I'm really not doing business

Chapter 731 Qi Jiguang's gourd sells gunpowder

It is impossible to trace the invention of the shrapnel bomb in the Ming Dynasty. Because there were many types of firearms in the Ming Dynasty and Confucianism was dominant, most craftsmen did not leave their names in history. It is a pity that craftsmen had a low social status. The invention that was enough to change the situation on the battlefield only left a sentence in the history: it was passed down from previous generations and was kept secret by military strategists.

But the large-scale application of shrapnel bombs was in the hands of Sanbian Governor Weng Wanda.

In the 17th year of Jiajing, Mo Dengyong and his sons of Annan usurped the throne and proclaimed themselves emperors. The Ming Dynasty mobilized a large army to suppress the attack. Qiu Luan, the general of Guangdong and Guangxi, was appointed as the general of the southern expedition, Mao Bowen, the minister of war, was appointed as the governor-general of military affairs, Zhang Jing, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, was appointed as the governor-general, and Weng Wanda was appointed as the deputy envoy of the southern expedition. They stationed troops at the South Gate and prepared to march south. The Zhang Jing here is Zhang Sima, the minister of war in Nanjing, who defeated the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang but was unjustly killed by the court.

After Mo Dengyong and his son surrendered, Weng Wanda was appointed governor-general of the three borders and commander-in-chief of the troops in Xuanfu and Datong. He defeated Altan Khan's attacks many times, including the fierce battle at Tieguomen, the bloody battle at Feigeyu, the defeat of the stubborn enemy at Yanghe and the great victory at Caojiazhuang. Weng Wanda defeated Altan Khan every time.

When Weng Wanda was in charge of the border area, Altan Khan would be beaten whenever he showed his head, and he never won a single victory in his conflicts with the Ming Dynasty.

After six years of supervising the border, Weng Wanda was promoted to Minister of War. In the 28th year of Jiajing, Weng Wanda's father died. At that time, some ministers in the court asked Emperor Jiajing to keep Weng Wanda on the grounds that "he did not avoid military affairs". Emperor Jiajing agreed, but the censors in the court attacked Weng Wanda for being power-hungry and unwilling to leave on the grounds of ancestral laws. Weng Wanda asked to retire three times to observe mourning.

The ancestral law here is the imperial decree issued by Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen of the Ming Dynasty in the seventh year of Zhengtong: any official who conceals the death of his father will be sent back to his hometown to become a commoner; in the twelfth year of Zhengtong, Zhu Qizhen issued another decree: any official, big or small, inside and outside the court who is in mourning will not be allowed to be recommended for reinstatement.

Before Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, it was normal for ministers to be deprived of their love by the emperor after their parents died. But after Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, not observing mourning for one's parents was considered treasonous, clinging to power, and being a treacherous villain who had no parents.

In the 29th year of Jiajing, when Altan Khan heard that Weng Wanda had returned home, he immediately led his troops south, broke through Gubeikou and besieged the capital.

When Weng Wanda was in the court, Altan Khan was suppressed and beaten by Weng Wanda for six years. As soon as Weng Wanda left, Altan Khan even surrounded the capital of the Ming Dynasty. In the conflict between Weng Wanda and the northern barbarians, shrapnel bombs were used on a large scale for the first time.

Weng Wanda used a large number of poisonous fire flying cannons. The poisonous fire flying cannons were made of wrought iron and were a kind of mortar. They were placed in a ditch dug on the ground. They were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with the shells stuck in the middle. The shells used in the flying cannons were not solid but hollow, loaded with five taels of gunpowder. When ignited, the cannon would fire first, hitting the flying cannon two hundred steps away, exploding and injuring people.

Based on the Poison Fire Flying Cannon, Weng Wanda invented the Thunder Flying Cannon, improved many of the shortcomings of the Poison Fire Flying Cannon, and further optimized the cannonballs.

In the third year of the Wanli reign, Qi Jiguang added a wooden time-delay fuse to the Leifei cannon shell. The time-delay fuse is a wooden plate installed at the bottom of the shell. There are twelve scales on it, representing the burning time of the fuse. The maximum range is twelve miles. As the range changes, it only needs to be rotated once to detonate at a fixed time. (Chapter 390)
(Cross-section of a flowering bomb)
The emergence of delayed fuses has greatly increased the reliability of thunder missiles, also known as fragmentation bombs, and there are various types of fragmentation bombs, such as the watermelon cannon, Feiyun thunder cannon, Feicai explosive cannon, Zuanfeng Shenhuo meteor cannon, etc. It can be said that a hundred flowers are blooming, and the development of fragmentation bombs is extremely rapid.

Qi Jiguang was very fond of improving military equipment. When he was suppressing the Japanese pirates during the Jiajing period, he improved the bird gun, rocket, and tiger squat cannon. Later, Qi Jiguang had more time to improve and invent, and he successively developed the pingyi gun and delayed fuse, etc. However, he felt that these were minor inventions, and that the improvements made by the Academy of Gewu would really have an impact on the war situation.

Qi Jiguang and Li Rusong once had a huge disagreement on the issue of the artillery installation of the Beijing Camp Cavalry Camp, because a cannon loaded with nine pounds of gunpowder at that time weighed as much as four thousand pounds, required twelve horses to pull it, and was very demanding on the terrain, which seriously affected the mobility of the cavalry camp.

But now all the nine-jin cannons used by the Ming Dynasty weigh only 1500 jin and only need four horses to pull them. In addition, the number of gunners has been reduced to ten, instead of the previous fifteen. The weight reduction of the artillery by the Gewuyuan has greatly enhanced the mobility of the nine-jin cannon, making the nine-jin cannon a field cannon that can be used routinely.

Everything that happened during the Wanli Reform led to one result, that is, the Ming Dynasty had a generational advantage on the battlefield in aiding Korea. The Ming Dynasty had entered the era of firearms warfare, while the Japanese pirates still mainly used cold weapons.

Konishi Yukinaga was assembling the troops. He didn't have a telescope, but he still stood on a high place and observed the Ming army's formation. He couldn't understand the Ming army's formation.

"Isn't it said that Qi Jiguang is a military genius? The Ming Dynasty occupied the geographical advantage, so it should have been easier to defend the city. However, Qi Jiguang transferred the troops out of the city. It would have been fine if he had just transferred them out of the city, but he actually stretched the army formation so long, with only four rows of positions. As long as we rush in and tear them apart, won't we be completely defeated?" Konishi Yukinaga was a little confused as to what Qi Jiguang was up to.

What Qi Jiguang sells in his gourd is gunpowder.

The Japanese pirates were blessed. In the first battle when the Ming Dynasty switched from cold weapons to all-hot weapons, they got a glimpse of its style.

"The plain west of Pyongyang is close to the Taedong River. It is dotted with villages, farmhouses and ditches. It is not suitable for charge operations. The relatively small battlefield caused the arrogant Qi Jiguang to make a wrong judgment and leave the city." Kato Kiyomasa did not understand why it was a linear formation and gave his own reasons. Qi Jiguang was proud enough of his past achievements and was a bit arrogant.

In this era, it is inevitable that the troops will be separated and connected. With a thickness of only four rows, the consequences of being torn apart are extremely terrible. In Konishi Yukinaga's view, it is only necessary to let the Hwarang Association absorb enough lead bullets in the front. As long as the Japanese pirates rush to the front of the Ming army, the battle will be won.

"If I were Qi Jiguang, I would definitely attack them halfway across the river. Now that we have completely crossed the river and have a huge advantage in numbers, I don't believe Qi Jiguang can have any great ability to change the outcome!" Fukushima Masanori put his hands on his waist and laughed. Pointing in the direction of the Ming army, he said loudly: "It's a waste to hand over such excellent soldiers to an arrogant general!"

"Doesn't Qi Jiguang feel ashamed? The empire gave him the strongest army, but he wasted it like this!"

What Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, and Fukushima Masanori said were all correct, because they had never seen a battle involving only firearms. Not only them, but the entire world had never seen such a thing.

On the third day of March in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign, the early spring sun shone on the plain outside Chilsungmun. The Japanese pirates who had successfully crossed the river began to move in full force to the Chilsungmun to the sound of war drums, rushing towards Chilsungmun like a tide. Having successfully crossed the river and charging with great morale, they seemed to be unstoppable. The Japanese pirates and the Hwarang Hyuk, who shouted "we must win", rushed towards the line infantry.

The first to open fire were forty 15-jin cannons, followed by two hundred nine-jin cannons. The scene of two hundred and forty cannons firing in unison was earth-shaking, and the entire earth was shaking. The projectiles fired by the artillery ran rampant on the battlefield. At a distance of one thousand to eight hundred steps, the heavy artillery fired twice, causing a massacre of shrapnel shells. Between eight hundred and five hundred steps, it was a massacre of solid bullets, because the penetration and ricocheting of solid bullets caused greater damage to the battlefield and formations.

The first wave of charge was like a wave, and then retreated like the ebb tide. There were more than 10,000 people in the first wave, but when the tide receded, only less than 5,000 people were out of the range.

"The density of artillery is a bit too high. Next time I remind Your Majesty to use fewer artillery. There is not enough space for them, and the pressure on logistics supply is also too great." Qi Jiguang watched the results of the battle with a telescope. Qi Jiguang was accustomed to seeing dead bodies. He preferred to see the enemy fall rather than his comrades lying in his arms and entrusting their wives and children to him.

The density of artillery fire was so great that the Ming infantry battalion had nothing to do, and the first wave of charge was over.

The infantry battalion was ready to go, and then they saw the charge being repelled by the artillery. The soldiers of the infantry battalion even showed some confusion. When the generals mobilized them, they said that this was the first decisive battle, a bloody battle, and a hard battle.

Your Majesty’s grace is truly too great.

"This..." Konishi Yukinaga stared blankly at Hwarang beheading deserters on the battlefield. He could not accept this result. A charge of 10,000 troops was easily resolved by the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't the Ming Dynasty's gunpowder cost money? The sound of a cannon is worth a thousand taels of gold, and the same should be true for the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, this is related to the Ming Dynasty's overcapacity. The saltpeter boiled in the Laojun Cave of the Ming Dynasty could only provide 500,000 kilograms of gunpowder a year, but the Ming Dynasty had to purchase more than 2 million kilograms of salty sand from the West every year. These salty sands were saltpeter, which were mainly used for ballast for ships and were all incidental cargoes. Such a huge amount of gunpowder was produced every year, and except for training, it could only be stored unless there was a major war.

The emperor had a bit of a fire phobia, but he was unwilling to cut back on gunpowder production; now he finally had a place to vent his phobia.

Konishi Yukinaga ordered a charge again. In the second wave, in addition to the Hwarang Hyuk driving away the Korean prisoners, Konishi Yukinaga's army also joined the second charge. This time, the three routes advanced in unison, with unstoppable momentum. After the second wave of charge, the third wave followed closely, advancing in a dispersed manner, not giving the Ming army's artillery a chance to wreak havoc.

The scattered charge was effective, and the Japanese pirates finally got within 500 steps of the linear formation. Between 500 and 100 steps was the range of the Tiger Squat Cannon. There were a total of 5,000 Tiger Squat Cannons placed on the battlefield.

The biggest feature of the Tiger Crouching Cannon is that it weighs only 36 pounds and can be carried around by people. It has countless advantages, but its biggest disadvantage is that it is a little weak, has a short neck and little gunpowder, and the bullet is heavy, so it is weak and unusable.

In order to change this shortcoming of low power, the Ming Dynasty Academy of Sciences and the Military Equipment Bureau carried out improvements, and the Tiger Crouching Cannon appeared. Its weight was increased to 49 kilograms and it could hold 2.8 jin of gunpowder. It was powerful enough, but it was too heavy.

You should know that the biggest advantage of the Tiger Crouching Cannon is its light weight and ease of carrying. With a weight of nearly 50 kilograms, it would take two people to carry it, which would be inconvenient to carry.

In the ninth year of the Wanli reign, a new tiger squat cannon appeared. Its weight was still 450 jin, but the amount of powder filling was increased to liang ( g). One mule cart could pull two tiger squat cannons and the necessary gunpowder and shells.

Although it is still called the Tiger Crouching Cannon, it is actually completely different. The scene of the Tiger Crouching Cannon firing in unison shrouded the entire Ming army's position in smoke. Similarly, countless projectiles shot out and flew towards the enemy. The Japanese pirates who survived the heavy artillery had no chance to sigh about surviving the disaster. What greeted them was a new round of artillery coverage.

Konishi Yukinaga once again attacked with two teams of 10,000 people in the fourth wave. The Japanese pirates were almost going crazy. As long as they could engage in close combat with the Ming Dynasty and their thin formation could be pierced by the Japanese pirates, they could win. As long as they could break through the opponent's firearms coverage, they would win!
There are now 45,000 people charging on the battlefield, all over the mountains and plains, rushing towards the Ming army like a raging wave, and the artillery fire is still ringing.

The range of muskets is within a hundred steps. The first to fire is the Pingyi gun. The soldiers of the Ming army do not like the Pingyi gun very much. The Pingyi gun is a precision firearm that is specifically used to target the enemy's armored soldiers. It's not that this thing is bad, it's just that it's expensive. One Pingyi gun is equivalent to five bird guns. I heard that in order to equip the Ming army with Pingyi guns, His Majesty was so frugal that he had to eat all the cakes.

Eating military rations, Guangbing, was meant to show that the emperor and the frontline soldiers shared the same hardships, but this thing was indeed very expensive.

Two thousand Pingyi guns were deployed on the battlefield, and soon the sound of bird guns began to sound continuously. Qi Jiguang looked at the battlefield with a frown. It was not that the effect of the linear formation was not good, but that it was too good. The enemies fell down one after another like wheat being harvested.

This was the first time that line formations were applied on the battlefield. Your Majesty jokingly called the tactic of line-up shooting. In fact, there had never been a drill manual. It was a relatively long process to determine the drill manual, train, and fight with all firearms. In order to prevent mistakes, Li Rusong led a cavalry battalion to a location ten miles east of Mudan Peak, only two miles away from the Ming position. Once the enemy broke through the firepower network, the heavy cavalry battalion would enter the field, giving the Ming infantry battalion time to change back to the Mandarin Duck Formation.

But now it has become a "harvest" situation. The four-row linear array and three-stage firing bring about a firepower coverage and effective killing power that exceeds that of artillery. A bird gun requires only two cents of gunpowder per firing, while an artillery requires nine or fifteen catties. Because there are relatively few siege battles in Liaodong, people prefer fire guns. This is also the reason why they are more cost-effective.

"Linear formations are very useful." Qi Jiguang said with a smile on his face.

The Ming Dynasty seemed to have kicked open a new door. Smoothbore muskets and cannons replaced spears, swords, and bows and arrows. The main form of human warfare changed from close combat to long-range combat that competed in firepower. This was an epoch-making door. Having an epoch-making lead meant that the Ming army was truly invincible.

The last time the Central Plains achieved a landmark lead was during the Han Dynasty’s ironware era, which led the world in the Bronze Age.

In the first, second, third and fourth waves of charge, a total of 50,000 Japanese pirates and Hwarang troops failed to break through a range of 100 steps, and they scattered like birds and beasts, rushing back even faster, and a rout occurred. This should have been the best time for the Ming army to advance, but Qi Jiguang did not move. Instead, he let the soldiers rest, clean up their firearms, and wait for the enemy's next charge.

It was not that the line formation had any shortcomings, but that Qi Jiguang was waiting, waiting for the cavalry camp under Jinxiu Mountain to cross the river from the upper reaches of the Taedong River and cut off the enemy's retreat.

Konishi Yukinaga dispatched Kuroda Nagamasa to block the Ming army upstream to prevent them from crossing the river and trapping them from both sides.

"Report! Kuroda Nagamasa was defeated, the Ming cavalry has crossed the river!" "Report! Yangjiaodu in the lower reaches of the Taedong River was attacked by the Ming army. In three quarters of an hour, our army was completely defeated!"

Konishi Yukinaga's eyes widened, and he rushed to the messenger, grabbed his collar, and asked sternly: "Baga! There are 2,000 people at Yangjiaodu! The main force of the Ming army is right in front of us, who took Yangjiaodu!"

"I don't know, the flag number is Li." The messenger was trembling with fear.

"Nonsense! Spreading rumors to shake the morale of the army, die!" Konishi Yukinaga drew out his short knife and stabbed it into the abdomen of the messenger, saying sternly: "Don't spread rumors, Yangjiaodu is safe!"

When the messenger fell, he looked at Konishi Yukinaga in disbelief. It was not his fault that Yangjiaodu was captured by the Ming army!
Yangjiaodu was captured by the Liaodong Army. Compared with the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Camp, the Liaodong Army did not seem to be very strong, but that was compared with the Beijing Camp.

The Liaodong Army was a group of veterans brought up by Li Chengliang. Their combat capability was no worse than that of the Beijing Army without using firearms. As Li Chengliang's confidant, Zu Chengxun led the Liaodong Army to cooperate in combat and did his best to contribute to Li Rusong's progress.

"Give the order, all troops charge! I don't believe we can't tear open the enemy's thin line!" Konishi Yukinaga had gone completely crazy. Yangjiao Ferry was lost, the retreat was blocked, Kuroda Nagamasa was defeated, and the Ming cavalry battalion had crossed the river and arrived behind them. They could only put all their strength and put everyone on the line, betting on a head-on defeat of the Ming army. This was the only chance of survival!
"I will lead the charge. If there are any deserters, they will be killed!" Konishi Yukinaga said sternly, "Amaterasu, we will win!"

"Amaterasu will win!"

Qi Jiguang, standing on the top of the city wall, naturally saw the movement. He put down his telescope and said, "We are at the end of our rope, let's fight to the death."

The Japanese pirates began to advance. The Ming army's combat became a bit formulaic. Firearms roared on the battlefield. The Japanese pirates fell like wheat being cut. They were never able to get within fifty steps of the Ming army and were killed by dense lead bullets. The five-pronged attack was firmly suppressed by the Ming army.

Li Rusong appeared on the gentle slope in the northwest direction of the battlefield. Behind him was a cavalry battalion. Unlike Ma Lin's vanguard battalion, the Zhenwu Battalion led by Li Rusong was a heavily armed cavalry battalion and the core combat force of the cavalry battalion. The three cavalry battalions were collectively called the Zhenwu Regimental Camp, and the Zhenwu Camp was the central army of the Zhenwu Regimental Camp.

The iron armor sparkled brightly in the midday sun. The armored cavalry camp was divided into three rows, waiting motionlessly. All of them held a 15-foot-long lance under their left armpits, holding the lance in their left hands, pointing the lance at a forty-five degree angle to the sky. This was the training posture: the crescent moon posture, a relatively labor-saving preparation posture, with the reins held in their right hands.

The heavy cavalry battalion had been waiting for the order from the Qixing Gate. The horn sounded suddenly more urgent, the drum beat more loudly, and when three whistle arrows flew into the air, Li Rusong leveled his lance and shouted loudly: "Zhenwu Battalion, listen to the order! Follow me to attack!"

"The Ming army is mighty!" The cavalry battalion responded to the commander's order.

The ivory flag was waving, Li Rusong put on his helmet, drove the horse and started to walk slowly. After walking slowly for twenty steps, the horse's pace began to quicken, raising bursts of fine dust. After walking quickly for nearly fifty steps, the heavy cavalry battalion finally completed the initial acceleration. Dust rose behind the cavalry battalion, the sound of horse hooves resounded over the battlefield, the lances were very long, the spear heads extended forward, flashing sharp light, and rushed into the Japanese pirate army that had been almost defeated.

The Japanese pirates were defeated.

The impact of heavy cavalry is definitely not something that infantry without any formation can resist.

When the infantry is heavily armored and well coordinated, they can defeat the heavy cavalry. For example, in the Battle of Yancheng, Yue Fei used the Beiwei Army to resist the Jin army's Iron Float. The heavy cavalry that the Jin people were proud of could not shake the heavy infantry. It is easy to shake a mountain, but it is difficult to shake Yue Fei's army.

There have been few cases in history where infantry has resisted cavalry charges.

Obviously, the Japanese pirates, who were already at the end of their rope, had neither sufficient armor nor special weapons, nor the morale to stop the advance of the heavy cavalry.

The impact of the heavy cavalry on the battlefield was devastating to the unarmored Japanese pirate army. Like a river bursting its banks, the heavy cavalry directly broke through the entire line, leaving a large area of ​​the battlefield empty.

"Retreat, retreat, retreat!" Konishi Yukinaga knew that he had lost, so he ordered a retreat. In fact, it would not matter if he had not given the order, because the great defeat had already arrived.

What made Konishi Yukinaga despair was that the Korean Hwarang ran faster than him!
Originally, Konishi Yukinaga wanted Hwarang to cover the rear, but Hwarang saw that the situation was not good and had already fled, leaving the Japanese army to cover the rear!

Before the Ming Emperor formed the heavy cavalry, the Ming military generals believed that the heavy cavalry could charge two or three times on the battlefield. This was an inference based on various records. After the cavalry battalion was actually formed, the Ming Emperor discovered that they were all liars.

Heavy cavalry with armored horses and men can only charge once. No matter how strong the horse is, once it stops, it will not be able to charge again.

They can charge twice or even three times, even if the horse is unarmored and the rider is half-armored or even has only a breastplate. However, such heavy cavalry, which is overloaded, has no chance to charge a second time.

But later the Ming generals discovered that once was enough. Looking around the world, no legion could withstand a charge from the Ming Zhenwu Camp. After all, a peerless general like Yue Fei only appears once in hundreds of years. In our time, there is such a general, and that is Qi Jiguang.

What is reassuring is that Qi Jiguang was in the Ming camp. He was the imperial teacher, the Duke of Fengguo, and the general.

The line infantry moved, changing from horizontal rows to columns, with 210 people in each column. Changing into columns was a drill, and the line simplified the formation, with only lines, phalanxes and columns. The columns were formed to make it easier to pass obstacles. While the lines moved slowly, it was very easy for them to tear their own formation apart, while the columns did not have this problem.

The Ming army was well-trained, and each column stabbed into the Japanese pirates' formation like a sharp knife. The enemy's defeat made it easier for the knives to advance, and the enemy, who had lost their composure, had completely become lambs to be slaughtered.

"Li Sun-sin." Qi Jiguang said calmly.

"I am here!" Li Shunchen came back to his senses and stood up straight. His jaw had never closed since the war began. He never thought that the war could go on like this.

"You lead our troops to clean up the battlefield, finish off the remaining Japanese pirates, and bring the living Koreans back to Pyongyang to dig coal." After Qi Jiguang gave the order, he received no response and asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"

"I obey your command!" Li Shunchen said hurriedly, "I think we must not be the enemy of Ming Dynasty."

The heavenly soldiers were so powerful that they shattered Lee Sun-sin's worldview. He decided not to make enemies with the heavenly soldiers and decided to let the Japanese pirates come. Lee Sun-sin was always thankful that he was not the one being beaten.

"Go." Qi Jiguang waved his hand, signaling Li Shunchen to go and finish off the enemy. All the spoils from the battlefield would be pulled into the warehouse and distributed according to the principle of three horses sharing the spoils. The Pyongyang defenders dared not embezzle because the heavenly soldiers would not let them.

"The Ming army is mighty!" After Li Shunchen left, Qi Jiguang looked at the battlefield and was quite emotional.

All the plans were in his mind. He thought it would go so smoothly, but he didn't expect such a crushing victory. The scene of the Zhenwu Camp charging towards the Japanese pirates like an overwhelming force, the outcome was already decided.

The cavalry battalion led by Ma Lin did not completely block the Japanese pirates' retreat, but left a gap and kept chasing and killing them on one side. This was to expand the results of the battle. The Ming Dynasty did not have a cavalry battalion before, so even if it won the battle, it could not expand the results of the battle. It was very passive. Although the vanguard battalion had only 3,000 people, every time the musket sounded, it would take away a Japanese pirate. The enchanting blood flowers symbolizing death bloomed on the long front line.

When a person is hit by a musket, in addition to the blood splattering, the person's reaction is like falling down on flat ground. The body will curl up and fall to the ground unable to move. The limbs will tremble slightly for a few times and then stop shaking.

The power of the musket is extremely great. On the battlefield, if you are hit by a bullet, you will basically die.

The war lasted for a whole day and night, and it was not until near noon the next day that the cavalry battalion withdrew and returned to the camp. The pursuit was over forty miles, and the road was littered with enemy corpses. There were more than 20,000 Pyongyang defenders who were still cleaning up the battlefield. There was no more head merit in the Ming Dynasty, only merit on the front line. In this battle alone, all the soldiers who participated in the war, including the Liaodong Army, were awarded the third-class first merit medal. The reward for the merit medal was no less than that for the head merit.

"The Japanese pirates were all beheaded, and 21,000 of them were beheaded." On March 5, the third day after the battle, Chen Dacheng counted the number of heads and informed Qi Jiguang and the Governor-General of Military Affairs Liang Menglong.

Governor Liang Menglong was in charge of military affairs and was mainly responsible for clerical work, including ports, land reclamation, military rations, firearms, prisoners of war, harvests and so on. He was so busy that he was dizzy. He only had time to rest after three days of fighting. This battle consumed 70,000 kilograms of gunpowder.

"The 100,000 kilograms of gunpowder that Guoxing Zhengmao sent to Tianjin Tanggu has all arrived in Yizhou. I have personally inspected it and the quality is very good, comparable to the gunpowder in the Beijing warehouse." Liang Menglong told Qi Jiguang a fact that the gunpowder inventory was 30,000 kilograms more than before.

The more you fight, the more you get.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty prepared a total of 1.5 million kilograms of gunpowder, and the army brought a total of 300,000 kilograms of gunpowder to Korea. After one battle, there are now 330,000 kilograms. Now the Ming army has enough gunpowder to fight three or four more such decisive battles. I just don't know if the Japanese pirates can still gather so many people to die.

"Our army had 24 wounded and 3 killed, including Li Fugui from the Zhenwu Battalion, Lu Jun from the Xianfeng Battalion, and Lü Jinlin from the Infantry Battalion. Seventeen soldiers from the Liaodong Army were wounded, but no one was killed." Liang Menglong informed Qi Jiguang of the casualties in the Ming Dynasty. Li Fugui from the Zhenwu Battalion and Lu Jun from the Xianfeng Battalion were both pulled off their horses by the enemy and died heroically, while Lü Jinlin from the Infantry Battalion was so bloodthirsty that he killed too many people.

There were less than two thousand Japanese pirates left at Yangjiaodu. When the Liaodong Army arrived, these pirates thought they were ambushed and ran away.

"Send him to the capital, and ask for an imperial decree to build a temple for the loyal and brave." Qi Jiguang said solemnly, "The relief must be done well."

Liang Menglong frowned and said, "The Konishi Yukinaga has been found. He was trampled to death by the Korean Hwarang. Well, after he fell, the Hwarang stepped on him without caring about anything and trampled him to death."

"what?"

Generals such as Qi Jiguang, Li Rusong, Chen Dacheng, and Ma Lin looked at Liang Menglong in amazement. Konishi Yukinaga was also a top figure, which meant that the Ming army was leading for a long time, otherwise this guy would have been a trouble. But he just died like that, and was he trampled to death by the fleeing Hwarang?
Liang Menglong also spread his hands and said: "The body has been taken to Pyongyang. If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself. It has been verified."

(End of this chapter)