"Did they bring the war letter back?" Hu Quancai took it for granted that the Ming army did not dare to send their own people to Wuchang as envoys, so he sent back a few prisoners. The word "large number" used by the messenger was ignored by him.

"No." The messenger also felt that the news was simply unbelievable.

When groups of Wuchang soldiers arrived at Hanyang Mansion this morning, the Hanyang Guard thought he was dreaming, so he opened his eyes desperately before seeing the scene in front of him, and was convinced that the Ming army had really released thousands of elite Qing troops back.

Faced with the inquiry from the Governor of Huguang, the messenger replied carefully: "When the villain came from Hanyang Mansion, more than 500 soldiers had already returned to the city. The leader said that Deng Ming, the pseudo-Jiangnan Admiral, released more than 1,700 people back."

"What?" Hu Quancai's aides and generals all shouted out in disguise.

Faced with the unanimous questioning of everyone in the lobby, the soldier's neck shrank and continued to report in a low voice with a timid expression: "I heard from those who came back that Deng Ming picked out all the captured officers and soldiers in Wuchang and Hanyang, and released them all home."

Everyone in the yamen was stunned, look at me, look at you.

There are soldiers with small families in the city, which can be said to be the most reliable soldiers in the Qing army, because when facing the Ming army's attack, they defended the city to protect the safety of their relatives. But if they were used by the Ming army, they would also be very dangerous enemies, because they would desperately break through the city in order to reunite with their families.

After learning that the Wuchang soldiers sent to Zhongxiang were completely destroyed, Hu Quancai immediately ordered all the families of these people to be controlled. If the Ming army dared to use these people as vanguards to attack the city, he planned to take the families of these people to the top of the city to attack the morale of these Wuchang soldiers.

However, the effect of this method is difficult to say. Because the location on the city wall is limited, it is impossible to take all the families of surrendered soldiers up, and it is even more impossible to accurately send the relatives of the soldiers who are siegeing the city to him. At most, they would call and threaten them to kill all their relatives if they did not turn against each other in the Ming army. However, it is not easy for the other party to turn against each other in the Ming army. If they really kill their relatives, they might even arouse their revenge. In short, this kind of thing is very difficult to deal with.

Everyone in the lobby asked themselves one by one, if they were in Deng Ming's position, they would definitely not have brought such a good group of cannon fodder back.

"Don't he want to fight Wuchang anymore?" an aide murmured to himself, but he felt that his judgment seemed to be wrong.

Everyone really couldn't understand the meaning of Deng Ming's doing this, so they looked at the Governor of Huguang, who was sitting firmly in the middle, hoping that the Governor could see through the enemy's sinister intentions.

"Of course not. This move just shows that he is going to attack Wuchang, otherwise he would not have put these people back." After the initial shock, Hu Quancai was still as he was sitting on the chair without saying a word and listened to the discussions of the people below. When everyone looked over, the Governor of Huguang had already figured out everything and was very careful about Deng Ming's intention: "He will definitely launch a feint attack, proclaiming to take Wuchang, let these people work wholeheartedly for him, send these surrendered soldiers to be the vanguard to attack the city, use our hands to consume them, and use their hands to consume the officers and soldiers in the city. This is the strategy of the thief killing two birds with one stone."

Everyone nodded when they heard this. Seeing Hu Quancai's confident look, an aide immediately gathered in to talk, "What's the conspiracy of this guy?"

"Hmph." Hu Quancai shook his sleeves, stood up from the chair, walked to the hall with his hands on his back, and the worry between his eyebrows and eyes became stronger and stronger. After walking back and forth in front of the civil and military officials in Huguang, Hu Quancai sighed to the sky: "Deng Ming has a strong force, and he can't use these surrendered soldiers that he thinks are unreliable."

Hu Quancai estimated that if there were tens of thousands of Wuchang soldiers surrendered, Deng Ming's method would be the same as Wu Sangui used in Yunnan, using the surrendered army as the vanguard to make them counterattack their hometown; but now there are only one or two thousand Wuchang soldiers. Deng Ming believes that these suspicious troops cannot cause major losses to the Wuchang defenders, and if they are defeated, it may affect morale, so he still uses the Ming army as the main force of the attack.

"Deng Ming's men have far more than 100,000 thieves, so he can defeat Zhong Xiang in two days. He sent these people back to destroy the morale of our army, attempting to disrupt the hearts of the people, and make the officers and soldiers lose the fighting spirit of resisting to the death." The more Hu Quancai thought about it, the more he felt that Deng Ming was sinister and vicious. If only a few prisoners were sent back to promote the Ming army's failure to kill the surrendered soldiers, Hu Quancai could still control the news and prevent the morale of the army from being affected. But now the other party released two thousand people in one breath, and the news could not be kept in the end. Maybe it would have spread in the city now.

"Deng Ming, you are so vicious." Hu Quancai said gritting his teeth, and then inferred to his subordinates: "Two thousand people return to Wuchang, think about how much noise there will be along the way! Now the people around him already know that his army is approaching; those ignorant fools and foolish women will also think that since he doesn't even kill those who serve in the army, he will probably not kill the common people. In this way, when the thieves drive towards Wuchang, those foolish people will not flee, which will be more conducive to his collection of food and grass."

When the governor of Huguang was told with a few words, he carefully explained the enemy's sinisterness and analyzed it clearly, and everyone was convinced.

The confusion in the heart of the messenger was no longer there. He remembered something again and hurriedly shouted to Hu Quancai: "Governor General, the person who was released also said that Deng Ming gave each of them one tael of silver, saying it was "severance payment". He also had to change them to make a promise that the people were not allowed to disturb the people along the way, and they would have to pay for food or boat rides."

"It's so vicious!" Hearing this, an official was furious, jumped up, clenched his fists, and shouted at Hu Quancai: "Sir, he is blinding the foolish people and letting them stay to lead the way."

Hu Quancai said softly, "It's true that's not what I expected."

"Sir, how should we deal with it?" Everyone in the hall was anxious now. Deng Ming showed his murderous intent and pressed him step by step, but his move was still difficult to deal with. As many as two thousand surrendered soldiers could not have been killed and silenced. Moreover, they had definitely spread the matter a lot after going back along the way, and even if they were killed, it would be useless.

When this incident spreads throughout Hanyang and Wuchang, people will definitely be volatile. The Qing army will even believe that Deng Ming treats prisoners well. When the Ming army attacks the city in a large scale, how can we still expect soldiers to resist without hesitation?

"What a big deal, it's really great." Although he hated Deng Ming's viciousness, Hu Quancai also secretly admired the other party's strategy and spirit. He let out two thousand soldiers who could be cannon fodder in one breath. This strategy is indeed not something that a petty person can do. Moreover, Hu Quancai cannot use these surrendered soldiers now. Who knows how many of them have been bribed by Deng Ming? It must be patiently identified for a period of time before these surrendered soldiers can be recaptured. But the soldiers are now in a dangerous situation, obviously not so long. Hu Quancai thought about it carefully and was shocked to find that the other party's strategy was said to be unscathed and could not be prevented.

After slowly walking back to his chair and sitting down, Hu Quancai picked up the three arrows on the table. He didn't have time to put them away just now, and there was no need to put them away now.

"I sent the order to Yiling, Jiangling, and Poyang Lake Navy to return to Wuchang immediately and prepare to fight against the thieves." Hu Quancai threw three command arrows into the hall again.

Just now, the talents were still objecting, and most of them remained silent at this time. Deng Ming's intention was too obvious. Hu Quancai's analysis of the enemy completely convinced the civil and military officials present, and it is indeed necessary to draw a large army back to Wuchang at present.

"There are more than 100,000 thieves, and they cannot move quickly." Seeing that their subordinates were in a low mood, Hu Quancai began to boost morale again and further analyzed to everyone: "After breaking Zhongxiang, they will definitely have to rectify for a while. Moreover, Da Wuchang is not Xiao Zhongxiang. Are the thieves really so arrogant, thinking that they can take Hanyang with tens of thousands of people, and Wuchang's two prefectures cannot succeed? This governor concluded that their main force would never be able to reach the city of Wuchang within ten days, and Yiling and Jiangling's troops would come down the river and within three days."

After hearing Hu Quancai's words, the worry on many people's faces dissipated a little.

The three personal soldiers came forward at this time, each of them picked up an arrow, and after Hu Quancai's aides drafted a written order, they would go upstream to pass the order.

Seeing several staff members writing the order to give up Jiang Fang, listening to the brushstrokes, one of the staff members finally stood up to oppose it. He said to Hu Quancai: "Governor General, once he is transferred back to the navy and abandoned Jiangling and Yiling, the efforts he has been working hard for the past five years will be ruined."

Although this aide did not say who had worked hard for five years, everyone knows that he was referring to Hong Chengchou. The navy and the fortresses in the Yiling area formed a complete defense system. Since the establishment of the powerful Poyang Lake Navy, the Qing army could threaten the Ming army that guarded the throat of the Three Gorges, forcing the other side to leave heavy troops to guard the base, and even more unable to attack Yiling by boat. It is easy to transfer the navy and garrison troops back, but if the Ming army took the opportunity to control the entrance of Poyang Lake, it would be difficult for the navy to return again.

"Once the thieves enter Poyang Lake and intercept our navy, how many soldiers should be sent to defend the prefectures and counties around the lake? If you want to raise so many soldiers, how should Huguang's financial resources be supported?"

Hong Chengchou had the full support of the Qing court, but now Hu Quancai has no. If the navy cannot enter Poyang Lake, he has to find a place by the lake to rebuild the ship, and then fight out the Ming army navy in the lake. Before regaining control of the waters of Poyang Lake, Changde Prefecture to the west, Changsha Prefecture to the south, and Wuchang Prefecture to the east, must always be guarded against the landing and harassment of the Ming army. It can be imagined that this will bring great military and economic difficulties to the Huguang Governor's Office.

Everyone accused this person of being unrealistic. Now that Wuchang is in danger, there is no time to consider the troubles that will last in the next few years.

Hu Quancai was also secretly angry. If Wuchang was lost, he, the governor of Huguang, would have done his best. But if he could protect Wuchang in front of more than 100,000 Ming troops, then giving up Jiangfang would be a meritorious service at most. Maybe the court would not give punishment. After all, it was the court who took time out the troops of Huguang to attack Kunming's grand strategy. Now that the Ming army is in a big way, Hu Quancai had to abandon the car to protect the general, which was really helpless.

But the aide still refused to give up and advised: "Wuchang can probably solve the urgent problem of the urgent problem of the Governor-General's heavy troops from Yiling, Jiangling and other places. Yuezhou should not give up for the time being, so let the navy stay in Yuezhou first. If Wuchang is really in danger, Yuezhou is not far away, and the navy can come soon."

Although he was unhappy, Hu Quancai admitted that what this person said was reasonable. Giving up Poyang Lake had too much impact, and it was indeed very difficult to recover it in the future. So Hu Quancai revised the order to be sent to Yuezhou and ordered the navy to stay there for the time being, but the troops from Yiling and other places should be transported to Wuchang as soon as possible through the Yangtze River.

After sending these three orders, Hu Quancai sent Beijing an urgent report of 600 miles. The memorial stated that Deng Ming, the pseudo-Ming Jiangnan admiral who was suspected of a royal family, suddenly led 200,000 bandits, claiming to be 570,000 people, and fought along the Han River to Wuchang. The troops of the two lakes were empty and difficult to resist, and green camps from Henan, Jiangxi and other places were urgently needed to enter Hubei to support. If possible, Hu Quancai also hoped to be able to transfer some elite troops from Guizhou to Huguang.

As long as some elite troops were transferred back from Guizhou, Hu Quancai felt that it would not matter if Poyang Lake was lost. After all, as long as all the prefectures and counties around the lake were controlled, the Ming army navy would definitely not wait for death in the lake, but could only retreat obediently. However, Beijing may not agree to this request. After all, the Emperor Yongli was in the southwest. The Qing court's grand strategy was to concentrate its efforts to eliminate the appealing Emperor Yongli, so that people all over the world believed that the Ming Dynasty had completely perished.

Hu Quancai considered this and in the memorial, he hinted in the court that he should not just stare at the Ming emperor who had abandoned his country and fled to Myanmar, but should pay more attention to Deng Ming. This Ming royal family, whose identity is still unclear, made trouble in Sichuan and Huguang, and his reputation grew day by day. If he lets him continue to make trouble, sooner or later, he will surpass the Emperor Yongli. Moreover, Deng Ming's current scope of activities is not the remote and barbaric Myanmar, and his threat to the rule of the Qing court is much greater than that of Yongli.

...

Zhong Xiang.

Deng Ming has been quite leisurely these days. The prisoners were let go, and the soldiers who borrowed from the four generals to take care of the prisoners lost their effect. After returning these soldiers to several generals, Deng Ming taught the guards to recognize their words every day, and discussed with them the future plans.

Deng Ming decided to go to Nanjing, but he planned to wait a few more days before breaking up with the Kuidong generals when they return to the base. At that time, the Qing army would probably think that Deng Ming had also returned with the Ming army. Taking advantage of this misjudgment by the Qing court, he could go to Nanjing safer. At present, Huguang is in chaos, and it is not very difficult to get away from the barrier.

After arriving in Nanjing, he naturally had to do his best to help Zheng Chenggong win. Deng Ming also planned to borrow a few soldiers from Liu Tichun from the blasting team to Nanjing together and bring the experience of siege during this period to Zheng Chenggong's army. If Zheng Chenggong's battle in Nanjing went smoothly, the focus of the Qing court would definitely shift to the southeast, and its control over the southern vassal kings would be greatly weakened, and the situation in Sichuan and Yunnan would improve sharply.

But how to face the Yongli court is still a difficult problem.

During the Fengjie period, Kunming sent several letters, repeatedly asking Deng Ming about his life experience, asking Wen Anzhi to report to the court in detail. Wen Anzhi showed these letters to Deng Ming, just to ask him how he planned to answer the court's meaning. However, Deng Ming didn't know how to explain his origin. Wen Anzhi saw that Deng Ming was hesitant and did not urge him, and did not mention this matter later. Deng Ming guessed that most of the time, Wen Anzhi was also pretending to be deaf and dumb to the court.

However, it would be delayed until Yongli's return to China. After Li Dingguo regained Kunming, there was no news of Yongli's return. Although Deng Ming was a little puzzled, he was also secretly grateful. If the Emperor Yongli issued an order to report his own life experience, he would not know how to refuse. If he refused to explain his life experience, how should he explain it?"

The Ming army has confirmed that it will return to Kuidong next month. This time, Liu Tichun and others seem to have obtained a lot of food and grass. Deng Ming plans to organize another attack on Chongqing after he returns to Fengjie from Nanjing. Huguang will definitely be unable to support Li Guoying after this battle. After opening up transportation from eastern and western Sichuan, Deng Ming also wants to ask Liu Tichun and Hao Yaoqi for some people to go. As long as there is enough manpower, the development of the western Sichuan plain can be put on the agenda.

...

After seeing off the memorial, Hu Quancai mobilized Hanyang and the people of Wuchang to strengthen the city. Wuchang had not encountered war for more than ten years. Now there are rumors of the Ming army approaching on the streets and alleys. Hu Quancai's mobilization work has made the atmosphere even more tense, and the city is full of shocks. Most of the gentry who missed the Ming Dynasty had already despaired, but became active at this time.

As for the surrendered soldiers who returned to Wuchang, Hu Quancai sent them all to the military camps in the south of the city to isolate them, intending to wait until the Ming army is repelled this large-scale attack and then slowly identify them and remove all the nails laid down by the Ming army. However, Hu Quancai's handling made these Wuchang soldiers who returned to their hometown very dissatisfied. They finally came back but still couldn't see their families. They stayed in the military camp every day and complained.

The troops responsible for monitoring these surrendered soldiers were also Wuchang soldiers. They were familiar with each other, and many soldiers were friends and neighbors. The dissatisfaction of these surrendered soldiers quickly spread to the surveillance troops. The surrendered soldiers also asked acquaintances in the surveillance troops to bring messages to their homes to report safety, so the resentment further spread to the city. When the news of Zhong Xiang's disastrous defeat was returned, the families of the soldiers who participated in the war thought that their relatives could not survive and were very sad, but the anger was concentrated on the Ming army at that time. When they were monitored by the Huguang Governor's Office, these families were helpless. Now they finally learned that a large number of people had returned but had no chance to meet their families, so they naturally had to resent Hu Quancai. Most of the people in Wuchang City were calling this Shanxi man a bad guy in private.

Hu Quancai didn't care about these things, and he could only wait until he repelled the Ming army. The most urgent task was to prepare for the Ming army to attack. Although it was necessary to suppress the hearts of the people, it could not be too high, otherwise the Wuchang garrison would have mutiny and chaos. Now Hu Quancai is looking forward to news from Beijing every day, and he hopes that the Qing court will come up with countermeasures and quickly allocate reinforcements from other provinces to him.

Just as Hu Quancai was restless, Zhou Peigong and other aides also returned to Wuchang one after another, and the return of these gentry immediately caused an uproar.

Governor Hu made a drink for these scholars in the yamen and not only did he not blame them for their fear of death, but also gave them a kind condolences, which moved the staff and repeatedly claimed to be guilty of death. When they recalled their experiences in Zhongxiang Mansion, they still felt fear and humiliation.

After appeased these guests, Hu Quancai asked them about the war situation. The war process described by these people was similar to what the Wuchang soldiers said. The Ming army attacked rapidly, and the city fell in more than two hours. It was also said that Deng Ming also appeared on the battlefield and personally commanded and intercepted the Hanyang General who tried to break through, causing the entire army of the defenders to be destroyed.

After the Wuchang soldiers were released, they claimed that the Ming army had at least 70,000 or 80,000 troops. Hu Quancai believed that in order to reduce the blame, the soldiers would generally exaggerate the enemy's strength. Then wouldn't the Ming army actually not even 40,000 troops?

Several aides did not need to bear the responsibility for defeat, so their statement was more conservative, believing that the Ming army had only 40,000 or 50,000 people at most. The aides also said that when they left Zhongxiang's mansion, they learned that some Ming army generals had led their troops to the local area to collect taxes, and the city was empty, so they suggested that Hu Quancai immediately send a general to lead the troops and quickly rushed to Zhongxiang to capture Deng Ming alive.

Hu Quancai did not adopt the suggestions of his staff. According to Hu Quancai's estimate, the strength of the Ming army was at least four times that of 40,000 or 50,000 people. The dares of Zhongxiang's Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi and others to scatter in the countryside to collect grain, which shows that they are not worried that Wuchang has the ability to attack Zhongxiang.

After the feast, Hu Quancai certainly would not lock all the gentry up like a soldier. The gentry's family had already been notified that the servants who took them home were waiting outside the Governor's Office.

Hu Quancai left Zhou Peigong alone. Most of the others gained fame from the Ming Dynasty like the governor of Huguang, while Zhou Peigong was a grace given by the Qing Dynasty and would not have the psychological burden of betraying the Lord's grace. He belonged to one of the most reliable people among the gentry.

"It's a pity that the general did not listen to me..." Zhou Peigong told Zhong Xiang's thrilling experience and couldn't help but beat his chest and stamp his feet, sighing with emotion, and still obsessed with the many tactical ideas he had in the battle.

Hu Quancai asked a few questions and listened to Zhou Peigong's explanation patiently. The Governor of Huguang is a half-barrel for military affairs. He used to follow Hong Chengchou to do things most of his time. His most experience in leading troops was that he once led 20,000 soldiers to defend the city in Yunyang, but he was still better than Zhou Peigong, who had never seen a battle formation at all.

"Hmph, if I listened to you, I would have to lose faster." Hu Quancai thought to himself, but he did not reveal it, and he looked like he listened.

"Have you seen that Deng Ming? What do you think of this person?" Hu Quancai asked.

=============================================

Author's note: Some readers suggested that I update until 11 o'clock in advance. What do you think? You can leave me a message in the book review area. This is January 20. If everyone thinks 11 o'clock is good, then the next update will be updated at 23 o'clock on January 21, which will be 47 hours later.
Chapter completed!