The late Ming Dynasty in the living room

Chapter 165: The Governor of Baoding Farewell (Part )

Kang Shide was caught off guard and fell backwards, then fell heavily on the bluestone floor. He was in great pain and his face was covered with tears and snot.

Yang Dezheng pointed at Kang Shide and glared at him: "What injustice are you crying about! The Governor-General has already issued an order that the troops stationed outside the city are not allowed to enter the city without a warrant. Commander Jiang attacked you just to execute the order, what's wrong with that!"

Deputy General Liu Chao also seemed to wake up from his worries. He nodded and said, "Fortunately, Commander Jiang stopped you. If you guys were allowed to go into the city and cause trouble, disturbing the locals would be a minor matter. It would be a big deal to offend the gods in heaven. Kang Shide, you are so old now, and you are an officer. You have only been out for a few days, and you can't hold back the thing in your crotch? If you really can't hold it back, tell me and I'll take out a knife..."

As Liu Chao was speaking, he suddenly remembered that there was a eunuch sitting next to him. He was so scared that he trembled all over and quickly stopped talking.

He glanced at Kong Zhenhui out of the corner of his eye, but saw that there was no change on Kong Zhenhui's face. His crossed legs were still shaking, and it seemed that he didn't hear what Liu Chao said at all.

The two men accused Kang Shide of entering the city against orders, but in fact they quietly avoided the blame for him leading his personal soldiers to resist military law. In this way, he only needed to be beaten with twenty military sticks and a few scoldings at most. Just as Master Sanzang once said, Kang Shide's entering the city against orders was just an intention and had not become an objective fact.

There were many discords among the various troops that came to aid Kaifeng (for example, the Sichuan troops had been stationed in Henan for more than a year and often had conflicts with the local Henan troops). There were also many contradictions within the Baoding army. Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao came forward to protect Kang Shide, not because they had a deep friendship with Kang Shide, but it was a tacit understanding to save each other's lives before the war. Now it all depends on the attitude of Governor Yang Wenyue, whether he is determined to kill Kang Shide to uphold military law and thus break this tacit understanding, or whether he is willing to give face to the Baoding generals, turn a blind eye and make a big deal out of this matter.

Kang Shide fell to the ground and suddenly realized that his excuse of "being forced to do it" was extremely stupid. So he struggled to get up, kowtowed hard, and changed the direction of his defense.

"Yes! Yes! Shide now knows he was wrong. It was a moment of carelessness that led to him letting lard cloud his heart and lungs."

He choked up his voice and cried to Yang Wenyue who was sitting on the throne, "I have no choice. My men are unwilling to go to Henan to fight. I have heard a lot of complaints during the march. They all say that Li Zicheng is so powerful. If we go to Henan this time, we will never come back. The morale of the army is so low. Unfortunately, the court cannot pay the salary. We only took 30% of the expedition fee, and we can't even make up the monthly salary.

Yesterday, a few filthy fellows came to me, saying that they had never tasted a woman and were afraid that they would die in the battlefield and would be ignorant ghosts in the face of the King of Hell. I felt sorry for them and was afraid that they would become deserters or cause trouble, so I picked a few young ones and brought them to the county town. I remembered the governor's order and asked them to take off their armor and dress like civilians. I also told them not to cause trouble or disturb the people on the way. Who would have thought that they would be stopped just at the city gate..."

The military meeting two days ago was joyful and confident, and all the generals had expressed their determination to make Li Zicheng "vanish into thin air." Of course, that was just a performance for the local officials and gentry. Before every battle, they would perform one or more performances, without rehearsal, as it was a routine operation. Now it was a closed-door meeting, so naturally there were no more concerns when it came to military matters.

Kang Shide brought out several key military facts about the Baoding Army in his speech: the army was afraid of fighting, the pay was insufficient, and many soldiers deserted. How could such an army dare to travel thousands of miles to Henan to fight? And how could it not be defeated?
Everyone present knew these things. Not only did the soldiers not want to go, they themselves did not want to go either. The battlefield was dangerous with swords and guns, stray arrows, and cannons, and it was not always possible to escape as one wished. By then, who knows which bastard would get the chance to take away their thousands of acres of fertile land, their beautiful wives and concubines.

Kang Shide spoke very aggrievedly, blood kept flowing down his forehead, mixing with snot and tears, making him look extremely miserable.

Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao also looked sympathetic, and nodded after listening to Kang Shide's words. "Well... this is a safe approach."

"As long as nothing goes wrong, I can give them a few sweet treats when I have time. The most important thing is to stabilize the morale of the troops."

Only Jiang Mingwu's face flushed with anger. From what they said, it seemed that I didn't know how to consider the overall situation. He wanted to jump out and accuse Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao of bending the law for personal gain and maliciously twisting the building in front of the governor.

But he can't.

Because although Yang Wenyue had a dark face, he did not say anything to interrupt the performance of the people below, and not interrupting is itself a kind of attitude.

The mentality of the superiors is different from that of ordinary people. They don't care much about right and wrong, but only care whether the people below have caused trouble for them. Yang Wenyue felt that Kang Shide, who was kneeling below, was hateful, but at the same time, Jiang Mingwu was also very annoying. Yang Wenyue had already made up his mind that Kang Shide could not be killed, at least not now. Killing a general before the battle could easily cause trouble, and he was unwilling to have a rift with the general and deputy general of Baoding. If he really encountered a big defeat, wouldn't he have to rely on them to "coerce" him?

Before speaking, Yang Wenyue first glanced at the dead eunuch Kong Zhenhui.

Kong Zhenhui was indifferent and just said lightly: "Commander Jiang, you have worked hard on the patrol. The sun is scorching in the sky. Remember to put some ointment on your face when you return to the camp."

Yang Wenyue nodded, then raised his finger and pointed to the hall, angrily saying: "Kang Shide disrespected military orders (disrespect and disregard are two different concepts), and even offended his superiors. Listen to me, all the generals - immediately remove this commander of the Liaoying Camp from his military post, and temporarily let him take over the Vanguard Camp as a deputy. Then drag him out and give him 40 military sticks to serve as a warning to others!"

Because Kong Zhenhui interrupted, the punishment was much more severe than originally expected, but at least his status as a general was retained and his life was saved. Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao both bowed their hands to show their conviction.

After the people were escorted out, Yang Wenyue asked Jiang Mingwu gently, "Is Commander Jiang satisfied with my decision?"

Jiang Mingwu was of course dissatisfied, but he was the deputy general of Tongzhou. He was isolated and helpless as an outsider in the Baoding army. He had to accept the face Yang Wenyue gave him. (Yang Wenyue's question was by no means a mockery, because the difference in status between the two was huge, and Jiang Mingwu did not deserve to be mocked)
"Your Excellency the Governor has handled the matter properly, and I am convinced." Jiang Mingwu tried hard to suppress his resentment and replied respectfully.

(End of this chapter)