Chapter 165 The Death of Geng Bingwen
Qu Neng still respects the veteran Geng Bingwen. After all, everyone is in the same circle. If there hadn't been this war between the north and the south, maybe Qu Neng would still be able to seek help from Geng Bingwen in some matters.
In this situation, Qu Neng roughly knows what Geng Bingwen wants to do.
But he suddenly felt sad that the rabbit had died and the fox had died. He sighed and said nothing. Instruct the people around you to wait for a while.
After a while, the sound of crying came from inside.
Geng Bingwen committed suicide.
Geng Bingwen himself knew that his body was actually almost exhausted. Even if he could survive it, he would only be able to live for a few years. Although many times people say that life is priceless. However, in terms of compensation, the elderly always receive less compensation than young adults. The same is true.
Given Geng Bingwen's status, as long as he surrenders, he will definitely be able to survive, and he may even retain some of his glory and wealth, but his future political situation will definitely not be good.
At Geng Bingwen's age, he no longer wants to accept the frustrating life of the next ten years.
What difference does it make if I leave a few years earlier or a few years later?
Geng Bingwen had last words before his death, asking everyone around him to surrender. Qu Neng stepped forward and paid homage to Geng Bingwen's remains. Geng Bingwen's dying expression showed a sense of relief.
Qu Neng was deeply saddened. A generous burial was ordered.
The death of Geng Bingwen was regarded as the end of the Guanzhong War.
Geng Bingwen is gone, and there is no one to maintain military morale. The rule of the Southern Army in Guanzhong completely collapsed. Wherever the Northern Army passed, they surrendered. Even a few cavalry could make a county surrender. Thousands surrendered to hundreds.
It was like a strong wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
In the Guanzhong area, there are only two places left in Nanjing's hands. The first is Tongguan.
Very early on, Geng Bingwen was worried about the problem of Tongguan and put Tongguan under the jurisdiction of Henan. Although Tongguan is more tightly defended on the east side. But now, it is the west side that is most dangerous.
then. Just in case, Geng Bingwen needed unified deployment, so he gave Luoyang jurisdiction. That is, Sheng Yong is responsible.
So even if Geng Bingwen's entire army is wiped out, nothing will happen.
It's just that the situation is more precarious.
Next is Lantian.
Geng Bingwen did not fight an uncertain war. Since he wanted to retreat to Lantian with his main force, he made arrangements in Lantian very early. Because of the convenient transportation, a large amount of supplies from the south were gathered near Lantian.
In addition, Lantian is already at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, so it has a favorable geographical location.
Geng Bingwen's original arrangement was enough to withstand the Northern Army's offensive.
Although the army was almost wiped out after Geng Bingwen's death, there were still 20,000 to 30,000 people who fled back to Lantian. Together with the original garrison in Lantian, it was enough to fight.
Moreover, the fact that these soldiers chose to flee south instead of Beitou under such circumstances shows that they are die-hard loyalists to Nanjing. In many matters, it has become inseparable from Nanjing.
Although people's hearts are floating, not many people want to surrender.
It's just that some people didn't stay in Lantian at all and went directly to Henan. Fortunately, the Ming army had not been in battle for a long time, and the army had not yet become corrupted. Although it lost the battle and lost its general. But I don’t know how many veterans were accumulated during the Hongwu years.
Many people are inconspicuous. But in critical moments, it comes in handy.
One of them, veteran general Yang Wen, was just a commander. With no leader, he made a decisive decision, killed the fleeing generals, and took charge of the armies, thus stabilizing the situation.
Once the situation stabilizes, the Southern Army's Lantian Camp will not be easy to fight.
However, the more the Northern Army won more battles, the more leisurely it became. Qu Neng has more choices. Qu Neng sent people to report and asked the capital to send officials to take over the place. On the other hand, he confronted Lantian and Tongguan.
In addition, we contacted Hanzhong, hoping that Hanzhong could send out surprise troops and follow the Han River directly to Xiangfan. Surround the enemies of Lantian.
It’s just that these things need to be
It takes time.
------
In Anyi City.
Zhao Yong's face looked ugly.
Looking at the letter in his hand.
He was silent for a long time and said, "Is Geng Bingwen really gone?"
Song Sheng's envoy said: "Uncle Shi, how can you deceive people about this matter? If Uncle Shi doesn't believe it, you can wait a few days to find out whether it is true or not. But in this case, the great contribution will not be made by Uncle Shi." It’s yours.”
With the complicated relationship between the two parties, it is very simple to find someone close to the other party to persuade them to surrender.
But the so-called intimate relationship is just a stepping stone to persuade him to surrender. The real way to persuade people to surrender is to change the situation in the world and the chips and price in the hands of the imperial court.
However, He Xi had already given the order that no high price would be offered to persuade him to surrender.
Generally speaking, the original position is retained and the merit is reduced to the crime.
However, even if He Xi was not active in this regard, when the situation became more and more favorable to Beijing, many people's minds were shaken.
Among them is Zhao Yong.
It is not easy to make Zhao Yong sway.
As a general from the Korean public line who was pushed to the front line, there was someone in the court. His family is also in Nanjing. These people are his support when the situation is favorable. Now it's all his burden.
If he surrendered, he would have to face the execution of his family members, and he would also have enemies with other generals of the Korean public line.
This kind of hatred is not a national hatred, but a personal hatred.
In fact, at this point, everyone in the Korean public system has been thinking about and discussing how long Nanjing can persist and how long Shanxi can persist.
Within the Korean public family, they all felt that there was no place for them in Beijing, and they did not contribute less when they killed Lan Yu. It was almost impossible to be forgiven by the North.
If you can persist, persist. Even if we can no longer hold on, we must have unified and coordinated opinions so that we can support each other in the future.
After all, they were all frustrated figures in the Hongwu Dynasty. Only when they lost their power and regained it now would they know how valuable power is.
They desperately want to hold on.
It is easy for Zhao Yong to surrender. Once he surrenders, it will be a major blow to the Nanjing Han Gong clan.
That's the problem.
I feel very sorry for the old brothers in Nanjing.
Therefore, the South Korean government in Nanjing actually asked him to find the right time to abandon Shanxi and retreat to Henan, leaving the green mountains behind and not worrying about running out of firewood.
However, Zhu Yunwen was too concerned about face, so he refused to give such an order.
Zhao Yong can only do but not say.
It’s just that Zhao Yong also has to think about himself.
What is Zhao Yong’s biggest feeling in the past few years?
It's old.
During the Hongwu period, he didn't feel old at all. When he was suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang, he thought about his recovery every day, about regaining power, and about returning to the center.
After all, forty or fifty years old. As a general, is he very old?
He is even younger than Fu Youde.
What he felt at the time was that what Fu Youde could do, could I, Zhao, not be able to do it?
But these years are only three or four years. Zhao Yong completed the transition from middle age to old age.
Perhaps, when people feel that they are old, it is often because of their mentality.
Compared to Xu Da, who was still studying the organization and changes of the new army before his death, compared to Geng Bingwen, who was in his seventies and still perfecting new defensive tactics. Although Zhao Yong was young, when he discovered that the tactics he used to win every battle when he was young no longer worked. out-of-date.
He wanted to learn new tactics, but he couldn't.
It's just that these new things are in the clouds and fog, as if they are from heaven. If you don’t know, you don’t know. If you don’t understand, you don’t understand.
Zhao Yong looked at his generals at the same time, some were broken and sinking in the sand, or some were hiding behind and not daring to come forward.
The spirit of the Hongwu period also dissipated.
Many times, people
Ambition is related to ability. When Zhao Yong discovered that he seemed to be an incompetent person now, just like the heads he killed on the battlefield when he was young. .
He was also a very famous official, but he turned out to be nothing.
As people get older, they no longer have so much energy.
He certainly loved his family and descendants. But people who have gotten around in troubled times have a ruthless spirit in their hearts. This cruelty is not only towards others, but also towards oneself.
After all, in troubled times, what kind of human tragedies have not been seen, what kind of scenes have not been experienced, and the moral values in the hearts of these people are incomprehensible to many people in later generations. That is to say, he is too cruel.
