When the generals around him heard the report of the guards, all the soldiers showed a look of surprise. Wu Sangui looked gloomy and waved his hand to let the guards take the letter. He first carefully checked the envelope, which contained the words "open letter" on it.

"What is an open letter?" Wu Sangui didn't quite understand. He thought for a while, then tore open the envelope and took out the letter to look.

The generals next to him saw that their general's face became worse and worse. When they saw the letter end, they were already in a state of rage. Wu Sangui suddenly rubbed his hands and tried his best to tear the letter. But after a moment, Wu Sangui stopped again, opened the letter that had been rubbed into a ball, and read it again. This time, Wu Sangui read it very slowly, and his face returned to calm after reading the letter.

"He admitted that it was all done by him. He ambushed my subordinates in Jianchang, then harassed and destroyed them in Dongchuan Prefecture, and finally came to Kunming to set fire and spread military orders." Without waiting for his subordinates to inquire, Wu Sangui told them the general content of the letter. During his speech, Wu Sangui paused for a moment, and finally tore the letter in half, and then tore it into four parts... While talking to the generals in a calm tone, he slowly tore the letter to pieces, and there was no trace of anger in his movements.

"Is it Feng Shuangli's person?" someone asked.

"I didn't say that he didn't think he was a subordinate of anyone." Even if Deng Ming claimed to be a subordinate of a general, Wu Sangui would no longer believe him anymore. He would also seriously investigate Deng Ming's life experience: "Besides, Feng Shuangli is so virtuous, and he has such a capable subordinate? If he had this ability, would he escape to Jianchang like a wild dog?"

Wu Sangui threw the fragments of the letter paper aside and suddenly chuckled: "I, Wu Sangui, respect heroes in my life, and value heroes. Unfortunately, such talents do not know the overall situation and cannot be used by me."

After sending this feeling, Wu Sangui ordered a letter to Sichuan Li Guoying, asking him if he knew about this person who suddenly appeared. At the same time, he also asked someone to chase the fleeing generals of the Xiying with his letter. Although Wu Sangui knew that there was little hope, he still tried to persuade them to come back. The third thing Wu Sangui had to consider was how to explain to the Qing court. Kunming suffered such heavy losses, and the Qing court would be furious when he learned about it.

However, Wu Sangui needed Hong Chengchou's cooperation. Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong had met Deng Ming. Zhao Liangdong asked for his pass and the command arrows sent by Wu Sangui, no one could escape when it comes to responsibility. The two of them are now grasshoppers tied to the same line. Wu Sangui planned to conceal the truth from the court. Anyway, the southwest is so far from Beijing, as long as Hong Chengchou is willing to unify his words with Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong, he can still conceal some of the guilt.

However, Hong Chengchou has never been seen. If Hong Chengchou was trapped in the fire, Wu Sangui really didn't know how to face the court.

Whatever you think, on the morning of the fourth day, the troops searching near the grain warehouse found several skeletons burned to char. The Qing soldiers found several command arrows and a large seal from it. Although these things were burned to be difficult to identify, it was probably still possible to see that they belonged to Hong Chengchou. With these alone, it is impossible to tell whether the corpse was Hong Chengchou. However, the soldiers at the scene also found a jade pendant and a jade ring from one of the corpses, and they took these things to Wu Sangui and others for their inspection.

Wu Sanguizai looked at the jade artifacts carefully, his face pale and no longer had a trace of blood: "This is indeed a matter of strategy, and it is always carried close to you."

Without identifying the spy, he gave his command arrow to the enemy, causing fire in Kunming, killing each other, and finally losing the important officials of the strategic level. Wu Sangui really had the urge to draw his sword and commit suicide.

"Master, Maleman!" Zhao Liangdong pulled Wu Sangui to the side. Now Zhao Liangdong was also very anxious. Although the command arrow was given by Wu Sangui, he asked for Deng Ming. Moreover, in Kunming, if Wu Sangui could take most of the responsibility, then the blame Zhao Liangdong would need to share would be less; if Hong Chengchou was burned to death and Wu Sangui wiped his neck himself, Zhao Liangdong would have to bear all the anger of the Qing court alone.

Now Zhao Liangdong knows that for himself, he has to protect Wu Sangui. The Qing court may still make Wu Sangui commit crimes and make meritorious contributions for the situation in Yunnan. If Wu Sangui is not guilty, then Zhao Liangdong probably would not be investigated. In order to calm the Qing court's anger, Zhao Liangdong offered Wu Sangui's advice: "Master, this guy who pretends to be Baoning Qian, we didn't know who he was. It was recommended by Hong Jingluo to the Grand Marshal and the last general. He said that talent was rare. We just met and had Hong Jingluo's recommendation. Who would have thought that he was doing it in detail?"

Wu Sangui glared at Zhao Liangdong, knowing that the other party meant to let Hong Chengchou take the biggest blame. Anyway, the dead could not tell him. If we follow Zhao Liangdong's statement, it would be that Hong Chengchou was unaware of the people and recommended a dangerous detailed work to Wu Sangui, which led to this disaster. In the end, whether it was afraid of the crime or make up for the merits, he died in the Kunming fire. In this way, the court might still think that Hong Chengchou was worthy of death, and Wu Sangui's crime of falling into a major official of the rank of the rule-level seems to be nothing.

"It's just a grievance." Wu Sangui sighed with guilt. He had already agreed to Zhao Liangdong's suggestion, and this matter was feasible. After all, everyone is not clear about what happened in Kunming. Hong Chengchou is dead. As long as Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong confess their confessions, they can tell the court.

...

The Xiying army that fled Kunming had no clear purpose at first, and they just wanted to escape as far away as possible from Kunming. Three days after fleeing Kunming, the 30,000 Xiying army had different opinions, and a considerable number of people were unwilling to go west to find the Yongli court and Li Dingguo. They were already desperate for the Yongli court, and this time they surrendered once, and it was even more difficult to meet. Moreover, the environment in Myanmar was very harsh, and the army did not know how to make a living after going there.

Someone suggested going to Jianchang to find Feng Shuangli. A few days ago, there was a rumor that the Jianchang army would surrender, but then there was no follow-up. There were rumors that the fight started again, but everyone felt that Feng Shuangli could probably understand everyone's desire to be desperate. Moreover, Feng Shuangli was also an orphan raised by Zhang Xianzhong. Although his status was far less than that of the four princes of Daxi, Sun, Li, Liu and Ai, he was also considered the adopted son of Zhang Dawang and had prestige. To take a step back, Feng Shuangli's status was not that high, not as strong as Li Dingguo, and did not have so many troops. Everyone felt that it would be easier to talk, at least not to liquidate the surrender of everyone.

In this way, almost 17,000 people turned north to Jianchang, and took away the auxiliary soldiers and people they encountered along the way as much as possible - Yunnan seems to be unable to stay there. Everyone knows that even if they go to Jianchang, someone will need to farm. The population is the most important in the troubled times. Xiying has been operating in Yunnan for many years and has been intimidated with the people, so it is not difficult to relocate the population.

After hearing that Wu Sangui was not good for the surrendered army, some of the Xiying surrendered troops in other places were hesitant, and they rushed to join the main force again. On the way, some of the remaining Ming troops occupying the mountaintops saw so many Xiying troops passing through the border, so they stopped fighting guerrillas and went down the mountain to meet them. The Ming army who went north to Jianchang was unstoppable and drove towards Sichuan in a mighty manner. They naturally ate the supplies along the way and took away all the population. In this way, even if Wu Sangui wanted to pursue, he would completely need the rear to provide food and salary. Of course, after they had to do this, the army of King Jin and the Yongli court would increase the difficulty when they went to Jianchang. However, these troops did not consider the life or death of the court. For them, it would be better for the court not to go to Sichuan.

But Ma Bao and others did not travel with him. Most of the 15,000 Xiying officers and soldiers left behind belonged to the King of Jin in Xiying. Feng Shuangli could be regarded as the Qin faction in Xiying or the Shu faction. It has nothing to do with the Jin faction. Ma Bao and the others were unwilling to go to Jianchang to get angry. These people had a good relationship with Li Dingguo. After surrendering, they always felt sorry for the King of Jin. Now, they came out and thought about how to find the Yongli court in order to make meritorious contributions.

These days, Kunming did not send troops to pursue the Western Army. Instead, the envoys who persuaded surrendered to surrender one after another, tried to persuade these surrendered generals in the Western Army to go back. Wu Sangui's envoy swears that someone had falsely sent orders from beginning to end. Wu Sangui could not tell the truth in its original form. He could only repeatedly guarantee that he had no malice towards the Western Army. However, the envoy's explanation was not accepted by the Xiying generals. They felt that if it were not for Wu Sangui's instruction, the Qing army outside the city would not rush up to attack the surrendered army in the south of the city. As for someone with false orders, the Xiying generals would not believe it.

Regardless of whether it was a misunderstanding or not, Ma Bao knew that he had no turning back. That night, he rushed forward and killed a Qing army guerrilla. Now, just like Wu Sangui said, Ma Bao could only resist to the end, not to mention that he did not believe what Wu Sangui said. After being elected as temporary commander by the camps, Ma Bao began to carefully think about the future of this Western army. After repeated weighing day and night, Ma Bao summoned all the generals and proposed to go west along the avenue to attack the Qing army in Tengchong.

"The fire in Kunming was so big that night, most of the savings in the city were wiped out by the fire." Ma Bao's inference aroused a lot of consent. Everyone saw the fire that day, and if Kunming had military rations, they would send troops to attack the Western Army, and they would definitely not watch them destroy the vast amount of money around Kunming.

"In general, the current deployment of the Tartars in Yunnan is to focus on the outside and neglect the inside." Ma Bao discussed his ideas with everyone.

In the past, the Qing army formed a defensive circle with Kunming as the center. Hundreds of thousands of troops were scattered in this circle to suppress and control the entire Yunnan territory. The surrendered Ming army was sent to Kunming, either reorganized and sent to this circle to assist the Qing army in suppressing work, or gathered together like Ma Bao and others to form an expeditionary force to attack the Yongli court.

Wu Sangui himself was in Kunming, with 50,000 mobile troops stationed outside the city, and a large amount of food and grass were stored in the city. No matter where an emergency occurred, Kunming's mobile troops could respond quickly. Local troops needed to rely on Kunming's material support. Even if there was a surrendered Ming army again, they would quickly fall into trouble again because they could not obtain materials. The main force of the Ming army commanded by Li Dingguo may be able to gain an advantage over a local Qing army garrison, but these garrisons could get quick support from Kunming's mobile troops; and even if Kunming did not support, the Ming army might not have the strength to siege the local Qing army garrisons that had been moved into a defensive state for a long time; even if they could siege and capture the city for a long time, they would not be able to seize any food and grass.

But now there is a problem in Kunming. Wu Sangui's mobile forces suddenly lost their mobility, so the troops in the entire Qing army's defense circle will appear to be dispersed. These Qing army, which also needed Kunming's materials to provide supplies, also lost their mobility.

"We should not just think about going to Myanmar to find the emperor and King Jin. We will first attack Nujiang, then attack Tengchong and kill from behind. As long as Kunming cannot send reinforcements, we can sweep the prefectures, warehouses, villages and towns along the avenues, so that the Tatars in the west cannot get any food and grass supply, and then attack them with the King of Jin and eliminate them all." The farther away from Kunming, the more desolate the place will become and the more difficult it will be to raise supplies. Since Li Dingguo has retreated to the Myanmar border, the Qing army surveillance and defense troops following him have also penetrated into the uninhabited border areas. Ma Bao felt that as long as he cut off all the ferries in the Nujiang River and broke all the warehouses in the Tengchong area, the supply status of these Qing soldiers would probably be worse than that of Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan. There are not many Qing guard troops in these areas behind them, and they will definitely not be able to resist a Xiying field force of up to 15,000 people.

...

At this time in Tengchong, the Qing army garrison received a letter from central Yunnan - this was the last letter sent by Ma Bao before completely paralyzing the traffic system of the Qing army station in this area. According to the label, it seemed that it was sent by a personal guard of the King of Pingxi.

At this time, the Qing army guerrillas did not know what happened in Kunming, but only knew that there seemed to be some troubles in the traffic line behind. It seemed that there were large groups of Western thieves rushing to make trouble, which caused the military rations sent from central Yunnan to be unable to be stored in time for several days. The guerrillas were surprised that there were still large-scale Western thieves in the rear, but he was not too worried about this. Wu Sangui's army near Kunming was worried that they could not find the main force of the Western wing. Since they dared to jump out, Kunming would definitely set out quickly to fight, and now they may have been wiped out completely.

"Remember." Guerrilla threw the letter to the master.

"Open letter." The master said loudly the words on the cover.

"What is an open letter?" asked Guerrilla.

The master shook his head: "Without this word, it is obviously a word that is created."

"Don't care about him, keep reading." Guerrilla waved his hand. There were too few educated people these days, and a personal soldier probably couldn't afford to hire a master. It's nothing great to create a few words.

The master tore open the envelope and took out the open letter, and read the beginning of the letter with a loud voice: "The Han general is famous for paying homage to the letter, Wu..."

The master's voice quickly became very low, and he was almost inexplicably chanted at the end of the word "Wu". Deng Ming's words were quite polite, but once this title was released, it would be meaningless no matter how polite it was.

However, his boss was not angry. After understanding what the owner of the letter was saying, Guerrilla sneered: "Who is it another crazy man who doesn't know the height of the sky and the earth? Then read it."

At this time, the master had already looked down for another paragraph, his face turned pale at this time, and he did not respond to the orders of guerrillas for a moment.

"What's wrong? I'm chanting." Guerrilla looked at the master strangely.

"Boss, something big is not good!"

...

In Guiyang, after receiving the open letter, the Guizhou Governor's Office and the Admiral's Office lost their voices inside and outside the head of the admiral. The things in the letter were too bizarre. The person who claimed to be the name of the Han general admitted to Wu Sangui in the letter: I led all the soldiers and generals sent to Jianchang to annihilate them with nineteen cavalry; the army deployed by the general in Dongchuan Prefecture was also dispersed by me and these nineteen cavalry; the general's Kunming city was also set on fire by me and seventeen other people; the general's 100,000 troops stationed outside the city were still the ones I falsely sent orders to make them strife.

"This..." Although the Governor's Office and the Admiral's Office were experienced civil and military officials, they were still at a loss after seeing the letter. Although the letter had only a few words to introduce the situation, everyone was shocked. Although the yamen quickly ordered the confidentiality, such amazing news quickly spread throughout Guiyang. While the Governor and the Admiral sent people to refute the rumors, they quickly sent their confidants to Kunming to inquire about the situation.

However, their confidants had just sent it out, and nearby prefectures and counties also reported that they had received a crazy and disobedient open letter. The leaders from all over the country said that they did not believe a word of what the thief said in the letter, but they still hope that Guiyang could officially refute the rumors and stabilize the people who were bewitched by rumors.

After receiving this news, the governor and admiral who were busy refuting the rumors in Guiyang City were relieved. They were afraid that this open letter would only be sent to themselves. If the news spread, Wu Sangui might vent his anger. But the person who wrote this letter was obviously very tactful and wrote many identical letters to distribute them widely. In this way, even if the matter was true, Wu Sangui would not pursue it to himself. When the matter developed to this point, Guizhou felt that the content of the letter was true. As for whom the person who wrote this letter was sacred, there were also discussions inside and outside the yamen.

...

Before the news came back to Kunming, Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong were still trying their best to conceal the losses. They planned to try to blow the wind to the court and the surrounding provinces first, and then destroy the arsenal and grain warehouses, burned Kunming, half of the army was dispersed, and the bad news of the burial in the sea of ​​fire was reported to the court in batches. Of course, the first report was that Hong Chengchou knew that the people were unknown, so he recommended a detailed work for them to be his subordinates.

In a blink of an eye, all Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong's efforts to cover up the truth were vain. The yamen who received the open letter sent urgent envoys to Kunming. Moreover, such a big thing could not be completely covered, and some news that had been revealed was immediately spread.

Now even Wu Sangui's subordinates knew the full content of the letter that King Pingxi tore off. In Dai Jianxiong's camp, his master took a copy of an open letter and read it to his boss and other officers: "... Although it is said that 'a real man fights wits but not strength', my actions are not done by a gentleman. After returning to Sichuan today, he will train his soldiers and strive to win the battle with General Wu as soon as possible - the name of General Han is again."

After the master read the letter, Dai Jianxiong and others remained silent. Deng Ming had this tone of neither humility nor arrogant throughout the letter, and even had a modest attitude of self-deprecating juniors, but this attitude seemed to bring greater humiliation. After a long time, General Dai Shen said softly: "This is a provocative war letter."

...

In Kunming City, Zhao Liangdong and Wu Sangui scolded Deng Ming together. This time Deng Ming cheated them so badly. When the two of them struggled hard to escape from this quagmire, Deng Ming stomped on them again. When Zhao Liangdong thought of the so-called open letter, he was filled with indignation: "It is clearly a letter to the general, but it actually spreads around. Is this a letter or a proclamation? It's such a despicable and shameless villain!"
Chapter completed!