals surrendered, the Qing court would give him the same title in the Ming court, but those who refused to surrender would be executed without exception. If Feng Shuangli did not submit the letter of surrender, he would be executed, which was unacceptable to the officers of his subordinates. Now almost half of Feng Shuangli's subordinates publicly advocated surrender, and many of the remaining people remained silent. A very small number of people were unwilling to do so, but they had no reason to object. They could only use Feng Shuangli's failure to surrender as the last shield: "If the prince can't survive, then we will not live alone!"

"Please advise the prince again." An officer belonging to the surrendered faction said to Di Sanxi. Although he had no motivation to continue fighting with the Qing Dynasty and could not see the hope of victory, this person was still loyal to Feng Shuangli. If the benefactor refused to surrender, he felt that he could only continue to resist.

"Brothers, that's what I think..." Di Sanxi made a gesture to signal the excited colleagues to calm down and listen to him after he finished speaking: "In order to win people's hearts, the Tartars will not punish surrendered generals; in addition, I thought about another reason, that is, the Tartars are afraid that the officers and soldiers below will recur, so they will treat the generals who have morale to the army with kindness."

The purpose of the Qing court was indeed as Di Sanxi said, and the Qing court had no intention of hiding this. Even Tan Yi, who was defeated by Deng Ming, had no strength at all, and the Qing court still granted him a marquis. As for Tan Hong, who was ruled by Wen'an, after confirming his death, the Qing court also posthumously awarded a marquis title, and his son who fled to Chongqing could not be demoted to inherit the title once. This news played a role in shaking people's hearts for Jianchang and other Ming troops in various places, of course Di Sanxi and the others also knew it. In addition, the Qing court felt that its military strength was limited, after all, the Manchus were few and could not closely monitor the surrendered troops everywhere. The Qing court had just entered the pass for more than ten years and its rule was not stable, so the Qing court treated all the surrendered generals so that they could continue to control their own troops. If Feng Shuangli really surrendered, his position as the prince would still not be able to escape.

"But the prince will not surrender." Everyone admitted that Di Sanxi was right. If Feng Shuangli did not surrender, of course it would not fall within the scope of pardon of the Qing court. If Feng Shuangli's subordinates tied up Feng Shuangli to surrender, the custom of the Qing court was to execute him: first of all, the subordinates of this person could rebel and turn against him, which means that he no longer had the ability to control the army and it was useless to stay; secondly, he used this person's head to appease his subordinates who betrayed him, and at the same time eliminated hidden dangers.

"If the prince saw the Wu thief, he would not say anything good. It would be extremely difficult to make him surrender to the Wu thief. But we can jointly explain the situation to the captive court." Di Sanxi felt that if he could explain to the Qing court that Feng Shuangli did not oppose his subordinates' surrender, and he also had a high prestige in the minds of his subordinates, the Qing court probably would not execute Feng Shuangli, at most he would not let him lead the army.

Di Sanxi's words made everyone silent. As long as they could not kill the benefactor, most people would no longer oppose surrender.

"How to explain the situation to the prison?"

"We can only pass through Li Guoying, the thief."

After discussing for a while, everyone decided to write a letter to Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi of the Qing court, and asked if he could plead for Feng Shuangli to the Qing court. In fact, everyone understood that as long as Li Guoying agreed, this pleading would be just a formality. Feng Shuangli was not a particularly important person. The Qing court would not oppose the promise of a governor on such an issue that was irrelevant to the overall situation.

"If Li Guoying agrees, we will surrender; if he does not agree, there will be only a bloody battle to the end." In the end, the surrendered faction reached an agreement: "Send a fast horse to go to Chongqing day and night."

The messenger who delivered the letter can still use the Ming army's banner in the Ming army's controlled area. There is no problem with having a secret letter after entering the Qing army's controlled area. Everyone can probably receive a reply at the end of the month: "If Li Guoying agrees, then we will not be able to capture the court in the future, and the Tartars will talk nonsense."

Less than a quarter of the people were staunch pro-war factions. Seeing that opposition was useless, they wanted to see Feng Shuangli and ask him if he had really said such words and asked everyone to tie him up and surrender. Di Sanxi naturally did not object to this.

(Author's note: In history, the case of Di Sanxi, Jianchang betrayal of Feng Shuangli's surrender was quite special, and no blood was caused in the entire incident. After Feng Shuangli was sent to Wu Sangui's army, Wu Sangui wrote to the Qing court to ask whether he would be executed. The Qing court replied that this should be the case, but Feng Shuangli's situation was special and he was escorted to the capital. Feng Shuangli was released after being sent to Beijing, and the Qing court also appointed him as a prince. When Feng Shuangli's experience spread to Yunnan, Sichuan and other places, it further disintegrated the shaky morale of the remnants of the Ming army. The surrender process in this book is my speculation.)

...

After leaving Chengdu, Deng Ming and others headed south and entered the mountainous area when they arrived in Jiading Prefecture. Most of the fortresses in Sichuan were abandoned, lacking friendly strongholds to be supplied. Moreover, after leaving the plains, the horses did not get enough rest and food and began to die one after another. Occasionally, they could encounter the Ming army strongholds, but they did not have enough for dozens of horses to eat, and it was even more impossible to provide enough transfer horses to Deng Ming and his party. According to them, a few days ago, three emergency military envoys from Jianchang north crossed the border and took all the horses away.

Not only did they have to hurry on the road but also take care of the horses carefully. Deng Ming and his guards were exhausted not long after leaving Chengdu, so they decided to stop for a day to let the horses rest - the road leading to Jianchang was full of mountain roads, and they didn't want to exhaust the horses and then walked forward.

"It's a pity that Mr. Deng is in military service this time, otherwise Mr. Deng could go to Leshan to burn an incense stick, which is very effective." said the guide sent from Jiadingzhou.

Deng Ming, the Great Buddha of Leshan, also heard something. After hearing the guide's words, he asked, "What does it look like? Have you been there?"

"I've been there." The guide was a local and immediately said loudly: "The three rivers meet in Jiadingzhou, so the floods are flooded every year. During the Tang Dynasty, a master traveled here and made a great wish to repair a statue of Maitreya Buddha to suppress the flood. Four generations of people practiced for a total of more than 100 years. Finally, it was repaired and there will be no floods since then."

Deng Ming heard it with relish. He was slightly stunned when he heard the last sentence and asked, "Is there no flood in Jiadingzhou now?"

"There are still some occasionally, but it is incomparable to the one before Maitreya Buddha practiced." The guide said with confidence: "I heard from the old people that before the Great Buddha practiced, the floods were seven or eight feet high in the rainy season, and Jiadingzhou was flooded all of a sudden."

Deng Ming blamed himself in his heart. As soon as he asked his question, he felt it was a bit unsightly. What was he arguing with people of this era? Even in the 21st century, there was no reason to believe in this kind of thing. After recommending Maitreya Buddha in Leshan, the guide recommended another famous scenic spot in Jiading Prefecture: Mount Emei.

"The Golden Summit of Emei is the temple of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva..." The guide talked about the scenery of his hometown with relish. According to him, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is in charge of peace in life. No matter which Buddha people worship or which Bodhisattva they respect, they only ask for peace. Then all the gods and Buddhas will hand over your wish to Samantabhadra Bodhisattva for processing. And Emei Mountain is the most effective as Samantabhadra's temple: "It's a pity that Mr. Deng is in charge of military affairs, otherwise he should really worship him."

Deng Ming had not answered yet, and those who believed in Buddhism among the guards immediately showed a look of fascination on their faces. Although they were all from Sichuan, they had never been to Jiadingzhou before, and of course they would never have been to Mount Emei. Speaking of praying for peace in life, these soldiers have burned many incense sticks for this. Now they heard that the office of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, the head of the department, was next door, so naturally they felt itchy and wanted to worship.

"Wait until you come back," Deng Ming saw the thoughts of these guards and said to them: "When we finish Jianchang's work, if there is no urgent matter when we come back, go to Emei Mountain to burn incense."

Continue south from Jiading Prefecture and enter the boundary of Xingdusi in Sichuan. The capital of Xingdusi is the destination of Jianchang, Deng Ming.

The terrain has become increasingly steeper, and the peaks at the end of the view are all white. Many of the snow on the mountains here have never melted all year round. Compared with the plains, Chengdu Prefecture, where you can see rivers and farmlands everywhere, the population here has become significantly more numerous. There are large areas of farmland in Chengdu Prefecture, and large areas of farmland have been abandoned. In the western Sichuan plain, except for the little crops that Deng Ming had seen in Chengdu City, the remaining land is full of weeds. However, in Xingdusi, you can see some reclaimed terraces. These fields are very fragmented, one in the east and one in the west, distributed on a slightly gentle hillside. At first glance, they are carefully cared for and neatly grown crops.

"Sichuan Xingdusi has always been very poor. It is close to the border of Tibet. The road is rugged and difficult to walk. There are many mountains and few lands. Needless to mention the Dufu, even the Jiadingzhou is much richer than the production here." A guide sent by Yuexiguan introduced.

This new guide was not an indigenous person of Xingdusi, but from Chengdu. When he was a child, he followed his parents to escape from the western Sichuan plain, first to Jiadingzhou, then to Xingdusi, Sichuan, and finally found an errand to guard the beacon tower in Yuexiguan.

He said: "After the Hongguang year, the capital was in Chongqing and was in constant war. At that time, standing on Jiadingzhou, looking north. On Sanjiang, a large number of people supported the elderly and the young, but none of them crossed the north. They were all people who fled from western Sichuan. Originally, the Western thieves and officers and soldiers looked down on Jiadingzhou, and in their eyes, the Dufu was the only one. But after a while, they kept killing each other, killing all the people in the Dufu, and all the non-dead people ran away. The officers and soldiers and the Western thieves began to compete for Jiadingzhou. The officers and soldiers recruited soldiers and collected grain, and the Western thieves also searched for grain. The common people did not pay the grain. The Western thieves wanted to kill the officers and soldiers. None of them had the ability to kill the other faction, so the people were killed by both sides. At that time, floating corpses floated past the Buddha every day and night. There was no way, and the people crossed mountains and ridges to come to this Dushi escaped."

Pointing at the scattered fields Deng Ming had just seen, the guide told him: "There were no crops here, and they were all cultivated by the people who fled from the capital and Jiading Prefecture after they arrived here."

Deng Ming saw that no one was farming in the fields, and the guide explained this question to him. When he saw a soldier passing by, the people would flee to the mountains and forests to hide. These were all tempered in Chengdu and Jiadingzhou in the past. Anyone who did not develop this habit was either killed by a grain troop or pulled away by the passing army as a teacher. Often, those orphans and widows cried bitterly next to their relatives' bodies. Things like "The husband of a certain family said goodbye to his wife and children in the morning to farm, and then he lost all his information" happened repeatedly. After hearing too much, his ears were called into question, and even the people who were slow became as alert as hares.

"There are many people who have gone west over the snowy mountain and have been there." The guide said a lot. He could answer ten questions. He pointed to the farther western mountainous area, which is the plateau area of ​​Sichuan and Tibetan borders: "In recent years, some people have returned. Fortunately, Xingdusi is too poor here. The Western thieves and soldiers are not energetic and come here to fight to death. The people saw that the officers and soldiers and the Western thieves did not come here, so some escaped people came back one after another."

The guardian of the beacon tower at Yuexiguan belongs to the Sichuan Army, which is the officers and soldiers he mentioned. However, he never showed any respect for the Sichuan Army in his words. Li Xinghan's face was gloomy, and he was obviously dissatisfied with the comparison between the officers and soldiers and the Western thieves by this Sichuan Army colleague. However, Deng Ming has quietly reminded him several times not to attack this guide.

"How is the relationship between the garrison of Xingdusi and these people on weekdays?" Deng Ming felt that they should take care of each other. For example, this guide guarded the beacon tower to make a living, not a hereditary soldier like Li Xinghan.

"We used to escape from western Sichuan. The people were a little better to us, but they were also on guard against us. Many families in Xingdusi were already widows. Their men were either killed or arrested. They probably died outside, and they didn't know whether there was a place to bury the bones. These widows worked hard to raise children, and were more wary of them as if they were guarding against wolves, for fear of arresting their half-old children."

According to the guide, the last time Liu Wenxiu was interested in running Jianchang, the news came out, which scared the people here and thought that a big war was about to start again. Didn’t someone cross the mountains and went to the border of Sichuan before? The people helped each other with the elderly and children, and were guided by those who came back from the west, and fled from Xingdusi. After a year, they saw that there was no movement before they came back one after another.

Deng Ming was speechless after the guide's words. After a while, he forced a smile: "Okay, the Tartars might invade Jianchang. The Tartars are very cruel, and the villagers are always good at thinking."

"Tartars, are they very cruel?" The guide had never seen the Qing soldiers.

"Yes." Deng Ming replied, giving a few casual examples, such as the violent movements of the Qing soldiers in Jiangnan and the massacre in Guangdong.

"Well, but in Sichuan, the Tartars are no longer as good as the officers and soldiers and Western thieves." The guide did not doubt the story Deng Ming told, but he made such a conclusion after hearing it.

"How could it be?" As far as Deng Ming knew, the Qing soldiers were as cruel as in Sichuan. I remember someone said that after the Qing soldiers attacked Chengdu, they washed the last alive again.

"Because there is no one in Sichuan. Other places may be the most brutal of Tartars, but in Sichuan, the officers and soldiers must be the first, and the Western thieves will be the second to the Western thieves." This guide obviously does not have many awareness as officers and soldiers: "The people of Sichuan only have three ways. If they become officers and soldiers, they will be killed by Western thieves. If they become officers and soldiers, they will be killed by officers and soldiers, or if they don't treat anything, they will be killed by officers and soldiers and Western thieves. There are not many people in Sichuan now. Even if the Tartars kill all the rest of the people, they will not be able to catch up with the officers and soldiers... Well, if they want to say that the Western thieves are the second position, the Tartars may be able to catch up with them."

Deng Ming looked back with some anxiety. Li Xinghan stared at the guide's back with his eyes fiercely, and it was almost spitting out a fire. Zhou Kaihuang's face was filled with a gloating look that he wanted to laugh but was embarrassed to laugh.

After crossing the snow-capped mountains, Deng Ming knew that it was Lugu again and not far from Jianchang, so he asked the guide from Yuexiguan to return to the base. Deng Ming took out a small piece of silver and a bag of salt from his arms and handed him the reward: "Thank you for your hard work."

"Thank you, Mr. Deng." The guide put the silver in his arms and got the salt bag. He couldn't help but gently weigh the amount of the bag. A hint of surprise appeared on his face and quickly put the bag away. The guide didn't know that Deng Ming gave him the best snowflake stone salt produced by Dachang.

Deng Ming was about to continue his journey with the guards. The guide looked at Deng Ming's figure and suddenly seemed to have made up his mind to run to Deng Ming's horse, and suddenly knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times in a row.

"What are you doing?" Deng Ming was shocked.

"Mr. Deng just said that the Tartars were coming to attack Jianchang, and the Tartars would kill people without blinking." The guide raised his head and looked at Deng Ming's eyes sadly: "It would be better for officers and soldiers to defend Jianchang, but if Mr. Deng felt that if he couldn't defend, if he felt it was unsafe, could he tell the people in advance?"

Before Deng Ming answered, the guide asked anxiously: "I'll tell the people in advance, so that they can escape to the snow-capped mountains earlier and come back after the officers and soldiers win. There are not many people left in Sichuan, and only Xingdusi has survived safely over the years. Please help me."

"You guy!" Li Xinghan was so angry at the guide. Seeing that he was saying such despicable words now, he threw the face of Sichuan people. He jumped up unbearably: "The country is in danger, you don't want to serve the court..."

"Mr. Li Qian!" Deng Ming shouted to Li Xinghan.

After stopping Li Xinghan, Deng Ming jumped off his horse, reached out to help the guide kneeling on the ground, and solemnly promised: "If the Tatar army comes, I will definitely notify the entire Xingdusi in advance so that every citizen can receive the news and give them time to take shelter, and will never Latin Laf. I swear here, I point to the Buddha in the West, and the gods and Buddhas in the sky swear!"

(Author's note: In our history, the last blow against the Sichuan people came from Zhao Liangdong and Wang Jinbao. Because Wu Sangui betrayed the Qing Dynasty, he received a response from a large number of Sichuan people, they adopted a policy of killing all the Han people in Sichuan. After the Han Dynasty Zhao Liangdong pacified Sichuan, according to statistics from the Qing court, there were only 10,000 Han people alive in Sichuan.)
Chapter completed!