Chapter two hundred and ninety-two failed to win over
While they were chatting, a soldier came over and reported to Wu Shigong: "Sir, those adults are here to visit you."
Those who came were the four military attachés from the Ming army who were rescued by Wu Shigong. Two of them were those who led the Henan army, Chen Zhongzhidusi from the governor Biao camp and General Jiang Chengqian from the guerrilla camp. They were members of the Henan army after Jiang Guerrilla was killed.
The highest military officer.
The other two are: the top military attache of the Ming army of more than 600 people - garrison Yuan Heng. He led the local Ming army from North Zhili. And a garrison named Wei Li who later moved closer.
He is a local Ming army in Shandong.
It is estimated that they were busy taking people to "search for tents" after dinner, so until now, they belatedly came to thank Wu Shigong for his rescue.
Although Wu Shigong was a little disdainful of their behavior of "searching for tents", he still concealed his emotions and welcomed them in politely.
As soon as they came in, of course the four military attaches expressed their sincere thanks, and Wu Shigong was also polite and modest. Anyway, they said some things that were appropriate for the occasion. The military attaches also saw that they had exhausted all their courtesy, so they waited for Wu Shigong to see him off.
Unexpectedly, Wu Shigong immediately asked directly: "My colleagues, our army is newly defeated, and the army must be in chaos. Since you are the ones who have been cut off this time, your position in the army must be in a corner. Let's return to the camp.
How will you protect yourself in the future? Do you still want to be the army with the cut-off tail?"
"My younger brother is also a guest from Henan, and he has a subordinate position in the army. Otherwise, he would not have come here to rescue him after a narrow escape. How about we work together to ensure the safety of the future first."
Wu Shigong's outspokenness made the four military attachés stunned. They never expected that Wu Shigong would openly form a clique now. Moreover, they had no idea about Wu Shigong's personality.
Don't worry about leaving the fate of yourself and your army to the young guard in front of you.
However, after all, Wu Shigong had saved their lives, so it was not appropriate to resolutely refute Wu Shigong's face. Therefore, the four military attachés remained silent and considered.
After a while, Guard Yuan Heng of Beizhili broke the silence: "Wu Guard! It's not that I don't understand your good intentions, but we are all troops of the imperial court. With the Governor here, we will not behave too much.
It’s unfair. If you suffer a small loss, brother, I will admit it.”
Seeing someone speaking first, Wei Li Shou Bei also said: "I dare not forget Wu Shou Bei's kindness. But it's too early to talk about anything else. When the time comes, can we brothers discuss this together?"
For the military attachés of the Ming Dynasty, the strength in their hands was the guarantee of their official position. In various Ming armies, acts such as mergers and forcible recruitment were common.
So today, although these military attachés were forced to move closer to Wu Shigong's Runing camp due to the crisis, they were still very afraid that Wu Shigong would take action and forcibly integrate the remaining troops in their hands.
After all, Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion is the strongest here. Besides, although the military attachés currently have remnant troops in their hands, these remnant troops are also the backbone of these military attaches who have the strongest combat effectiveness and are the most loyal to these military attaches.
As long as these backbones are in hand, even if those military attachés are demoted, the army built by relying on these backbones can quickly perform meritorious service, and hopefully the officers will be reinstated. So how can they dare to risk getting too close to Wu Shigong?
No matter what Wu Shigong said, it wouldn't work no matter how extravagant it was.
Of course, Yuan Heng and Wei Li also declined politely. They didn't say anything to death, but the possibility of cooperating with Wu Shigong is definitely gone now.
Wu Shigong didn't force it. He looked at Chen Zhongzhi and Mr. Jiang Chengqian, waiting for their answer. But these two people still didn't say a word. After being silent for a while, and seeing no result, Wu Shigong had no choice but to say: "Then
Everyone, please go to rest early."
After hearing that Wu Shigong no longer pressed him, the four military attachés also felt relieved and hurriedly saluted and left.
In fact, Wu Shigong never thought of forcibly recruiting the armies of these four military attaches. What he just said was really his true thoughts.
Although Wu Shigong's Runing camp has strong soldiers and horses, the total number of his men and horses accounted for too small a share of the total number of Ming troops, and Wu Shigong's official position was too low. When all the Ming troops are now gathered together, you will know if you think about it,
Wu Shigong's Runing camp is very likely to become cannon fodder.
But if Wu Shigong's Runing camp and Liu Zeqing and other rear troops are united, plus the Ming troops who are now rescuing them, they will no longer be at a disadvantage in terms of total numbers, and everyone's life will be much easier. This is a big deal.
Cooperation will benefit both parties.
Besides, although the behavior of the four military attachés in "scavenging tents" is not worthy of praise, it has become commonplace for the Ming army to kill good people and take credit for their merits, so their behavior is not that bad.
Also, none of these four military attaches abandoned their troops and fled. You must know that Ming military attaches generally have their own soldiers and horses, and it is easy to abandon the defeated army and flee to save themselves. But these four military attaches took the initiative
Staying, not abandoning his own army, and leading them to retreat together. This selection of the taller ones from the dwarfs also proved that these four military attachés were trustworthy. This was also one of the reasons why Wu Shigong wanted to win over them.
However, seeing that none of them were willing to accept his solicitation, Wu Shigong gave up. Such a strong-willed melon was not sweet. He finally sold them a favor, and there was no need to turn against each other for the sake of preventive measures in the future. After all,
Whether he will become cannon fodder in the future is still unknown.
So Wu Shigong graciously said goodbye to these four military attachés. However, when saying goodbye, Wu Shigong still reminded him:
"Everyone, I just want to say something casual here. No matter what, I will rescue you from beginning to end. You must obey my orders for this retreat."
"I am preparing to retreat in the middle of the night. You must also say hello to your men and wait for my notice at that time. Do not cause panic. Your men outside the camp must also withdraw early and do not arrive.
The time has passed. As long as we return to the rear camp, my colleagues can make up their own minds, and I will not care about it. Is that good?"
"That's right!" The four military attachés felt that Wu Shigong's words were very reasonable, so of course they agreed.
Wu Shigong estimated that after the encounter between the Runing camp and the rebel cavalry during the day, it was absolutely impossible for the rebels to immediately send a large army to entangle him without knowing their own strength.
The only possibility is that the rebels will attack again at night. Generally speaking, there are two times when a night attack occurs: one is in the middle of the night; the other is before the rooster crows, when you are sleeping most luxuriously.
The time when Wu Shigong was preparing to retreat was half an hour before the third watch in the middle of the night. This could effectively avoid a night attack by the rebels. Moreover, if the rebels attacked at night and saw this empty camp, even if they knew that Wu Shigong and the others were retreating,
They must also be afraid of being ambushed and dare not pursue them again.
When Wu Shigong saw the four military attachés leaving with their backs to him, he yawned and was about to take a nap. Suddenly he saw Jiang Chengqian looking back at him, as if he was hesitant to speak.
Wu Shigong had a thought in his mind and immediately called out: "Chen Dusi, Mr. Jiang Qian, please wait a moment! Can our fellow Henan fellows have a few words?"