Daming talker

Chapter 726: Seoul Raiders (Part )

There are 60,000 heavenly soldiers outside the city and 50,000 Japanese soldiers inside the city. With this ratio of troop forces, the heavenly soldiers' camp must not be too dispersed.

We couldn't ignore the retreat and run around for more than ten miles to the south of the city, so the main camp was located northwest of Seoul.

Two days later, Lin Tianshuai and General Li acted separately according to the predetermined plan.

Lin Tianshuai continued to go to the west gate, which is Muhua Pavilion outside Dunyi Gate, to negotiate with the Japanese pirates.

General Li first sent scouts to the south for ten miles to conduct reconnaissance along the Han River, and to report back immediately if the Japanese troops showed any signs of retreating southwards along the Han River.

Before departure, Lin Tailai reminded Li Rusong that if the Japanese pirate envoy coming for negotiations today was still Otani Yoshitsugu, it would mean that the Japanese pirates might really retreat.

Because Otani Yoshitsugu was a man who was truly not afraid of death for his beliefs. In the Battle of Sekigahara in history, Otani Yoshitsugu had a good relationship with Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Eastern Army, but out of loyalty to his friend, he joined Ishida Mitsunari's Western Army, and then committed suicide after his defeat.

Therefore, it is very likely that people like Otani Yoshitsugu went out of the city to negotiate again in order to confuse the heavenly soldiers and cover the retreat of the main force as much as possible. He had no intention of returning alive.

On the other hand, if the envoy coming to negotiate today was replaced by Ishida Mitsunari who could make the decision, the Japanese pirates would most likely still stay in the city and would indeed be "sincere" in resolving the issue through peace talks.

Lin Tianshuai assessed the degree of danger today and decided to just wear a simple inner armor and a wide robe with big sleeves.

He went out of the camp again and came to the Ying'en Gate outside the Muhua Pavilion, but saw Otani Yoshitsugu, his face covered with white cloth, already standing there waiting.

Lin Tianshuai thought to himself that it seemed that the Japanese soldiers were indeed afraid of fighting a "war of attrition" and could no longer find food and supplies in Korea, so they prepared to retreat from Seoul to the south coast where supplies were convenient.

If Lin Tianshuai had followed his usual style and understood the other party's purpose and tactics, he would have just gone up and killed Otani Yoshitsugu.

But it won’t work today. Otani Yoshitsugu wants to confuse the heavenly soldiers, and Lin Tianshuai also wants to confuse the Japanese soldiers to create an opportunity for General Li.
What if we kill Otani Yoshitsugu right away and the Japanese army is startled and retreats back into the city?
Besides, how could Lin Tianshuai, who was unwilling to bear the reputation of "killing prisoners", bear the moral stain of killing enemy envoys for no reason?
Of course, killing an envoy from an allied country does not count as murder. After all, the prevailing moral standard is that "two countries at war should not kill envoys", which does not say that you cannot kill your own envoys.

So let’s just pretend to talk for now, now’s the time to compete in acting skills.

Otani Yoshitsugu said seriously: "After our discussion, we think that the two conditions proposed by your Excellency last time, namely, laying down your weapons and leaving behind food and fodder, are absolutely unacceptable."

Lin Tailai lowered his head with some difficulty and threatened: "This is my bottom line! I am just informing you, not asking you!"

Otani Yoshitsugu argued: "If we follow these two conditions, what difference will our army make from surrendering after being defeated? This negotiation is about peace, not surrender!"

Lin Tailai said disdainfully: "In my eyes, you have already been defeated! As long as I besiege the city for two months, you will be defeated without even fighting!"

Yoshitsugu Otani was not as calm as he was last time. He responded strongly, "That was just your arrogant assumption, and it was the best assumption! But anything is possible, and it is unknown who will win!"

"Then there's nothing to talk about?" Lin Tianshuai turned around and was about to leave with a very firm attitude.

"Wait!" Otani Yoshitsugu hurriedly stopped Lin Tianshuai, "Fighting in a poor place like North Korea, and I heard that you have supported a lot of local Koreans, I guess the cost of food and fodder must be tight, right?
When our army withdraws from Seoul, we can leave 10,000 dan of military rations for your use. How about that?

Still refusing to hand over weapons, but willing to leave some food and fodder, it seemed like a negotiation technique of paying back the money on the spot, but in fact, in the eyes of those who understood, it was an intentional attempt to delay the process.

However, Lin Tailai did not expose him. They were just teasing each other. He said, "You don't have to hand over all the weapons, but you have to leave behind 2,000 cannons. That's not too much, right?"

Among the Japanese soldiers in Seoul, there were elite generals trusted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as well as soldiers from western Japan and Kyushu, all of whom were teams equipped with a relatively high proportion of firearms.

Lin Tianshuai estimated that among the 50,000 people, there should be at least 10,000 "Tetsurō Akigaru".

Otani Yoshitsugu refused without thinking, "That's absolutely impossible!"

Even if it was a fake negotiation, it was impossible to agree to such a condition! This was the only type of soldier that the Japanese soldiers had a slight advantage over.

While Lin Tianshuai and Otani Yoshitsugu were arguing, Li Rusong received a report from the scouts.

About 10 to 20 miles around the city wall, that is, in the southeast direction of the city wall, Japanese troops continued to leave the city from Guangxi Gate.

As early as last year, the Japanese army had built several pontoon bridges on the Han River, and at the same time, built several earth ramparts near the bridgeheads to protect the bridges.

The Han River is right next to the southern city wall, and once you leave the city you can take a floating bridge to cross the river, so the Japanese soldiers crossed the river very quickly. It is now estimated that a large number of Japanese troops have retreated to the south bank.

After hearing the intelligence, General Li quickly thought about it in his mind and decided that the best way to attack the enemy troops crossing the river would be to strike them halfway across the river.

If we attack too early, most of the Japanese troops will retreat back into the city, and it will be difficult to take it down.

If the attack is too late, most of the Japanese troops will have reached the other side of the river. As long as the pontoon bridge is burned and the rear guard team is left to defend the other side of the river, it will be difficult for the enemy to chase and kill them.

General Li estimated the marching speed of both sides and decisively ordered the cavalry to attack first.

When General Li learned that the Japanese negotiation envoy was still Otani Yoshitsugu, he had already ordered the entire army to be ready to go at any time.

At this time, General Li gave an order and personally led 20,000 cavalry who had been ready for a long time. They were divided into more than a dozen teams and set off first, circling the city from the west and advancing rapidly towards the southeast.

This time, General Li again sent his subordinate Cha Dashou to lead his 3,000 men as the vanguard.

As an old man highly valued by the Liaodong Li family, Cha Dashou had always been used as a vanguard since entering the court, but had never made any significant contributions.

Even last year at Pyeongyang, they had not yet defeated the infantry of the Japanese general Tachibana Muneshige in a field battle, which led to Tachibana Muneshige being praised for his "3,000 infantrymen being equal to 10,000 Ming troops."

So this time, General Li gave Cha Dashou more opportunities, which could be regarded as winning people's hearts.

Other infantry and artillery vehicles moved behind the cavalry, ready to provide follow-up support.

There were tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers retreating through Guangxi Gate and the Han River Floating Bridge. General Li did not dare to be careless. It would be funny if he failed to intercept them and was killed in return.

Therefore, except for the 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers who stayed in the camp and served as reserve troops, the rest of the troops were almost all dispatched to the southeast of the city wall to destroy the Japanese pirates' vitality as much as possible.

Apart from this, there are no extra troops to carry out other tasks. As I said before, the top priority is to annihilate the Japanese army's manpower.

At this time, Lin Tianshuai was still arguing with Otani Yoshitsugu at the Ying'en Gate, with Konishi Yukinaga helping out on the side.

Among all the people present, perhaps only Konishi Yukinaga sincerely hoped to negotiate peace.

In this way, he would have the opportunity to wash away the sin of being captured by claiming credit for "facilitating peace talks."

Suddenly everyone heard a rumbling sound, like thunder, and along with this sound, they could also feel the earth shaking slightly.

"What's going on?" Konishi Yukinaga, who was completely unprepared, said subconsciously.

Lin Tianshuai looked at Otani Yoshitsugu with a half-smile, "What do you think is going on?"

Otani Yoshitsugu, who was "guilty", immediately thought of the correct answer, "Thousands and thousands of cavalry soldiers?"

Lin Tailai responded: "Correct answer!" Konishi Yukinaga asked again: "What's the situation?"

Perhaps he had guessed something, but he instinctively still couldn't believe it.

Lin Tailai said to Konishi Yukinaga: "It seems that we have clearly discovered that your Japanese army has retreated to the south, so our army has been dispatched to intercept them."

Konishi Yukinaga was suddenly confused. If all his allies retreated southward, wouldn't he be abandoned? Would all his allies not care about his life or death?
Originally, Marshal Tian allowed me to come and go freely. If it wasn't for promoting peace talks, I could have stayed in the army!

Then Konishi Yukinaga suddenly got furious, rushed to Otani Yoshitsugu, grabbed Otani by the collar, and angrily asked, "Why did you do this? Why did you hide it from me?"

It turns out that everyone was pretending to negotiate, and he was the only one who was foolishly promoting peace talks!
Otani Yoshitsugu broke away from Konishi Yukinaga, slowly sat on the ground, and said with a regretful tone: "I was not able to hide it completely. Now that things have come to this, you can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you."

Furious at being abandoned by his allies, Konishi Yukinaga shouted to Lin Tianshuai, "Ohtani deserves death! Please let me kill him myself!"

Otani Yoshitsugu responded, "I will die for the army, I will die for my friendship, and I will go through the six reincarnations first, so what's wrong with that?"

Seeing Otani Yoshitsugu pretending to be powerful before his death, Konishi Yukinaga was almost mad with anger, and he asked Lin Tailai again: "Please give me a sword, Marshal!"

Lin Tianshuai said in astonishment: "Why kill him? He is still very useful!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Zhang brothers, who were the bodyguards on both sides, rushed forward with their servants and directly pinned down Otani Yoshitsugu.

Then someone took out a cowhide rope and started to tie him up very skillfully, and also stuffed a large piece of rag into Otani's mouth.

In the blink of an eye, Yoshitsugu Otani was tied up and unable to move, and even if he wanted to shout, he couldn't make a sound.

Konishi Yukinaga was still indignant and said: "What's the use of him? Can he be more useful than me? What he can do, I can do too!"

Lin Tailai asked, "I guess those Japanese soldiers guarding Dunyi Gate must be Otani Yoshitsugu's personal soldiers? Or hatamoto? Or horse guards? At the very least, they must be foot soldiers directly under Otani Yoshitsugu, right?"

Konishi Yukinaga, who was determined to promote peace talks, had been in and out of Seoul twice and had an impression of this. He nodded and said, "Tianshuai is wise, indeed."

Since the Japanese army sent Otani Yoshitsugu as an envoy to negotiate through the Dunyi Gate, it is only natural, from a normal perspective, to let Otani Yoshitsugu's personal soldiers guard the Dunyi Gate.

In case of any situation, it would be convenient to support Lord Otani Yoshitsugu.

Lin Tianshuai looked at the 1,000 standard bearers he brought with him, waved his hand and said, "Carry up the big valley and go to Dunyi Gate to knock on the door!"

Konishi Yukinaga: “.”

Although Tianshuai looks majestic and heroic, he is actually a cunning person at heart.

Muhua Hall was only two or three miles away from Dunyi Gate, and it was an easy-to-travel official road. Everyone in the Jinglüe personal guard battalion had a horse, and it didn't take long for them to reach Dunyi Gate.

Lin Tianshuai was afraid of being hit by the Japanese soldiers' matchlock rifles, so he changed into 80 kilograms of heavy armor and a face mask.

Then he had his personal soldiers hold up huge shields to protect Shen Weijing and shouted in Japanese: "Who is the gatekeeper? Can you come out and talk?"

At this time, a half figure appeared on the top of the city wall and replied, "Yuasa Gosuke Takamasa, the retainer of the Otani family, is here!"

Several guards lifted up Otani Yoshitsugu, who was tied up like a dumpling, and showed him to the Japanese on the wall. The walls of the Joseon Kingdom were not very high, so they could definitely see clearly.

Shen Weijing shouted again: "Da Gu Xingbu has been captured! Tianshuai has said that as long as you surrender the city gate, Da Gu Xingbu will be returned to you and you will be allowed to escape unscathed!"

Yoshitsugu Otani's mouth was blocked, but his ears were still sharp, and he struggled desperately when he heard this.

But then he heard Yuasa Takamasa, a retainer of the Otani family, shouting loudly on the top of the city wall: "What nonsense! There are only retainers of the Otani family who died in battle, and there are no retainers of the Otani family who live in disgrace!

I believe that my lord is not willing to exchange his life for the city gate. This is my lord’s true will!

As a retainer of the Otani family, I, Yuasa Gosuke, will never do anything that would damage the reputation of my lord!"

After hearing what Yuasa Takamasa on the top of the city said, Otani Yoshitsugu, who was being displayed below the city, stopped struggling and calmed down again.

Lin Tailai was speechless. How could he run into such a stubborn person?

I heard that Japan has just experienced hundreds of years of chaos. In an environment where the strong prey on the weak and people betray each other at any time, people's hearts have already collapsed and they no longer care about morality and loyalty.

All I can say is that Yoshitsugu Otani and this Yuasa Gosuke Takashida are from the same family.

Did I make a mistake? It was useless to capture Yoshitsugu Otani and come here to knock on the door? So I went through all this trouble in vain?

Just when Lin Tianshuai was in self-doubt, Konishi Yukinaga jumped out with a fierce look on his face and whispered, "I told you long ago that we should kill Otani with a single blow, and then knock on the door!"

"Is this all right?" Lin Tailai said doubtfully.

Konishi Yukinaga advised: "Since the city gates are not open, Otani is useless. Why don't you give it a try and find out?"

Lin Tailai ordered his men: "Otani Yoshitsugu pretended to negotiate and deliberately deceived the heavenly soldiers. He deserves death. He refuses to enjoy the preferential treatment of an envoy. Behead him!"

The left and right guards were always disciplined. After hearing the order, they dragged Otani Yoshitsugu to the other side and started chopping with their swords!

Then Konishi Yukinaga shouted towards the top of the city wall: "Yuasa Gosuke! Your lord Otani Keibu has been beheaded by the Heavenly Marshal!
If you want to fulfill your duty as a loyal subject and bring Otani Keibu's body back to the country, then surrender the city gate!
Tian Shuai promises to return Otani Keibu's body to you and let you go!

Besides, all the troops have retreated southwards, and I heard that they are gathering in the area from Guangxi Gate to the Han River in the southeast!
I guess the rest of the city is completely empty, in fact abandoned! It's meaningless for you to defend this gate!"

Then, Yuasa Takamasa was seen lying on the top of the city wall, crying loudly in pain.

After he finished crying, Yuasa Takamasa shouted again, "It's impossible to surrender directly! But if you allow me to collect the lord's body first, we will withdraw from the city gate, and then you can do whatever you want. I swear to heaven!"

Lin Tailai: "."

If your lord is brought alive to knock on the gate, and you refuse to open it, but if your lord is chopped off, would you be willing to exchange the city gate for his body?
I really don't understand what these Japanese think. If Konishi Yukinaga wasn't here to help, I really don't know how to communicate.

"Can we trust him?" Lin Tianshuai asked Konishi Yukinaga.

Konishi Yukinaga nodded vigorously, "I guarantee it with my life, you can trust me."

Lin Tailai encouraged him, "Well, I believe you! It seems that you are really useful, Konishi Settsu-no-kami. You have made great contributions today!"

Only the Japanese can understand the Japanese best. If you can't understand them yourself, then you don't understand them.

(End of this chapter)