Di Ming

Chapter 362 "Banzai! Zhengming! Zhengming!"

As expected, the main force of the Japanese army's rear has already moved north!
Upon hearing the news, the Korean Ming army, whose morale had just been restored by the arrival of reinforcements, immediately became tense again. For the past few months, they had been terrified of the Japanese army.

An uneasy atmosphere once again enveloped the city of Yizhou.

They could only place their hopes on the newly appointed military commissioner, expecting this renowned Mr. Zhihu, the reincarnation of a star deity, to lead them to victory and a triumphant return home.

The sun was about to sink below Mount Mo. The river was dark and shrouded in twilight. Amidst the resounding and desolate sounds of war drums and bugles, the city of Yizhou was exceptionally solemn.

Tens of thousands of soldiers watched the last rays of the blood-red setting sun, their gazes distant and wistful.

Inside the Yizhou Protectorate General's office, which had been established as the central military headquarters, a row of seats had been set up in the main hall where the Yizhou Protectorate General had originally been located. Zhu Yin sat in the center, reclining at a table, with Qi Jiguang to his right. Below Qi Jiguang sat the Imperial Inspector Qian Shizhen.

To Zhu Yin's left sat King Seonjo of Joseon. Seonjo held a position equivalent to a prince of the Ming Dynasty, and was originally the most prestigious, but since Zhu Yin was an imperial envoy, he could only sit below Zhu Yin.

Below the main hall, fifty or sixty officers of guerrilla rank or above sat solemnly in four rows.

Seated at the very front were the three generals: Li Rusong, Ma Gui, and Liu Ting. Next were Nurhaci, Buzhai, Li Rubai, and other deputy generals.

Sitting at the very back were young mid-level generals such as Xiong Tingbi, Mao Wenlong, Cao Wenzhao, Zhao Shuaijiao, and Qi Zuoguo. They were all military officers of the rank of brigade commander or guerrilla commander, only qualified to participate in military councils.

Besides military officers, those attending the military council included Korean ministers Ryu Seong-ryong and Yun Doo-tae, as well as Zhu Yin's advisors Xu Wei and Feng Menglong.

Inside and outside the two corridors, Zhu Yin's guards and servants stood densely packed. In particular, the exceptionally burly Lan Cha, wielding a spiked club, was imposing and attracted much attention.

When Zhu Yin and the other generals arrived, he looked around at them, especially observing the generals he was not familiar with, such as Liu Ting, Zu Chengxun, Wu Weizhong, Yang Yuan, and Cha Dashou.

Once he had matched these people together, Zhu Yin lowered his head to examine the troop registers and account books that Hao Jie had handed over before leaving.

As explained above, before the arrival of reinforcements, the Ming army in Korea had only about 61,000 soldiers capable of fighting. The remaining 40,000 were either killed in action or captured, wounded and unable to fight, or deserted and never returned to their units. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 of them were deserters.

Total losses reached 40%, with the majority being elite Liaodong garrison troops. The once mighty Liaodong Garrison was crippled.

Only a little over 60,000 Ming troops remained in Korea, including more than 15,000 Ming naval forces under the command of Chen Lin, who joined forces with Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin to fight against the Japanese navy.

As a result, the Ming army in Yizhou actually only had 45,000 men left. Since the losses were mainly in the army, the loss rate was actually half, not 40%.

Of the 30,000 warhorses that Hao Jie and the other three leaders brought to Korea last year, more than 10,000 were lost, leaving only half. The Ming Dynasty currently only has about 100,000 warhorses in total, so this loss represents more than a tenth of their total force!

Of the Ming Dynasty's most powerful heavy cannons, only thirteen remained, having lost seven. Other types of artillery suffered even greater losses.

What about the North Korean army? They fared even worse.

After retreating to Changseong, Gwanghaegun, along with the Korean resistance forces, was left with only a little over 10,000 Korean land troops, which had little fighting strength. Only Yi Sun-sin's 10,000-plus Korean naval troops were of considerable strength.

Excluding the navy, the Ming army had 115,000 troops on land, plus Gwanghaegun's Joseon army, totaling about 130,000.

How many Japanese troops were there? Including the Korean puppet troops they had trained, the number was about 260,000 to 270,000, roughly twice the size of the combined Ming and Korean forces.

The Japanese army's food supplies could last at least three or four months. Moreover, order had been largely restored in southern Korea, which was under Japanese control; the wheat in the fields was growing well, and spring planting had begun in the rice paddies.

In other words, with the cooperation of the puppet regimes in various places, the Japanese army's food supplies were able to last until the summer harvest.

The Japanese army's strategy of using war to sustain war and relying on the enemy for food has begun to show results.

This battle will be very difficult to fight!

Zhu Yin closed the register and said to his generals, "Let's get straight to the point. The latest military intelligence is that the Japanese army has about 70,000 troops in the front line, distributed in North Pyongan Province. Now, their rear force of 100,000 troops is also approaching Pyongyang."

"If they join forces, their combined army will number as many as 170,000, making victory in battle much more difficult. Therefore, I believe that before they join forces for a general offensive, we should concentrate our forces to launch a preemptive strike, annihilate the 70,000 Japanese troops in northern Pyongan Province, and then deal with the Japanese rear..."

After Zhu Yin finished speaking, he added, "What do you all think?"

This set the tone and also sought the opinions of the generals.

"General, this is indeed the best course of action. However, according to military intelligence, the Japanese army's rear route will arrive within five days. If we first eliminate the nearest 70,000 Japanese troops, it will be necessary to complete the task within four or five days."

"Otherwise, if we haven't defeated them yet, and the Japanese army of 100,000 has already arrived from the rear, then I will be completely passive."

"To defeat 70,000 Japanese troops in just a few days... this is truly remarkable."

“Indeed, it is not easy.” Liu Ting also stood up. “However, it is not entirely impossible! General, although these 70,000 Japanese troops are very close to us, they occupy key positions. I believe that if we want to defeat these 70,000 Japanese troops within a few days, we must use strong cavalry to maneuver and outflank them, and coordinate with the infantry. We need to move hundreds of miles within a few days. This not only requires strong cavalry, but also more warhorses.”

These Ming generals who entered Korea first knew how difficult the Japanese pirates were to deal with, and they lacked confidence in defeating 70,000 Japanese troops in a few days.

Li Rusong had long known of Zhu Yin's strategy, but he smiled and remained silent.

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "Then please tell us, General. You already have a brilliant plan in mind. Men, bring out the sand table!"

As soon as Zhu Yin said this, all the generals turned their attention to Qi Jiguang, their eyes filled with respect.

Soon, a sand table was set up.

Qi Jiguang stroked his beard and said, "You must already be familiar with the terrain of Korea. Most of our cavalry are Jurchen cavalry. As for warhorses, the entire army has more than 60,000. On average, each cavalryman cannot have three horses."

He stood up and said firmly, "The Jurchen soldiers are better at riding horses, so let's use only Jurchen cavalry for the surprise attack! Allocate some of the Han army's warhorses to the Jurchen army!"

"In this way, each of the 20,000 Jurchen cavalrymen can ride three horses."

"Once the cavalry successfully launch a surprise attack and cut off the Japanese pirates' retreat, the game will be won..."

Upon hearing this, Ma Gui, Liu Ting, and the others immediately understood.

Yes, with 30,000 to 40,000 cavalrymen, they could kill more than 10,000 people. They only needed 20,000 of the most skilled Jurchen cavalrymen, each with three horses, to carry out rapid raids covering more than 100 li a day and defeat them one by one.

Twenty thousand cavalrymen are enough; with one person and three horses, they can definitely complete this task.

If the cavalry performs well, then the infantry battles will be much easier to win.

By then, our army will have recovered several strategically important locations, including Shuozhou, Anzhou, Longchuan, and Miaoxiangshan. Together with Yizhou and Changcheng, we will have formed a prison.

As a result, the 100,000 Japanese pirates in the rear could not join forces with the 70,000 Japanese soldiers and could not provide timely support. They could only watch helplessly as the army in front was wiped out.

Zu Chengxun suddenly stood up and said, “General Qi, while this strategy is excellent, the Japanese pirates ahead number as many as 70,000, making it truly difficult to annihilate them. We might even suffer a backlash. It is not that I am trying to boost the enemy's morale and diminish our own, but the Japanese pirates are fearless, tenacious in their fighting spirit, and full of morale; they are arguably the strongest army in the world. Even if our army can wipe them out, we will suffer heavy losses. How then can we face the 100,000 Japanese pirates in our rear?”

It must be said that Zu Chengxun's concerns were quite reasonable. In particular, the generals who entered Korea first were still wary of the ferocity of the Japanese pirates.

The Japanese cavalry were few and not particularly formidable, but their musketeers were extremely powerful. To wipe out the 70,000 Japanese pirates ahead would be a costly endeavor.

Qi Jiguang said, "No one understands the Japanese pirates better than me. They are indeed fierce and brave, but their morale is not ironclad. Their army's morale can collapse at any time. When they are strong, they are ridiculously strong, but once they are defeated, they can be completely routed. The reason you did not win a single battle before was because the Japanese pirates stole your prestige."

"As you already know, when Zhu Jinglue was sent as an envoy to Japan, he followed the example of Fu Jiezi and Ban Chao, and even overthrew the Japanese court. The Japanese king and his ministers were all captured and brought to Beijing. Now, Japan doesn't even have a court anymore."

"If the Japanese pirates believe this, how strong will their morale be? They will inevitably lose their fighting spirit and become demoralized. It will be much easier to wipe them out then."

Zhu Yin suddenly shouted, "Guards! Bring out King Zhouren of Japan and Nene, the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi!"

Soon, Tianhuang and Ningning, looking ashen-faced, were brought into the shogunate's main tent.

"Is this the wife of Japanese King Hira Hideyoshi?" Generals like Ma Gui looked at Tianhuang and Ningning with curious eyes and commented on them.

Zhou Ren and Ning Ning were surrounded by onlookers, both looking ashen-faced and filled with shame.

Zhu Yin pointed at the two and said, "You see them? These are the ones I captured from Japan! The real Japanese King and Hideyoshi's wife! Many Japanese military commanders in Korea know them. When necessary, they will appear on the front lines!"

Liu Ting laughed and said, "Generalissimo, you are truly a master strategist! With this, our army can secure victory!"

Zhu Yin said, "After you return to camp, tell the soldiers that the Japanese king, Hideyoshi's wife, and the entire Japanese court are in our hands. Let them spread the word! Boost our morale!"

Upon hearing this, the generals' confidence soared. Even King Seonjo of Joseon stood up excitedly, pointing at Zhou Ren and cursing:

"You damned Japanese king! I wish I could kill you with my own hands! And kill all the Japanese!"

After saying that, he couldn't help but step forward and slap Ningning hard across the face with a loud "smack," displaying his manly prowess as he roared at Ningning:

"Your husband, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, isn't he arrogant and conceited? He dared to invade Korea, how could he not protect you!"

The reason he didn't fight the Japanese locusts was because Zhou Ren was younger than him, and he was afraid he couldn't beat him, so he attacked Ningning instead.

Ningning never expected that after being a prisoner for so long, she had never been beaten by the Han Chinese, but today she was slapped in the face by the Koreans.

"Baka!" In her anger, Ningning could no longer hold back and rammed her head into the North Korean man.

The Japanese woman and the Korean man immediately started fighting.

"Damn it!" Li Yeon roared, "You dare to fight back against me!"

"Your Highness!" Joseon Minister Ryu Seong-ryong shouted and rushed forward to grab Ningning's hair.

"Baka!" Zhou Ren, the Japanese locust, was also enraged and kicked Ryu Seong-ryong.

I can tolerate Han Chinese, but how dare you, a Korean, bully me!

The four of them immediately started fighting.

Zhu Yin, Qi Jiguang, and other Ming figures, as well as Nurhaci and other Jurchens, were all stunned. No one had expected that the King of Korea and the King of Japan would suddenly start fighting.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" Zhu Yin shouted. "Stop right now! What kind of behavior is this! Pull them apart!"

The generals stepped forward and pulled the four men apart. They found that their hats had been knocked off, and their hair was disheveled.

Zhu Yin's hasty separation of them was certainly not out of kindness. He feared that disfiguring the Japanese king and Ningning's faces would make it difficult for the Japanese to identify them.

He wouldn't care if that weren't taken into account.

“Baka…” Zhou Ren was pulled away, still glaring at the Korean king and cursing out a Japanese curse, feeling extremely humiliated.

"Damn it!" Lee Yeon cursed, uttering the North Korean curse word like a belligerent rooster.

Ningning had disheveled hair, but her expression remained calm as she coldly stared at the King of Joseon with utter contempt.

"Damn it..." Li Yan was furious and wanted to go forward and beat Ningning again.

"Alright, Your Highness!" Zhu Yin chuckled inwardly, but could only dissuade him, "Your Highness is the ruler of Joseon, of noble status, why bother arguing with the Japanese? Your Highness, please sit down."

Li Yen dared not disobey Zhu Yin and could only sit back down.

The Ming generals present were secretly amused, but out of consideration for the relationship between the Korean king and his ministers, they desperately suppressed their smiles.

After the Japanese king and Nene were taken away again, the military council returned to normal. Zhu Yin spoke again:
"Now, General, please assign tasks and issue military orders."

He was a military commissioner, so he didn't need to concern himself with battlefield tactics.

Qi Jiguang coughed and said, "As agreed with the Generalissimo, the warhorses in the army will be temporarily allocated to the Jurchen cavalry. Then the army will be divided into four."

"The military commissioner, along with Deputy Commander-in-Chief Nurhaci, led ten thousand Jurchen cavalry straight to Shuozhou! They then circled around to Changcheng to join forces with Guanghai Jun..."

"Li Rusong and Buzhai led ten thousand Jurchen cavalry, advancing straight into Longchuan and Guicheng..."

"Qin Liangyu and Yang Kedong, leading six thousand White-Spear Army soldiers and Bozhou troops, will rush to Miaoxiang Mountain via mountain roads and arrive within three days..."

"I will lead an army of 90,000 to draw them in at Yizhou, firmly pinning down the main force of the Japanese pirates' vanguard near Yizhou..."

"Within a few days, we must form a prison, preventing the Japanese pirates from converging from both the front and rear! The cavalry, in particular, must move swiftly..."

"Outside Yizhou City lies the battlefield for annihilation! We will first surround and then attack, with the plan to completely wipe out the 70,000 Japanese pirates ahead within half a month!"

"We will obey the military order!" All the generals stood up together to receive the command tokens.

Although Zhu Yin was the commander-in-chief, he also received the order. He didn't actually need to go, but in order to maintain his influence over the Jianzhou Jurchens and increase his prestige among them, he decided to go to war with Nurhaci.

He wouldn't feel comfortable letting Nurhaci lead the army alone!
It's not that I don't trust Wild Boar Skin's abilities, but rather that I don't trust his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty; I always have to be on guard.

At the same time, he also secretly instructed Li Rusong to be wary of Yehe Beile Buzhai.

That evening, the army held a grand feast for the soldiers and distributed warhorses, firearms, and divided them into battalions.

Zhu Yin and Nurhaci's journey was accompanied not only by ten thousand Jurchen cavalry, but also by several hundred of Zhu Yin's personal guards, all of whom were armed with firearms.

Ning Qingchen, Xu Wei, Feng Menglong, and others remained in Yizhou.

Zhu Yin and Qi Jiguang made arrangements overnight, and the next morning they led their troops eastward with Nurhaci, heading straight for Shuozhou along the winding plains of the north bank!

At this time, the army occupying Shuozhou was the Satsuma Domain's elite troops under the fierce Japanese general, Shimazu Yoshihiro!

...

Shuozhou City, located south of Maeksan, guards the strategic pass between Uiju and Hamgyeong, making it a vital military location. However, Shuozhou is not a typical place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as its city walls are relatively low.

After Shimazu Yoshihiro occupied Shuozhou, he only had 7,000 troops, which was insufficient for further advances, so he did not stay there to await orders from Hanyang.

At this very moment, Yoshihiro Shimazu is practicing kendo. And his practice subjects are, in fact, living people.

Inside the city lord's mansion, a row of Ming soldiers captured by the Japanese army were kneeling there, bound together.

Wearing a magnificent and exaggerated crescent-shaped suit of clothing and holding his family heirloom katana, Shimazu Yoshihiro walked up to a prisoner and suddenly let out a "ha!" before swiftly and skillfully slashing down with his sword.

With a soft "plop," the head of the Ming soldier prisoner fell gently to the ground, its painful mouth gnawing at the soil, emitting a silent scream.

Hot blood gushed out like a fountain from the empty neck cavity, and the headless body suddenly leaped forward.

"Yoshi!" Shimazu Yoshihiro flicked his katana, and a drop of blood slid from the tip of the blade.

He then said with a melancholy tone, "The cherry blossoms in Satsuma will be in bloom soon. But I have been away from my hometown for almost a year. Ah, the sorrow of a samurai is like a wisp of smoke."

After saying that, he looked to the north and said, "Soon I will have the opportunity to enter the Ming Kingdom. I am both happy and looking forward to it. This is the eternal achievement of the heroes of the Divine Kingdom."

At this point, he raised his sword again and beheaded the second Ming soldier prisoner.

Just then, a messenger cavalryman carrying a flag galloped in.

"Reporting to my lord!" the messenger reported, prostrating himself on the ground. "News from Hanyang City: His Excellency Yu Xi has led an army of 100,000 northwards!"

"My lord! The Grand General has ordered that it is time to prepare to attack Yizhou and cross the river to attack Ming!"

When the news spread, the entire Shuozhou erupted in a tremendous outcry:
"Banzai! The Kingdom of God will surely prevail! The wealth and beauties of the Ming Dynasty await us!"

"Seven lives for the country!"

"Zhengming! Zhengming!"

P.S.: That's all for today. Please vote with your monthly tickets, thank you!

(End of this chapter)