Chapter 280 The Sword Points at Japan (Twenty-Eight) to Recover Hanyang
After Shimazu Yoshihiro and Kato Kiyomasa quickly left the battlefield, they knew that since the Ming army had a large number of cavalry backstabbing, the remaining people of the First Army would not be able to resist for long, so the possibility of the Ming army cavalry continuing to pursue them was extremely high.
Therefore, the two men led their direct soldiers to flee wildly.
People can always use extraordinary speed and endurance when escaping. At the normal speed of the Japanese army's march, the journey that used to take nearly half a day was completed in less than two hours this time. The two arrived at their destination.
The first stop we discussed on the way was Aqishan City in the south of Zengfeng Peak.
Achi Mountain City was built on the top of the mountain, facing the Han River and extending to the southeast. Although the mountain is not towering, it is enough to provide a panoramic view of the Han River and its surrounding landscape. The mountain city is hexagonal and not too big. Its circumference is about
It is two miles away, close to the valley, and the surrounding scenery is quite beautiful. The name of this city was changed from Adan to Aqie by Taejo of the Lee Dynasty of Korea (reigned 1392-1398), which means that in an earlier era
They are all called Adan Mountain City.
This city has a long history, which can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period of the Korean Peninsula (4th to 7th centuries AD). At that time, Hanshan, the capital of Baekje, was invaded by Goguryeo and fell.
Defeated and killed here at the same time.
This incident stained the name of Adan Mountain City with a touch of blood. This factor may have contributed to the later renaming of the city by the Emperor Taizu of Joseon.
It was the first time for Shimazu Yoshihiro to come here, but not for Kato Kiyomasa. In the year of Renjin, when he first entered Hanyang, he passed through Achi Mountain Castle, and the same reason as Shimazu Yoshihiro came here today.
his proposal.
However, Kato Kiyomasa did not come here to garrison here - nonsense, in such a small town, and he and he only had four thousand soldiers, how could they possibly garrison in such a place?
The reason why Kato Kiyomasa came here was to replenish military supplies. He had no intention of abandoning Hanyang and escaping today. He just planned to take advantage of "the main force of the Ming army moving south" to leave the city and defeat the Ming army that surrounded Hanyang.
May carry more than one day's worth of rations.
Now that they are defeated and fleeing, and depending on the situation, they can only continue to flee all the way south, then they obviously need to bring enough food rations, otherwise there is no point in escaping without food? I am afraid that if they can't run very far, they will be gone.
Although Aqishan City is not big, it is a peripheral stronghold of Hanyang. There is also some food and grass stored in the city. Although it does not seem to be much on weekdays, it is life-saving food at this moment. Even if he and Shimazu Yoshihiro are evenly matched,
, they could eat for about twenty days, which was almost enough for the two of them to escape back to Busan with the remaining troops.
The matter of getting the stored grain went smoothly, and there wasn't much worth mentioning. Since Achi Mountain City was located at a high altitude, it was easy for Monojianban's people to observe the situation in the direction of Hanyang from the mountain city. As a result, as soon as they took the grain, Monojianban
Tell them that the Ming army is approaching. Judging from the speed of their advance, they will arrive in half an hour at most.
Shimazu Yoshihiro's eyes narrowed, and Kato Kiyomasa was even more straightforward, saying: "Come just as you come, it's no big deal if you expect anything. Your Highness Shimazu, this Achi Mountain City is quite unlucky. I didn't intend to stay for a long time. We are here."
Just go.
There is a ferry not far to the south of this mountain city. His Highness Ukita and His Highness Mori have also used it before. There should be many ships controlled by our army now, which are enough for us to cross the river. You don't have to worry about this."
Shimazu Yoshihiro didn't seem to be very worried about crossing the river. Instead, he asked: "Why does His Highness Kato say that this place is unlucky?"
"A king died in this ghost place a thousand years ago, and he happened to be killed by an army from the north. Now if the war is divided between north and south, then our army is in the south and the Ming army is in the north. Therefore, it is very ominous and we need to fight early.
Leave." Kato Kiyomasa replied seriously.
In fact, although Kato Kiyomasa has a great temper, he is not an ignorant person. For example, he has a high level of accomplishment in building cities, and this ability is even valued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Perhaps it is because of his knowledge of
I have a lot of research on city building, so I like to pay attention to the local cities wherever I go. I often learn more about them in depth, and thus I understand the unfortunate history of Aqishan City.
Shimazu Yoshihiro thought he had some lofty reasons for not staying here for a long time, but he didn't expect it to be this reason. However, Shimazu Yoshihiro didn't care, he just nodded in agreement, and also said that he didn't know much about Hanyang's surroundings.
, since Kato Kiyomasa has been here, let him arrange the retreat plan.
Time was running out, so the two of them didn't waste much time and quickly led the army and food south to the ferry. However, something a little beyond their expectations was that although there were indeed some ships collected by the Japanese army here, they were not many in number.
——It is said that because the main force of the Japanese army moved south in the past two days, the ferry defense was seriously insufficient, so that some Korean civilian ships secretly took advantage of the chaos and slipped away.
As a result, the plan of the two groups to cross the river at the same time came to nothing, and it was necessary to decide who should go first.
At this time, Kato Kiyomasa was very generous and said that thanks to His Highness Shimazu's help today, he would have a chance to escape from the inevitable battle. Therefore, he was willing to stay behind and ask Shimazu's team to take the lead in crossing the river.
This time Shimazu Yoshihiro did not refuse. After accepting the suggestion, he began to direct the crossing of the river. But I don’t know whether it was because Shimazu Yoshihiro was inexperienced in crossing the river or something else. Kato Kiyomasa felt that Shimazu’s team was too fast to cross the river.
To compliment, after Mononomiban once again reminded the Ming cavalry that they were about to catch up, Kato Kiyomasa ignored Shimazu Yoshihiro's face and personally stepped in to take command, which greatly increased the speed of crossing the river.
After Shimazu's main force completely crossed the river, Kato Kiyomasa began to command his Shirakawa main force to cross the river. However, as luck would have it, just when he himself had just crossed the river and half of his men were still in the north of the river, the Ming army's cavalry had already reached the ferry.
.
Kato Kiyomasa was frightened and anxious. He quickly jumped on the ferry again, intending to return to Jiangbei and command his other half, Shirakawa's troops, to withdraw southward, or even if they could not withdraw smoothly, they would fight to the death to resist the Ming army to avoid losing their prestige. That's right.
The defeat of the First Army may not be a real defeat, but the defeat of the direct Shirakawa team is a real defeat. What's more, once these elite veterans are lost, it will also have a great impact on Kato Kiyomasa's dominance in Higo.
weaken.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, Shimazu Yoshihiro appeared at the right time, forcibly held Kato Kiyomasa, and earnestly advised him not to be impulsive and not to seek death. Naturally, his words were all clichés.
, what about leaving green hills without worrying about running out of firewood, etc. In short, Kato Kiyomasa was not allowed to cross the river.
Kato Kiyomasa himself knew that even if he crossed the river now, he would not be able to save the situation. It was just that crossing the river was too difficult to do in face. But now that Shimazu Yoshihiro was so firmly "persuading" him, he had no choice but to yell and finally acquiesce.
Shimazu Yoshihiro did a complete show and explained that although the army is cavalry, there must be a way to cross the river. The two of them should not stay here for a long time. It is only right to put down their psychological baggage and quickly "catch up with the left and right armies"
.
Kato Kiyomasa let out a long sigh, glanced at the other half of Shirakawa's troops who were being massacred by the Ming army in the north of the Yangtze River, gritted his teeth and ordered to retreat south - oh, it should be "catch up with the two armies on the left and right".
At this time, the Ming army north of the Han River not only slaughtered the Japanese Ashigaru army with half-equipped cavalry, but also had more than 20 times the strength of the Japanese army. It was a completely crushing grass-cutting battle that only took about one stick of incense.
In a matter of seconds, this elite Japanese army, half of the core force of the First Army, was wiped out, and not even a single prisoner was left behind.
The Ming army's Mongol warriors, who were covered in blood, excitedly suggested to Li Rumei: "Fu Rong Li, we have successfully annihilated about a thousand Japanese pirates. Now we can ask our brothers to blow up rafts and build pontoons to cross the river."
.”
"Crossing the river? Crossing the river for what?" Li Rumei smiled slightly: "Send me the general's order to withdraw the troops and return to Hanyang."
"Ah?" Bao Sai was stunned when he heard this, and said with a confused look on his face: "Withdraw the troops back to Hanyang? Why? The Japanese pirates in front of us are the main force of the Japanese pirates staying in Hanyang. Now our army is only separated from them by a river, and
Our army is both cavalry and has the means to cross the river. As long as we cross the Han River, we can catch up with them tomorrow and annihilate them in one fell swoop!
Vice Rong Li, good opportunities like this don't come often. If we can't seize the opportunity, not to mention that Admiral Ma will underestimate us, I'm afraid even the Marquis will issue strict orders afterwards!"
"Don't worry, it won't happen." Li Rumei smiled and said: "There are some things you don't know. Today's battle is going like this. It's just right. If we continue to chase across the river and swallow up all the three thousand people in front of us,
Then you really need to be severely ordered by the Marquis."
"Ah? Why is this?" Bai Sai couldn't understand it at all, and wondered: "If we swallow up the three thousand people in front, it will be like annihilating the Hanyang Japanese pirates in one day! This is a great achievement, Lord Marquis
Why should we be strict?”
"Uh..." Li Rumei was at a loss for words. After all, only a few people in the Ming army knew that Shimazu Yoshihiro was in the Cao camp and his heart was in the Han Dynasty. He obviously didn't know about it, and he couldn't tell the truth easily.
to him.
Therefore, Li Rumei had no choice but to cough dryly and said: "This matter is serious, so I cannot go into details. General Bao Sai only needs to know that the Marquis personally took care of this matter."
The reputation of being highly pragmatic is indeed very useful. When he heard that it was "the Marquis personally took care of it", he immediately stood up straight, clasped his fists towards the south and said: "Since it is the Marquis' care, I think there must be a mystery, which is beyond the imagination of the general."
, as long as the general obeys his orders."
He didn't doubt that Li Rumei was talking nonsense. After all, he was not only the fifth son of the Li family, but also the brother-in-law of the Marquis. What was so strange about knowing the inside story?
After Li Rumei's order was passed on, many Ming army officers were a little surprised. Their idea was actually similar to setting up a competition. They thought that the three thousand Japanese troops south of the Han River might have escaped now, but if they were willing to pursue them, they would kill them by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
We will definitely catch up with them and kill them completely. It is a bit strange to withdraw our troops back to Hanyang at this time.
But the Mongolian general Paisai was used to being straightforward. Seeing that the soldiers were suspicious, he simply didn't hide it and said directly that the Marquis had an order to let them go today.
Originally, his words were out of shape compared to Li Rumei's words, but they had a miraculous effect - the admiration of Gao Pragmatic among the nine soldiers of the Ming Army became a complete conditioned reflex. When they heard Gao Pragmatic's order, they all made up their own minds.
Got the reason.
Ah! That's right, it wouldn't be a big deal to let these three thousand people flee south, but their escape back to the Japanese pirate army will definitely shock the Japanese pirates - the two major Japanese legions relied on Hanyang Fort to defend themselves, and actually managed to escape in one day
If the Japanese army fell internally and was almost annihilated, what hope did the Japanese army have in this battle?
What is this move called in the art of war? Ah, by the way, isn't this just "attacking the city as the bottom, attacking the heart as the top"? It must be the Marquis who is so powerful, he really has a clever plan!
Gao Jingshi, who was far away in Sichuan, watching the sea and listening to the waves, never expected that Li Rumei and Bao Sai would be able to make inexplicable "magical calculations" no matter what they tried to do to him.
Li Rumei led the main force of the cavalry back to Hanyang before nightfall. At this time, Ma Gui had already entered the city with the accompanying North Korean officials and the North Korean army, which was only more than 2,000 in number.
The people of North Korea were eating pots of wine to welcome the king's army. Although it was getting late, the people in the city were still celebrating the recapture of Hanyang.
Li Rumei shook her head slightly, thinking that the Japanese pirates were just barbarians after all. The rule of the King of Joseon was obviously in a mess, but the Japanese pirates occupied Hanyang twice, but they did not win any support from the people.
However, he didn't think much about it. After making some arrangements for the garrison, he immediately went to see Ma Gui and reported the situation of the pursuit. He also handed over the severed heads and asked Ma Gui to send someone to count and deal with them.
When Ma Gui learned that Li Rumei had annihilated half of the Shirakawa reserve force but did not fight against the Shimadzu reserve force, he was very satisfied and said with a smile: "Ziqing fought extremely well in this battle, thank you for your hard work. In this way, the Marquis told us
Even if most of it is successfully completed, all that is left is to march the army southward, drive away and harass the Japanese pirates along the way, implement the strategy of exhausting the army, and prepare for the final annihilation of the Japanese pirates."
Li Rumei mentioned another thing: "Our army's next battle will naturally be carried out according to the instructions of the Marquis. But now that Hanyang has been recovered, shouldn't it be time for the North Korean royal family to return to Beijing?"
"Of course this matter needs to be done." Ma Gui nodded and said: "So you will lead the army in going south. I will stay in Hanyang for a while until the King of Joseon is 'invited' to settle down.
I will lead the troops south again to avoid changes."
Li Rumei frowned slightly and asked, "Will General lead the Liaodong cavalry south first?"
Ma Gui shook his head, then smiled slightly and said: "Why, Ziqing is afraid that I will be reluctant to hand over the Xuan cavalry to you? Don't think too much, today you also command the Xuan cavalry, have I ever intervened?
Intervention?"
Li Rumei hurriedly said: "This is not what I meant..."
"Okay, okay." Ma Gui waved his hand and said: "Whether it is Liaodong or Xuanda, they are all soldiers of the emperor, and they all obey the military orders of the marquis. I can command the Liaodong army, why can't you command the Xuan army?
If this doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about those trivial matters.”
Li Rumei lowered her head slightly and said, "Thank you, Admiral, for your trust."
Ma Gui pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Well... I also have something to ask of you when you go south this time."
Although Li Rumei was a little surprised, she immediately said: "The admiral is serious. If you have anything to do, just give me your instructions."
"Bring Ma Chengzhao over with you." Ma Gui sighed softly and said, "It's not a big deal that this kid has always been under my father's command. He has to work hard on his own to become something.
Ziqing, although you are only ten years older than him, you are still his uncle. This time I go south to fight, please give me some guidance. Especially don’t indulge him because of my face. If he dares to make a mistake, what should you do?
I have no say in how to deal with it."
Li Rumei hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: "Admiral, don't worry, Rumei will do her best."
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PS: Although I was as sleepy as a dog, I finally finished coding before 0 o'clock today...
