Daming talker

Chapter 735 The fifth time what? (Seeking monthly votes!)
In the spring of the 21st year of the Wanli reign, the Japanese pirates completely retreated to the southern coast of Gyeongsang Province, from Jinju to Ulsan, with Busan as the center.

Li Rusong's First Corps of 30,000 troops arrived in the northern Xingzhou area, firmly squeezing the Japanese army's space from the north to the south.

Ma Gui's Second Corps of 14,000 men arrived in Gyeongju in the east and confronted the Japanese army in Ulsan.

Li Xu's Fourth Corps of 15,000 men arrived at Namwon in the west, more than 100 miles away from the Japanese army in Jinju.

Now that the situation on the front line has become clearer, matters such as enthronement and mining in the rear have been basically arranged, and Lin Tianshuai is ready to set off south.

This was not yet the end of Chongzhen's reign, and it was rare to find civil officials like Lin Tianshuai who were so keen on going to the front line.

For the fifth time. Oh no, for the idea of ​​eliminating the Japanese pirates and rebuilding the vassal state, Tian Shuai also worked very hard.

At this time, Chen Lin, deputy commander of the navy, rushed to the Kingdom of Korea from the southeast with hundreds of warships and 13,000 troops.

Excluding the battle losses up to now, the troops entering Korea include 38,000 men from Li Rusong's First Corps, 17,000 men from Ma Gui's Second Corps, 10,000 men from Dong Yiyuan's Third Corps, 15,000 men from Li Shu's Fourth Corps, 13,000 men from Chen Lin's navy, and 6,000 men from the Third Battalion of the Generalissimo.

The total number of troops has reached 99,000. It is not an exaggeration to round it off to 100,000 troops, and they are actually 100,000 combat soldiers.

This is an unprecedented scale within the past hundred years.

However, up to now, after five large-scale battles in Pyongyang, Hamhung, Kilju, Pyeongyang and Seoul, about 5,000 Tianbing soldiers have been sacrificed, and nearly half of them were sacrificed at Pyeongyang.

However, after the navy commander Chen Lin landed in Incheon, only eighty miles away from Seoul, he immediately rushed to the west gate of Seoul to meet with the minister of strategy Lin Tailai.

Cui Wukui, an aide to the shogunate, welcomed Chen Lin at the West Gate to show the shogunate's importance to this naval commander.

Deputy General Chen handed Cui Wukui a small brocade bag with a smile. When it was shaken, there was a crisp and pleasant sound of metal collision.

Cui Wukui hesitated for a moment before accepting the gift, and then reminded him, "Mr. Lin prefers to be called the Grand Marshal recently, rather than the Duke of Generalissimo or the Military Commander."

Chen Lin bowed to Cui Wukui and went up to the hall to meet Lin Tailai.

Marshal Lin sat behind the desk and said calmly, "General Chen is a little late."

Chen Lin said with a smile: "I brought some small things that look relatively new for you to enjoy."

Since Marshal Lin didn't say anything, Chen Lin took it as his tacit consent and asked his personal soldiers to carry in a box.

After opening it, there was a box full of silver coins. Marshal Lin picked up a silver coin and looked at it carefully. There was an eagle-shaped pattern engraved on it.

Chen Lin explained: "This is an Eagle Dollar that has been brought in from overseas in recent years. One coin contains eight cents of silver and is quite finely made. I am bold enough to give a few boxes to the Marshal for his enjoyment."

Lin Tailai certainly knew that half a century ago, after the Spaniards conquered Latin America, especially Mexico, they seized a huge amount of silver and used it to mint silver coins. This "Eagle Dollar" is a very classic style.

Later, in maritime trade, a huge amount of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty in the form of eagle dollars through trade.

Today is the first time that Lin Tailai has seen the real Eagle Dollar with his own eyes since he traveled through time.

In recent years, Chen Lin has been serving as the deputy commander-in-chief of the navy, guarding Zhangzhou and Tingzhou. It seems that he has made a lot of money.

Since the decline of Ningbo's maritime trade, Zhangzhou Yuegang has been the largest maritime trade port in recent decades. It is easy to imagine how profitable it would be to lead a navy to guard such a place.

Holding the silver coin, Marshal Lin suddenly felt something and fell into deep thought.

Should we also mint a "silver currency" with Lin's characteristics in Suzhou? One tael of silver for one silver dollar?
The official currency of the court was copper coins and treasure notes. In theory, it should not be illegal no matter what shape the silver was cast into.

This was the case in many areas of the Ming Dynasty. After more than two hundred years of changes, many of the systems established in the early years of the dynasty became mere names on paper, which were completely different from the reality.

For example, the famous ban that "officials and scholars are not allowed to visit prostitutes", is anyone still maintaining it now?

So, as long as you don't use silver coins too ostentatiously and make "Lin Datou" coins everywhere, it should be fine.
Watching the Marshal holding the Eagle Dollar and pondering for a long while, Chen Lin suddenly felt a little panicked. Could something have gone wrong?
There is nothing wrong with the Marshal smiling happily or scolding righteously, but what does it mean to just stare blankly at the Eagle Dollar?
Isn't this Yingyang just silver? Chen Lin, who was in a daze, didn't dare to say anything and just stood there waiting.

After a while, Marshal Lin finally finished his thoughts and put down the Eagle Dollar in his hand.

Then he said to Deputy General Chen in a friendly manner: "You have come at the right time. The Japanese pirates are entrenched on the southern coast. If we want to wipe them out, we need your navy to make great efforts."

Just now it was "General Chen came a little late", now it is "He came just in time".

The amount of silver is not important. Could it be that Marshal Lin, who has full control over the industry, agriculture, commerce, transportation, engineering and construction, and finance of Suzhou and Songjiang, would be short of a few boxes of silver dollars?
What is important is the attitude shown. Marshal Lin is a person who attaches great importance to attitude.

Then Marshal Lin ordered: "Your navy has two main tasks: first, completely cut off the Japanese army's retreat route back to their country; second, cut off the Japanese army's sea food supply route!
If you want to wipe out the Japanese pirates in the south at the lowest cost, these two conditions are indispensable.

On the premise of completing the above two tasks, we can appropriately deter the Japanese army from their homeland.”

Chen Lin assured without hesitation: "I will definitely carry out the Marshal's order!"

Marshal Lin was quite confident in Deputy General Chen's statement.

Although the Japanese pirates claimed to have mobilized thousands of ships to conquer the country, most of them were transport ships. When they were not transporting troops, they could only be left empty in the port.

The actual navy consisted of only more than 9,000 people, and the number of warships was said to be 700.

Moreover, in this era, many people may not know that Japan's shipbuilding technology is not only inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty, but even inferior to that of Korea.

The Japanese warships were inferior to those of the Ming Dynasty and Korea in terms of sturdiness and fire resistance.

Why was it that when the Joseon army was completely incompetent and defeated, the famous Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin was able to become so popular and be praised so highly?
This was mainly due to the technical and tactical advantages of the Korean navy, which enabled it to defeat the Japanese navy in naval battles.

But in any case, the North Korean navy could not land, and the scale was not enough to carry out a complete naval blockade. Therefore, it was ultimately unable to reverse the situation and achieve a strategic victory.

The navy was too professional, so Marshal Lin could only entrust the direct command of the navy to Chen Lin and was unable to exercise control over him as he did with Admiral Li.

However, he still had to say a few words "on paper" to highlight his abilities and establish his prestige in front of Chen Lin.

This is the way many leaders manage their subordinates, and it is not unique to Marshal Lin.

Then Marshal Lin talked about it: "Among the Japanese ships, the largest one is called Atakabune. According to Japanese custom, the side of the ship is built very high to set up many shooting holes.

Therefore, this type of warship has three weaknesses: first, it has a deep draft, which makes it extremely inconvenient to turn; second, it has a high center of gravity, making it a larger target; and third, it has too many wooden structures, making it very flammable.

Chen Lin responded to Marshal Lin’s “instructions” with “hmm” and “ah”, and thought to himself, maybe the Marshal knows a thing or two?
After waiting for a long time for Marshal Lin to speak, Chen Lin quickly talked about serious matters and asked for instructions:
“I heard that Yi Sun-sin, a famous admiral of the Joseon navy, led dozens of warships to win two or three naval battles last year.

Can we cooperate with Yi Sun-sin and unite to wipe out the Japanese pirates at sea?"

Marshal Lin looked at Chen Lin with a strange look in his eyes, which made Deputy General Chen feel a little numb again. Before coming here, I heard that Marshal Lin often killed Korean civil and military officials for fun when he was free. Could it be that Yi Sun-sin was also on the list?
"Why do you want to form an alliance with Yi Sun-sin?" asked Marshal Lin.

Chen Lin explained: "Yi Sun-sin fought several battles with the Japanese navy last year. He at least has some experience and is familiar with the water conditions."

Marshal Lin gave very clear instructions: "Don't cooperate with the Korean navy. Our Ming navy will fight on its own and let them fend for themselves."

Seeing Marshal Lin's attitude of rejecting cooperation, Chen Lin asked curiously, "May I ask, what is the reason?"

Marshal Lin replied, "You don't want people to say that you, Chen Lin, fought under Yi Sun-sin's command hundreds of years later, do you?
You don't want Yi Sun-sin to be named the best general in ancient and modern times hundreds of years later, while you, Chen Lin, remain unknown, right? "

Chen Lin: “?”

What kind of joke is this, Marshal? It doesn't sound funny.

Marshal Lin pointed to his eyes and said, "Believe it or not, my eyes can see some of the future."

Deputy General Chen thought, from a purely literary point of view, Marshal Lin, the level of your joke is indeed very low.

Marshal Lin had no idea what Chen Lin was thinking, so he continued, "Their navy's strength is just that. At the beginning of last year, Yi Sun-sin did win three naval battles.

However, on average, only twenty Japanese naval warships were destroyed in each battle, and the total number of Japanese warships was seven hundred.

Then Yi Sun-sin became arrogant and began to launch a large-scale attack on the Japanese pirate base of Busanport. He was defeated and almost could not return.

So if we don’t cooperate with them, it won’t have any impact on us. Instead, it will save us a lot of trouble. Why not do it? ”

At this point, Chen Lin responded, "Yes, I will obey the commander's order."

“Although North Korea’s west coast has a long coastline, the wave height difference is too large, so there are not many places that can serve as good ports.

Therefore, when you sail back and forth, you should also take the opportunity to investigate and see if there is any place suitable for a large seaport on the southwest coast of Korea. "

These were all trivial matters, and Chen Lin agreed immediately, so the meeting was a great success for both the host and the guests.

After that, the generals took action separately. Chen Lin led the navy south by sea and first had to find a suitable port in Jeolla Province as a base.

Marshal Lin ordered Dong Yiyuan's Third Corps of 10,000 troops to stay behind, responsible for guarding the safety of the road from Kaesong to the southern front, as well as the defense of the royal capital Seoul.

At the same time, he ordered Wu Weizhong's camp, one of the three major camps of the military governor, to stay and protect Jin Sunbin and Sun Hegun as they went to Pyongyang.

Marshal Lin himself led the Dayun Camp and the Ye Bangrong Camp and rushed south to the front line.

After crossing Chungcheong Province, you will enter the northern part of Gyeongsang Province, located in the southeastern part of the peninsula.

At this time, the northern part of Gyeongsang Province had been abandoned by the Japanese pirates, and General Li's headquarters on the northern front was stationed in Seongju.

In later generations, Daegu, which is next to Seongju, is actually more famous and is the fourth largest city in South Korea.

Upon hearing that the Marshal had come again to reunite with the First Corps and had already entered Xingzhou City, General Li went to the General's Headquarters to pay a visit.

When General Li entered the White Tiger Hall, he saw a large map hanging in the middle. Marshal Lin was facing the map, standing with his hands behind his back, expressionless, and motionless as if he was lost in thought.

If you get closer, you can see that the large map is a situation map of Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla Province in the southernmost part of North Korea.

This is normal, and future stages of war will not go beyond the scope of these two paths.

Seeing Li Rusong coming, Marshal Lin spoke first and said without question: "I have decided. First, we must end the war before winter!
Second, under the premise of ensuring this time, try to achieve the final victory at the lowest cost possible! "

Li Rusong agreed completely, "That's right!" Then he asked curiously, "I just saw you looking at the map intently, did you learn anything?"

Marshal Lin pointed to the map and said, "Now the Japanese pirates have retreated to the southern coast, and our army has surrounded them from the north, east and west.

Is it possible to feign defeat on the northern front and lure the Japanese pirates into occupying Daegu?"

General Li was very confused. Was this idea wrong with his brain?

Why did they have to fake a defeat for no apparent reason? Why did they have to lure the Japanese pirates to occupy Daegu? What was the point?
Besides, the overall strategy of the Japanese pirates now is to shrink and defend, and they may not be willing to extend the battle line.

Out of respect for Lin Jinglie, General Li did not say anything and just responded with silence.

Marshal Lin pointed his finger in a different direction and said, "No? Then on the western front, is it possible to feign defeat in Namwon and lure the Japanese pirates to advance to Jeolla Province and occupy Gwangju?"

Marshal Lin responded with silence. General Li did not want to express his opinion on this plan that only a fool could come up with.

Marshal Lin's face was full of regret, and he sighed and said, "The Western Front is not an option? Then the only option is Ulsan on the Eastern Front.

There is no need to feign defeat here, Ulsan is already a front line occupied by the Japanese pirates, we can just go and fight directly."

General Li could no longer bear it and asked, "General, what exactly is your combat intention? Why is it Daegu on the northern front, Gwangju on the western front, and Ulsan on the eastern front?"

Marshal Lin explained: "To find the best location for the fifth, fifth, fifth major battle."

General Li obviously didn't believe it and sneered, "The fifth time what? Are you sure you mean the battle? And not that old Deng or something?"

Marshal Lin further explained: "There have been four major battles in Pyongyang, Hamhung, Kilju and Seoul. Isn't this the fifth one?
If you insist on including the Battle of Pyeongyang, then it’s fine to say this is the sixth time.”

General Li: “.”

Break off the friendship! Break off the friendship! It must be broken off for three days!

Marshal Lin looked at the map again. He only needed to climb the mountain once to be the first to stand out from the crowd. For such a glorious moment, he would definitely choose a place that was as memorable as possible.

On this map of the southern part of the peninsula, there are Busan, the second largest city of South Korea in later generations, Daegu, the fourth largest city, Gwangju, the sixth largest city, and Ulsan, the eighth largest city.

It can be said that these four are the only places that have gained some fame in later generations.

The most famous Busan is the Japanese pirates' lair on the peninsula. It is not on the front line and cannot be reached now.

Since Daegu and Gwangju are already in our hands, it is unrealistic to feign defeat and lure the enemy to retake them. So the only possible place to attack is Ulsan, which is the least well-known.

Alas! Marshal Lin felt somewhat regretful. Ulsan was still not worthy of his great martial arts.

(End of this chapter)