A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 65
The bodies of Du Zhen and others were not found until several days later.

Recently, bandits and bandits are rampant in Baoan Prefecture, and the local people dare not go out casually, and the official road on Wujiagou is even more extinct.Since the 27th, the bodies of Du Zhen and others have been lying on the road, and no one has noticed.

Until three days later, Du Zhen's new concubine was waiting in Wujiagou, and until this day, his son's full moon wine was over, and Du Zhen hadn't been seen yet. Not only that, but his brother Wu Shan and others The figure is also missing.

The concubine was extremely dishonored in front of her parents and fellow villagers. After crying and cursing for several hours, she sent a servant to Shun Township Castle to see what was going on.

Unexpectedly, when the servant went to the official road a few miles away from Fangjiagou, he was shocked to see the corpses of Du Zhen and others. More than ten people were lying all over the ground, blood was everywhere, which shows the tragic scene.At this time, their bodies were covered with flies, buzzing and flying around in groups, and the smell of the corpses was disgusting.

The servant was frightened out of his wits, and rushed back to Wujiagou to tell Du Zhen's concubine the shocking news.For a moment, the concubine passed out on the spot like a bolt from the blue, and the family was in chaos.

The news immediately spread throughout Wujiagou, and everyone was stunned.The matter was no small matter, the local head of the village took a few young men to investigate boldly, and initially determined that it was the work of thieves, and then they hurriedly sent people to Shun Township Castle to report the news.

For a moment, the entire Shun Township Castle was also alarmed.Shun Township Deputy Qianhu Lin Daofu, Zhen Fu Chi Dacheng and other military officers also hurriedly took people to the place to inspect. Looking at the scene, everyone unanimously concluded that it was the bandits.In particular, everyone encountered a few bandits on the road, and their idea of ​​attacking their horse armor strengthened everyone's inference.

The death of the acting defense officer was a major event. What is even more hateful is that Du Zhen and others exposed their corpses to the wilderness. All their horses and armor were looted, and even their wealth and silver were all gone. light.It's really sad and deplorable for a dignified acting defense officer to end up like this.

Everyone hated the thieves, and after collecting the bodies of Du Zhen and others, they hurriedly sent people to Zhoucheng to inform the integrity officer Xu Zucheng.

Xu Zucheng was shocked when he heard this, and was speechless for a long time. He didn't expect that his confidant Xu Zhongjun had just died, and his successor Du Zhen was also killed. Why is he always so troubled?Thinking of the sadness, Xu Zucheng couldn't help but shed tears again.

After the bodies of Du Zhen and others were transported back to Shunxiang Fort, Zhang Gui rushed to Shunxiang Fort overnight after hearing about it. When he saw Du Zhen's body, Zhang Gui had a strange look on his face. Xuaner, he burst into tears , caressing the corpse and saying: "Master Du suffered a tragic death and died young, it is really sad!"

He wailed loudly, the cry was earth-shattering, it really made those who heard it cry, and those who saw it were sad!
The members of the Du family were already sad enough, but when Zhang Gui cried like this, they were touched by the scene, and they burst into tears again.

Zhang Gui cried for an hour, but still refused to get up, in the end it was the crowd who dragged and dragged him up.With his appearance, not to mention the young and old of the Du family were very moved, even the bystanders nodded secretly when they saw him.

……

Suppressing the bandits and avenging Lord Du Zhen is the next step, the most important thing right now is to handle the funeral of the acting defense officer.

Not long after the mausoleum of Xu Zhongjun, the former defense officer, was built, the officials of Shun Township Fort will continue to build Du Zhen's mourning hall.

But who will be in charge of Du Zhen's funeral? There has also been a fierce battle. It is reasonable to say that after Du Zhen's death, Shun Xiangbao is now respected by Qian Shuguan and deputy Qianhu Lin Daofu. It should be a matter of course. He will be in charge of Du Zhen's funeral.

But Zhang Gui also squeezed in desperately, his official position has also arrived, and there are many supporters in the fort and in the local area, especially the members of the Du family who have a very good impression of him, and finally the two jointly formed a funeral The group organized Du Zhen's funeral.

After the mourning hall was set up, Xu Zucheng, the integrity officer of Baoanzhou City, came to the mourning hall again and shed tears.

Seeing Xu Zucheng weeping, all the officials in the fort, big and small, shed tears. Wang Dou also stood beside the grieving Zhang Gui and wept silently.

After paying homage to Du Zhen's mourning hall, the most important thing right now is who will take over as the next defense officer.

The soldiers and civilians inside and outside the fort were muttering that two defenders of Shun Fort had died one after another. Could it be that there was something wrong with the local geomantic omen?But for those who are expected to get this position, they don't have time to think about this problem, and each of them launched a series of open and secret struggles.

Right now, the most vocal voice is Dongjiazhuang management team officer, deputy thousand household Zhang Gui.

There is also Lin Daofu, deputy Qianhu of Shun Township Fort, who is in charge of all affairs in the fort, including military operations, military inspection, patrolling, and imperial preparation.

Lin Daofu didn't have many supporters, and the most powerful supporter in the fort was Chi Dacheng, the governor. However, his advantage was that he had served as a secretary for many years and had extensive experience in the management of the fort.

Zhang Guisheng has a very wide network of contacts, and there are many supporters in the fort and in the local area, especially Xu Zhongjun, the original Shunbao, who accompanied Xu Lu to support him.There are also Wang Dou, the head of Jingbian Fort, Chang Zhengwei, the management team officer of Huiyaobao, and Zhong Dayong, the team officer, who also support Zhang Gui and have obvious advantages.

These days, Zhang Gui is trying his best to win everyone over and promise all kinds of benefits, but how can Lin Daofu, the third son of Wannian in Shun Xiangbao, give up?After being a deputy for so many years, how could he have no intention of becoming a regular?The two are just competing to move around, especially Yang Dongmin, the general next to Xu Zucheng, is the key object of the two.

Xu Zucheng, the integrity officer, also had a headache about who would take over as the next defense officer of Shun Township Fort. In his opinion, neither Zhang Gui nor Lin Daofu was his ideal target.

In fact, it’s not that Xu Zucheng has never thought about Wang Dou. This guy is good, loyal and brave, and has outstanding abilities. Unfortunately, Wang Dou’s qualifications are too low and his position is too small. For the position of defense officer, he must at least start from the chief and deputy Qianhu, and the commander of the guard. It is selected within the matter, and Wang Dou's mere general banner is still not up to the mark.

In the end, Xu Zucheng only asked Lin Daofu to temporarily act as the defense officer of Shun Township Fort, but he has not been formally appointed for a long time, and the open and secret struggle for this position has continued.

……

The time soon came to the Double Ninth Festival on September [-], and the cold dew had passed by this time, and the autumn sowing and cultivation of the military households in Jingbianbao had already been completed.

On this day, Gao Shiyin married Zheng Xiaoyun, the third sister of Mrs. Zheng of "Wanshenghe" Midian, and they got married within less than two months.In fact, Zheng Jinglun did not agree with his niece marrying Gao Shiyin, because Gao Shiyin was a military household, and his niece married him and gave birth to children, and they also suffered for the military household from generation to generation.

From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, although the number of military households in addition to Zhengding and Yuding also increased in business and scientific examinations, in the Wanli year, there were as many as 87 Jinshi candidates among the military candidates, accounting for more than a quarter of the candidates.During the Jiajing period, Wu Dui, Minister of the Ministry of War, was from a military household, and Zhang Juzheng, the famous chief assistant, was also from a military household.

But generally speaking, the reputation of Daming military households is not very good in various places. The military service is heavy, and few of them can make it to the top. The military households in the border fortress are not counted, that is a special case.

No wonder Zheng Jinglun was so worried, but I heard that Gao Shiyin gave the girl to him, cooked the raw rice and cooked it, so if it doesn't work out, it will come true, and if you don't want it, you will be willing.

Regarding the marriage of her third sister and Gao Shiyin, Mrs. Zheng held a blessing attitude. Due to the sudden wedding, it was impossible for the young and old members of the Zheng family to come to Baoanzhou from Weizhou, so Zheng Jinglun and Mrs. Zheng acted as Zheng Xiaoyun. The elders and relatives of the family attended the wedding.

As for Gao Shiyin, this guy is an orphan, he is Wang Dou's subordinate, and it is Wang Dou's unshirkable responsibility to arrange his marriage.

Wang Dou didn't know much about Daming's wedding, but fortunately, he had his mother with her, and she had a lot of experience.Three media and six hired, Wang Dou asked his mother Zhong to take care of it, and Tao, Liu and others in the castle also helped.

In such a hasty arrangement, Gao Shiyin's marriage was finally arranged on the ninth day of the lunar new year.

On this day, the entire Jingbian Fort was full of joy, with lanterns and festoons, wedding wine, and bridal chambers. It was a very lively day.

This wedding wine will be drunk for several days, and Jingbian Fort will continue to be lively the next day.

Near noon, Wang Dou suddenly got an urgent report that a large number of bandits were coming to Jingbian Fort.

In September, more and more bandits flowed into various parts of Baoan Prefecture. They ranged from dozens to hundreds, and finally reached nearly a thousand people per unit.According to the reconnaissance of Han and North Korea, these bandits mostly flowed into the state from Weizhou, Shengshunchuan City and other places, and they mostly spoke with accents from Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.

According to Wang Dou's understanding of history, and his own reading of the residence newspaper, in June, the supervisor Hong Chengchou gathered his troops in Ruzhou, and met Deng Qi, You Zhaiwen, Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou, and Cao Wenzhao generals, and defeated them again and again. Many units of the Peasant Army were formed.In August, Lu Xiangsheng was prime minister for the military affairs of the five provinces, and the Ming army was powerful.

It seems that these bandits who flowed into the territory are the remnants of the defeated peasant army.

A large group of thieves came, as many as hundreds of people, it seemed that the wedding wine would not be finished, Wang Dou loudly ordered Jingbian Fort to be on alert, and at the same time he hurriedly led all the officers and men in the fort to the fort wall to watch.

(End of this chapter)