Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 620 Imjin Japanese Invasion ([-]) Kato Kiyomasa North Expedition to Hamgyongdo

Unlike the resistance to the arrival of Nobushige Sanada when they first entered the five cities in the south of Hamgyong-do, the story of the Japanese army confiscating two groups of acres south of Yeongheung and distributing them to landless tenants has spread in Dingping and Hamheung.

In addition, Hamhung is the seat of the main government of Hamgyong Province. This is the place where the Korean exiled prisoners are located, and a large number of people who are dissatisfied with the Joseon Dynasty gathered.

A hundred years have passed since Sejong captured the six towns in Guanbei, and the original policy of encouraging border residents to guard has changed. In order to ensure the control of the border, the Joseon court had to take the initiative to change the exile from Jeju to Hamgyong. road north.

In fact, these exiles should have been broken up and distributed to the four towns of Jiangnan and the six towns of Guanbei, but Hamheung is the head office of Hamgyong Province, and all the exiles had to pass through Taoist officials here.

Because Liangban squeezed their servants too hard, tenants escaped into the mountains every year. In order to protect their own interests, a large number of strong criminals were directly left in Xianxing and Dingping, and became the private slaves of Liangban's family here. .

For these servants, they hated the Joseon Dynasty more than their hatred for foreign enemies. Even if there were no Japanese troops invading, there would be trouble here every few years.

Right now there are no foreign enemies. Now that the Joseon Dynasty is so weak, the opportunity to stand up and become the master is at hand. Naturally, this opportunity will not be missed. Even the arrival of the Japanese army is more like "liberation" to them.

Therefore, after Nobushige Sanada won Dingping, the people in the land of Hamhung took the initiative to pull up flags and participated in the siege of Hamhung. In just a few days, more than 5 people gathered around Hamhung City. army.

Although most of them are sallow and skinny, although many of them are disheveled and dirty, although many of them hold sharpened bamboo spears, sickles and hoes, they want to capture Xianxing's heart It is consistent with the 3000 people led by Nobushige Sanada.

There are 800 government soldiers in Xianxing City and more than 200 Yading people. Different from the government soldiers who recruited rogues into the army in the south, the government soldiers in Hamgyong Road at least have a certain combat effectiveness.

North Korea did not set up a government barracks in Hamgyong Road, so naturally there was no amount of troops to recruit rogues.For North Korea, even if there is no need for the government soldiers to guard the place, there are 1.5 elites who resist the Jurchen after all. If there are a small group of rogues, they can be wiped out by combining the government soldiers.

But even with these 1000 guards, Xianxing City was still quickly captured.For Nobushige Sanada, it is enough to mobilize the refugees who promised to help out and sweep up the city after entering the city.

As soon as Xianxing broke through the northern border, rebels rebelled one after another in the surrounding Hongyuan, Beiqing, Licheng and other prefectures, welcoming the Japanese invaders into the city.

By the time Kato Kiyoshi hurried to Xianxing, this place was already within the sphere of influence of Fengchun's family.

As early as when the eight kingdoms were divided, the big names had agreed not to interfere with each other and harass each other, and they would never touch the territory controlled by others unless they actively invited them.

Seeing that Fengchun's family occupies the most elite area of ​​Hamgyong-do, Kato Kiyoshi jumped upright.

At this time, Sanada Nobushige opened the Hide family's second kit and took the initiative to invite Kato Kiyomasa. Sanada Nobushige decided to voluntarily withdraw from Hamheung Prefecture, and asked Kato Kiyomasa to use Hamheung Prefecture as the base to launch a strategy for other areas of Hamgyong-do.

It is naturally impossible for Hideka to prepay Nobushige Sanada to win Xianxing so smoothly. In fact, the statement in his kit is that Nobushige Sanada sticks to the south of Yongxing, and the north of Yongxing is left to Kato Kiyomasa to do it himself. Hideka is not willing to go Head-to-head with the Sixth Army of Guanbei and Jianzhou Jurchen.

The Xiu family's goal was very consistent from the moment they decided to go to North Korea. They came here to make money for loot and people. Land and other things cannot be taken away, and it is useless to occupy too much.

In addition, Nobushige Sanada also took the initiative to disclose to him the situation of the two princes Linhai and Shunhe who fled to Hamgyong Road.

These were all revealed by the people around after Sanada Nobushige took Hamheung. It can be seen that the people regard their prince as worse than the enemy.

Kato Kiyomasa is very useful for Sanada Nobushige's initiative to give up Xianxing and inform himself of the whereabouts of the Joseon prince. After all, capturing the Joseon prince is a great achievement. mean.

Therefore, he has repeatedly stated that in the future, whenever it is useful to come to his own place, just speak up, and he will definitely contribute as much as possible.

For Nobushige Sanada, the most important thing for him right now is how to digest the land and population he has acquired, and how to train this group of servants who have turned to him.

According to the Xiu family, these obedient citizens and their families who are loyal to themselves should be taken away as much as possible, and then no matter whether they move to Vladivostok, Ezo, or Kanto, they will be promoted to warriors based on their military exploits to rule over the people who are forced to migrate. It is a very useful second devil.

Of course, there is another idea that Hideka did not disclose to Nobushige Sanada, that is, even after the Japanese army retreated, the Korean people who had been divided into fields would resist the North Korean army extremely in order to protect their property.

Then it is very likely that after he left, Hamgyong Road still does not belong to North Korea. Even if Hamgyong Road is occupied with the help of Daming, North Korea will have to spend a lot of effort to rule here.

These professionally trained sergeants are no longer the refugees, tenants, or criminals of the past. They are real fighters. Even if they lose their property or even die in the end, it will not be worse for these people who have already lived in poverty. the result.

A militia like this with a stronger fighting will than the official army will definitely make the North Korean court fall a big one.

Nobushige Sanada's actual control of the territory only extends to Xianxing. Although Hongyuan, Beiqing and other cities in the north have surrendered, the Japanese army did not send people there at all.

Nobushige Sanada was also unable to continue going north, so he directly accepted their advice anyway, and appointed them as the local magistrate and governor.

Kato Kiyomasa and Sanada Nobushige made a good handover, and the north and south were divided by the Dingping River not far from the north of Dingping City. In fact, Kato Kiyomasa still occupied most of the area of ​​Hamgyong-do.

On June 6, Kato Kiyomasa stabilized his rear, recruited defected officials from several surrounding counties, and continued to appoint them to be in charge of local affairs. After the soldiers provided food and salaries for the army, they led the troops north to prepare to sweep the northern part of Hamgyong Province.

On the 30th, the army crossed Motianling and entered North Hamgyong Province. In the west of Chengjin City, they encountered Han Kejian (xián), an envoy of North Province soldiers who was preparing to go south, and 7000 soldiers from the six towns in Guanbei led by him.

There are only 4000 military households here, and each town contributes half of its troops, and the remaining 3000 are temporarily recruited strong men.

Han Kejian didn't have such a great ability to go south to recover the king's land, but after hearing that Hamhung had fallen, he wanted to take advantage of Motianling's geographical advantage to defend North Hamgyong Province from the Japanese army's invasion.

At that time, if half of the land can be preserved and the lives of the two princes can be guaranteed, it will be a great achievement after the restoration of North Korea.

It's just that his army had to mobilize Huining from the basins blocked by mountains along the Datong River, and the time it took to go south from Huining must be much slower than the Japanese army going north along the coast, so Kato Kiyomasa was not blocked in the end. south of the ridge.

What's more terrible is that the two sides actually met on the plain, and the two sides had no choice but to start a field battle on the wilderness.

The soldiers in the six towns of Guanbei in North Korea can be said to be one of the most effective soldiers in North Korea at present. Although the penetration rate of armor is not as good as that of the Forbidden Army, their morale and courage are much better than those of the Forbidden Army who have been in the world of flowers and flowers for a long time.

And because the soldiers in the six towns of Guanbei had to face the Jianzhou Jurchen and wild Jurchen tribes on both sides of the Datong River on a daily basis, where the mountains were high and the forests were dense, they were very good at fighting the Jurchen tribes in the forests and valleys.

What needs to be noted here is that unlike China’s Nine Towns Frontier Army and Liaodong Cavalry, North Korea’s Northern Army is mostly infantry, which is related to the fact that most of their combat environments are in mountainous plateaus and forest areas.

At this time, most of the Jurchens were fishing and hunting tribes, and horseback riding was not what Jurchens were good at. Even if they had banners, they would not be able to use them in the mountainous areas of North Korea and Northeast China, and they would not be of much use.

As mentioned above, the horses of North Korea are raised on Jeju Island, and the cavalry is mainly concentrated in the Forbidden Army's Xiaocavalry Army. All of them were lost in the hands of the Japanese army in the First World War in Chungju.

Then some people may be curious, why does North Korea raise so many war horses in Jeju, and it only equips 3/5 thousand cavalry?
North Korea's geographical environment, cavalry really does not need too much, 3/5 thousand is completely enough to cross the Korean peninsula.

In addition, free-range horses cost less in Jeju Island, and they eat fresh grass in the wild. However, once they are recruited into the imperial army, they have to prepare hay, eggs, alfalfa and other fodder for them, which costs a lot.

In addition, North Korea has experienced peace and prosperity for 2000 years, and all it deals with are peasant uprisings and Jurchens. It does not have such a large demand for cavalry, so the North Korean court does not have such a large demand for horses at all.

But they met Kato Kiyoshi on the plain. Although Han Kejian ordered the infantry to retreat back to find cover immediately after discovering the Japanese army, they were still stuck by the Japanese army.

Of course, although the northern army is mostly infantry, there is still a cavalry unit of about 1000 people. This cavalry unit is specially raised to deal with the Jurchen tribes in the plains on both sides of the Tumen River. It can be said that it is the most elite Jurchen in North Korea. tribe.

In order to deal with the Jurchen tribe, they practiced a good cavalry and archery skill, so the cavalry stepped out left and right, and galloped and shot to cover the infantry and retreated slowly.

The Japanese army generally lacked shield equipment, and the wooden poles and bamboo bundles were heavy and difficult to move. Therefore, Kato Kiyomasa was once beaten by the Kanbei cavalry, and he even planned to give up the pursuit.

But at this moment, Iida Kakuhei, the retainer in front, noticed that the North Korean army seemed to be out of reach, so he took the initiative to chase after them with Japanese horsemen on horseback.

The Japanese horses were short, and the Japanese samurai were not good at fighting on horseback, so they lost the wind when they fought against the Korean cavalry, but fortunately they stuck to the tail of the Korean army.

The Guanbei cavalry originally wanted to turn around and gather superior forces to eliminate these hundreds of annoying bedbugs, but seeing the tens of thousands of mighty Japanese troops behind them, they could only leave their stuck companions and continue to retreat.

Some of the hundreds of people who were left behind forced back or killed the Japanese samurai who stuck to them, and chased up their team on horseback, but most of them were overtaken by the infantry behind, and they were all picked off their horses.

In a cavalry encounter, 300 Japanese Kato Kiyomasa cavalry fought about 200 Korean cavalry, and finally captured 133 heads. At the cost of 76 samurai, 65 ashigaru died and 120 were injured.

Every horse-riding samurai in Japan is basically born in a famous family, and many of them are the second generation of the samurai family.All of a sudden, the battle damage exceeded 1/4. How can you make Kato Kiyomasa explain to his retainers.

Regardless of the fact that the Korean army died more than the Japanese army (not insignificant), it was because the number was at a disadvantage and there was no support, and many of them were killed by the infantry who surrounded them.

If the total casualty ratio is counted, the Japanese army undoubtedly paid a heavy price.

As experts, Kato Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naomo saw the problem at a glance. While marveling at the elite Korean cavalry, they couldn't help but feel distressed for your loss on their side.

Fortunately, with the cooperation of Naoshima Naoshige, people were surrounded in a town called Crane City, which is only a dozen miles away from Shangfeng County in the north.

However, the North Korean infantry had just experienced running, and they had no energy left to defend Shangfeng City. They could only occupy the town and use the terrain of the town to build fortifications to defend.

However, the town was still too small for an army of 7000 people to squeeze in. Han Kejian could only use some supplies, vehicles, grain bags, and wood and stones removed from the village to extend out to defend the fortifications in response to the Japanese attack.

This scene is somewhat familiar. In history, the Guanbei Army used the flexible advantages of riding and shooting to squeeze Kato Kiyomasa into the Haiting warehouse. Kato Kiyomasa had to use the goods and grain in the warehouse to build fortifications to guard against arrow feathers. Big kill.

But in this life, Kato Kiyomasa is not like the group in history who brought only 7000 people of his own to the battle. He also has Naoshima Naoshige and other Kyushu daimyo Xietong, and there are more than [-] North Korean servants who have not yet been formed in history. , Completely crushed the Guanbei Army in terms of military strength.

Han Kejian believed that he was incapable of fighting against such a large gap in the number of troops in the field, so he took the initiative to retreat, and was surrounded by the Japanese army in Crane Town instead.

Han Kejian, as the envoy of the Northern Army, was in charge of the entire Hamgyong Army, and he was quite capable in his hands. All the Guanbei Army under his command were good at archery. They used the fortifications to draw bows and arrows to kill many Japanese invaders.

Seeing that a strong attack was not enough, Kato Kiyomasa stopped the attack and besieged the North Korean army instead.

The Guanbei Army did not bring much food with them, so they could not withstand the long-term siege. Moreover, the water source was controlled by the Japanese army. The few wells in the town were not enough for more than [-] soldiers and civilians to drink. They needed to break through the Japanese blockade.

At this time, Iida Kakuhei, who had just suffered from the Korean cavalry side, suggested that the wooden cannon be mounted on the beam transporter, and the iron cannon soldiers stood on it, and someone pushed forward behind it.

This idea was quickly adopted by Kato Kiyomasa, and he ordered people to use wooden escapees to form a shield wall, and slowly advance towards Crane City. If there was no wooden escape, he would demolish the door of the Ming family's house in North Korea to make up for it.

Generally, people are unwilling to demolish their doors, but when they come, they hold knives in their hands. Although it is a negotiation in name, there is actually not much room for the residents to negotiate.

Later, when I heard that the wooden door was removed to attack the North Korean army, the enthusiasm of the people in Hamgyong-do immediately rose.

These dismantled wooden doors were handed over to the servants sent by the counties of Xianxing, Liseong, and Duanchuan. These servants had no armor and various weapons in their hands. They were originally used as cannon fodder to consume the arrows on the opposite side. vector used.

But even if it is cannon fodder, it must have the dignity of cannon fodder. People really hate the Korean court, but it doesn't mean that they are not good at brains.

The army at this time did not have the fearless military spirit of later generations.

Covered by wooden traps and door panels, the Japanese army slowly advanced forward, and all the arrows fired by the North Korean army were nailed to the wooden board.

Unlike the North Korean army, there are not many Japanese troops, but they have iron cannons. The firepower of this thing can penetrate not thick wooden boards.

According to the records of "Punishment Records", the bullets of the Japanese army can not only penetrate the target, but sometimes one bullet can even kill 3 to 4 people.

You must know that although the Guanbei Army's armor rate is not as good as that of the Forbidden Army, in order to deal with the Jurchen, 1/3 of the armor is still there.

Judging from this record, either there is a problem with the armor officially distributed by North Korea, or Kato Kiyomasa used the big iron cannon unique to Kyushu, otherwise there would not be such a terrible effect.

As for taking out the iron pieces of the cotton armor and selling them for money, it was impossible for the sergeants of the Six Towns in Guanbei who often faced Jurchen attacks.

After a burst of [cracking] sound, a large piece of the North Korean army fell down, some of which were protected by cotton armor, and fell to the ground due to the recoil.

Especially the soldiers standing on the roofs became the targets of the roll call, and soon there were no more soldiers standing on the roofs outside the town.

Seeing that the flat shots were ineffective, the North Korean soldiers wanted to shoot and kill the Japanese soldiers, but the Japanese soldiers all wore iron helmets or iron hats on their heads. Some Korean servants wore old Korean iron pockets, and some wanted to follow suit. Use the bamboo hat and rattan hat at home to wrap mud on the head.

Just keep your head down and face forward, and the fletching of arrows will most likely not kill you.

(End of this chapter)