Seeing the obvious disbelief of Ma Gui, an old military leader, Lin Tailai suddenly took out three copper coins and said to Ma Gui: "Then I will use the copper coins to divine the situation of the Japanese soldiers."
Then he pretended to shake three copper coins in his big palm, and then pretended to throw the coins on the table six times in a row.
After writing down the positive and negative results each time, I closed my eyes and thought about it for a while.
Ma Gui and Dong Yiyuan stopped talking and just watched quietly from the side.
Suddenly Lin Jinglue opened his eyes and said very confidently: "Ask to heaven, I already know everything!"
Then he pointed to Hamhung Prefecture on the map and said: "There are 12,000 Japanese soldiers here. The leading general is Nabeshima Naoshige. He is over fifty years old and can be regarded as a minor famous general at the provincial or town level."
Ma Gui asked doubtfully: "What is a provincial and town-level minor general?"
Lin Jing thought for a moment and then said casually: "It's like the four powerful generals of the Xuanfu who are well-known in a region."
Ma Gui couldn't help curling his lips, "The Japanese country is really short of talents. Such people can actually guard a big city with more than ten thousand troops."
Lin Tailai pointed to Jizhou again, "There are ten thousand Japanese soldiers here, and the leader is Kato Kiyomasa!
It is said that this person is a direct henchman of the regent of Japan. He is famous for his bravery and is nicknamed Tiger Kato. He is tall and majestic and has outstanding marksmanship!"
Hearing this, others around him felt that "tall and majestic, with outstanding marksmanship" seemed familiar.
Lin Tailai snorted coldly: "But to say that this person is tall means that compared to the Japanese, he is actually one-third of a foot shorter than the Honbuyuan."
So everyone thought that this Japanese general named Kato Kiyomasa was nothing, after all, they had even seen the Nine Yuan True Immortal.
Lin Jinglue's finger gestured at the entire Hamgyeong Province again, "It can be said that the Second Japanese Army Corps mainly consists of these two groups!
At present, we have occupied Yongxing and completed the idea of closing the door and beating the dogs!
The next task is to eat these two scattered groups as quickly as possible before the Japanese army can react and when the combined forces are completed!
First attack Hamhung Prefecture and annihilate Nabeshima Naoshige, and then formulate a new plan based on Kato Kiyomasa’s movements.”
It was really difficult for Ma Gui to understand. Could this information really be calculated? This really overturned his understanding. It was too childish!
"It is indeed calculated." Lin Jinglue said seriously, "The accuracy is over 80%."
Previously, Lin Tailai knew that the Second Japanese Army had two groups, namely Kato Kiyomasa's Kumamoto Soldiers and Nabeshima Naoshige's Saga Soldiers.
But we don’t know the specific locations of Kato Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naoshima, nor where they are stationed.
The rough information obtained by North Korean spies just made up for this last link.
The information that Hamhung Prefecture and Jizhou each had large groups of Japanese soldiers seemed too vague to others, but it was useful enough for Lin Tailai.
Anyway, among the two groups of Japanese soldiers, one must be Kato and the other Nabeshima.
Based on Kato's style of advancing northward, the Jizhou Japanese soldiers farther north were probably the Kato tribe, and the other group of Japanese soldiers stationed in Hamheung Prefecture were the Nabeshima tribe.
Magui's regiment would be the main force attacking Hamhung Prefecture, so Magui asked again: "Please give me a brief introduction and elaborate on Nabeshima Naoshige, the defender of Hamhung Prefecture."
Now I have a basic understanding of the combat effectiveness and fighting patterns of Japanese soldiers. What I mainly want to know is the information about Japanese generals.
After Lin Tailai thought for a while, he replied: "Naoshima Naoshige has been on Kyushu Island in the southern part of Japan for decades. He is a veteran of troubled times. He has been working hard to create a loyal and brave character."
Ma Gui was a little confused, "What does it mean to always create a loyal and brave character?"
Lin Tailai continued to answer: "Loyalty means being loyal to the lord and dying for advice several times; courage means daring to take the lead in battle and daring to defeat the enemy with a small number."
"What's the problem with this?" Ma Gui was still confused. He sounded like a very good person.
Lin Tailai said leisurely: "The territory that was once my lord's has now become Naoshima Naoshima's own territory."
Ma Gui: "."
Seeing that Lin Jinglue was very knowledgeable about the Japanese pirates, Dong Yiyuan, who had been silent for a long time, couldn't help but ask: "Instead of just talking about Hamgyong Province, we might as well calculate the Japanese soldiers in Gangwon Province in the south."
If the Magui Corps goes north to attack Hamhung and Dong Il-won stays behind in Yongheung, they may have to face the Japanese soldiers from Gangwon Province in the south. If the Japanese soldiers from Gangwon Province come to support Hamgyeong Province.
Im Tae-rae replied: "The number of Japanese soldiers in Gangwon Province ranges from several thousand to fifteen thousand."
Dong Yiyuan: "."
What difference does it make if you say or don't say the error interval for this number?
Lin Tailai said distressedly: "The main force of the Japanese soldiers in Kangwon Province should be Shimazu Yoshihirobe, but this is an even older veteran.
It stands to reason that the regent of Japan asked him to send out 10,000 troops, but he kept going back and forth, and God knows how many troops he has sent out now."
Then he told Dong Yiyuan: "Anyway, your 10,000 troops are enough to defend Yongxing.
Yongxing must not be lost under any circumstances. I don’t want any casualty figures, I just want Yongxing!
At the same time, we must cooperate with the Korean volunteers to raid around Yongxing, try our best to intercept Japanese messengers, and block communications between the Japanese in Hamgyong Province and other places!"
"Understood!" Dong Yiyuan responded.
At this moment, Ma Gui suddenly became entangled again, "Hamheungfu is a large city in the northeast of Korea. According to the military gate, there are 12,000 Japanese soldiers guarding the city.
As for our corps of 17,000 men plus the 6,000 men of the Biao battalion under the direct command of the general manager, we can only count 23,000 soldiers and horses in full, which is less than twice the number of Japanese soldiers defending the city. Moreover, there are not many heavy artillery.
Should the army reconsider? Even if we can defeat the city, if the cost of casualties is too high, it is extremely uneconomical."
Anyone who often attacks a city knows that under normal circumstances, the siege force should be at least three or four times that of the defenders.
But now it's less than double, which makes Ma Gui feel entangled again.
Lin Tailai slapped Ma Gui and shouted: "The headquarters has decided, there is no need to think about it anymore!
The worst thing to do in battle is to look forward, hesitate, and hesitate! Don’t say too much!
After your regiment has rested for two days, it will immediately set off with the headquarters' Yuanbiao Battalion to go to Hamhung Prefecture!"
After Ma Gui returned to his base camp, he summoned the generals of each column to further convey the order.
In fact, all the generals are also very concerned about the future combat plan. Yang Dengden, one of the four fierce generals of Xuanfu, asked:
"There is no problem for us to fight bravely, but what do you think, Lord Jinglue? You don't want to be the first to succeed, right?"
They all already knew the depressing experience of the generals of Li Rusong's regiment when they attacked Pyongyang City.
Now the strategic minister, who is more ferocious than the generals, is already with their army.
Before entering North Korea, they never imagined that the biggest threat to winning first-line military glory would be the Minister of Economic Affairs.
The most terrifying thing is that the Minister of Economic Affairs and Strategy is not just showing off, but actually doing it. He "reached first" twice and killed dozens of enemies with his own hands. How can these generals not know the value of it?
Ma Gui smiled bitterly and said: "Lin Junmen is really unfathomable. How can I guess it? I'll see again when I get to Xianxing."
Two days later, eleven columns of the Magui Corps and three battalions directly under the strategic command broke out and marched towards Hamhung Prefecture, which was more than a hundred miles away.
Among the Eight Routes of North Korea, Pyongan Road and Hamgyong Road were the last places to be included.
In North Korea's view, these two areas are border areas, areas of "Northwestern Confinement", and areas of blatant official discrimination.
Therefore, the foundation of Li Dynasty's rule in these two places, especially Hamgyeong Province, was very weak. This was one of the reasons why Kato Kiyomasa's regiment was able to advance straight into Hamgyeong Province.
Hamhungfu is considered a big city in the Joseon Dynasty, and it is the place where Li Chenggui, the founder of the Li Dynasty of the Joseon Dynasty, started his career.
At noon on the third day after departure, the leading troops of the Ming Dynasty army arrived outside Xianxing City.
Ma Gui, the commander of the third corps, asked Lin Jinglue for instructions on how to set up camp.
Lin Jinglue then ordered: "Your regiment is divided into 2,000 soldiers and horses and the main headquarters, plus the three Jinglue standard battalions, a total of 8,000 soldiers and horses, and camped in the north of the city.
The remaining 15,000 soldiers and horses of your army are encamped in the south of the city."
Ma Gui only thought that this arrangement sounded really amateurish, but after thinking about the combat effectiveness of the Japanese soldiers, he still tolerated it.
Even if eight thousand people camp, it should be enough to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers. There is no problem with safety.
Then I heard Lin Jinglue order: "The heavy artillery is deployed in the south of your city, with the south of your city as the main attack direction. The attack on the city will begin tomorrow, and the headquarters will supervise the battle and provide support in the north of the city."
Hearing the words "main attack" and "support", General Ma's face couldn't help but twitch.
When we attacked Pyongyang, Manager Lin ordered Li Rusong to attack in the west city, and then you, as a co-ordinator, secretly scored the first goal in the other direction.
Lin Jinglue saw Ma Gui's thoughts and said sincerely: "Believe me, this time the headquarters really responded."
When Ma Gui returned to the base camp, he ordered Yang Dengden and said, "Your column is temporarily under the direct control of Lin Junmen. Go and camp in the north of the city!"
Yang Shanshan said in astonishment: "Why is he the last general?"
General Ma's reason was very good, "Because Heifenghu, a martial arts student from Lin Junmen, is under your command!"
The Japanese garrison of Hamheung Castle, Kaga Shou, Nabeshima Naomo, the chief of the 360,000-koku Saga Domain, stood on the castle gate tower, silently watching the army in the distance.
This is a large army with a very unfamiliar appearance. There are as many horses as there are people, and the chariots are well-trained.
No need to think too much, this strange army must be what North Koreans call the Great Tomorrow Soldiers.
Three days ago, we received news of the fall of Yongxing in the south, but at that time we were not sure which side of the army occupied Yongxing.
Now this doubt can be completely answered. The one who captured Yongxing must be the Ming army.
But Lord Nabeshima still couldn't figure out where this Ming army came from?
I don’t know for a while what situation happened in other places. Could it be that the good-for-nothing Governor Konishi on the Western Front was quickly defeated?
Otherwise, how could the Ming army that entered Korea from the west still have the spare strength to allocate its forces and appear on the east coast?
Now the Lord of Nabeshima Domain feels a little regretful that he should not have brought out his eldest son Katsushige.
This kind of opponent is far more powerful than I imagined just by looking at its military appearance.
Encountering such an opponent may be the most difficult moment for him in his decades of debut. If he also loses his eldest son, it will be a huge loss!
I really don’t know what kind of medicine Toyotomi Sekihaku took wrongly, and he was so arrogant that he fantasized about settling the capital, moving to the Ming Dynasty, and conquering Nanyang and Tianzhu.
When encountering this situation, there are basically two ideas: one is to defend, and the other is to abandon the city and break out.
However, after observation, Nabeshima Naoshima decisively gave up the idea of abandoning the city and breaking out, and could only hold on.
Based on the number of enemy horses, how can we break through? Two legs?
Suddenly there was an explosion from outside the city, followed by dozens more sounds like thunder.
Even one of the eaves of the castle gate tower was shattered by the blast, and the Lord of Nabeshima clan hurriedly walked down from the castle gate tower.
In the face of artillery fire, the city gate tower with obvious targets has become the most dangerous place.
The general soldier outside Nancheng shook his head and was very dissatisfied with the effect of these rounds of shelling.
The number of heavy artillery weighing more than 100 kilograms is still too small. What can a few dozen of them do? When Li Rusong attacked Pyongyang a while ago, he used more than 300 artillery pieces.
Alas, let's just fight! Commander Ma sighed, first deployed more than twenty siege points, and ordered each column to start taking turns to attack the city with infantry.
In addition to commanding, General Ma did not forget to pay attention to the situation in Beicheng. A detective horse reported that Duke Jinglue did not attack the city with great fanfare in Beicheng, but only set up a cloud chariot to shoot arrows into the city.
Guardsman Nabeshima Naoshige was personally supervising the battle in Nancheng when he suddenly saw his teenage son Katsushige running over, holding a letter in his hand.
"Father! A lot of arrow-sealing books came in, and they were written in two languages!"
Nabeshima Naoshige was puzzled. The two sides did not understand each other very well and the cultural differences were huge. What could be exchanged? Did the Ming army still want to persuade them to surrender?
When he opened it and looked at it, he saw that it read "A letter to the generals of Ryuzoji Temple" - Nabeshima Naoshima was originally a retainer of the Ryuzoji family. He was loyal on the surface, but he deliberately killed his lord Takanobu and the four generals on the battlefield, and later colluded in private.
Hideyoshi Sekihaku was able to seize the magpie's nest and steal the Saga Domain.
I heard that most of the soldiers in the city are former members of the Ryuzoji clan, so there must be many loyal people.
In order to promote the way of loyalty, if anyone captures or beheads Naoshige Naoshima, I am willing to reward him with a thousand taels of silver and send him back to his country as a gift. If he does not want to return to Japan, I can give him a separate reward."
After reading this slanderous word, Nabeshima Naoshima almost went dark. How come even the Ming army knew about such a bad thing he had done in the country?
And it's not just a general knowledge, it's just a level of understanding.
He had only been a feudal lord for a few years, and many of the Saga Domain's soldiers and generals were from the era of the old feudal lord, the Ryuzouji clan, and they had a very sensitive relationship with him.
And because the relationship between myself and the soldiers under my command is very sensitive, I usually have to treat it with caution, for fear of causing problems and turmoil.
As a result, these arrow books can accurately grasp this point, directly and openly slander and sow discord.
"Where did these arrow books come from?" Naoshima Naoshima asked his son.
Nabeshima Katsushige replied: "They are all from Beicheng."
So Naoshima Naoshige no longer bothered to supervise the battle in the south city, and hurried towards the north city.
Anyway, it seems that there is not much danger in the south city for the time being, but it is the people in the north city that worry Nabeshima Naoshima more.