Starting from Yanting to Weicheng, Zhu Dashan did not dare to march directly all the way, and the spies on the front road were also sent more, only thirty miles a day, but fortunately he did not encounter Qing soldiers along the way. It was already the fifth day of the seventh month when Zhu Dashan arrived in Weicheng, and he actually walked for five days.

Zhu Dashan had just arrived in Weicheng with his army, and Cheng Deyi and Kong Lingying, who had returned from Zitong a few days ago, had already greeted them, and the two brothers Cheng Deyi and Cheng Dequn were extremely happy to meet. After the Chinese entered Weicheng, Cheng Deyi introduced: "Marshal, I have brought a total of 1,100 troops here, and we will definitely be able to fight with the Qing soldiers in Mianzhou." ”

Zhu Dashan was also happy to hear that Cheng Deyi brought another 1,100 troops: "Of course, we will definitely defeat the Qing soldiers in Mianzhou." The others also echoed, and at this time, Cheng Dequn said in Cheng Deyi's ear: "Now it's not a big handsome, you have to call Hou Ye." The Wen Inspector of Wen'an in Kuidong appointed our marshal as a flat prisoner for the imperial court, and he was the marquis. ”

Cheng Deyi shouted: "The handsome man has become a marquis? Then if we defeat the Qing soldiers in Mianzhou, and then go back and beat Li Guoying, we will have to be crowned the Duke of the Kingdom! Speaking of which, Cheng Deyi laughed for a while. The generals Cheng Deyi, Sun Bin and others who came together also burst into laughter. Tao Yuanyou, who followed behind, reminded: "What kind of title is this is the final word of the imperial court, even if it defeats the Qing soldiers in Mianzhou, it also defeats Li Guoying's troops, and this is not enough to seal the country." ”

When Tao Yuanyou said this, the generals suddenly stared at Tao Yuanyou silently. Tao Yuanyou shrank his head and said: "What I said is the truth, if you defeat this enemy and seal the country, then you will conquer Sichuan and capture Nanjing, and you will not be crowned king." After attacking Beijing and recovering the Ming Dynasty, how should I be rewarded? ”

The generals looked at each other and were speechless for a while, Cheng Deyi thought for a long time and said: "Then make the marquis the emperor, and we will also be a prince or something, do you say yes." "This group of people were all born with mud legs, and now they can say a few words on the scene, which is already good. Remember what a taboo, fortunately there are no outsiders here.

But Yu Dai was a nerd, and when he saw that Cheng Deyi didn't say what he said, he said: "General, don't talk nonsense, this has a person to be the emperor, isn't that a rebellion?" Tao Yuanyou rolled his eyes on the side, and said secretly: "Still rebelling, aren't they rebelling now?" What's the difference. ”

The other generals said, "What rebellion? We don't even know where the court is! Besides, if it really comes, it's not sure who will have the final say. Yu Dai was speechless for a moment. Cheng Dequn was even more excited: "Yes, look at what I said, I don't know where the emperor is yet." ”

Zhu Dashan saw that everyone was talking more and more unthinking, and interrupted: "Cheng Dequn, shut your stinky mouth, now that the enemy is in front of you, you start dreaming?" The reward of the imperial court title has its own rules of the imperial court, and what we have to do is to drive away the Qing soldiers and restore our Ming Dynasty. It's just a way to live for ourselves. The other generals were silent, and Cheng Dequn wanted to say more.

Zhu Dashan stopped: "You arrived a few days first, how is the military investigation?" Cheng Dequn didn't say anything at this time, and heard Zhu Dashan ask about the military situation: "According to the situation of the past few days, there are 7,500 troops stationed in Mianzhou, stationed in the military camp outside Mianzhou. There are generals Liu Weiming, Yan Ziming, Li Tingming, Tang Yunhui, and Yan Xici, all of whom were former Ming generals who later surrendered to the Qing army, and are now all in Mianzhou. In addition, nearly 3,000 people were recruited from all over the country. The people were placed close to the military camp, and it is said that they were in charge of the people, and it was good to let the people attack the city first when attacking Chengdu, which was to consume the morale of the Ming army and reduce the pressure on their own march. Anyway, when you get to the next city, you can recruit people again. ”

In fact, this is not only the siege method of the Qing army, but most of them will use this trick whenever there is a foreign invasion of the Central Plains. First, it consumes the Han population, and it can also reduce the morale of the defenders and disintegrate the morale of the army. Because most of these people were captured around the city, and the Han people have always been very resistant to the killing of their compatriots, most of the defenders who saw the same Han people were not frightened, so these foreign invaders would attack the city and seize the city while the defenders were disheartened.

However, because some scum have surrendered to foreigners, for the sake of their own interests and reputation, they often do whatever it takes to subvert the regime of their own nation. Only in this way can the alien rule in the Central Plains be to whitewash their atrocities and cover up their bestiality.

Zhu Dashan listened to Cheng Dequn's report and said: "Very good, but now we are in a total of 2,000 soldiers and horses, and if we want to really defeat the Qing army in Mianzhou, I am afraid it will be difficult." We have to send people to Chengdu to see if we can fight the defenders of Chengdu on both sides. And when the people were right, they no longer objected.

Zhu Dashan saw that everyone didn't see each other and said: "Then tomorrow, the army will march to Mianzhou." Kong Lingying, you take someone to take care of the grain and grass. "The generals took orders one after another.

At this time, Zhang Chang said: "Then what should I do?" I'm here to learn how to fight. Zhu Dashan smiled and said, "You first follow Kong Lingying to be in charge of grain and grass." Zhang Chang shouted: "No, I'm here to fight, not just to see grain and grass." Master Hou won't let me go to the battlefield, so I'll go by myself. ”

Zhu Dashan said angrily: "You still want to learn to fight? Don't you know the military order to enter the mountain? If you still want to go by yourself, you are disobeying military orders, you want military law to do it, and if you want everyone to be like you, then you don't have to fight this battle, everyone scattered and killed the Qing soldiers, so can you beat the Qing soldiers? Tao Yuanyou next to him also persuaded: "Zhang Gongzi, don't mess around, the military camp has military regulations, and you will be beheaded if you break the military regulations like this." ”

Zhang Chang also knew that he had said the wrong thing, and said, "I'm sorry, I just want to go to the battlefield." Zhu Dashan said: "You should be a good soldier first, and you will not be spared next time." Zhang Chang said: "Yes, I know." ”

The next day, Zhu Dashan continued to Mianzhou with the army, and Kong Lingying took Zhang Chang to take charge of grain and grass. From time to time, there were scouts of the Qing soldiers to inquire around, because the spies of the Fuming Battalion were all people who could barely ride horses, so there was no way to block the scouts of the Qing soldiers. After several confrontations, the scouts of the Qing soldiers were not killed, but dozens of people died on the Fuming Battalion's own side. In this way, Zhu Dashan did not dare to send the scouts too far, and he had to repeatedly explore the places that were dangerous and easy to ambush before daring to cross. In this way, the speed of the march is like that of a snail.

Weicheng was thirty miles away from Mianzhou, and Zhu Dashan walked with his army for three days. In the end, Zhu Dashan let the army be stationed near Maoerliang, mainly because he was afraid of a sneak attack by the Qing soldiers. If this is the case, the Restoration Battalion can quickly retreat and rely on the terrain of Maoerliang to block the Qing troops.

At this time, there was a quarrel in the Mianzhou Qing military camp. Yan Ziming was the first to surrender to the Qing soldiers, and the Yongning general who was also a Qing soldier took the lead in saying: "Now the Yanting guard Zhou Minxin came to report that there was a group of puppet Ming troops attacking from the south and had occupied Yanting, and the Guangyuan guard sent a messenger to say that Jianmen Pass was captured by the puppet Ming, and there was only a small road from the north of Mianzhou, Guangyuan Road, which could only be slightly the same as the messenger. What do you see? ”

Liu Weiming said: "General Yan has filtered, and the spies I sent to report that this puppet Ming army is simply a rabble, and their scouts dare not leave the brigade, and the army only has to march ten miles every day." Can such an army fight? As soon as Liu Weiming said this, the other generals also laughed.

Li Tingming also said: "I estimate that the urgent delivery sent by the Governor General to inquire about Governor Gao the day before yesterday was also sent here because this group of people stood in the south and could not be sent to Baoning. Tang Yunhui also said: "I think General Tingming is right, thinking that the governor has become more and more timid in the past few years, and he was frightened in Chongqing after being attacked twice by those mud legs in Kuidong, and he didn't dare to leave in Chongqing." Didn't you get down even though you went to fight twice? ”

Yan Ziming stopped: "The reason why the governor is stationed in Chongqing is not easy to say, but what about this group of puppet Ming troops in front of us?" Yan Xici said: "What to do, directly kill him and beat him down, there are still a few counties of Minzhuang who have not been escorted over, this is not ready-made, and we can save us from arresting," Liu Weiming also said: "Yes, the pseudo-Ming has become more and more bad in recent years, we have to hurry up and fight a few more battles, or what can we get when we don't." You can't just rely on this little thing you have grabbed in the past two years to retire. ”

Li Tingming agreed very much when he heard this, and said: "Yes, take down this group of people, it is estimated that the governor will also order an attack on Chengdu, and then kill the defenders in Chengdu well, and get tens of thousands of heads as a military merit report, how can you give yourself a future." ”

Everyone was talking about their happiness, when they saw a small general coming in outside, and everyone got up and said a thousand words: "The last general will wait to meet General Li." "It turned out that this person was Li Luo, the son of Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan, who was supervising the army in Mianzhou. Now that he had received a letter from his father, he knew that he was interested in the rebellious people in the south, and yesterday he heard that a puppet army had come from Yanting, so he came to discuss it with everyone today. Seeing everyone saluting, he said with satisfaction: "The generals don't need to be polite, let's talk about the military situation." ”

Yan Ziming replied: "Back to General Li's words, the group of Ming troops who are now coming from Yanting claim to be the Restoration Battalion, and the leader is called Zhu Dashan, and the army has more than 2,000 people. However, the ranks were scattered, the march was dragging, and it seemed that they did not understand the battle of formations. Then it was Guangyuan guard Li Gongxue who sent someone to say that another group of puppet Ming troops had captured Jianmen Pass, and because of the heavy rain, he had to suspend the attack on Jianmen Pass. Due to the different roads on which Jianmen Pass was stationed, his Tang newspaper had to be sent to the Mianzhou camp along the small road, and we were asked to report it to the governor Gao. ”

When Li Yan heard this, he said: "It's okay, the south has been blocked by the chaotic people, and now the Jianmen Pass has also been taken away, and the Yanting has been taken by a group of puppet Ming troops." If Baoning and Jianzhou were captured by the Ming army, then the road to the north and out of Sichuan would be blocked, and the governor Gao Minzhan would be in Baoning. ”

Yan Ziming and the other generals are now following Li Rotan to connect the information together, how to sum it up. Suddenly everyone was drenched in cold sweat, and everyone's hearts kept flashing, South, Yanting, Jianmen Pass, Baoning. Li Rotten is better, after all, his father Li Guoying has begun to investigate the south and other places in Chongqing, but Yan Ziming and other generals thought of the sins they had committed in Sichuan with the Qing soldiers in recent years, and they were all sweating profusely.

Suddenly, Li Tingming said: "Look for Governor Gao's Tang Newspaper, see if he sent us the Tang Newspaper a few days ago." Yan Ziming and the others were stunned for a moment before they reacted, and everyone went back to the camp to find Gao Minzhan's letter to him. When everyone looked at the hall of the road, they found that the last military order sent by Gao Minzhan to the Mianzhou battalion was the tenth day of June, saying that a large number of military rations and people would arrive, so that everyone could make arrangements, and Gao Minzhan would also go to Mianzhou in the near future to preside over the attack on Chengdu. Not later.

Li Yan saw that the Mianzhou battalion had not received the governor's military order and Tang report for nearly a month, and these generals were still sitting back and relaxing, not knowing what they were doing all day. Now that people have reached the doorstep, they remember to find a military order. Li was so angry that he couldn't wait to cut all these generals directly, and he would know that he would be promoted and make a fortune in one day.

Li Yan shouted: "Why don't you go and find out the detailed military situation, do you have to wait for people to fight in the barracks before you prepare?" The generals did not dare to refute, and they all went out to arrange for the investigation of the military situation and the rectification of the army.

Li Yan immediately lay on the desk, reported the details to his father in Chongqing, and immediately sent a sergeant to Chongqing after writing the letter.

Zhu Dashan found that in order to facilitate the attack in the direction of Chengdu, the Qing army set up the military camp at the south gate of Mianzhou, and the people were placed at the east gate, so that it was convenient to go to the water.

The arrangement of the Qing army's camp was observed in Zhu Dashan, and a person came in from outside, and it turned out to be a messenger sent by Zhu Dashan to contact the defenders of Chengdu. He was followed by a big man, and when he came in, he didn't stop Daliang, this Zhu Dashan. The messenger introduced: "This is the general of our Fuming battalion, Pingyu Zhu Dashan" and then pointed to the big man who came in and said: "This is Zhao Youyan, the general of the Chengdu garrison, who is now stationed in Luojiang."

Zhu Dashan saw that he finally saw the defenders of Chengdu, and said with great joy: "I can see General Zhao coming to my Fuming camp, it seems that this attack on the Mianzhou camp is already nine out of ten." Although Zhu Dashan was very enthusiastic, Zhao Youyan said a little coldly: "I don't know how many soldiers General Zhu has now, but I only have 3,000 men in Luojiang." If there are too few soldiers and horses, you can't beat the Mianzhou battalion. ”

Zhu Dashan saw Zhao Youyan and directly called General Zhu, the messenger just now clearly reported that he was the commander of the imperial court, and even He Zhen was politely called Hou Ye. This is the same as the face of the Ming army, but Zhu Dashan will not be estranged because of one sentence.

Zhu Dashan saw Zhao Youyan asking how many soldiers and horses he had, so he said: "Now that I don't count the people, the Fuming Battalion now has 2,100 sergeants." Zhu Dashan thought that Zhao Youyan would be very happy, and then discussed with himself how to attack the Mianzhou camp of the Qing soldiers.

As a result, when Zhao Youyan heard that there were only 2,000 people in the Fuming camp, he said: "What, you only have 2,000 people, plus my soldiers and horses are only 5,000 people, and the Qing soldiers in Mianzhou are 7,500 people." Aren't you fooling around? After saying that, he turned around and walked out. Zhu Dashan looked at Zhao Youyan who was leaving, and he didn't know what to say for a while.