Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 627 Imjin Japanese Invasion (16) The First Battle of Pyongyang
In fact, this battle cannot be said to be a victory. Although the Japanese army defended Pyongyang City, the main force of the First Army was severely damaged, which could almost declare the end of Konishi Yukio's campaign.

On the other hand, the Ming army lost 1/3 of its main force, but its combat strength was still there and its army was relatively neat. Otherwise, it would be impossible to face the Japanese army's pursuit and still have enough strength to fight back.

So to sum up, the withdrawal of the Ming army from Pyongyang is more like a strategic withdrawal. Although it failed tactically and failed to win the target Pyongyang, it preserved its strength strategically.

On the other hand, although the Japanese army kept Pyongyang, it lost the initiative at the strategic level, and it was a real defeat.

In Zu Chengxun's view, he was not defeated either. After escaping from Pyongyang, he led the remaining Ming army to withdraw northward via Shun'an, and arrived outside Anzhou City in the middle of the night.

Anju was the location of North Korea's Pyongan Road barracks at that time, and it was also the base camp where North Korean troops gathered to prevent Japanese troops from going further north.

As soon as he returned to the city, he summoned the Korean interpreter and asked the Korean interpreter to tell Marshal Kim Ming-won of the Korean capital, "Kill the thieves today! Although Shi Ru unfortunately died in battle, because the weather was not favorable, he could not wipe out the thieves. When more troops are added, tell the prime ministers, don’t worry! The pontoon bridge cannot be withdrawn!"

However, as hard as the mouth is, the body is as honest as it is.

On the same day, Jin Mingyuan was no longer in Anju City, and Zu Chengxun immediately led the Ming army to continue to retreat northward under the pretext that he needed to discuss further combat deployment with the King of Joseon and Jin Mingyuan.

When they retreated to Jiashan, they met with another team of Guo Mengzheng's troops. After counting the soldiers and horses, they found that there were only more than 2000 soldiers and less than 1300 horses left.

Regarding the damage of the Ming army, the reason for the defeat of the Ming army is the same as the reason for the defeat of the Ming army. Ten people were spared, and the entire army was wiped out.

For a long time, this statement has been widely spread in China and has great influence. It has even become the mainstream view in the Ming history circles, and it is believed that this is a rare defeat in the Wanli Korean War.

But just imagine if it is true as written in the book, Zu Chengxun lost his teacher and humiliated the country, and he only saved himself, how could it be reused later?He was hacked to deter the three armies shortly after returning and fleeing.

According to the "Records of King Sunjo Sogyeong" recorded in North Korea, the number of Ming soldiers killed in battle was about 300. This is the reply received by the king of Joseon, Li Zan, after asking about it.

This point can be corroborated with Japan's historical records. According to the records of Matsuura's vassal "Yoshino Jingozaemon Kakushu": "The Ming army united with the Tatars to enter Pyongyang with 6 horses, and lost 2000 horses and returned."

It is obvious that Yoshino Jingozaemon exaggerated the battle situation here, but it did not reach the point where the entire army was wiped out as recorded in "The Two Dynasties".

And according to the letter reported by Governor Konishi to Hideyoshi in the Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum, the Ming army was only beheaded and killed more than 1000 people, and the Japanese army itself killed 50 to 100 people.

It is understandable that the Japanese army's spring and autumn style of writing about the results of the battle and its own battle losses, but even so, it still did not reach the point where the entire army was wiped out as recorded in "The Record of the Two Dynasties".

Even the Japanese didn't dare to kill 3000 Ming troops by themselves, and wiped out the entire Ming army.However, in the Ming Dynasty's own historical records, it was recorded majestically on it, and it was regarded as the mainstream by Chinese scholars in the next few hundred years.

Sometimes I really don't know whether these people see their own army is good or not. After the defeat, they frantically find reasons to save their respect, as if they are shouting for their own army.

However, when recording the battle damage, it is even more exaggerated than the enemy, as if the immortality on his own side cannot fully explain the meaning, which is really incomprehensible.

However, after Zu Chengxun returned to Yizhou, he did not discuss with Joseon King Li Yan and Jin Mingyuan about sending troops again as he said, but instead led the troops to retreat further across the Yalu River.

There were 3500 people during the expedition, and Zu Chengxun, who lost hundreds of people, naturally wanted to give an explanation to the Ming court.

He complained to Yang Shaoxun that a battalion of North Korean troops defected to the Japanese army and turned their heads to attack him, which made him defeated.

Xu Yiguan, an official sent by the imperial court to contact North Korea, said that it was because he saw that the North Korean general Li Jue (pín) seemed to be in contact with the Japanese army.

Not long after he withdrew, the Japanese army chased him out. If he hadn't repelled the pursuers wittily, the sergeant would have been lost in Pyongyang.

In fact, Yang Shaoxun asked his soldiers afterwards, and he got the same answer as Zu Chengxun, saying that there were Koreans wearing Korean military uniforms fighting against them in the city, and some even shot arrows at them with bows.

At that time, the Koreans did not know that Zu Chengxun had provided such a report to Daming, and the king of Joseon Li Yan even sent someone to ask Liaodong general Zu Chengxun to come to North Korea to fight against the Japanese army again.

In Yang Shaoxun's eyes, this act was as if North Korea had been in contact with the Japanese army for a long time and wanted to kill Zu Chengxun and his subordinates.

Immediately, he angrily scolded the North Korean officials who came to contact him on the spot, "Since ancient times, there have been large countries that have labored many soldiers and horses for small countries. Is it difficult to provide relief to those who are three thousand miles away?

But the generals of Erguo didn't think about it, they were all behind and refused to go into battle, and drove our soldiers to commit thieves alone.And there are many good shooters among the thieves. What does it mean to say your words and wear your military uniform? "

Yang Shaoxun's words were short of asking whether North Korea colluded with the Japanese army to entrap Ming soldiers.

Faced with Yang Shaoxun's questioning, the North Korean envoy could only admit that some North Koreans had become thieves and became traitors following behind the Japanese.

Li Yan, who heard Yang Shaoxun's questioning, was very frightened, and hurriedly sent officials to Daming to explain.Li Shizi (zī), the censor of Liaodong inspector, and Hao Jie, the governor of Liaodong, accepted the North Korean side’s defense, and expressed that it was possible that Zu Chengxun wanted to shirk responsibility for the defeat and slandered North Korea, which made the North Korean side feel relieved. will blame.

However, despite what he said, he did not see any special punishments from Daming against Zu Chengxun. It was obvious that what the North Korean envoys revealed in the face of Yang Shaoxun's questioning played a role in making Daming more suspicious of North Korea.

Ten thousand steps back, Zu Chengxun and the Ming army under his command couldn't tell which side was the Korean official army and which side was the Japanese Korean servant army. When they saw a man wearing a Korean military uniform and speaking Korean stabbing himself, It is easy to think that the friendly army has defected from the alliance, so there is nothing wrong with retreating from the front.

From this point of view, what Li Shizi and Hao Jie said to the North Korean officials was more like a kind of appeasement, trying to delay the time for the Japanese army to enter the Ming Dynasty as much as possible. Packed up.

After the Battle of Pyongyang, Governor Konishi commented on the Ming army, "The Ming army is not brave? (This battle) the outcome is in the sky. Although it is defeated today, it is actually very brave."

It can be seen that after the defeat in Pyongyang, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army impressed Governor Konishi very deeply, allowing him to clearly understand the opponent's combat effectiveness.

Do you still remember Hideyoshi's evaluation of the Ming Dynasty before the expedition?

On that day, Hideyoshi said: "As for the Han soil, the culture is weak and has become a habit, so you can't be my martial artist."

However, the fact is that the Japanese army paid a heavy price to block the Ming army's offensive. This is still a situation where the Ming army is in a disadvantageous situation, and the Japanese army still cannot take the Ming army.

Later, he asked the North Korean guide more than once whether the Japanese army could defeat the Ming army. It can be seen that after the Battle of Pyongyang, he was hit hard, and his self-confidence was directly shattered.

At this time, Jianzhou Jurchen chief Nurhachi sent his subordinate Ma Sanfei to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.Ma Sanfei told Shi Xing on Nurhachi's behalf that Nurhachi was a loyal and brave man, with [-] to [-] bannermen and more than [-] foot soldiers under his command, and he could bring the imperial court to the imperial court to "requisition and kill Japanese slaves and serve the imperial court."

However, Shi Xing had already seen Nurhachi's ambition and thought that he had other plans, so he did not agree to his request and ordered him not to leave the border of Jianzhou.

Many people believe that after the Wanli Korean War, Hou Jin began to oppose the Ming Dynasty after seeing the weakness of the Ming court.

In fact, Nurhachi has begun to conquer the world since May of the 11th year of Wanli (1583), when Nurhachi led his troops to attack Nikanwailan and conquered Tulun City.

The time when his 13 sets of armor raised troops was also in the 11th year of Wanli (1583) after his father and ancestor died after the Ming army conquered Wang Gao's son Atai and attacked Gule City.

In the first month of the 12th year of Wanli (1584), Nurhaci launched an attack on Zhaojia City where Li Dai was stationed, won the victory and captured Li Dai alive.

In February of the 13th year of Wanli (1585), after Nurhaci won the victory over the Sukesu Hu tribe and the Dong E tribe, he pointed his sword at the Zhechen tribe on the left of the Sukesu Hu tribe.

Nurhachi attacked Fancheng in the Zhechen tribe with 25 armored soldiers and [-] soldiers, but because the opponent was well prepared, Nurhachi had nothing to gain.

In April, Nurhachi led [-] Mianjia soldiers and [-] Tiejia soldiers to conquer the Zhechen tribe.Although there were many enemy troops, they were afraid of the bravery of Nurhachi's side, their morale was greatly weakened, and they fled one after another.Nurhachi chased to Jilin Cliff and won a complete victory.

In the 14th year of Wanli (1586), Nurhachi conquered Erhun, and Nikanwailan fled to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.Nurhachi asked the Ming border officials to detain Nikanwailan and execute him.

In the 14th year of Wanli (1586), the city was built on the ruined site of "Jianzhou Laoying". After the sixth year of Tianming (1621), the city was called Foala after Jin moved its capital to Liaoyang, that is, "Old Old City" (now the new Erdao Village, Yongling Town, Bin County).

In the 15th year of Wanli (1587), Nurhachi attacked Zhechenbu's stronghold again, killed the owner of the stronghold, Aertai, and sent Eyidu to attack the city of Balda.Then Nurhachi led the army to attack Dongcheng, and the city lord Zhahai surrendered.So far, the Zhechen Department was completely annexed by Nurhachi.

In September of the 16th year of Wanli (1588), Suo Erguo, minister of Su Wan, He Heli, minister of Dong'e, and Hu Erhan, minister of Yaergu, led three troops and civilians to join Nurhachi, which made their momentum great.

Afterwards, Nurhachi fought Zhaojia City again and beheaded the city lord Ning Guqin Zhangjing.In the same year, Nurhachi conquered Wanyan (Wang Jia) City and eliminated Wanyan, the last opponent of Jianzhou Jurchen.After 5 years of fighting, Nurhaci successively conquered 5 parts of Jianzhou.

Starting from the first month of the 19th year of Wanli (1591), Nurhachi moved eastward to capture the Yalu River Road.

At the end of the 21st year of Wanli (1593), he took advantage of the opportunity to support the Zhusheli and Neyin tribes that were attacked by Kato Kiyomasa, successively conquered the Zhusheli and Neyin tribes, and brought the Changbai Mountains into his sphere of influence.Furthermore, he sent troops to seize the East China Sea.

It can be said that since the 11th year of Wanli (1583), Nurhachi has been on the road to conquest of Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchen tribes.

In the Northeast at that time, the main military force was the troops of Li Chengliang, the Liaodong General Soldier.

It is recorded in the history books that he took advantage of the contradictions between the Jurchen tribes and other ethnic tribes (bǎi hé) to control the situation.

It's hard to imagine why Nurhachi could conquer everywhere without restraint under such a policy, and finally turned into a situation of dominance.

It is no wonder that there are claims that Nurhachi is Li Chengliang's adopted son, although this has never been seen in Ming, Qing, and Korean historical materials.

Although the most direct reason for Nurhachi's rise comes from his own struggle, Li Chengliang's connivance and miscalculation are also one of the objective reasons for Nurhachi's unified statehood.

Nurhachi buried the hatred of his father and grandfather being killed, and showed a very respectful look to the Ming Dynasty, which made Li Chengliang mistakenly think that Nurhachi could be used by the Ming Dynasty, but could not become a climate.

Li Chengliang even once had the ambition to rely on Nurhachi's soldiers to invade and occupy North Korea and become self-reliant, and he was often perfunctory in border affairs.

As long as Nurhachi expressed his loyalty to the Ming court, he would "protect the performance to the officials" or even "abandon the land to bait him", so he was impeached by court officials such as Song Yihan and Xiong Tingbi.

At that time, Li Dexin, the military judge of the Korean army, once commented on this, "Nurhachi (Nurhachi) has a lot of ambition, and Li Chengliang (Liang) who helped build momentum. Qu sent (sent) many people back to Fushun Institute, so Cheng Liang heard about it and rewarded him. Tamed to the unruly cloud ears."

In addition, in the past few years when Nurhachi unified and established the state, Li Chengliang concentrated his heavy troops in Liaodong to deal with the Haixi Jurchen and Tatar forces, and they were defeated.Haixi Jurchen Yehe, Hada and other tribes were hit hard three times in a row. Yehebeile Yang Jipin and Qingjiani were all killed; The loss was serious.

This objectively reduces several threatening external interferences for Nurhachi to establish a unified state.

After the Battle of Pyongyang, Chief Konishi's First Army Corps suffered heavy losses, the morale of the soldiers was low, and they completely lost the motivation to go out of the city to sweep.

The North Korean side saw this situation and believed that although the Ming army failed to succeed in its raid on Pyongyang, the Japanese army in the city had also lost its combat effectiveness.

Around July 7, Ping'an volunteers began to gather around Pyongyang City. They wanted to serve as the accompanying capital of Pyongyang, but were defeated by the Japanese army.

However, according to the information of the defeated army, the guns of the Japanese army were not as sharp as before, and they used bows and arrows to retreat from the enemy. This may be due to the serious damage to the soldiers or the excessive wear and tear of the guns.

This information gave the North Korean army the confidence to take back Pyongyang, and Marshal Jin Mingyuan needed a victory to prove himself.

He then ordered Li Yuanyi, the inspector of Pyongan Road, and Li Yu (pín), the inspector of the border, to recruit scattered soldiers and train them into the army, and sent them to Shun'an in the north of Pyongyang.

He also asked Jin Yingrui not to force Jin Yingrui into Jiangxi on the west side of the border, and ordered Ping'an Road Naval Commander Jin Yiqiu to lead the navy to block the Datong River and block the Japanese army's north-south connection.

On July 7, the North Korean army attacked North Korea in three ways. At first, the fight went smoothly, and the North Korean army even climbed to the top of the city.

The governor Xiaonishi who was stationed here realized that the momentum was wrong, and immediately boosted his morale and led people to rush out of the city to fight the North Korean army. Under his encouragement, the morale of the Japanese army recovered and the Korean army was repelled.

I can't help that Konishi can't give up his strength. The result of Fengsuka's housekeeping being changed because of the defeat of Yining is in front of him. If he is driven out of North Korea by the North Korean army in this way, maybe he will face the fate of changing like him at a glance. Bar!
For President Xiaonishi, losing to the Ming army is not shameful, not to mention that he defended Pyongyang under the Ming army's surprise attack. Leaving aside the battle loss ratio, he did win this battle in name. How could he be defeated by the North Korean army here?
If this is the case, the North Korean army is only a small defeat, and they can save their spare energy to prepare for the next attack, or retain their troops to garrison against the Japanese army.

However, the Korean army did not have the organization of the Ming army led by Zu Chengxun, and it turned from defeat to defeat under the pursuit of the Japanese army. What's more, the Korean army fled away as soon as they saw the Japanese army.

After this battle, the First Army of Chief Konishi once again lost more than 600 people, and won more than 3000 heads of the Korean Army.Although they won, President Konishi's First Army really didn't have the ability to move forward.

(End of this chapter)