Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 639 Imjin Japanese Invasion (28) Battle of Luochuan

When the Saitama were under the command of the Hojo family, they mainly existed as troops under the command of foreign retainers.

But when the Xiu family positioned Iwatsu as their own city, they placed the land of many samurai who migrated from Kibi in Kibi. After all, this place will belong to the Toyoharu family for a long time to come. The core territory needs to be protected by the most loyal retainers.

Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the 1500 Saitamas under Kosai Kayoki's command is very high, and this time stationed in Luochuan is also Takashima Kenmasa, the son of the veteran Takashima Masayuki from the old Kibi period.

This guy is also a second-generation samurai from the Xiu family's entourage, and he has a natural superstition for the Xiu family.

Facing the menacing Ming army approaching him from a distance, he sent someone to inform the guard of Anbian City, Xiangxi Jiaqing, and then took 300 people under his command to support the first line of defense.

In the entire Luochuan Canyon, there are a total of 5 flat lands where buildings can be built. The Japanese army built castles in these places.

And because of the early preparations, the cities here are based on Japanese-style castles, with rammed earth inside and stone blocks as the outer walls.

On the mountain wall behind the castle, a circle of winding dirt road was opened along the mountain, and there were fences and screens on the side of the road near Luochuan to block the construction and shooting.

The mountain roads in Luochuan were very narrow, and some of them were built directly along the Luochuan stream. When 2000 people from Li Rubai's vanguard army arrived at the first Sanfang City, they were faced with the problem of how to attack the city.

Often it was the stones thrown down from the top of the city that could really inflict damage on them. The screens along the mountain that were originally built to kill the Ming army from the side had little effect.

Are officials stupid?Don't want to live without your best armor?
In fact, the rotten fish scale armor and armor worn by ordinary soldiers forever, and the armor worn by generals are definitely exquisite workmanship. It can only be said that the cloth face armor is much better than the armor worn by most frontier soldiers at that time.

However, do you still remember what I said earlier, on both sides of Sanfang City, the city walls along the mountain road?The Japanese army occupied these screens and used bows and iron cannons to shoot from the side to kill the attacking Ming army.

The two sides fought until January 1. Japanese reinforcements came from the mountains on both sides. Although the mountains on both sides were full of cliffs, it was not easy for the Japanese troops to go down, but it didn't matter. They could use iron cannons and stones to kill the Ming army at the bottom of the valley.

For example, the ashigaru armor rate of the Japanese army in North Korea was as high as 90%. Wasn’t the Ming army cutting melons and vegetables all the way in the battle of Xiaoyao Mountain?

In the small Luochuan Canyon, the Ming army could only march forward one after another in a long snake formation, which made the entire front stretched wide.

This kind of armor looks the same on the outside, but it is clearly distinguished as "bright armor" and "dark armor" in "Qinghuidian".

As the chief general, Takashima Kenmasa led the Qiyu people and the Korean army under his command to fight and retreat in the Luochuan Canyon. Li Rubai's Ming army wasted in the Luochuan Canyon for 5 days until the last line of defense in Yanli City. Finally, the reinforcements from behind came.

Most of the tiger squatting guns made in the Ming Dynasty have solid projectiles of about 2 to 3 pounds, and the projectiles of the extreme tiger squatting guns are at most about 8 pounds. In general, it shows that the tiger squatting guns made in the Ming Dynasty are about equivalent to the European-made super big fire guns and 6 pounds. Pound artillery is the main firepower of the infantry.

The last step is, if the cloth face armor has really become the best armor in the Ming Dynasty and was equipped on a large scale, why did the generals Li Rusong, Yang Yuan and others not wear this kind of armor and choose fish scale armor or piercing armor?

Gao Sheng, a Yanghe guerrilla, even urged his servants to trample on the soldiers in order to escape from the valley first, but was killed by Li Rubai after the battle.

After the war, according to Li Rubai’s statistics, there were only 7600 healthy soldiers and more than 1000 injured in the Ming army. Before Tiorwon entered the battle, the Ming army had no fewer than 600 people. Luochuanzhong clearly killed more than [-] people. Unexpectedly, more than a thousand people died directly in the final battle. people.

Facing the Ming army in cloth masks, it is very difficult for ordinary bows and arrows to cause damage. Even if the iron cannon does not shoot at weak parts such as the neck, it will at most cause the soldiers of the Ming army to stumble.

But the problem is that the cost of manufacturing and replacement is not something that the Ming court can afford. In fact, it was not until the establishment of New China that our entire country had a truly unified system of equipment.

Having said so much, I just want to make it clear that the cloth face armor was only equipped by a small number of elites in the Ming army. I have repeatedly said in the previous article that the Liaodong cavalry mostly wore cloth face armor, while the Xuanda cavalry wore armor. See more.

The so-called reinforcements were not many, only more than 2000 people. Mainly, Masao Hanabo sent 300 Ueno people led by Keiji Maeda to the main battle, and brought 500 people including Nasu Ziharu, Akita Miki, and Qingjin Weixin. 2000 Korean servants supported Luochuan.

The foundation of Sanfang City is made of rammed earth and stones, and Li Rubai, the Zuoxie, did not have particularly large-caliber Hongyi cannons. The largest cannon for a general is only 2000 catties, and the caliber of the cannon is about 18 pounds made in Europe. artillery.

In the early morning of the next day, the Ming army transported the artillery to the front and fired a round of bombardment at Sanfang City, announcing that the offensive on Sanfang City was about to begin.

Fortunately, the Luochuan Canyon was narrow, and the formation of the Ming army was very long, which prevented the Japanese army from causing concentrated and effective mass destruction.

The Zuoxie under Li Rubai's command mainly consisted of the Jiliao frontier army, and most of the weapons they passed on were iron armor with leather inside.

Because the generals of the Ming army troubled them after the war, they saw a lot of images of Koreans in the opposite Japanese army, and they killed the Ming army more ruthlessly than the Japanese army.

The Ming army paid a small price and climbed the ladder to the top of the three-party city. Fortunately, the Xiu family had already prepared for this. Compared with other legions, most of the melee weapons were swords. The Xiu family prepared an extra Hammer, greet the forehead with a hammer when you meet an army wearing face armor.

But what made the generals of the Ming army the most unacceptable was the urgency of the withdrawal of the Ming army, and the corpses of many of their colleagues were left in the canyon.

Therefore, when the sharp knives could not cause damage to the Ming army, these blunt weapons were used, and many soldiers of the Ming army covered their faces and fell to the ground.

As for the Korean servant army, the Japanese army did not trust them very much. Most of the weapons in their hands were long spears. Perhaps there were groups of three or four who could stab a Ming army to death, but just relying on these individual cases was not enough to restore the decline.

The generals of the Ming army couldn't restrain their troops at this moment, and the most important thing was that they didn't want to lose their souls in Luochuan Canyon, so they turned around and ran back.

The Ming army was uncomfortable, and the Korean army was even more uncomfortable.They have been walking behind the Ming army, and there were no casualties.

In fact, when the caliber of the artillery reaches 12 pounds, it is no longer the impact that ordinary masonry walls can withstand. If you want to withstand the design of such an artillery, you can only make the wall wider and use stronger materials. These are obviously not problems that the Japanese army entering North Korea can solve in a short period of time.

In addition, 3000 people from Kosai Kayosuke Anbian Castle Saitama, and Toyotomi Hidetada's troops came from Huaiyang, and Okano Toshi, Kuroda Nagamasa, and Asano Yukinaga also traveled from Igawa to the mountain. Coming, the two sides gathered under the city of Luochuan.

However, this was the case, and until the evening of the battle, the Japanese army took the initiative to retreat while the Ming army was withdrawing.

Didn't it be said that they are all poor people who are coerced, and the heavenly soldiers will surely surrender when they arrive?It's fine if you don't look forward to the wind, why kill your own people?

Although Sanfang City is built on the tidal flats on the opposite bank, even if they don't follow the original road, cross the stream to the opposite bank and continue eastward along the road, they can also continue to walk northward along the Luochuan stream, but behind their backs Leave a hidden danger.

They had no choice but to repair on the east bank of Luochuan, but because the mountain road was too narrow, there was not enough area for camping. The soldiers of the Ming army could only sit and rest in groups of three or four, waiting for the generals behind to discuss a plan. plan out.

In addition, the personal armor of Li Rusong, the Liaodong general, is also a fish scale armor, and the armor of Yang Yuan, the deputy general, is a very traditional Xuanda Zhajia.

But in the Luochuan Valley, the same problem as before, the deployment width of the artillery is not enough, the Tiger Crouching Cannon, which is originally a small-caliber artillery, cannot cause enough suppression on the three castles in a quantitative manner.

Although the actual kills were not many, it put a lot of psychological pressure on the Ming army in the valley. They had been aggrieved in the valley for several days, and now they were attacked by ambushes, and they rushed to run back.

As a result, the Ming army retreated from Luochuan and fled to the south. Instead, they were trampled, slashed, and killed more than a thousand people by their own Ming army. The problem is that he is your father, who do you turn to for reasoning?
Li Rubai Luochuan didn't dare to speak out to his elder brother about the defeat in the battle. This matter was originally instigated by the generals under his command, so they naturally didn't dare to talk too much, and naturally counted the deaths and injuries as part of the chasing of Kuroda Nagamasa in Cheoruan and other cities. superior.

After Sanfang City, there are 5 lines of defense, namely Chonghan City (the original village was named Chonghan), Luochuan City, and Yanli City.

However, from Kaesong, Li Rubai did not carry much heavy artillery and ammunition with him. In order to cherish the ammunition needed to attack Hamgyongdo in the future, he ordered a ceasefire after only three rounds of shelling and blasted a few gaps. The solid projectiles fired by the squatting guns attacked the city head.

But what you need to know is that in the Ming Dynasty, the forging of iron armor was not a problem, but the repeated watering, compaction and drying of cotton armor was a kung fu job.

The Ming army prepared by Wanli to aid the DPRK is the most elite troops of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with the already corrupt guards in the inland guards, the armor rate of these elite southern soldiers and northern soldiers is not to say 100%, but there are also 80% of them. % above.

A small number of elite frontier troops are also equipped with armor such as willow leaf armor, long body armor, and fish scale armor. (Refer to "Daming Tribulation")
The most important reference for the armor of the Ming Dynasty is the "Picture of Exiting the Police and Entering the Entrance".

Tang Shunzhi recorded in an article in "Wu Bian" that the cloth face armor of the soldiers on the frontier weighed 45 catties after adding armor, battle skirts, arm coverings and other equipment, and the iron pocket and skull weighed 7 catties, plus the heart mirror, waist knife, The total weight of bows and arrows, long spears and other equipment is 88 catties, which is a very heavy load on the sergeant.

In this way, the soldiers of the Ming army had to enter the most primitive ant-attached siege interception, and even in order to attack the city, many Ming soldiers had to stand directly in the Luochuan stream that was submerged up to their knees and attack Sanfang City.

It can be seen that such a set of equipment is not something that ordinary malnourished frontier soldiers can equip.

It is the most balanced armor in terms of defense effects against arrowheads, firearm lead bullets, and swords and guns. The most important thing is to find the best ratio in terms of weight. .

In addition, because the southern soldiers are generally thinner than the northern soldiers, the cloth face armor on their bodies is also different from that of the northern soldiers. Qi Jiguang improved it by removing the iron lobster armour, battle skirt and iron pocket, and only the upper body After the battle armor is slightly elongated, it is equipped with the style of the heart guard, which reduces the weight by 1/3~1/2. (Refer to Qiu Ying: "The Picture Scroll of Anti-Japanese War")
In recent years, many people think that the cloth face armor is the representative of the armor of the Ming Dynasty. This sentence is not true.It is because the cloth face armor is the pinnacle of China's millennium armor culture.

Due to the insufficient width of the Luochuan Valley, the deployment width of the Ming army's artillery was infinitely compressed, and only one artillery could be placed in a row to shell the opposite Sanfang City at an oblique angle of 60°, which meant that the firepower of this shelling was far less than that of Pyongyang before. And the fierceness of Kaesong.

The Japanese side dropped more than 150 corpses here and then withdrew to the second line of defense behind. Most of the corpses left were the corpses of North Korean servants.According to the statistics of the Ming army after the war, 76 people were killed and 86 people were injured.

But armor coverage is one thing, but the type and strength of armor is another.

But the number of Qitama people who are the main force is still too small. There are only 300 people guarding Mifang City. If you remove the iron cannons, how many people can use hammers to fight the Ming army?

In fact, most of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty wore cotton armor with no iron armor lining, or only a light-weight cotton armor with iron armor on the chest, or the modified waist armor left over from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Yisa armor, the total weight of these three armors does not exceed 15 catties, and can be equipped on a large scale.

After coming to North Korea, some soldiers designed a chain hammer based on the Kamaitachi used by Japanese ninjas, and it was verified in the previous battle against the 4th frontier army in Cicheng, Jiangnan, North Korea.

You must know that the cloth face armor with iron armor lining is a high-end product in the Ming army. Only the guard troops of the frontier generals, the 5 battalion of the imperial army, and the Shenji battalion have equipment, and the overall penetration rate will not exceed [-]%. .

The Ming army started from Sanfang City and went northward for 5 consecutive days but failed to capture Luochuan Canyon. As a result, it only took 1 day to escape from Luochuan City all the way south to Cheorwon.

Such a caliber is no longer what the Japanese army can bear. Iron bullets weighing 15 catties were shot from the muzzle, directly smashing a gap in the stone wall of Mifang City, and took away the life of the foot light who used the iron cannon to shoot. .

Some generals of Ji and Liao remembered the news that Zu Chengxun reported that North Korea and Japan had joined forces to entrap Liaodong soldiers, and blamed the North Korean generals for the fact that so many North Korean soldiers participated in the Battle of Luochuan. I could only recognize them by pinching my nose.

As for the generals of the North Korean army, they dare not fart.

The 1 main force under Li Rubai's command is precisely composed of Ji Liao soldiers and Nan soldiers, and the proportion of cloth face armor on their bodies is much higher than that of other associations.

Fortunately, the Luochuan Canyon is very narrow, and the Ming army could not spread out its troops, and could not show its superiority in strength. It could only continue to use refueling tactics. Overall, the scale of the battle was huge, but the number of people who actually entered the city to fight was not many. It's like young and Dangerous boys fighting.

Finally, he reported to Li Rusong a battle report about storming the cities of Cheorwon, killing more than 1800 soldiers, killing more than 3200 Korean soldiers, and beheading more than 4000 Japanese pirates.

Taking ten thousand steps back, the iron armored army of the Nanming Zheng family, which made the Qing army suffer so much, wore full-body infantry armor made in the Song Dynasty. This is armor. Could it be that the elite armor of the Ming army has retreated after a hundred years? Yet?
In recent years, people have the impression that the armor of the Ming army is all cloth-faced armor. Most of them come from the Ming army cavalry style in the "Pingfan Victory Picture" made after the Ningxia rebellion was suppressed in the Wanli period, but the part of Li Rusong's sending troops from Guyuan is ignored. There are still many soldiers in white armor on the ground.

Li Rusong had already captured Paju and was preparing for the final battle of Wang Jing, lacking the main force.Li Rubai was also not required to continue chasing Kuroda Nagamasa, and asked him to leave the North Korean army stationed in Cheorwon and other cities, and then bring the main force back to Wangjing to join the war.

Even in order to speed up the progress, they were specially told to discard unnecessary luggage and come here quickly.

As for what is unnecessary luggage, among other things, at least the severed head is unnecessary luggage.It never occurred to Li Rusong's invisible order to save the lives of many innocent people around him.

This battle was regarded as a shame by Li Rubai. Although he did not report it to his elder brother Li Rusong, when he had the opportunity to attack Hamgyong Road later, he made a desperate attempt to clear the Japanese army in Hamgyong Road. .

(End of this chapter)