Huang Taiji once again looked at the so-called "Business News" issued in the area controlled by the Chinese Army. Facing the commercial advertisements, he suppressed his irritability and read them carefully. There were some sentences that he couldn't understand. Huang Taiji turned his head and looked behind him.
A tall young Han scholar asked.
Unfortunately, this burly scribe with a half-long braid on his head and a Confucian robe looked at it for a long time, but he couldn't figure it out.
He bowed to Huang Taiji and said: "Fourth Prince, please forgive me for my ignorance of knowledge. Most of the articles published in these so-called newspapers are vulgar in writing, and most of the things mentioned are business and navigation matters... I have little knowledge about this, so I have to be careful."
It takes some research to find out."
While Huang Taiji was studying these "newspapers" carefully, the three incompetent craftsmen kept kneeling in front of him, bowing their heads in silence. Huang Taiji was very polite to the Han scribe behind him and handed him a bunch of newspapers.
He said: "Mr. Fan has great talent in governing the country and is highly respected by my father. You don't have to be too modest. I'll leave these things to you to ponder carefully. I don't know what Mr. Fan thinks of the Chinese Army."
Mr. Fan is Fan Wencheng, one of the first batch of Ming Dynasty imperial examination scholars who took the initiative to seek refuge with Nurhachi. His ancestors were demoted to Liaodong during the Hongwu period. Later, they were defeated in the court politics, and their family fortunes were increasingly declining.
After the war, the Eight Banners soldiers broke through the border and raided Liaodong. He and his brother Fan Wencai took the initiative to join Nurhachi.
At this time, Nurhachi gave preferential treatment to scribes. Although he did not give Fan Wencheng any official title, he regarded him as a consultant and often took Fan Wencheng on expeditions. At this moment, Fan Wencheng was sent by Nurhaci to advise Huang Taiji on military matters. Naturally, this was right.
Huang Taiji responded to Huang Taiji's question. He thought for a while and said: "When I was a student in Shenyang County, I heard that Huaxing joint store was opened all over the Ming Dynasty. It was the eyes and ears of the Chinese army and pirates. In the 45th year of Wanli, the imperial court
During the Great Sea Ban, the pirates used ships to shuttle across the sea and invaded the northern and southern capitals at the same time. They used sharp firearms and convenient shipping as their strengths. In the current situation in Liaodong, the pirates are entrenched in southern Liaoning and the north of Korea. If they want to take the initiative to attack our Eight Banners Army, they will inevitably
Send troops from these two places and rely on the power of firearms to attack the city and plunder the territory."
Huang Taiji listened to Fan Wencheng's words and didn't think there was anything special about Fan Wencheng's analysis. He nodded politely: "Mr. Fan's words are not bad, but the main force of our Eight Banners Army has been suspended for half a year.
The yellow and red flags conquered Chahar and returned with a great victory. The morale of the soldiers was high. The blue flag fell into the hands of the pirates. This great revenge must be avenged. Please return to Shenyang quickly to report to the Great Khan. Please ask Mr. Fan to send troops to attack Liaonan.
I am willing to be the vanguard of the army,"
…
The "August Offensive" that Yin Feng publicly declared was a plan he devised under the advice of Xu Hongji and others. However, in fact, the Chinese Army, which attaches great importance to logistics support, has been building roads. In order to prevent the dirt roads from turning into a quagmire due to rain, the Chinese Army organized
Human hands transformed the dirt and sand roads in North Korea and Liaodong into cement and stone roads. For more than half a year, the Chinese army did this in northern North Korea and southern Liaoning. Gunpowder weapons relied heavily on logistical supplies and were unlikely to be produced on site or purchased from the enemy.
The Chinese army, which originally had the advantage of maritime maneuverability, had to build roads at the forward base in the rear and hoard a large amount of supplies at the same time.
The Chinese Army's Operations Department originally planned to launch an attack in June, but frontline field commanders Zhao Tie, Yan Siqi and others repeatedly requested to postpone the attack date because the logistics supply was not yet complete. Yin Feng did not want to send troops in a hurry. The Battle of Sarhu of the Ming Army was
He hurriedly launched the attack before the preliminary preparations were completed. While ordering the Logistics Department to strengthen material transportation, he also allocated 200 merchant ships from the China Company's huge merchant fleet to be used by the Logistics Department.
Yin Feng finally discovered that his so-called "August Offensive" strategic deception had actually become a reality.
By the time the Chinese Army on the frontline completed their combat preparations, it was really August.
However, the first attack force set out from Port Arthur as early as June.
The new battleship of the Northern Fleet led by Fan Tao, the Nagasaki, was the flagship of the fleet. More than 300 other ships followed the Nagasaki through the Tsushima Strait, detoured around the Sea of Japan, and arrived at the mouth of the Tumen River. The one who led the way was the one who discovered it. The red-haired captain of the Northwest Pacific Route and Hokkaido, the captain of the Dutch exploration ship Tulip, William Cornelius Schauzing.
In the Tsushima Strait, the Northern Fleet was intercepted by the North Korean navy of Jeolla Province. In the previous year's war, the North Korean army had not had time to assemble its main force to resist the enemy. The Chinese army had already reached the walls of Seoul and forced King Gwanghae to sign an alliance under the city walls.
Li Jiayu, the commander of the Jeolla Province navy who was unwilling to fail, was a member of the "Great Northern Faction". After the Chinese army took control of Seoul, he suppressed Gwanghae Gun's opposition. Therefore, Li Jiayu was very disgusted with the Chinese army. When the Chinese navy fleet passed through the sea of Busan, the Jeolla Province Navy The army suddenly attacked the rear of the fleet transport convoy.
The North Korean navy used the "turtle ship" invented by Yi Sun-shin: a low-deck iron-armored sailing ship. The hull was entirely covered with iron plates. The ship was equipped with sharp iron to protect the warship. The iron armor protected the oars and oarsmen. In addition, This type of armored ship was also equipped with heavy iron rams and two or more small cannons fired from the armored gun holes: the Fo Lang machine or the bowl-mouth blunderbuss used by the Ming army, while other side holes were used to fire burning rockets , to deceive enemy ships.
At that time, Yi Sun-shin made full use of his ingenuity to invent the turtle ship, but the turtle ship could fight in the offshore. Yi Sun-shin also realized that the ship he designed needed more advanced power than wind. This insight was very popular in the Far East at that time. It is rare, but North Korea does not have the ability to improve turtle ships, so in this attack, the North Korean navy used 20-year-old turtle ships.
The Chinese navy did not take turtle ships seriously. Regardless of the ship's maneuverability or firepower, four-masted battleships, three-masted cruisers, and schooners all surpassed turtle ships, and their artillery fire could hit them at close range. Penetration of turtle ship armor: The firepower of turtle ships is basically unable to cause damage to Chinese warships within the same distance. The armor of turtle ships was not originally intended to withstand the bombardment of thousand-pound heavy artillery and large naval guns. It was only used to protect soldiers from bows and arrows. , blunderbuss bullets and small guns, the North Koreans in the Yi Sun-shin era never dreamed of having such weapons as large cannons.
More than 30 turtle ship battleships of Li Jiayu's turtle ship fleet were all sunk by the Chinese fleet in one morning.
The takeaway result of the naval battle off Busan is that a detachment of the Navy Marine Corps landed at the Port of Busan and burned down the entire harbor. The reckless Navy Commander Li Jiayu committed suicide on a shipwreck in the port.
The Chinese Northern Fleet was delayed for ten days due to the Pusan incident, and then continued northward, landing at the mouth of the Tumen River in early August.
The south bank of the Tumen River is the territory of Korea, and the north bank is now under the jurisdiction of the Houjin Kingdom. In fact, the banks of the Tumen River were originally the land of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Goryeo, which had entered the end of the world, proposed to the Ming court that Tieling (today's Korea The land north of the junction of South Hamgyong Province and Gangwon Province was assigned to it, but it was rejected by the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, pointed out that the Central Plains Dynasty had already established a guard in Tieling, and Goryeo's move was a "self-inflicted provocation". The Ministry of Rites was ordered to tell the King of Goryeo to "keep your peace and do not cause trouble."
In fact, during the Goryeo Dynasty, the northern boundary of North Korea was still in the area south of Hamhung in today's North Korea. After the establishment of the Lee Dynasty of North Korea, the country's territory continued to advance northward by expelling the Jurchens, and expanded to the Yalu River and Tumen River basins. Although the Ming Dynasty appeased the Jurchen tribes in the Tumen River Basin, it did not protect the interests of the Jurchens. It was satisfied with North Korea's "sincerity in matters". At the same time, it was busy appeasing the surrounding areas and allowed North Korea to take over all the Jurchen territories on the south bank of the Tumen River. Eventually, the Jianzhou Zuowei moved from the south bank of the Tumen River to the north bank of the Tumen River, causing the Ming Dynasty to lose all its territory on the south bank of the Tumen River. By the first half of the 15th century, North Korea expanded its northeastern border northward to the present-day Tumen River. In the south bank area of the middle and lower reaches, six towns were successively established: Huining, Funing, Zhongcheng, Wencheng, Qingyuan, and Qingxing. The Ming Dynasty gave large tracts of land to North Korea in vain, in exchange for nominal tribute from North Korea. .
Nowadays, the Chinese army has not entered the six towns in the northeast of North Korea, but Wonsan, the transportation center of this area, has been controlled by the Chinese army, and King Gwanghae of North Korea ordered the towns in the northeast to support the Chinese army in operations. Therefore, the Chinese army's navy and land forces After landing at the mouth of the Tumen River, a total of 10,000 people from the Northern Corps and the Ryukyu Infantry Regiment immediately marched inland along the Tumen River with the assistance of the Koreans.
At the same time, the main forces of the First and Fifth Divisions of the Chinese Army crossed the Yalu River in Uiju and headed north; the Second Division, Sixth Division, Cavalry Brigade, and Artillery Brigade of the Chinese Army headed north to attack Liaoyang. Their banner was to suppress bandits on behalf of Heaven. In order to wipe out the Jurchen rebels in the Ming Dynasty, a reward of 5,000 taels of silver was offered to Nurhachi's head and 1,000 acres of land in Liaodong. The low price made Nurhaci very angry.
After the war began, the Chinese army pushed at a slow and steady pace from Kuandian to Sarhu, and from Haizhou and Gaizhou to Liaoyang. At the same time, the navy and marines along the Tumen River met in the dense forests of Changbai Mountain on the Tumen River. They made a large number of rafts and made a large number of rafts to push through the Tumen River. They trudged hard in the primitive dense forest. Most of the scattered Jurchen tribe villages they encountered only had more than a hundred people. They encountered almost no resistance. The biggest difficulty is the virgin forest. The thick fallen leaves in the dense forest with almost no roads can almost bury an adult. Countless creeks and crisscrossing trees block the way of the Marines. The Marines and the Ryukyu Regiment only have to fight in the dense forest every day. They could march a few miles, no more than ten miles at most, and almost all of them became lumberjacks and road builders.
On the front line of Liaodong, the Eight Banners soldiers seemed to have no intention of confronting the Chinese army. Liaoyang Hedong-Sanhe, Dongsheng, Changjing, Changning, Changding, Xin'an, Xindiian, Kuandian, Dadian, Yongdian, Weining Dozens of fortress towns such as Yingying, Wujingying, Anshan, Haizhou, Dongchang, Yaozhou, and Gaizhou were voluntarily abandoned by the Eight Banners soldiers.
The Chinese Army maintained a strict front and advanced northward. Zeng Shan and Zhao Tie used local people to form the Liaodong Security Group in the recovered areas, and placed some Chinese Army soldiers recruited locally the year before last as officers in the security group. In the recovered towns, the Chinese Army Basically, there are no garrisoned combat troops. Only civilian officials from Taiwan's Government Affairs College are stationed to manage general affairs. The Chinese Army only stationed troops at Haizhou, Gaizhou, Anshan, Wujingying and other important transportation passes to build forts for defense and protect logistics lines.
One month after the North Route Tumenjiang Task Force took the lead in starting the war, the Chinese Army's West Route Army approached Liaoyang, and the East Route Army broke through the border wall and entered the Jin Kingdom mainland. The Northern Fleet Marine Task Force was still trudging through the dense forest. China The main force of the Eight Banners Army and the Eight Banners Army basically did not meet face to face. Most of what happened between the two armies were fierce, short, small-scale cavalry outpost battles, harassment battles and battles between the reconnaissance cavalry of both sides. In the face of the fierce and fierce firepower of the Chinese army, the Manchus The Eight Banners soldiers basically gave up all attempts at urban defense.
"The Eight Banners soldiers retreated across the board. Don't they dare to fight us?"
In the camp of the Chinese Army's West Route Army outside Liaoyang City, Yang Dacheng, the deputy general manager of the Liaodong March, looked seriously at the staff officers in the tent, pointed to the map hanging in the tent and said: "Our army marched north for eleven days, killing and injuring the Eight Banners soldiers. There are only over a hundred people who have never fought a decent battle. Do we still need to advance steadily ten miles a day?"