Chapter 280 The Sword Points at Japan (Twenty-three) Under Hanyang City
Ma Gui, the admiral of Pingwa, rode a tall brown-gold horse that was a mixture of Arabian horses and Akhalje golden horses. He commanded more than 50,000 Ming troops to successfully enter Kaicheng, which had been abandoned by the Japanese army, announcing that the Ming troops had once again recovered.
The victory of Kaesong.
Although this is a victory achieved because the Japanese army voluntarily gave up the battle, who dares to say that such a victory is not a victory? After all, if the strength of the Ming army had not reversed the war situation, how could the Japanese army easily abandon Kaesong, the three capitals of Korea?
one of the important places?
The North Korean officials, generals and even soldiers who were traveling with him were all high-spirited and raised their chins high, as if they had won this victory through hard work. The performance of these North Koreans made Ma Gui quite disdainful, and he couldn't help but think about it in his mind.
Come up with an idiom: The fox pretends to be the tiger's power.
However, Admiral Ma did not show it on his face. He was not interested in wasting time on the performance of the Koreans. Instead, he immediately convened a military meeting after taking over the city defense.
The Ming army that Ma Gui was directly responsible for commanding at this time was mainly divided into three parts. The first part was naturally the Xuanda elite, but it was also divided into two groups. One group was brought directly from Xuanda Sanzhen by Ma Gui this time.
The other group were direct descendants of Xuanda who were transferred to Liaodong by Gao Pragmatic in the early years. Most of them had previously served as servants under Xiao Ruxun.
The second part is the southern army that stayed in Korea before, including Qi Jin, Wu Weizhong and other troops. This part has been described in detail earlier and there is no need to repeat it.
The third part is the Liaodong Army that was once again transferred to Korea to fight - to be precise, it is still a part of the Li Family Army. Most of this part of the Li Family Army is not a direct descendant of the Li family, but is led by the direct descendants of Li Chengliang.
The army was drawn from the army, but the commander at the moment was neither Zu Chengxun nor any other general who was not of the Li family blood, but Li Rusong's fifth brother Li Rumei.
The situation of this part of the Liaodong Army needs to be discussed separately. Li Rusong's previous return to the town was because the direct lineage of the Li family army had suffered too much, which would weaken the trunk and strengthen the branches. Therefore, Li Rusong returned to the town to rest and replenish his lineage.
Since it is necessary to avoid weak leaders and strong branches, when Li Rusong's strength declines, it is necessary to reduce the strength of the remaining Li family troops deployed in Liaodong. Therefore, after Gao Pragmatic once again became the general manager and had jurisdiction over Liaodong's military affairs, a transfer order was issued
So about half of the Li Jiajun from Liaodong's affiliated factions were transferred again to fight in Korea.
As for why the leader of this army is Li Rumei, the reason is very simple. There are three main reasons: First, since the army is drawn from various branches of the Li Family Army, it needs a nominal "master" to command it, not a
Zu Chengxun, Zha Dashou and other foreign surnames, otherwise other tribes may not be convinced.
Secondly, Li Rumei was the one with the best military performance among the five sons of the Li family except Li Rusong. He had already served as the governor before the year of Renchen. In the year of Renchen, Japan invaded Korea, and Li Rusong served as the chief military officer against the Japanese.
When he also served as the admiral when he went south to Korea, Li Rumei also served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Army, so although he was young, he had sufficient qualifications.
Thirdly, Li Rumei is already married to Gao Jingshi and is Gao Jingshi's brother-in-law. It is normal for her to be taken care of by some uncles. This is not a mockery. In fact, under the special military system of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of arrangement is the only one.
It's a matter of course.
Of course, no matter how you say it, the importance of this one can only be ranked last. Gao Pragmatic is willing to use him mainly because he is more up-to-date, and his contribution when he went south to fight in Korea last time is obvious to all.
In the Battle of Bokutokwan, Li Rumei first shot and killed the general of the Tachibana Munemo family with one arrow for ten seconds. During the fierce battle that followed, Li Rusong was surrounded by superior Japanese troops because his light troops broke in to rescue General Zha Dashou and other generals.
.
At that time, a golden-armored general in the Japanese army led all the Japanese troops to rush and kill Li Rusong, but Li Rumei killed him with an arrow. This frightened the Japanese pirates and saved the crisis, so that the Ming army could finally withdraw smoothly. After subsequent verification, they found out where they were.
The person who kills the golden armor will be Ono Shigeyuki, an important retainer of Tachibana Munushige.
Tachibana Muneshige is not an easy person. His original name was Takahashi Toutora. After marrying Chiyo Tachibana, he inherited the Tachibana family as his son-in-law, and then changed his name to Tachibana Muneshige. Toyotomi Hideyoshi once praised him as "the unparalleled one in the Western Kingdom", and Kobayakawa Takakage
When besieging Li Rusong, the elite of his Tachibana family were mainly used as the main force, which shows the combat power of his army.
Against such an opponent, Li Rumei managed to kill two generals of the Tachibana family. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had turned the tide against the enemy. This in turn proved Li Rumei's ability.
Because of this, Gao Pragmatic believes that Li Rumei is both qualified and capable to be the leader of the Liaodong Army that is marching south again. The total strength of this Liaodong Army is about 12,000 people, half of whom are servants, and the rest are servants.
The Western Liaoning Frontier Army—Although they are also guard troops, these border troops in Western Liaoning are still relatively capable of fighting.
When the military meeting began, Ma Gui did his part and spoke first: "Everyone, everyone has read the order of the Marquis. Now because of the crisis in Busan, all or most of the Japanese pirates in Hanyang will inevitably be transferred to the south. This is a good opportunity for our heavenly troops to regain Hanyang. Everyone
Feel free to speak out if you have any opinions.”
What surprised Ma Gui was that Li Rumei, who had always been taciturn in previous military discussions, actually took the lead in expressing her position this time, saying: "In my opinion, no matter how the next battle plan is formulated, one principle is certain.
That means we must be quick. The Marquis landed in Sichuan and occupied Jinzhou, which was behind the Japanese pirates. We are still not sure how many Japanese pirates there are in Busan now, but I think they should be at least ten or twenty thousand.
I originally thought that the Marquis planned to take Busan directly, but now it seems that is not the case. The Marquis is actually forcing the Hanyang Japanese pirates to go south. In this case, two situations arise: first, the Hanyang defense must not be as tight and strong as before;
I am afraid that I will face a siege by an army of Japanese pirates.
At this time, what our army must achieve is, firstly, to capture Hanyang as soon as possible, and secondly, after capturing Hanyang, it must pursue southward as soon as possible to avoid too much pressure on the Marquis and Liu Zongrong."
Now that they are married, it is natural that Li Rumei is more worried about Gao Jingshi's safety than before. Everyone can understand what he said, and the words themselves are reasonable - who dares to leave Gao Jingshi aside and only care about his own preservation?
Strength? Not to mention preserving strength, a fool who does this has two questions: whether he can save his own head.
Since Li Rumei mentioned that Hanyang should be captured as soon as possible, Qi Jin, who had the most powerful artillery under his command, became energetic and immediately said: "I checked the defense situation of Hanyang in detail in the year of Renchen. The city itself is not bad.
Strong, but North Korea's city defense construction does not take into account the defense of giant cannons. Our southern army is sure to break through the city walls or gates within three days, allowing the army to enter the city as soon as possible."
Ma Gui's son Ma Chengzhao said: "Everyone, the last general was ordered to patrol the city and found that many Korean people came outside the south city. The last general sent people to inquire and found that most of them escaped from Hanyang. According to what they said, the Japanese pirates are big
The Japanese troops had already evacuated Hanyang and headed south yesterday. The number of Japanese pirates in Hanyang City is now only about 20-30% of what they were at the peak.
The general asked further, and they said that people in Hanyang City are currently in panic. Although the Korean people hope that our heavenly soldiers will help them regain Hanyang as soon as possible, they are also worried that the heavenly soldiers' artillery fire is too fierce and they will be beaten together... In addition, the Japanese pirates are also very strange.
They actually deliberately opened the city gate for a long time and allowed North Korean people to evacuate Hanyang. This is something I really didn't understand."
The news provided by Ma Chengzhao was interesting. After hearing this, Qi Jin wondered: "The Japanese pirates opened the city and let the people out of the city? Why didn't I find that these Japanese pirates have such a conscience before?"
But as soon as he finished speaking, Li Rumei shook his head and said: "No, the Japanese pirates were not discovered by conscience, but because there was insufficient food and grass in the city. Ma Yourong, when you asked the fleeing Korean people, did you ever pay attention to whether they carried enough food?"
Rations?”
Ma Chengzhao suddenly understood and said: "Ah, that's it. General Li really has a sharp eye. Almost all the Korean people he saw just now came empty-handed, and they didn't bring much food." He paused.
After a pause, he frowned and said, "What does Mr. Li mean by saying that their food has been confiscated by Japanese pirates?"
"I think so." Li Rumei nodded slightly: "The Marquis suddenly stabbed the Japanese pirates in the back. Now that Busan is in danger, the Hanyang Japanese pirates are eager to go south to avoid running out of food. Such an urgent mobilization of the army must bring enough food.
They took away most of the food, so the Japanese pirates who stayed behind would naturally have to find ways to collect food. The best way is to drive away the Korean people and forcibly confiscate their food rations. In addition, because our heavenly soldiers are
A teacher of benevolence and righteousness will be burdened with the food and drink of these Korean people...Huh, kill two birds with one stone."
Li Rumei said this, but Ma Gui was obviously not that philanthropic. Admiral Ma sneered and said: "I am the admiral and I only care about fighting. What does it have to do with what the Korean people eat? Naturally, these things are for the accompanying Korean officials to think about.
There is no way, they are the parents and officials of the Korean people!"
Pogui, the deputy commander-in-chief of Mongolian origin, agreed very much with this and laughed: "What the commander-in-chief said is absolutely true. We came to help the Koreans fight. This is the emperor's act of benevolence and righteousness in the two hundred years of Korean vassalage."
But feeding the North Korean people is not our business. These tasks are originally the responsibility of North Korean officials. Do we need to allocate a large sum of money from the military rations? What a joke, why?"
Qi Jin didn't want to discuss this issue and interrupted: "I have something to puzzle about. The Japanese pirates drove away all the Korean people. So after we attacked the city with artillery and destroyed the Hanyang city wall, did they plan to repair it by themselves instead of relying on the Korean people?
"
This issue is very critical. After all, in this era of city defense, soldiers were generally only responsible for fighting. Local people were usually requisitioned for tasks such as repairing or strengthening city walls. If the Japanese army drove away all the Korean people, what would happen to these chores?
Didn't anyone do it?
Ma Gui immediately turned around and asked Ma Chengzhao: "What proportion of able-bodied men have you seen among the Korean people?"
"Ah!" Ma Chengzhao slapped his forehead and said: "So that's what happened. Among the Korean people that I just saw, there were almost no able-bodied men. The ones who were jailed and driven away by the Japanese pirates were all old, weak, women and children, and strong men.
If they are useful in combat, they must have kept them."
Ma Gui nodded and said nothing, while Qi Jin shook his head and said: "It seems that the Japanese pirates are still unwilling to give up. Judging from these measures, they should be planning to defend Hanyang."
Ma Gui asked the other generals for their opinions. Everyone felt that the Japanese pirates did it with such a mentality. In short, everything was planned to defend Hanyang.
Ma Gui said: "If this is the case, it is not good news for our army. It seems that the battle for Hanyang can only be attacked by force...Today we must deal with the defense of Kaicheng first, and the attack on Hanyang will have to wait until tomorrow anyway.
Qi Canrong, when our army bombards Hanyang, it will be up to you to create a gap in the city defense."
Qi Jin cupped his hands and said: "The admiral's words are serious, this is what the last general should do."
Ma Gui nodded and said to the crowd: "Although we have to prepare for the city today, we also need to investigate the situation in Hanyang. In addition to how many Japanese pirates are left in Hanyang, we also need to find out how many Japanese pirates are left in Hanyang."
Who are the generals?"
Another general of Mongolian origin said: "Admiral, I am willing to take over this matter." Ma Gui was very satisfied and immediately handed over the investigation task to him.
That night, Bao Sai found out Hanyang's current defensive situation through various means and reported it to Ma Gui ten times.
When Ma Gui learned that one of the two Japanese generals left behind was Shimazu Yoshihiro, he was immediately overjoyed and secretly said: The Marquis is really good at predicting events. It seems that Hanyang does not necessarily need our army to attack desperately to buy time. It's just that
I wonder if Shimazu Yoshihiro is smart enough to form a tacit understanding with me without any discussion.
Magui had hopes, but he didn't know that the main force of the Japanese army defending the city was Kato Kiyomasa's First Corps. Shimazu Yoshihiro's Fifth Corps was not directly responsible for any section of the city wall, so even if he wanted to have a "tacit understanding" with him, there was no way.
condition.
Therefore, during the siege the next day, Hanyang City became the shooting range of the Ming army's artillery. Qi Jin concentrated most of the army's artillery and bombarded it back and forth for almost a whole day, although the Hanyang city wall looked riddled with holes.
, but could not form a breakthrough for a while. And Ma Gui did not wait for the ideal "Japanese surrender" or "Japanese internal strife", and the first day of the battlefield was wasted.
At night, Ma Gui frowned deeply. After thinking about it, he finally thought that since the Japanese army in Hanyang had Kato Kiyomasa, who was said to be an important direct line general under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then the city defense must be supervised by him personally.
Even if Shimazu Yoshihiro had the intention to do something, it would be difficult to find an opportunity.
To explain whether the army can break through Hanyang, Ma Gui is confident about it, but as Li Rumei put forward in the military meeting yesterday, his trouble now is that he must win quickly, otherwise what if the Marquis is in danger in southern Korea?
Then your responsibility is huge.
Ma Gui was thinking about whether he must attack Hanyang tomorrow regardless of losses. Suddenly he saw Zhuo Sai and Ma Chengzhao coming to report that Japanese pirates were seen from the city wall when the sentries were patrolling. They pretended to shoot the sentries.
A secret message was sent, and it was stated that it was to be delivered to the admiral, so the two of them came together to deliver the message.
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