Chapter 277 Aiding Korea and fighting against Japanese invaders (33) comes one after another
Due to the advantage of flying pigeons to send letters, Gao Jingshi first received Xiao Ruxun's statement about Zu Chengxun's defeat in Pyongyang. The Beijing Secretariat and the Ministry of Internal Affairs immediately held a small meeting under Gao Jingshi's call.
As the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the head of the intelligence system, Gao Mo first confirmed the news about Xiao Ruxun, and also explained some possible doubts.
Gao Mo said that judging from the intelligence available to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zu Chengxun’s complaints about being adversely affected by North Korea when he went south were obviously exaggerated. For example, he said that during this trip, “the men and horses were not allowed to be half full, and the combat power was limited.”
This is very problematic.
In fact, although Zu Chengxun did even give some food to the several small-scale North Korean guide cavalry accompanying him, because North Korea ensured road safety, Zu Chengxun himself carried quite sufficient food and grass, and the hoarding did not count.
Yiju was too far away, so he was not short of food during this trip, and there was no reason to "not be half full".
In addition, he said that North Korea wanted command and interfered with his deployment. This can only be half-truth and half-false. North Korea has indeed always wanted to get command, but neither Zu Chengxun nor the Ming general who arrived earlier
, ignored North Korea's request. If we must say that this is interference, it may only be psychological interference. It is difficult to say that interference has actually occurred.
But other than that, other statements made by Zu Chengxun are basically reasonable. For example, the information provided by North Korea is seriously untrue; the North Korean army not only has no combat effectiveness but also collapses at the first touch, which seriously affects morale and even affects deployment. These are all facts.
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Finally, he accused the Japanese troops in Pyongyang of shooting North Korean standard arrows, which was proved to be true. Some North Korean troops did surrender and were directly used by the Japanese army, but the number of defectors is still unclear.
As for Zu Chengxun's speculation that there might be 100,000 or 200,000 Japanese troops in the DPRK, Gao Mo just mentioned this casually. After all, everyone here knows how many Japanese troops have entered the DPRK - Gao Pragmatic has said it a long time ago!
Although he did not disclose the source of the information, since his information was never untrue, no one would have any doubts.
After the whole story was explained clearly, Gao Mo stopped speaking and remained absolutely silent as always, sitting aside as if he were invisible. As the secretary-general, the de facto chief of staff, Liu Xin naturally had no choice but to make a general analysis -
—By the way, she is still the one in charge among the three military secretaries.
"Zu Chengxun's defeat in this battle, he himself said, was actually due to underestimation of the enemy." Liu Xin stood up and stood in front of the map of Northeast Asia hanging high, pointed with his pointer at the transportation line from Uiju to Pyongyang, and said
: "Of course, the performance of Zu Chengxun's troops is still worthy of the word "elite". Not only did they pounce on Pyongyang without any delay under the heavy rain, they actually did not show that they were affected by the rain during the battle in Pyongyang after the weather cleared.
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From the detailed battle reports, we will find that Zu Chengxun actually only used more than a thousand people to invade Pyongyang City, while the Japanese army used about 10,000 troops to carry out encirclement and suppression - but in the end, Zu Chengxun even asked Zu Chengxun to leave.
Then he left. Judging from this, the previous judgment made by the Marquis was very correct: our army has a huge cavalry advantage over the Japanese army."
Cao Ke couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "This is really thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi. In the past many years, one of the most difficult problems in the military of the Ming Dynasty was the lack of cavalry. Every time they fought with the Mongols, they won.
The victory was small, and the defeat was huge. The teacher was forced to create a bayonet hollow square to control the cavalry with foot. Unexpectedly, when the Ming Dynasty defeated Mongolia, it suddenly discovered that its own cavalry had become a powerful force that other countries could not match.
"
His words may sound a bit excessive, but in fact, if you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem wrong. At least among the current opponents that the Ming army has the opportunity to fight, it seems that no one's cavalry is still better than the Ming army's cavalry - unless now
Tumut and Ordos bounce back.
However, this is unlikely. Secondly, even if there is a real rebellion, the Ordos coalition army, which lacks firearms like Chahar, probably cannot defeat the Ming cavalry. From this point of view, although
It is still an era of alternation between hot and cold weapons, but the advancement of science and technology has begun to make the riding and archery that the nomads are proud of gradually lose their luster.
"Don't go too far." Gao Pragmatic waved his hand and interrupted: "What we want to discuss now is whether the situation in North Korea is still controllable."
"It has no impact." Liu Xin immediately responded: "Although he did not explicitly mention Zu Chengxun's losses, Xiao Ruxun has already said in his letter that he sent people to conduct a general inspection. Judging from the strength of Zu Chengxun's return to Liaodong,
The actual battle losses of the training department were not high, with only more than 200 people injured..."
As she was talking, there was an urgent report from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Gao Mo quickly went to get it at Gao Jingshi's signal. Since Gao Jingshi was present, Gao Mo even handed it over to the former without even looking at it.
Gao pragmatically took the urgent letter and was stunned for a moment as soon as he took a look at it. A playful smile appeared on his lips. This urgent letter was not very short. Gao pragmatically read it carefully, but as always, his expression remained unchanged and he just remained silent.
Passed it to Liu Xin.
Liu Xin took it and took a look. She looked up and was a little surprised. She glanced at Gao Pragmatic and saw that he was calm, so she calmed down and looked at it carefully.
After a while, Liu Xin read it and smiled softly and said: "Zu Chengxun's battle report and Jinghua's intelligence report seem to be not as detailed as this one." The secretaries present were quite surprised, but they didn't know whether this urgent report was
Because they have the right to see it, it's hard to talk about it.
Fortunately, Gao Pragmatic waved his hand and said: "There is no need to hide it. This battle report was sent by Shimazu Yoshihiro through our liaison officer in his army. There is no doubt about the accuracy of his information - from
Yu Yuxiduo showed off the generals of the family." Everyone then became curious, and Liu Xin handed the battle report to Military Secretary Ruan Fuyuan and asked him to read it in public.
This battle report is naturally expressed from the standpoint of the Japanese army. The general situation is different from the previous news. It is basically like this: before Zu Chengxun rushed to the outside of Pyongyang, Konishi Yingchang's First Army only transferred some people
Going to Zhonghe to build the city, there were still tens of thousands of people in Pyongyang. Zu Chengxun used the intelligence provided by North Korea and planned the Pyongyang battle with the Japanese garrison strength of one to two thousand people.
In the process of going south, Zu Chengxun cleaned up the advanced domain of Mouri Huiyuan in the Shun'an area, which was the security agency at the transportation front, and then headed to Pyongyang with the cavalry at high speed, and then used the weather and time of rainy night and dawn to surprise the Japanese army.
stronghold.
The Ming army's rapid action indeed caught the Japanese army completely off guard. As a result, the Ming army easily broke through the city wall of Pyongyang, entered the city from the Seven Star Gate, and went straight to the Japanese stronghold of Datong Hall.
At that time, Matsuura Jinnobu and his son were stationed at the Datongkan stronghold. Unprepared, the father and son led the guards and fought hand-to-hand with the Ming army with knives. Matsuura Jinnobu was hit by an arrow in the foot during the battle. According to the Japanese general Yoshihiro Shimazu,
During the discussion, he believed that if the Japanese army at that time was really one or two thousand strong as the Koreans said, or if there were only three thousand soldiers from the Songpu Town Information Department, then Zu Chengxun's raid on Pyongyang would have been a complete victory.
However, after the Japanese troops in Pyongyang received the news that the Ming troops had entered the city, they immediately assembled quickly towards the Datong Hall battlefield. Military Superintendent Onoki Shigemori led 700 troops to the battlefield first and used matchlocks to attack the Ming cavalry that was crowding the streets of Datong Hall.
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Shi Ru did charge forward, but he was discovered by the Japanese army while commanding archery from a high place on the city, and was shot and killed by a matchlock. Dai Chaobian and Qianzong Zhang Guozhong were also shot and killed one after another. Zu Chengxun and Ma Shilong
On the way to lead the army to retreat, Ma Shilong fell off his horse and died. Immediately afterwards, the Ming army behind him fell into the mud, and some of them could not leave quickly. Konishi Yukinacho and Soyoshibu were rushed to surround him.
Surrounded and killed.
When the matter reached this point, the truth was basically restored. According to Gao's pragmatic view, Zu Chengxun's performance was not really a big mistake. The main reason was that he believed North Korea's intelligence and made tactical arrangements based on wrong facts from the beginning.
Otherwise, if this information is true, Pyongyang would have changed hands by now.
Tonight was destined to be very busy. Discussions were continuing at the meeting, and new news came. This time it was even more interesting. The news came from Li Rusong through the Jinghua Flying Pigeon Station that had just been assigned to him a few days ago. He mentioned Shimadzu in his report.
The follow-up information that Yoshihiro could not have learned was completed.
It turned out that Zu Chengxun retreated from Pyongyang, all the way from Shun'an County, through Suchuan Duhufu, and arrived at Anzhou City. He immediately called the Korean interpreter Piao Yijian and said: "I killed many thieves today, but unfortunately Shi guerrillas injured and killed them. The weather is not favorable.
It's raining heavily and it's muddy, so we can't annihilate the thieves. We should add more troops and tell you that the Prime Minister will not move, and the pontoon bridge cannot be evacuated."
After saying this, he led his troops across the Qingchuan River and Dading River, and stationed at Kongjiang Pavilion in Bochuan County. At Kongjiang Pavilion, he counted the battle losses.
Hundreds, and there are many who are pursuing you."
At that time, Zu Chengxun stayed at Kongjiang Pavilion for two days. The wind and rain continued day and night, and the army was sleeping in the open air. Their clothes, armor and equipment were all wet. The soldiers were very dissatisfied. Zu Chengxun had no choice but to withdraw from Liaodong. On the 20th of the same month, North Korea
The Bing Cao Shen learned that Shen Xishou was ordered to go to Jiulian City and met with Xiao Ruxun to request that Zu Chengxun not be allowed to retreat. Xiao Ruxun said that he would ask Li Rusong for instructions on this matter, so Li Rusong quickly learned the news.
Li Rusong's statement is that after the war in Pyongyang, Zu Chengxun immediately reported to him North Korea's collaboration with the enemy, saying that "a small battalion of North Korean soldiers surrendered." Moreover, the Japanese army in the formation was not what North Korea calls "Japanese slaves who only use iron nine long swords.
"There are no other skills", and it is definitely not the number of "one or two thousand", but "there are many thieves who are good at shooting", "the number exceeds ten thousand", and the Korean army did not cooperate with the Ming army in fighting, and the soldiers were afraid to move forward.
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Li Rusong also said that North Korea argued that "the shooter in Pyongyang may have fired someone who caused our people to be robbed." The number of Japanese soldiers was not known at all, and they refused to admit that any North Koreans surrendered to the enemy. In addition, before the war, North Korea was imitating matchlock guns to attack the Ming army.
At this time, they still insisted that they did not. The first batch of Japanese troops landed in Pusan, and the front line reported that there were 10,000 Japanese troops. At this time, Li Rusong still claimed that they knew nothing about it.
When the North Korean army surrendered to the Japanese army, North Korea found out that it was when Shi Ru was killed in action and the front army retreated. At that time, Zu Chengxun withdrew from the city and was in formation at the west gate of Pyongyang. Among the soldiers of the North Korean side, Li Yao had mutual contacts with the Japanese army.
dialogue, and the Japanese army retreated slightly because of this. Therefore, Zu Chengxun believed that the Korean army and the Japanese army were connected, and there was nothing they could do but retreat.
Li Rusong also sent some news that was not direct military information. For example, North Korea would naturally not admit that its people had surrendered to the enemy, and "our people and thieves are inseparable." However, it was soon discovered that people who were dissatisfied with the Li Dynasty government at that time were in Su.
On the gatepost of the state government office, ten large characters were written, "The general will not go to Jiangjie, but to Uiju" to inform the Japanese army of the movements of the Korean court.
At this time, the Japanese army in Pyongyang issued name cards to the North Korean people to show that they would live here permanently, and civilians across North Korea defected to Japan in large numbers. "Recently, the taxes and servitude have been heavy, the people have no means of livelihood, and the punishments have become cruel. The soldiers and the people are full of resentment, and they have no way to complain."
, their hearts have been separated for a long time." "The stubborn people along the coast have all shaved their hair to make their eyesight easier. They are thieves everywhere, and there are only a few Japanese slaves. Most of them are traitors to the people, which is extremely chilling."
And just the day before the Ming army attacked, North Korea also received reports from "villagers near Pyongyang's thieves' dens, or people who have been in contact with each other and received seals and listened to their instigation. People like Jin Defu and Liu Xizhi live far away in Changcheng and go to receive seals."
Report.
So why did North Korea use various methods and means to allow the Ming army to enter the city? Based on the information he received, Li Rusong analyzed that after the news of the fall of Hamjing Road reached the North Korean court, Li Ao, after discussing with the ministers, was worried about the fall of Hamjing Road.
The two Japanese armies of Mirror and Ping An marched westward together, so they had to take advantage of Konishi's troops. "We must take advantage of Pyongyang's unpreparedness and attack it."
As for the surprise attack on Pyongyang, even Li Huo knew that "probably it would be difficult to gallop into the city", and the North Korean minister's suggestion was to "set fire at night to scare the thieves, and then attack them."
Li Huan immediately made the decision to deal with such a near-death situation, "We must wait for the heavenly troops to do anything." The reason why he kept urging the Ming army to rush into Pyongyang and did not hesitate to use false information to induce Zu Chengxun was that his original intention was "to frighten
This thief (Kato Kiyomasa) gathered together and then joined forces with the Nishi thief (Konishi Yukinaga)."
In other words, in fact, before Zu Chengxun crossed the river, North Korea had already formulated a military plan for a night attack on Pyongyang. However, the raid was extremely difficult and "it was inconvenient to ride horses in the city." The North Korean army could not do it on its own, so North Korea
The cavalry unit scheduled for Zu Chengxun came to do it.
The wishful thinking of the North Koreans is to leave the high risk to the sovereign state. If the night attack on Pyongyang is successful, they will pursue it. If the Ming army in Pyongyang is defeated, it will be what Li Huo said personally, "Since we came with the imperial edict, if because of something
If we are defeated and withdraw our troops and send them away, then our country will be in trouble, and the imperial power will be lost, so we cannot let the foreigners know about it."
Therefore, the Battle of Pyongyang was deceived by the deliberate misleading of the Koreans. The Ming Dynasty went to rescue the Korean army, at the cost of the lives of its own generals and soldiers, and was dragged into a large-scale frontal military showdown between China and Japan by the Koreans.
Li Rusong's anger can be seen through the paper. On the one hand, he thinks that the villains in the North Korean court are in power, and even King Li Huo is completely selfish and shameless; on the other hand, he is extremely dissatisfied with Zu Chengxun's defeat.
Ganxin believed that he was simply tricked by "one of his own people", causing him to lose the face of the Ming Dynasty and the Liaodong Army.
In the end, Li Rusong summed it up in one sentence: If you lose face in Pyongyang, you will eventually regain it yourself!
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