The elite troops of Goryeo stationed in Haeju were organized into the Youshence Army.
The name sounds pretty cool.
The names of the other armies of Goryeo are also quite deceptive. Not to mention the palace guards such as Konghe and Qianlong, the two major forbidden armies are named Yingyang and Longhu respectively.
In addition, there are the Six Guards of the Capital, the Jinwu Guards, the Qianniu Guards, etc.
There had just been a small fight outside the city, and Zhe Yanzhi's general came back and reported: "General soldier, according to the prisoners' confessions, the elite soldiers who just left the city were none other than the Goryeo Youshence Army stationed in Haizhou. Their weapons and
The armor is worse than the Ming garrison, but better than the Ming Cao Army. Its combat capabilities are probably similar to those of the Ming Cao Army, mainly because their morale is so poor, they are probably not even as good as our Ming Cao Army."
Zhe Yanzhi muttered: "I've been deprived of food and salary. It's a damn thing if my morale is not bad."
"This kind of army with no morale can be defeated in one battle as long as it has siege equipment!"
"Fill in the moat first, and fire a few cannons if necessary. Don't rush to attack the city, stay to besiege the city and call for reinforcements. As long as the reinforcements are defeated, the defenders in the city will definitely surrender. Scatter the light cavalry and small boats to the east, explore the enemy's reinforcements, and try again
Let’s see if we can get in touch with the local production company.”
"yes!"
Cui Daoxiu was organizing the people to defend the city, and also took out the ordnance from the treasury and distributed it.
Haeju was once the headquarters of Goryeo's Protectorate, mainly to defend against the Liao Kingdom.
At that time, the Anbei Protectorate (Anzhou) was the front line against the Liao Dynasty, and the Anxi Protectorate (Haizhou) was upgraded to the Great Protectorate, which could quickly mobilize troops and horses from less than half of Goryeo.
Therefore, regardless of how well the armor is maintained, there is definitely no shortage of weapons in the treasury here.
The iron armor was rusty, the leather armor was moldy, the bow strings were broken, and the gun barrels were rotten... Pieces of armor were carried out and distributed to the young men organized by the temporary organization. Most of these young men were ordinary people in the city.
Half of the Youshen Ce army had no time to enter the city and had been dispersed by the Ming cavalry. Cui Daoxiu could only recruit militiamen for defense.
That's nonsense.
The invincible Ming army has been preparing to go south.
However, Goryeo, which was in danger, had its soldiers stored in the warehouse without any precautions, and did not even bother to repair its military equipment.
The next day, the second batch of Ming troops arrived and landed in a grand manner. The total force here reached 5,000.
Cui Daoxiu did not dare to send troops out of the city at all. He only sent a few light cavalry to ask for reinforcements when the Ming army landed for the first time.
In the afternoon, the remaining soldiers who had escaped from Huangzhou were defeated by more than a hundred Ming cavalry before they even approached Haizhou City. Xin Jia, the capital of Huangzhou, was also captured on the spot.
"The Huangzhou defenders were defeated?" Zheyan asked.
Xin Jia was talking nonsense: "The Ming Dynasty's soldiers are too powerful. I originally planned to find an opportunity to surrender. Before I had time to surrender, the Ming Dynasty's soldiers had already entered. Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the Ming Dynasty!"
After waiting for another half day, Zhang Yi came from Huangzhou with his troops.
He left 300 soldiers and 1,000 civilians to guard the city, and led 2,700 soldiers to join them.
There is nothing to fight around, so just continue the siege. You have to give time for Zheng Zhongfu to gather his troops. The total strength of the Ming army is not large. The more troops Goryeo gathers, the better, so as to avoid breaking through layers of layers and fighting a security war.
Most of the county towns in Goryeo didn’t even have city walls!
…
Zheng Zhongfu has led his army to the area between Kaizhou and Haizhou. Now it is just a small county. It was only upgraded to a county during Li's Joseon Dynasty.
Well, the name is...Yan'an County.
When the Ming Dynasty annexed Korea, the names had to be changed one by one, otherwise place names would be repeated everywhere. Not to mention Guangzhou and Huangzhou, there were also Kunming County, Wendeng County, and Jiangyin County.
"What? You said Haizhou was besieged?"
Zheng Zhongfu was shocked and pale.
He only gathered thousands of elites and set off without stopping, just to rush to Haizhou. Then relying on the strong city defense there, he could either defend to the death or look for opportunities to fight decisively.
What the hell is Haizhou being besieged?
The messenger crying for help said: "The Ming army came from the sea by boat, and we were completely unprepared. Even half of the soldiers of the Youshence Army had no time to enter the city with their armor, and were killed by the Ming army's cavalry and fled.
.”
Zheng Zhongfu was furious: "A month ago, a businessman brought back news that the Ming army on the north bank of the Datong River was mobilizing grain and grass. I have already gathered my troops and rushed here. How could Haizhou be completely unprepared? Is Cui's family ready?
Collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country!"
The envoy asking for help hesitated and said: "Cui Duhu... He felt that the Ming army would not be able to come to Haizhou for a while because of Huangzhou City in the north. He never expected that the Ming army would come from the sea by boat."
"How could he not have expected that? From the maritime trade business with the Ming Dynasty, it was his Cui family who made the most money!" Zheng Zhongfu's lungs almost exploded with anger.
While the two were talking, dozens of defeated soldiers came to surrender.
Those were You Shence's troops who had no time to enter the city. After all, they belonged to the elite of Goryeo, and there were always some who were unwilling to surrender.
One after another, hundreds more remnant soldiers fled, and some soldiers even took their families with them.
Zheng Zhongfu sent Qingqi to inquire about the news, and soon ran into the Ming Dynasty cavalry - the two places were only more than 70 miles apart, and there was no terrain barrier in the flat plains.
The Koryo Qingqi were defeated and had no idea of ​​the enemy's situation because they were stopped halfway.
Zheng Zhongfu called Li Junyi to discuss: "The Ming army has surrounded Haizhou. We don't know how many Ming troops have come, and we don't know whether Haizhou has been defeated. How should we deal with it next?"
Li Junyi was originally collecting treasures and beauties, planning to go to sea before winter and go to Luoyang to bribe the Ming emperors and ministers.
As a result, before he set out, news came from the Datong River that the Ming army was mobilizing grain and grass.
Li Junyi said: "Since Haizhou is besieged, we can't fight in Haizhou, and we can't fight here."
"Haizhou City is surrounded by the sea to the south and mountains to the north. We can only pass through the narrow seaside channel. The artillery of the Ming army ships is powerful, and the shells can deter half of the seaside channel. Once fighting there, it is estimated that the two armies will
Before the battle began, our army was defeated by the artillery fire of the Ming army's ships."
"And this place cannot be used as a battlefield. Only the county seat is on a hill, surrounded by flat terrain. How long can a mountain city be defended? If the Ming army is surrounded and refuses to attack, drag our army here and send a partial division to attack
Kaijing. Most of the wealthy civil servants in Kaijing will take the opportunity to cause rebellion and surrender the city."
Zheng Zhongfu said: "I understand what you said, but what should I do next?"
"Take your Majesty to hunt south." Li Junyi said.
Zheng Zhongfu was stunned: "Nan Shou?"
Li Junyi nodded and said: "Yes, let's go to Nanjing (Seoul). The Ming army's ships can reach the outer port of Kaijing, but it is difficult for us to defend it. Although Nanjing has the Han River leading to the sea, large sea ships cannot enter, and we will defend it until winter.
completely fine."
"Is it just winter?" Zheng Zhongfu was a little disappointed.
Li Junyi said: "It would be good if it can be delayed until winter. By delaying the time and waiting for the Ming army to make mistakes, we will look for opportunities to counterattack."
Zheng Zhongfu said: "Can't we hunt eastward? There are more mountains over there."
Li Junyi shook his head: "If we take His Majesty and hide in the mountains, the Ming army can take advantage of the situation to occupy the two capitals, and then send troops to conquer the wealthy families everywhere. Goryeo has already lost Xijing (Pyongyang), and if it loses Kaijing and Nanjing (Seoul), it will only
There is only one Tokyo (Gyeongju) left. By that time, we will have become bandits and His Majesty has become a false king. Will the only remaining Tokyo support us? No, we just bloodbathed the wealthy Gyeongju family there!"
Zheng Zhongfu thought about it, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Then please ask your Majesty to hunt south of Hanyang!"
Withdraw immediately. The Korean reinforcements immediately packed up their supplies and planned to evacuate in the dark after nightfall. Soldiers suffering from night blindness could hold on to their belts and hurry as long as they did not get separated from the main army.
Just as the Goryeo army was beginning to retreat, someone in Li Junyi's camp took advantage of the chaos and led his horse westward.
Not long ago, in order to save his life, Li Junyi even made Zheng Zhongfu his adoptive father. How could he accompany Zheng Zhongfu to death?
…
Li Junyi's cousin Zhou Pu ran more than 20 miles away from the camp and was captured by the Ming Dynasty cavalry.
Seeing Zhe Yanzhi, Zhou Pu said: "Zheng Zhongfu wants to take the monarch to retreat to Hanyang, Nanjing. Please send troops to intercept him by sea ship quickly!"
Zheyanzi couldn't believe it: "He didn't even save Haizhou, and he even gave up on Kaizhou?"
"He was frightened out of his wits," Zhou Pu said.
Orihiko asked again: "How many reinforcements did he bring?"
Zhou Pu said: "There are more than 6,000 soldiers, all the elites of the two capitals and six guards, and thousands of civilians follow. There are also some troops left behind in the capital. My cousin Li Yifang is responsible for gathering the troops. The troops from the capital and other places are gathering
They are gathering there one after another. As long as the general sends a thousand elites to arrive in Kaijing before Zheng Zhongfu, my cousin will open the city to welcome the Ming soldiers and block the return path of Zheng Zhongfu's six thousand elites!"
Zhang Yi reminded: "General Zhe, beware of fraud."
Zheyan smiled and said: "You Li family, are you so kind?"
To be continued...