The battle to destroy Goryeo did not require many troops.
Three thousand field troops and five thousand garrison troops, for a total strength of eight thousand, are enough.
However, some private merchant ships were requisitioned, all of which were trading with Korea and Japan all year round.
While the civil and military officials in Liaoning were waiting for the court's order, although they did not dare to send out troops without authorization, they could mobilize grain and grass in advance. From Changping warehouses in Liaodong, grain was transferred to Gaixian County, and then transported to the north bank of the Datong River by sea ship.
At the same time, the Ming army was also gathering in Pyongyang.
It was impossible to keep such an obvious troop and food mobilization completely secret, and soon Korean merchants passed the news back.
Bai Gongmei, the governor of Goryeo's Western Sea Route, was so frightened that he frantically sent a letter to the military government asking for help.
Facing the Ming Dynasty's military front, the first one to bear the brunt was Xihai Road. The three states of Xihai Road were Huangzhou, Haizhou and Yangzhou. These place names were obviously borrowed from China.
Yangzhou is very far away and is already close to the Han River.
Huangzhou City is very close, only more than a hundred miles away from Pyongyang.
Zheng Zhongfu turned the center of Goryeo into a cabinet system, but he didn't bother to change the local officials. It was also very weird and interesting.
Administrative districts at the provincial level follow the old system of the Tang Dynasty.
In the early years, just like the Song Dynasty, each road had a transshipment envoy. Later, for some reason, it was abandoned and changed to a very retro "zhoumu".
In addition, there are also governor envoys, honest visiting envoys, etc.
Below the Dao level, there are prefects, prefects, and county magistrates, which are no different from the Song Dynasty.
"Why hasn't the imperial court sent reinforcements?" Bai Gongmei was extremely anxious.
Zheng Shiyou, the magistrate of Huangzhou, sneered: "A group of warriors are busy fighting for power and profit in Kaijing. They don't trust the local civil officials, and they probably thought it was false news. How can they send reinforcements quickly?"
"How to deal with it?" Bai Gongmei asked.
Zheng Shiyou shook his head: "I don't know. Regarding the military matters here, you have to ask Xin Dutong."
Xin Jia, the commander-in-chief of the capital, said: "Without money and food, the soldiers are starving. How can I lead the troops to fight?"
The state pastor responsible for the management of Saikaidō is concurrently held by central officials, and currently resides in the capital with no real power.
There are no actual governors in Saikaido at all, and their powers are decentralized by several "envoys", the most important of which are the governor envoy and the capital commander - which can be understood as the governor and the commander-in-chief.
The commander-in-chief named Xin Jia was already filled with resentment.
When civilian officials were in power, there was insufficient food and salary, but when military generals seized power, there was still insufficient food and salary. The central court had ushered in the era of warriors, but the place was still controlled by wealthy families.
For local military commanders, the bullshit era of warriors is just a matter of changing the soup without changing the medicine!
Xin Jia's intention was obvious. If he wanted him to work hard to fight, he could quickly ask the civil servants and wealthy families to bring him food and grass.
Bai Gongmei said: "The Huangfu family is already persuading all the major families to provide food."
"Let them gather the food and come to me again!" Xin Jia walked away in a hurry.
The largest family in Huangzhou of Goryeo was the Huangfu family. The fourth concubine of the founding monarch of Goryeo was the daughter of Taiwei Huangfu Tigong and was named Queen Mother Shenjing.
Due to the military coup, all the prominent figures of the Huangfu family were massacred in Kaijing.
The most prestigious and talented man from Huangzhou, his hometown, went to Beijing to become a civil servant in name only. The Huangfu family got a cabinet minister, a minister, two ministers, an Hanlin, three censorships, and many temples in a mess.
official.
Now the person controlling the situation in his hometown is an old man named Huangfu Minzhong.
"Uncle, the money and food for my royal family are all earned through hard work. Why should I use them as food for those warriors?" A middle-aged man was the first to object.
Another person immediately echoed: "That's right! The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are invincible, and even the Kingdom of Jin was destroyed by them. How can the old, weak, sick and disabled people in Huangzhou stop the tiger and wolf army? Give them the money and food, or just throw them away
What's the difference in the sea? What's more, if the Ming dynasty annexes Goryeo and it is found out that we have provided money and food to support the defenders, the Huangfu family will be wiped out."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone else said: "I am in charge of the family business. Since the Ming Dynasty occupied Pyongyang, we have been able to make money by doing business with those Ming Dynasty merchants on the south bank of the Datong River. In the past few years, the money and grain income of each clan of the Huangfu family has
, one year is worth several years in the past. The entire Huangfu family simply surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, why bother guarding the broken ship of Goryeo?"
The Huangfu family, which owned half of Huangzhou's land, was divided into several clan branches, large and small.
Huangfu Minzhong, who is already sixty years old, took advantage of the situation and took the position of head of the Huangfu clan because the warriors made a rebellion and killed the family leader. Regardless of his prestige or ability, he could not control the various factions.
None of the sects in front of him were willing to provide money or food, so Huangfu Minzhong could only sigh helplessly.
Everyone quarreled for a long time, and Huangfu Minzhong said: "Send someone to contact the Ming Dynasty. If we can keep half of the Huangfu family's land and wealth, we are willing to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, we must spend money and food to block the Ming Dynasty army! You must know
, after the chaos in Pyongyang, the surviving wealthy families there were not able to get their land back. The Ming Dynasty government distributed their land to poor families and common people, and even the former untouchables were able to divide their land."
The representatives of each sect stopped talking, and they were also considering the pros and cons.
They felt that the Goryeo army was too bad and would certainly not be able to stop the Ming army. However, they were also afraid that the Ming army would come to kill them and confiscate their property.
How to choose this?
…
A young man named Huangfuying crossed the river to find Li Yi, the prefect of Pyongyang.
Li Yi didn't even bother to talk about the situation, and directly gave the treatment: "If the Huangfu family abandons the dark side and turns to the bright side, they can get business privileges and issue you some special licenses. You can also keep all your free money. However, your shops and properties must be paid for."
Eighty percent of the land will be confiscated. The slaves you keep in your home must re-sign employment contracts. Those tenants and serfs under your control must all be released as free people."
"This... is too harsh." After hearing the treatment, Huangfuying already had the urge to recruit troops to resist.
Li Yi said: "When the heavenly soldiers arrive, what other choice do you have? If you are stubborn to the end, you will not be able to save 20% of the shops and land!"
Huangfuying said: "This matter is of great importance. I need to go back and discuss it with the clan elders."
Huangfuying soon returned to Huangzhou and explained the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, which made all the Huangfu clan curse.
Then there were internal quarrels. Some said they wanted to recruit troops to defend the enemy. Some said they would donate food and grass to the defenders. Some were afraid of death and wanted to accept Ming's conditions.
There is no agreement, and there is no way to come up with the outcome of the discussion.
That night, someone smuggled across the Datong River to accept the harsh conditions of the Ming Dynasty on behalf of his own Huangfu clan.
Some people also gave money and food to the Korean soldiers, and also recruited troops to defend the city on the spot.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The river warships of the Datong Jiangming Army, which were on daily patrol, suddenly fired at the defenders on the south bank.
Then, countless civilian ships were requisitioned, carrying Ming army soldiers and began to cross the river to fight.
There are several Goryeo fortresses on the south bank of the Datong River, all of which have been fortified. The defenders no longer work to make money, and finally can receive rations. They have been stationed in the fortress for more than a month.
When the cannon fired, everyone ran for their lives!
They are willing to stay in the fortress purely to make a living, so how can they defend with all their strength?
The first batch of Ming army soldiers to cross the river had just boarded the ship, and all the Korean defenders on the other side had already fled.
Most of the defenders fled home, waiting for the war to end with their starving wives and children, and then continued to look for work.
Some generals took a few elites and fled all the way to Huangzhou City.
In fact, the only person crossing the river here was Zhang Yi, the commander-in-chief of Pyongyang, with only 3,000 men under his command.
Another five thousand Ming troops took sea ships directly to Haizhou.
Three thousand Ming soldiers, without encountering any resistance, fought their way to Huangzhou City, a hundred miles away.
Along the way, they recruited Goryeo people as husbandmen, claiming that they would have enough to eat every day and receive a bushel of rice as settlement allowance.
After the people on the south bank received a bucket of rice, they immediately cheered and thought they were people of the Ming Dynasty. They were also sent out to recruit people, and they traveled all the way to tell each other and attracted more Korean people to be civil servants.
Huangzhou City.
Governor Bai Gongmei, who was in charge of Xinjia, and Zhizhou Zheng Shiyou, led a group of Goryeo civil and military officials to climb the tower.
They were surrounded by other officials and local wealthy families.
Outside the city, there were only five hundred Ming cavalry, serving as the vanguard to persuade them to surrender.
Bai Gongmei asked: "Tong Xin, there are only a few hundred enemy troops outside the city, but we have more than 10,000 soldiers. Can we go out of the city to fight and kill the enemy's vanguard?"
Xin Jia smiled bitterly and said: "Half of our more than 10,000 soldiers were recruited temporarily, and many of them even only had a stick in their hands. There are only a few thousand real elites. How can we fight against the Ming Dynasty's cavalry?"
"It seems that only the city can be defended." Bai Gongmei sighed.
Keep on guard!
Xin Jia looked at the Ming Dynasty knights outside the city, with no intention of defending the city at all.
After dark, Xin Jia led more than a hundred soldiers, opened the city gate and ran away. The reason why he did not surrender the city was simply because he was worried that his relatives in his hometown would be implicated and executed.
The general ran away, and the morale of the army was in chaos.
The governor's envoy Bai Gongmei scolded him angrily and simply ran away. He was from a wealthy family and was not afraid of being executed. He retreated to Haizhou and could continue to fight.
All the top civil and military leaders ran away, quickly triggering a wave of escapes.
Especially the temporarily recruited militiamen, seeing all the officials running away, they also dispersed.
Five hundred Ming knights outside the city took the opportunity to hunt down and capture him.
When Zhang Yi led the main force to arrive, Huangzhou City had been captured by 500 vanguard troops.
Huangfu Minzhong and his clansmen knelt on the ground outside the city and shouted: "Huangfu Minzhong, a descendant of Yan and Huang, and his clansmen respectfully welcome the general into the city!"
The cavalry general Cui Shan came forward and reported in detail: "General, these Koreans are very strange. They did not open the city gate when they were persuaded to surrender. They began to flee inexplicably at night. I led the troops and captured more than 3,000 prisoners. At dawn, the city gate suddenly opened
When it was opened, the local wealthy people came out and surrendered with the officials who had not escaped."
Zhang Yi lamented: "I hope the enemy troops in the south can resist, otherwise it will be difficult to write a detailed battle report to the court."
Of course I will resist.
The Goryeo army has set off from Kaizhou.
The excuse for the Ming Dynasty to send troops this time was that the Korean warriors rebelled and deposed the king who was canonized by the Ming Dynasty.
As a warrior leader, Zheng Zhongfu has no way out. Even if he surrenders, he will be executed by the Ming Dynasty!
(Grandma’s body function is aging. She hasn’t eaten for a month and relies on infusions. She was critically ill today and the doctor said she doesn’t have much time left. I will try my best to keep updated in the next few days, but it will probably be delayed.)