Chapter five hundred and fourteenth accidental death
"You bastards should move faster! Everyone has arrived at the city. Have you prepared the medicine?" a commander cursed at the top of the city.
Several gunners hurriedly loaded the ammunition into the artillery, and then asked the gunner in a daze: "Isn't this accurate? It's too dark."
When the commander saw that the sky was indeed getting dark, he became anxious and shouted: "You're not aiming right! Then just shoot towards the shadow, just guess."
"Boom!" A cannonball fell among the crowd below the city. Just as the gunners on the city wanted to cheer, they heard the people shouting: "No! It's hitting the governor!"
The gunners immediately looked at the commander directing the shooting in shock, only to see that the commander's face was pale...
In July of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Peasant Army's second attack on Xi'an failed, and the main force moved westward for martial arts. However, due to natural disasters, Shaanxi was in depression at that time. The number of Peasant Army increased significantly, so it was naturally very difficult to find rations.
easy.
Large groups of peasant troops were still fighting in Shaanxi, while small groups of peasant troops began to enter Henan in twos and threes. Knowing that the border was in danger, Governor Xuanmo took eight thousand of the main force of the Ming army in Henan and rushed to Henan at the end of July.
The junction with Shaanxi.
However, when entering a county on the border, there was no timely notification, and the defenders in the county were nervous because of the constant passage of peasant troops. At dusk on July 24, Henan Governor Xuanmo was unfortunately captured by the county.
He was hit by artillery fire and was seriously injured and his life was in danger.
"Teacher! Teacher!" Zhou Junwu shed tears and kept shouting for Xuanmo to wake up, while the doctor in the army pulled him desperately to prevent Zhou Junwu from disturbing the unconscious Xuanmo.
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Li Bingbeidao, the highest-ranking civil servant present, immediately signaled to several strong soldiers outside the door to try to "persuade" Zhou Junwu out first.
But when those soldiers had just pulled Zhou Junwu a few steps away, Zhou Junwu suddenly shouted with joy: "My mentor is awake! My mentor is awake!" Then he broke away from the absent-minded soldiers and ran over in a few steps.
, and knelt down beside Xuan Mo's bed.
Seeing Xuan Mo's mouth moving, Zhou Junwu waved his hand back violently, telling everyone to shut up and listen to Xuan Mo's words.
"Cannon...cannon..., soldiers...!" The room finally became quiet, and everyone heard Xuan Mo say these words.
Zhou Junwu suddenly understood and yelled at the magistrate who was huddled in the corner of the room with daggers in his eyes: "Where are those bastards who are having sex with cannons?"
The magistrate took a step forward, then shrank back. He bowed and said, "All the lower officials have been arrested. We are just waiting for the governor to punish us."
Suddenly a strange light appeared on Xuan Mo's face, and his speech suddenly became clearer. He said: "The artillery fire is very accurate! Let them go! When the imperial court employs people, it employs people..."
As he spoke, Xuan Mo's voice became softer. Li Bingbeidao quickly called a clerk and knelt down in front of Xuan Mo's bed to record Xuan Mo's last words. Because everyone could see that Xuan Mo just said
It's already a time of return.
But Xuan Mo's voice became softer and softer. It seemed that what he just said had exhausted his energy. Zhou Junwu had already put his ear to Xuan Mo's mouth, and after a while, he couldn't even feel Xuan Mo's breathing. Zhou Junwu
His tears fell unconsciously on the bed, but he still refused to give up and refused to raise his head for fear of missing Xuan Mo's words.
The doctor took Xuan Mo's pulse at the side and did not dare to persuade Zhou Junwu. He just shook his head slightly towards Li Bing. In addition to the civil and military officials, there were all Xuan Mo's staff, servants and soldiers in the room, so they could not bear it.
He kept crying loudly.
Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan, passed away inexplicably. The officials in the house still seemed to be in a dream, because at this time, they didn't know what to do.
After finally persuading Zhou Junwu, who was in grief, these officials had no objections to notifying the court of Xuan Mo's death and sending Xuan Mo's body back to his hometown. But what should the more than 8,000 people do now?
"We can't stay here anymore. The governor is riding a crane, and all the soldiers have no fighting spirit. How can we fight against the rebels? How can we defend the territory of Henan? It's better to return quickly and wait until the new governor takes office before making a decision."
At this time, Li Bingbeidao, the highest-ranking civil servant, insisted on taking his troops back to Kaifeng.
"My mentor's body is still cold and his ambition has not been fulfilled. You are about to lead your troops and leave. Are you going to sit back and watch the bandit army ravage the Henan Province? Then my mentor will not be at ease underground!" Zhou Junwu strongly opposed Li Bing's decision to prepare for the road.
"Then ask these people!" Li Bingbei pointed at the civil and military officials present, "Do they still have the heart to fight? Do their sons still have the military spirit?"
Zhou Junwu looked at the civil and military personnel, wanting them to stand up and support him. However, these civil and military personnel avoided Zhou Junwu's sight, and they did not dare to guarantee that their army still had morale.
In the Ming Dynasty, the death of the commander in battle was definitely a fatal blow to the army. Because unlike modern times, the army had a complete command echelon. If the regimental commander died in battle, the deputy commander would take over.
Therefore, in ancient times, as long as the commander was lost, unless there was a highly prestigious deputy commander in the army, otherwise, the soldiers would lose confidence in the new commander, the entire army would be fragmented, and the combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
Li Bingbei said that he did not want to offend Zhou Junwu too much, so he continued to comfort him: "Brother Side, how can I not know the governor's concerns? But I don't know anything about the military. Just say it here, if Side wants to
, my brother will stand behind you and be a puppet, letting you command the army, my brother will never leave, and will live and die with the whole army."
"But...but...!" Hearing that Li Bingbeidao had gone so far as to say this, Zhou Junwu didn't dare to say any more. But he still couldn't let go of Xuan Mo's worries during his lifetime, so he wanted to make a few excuses.
But I don’t know what to say.
Seeing Zhou Junwu like this, Li Bingbeidao said earnestly: "This county is too small to hold an army of eight thousand, so it is necessary to station troops outside the city. But none of the people here know the military situation. What if all these men are killed?"
If it is lost, what should we do with the hinterland of Henan? What should we do with Kaifeng and Luoyang? Alas—! I wish that Wu Junhan was here at this time!"
At the end of the sentence, Li Bingbeidao blurted out the last sentence. Indeed, no matter what the civil and military officials in Henan thought of Wu Shigong, they still affirmed Wu Shigong's military talent.
If Wu Shigong were here now, he would be the only one with enough prestige to command this army. But now it is too late to say anything. The idea of abandoning the defense of the Henan border and bringing back the main force of the Ming army in Henan has become the opinion of these civil and military officials.