Three pontoon bridges across the Yalu River have been built on the westernmost side of the Yalu River. They are wide and strong, and the three armies are marching across the pontoon bridges.
The Yalu River runs from southwest to northeast. Only the westernmost point is the boundary between the Jin Kingdom and Goryeo. Most of the Yalu River does not belong to Goryeo. After crossing the Yalu River, walk two hundred miles south to be the boundary.
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The westernmost bank of the Yalu River is Baozhou in the Goryeo Kingdom, which is today's Sinuiju.
The entire city was razed to the ground by the Jin Kingdom. There was no army to guard it, and even ordinary people could not see it.
Almost all of these ordinary people living on the border were kidnapped by the Jin State and made into slaves. Some were placed on Yanshan Road and some were sent to Shandong Road. They were placed as subjects of the Jin State.
The main force of 150,000 Yong troops marched into Goryeo in a mighty manner. It was completely different from the Sui army's conquest of Goryeo. Every soldier rode a war horse and carried dry food. The battle plan was very thorough.
The army crossed the Yalu River from Xuanzhou. They quickly headed south along the official road on the west coast. They must arrive at the West Koryo Bay on the sixth day, which is about 300 miles away from Xuanzhou. The Yong army's fleet was established here.
The first supply point was reached.
The official roads were built along the plains. There were originally large wheat fields on both sides. Now there are wheat fields, but almost half of them are deserted.
Along the way there are ruins, cities and passes collapsed. These are the consequences of the invasion of the Jin Kingdom. Goryeo was unable to build. On the one hand, its wealth was plundered and there was no financial resources for reconstruction. On the other hand, the Jin Kingdom did not allow it.
It’s just that Goryeo doesn’t have enough male labor.
In the past few decades, more than one million young Goryeo men died in the war. In fact, the Jurchen population was not large. After more than ten years of attrition war with the Western Army, most of the soldiers were from the Jin Kingdom in Guangxi, also known as Khitan.
Xi, Goryeo and Bohai people.
Without young men, women will no longer be able to have children once they have passed their childbearing age. In addition, the average life expectancy is very short, generally in their forties, and the population will decline like a cliff. A village of several hundred people will
, almost no new babies are born, and in ten years there may be only a few dozen left.
This is also the reason why the Goryeo Kingdom desperately wanted to return tens of thousands of prisoners of war who were mining in Liaodong. The Yong Dynasty refused, which caused the Goryeo court to be extremely hostile to the Yong Dynasty.
Although they were all in ruins, some villages still had a small population living there, mostly women. When the army passed by, these women were so frightened that they fled into the mountains.
In the afternoon of this day, the army arrived at West Korea Bay. There were more than two hundred large ships of ten thousand stones anchored in the natural bay.
The army camped at the bay to rest and at the same time received supplies.
The 150,000-strong army is actually two armies, one is the Hebei Army commanded by Liu Cui, stationed on Hebei Road, and the other is the Yanshan Army commanded by Gao Ding, which has just retreated from the grassland back to Yanshan Road.
In a temporary marching tent, a dozen generals were discussing the next action strategy.
Liu Ji said to the crowd: "The emperor has set a strategy for us in eight words: the mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole is behind." The cicada is the Korean army, the mantis is the Japanese army, and we are the oriole. At present, the Korean army is still in total.
There are 80,000 troops. Most of the troops are concentrated in their capital city of Kaijing. Other small numbers of troops are distributed in Xijing, Pyongyang, Nanjing, Seoul, and Jincheng in the south. I suggest that we capture Xijing and Pyongyang and use the Datong River to transport food supplies.
, observe the progress of the situation in Xijing and then make a decision."
Liu Cui's suggestion was supported by the generals including Gao Ding. They wanted to implement the emperor's strategy, so Liu Cui's suggestion was the best plan.
A general asked: "Will our army on the southern route go north?"
The army of the South Route is the 80,000-strong army of Liu Qiong of Tamna Island. Next to him, Gao Ding smiled and said: "The South Route, like us, also needs to wait patiently, but the Tamna Island navy will cut off the Japanese army's retreat. This is a miracle.
Pen, 150,000 Japanese troops will not be able to return to the island."
The generals unanimously made a decision. Two days later, the army was replenished and continued southward, heading towards Pyongyang, Xijing, 350 miles away.
............
After the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo, it established the Andong Protectorate. The national boundary between the Tang Dynasty and Silla was the Datong River. Pyongyang City on the north bank of the Datong River was a border town of the Tang Dynasty.
However, the Anshi Rebellion broke out later, and the Tang Dynasty had no time to take care of Liaodong. The Khitan annexed Liaodong, and the Silla Kingdom also took the opportunity to expand northward and occupied most of Goguryeo's land.
Wang Jian established Goryeo, destroyed Silla, and inherited Silla's territory.
At this time, there were 5,000 troops stationed in Pyongyang, Xijing, led by the monk Miaoqing, who was a favorite of the King of Koryo. Pyongyang was a large city with a circumference of thirty miles, but it had a small population, with less than 30,000 people in the city.
The city was plundered many times by the Jin army, and all the wealth accumulated over the years was plundered. The entire city became very dilapidated, and all kinds of shops closed down. There were only two types of shops left, one was a grocery store, which provided food for the people in the city.
The most basic items of life.
The other is the brothel. A large number of poor women are forced by life to become prostitutes. It is precisely because of the existence of brothels that the city of Pyongyang maintains a little vitality.
Almost all the people make a living by farming outside the city, and the army also relies on farming to support themselves. However, the soldiers of the army also have military salaries from the capital, and the officials also have salaries from the capital. The money of the army and officials flows into the brothels to buy wine and entertainment.
, the prostitutes need to buy food and supplies. Of course, senior officials like Miaoqing are very wealthy. They hire a large number of servants to serve them. After these servants get a little income, they buy food and vegetables. The entire city depends on this little money.
Circulate.
But what all the people in Xijing did not expect was that countless huge ships suddenly appeared on the Datong River outside the city. The people in the city were shocked, and they rushed to the river with their young and old to see the ships. They had never seen such a huge ship.
Someone counted and found that more than three hundred large ships passed in front of them.
On the top of the city, the tall monk Miaoqing looked at the boats on the river. He was also puzzled and couldn't understand it for a moment. At this time, a general suddenly pointed to the flag on the big boat and said: "That's Yong
I have seen the flag of the DPRK!"
The flag was a black dragon flag with a red background. Miaoqing suddenly realized that these were ships from the Yong Dynasty. Only they had such a large fleet. He immediately understood that it must be the Yong Dynasty's army coming.
He immediately gave a loud order: "Beat the drum and let everyone return to the city!"
"Winter! Winter! Winter!"
Drums were beating loudly on the top of the city, and soldiers ran out to call on the people to return to the city quickly. The people on the riverside also retreated into the city.
At dusk, an army of 150,000 troops arrived at the gates of Pyongyang City, Xijing. Huge ships brought tents, and began to set up camp under the city. Soon an endless company camp was formed outside the city.
The five thousand soldiers on top of the city were so frightened that their faces turned pale. There were only a few thousand of them, so how could they defeat the Yong Dynasty's army of more than 100,000.
Miaoqing had no choice but to send a civil servant to inquire about the other party's intention.
The civilian official sent was named Zheng Qing. He was about fifty years old and was an official in charge of finance in Pyongyang City. He had studied in Bianliang, Tokyo when he was young and could speak fluent Chinese.
Zheng Qing was led to the Chinese army's tent by the soldiers. He was received by the judge Liu Kun. The two generals were inspecting the camp and had no time to receive him, so they asked the civilian Liu Kun to see him.
Of course, Liu Kun's status was not low. He was appointed as Wailang, a member of the Military Department of the sixth rank. Among the civilian officers of the army, he was second only to Chang Shi and Sima. Chang Shi was Hu Yun, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and he had not yet arrived in Goryeo.
Liu Kun politely asked Zheng Qing to sit down and sighed: "We went all the way south. What we saw and heard was really shocking. I didn't expect that Goryeo would be so dilapidated!"
Zheng Qing's nose felt a little sore, and he said secretly: "Liu Shijun didn't know the tragedy of the Jin soldiers' invasion of Goryeo. They burned, killed, raped, and looted all the way. The mountains and rivers were broken, and the wealth was plundered."
Liu Kun then said calmly: "If the Kingdom of Jin is a tiger, then Japan is a wolf. Nearly 200,000 Japanese troops have landed in the Jincheng area and are heading towards Kaicheng. Don't you know such important news?"
Zheng Qing was shocked and stood up. "Is it true that the Japanese army landed in Goryeo?"
Liu Kun nodded, "Of course it's true, otherwise why would we be here?"