Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 634 Imjin Japanese Invasion (23) Post-war Response

When Governor Konishi arrived in Huangzhou, he happened to see Toyohisa Shimadzu and others who were stationed here preparing to retreat in a panic. He asked them about the situation, and only then did he know that Hidekatsu Toyotomi had fled south two days ago. information.

And these Kyushu daimyos were dropped by Toyotomi Hidekatsu. It wasn't until yesterday when they went to Fengshan to report the situation that they found out that their general had escaped and that Fengshan had fallen into the hands of North Korean volunteers.

Hearing the news, President Xiaoxi scolded Nanfang across the air, "Bastard, don't care about me, does Uncle Hu have a nephew?"

Other daimyos such as Matsuura Jinnobu, Soyoshi Tomo, and Shimadzu Toyohisa also had opinions on Toyotomi Hidekatsu, but Matsuura Zhenxin lamented more about the rest of his life after the catastrophe, "Fortunately, he didn't defend Pyongyang to the death. There are no reinforcements."

It was already late at night when Chief Xiaoxi and others fled from Pyongyang at night, and the sky was already turning white when they fled to Huangzhou, and the whole army was already very tired.

Seeing the hunger and cold of Konishi Yukizaka and others, Toyohisa Shimadzu and other daimyo also postponed the process of going south, and asked the soldiers to share some porridge with the soldiers of the First Corps so that they could recover some strength.

Many soldiers experienced the shock in the second half of the night, and now they are exhausted. Many defeated soldiers were harassed by a small group of volunteers led by North Korean officials along the way. After finally returning to the defense area of ​​​​the friendly army, they put down their defenses and went to sleep.

But right now, Chief Xiaoxi and the others dare not rest, because the Ming army is only separated from them by the Datong River, and they can reach Huangzhou in half a day.

They had no choice but to wake up the soldiers who had just fallen asleep, dragged their tired bodies, followed Shimadzu Toyohisa and others, and fought and retreated in the direction of Gyeonggi Province in the south.

Referring to the shaving policy of the Fengchun family in Gangwon-do and Hamgyong-do, they asked all the men in the city to shave their heads like Japanese within 2 days, otherwise they would all beheaded.

Li Rusong thought for a while and ordered the vanguard to stop at Pingshan, and the whole army celebrated the New Year on the spot in North Korea.

"Just now you said that Hamgyong Province is compliant and Gangwon Province is rebellious, and now there are no more than [-] Japanese soldiers in the two groups, and it is not enough to divide them into two groups.

Due to the strong resistance forces in Jeolla Province, the enlistment situation of the servant army is not very good.Now that the main force has withdrawn, they dare not let the servants defend the city, fearing that the city will be destroyed if the volunteers come.

When Feng Chen Xiuzhen heard the news, she also mobilized as many troops as possible to station in Anbian, Shegu, Yichuan, Huaiyang, Jincheng and other places.This left only Sanada Nobuyuki in Wonju and Lilong in Yancheng in Gangneung in the south. Even if the servant army is counted, the strength of the south side is only 6000.

This is the reason why the attack on Pyongyang was delayed a few days ago until the artillery was ready.

Because Konishi's headquarters had just been defeated and their morale was low, they could not use it. Takakage Kobayakawa then suggested that he go south to garrison Chungcheongdo. This was not only a repair, but also a replacement of Fukushima Masanori's headquarters to strengthen the Japanese army's power in Wangjing.

It turns out that the Chinese New Year is approaching, and the artillery from the rear has not yet been transported. It is estimated that it will take the 29th New Year's Eve to be transported to Pingshan, which is almost close to the Spring Festival.

Then he asked about the situation of Wang Jing. When he learned that the main force of the Japanese army's three corps (the man didn't know the news that Kobayakawa Longjing went north from Jeolla Province) was stationed in Hwanghae-do and Gyeonggi-do, he asked the opinions of the left and right, especially the Li Yi asked about the combat effectiveness of the Korean rebels under the Japanese army.

Unlike the above two people who liberated their troops to go north to support after receiving the order, they waited for 4 days before a letter came from Anbe, but it was Hanabou Masayuki, Toyotomi Hidetada, Kato Kiyomasa, and Nabeshima Naoshige who jointly refused to lead troops Support Wang Jing's reply.

"You're talking nonsense, Hamgyong Dao lost Japanese hands, and our two princes, Fang Shunhe and Linhai, were forced to go south to the robbery. They were all involuntary. The so-called rebellion against the bandits was all Japanese bandits threatening their families, and they had no choice but to follow the Japanese. Heavenly Soldiers One When you arrive, the people will definitely welcome you."

Yoshihiro Shimadzu in the direction of Jeolla-do, had already given up most of the land in the southeast after Longjing Kobayakawa left. Now after receiving the order, Jing retains Zhenshan, Longtan and other cities with Jeonju as the fulcrum, and stays behind The Japanese army only had more than 3000 people under Hosokawa Tadake's department.

But he didn't know much about it in detail. For example, he didn't know that Kato Kiyomasa had returned to Hamgyong-do from Nagoya not long ago, and the real strength of the Japanese army in Hamgyong-do was also hidden invisibly.

As a result, they bumped into a group of North Korean soldiers who had captured their own people from outside. The news of the two sides fighting outside Pingshan City touched the defenders in Pingshan City, making the surprise attack plan fail.

Naming Japanese soldiers replied, "Hamkyong Road. Gangwon Province originally had two legions with about 3 soldiers. I heard that Kato Osumi had returned to Nagoya not long ago with his troops and the two princes of Joseon. Now the two together There should be 1.5 soldiers.

After several hours of deliberation, they decided to send orders to Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Gangwon Province, Namoge Nabeshima of Hamgyong Province, Masanori Fukushima of Chungcheong Province, and Yoshihiro Shimazu of Jeolla Province to let them except the key cities , gave up other cities, and led troops to Wangjing to meet with him. It seemed that the Japanese army planned to fight the Ming army near Wangjing.

Toyotomi Hideji was greatly annoyed by the attitude of the two corps in Hamgyongdo. Not long ago, Ishida Misachi came to Dao Wangjing in person and conveyed to them Hideyoshi's order to defend Wangjing at all costs.

In order to keep the Ming army out of Hamgyong Road, Huafang Zhengxing mobilized people's power to build a city at each pass in the Langlin Mountains and Beida Mountains on the border between the two roads, and built beacon towers along the way to warn.

However, I heard that Hamgyong Road refused to obey the Korean rule. When we went north, the common people greeted us with pots and oars.I waited for the North Korean soldiers in the city to explain that it was established following the strategy of the Fengchun family of Hamgyong Road.

As soon as Wang Jing’s policy was opened, other cities began to follow suit. Ishida Sancheng saw that Toyotomi Hideji drama actually responded to his request and began to persecute the people of Wang Jing. He wrote a letter angrily and sent it to Nagoya to complain. .

Let Kuroda Changzheng's headquarters move to Shuoning.Lianchuan is supported by cities such as Tushan, Baizhi, and Liqiu. In this way, you can rest assured that there are two relatively complete corps with a total of more than 2 people.

Just at this time, Liu Chenglong, who heard that Pyongyang was captured, came from Sunan, and he directly answered the question, "The rebels used to be just some poor people, but now even if they are gathered by Japanese pirates, they are mobs. Did your lord see any rebels guarding the city in Pyongyang not long ago?"

You must know that volunteer soldiers in the north of Gyeongsang-do, which is separated by a mountain, are raging. Mori Huiyuan suppressed them for more than half a year and have not dealt with them. Now that the Japanese army is moving north, it gives the Gyeongsang-do volunteers a chance to go north to Gangwon-do to develop.

By the 29th, Yoshihiro Shimadzu had brought the troops of Jeolla Province to Wangjing. Since this new Fifth Corps was newly formed, and he was released twice by the North Korean army in Jinju and Jeolla Province Blood, the loss of troops is relatively large, so they were arranged in Wangjing to be responsible for the task of arranging the defense of Wangjing.

Xiangxi Jiaqing's headquarters and 3500 servants are stationed in Anbian; Suga Masatoshi's headquarters and 3500 servants are stationed in Dingping; Okaka Toshi's headquarters and 3500 servants are stationed in the plateau; Deyuan and other ministries moved to Yongxing with the main formation.

Although Li Yi refuted the words of the Japanese captives, Li Rusong's eyes were still burning, and he was thinking about how to deal with Ham Kyung-do.

"Where are the elite Japanese soldiers now? Where is the main force of your military equipment? How many soldiers are there in Xianjingdao?"

The captured Japanese pirate didn't dare to refute Li Yi, so he could only keep nodding his head and say yes. As for the deployment of Wang Jing's troops afterwards, he was choked back.

On the 26th, the Fukushima Masanori Division came to Wangjing, and was immediately assigned to Lianchuan to be stationed, accompanied by Matian and Yongping City, to cover Wangjing's right wing.

Fukushima Zhengzheng, who received the order, abandoned all the cities along the Linhai line of Chungcheong Road, and kept most of the cities west of Gongju. Each city stationed 500 soldiers, plus 300~500 servants. There are 1200 troops stationed in Qingzhou and Qingzhou, and 1000 servants.The remaining 1 people quickly went north to Wangjing to stand by.

However, I don't know which line has more soldiers and which line has fewer soldiers. "

At dawn on the 21st, Li Rusong held a military meeting in Pyongyang. His subordinates brought some captured Japanese soldiers who were too late to escape. Li Rusong asked him about the deployment of Japanese troops.

In order to strengthen the defense of the front line, and also to set a model for the front line, Toyotomi Hideji ordered Toyotomi Hidekatsu troops to garrison Kaesong, which also governed Jinchuan, Fengde and other cities.

The terrain of the Korean Peninsula is long in the north and south and short in the east and west, basically divided into eight east and west roads according to the mountains in the middle.

In order to stick to Kaesong, and to prevent the Koreans in the city from cooperating with each other, someone who is strange made a suggestion to Toyotomi Hidekatsu to slaughter all the males in the city, and he quickly executed it.

The Japanese was hit by Li Rusong, and he kowtowed like garlic and said, "Master's reputation is shocking, Wang Jingji, the enemy of Xianjing Dao, will run away when he hears about it."

The second line relies on the Linjin River to garrison, and mainly deploys the Seventh Corps of Kobayakawa Takakage. This unit suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Jinju, and it was restored to a scale of about 1.8 after replenishment. City, Matian and other cities.

Immediately, more than 7000 people, including Li Rumei, the leader of the Houxie, Wang Bidi, the guerrilla of the South Army, and Qi Jin, the guerrilla of Jiahu Susong, were ordered to garrison Pyongyang, Deyang, Ningyuan and other cities. On the back of the army, more than 4 other people continued to go south, plus 5 Korean soldiers went straight to Hanyang.

This matter was known to Ishida Mitsunari who had not yet left. He sued Toyotomi Hideji and asked Toyotomi Hideji to punish Toyotomi Hidekatsu, but he blocked him back on the grounds that the battle situation was urgent and it was not appropriate to change his general.

The news that Governor Konishi's First Corps, together with more than 1.5 servants, held on to Pyongyang for only one day and then was broken into the city shocked the Japanese side very much.

In order to give the masters of the Ming army a good year, North Korean officials and the Korean army searched all the food, wine and meat in the villages and towns around Huanghai Road and Ping'an Road to meet the requirements of the masters as much as possible.

Therefore, Shimadzu Yoshihiro led an army of more than 1 people and 5000 Jeolla-do servants from Jeolla-do, and after a long journey of 6 days, he came to Wangjing to listen to his orders.

Hanafang Masako never expected that this force could withstand the Ming army's offensive, but only hoped that these forces could slow down the Ming army's eastward advance and buy time for him to mobilize troops.

Li Rusong thought about it for a while, so he asked about the combat effectiveness of the North Korean soldiers under his command. After getting the replies of "like a chicken and a dog" and "it will collapse if touched", Li Rusong had an idea.

After this conversation, Li Rusong was quite satisfied with the Japanese's answer.

Because Kato Kiyomasa was working on the Yalu River, Hanabou Masako ordered Sanada Nobushige to lead the headquarters and 3000 servants to garrison Cicheng; as Kato Kiyomasa's backup, at the same time blocked the road between Hamgyong Road and Pingan Road on the north side.

However, the Ming army's southward movement that the Japanese army was waiting for did not appear. Although the vanguard of the Ming army had already arrived at Ruixing and Pingshan in the middle of the Yellow Sea Road on the 26th, it has not advanced a step so far.

Li Rusong asked the Japanese in a threatening tone, "I led 15 people straight to Hanyang, and after that there will be another 10 troops, can he be me?"

However, his words exposed North Korea's sore spots. Even though North Korea knew that Ham Kyong Do had disobeyed Wang Hwa, Li Yi, a North Korean official, still refuted it.

There is not enough buffer in the east-west direction. If you go all the way south along the west to take Wangjing, you may be able to complete the battle, but if there are Dagu Japanese soldiers stationed on Hamgyong Road next to it, then you may face the back road being cut off. Case.

On the evening of the 30th, hearing that the Ming army was celebrating the festive season in Pingshan, Toyotomi Hidekatsu, who had been counseling for several days, suddenly felt that it was okay, and led 5000 people to prepare for the night attack on Pingshan.

For this order, everyone is trying to squeeze out as many troops as possible to support Wang Jing. Even Mori Terumoto sent 2500 people to support him, but the 4 people in the two legions of Hamgyong and Gangwon Provinces did not support him. The order fell on deaf ears.

In fact, President Xiaoxi and the others were too worried. The reason why Li Rusong was able to regain Ningxia even with the help of the rebels from Outer Mongolia was because he fought very steadily.

Judging from this person's answer, he should not be an unknown person. He still knows a lot about the situation in North Korea and the deployment of Japanese troops.

This change is very important. It directly liberated part of the troops of Kuroda Nagamasa and Kobayakawa Takakage, reduced the scope of their defense, and concentrated the small number of troops.

On December 23, the news of Konishi's defeat reached Wang Jing, and Kobayakawa Takakage and Toyotomi Hideji who were stationed in Wang Jing were on the verge of a formidable enemy.

Yunxing and Yaode in the west of Yongxing, where the valley road is wide, have 800 Japanese troops and 500 servants stationed. Heping Town on the other side of Cicheng has been built and has 1000 Japanese troops and 1000 servants stationed.

Unlike the singing and dancing in the north of Pingshan, the Japanese army in the south of Jinchuan is waiting anxiously and fearfully for the Ming army in the north to grow old in the cold wind.

Now that the Ming army is attacking, the formation naturally needs to send troops to the front city wall to garrison.The canyon is easy to defend and difficult to attack. 200 Japanese troops are stationed with 300 servants.

Even with the assistance of rebellious soldiers, it is unlikely to take the initiative to leave the customs. Our army can safely and boldly go straight to Hanyang.However, although the enemies of Xianjing Dao are weak, they cannot help defending themselves. "

Soon after, Wang Jing also started a similar operation, but it was much milder than Toyotomi Hidekatsu's policy of massacring all men.

In the next two days, Toyotomi Hidekatsu wanted to execute the plan to attack Hirayama at night, but because Hirayama was on guard, he failed.

On January 21, the 1593st year of Wanli (1), there were new changes in the Wanli Korean War.

A Ming army navy with more than 300 ships sailed through Shandong to Haizhou, which was abandoned by the Japanese army, where the navy in central Korea used to be stationed.

This army was led by Ji Jin, the commander of the Zhejiang Navy, and was formed by combining the elites of the Zhejiang, Fujian, and Shandong Navy. Smashed Japanese warships equipped with artillery at sea.

(End of this chapter)