Crossword Genius

The historic military commander never quite fired a gun (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

shogun

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the historic military commander' is the definition.
'shogun' can be an answer for 'commander' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the 'the historic military' bit.

'never quite fired a gun' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a gun' could be 'gun' and 'gun' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'sho' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for shogun that I've seen before include "Feudal Japanese leader" , "Japanese head" , "No gush from this Japanese army commander" , "Hereditary military dictator of Japan until 1868" , "Old Japanese military ruler" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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