Daming talker

Chapter 748 Statistics Question
At this time, the central officer Dayun, with nearly a thousand cavalry, had circled to the flank again and launched an attack on the Japanese army.

When Tachibana Muneshige fell into the hands of the enemy, all the Tachibana family's hatamoto samurai were killed in battle, and the Tachibana army's foot soldiers collapsed.

This is the characteristic of the Japanese army. If the elite front-line fighters are gone, the others will collapse, not to mention that the lord falls into the hands of the enemy.

Then, the Ii Akabi troop and the Honda family troops, who formed the right wing, collapsed along with the Tachibana army as they watched it flee.

The lords of the three families have all been lost, which means that all the backbones are gone, and no one can maintain the situation.

Dayun and thousands of cavalrymen originally planned to cut in from the flank, but soon they ended up chasing and attacking from behind.

Seeing this, Lin Tianshuai issued an order: "Leave one column to guard the position, and the rest of you all attack! Chase to Taihe River first!"

Then he said to the three hundred guards who had stayed by his side, "Get on your horses! Go find that useless guy Ma Gui!"

Then Lin Tianshuai took off his eighty kilograms of heavy armor and changed into a set of light armor weighing more than ten kilograms.

There was also a guard who wanted to raise the commander's flag, but was slapped away by Lin Tianshuai, who scolded him: "Idiot! Don't raise the flag at this time!"

At this time, Ma Gui was commanding the main force to attack the Tokugawa army and the Shimazu army.

The two fierce generals, Pogui and Baisai, led 4,000 men to bypass the Japanese navy ships, dismounted from the other side, approached the Japanese army on foot and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat.

The elite officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's northern border towns had a great advantage over the Japanese soldiers in terms of both physique and equipment, and the Japanese army's front line was on the verge of collapse.

In this chaotic situation, the Japanese army's advantage of musket fire could not be brought into play, and the arquebusiers could only watch helplessly from behind.

Ma Gui watched the battle situation nervously, and once the Japanese soldiers in the front row showed signs of fleeing, he would immediately dispatch the remaining cavalry to attack.

At this moment, large groups of fleeing soldiers suddenly appeared in the field of vision!

General Ma was surprised, but then he realized that these defeated soldiers were all Japanese, and he felt relieved.

In order to avoid the Japanese ships in the river, the Ming army launched an attack from the east.

So in order to avoid the Ming army, these defeated soldiers naturally chose to head west and fled desperately along the Taihe River.

This resulted in two consequences. The first was that the Japanese ships on the western river were blocked tightly, and the cannon soldiers on the Japanese ships could not shoot towards the Ming army.

The second is that in such narrow terrain, this wave of defeated troops had nowhere to go, so they directly attacked the formations of the Tokugawa and Shimazu armies.

Now the Japanese army was attacked by the Ming army in the east and by mob soldiers in the west, and the entire army formation began to become chaotic.

Ma Gui was overjoyed when he saw this, and immediately prepared to transfer the remaining thousands of cavalry to the west to follow the chaotic soldiers and attack them.

The sooner we can defeat the Japanese army, the more powerful the explanation we will give to Marshal Tian later!
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, "Why are you still here? Are you not just standing still?"

Hearing this familiar voice, General Ma couldn't help but shiver in the spring breeze.

Fortunately, the Marshal only spoke in a sarcastic tone, which showed that his mood could still be saved and he was not determined to kill himself.

After thinking it over, Ma Gui turned around and saw Lin Tianshuai riding a horse towards him.

Ma Gui hurriedly went to greet him respectfully, while Lin Tianshuai looked at the battlefield situation and said calmly:
"Laoma! You are being held back here by the main force of the Japanese army. It is not easy for you to return immediately to rescue the rear. This department will not argue with you.

But the headquarters has already defeated the right wing of the Japanese pirates, and you are still dithering here. Isn't that unreasonable?"

Ma Gui lowered his head and flattered him honestly, "You are invincible in battle and attack, and you have great magical powers and boundless magic power. It's as if Ji Bu and Han Bai are alive. How can I compare with you?"

Lin Tianshuai nodded in satisfaction, "Our headquarters is not that strong, we just captured three Japanese generals who attacked the rear!
They are Honda Tadakatsu, the unrivaled general in the east of Japan, Tachibana Muneshige, the unrivaled general in the west, and Ii Naomasa, the red devil of the Tokugawa family. They are all the top generals in Japan!"

Ma Gui: “.”

It was a wrong decision after all. It turned out that in the eyes of the Marshal, there was not much difference between him and Li Rusong. They were both just the Marshal's background board on the battlefield.

It is hard to say what the Marshal's technical level is in commanding marches and battles, but his ability to grab credit and limelight on the battlefield is absolutely unparalleled.

Or does the Marshal have a special physique, so that all kinds of merits that are comparable to those in historical novels always fall into his hands?
This time when I came to Ulsan, I didn’t get the result of ascending the mountain first for the fifth time, but I ended up getting the result of capturing three generals in one go.

If this was the food God forced to feed him, there was no need to worry that Marshal Lin would get too full!
Lin Tianshuai also finished looking at the battlefield situation, patted Ma Gui and said, "Don't be stunned here, go and get the final victory!"

General Ma's heart was filled with bitterness. The glory of this battle no longer belonged to him, and he seemed to have lost his desire for the final victory.

Lin Tianshuai added: "However, in order to win the final victory as soon as possible, we need to add a little catalyst."

Then he waved his hands, and three guards came out with spears in hand, lifting up three distinctive and highly recognizable helmets.

One is decorated with soaring goat horns, another with large deer antlers, and another with a large golden circle.

Lin Tianshuai gave Ma Gui instructions in person, saying: "The three Japanese generals I captured were all famous and highly respected generals.

Holding up their helmets and making a public statement in front of the Japanese army will surely undermine their morale and accelerate their collapse!"

After hearing the introduction, Ma Gui no longer wanted to win the final victory.

I worked so hard as the main attacker in the front, but I didn't expect that the victory would be achieved by the supporting attacker in the back.

Was it God's will? Was it human power? This must be the retribution for not returning to rescue the rear troops just now?

General Ma couldn't help but recall the afternoon when he and Li Rubai received their orders.

When he heard that he was responsible for leading the main force to block the Japanese pirates' reinforcements, although he was very excited, Li Rubai looked at him with sympathy and pity.

I guess Li Rubai, who had always followed Li Rusong, had already seen his own ending in advance.

Although General Ma has lost his fighting spirit, military orders cannot be disobeyed.

He could only lead thousands of cavalrymen who were excited about their achievements, carrying three helmets, and launched a general attack on the Japanese army.

Lin Tianshuai's instructions came from behind: "Pay attention to capturing more prisoners! Use Japanese to tell them to kneel down and not to kill them!"

At the main camp of the Japanese army, Tokugawa Dainagon Ieyasu couldn't help but tremble violently when he saw the fleeing soldiers!

These defeated soldiers can only mean one thing: our right-wing offensive has failed!
Even Tokugawa Dainagon couldn't figure it out after thinking for three breaths: how could a force of 10,000 soldiers suddenly attack the rear of several thousand infantrymen and suffer a great defeat in such a short time?

Even if the raid fails, is it difficult to withdraw safely?

And judging from the number of defeated soldiers, it seems that they didn't lose many people, so how could they be defeated?
When this large number of fleeing soldiers began to attack the army, everyone asked Tokugawa Dainagon to make a decision. Tokugawa Ieyasu was hesitant, should he aim his cannon at these irrational soldiers and stabilize the position in the shortest possible time?
But at this moment a retainer suddenly came to report that the Ming army had raised three helmets belonging to Honda Tadakatsu, Ii Naomasa, and Tachibana Muneshige in front of the battle line!

Upon hearing the news, Tokugawa Ieyasu was completely stunned.

He originally thought that if the sneak attack on the right wing failed, it would be fine, but he never expected the consequences to be so serious!

Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa were his most important right-hand men. How could they be defeated so easily in an instant?
"Asano Nagamasa has misled me!" Tokugawa Ieyasu couldn't help but roar.

News came one after another, the Shimazu army had begun to retreat without authorization and seized the pontoon bridge!

Baka! Tokugawa Dainagon, who always made friends with people, also lost his composure and cursed a few times.

All the retainers advised together: "The army is in chaos now, we can't fight anymore. Please order a quick retreat! Don't let the Shimazu family occupy all the floating bridges!"

When it comes to retreat, Tokugawa Dainagon was still very receptive to advice.

Although he was still in a trance due to the mental shock of losing Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa, he was still helped to stand up and sighed, "Let's go!"

If there is no enemy chasing you, retreat is called retreat; but if there is an enemy chasing you, retreat can only be called defeat.

Therefore, this retreat of the Japanese army turned into a major defeat. The thirty pontoon bridges originally built to cross the river were suddenly not enough.

Lin Tianshuai stood on a small mound and observed. He felt extremely distressed when he saw large numbers of Japanese soldiers kneeling down to surrender and then falling into the water and drowning.

He sighed to his attendants, "I just wonder why the Japanese pirates always choose the riverside as their battlefield?
The Battle of Pyongyang was next to the Taedong River, the Battle of Seoul was next to the Han River, and today it is the Taehwa River again. I wonder how many valuable lives have been drowned.”

Someone answered: "Perhaps it is because North Korea has many hills and a broken terrain with little flat land, so there are not many battlefield options."

The Japanese troops who successfully escaped across the river after being chased did not return to the camp on the south bank, but continued to flee to the southwest without stopping.

Only by escaping to Xishengpu, dozens of miles away, could he be considered to have saved his life.

The Ming army's cavalry chased for ten miles before gradually withdrawing their troops.

When General Ma Guima returned to the camp, he saw Lin Tianshuai with Konishi Yukinaga and Shen Weijing. In front of him were three dusty captured Japanese generals kneeling.

Lin Tianshuai looked up and saw Ma Gui coming back, and asked, "We have already won a great victory, why are you still not smiling? Aren't you happy?"

General Ma forced a smile to show that he was very happy.

Lin Tianshuai said to Ma Gui with great interest: "Come here, Old Ma! I will introduce you to the Japanese general in front of you!

The one on the far left is Japan's most powerful general in the past thirty years, the East Country's unrivaled warrior, Japan's Zhang Yide, Japan's number one spearman."

Ma Gui really wanted to complain, "I can't remember so many titles," but he didn't dare to spoil the fun, so he could only silently endure Lin Tianshuai's bragging.

But I still kept wondering in my heart, if these people were really that powerful, how could they be captured so easily by the Marshal?
What is this? The identity of the trophy is given by oneself?

After Lin Tianshuai had admired his "trophies", he temporarily pushed the man out and put him under strict guard.

Konishi Yukinaga looked at the three prisoners in a trance, with mixed feelings.

He did not go into battle today, but stayed in the camp and waited. Unexpectedly, Lin Tianshuai went out for a walk and captured three famous generals from his country.
Honda Tadakatsu and Tachibana Muneshige were both military gods in their country of Japan, and the less famous Ii Naomasa was also called the Red Devil.

It was unbelievable that they were all captured alive so easily by Tian Shuai. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it.

War is a very serious matter for others, but is it just a child's play for Tianshuai?

Lin Tianshuai asked Xiao Xixingchang: "These three are all famous generals. How can we squeeze as much value as possible from them?"

Konishi Yukinaga smiled bitterly and said, "I never expected such a situation. My mind is a little confused."

Lin Tailai said, "How about we take them and ask Toyotomi Hideyoshi to exchange them for your return to the country?"

Konishi Yukinaga replied: "The Taiko probably has no interest in exchanging Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa. Only Tachibana Muneshige may have some exchange value."

Lin Tianshuai said helplessly: "Tokugawa Ieyasu is definitely willing to exchange Honda and Ii back, but Tokugawa Ieyasu can't give us the bargaining chips we need.

If it really doesn't work, we will design a trick similar to sparing the lives of Honda and Ii.

Is it possible to make them your retainers?"

To this, Konishi Yukinaga could only say: "Tianshuai is just daydreaming."

"We can only think about their use slowly." Lin Tian sighed, "It would be a pity if famous generals like Honda and Ii were sent to mine like those miscellaneous foot soldiers."

Konishi Yukinaga: “.”

It’s a pity you, Tianshuai, thought of sending these two to mine.

No matter how much minerals they can dig out, Tokugawa Ieyasu will definitely be willing to redeem it at ten times the value. It would be better to sell it directly to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

We rested that night, and the next day we had to deal with various follow-up tasks, such as collecting spoils, plundering the Japanese army camp, and dealing with corpses.

Of course, the most important thing is to count the number of prisoners, conduct various statistics, and enrich the content of the battle report.

Lin Tianshuai looked at the preliminary rough statistics, which showed that there were more than 4,000 prisoners, more than 5,000 beheaded, and more than 5,000 drowned.

He asked Ma Gui, "During the Battle of Pyongyang, more than 10,000 people drowned in the Taedong River, and during the Battle of Hancheng, more than 10,000 people drowned in the Han River.

How come there are only about 5,000 people drowned here? Is it because the Taihe River is too narrow and shallow? "

General Ma, whose mentality was already broken, said: "Capture and beheading are the most important, the rest doesn't matter."

Lin Tai said: "It's good because it doesn't matter. Is it optimized according to the actual situation?
If more than 10,000 people drowned, the number of enemies killed this time would reach 20,000. Wouldn't that be more shocking than more than 15,000 people? "

General Ma still didn't care: "Anyway, no matter how hard we try, we can't get 30,000, so there's no point in trying."

Li Rusong's record of annihilating enemies was said to be 30,000, so as long as the results did not reach 30,000, 15,000 or 20,000 would make no difference to him.

Lin Tailai reminded: "Ulsan has not been completely captured yet, and there are still enemy troops entrenched in Dosan Castle!
Statistics is a science. We can combine all the battles before the fall of the city into one battle of Ulsan. Do you think there is any hope of reaching the number of 30,000 enemies annihilated?"

Ma Zongbing suddenly recovered and said sincerely: "I am blind and don't recognize the good intentions of the commander-in-chief!"

(End of this chapter)