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Chapter 726 Seoul Strategy Part 2(1/2)

There are 60,000 Japanese soldiers outside the city and 50,000 Japanese soldiers in the city. With this ratio of forces, the camps of the Japanese soldiers must not be too spread out.
We can't ignore the back road and go around more than ten miles to the south of the city, so the camp is in the northwest of Seoul.
Two days later, Lin Tianshuai and General Li acted separately according to the planned plan.
Lin Tianshuai continued to the west gate, that is, the Muhua Pavilion outside Dunyi Gate, to negotiate with the Japanese pirates.
General Li first sent a scout cavalry ten miles south to conduct reconnaissance along the Han River. If the Japanese soldiers showed signs of retreating south across the Han River, they would quickly report back.
Before setting off, Lin Tailai reminded Li Rusong that if the Japanese envoy coming to negotiate today is still Otani Yoshitsugi, it means that the Japanese pirates may really want to retreat.
Because Otani Yoshitsugi is a man who is not afraid of death for his beliefs. In the historical Battle of Sekigahara, Otani Yoshitsugi originally had a good relationship with the Eastern Army Tokugawa Ieyasu, but in order to show loyalty to his friends, he joined Ishida Mitsunari's Western Army, and then fought
Defeated and committed suicide.
Therefore, people like Otani Yoshitsugi went out to the city to negotiate again, probably to confuse the heavenly soldiers and cover the retreat of the main force as much as possible, without intending to return alive.
On the other hand, if the envoy who came to negotiate today had been replaced by Ishida Mitsunari, who could make the decision, then 80% of the Japanese pirates would still have stayed in the city, and they would indeed have "sincerity" to resolve the problem through peace negotiations.
Lin Tianshuai assessed the degree of danger today and only wore simple inner armor and a wide robe with large sleeves.
When he left the camp again and came to the Yingen Gate outside the Muhua Hall, he saw Otani Yoshitsugi, whose face was covered with a white cloth, already standing there waiting.
Lin Tianshuai thought to himself that it seemed that the Japanese soldiers were really afraid of fighting a "war of attrition" and could not find food and grass in North Korea, so they were preparing to retreat from Seoul to the south coast where supplies were convenient.
If you follow Lin Tianshuai's usual style of doing things, after understanding the opponent's purpose and routine, he will directly go up and beat Otani Yoshitsugi to death and the whole thing is done.
But not today. Ohtani Yoshitsugi wanted to confuse the Japanese soldiers, so why didn't Lin Tianshuai want to confuse the Japanese soldiers and give General Li a chance?
What if they came up and tore Otani Yoshitsugi apart, and the Japanese army was frightened and retreated back into the city?
Besides, how could Lin Tianshuai, who was unwilling to bear the reputation of "killing prisoners", bear the moral stain of killing enemy envoys for no reason?
Of course, killing an allied envoy does not count as killing. After all, the prevailing moral standard is "two countries are at war without killing envoys", which does not say that one cannot kill one's own envoys.
So let’s just pretend to talk for now. It’s time to compete in acting.
Otani Yoshitsugi said seriously: "Last time, the two conditions proposed by Your Excellency, to lay down the weapons and keep the food and grass, were absolutely unacceptable to us after our discussion."
Lin Tailai lowered his head with some difficulty and threatened: "This is my bottom line! I am just informing you, not asking you!"
Otani Yoshitsugi argued rationally: "If these two conditions are followed, what is the difference between our army being defeated and surrendering? This negotiation is a peace negotiation, not a surrender!"
Lin Tailai said disdainfully: "In my eyes, you have already been defeated! As long as I am trapped in the city for two months, you will be defeated without fighting!"
Otani Yoshitsugi was not as "calm" as last time at all, and responded forcefully: "That is just your arrogant assumption, and it is the best assumption! But what will happen in the middle is all possible, and who will win is unknown.
!”
"Then there's no need to talk?" Lin Tianshuai turned around and was about to leave with a very firm attitude.
"Wait a minute!" Otani Yoshitsugi quickly stopped Lin Tianshuai, "Fighting in a poor place like North Korea, and I heard that you support a lot of local North Koreans, I guess the cost of food and grass is also very tight, right?
When our army withdraws from Seoul, how about leaving 10,000 shi of military rations for your use?"
Still not handing over weapons, but being willing to keep some food and grass, which seems to be a negotiation technique for paying back the money on the spot, but in the eyes of those who understand, it is deliberately slowing down the pace.
However, Lin Tailai didn't expose it. Now they were just teasing each other, and then said: "You don't have to hand over all the weapons, but you have to leave two thousand iron cannons. This is not too much, right?"
Among the Japanese soldiers in Seoul, there were elite generals close to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as well as soldiers from the Western Kingdom of Japan and Kyushu. They were all teams equipped with a relatively high proportion of firearms.
Lin Tianshuai estimated that among the 50,000 people, there should be about 10,000 "Tiepao Ashigaru".
Otani Yoshitsugi reluctantly refused, "This is absolutely impossible!"
Even if it is a fake negotiation, it is impossible to agree to such conditions! This is the only branch of the Japanese soldiers that has some advantages.
While Lin Tianshuai and Otani Yoshitsugi were arguing, Li Rusong received the reward for exploring the horse.
Walking a distance of ten or twenty miles around the city wall, that is, in the southeast direction of the city wall, Japanese troops kept leaving the city through Guangxi Gate.
As early as last year, the Japanese army had erected several pontoon bridges on the Han River, and at the same time built several earthen barriers near the bridgeheads of the pontoon bridges to protect them.
The Han River is close to the southern city wall, and you can cross the river on the pontoon after leaving the city, so the Japanese soldiers crossed the river very quickly. It is now visually observed that a large number of Japanese soldiers have retreated to the south bank.
After listening to the reconnaissance report, General Li quickly made a mental calculation. The best case scenario for attacking the enemy troops crossing the river would be to attack halfway across the river.
If the attack is too early, most of the Japanese troops will retreat into the city, and it will be difficult to attack them again.
If the attack is too late, most of the Japanese troops have already reached the other side of the river. As long as the pontoon bridge is burned down and the rear group is left to defend the other side of the river, it will be difficult for our own side to pursue them.
General Li estimated the marching speed of both sides and decisively ordered the cavalry to attack first.
When we just learned that the Japanese negotiator was Otani Yoshitsugi, General Li had already ordered the entire army to be ready for dispatch at any time.
At this time, General Li gave an order and personally led 20,000 horse troops who had already been prepared. They divided into more than a dozen teams and set off first, circling the city from the west and advancing rapidly toward the southeast.
This time, General Li led 3,000 people from his headquarters, led by General Zha Damou, as the vanguard.
As a highly-respected old man of the Li family in Liaodong, Zha Damou has been used as a pioneer since he entered the court, but he has never made any significant contributions.
Even when we were at Hokutokan last year, we had not fought against the infantry of the Japanese general Tachibana Muneshige in the field, so Tachibana Muneshige was blown away by the idea that "three thousand infantry can be compared to ten thousand Ming troops".
Therefore, General Li gave Zha Dashou more opportunities this time to win over people's hearts.
Other infantry and artillery vehicles moved behind the cavalry, preparing for follow-up support.
There were tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers retreating from the Gwanghui Gate and the Han River Floating Bridge. General Lee did not dare to take it lightly. It would be ridiculous if he failed to intercept and was killed.
Therefore, except for the 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers and horses left behind in the camp and as reserves, almost all the rest of the troops were deployed to the southeast of the city wall to annihilate the Japanese pirates as much as possible first.
Apart from this, there were no extra troops to carry out other tasks. Again, the top priority was to annihilate the effective strength of the Japanese army.
At this time, Lin Tianshuai and Otani Yoshitsugi were still arguing back and forth at the Yingen Gate, while President Konishi was playing the drums beside him.
Among everyone present, perhaps only President Konishi truly hoped to negotiate a peace.
In this way, he would have the opportunity to take credit for "promoting peace" and wash away the sins of his capture.
Suddenly everyone heard a rumbling sound, like muffled thunder, and along with this sound, they also felt the earth trembling finely.
"What's going on?" President Konishi said subconsciously, without any psychological preparation.
Lin Tianshuai looked at Otani Yoshitsugi with a half-smile, "What do you think this is?"
Otani Yoshitsugu, who had a ghost in his heart, immediately thought of the correct answer, "Tens of thousands of cavalry soldiers dispatched?"
Lin Tailai responded: "The answer is correct!"
President Konishi asked again: "What's going on?"
Maybe he had guessed something, but he still couldn't believe it instinctively.
Lin Tailai said to Governor Konishi: "It seems that it has been clearly detected that your Japanese army has retreated south, so our army has dispatched to intercept."
Governor Konishi felt in a daze for a moment. If all his friendly forces retreated south, wouldn't he become an abandoned person? All friendly forces would not care about his own life or death?
Originally, Tianshuai let him come and go as he pleased. If it were not for the purpose of promoting peace talks, he could have stayed in the army and not left!
Then President Konishi suddenly became furious, rushed to Otani Yoshitsugi, grabbed Otani's collar, and asked angrily: "Why are you doing this? Why are you hiding it from me?"
It turned out that they were all pretending to negotiate, and he was the only one who was stupidly focused on promoting peace talks!
Otani Yoshitsugi broke away from Konishi Yukino, sat down slowly on the ground, and said in a regretful tone: "I couldn't hide it completely. The matter has come to this. If you want to kill or behead me, it's up to you."
Governor Konishi, who was furious because he was abandoned by friendly forces, shouted to Lin Tianshuai: "Otani deserves to die! Please let me kill him myself!"
Otani Yoshitsugi responded: "Die for the whole army, die for friendship, why not take the first step in the six paths of reincarnation?"
Governor Konishi looked at Yoshitsugi Otani, who was still showing off before he died, and was about to go crazy. He once again begged Lin Tailai: "Please give me a sword, Commander-in-Chief!"
Lin Tianshuai said in surprise: "Why kill him? It is of great use!"
The error-free version is being read! This is the first novel.
As soon as he finished speaking, the guardian Zhang brothers rushed forward with their servants, and directly held Otani Yoshitsugi firmly.
Then someone took out the cowhide rope and began to tie it up very skillfully, and also blocked a large piece of rag in Dagu's mouth.
In the blink of an eye, Otani Yoshitsugi was tied up so that he could not move. He couldn't shout anything even if he wanted to.
President Konishi still said angrily: "What use is he? Can he be more useful than me? What he can do, I can do too!"
Lin Tailai asked: "I guess those Japanese soldiers guarding the Dungui Gate must be Otani Yoshitsugi's personal soldiers? Or called Hatamoto? Or the horseback soldiers? Or at the worst, they are the ashigaru who directly report to Otani Yoshitsugi, right?"
Governor Konishi, who was dedicated to promoting peace talks, had been in and out of Seoul twice, and he was impressed by this. He nodded and said: "The commander-in-chief is wise, it is true."
Since the Japanese army sent Otani Yoshitsugi as an envoy to go out of Donguimen to negotiate, from a normal perspective, it is natural that Donuimen should be guarded by Otani Yoshitsugi's personal soldiers.
To be continued...
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