Chapter 407: Yaowu, Horror, Judgment, Choice

After the war, whether it is the emotion of victory or the sadness of losing comrades, it is necessary to vent. But such catharsis and expression should be controllable.

This Heroic Spirit Memorial was held on the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month of the 15th year of Chongzhen. The Book Office, who was originally following Yuan Wenhong, once suggested to the chief clerk that this memorial was a chance for us literati to know etiquette. Such ceremony emphasizes that everything is in line with etiquette rules.

After this victory, Jiaozhou Camp changed their wishes even the ones who had no idea at all. The year was not good, and some literati joined Jiaozhou Camp to seek food and clothing, so that they and their families would not starve to death in this chaotic world.

But the complete victory of tens of thousands of Tartar troops shows that many things have become alive.

At present, Jiaozhou Camp and the entire Shandong are military-first systems. The Ming Dynasty's tradition of civil and noble military dignity was reversed in Shandong, which made many literati a little dissatisfied, and they urgently needed to show their own role in this system.

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, if it is in the court, it is organized by the Ministry of Rites. If it is in the local area, it should be presided over by the famous scholars. To put it bluntly, this should be a matter led by the literati.

The scholars of Jiaozhou Camp need such a thing to express themselves, and take this opportunity to gradually gain such a voice in future affairs.

Except for a few exceptions, most people in this era were like this. When the situation was not good, they were all shrank at the back and did not dare to make a decision. Even if they were taking the salary and support of Jiaozhou Camp, once the situation was mature and profitable, these people jumped out one after another, wanting to get a share of the pie and share the biggest one.

Fortunately, Yuan Wenhong is a rare exception and is very clear-minded. He rejected all the requests of these people and refused to express his clear statement.

I just said this sentence that seems to be a prophecy and divination saying, "The commander is a man of heaven, how can he do ordinary things? Please be content with your duty!" I didn't understand the words, but the meaning was very clear. The commander has his own rules in his actions. We should not participate randomly on our own, so as not to suffer disaster.

When the memorial was held, although the scribes were ridiculed in their hearts, saying that it was a mess and inconsistent, they had to admit that the entire memorial of heroes did achieve the effect he should have achieved, and were passionate. The officers and soldiers were deeply moved by this set.

Some people flexibly remembered all this in their minds, thinking about what they could learn from in the future, while others were stubborn and began to complain about this inconsistent with etiquette. Without rules, they didn't think about how Li Meng was still doing this to the Confucius Mansion in Qufu and the inheritance of the saints. How could he still abide by these saints' rules?

The spirit cards were burned, and the supplies used for commemoration were thrown into the fire. In fact, the remembrance of this ceremony was on the one hand. Killing deserters and making a pension commitment to the families of the dead soldiers was the most important. On the other hand, it is important to know that the strict military law will not flee in the next battle. Make a promise and let the soldiers fight to the death without worries. These are much more important than the ceremony itself.

This solemn and passionate ceremony made the officers and soldiers below share the same hatred for the enemy. Strengthening cohesion also has a great effect. After this ceremony, the soldiers probably understand better why they are fighting and who they are fighting for. The fighting spirit and fighting spirit will definitely increase on a large scale.

The ceremony was about to end, and the soldiers stopped their sad voices. Surrey soldiers usually valued strength, and occasional catharsis was allowed, but it was only such a very special moment.

The battalion of the battalions has begun to maintain order in each battalion, and let the soldiers stand on standby. According to the arrangement of the ceremony, the following form will be similar to a military parade. Such a scene must not be shamed in front of the commander.

The spirit card burned out, and someone put the ashes of the token burning aside. The snare drum sounded pounding. Wang Hai took a step forward and shouted at the military formation below:

"Each army obeys the orders and offers victory!!"

The drum beats had changed at this time. They were not the monotonous and solemn as they were just now, but were particularly passionate. After a moment, a knight ran out from left to right on the left side of the viewing platform.

The front-line camp and the generals on the viewing platform could see the knight wearing ground clothes. This was the dress of the Jiaozhou camp infantry officer and the dress of the Jiaozhou camp officer. It was just a few ribbons added to the armor. The knight rode his horse to the viewing platform.

The mount he rode was not slow, holding a piece of cloth that looked like a flag in his hand, and went to the direction opposite the viewing platform. The knight threw the cloth in his hand to the ground. He pulled the reins of the horse. The horse turned, and the horse's hooves trampled on the flag a few times, and then stopped the horse. The knight saluted the general on the stage solemnly. In the left corner of the wooden platform, a soldier shouted loudly:

"Thousand General of the First Battalion of Dengzhou Army, presented the flag of the Korean Musketeers!"

At this time, the atmosphere in the field changed again. The soldiers were all very excited. This was an opportunity to show their military merits in front of the general. This was also notified in advance that all the generals of the battalions, who had won something from their subordinates, would have the opportunity to ride horses to throw the flags of the Tartars' army and the heads of the generals on the viewing table, control horses and trample on them, and boast about their martial arts.

This is a great glory, the glory of each battalion. After the Qianmai general dropped the military flag, Li Meng also returned the ceremony with a military salute on the stage, and cheered out from the first battalion of the Dengzhou Army.

"Sir, the third battalion of Dengzhou Army, offered the heads of the eight banners of the Tatars..."

"The Sixth Battalion of the Great Camp offered the Chief of the Tartars' Inlaid Yellow Banner Army..."

"Someone from the 12th Battalion of the Grand Camp, offer..."

The soldiers on the viewing platform, under the reminder of the letter, shouted the spoils offered by each officer who came forward to offer victory.

Killing generals and seizing flags, the heads of enemy generals, and the military flags of enemy troops are all spoils that cannot be obtained without a big victory. They are thrown on the ground in front of the viewing platform and ruthlessly trampled by horses. Each of them represents a victory for the Jiaozhou camp troops. Every knight will receive great cheers from his formation when he comes on the field.

Gradually, the heads and military flags in front of the viewing platform were already piled up. The last one to play was Wang Tao, the new deputy general of the Dengzhou Army. He rode the best war horse captured in this battle, wearing a full set of armor, holding a head in his hand, and slowly walked into the field.

"Wang Tao, deputy general of Dengzhou Army, is the head of the Tartars chief general Abatai!!"

The personal soldiers who were responsible for the sing on the stage shouted very loudly, and the soldiers cheered very loudly. This was their hero and the perfect end to this victory.

After this session, the entire ceremony was concluded. I will say a few ritualistic words. The officers and soldiers of each battalion lined back to the camp with high spirits, preparing to retreat to Shandong for various tasks.

While the generals on the viewing platform were about to leave, they hurried over and rushed over in front of the platform, turned over and dismounted, came to Wang Hai and said a few words. Wang Hai quickly turned around and reported to Li Meng:

"The Grand Marshal, there is smoke and dust in the north. I'm afraid there are a large group of troops coming. Grand Marshal, do you see if the army is starting to be on guard?"

Li Meng looked to the north, although the soldiers from all battalions below might not have noticed it. However, Li Meng, who was standing on the wooden platform, could see smoke and dust rising from the north. After a little pondering, Li Meng opened his order and said:

"No need, it's impossible for the Tartars to be soldiers. If they were officers and soldiers from Northern Zhili, the horse army could completely defeat them and rest calmly!"

If it were the officers and soldiers of the court, Wang Hai would not be worried. He was afraid that the place might be the Manchu and Mongolian soldiers of the Tartars, but Li Meng was very sure in his heart. If the Tartars could react within such a quick time and mobilize an army to support, the Ming Dynasty would probably have been destroyed ten years ago.

As expected, before Wang Hai finished speaking, another cavalry came to the front of the wooden platform, but there was no panic on his face. He shouted and reported:

"Master General. Officials from Cangzhou, Fucheng, Jiaohe, Yanshan, Dongguang, Jingzhou, Nanpi and other prefectures and counties brought a large number of civilians and laborers to reward them, and they were about to arrive!"

I was still worried about the lack of civil servants and supplies, and because of this, I had to lead the army back to Shandong in advance, these prefectures and counties came here with civil servants and supplies. It was really surprising.

On that day, in order to speed up the marching speed and suddenness, the Tatar soldiers and horses bypassed Cangzhou, the richest city in Hejian Prefecture. Similarly, cities far away from the canal were not taken into consideration by Fucheng, Jiaohe and Yanshan, such as cities far away from the canal. However, tens of thousands of Tatar troops were walking around, and these cities must be trembling. Cangzhou has not opened the city gate for ten consecutive days.

The news of Shandong sending troops to fight the Tartars was also spread to these prefectures, counties and government offices through various channels. Everyone laughed at the Shandong soldiers who overestimated their abilities and destroyed themselves.

But the officials and people in these places were helpless and had great hope for this only savior. After all, soldiers were stationed in Shuntian Prefecture, Gyeonggi, but no matter how they asked for help, they could not get a response. For them, the soldiers in Shandong were really life-saving straws.

During the war, the battlefield covering the Jiaozhou camp and the Tartar soldiers no longer work. Moreover, it is not easy for these local local snakes in Hejian Prefecture to get close to check and discover. The surrounding counties are all terrified to understand the situation and results of the battle.

Then, what surprised them was that the Shandong soldiers who were laughed at by them not only achieved great victory, but also achieved complete victory.

The sentry sent by each city went back to report that Shandong's troops had defeated the Tartars and wiped out all the beasts. The people in each city did not believe it, and they did not believe it at all. If the temper was so angry, they directly put the sentry into the prison and sent a second group of people.

After the confirmed news was passed back to the city, the people were very happy, and the entire state city or county town entered a carnival mode, but the officials and gentry were even more scared. I remember that before that, Shandong soldiers had sent people to urge the civilians to purchase supplies.

But that was the time, who would have thought that today's situation was that everyone was closed and afraid of finding unnecessary disasters. But now that they have won the battle, such a soldier is in their own territory. They offended this powerful and somewhat terrifying army at the beginning. What if the other party settled the score later?

Among the Hejian Prefecture-related prefectures, only the magistrate of Jingzhou and Wuqiao were not disappointed. In these two cities, Jiaozhou camps both entered the city and relied on force to suppress the plunder of the storm in the city. Of course, they took the opportunity to recruit a large number of civil servants, although these civil servants ran back later.

Since there is a great victory, the local government should express it no matter what. Moreover, after the great victory, the Shandong Army and Shandong Army and Land Commander are really worthy of pleasing.

The governor of Jingzhou is a man who knows how to be an official. Since he is an official in Hejian Prefecture, he will try his best to be beautiful and no one will make things difficult for him. He sent people to contact various places to prepare for the elderly and the supplies to reward military supplies. Although the year is not good, the towns near the canal are still quite rich.

With a large number of people and a large force, we can always come up with something that satisfy the Jiaozhou army. Moreover, Hejian Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture are adjacent to each other, and everyone knows the style of Shandong officers and soldiers.

As a result, the local area was in front of Jiaozhou Camp. When they sent representatives from Lingshan Trading Company and Shandong Salt Gang arrived at these cities, they found that these prefectures and counties had set out or started preparations. However, these news would not be able to spread to the Jiaozhou Camp's headquarters for a while.

Xingji County and Cangzhou were both passed by the Tartar army, but they ignored the cities, which gathered a large number of refugees in the north.

When the Tartars passed by, they were like locusts. All food and property were robbed and burned, their homes turned into ruins, and countless relatives died. These refugees hated the Tartars to the core. It was really a pleasing thing to hear that Shandong soldiers wiped out this army between the two counties of Dongguang and Nanpi.

When they learned the news, Li Meng became the Buddha in their hearts, and some even set up tablets of immortality and worshipped incense every day.

In the past, the government had to pay entries to collect supplies, but the local government had great resistance. No one wanted to be taken advantage of by the government, and there was no reward at all. But this time, the preparations for military supplies and gathering the civilians and the strong men showed great enthusiasm. They were powerful and some people were responsible for their efforts.

I completed these tasks very quickly, and then set out in a mighty way. The personal soldiers reported that there was smoke and dust in the north, and the time difference was only one or two hours. There was smoke and dust in the southeast, west and north, because there were labor troops in the southeast, west and north.

Among the teams in these places, we roughly understand the spies who fought. Now they are all heroic figures. They are talking about how heroic and powerful soldiers of the Jiaozhou camp are, and how vulgar the Tartar bandits are so vulgar. They are really like stars surround the moon.

After confirming their identities with the cavalry sent by the Jiaozhou Camp, the labor force of these prefectures and counties entered the area arranged for them under the leadership of these cavalry, and then the leading figures would be led to meet General Zhendong and General Li Meng of Shandong.

The magistrates were still nervous. Will this general blame their previous behavior? But all the gentry and people who followed the team were very happy.

I don't know who shouted in the team:

"Look, there is a tower over there!"

Everyone looked around with the shouts and saw towers on the edge of the canal, which looked square. Even those who had just walked here a few days ago did not remember the building here a few days ago, but they were surprised that the time was very short. Then someone screamed a few times, and the whole team suddenly became quiet.

Because they all saw clearly what the tower next to them was, which was built with human heads. From the closest to this area, they smelled a slightly pungent smell. They thought it was the smell that should be on the battlefield, but they didn't expect that the smell came from around them.

If anyone else had any doubts about the outcome of the Jiaozhou Camp, they would have shut their mouths at this time, but this scene was really shocking.

These heads are placed layer by layer in a certain stacking manner, and are placed by the river. In fact, at this distance, you can only see that they are heads. How bloody, how hideous and terrifying, they are actually not so clear at all.

Such a placement is not because Jiaozhou Camp has its own ideas. This way of dealing with the enemy's head is a name, the so-called "Jingguan".

After beheading, the heads were piled up into Jingguan to shock the enemy and those who were ill-behaved. This has a long historical tradition.

However, looking at the crowd of people in Jingguan, which exuded a murderous aura, the reactions in the army were completely different. The civilians who had been staying in the city and were only frightened by the Tartar soldiers. This time, they were frightened by the Jingguan again. Everyone looked pale and trembled all over, and they couldn't control themselves and vomited loudly.

The people who were killed and their homes were poisoned, the people who needed the military soldiers and soldiers this time were all here to sign up for the participation. Seeing these piles of Tartar heads, they all felt sad from their hearts. First, the joy of revenge was full of pleasure, and then the ease that the relatives should close their eyes in the sky came to their hearts. For a moment, they were filled with mixed feelings. Apart from crying there, they could never find a suitable way to vent.

The leaders of the team came to various prefectures, counties, and patriarchs of local wealthy families. Although they were frightened in their hearts, some even felt embarrassed and were extremely embarrassed, but these people were thinking a lot.

In northern Zhili, these people were not only affected by years of disasters and famine. The local thieves were aroused and corrupt officials in the court were in trouble. The biggest threat was the invasion of the Tartars, which was different from other places. Most of the bandits were in chaos in the west, while the south was barely peaceful.

In less than twenty years, the Tartars have been here five times. You should know that even if it is a large army of refugees, the large tribes in this place, if they were not those who had robbed and had a bad reputation, they would be treated well. And they could survive.

But the invading Tartars were different. They were neither from the Ming Dynasty nor from the Han Dynasty. They were all the same as the Mongolian Tartars outside the pass. They did not treat the people of the Ming Dynasty as human beings. These robber-like armies came to the pass to kill, destroy, and loot.

The Han people regard these Tartars as beasts. But these Tartars also regard the Han people as beasts. How can humans and beasts coexist? No one enslaves the other? Treat the weak as food. This will always be like this, and there will be no day of coexistence.

Therefore, every time the Tartars invade, the residents in Northern Zhili, whether rich or poor, whether they are alone or large, are facing a catastrophe. They have almost no other choice, and face the destruction of this army like beasts.

Of course, the residents of the capital were expecting the court's troops to help and defeat these beastly Tartar troops. The repeated failures outside the pass were very far away, but after the Tartar troops entered the pass, the Ming army blocked and fought in the Ming Dynasty.

If the army did not dare to fight, this was not true. However, so many loyal ministers and generals went to death with mercy and so many Ming government troops fought bravely, but they were still vulnerable in front of the Tartar army. It was fine once, twice, three times and four times. Seeing these beasts act recklessly in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, plundering hundreds of thousands of livestock back outside the pass, and the later the government troops became worse, and they acted indiscriminately and poisoned the people. When something really happened, they disappeared.

Over time, the local officials and wealthy families in the prefectures, prefectures and counties in the Northern Zhili area were already desperate. They all had a very bad premonition in their hearts. The first thing they were to invade outside the pass was the Northern Zhili area, which was the capital. Since the Tartar army outside the pass came and went freely, maybe that day, everything collapsed and the world was overturned.

With such thoughts, he acts without regard for justice and cares about himself too much, and everyone is thinking about getting benefits for himself. This is also the reason why Li Meng sent someone to collect supplies from the people but was turned away.

This time, when seeing the Jingguan made of the Tartars, these powerful people from the northern Zhili area discovered another option. The imperial court's soldiers were extremely weak and had never defeated the Tartars army and allowed them to traverse everywhere. However, the Shandong soldiers gathered the Tartars army and annihilated it. What does this mean?

This shows that General Li's troops were far stronger than other officials in the Ming Dynasty. North Zhili was adjacent to the pass, but Shandong was also adjacent to North Zhili, and the border between Shandong and North Zhili was flat, so many things were much more convenient than those of the Tartars.

Think about the rumors in Shandong that have been heard in Hejian Prefecture in the past few years, and think about the people in the world's evaluation of General Li, who is a salt dealer, what will happen in the future? This is really... unspeakable, unspeakable!
Chapter completed!