I'm really not doing business

Chapter 732: The Hidden Dragon Awakens, His Loyalty Overwhelms the Cold Sky
"In this battle, I found that the density of artillery was too high and it had affected the movement of the infantry. It is true that after the battle, the amount of gunpowder increased to 330,000 kilograms, but we must also note that this way of fighting is too wasteful. Although Your Majesty is not short of money and has done his best to supply us with what we need on the front line, and does not let us worry too much about logistics."

"But fighting in this way will put enormous pressure on logistics, so the correct choice is to appropriately reduce the density of artillery and reduce the pressure on logistics." Qi Jiguang began to summarize the gains and losses of the Battle of Pyongyang.

Even with the emperor's strong support, the Ming army became a virtual "young master's army". After the big battle, the stock of gunpowder increased instead. However, the Ming army in the capital was accustomed to such luxury and would rely too much on logistics. If they got into a tough battle, it would affect their combat effectiveness.

The reduction in artillery density is mainly due to logistical pressure and effective killing.

Gunpowder was also a very precious thing for the Ming Dynasty, because it could be used in production, especially the mining of Shengzhou open-pit coal mine, and some bridge and road repairs. Waste was shameful, and thrift was a virtue.

"In this battle, I noticed that the Japanese pirates' attack was timid. Many of them could not bear heavy casualties. This was completely contrary to the Bushido they clamored about. It was just as Your Majesty said, the more something is lacking, the more it will be emphasized." Qi Jiguang looked at everyone and explained the situation he saw in detail.

In the final general offensive, the Japanese pirates divided into five directions and charged out in full force, but the defeat of each part was different. Less than a quarter of an hour after entering the battlefield, the Korean Hwarang Association collectively turned back, abandoned the Japanese pirates and ran away.

The Hwarang Association is not within the scope of discussion. The general offensive of the Japanese pirates in five directions often collapsed with casualties of less than 10%.

During the more than 25 years of war between the Ming Dynasty and Altan Khan, the Ming army performed better than the Japanese pirates. The Ming army would collapse if the casualty ratio was above 20%. This was because the Ming Dynasty lacked cavalry on the battlefield. Once it was defeated, it would be hunted down by the northern pirates. In this case, defeat meant death, so the Ming army could withstand more casualties.

In the 25-year war between the Ming Dynasty and Altan Khan, the Ming Dynasty won more battles than it lost, and Altan Khan did not gain much advantage from the Ming Dynasty. The reason why the war turned out to be a mess was partly due to the Ming Dynasty's policy of nurturing the enemy to protect itself, but the most important reason was the lack of cavalry, which made it impossible to expand the results of the war.

In terms of the proportion of casualties suffered by the troops alone, the Ming army performed better than the Japanese pirates. The so-called Bushido spirit of the Japanese pirates was not as common as rumored. To put it simply, the Ming army was more fearless and daring than the Japanese pirates.

Qi Jiguang continued, "There is one more thing. When the enemy is equipped with a large number of firearms, blind, rigid multi-wave charges will become a tactic of adding fuel to the fire, and will inevitably lead to defeat."

"Secondly, if you put yourself in his shoes, there was nothing wrong with Konishi Yukinaga's command in the decisive battle. The multiple waves of charges were not wrong at all, and he changed his tactics very quickly. After seeing the power of firearms, he immediately sent all the remaining soldiers to attack. It is clear that he had done his best, but facing the changed battlefield, losing became his only outcome."

Konishi Yukinaga's multiple waves of attacks were as ridiculous as deliberately feeding the Ming army military merits. With the Ming army having an advantage in firepower, wasn't this just adding fuel to the fire? Konishi Yukinaga's adjustment speed was very fast and his performance was excellent, but facing the Ming army with a generational advantage, his performance was somewhat powerless.

"I learned a lesson." Marin raised his hand and said, "I found that if an army is not deployed, no matter how strong it is, it is still weak. This is even more obvious in the age of firearms."

"When crossing the Taedong River upstream, our vanguard camp was attacked by Japanese cannons and had to retreat, but the enemy's Kuroda Nagamasa rashly attacked, giving me an opportunity."

"Training is conducive to the rapid deployment and change of formations, so as to gain the initiative more quickly."

The vanguard camp's battle was not smooth because the formation could not be deployed and they encountered resistance when crossing the river. But soon Kuroda Nagamasa paid the price for his rash attack. When the vanguard camp successfully crossed the river and deployed the formation, the Japanese pirates led by Kuroda Nagamasa had no ability to resist and were eventually defeated.

"The heavy cavalry battalion is worthless." Li Rusong said solemnly, "Even if we form a cavalry battalion in the future, we should transform it into a semi-armored light cavalry to cooperate with the musketeers."

In the age of firearms, heavy cavalry battalions were no longer the protagonists on the battlefield. This was a tragedy of the times, but also a trend of development. The Ming Dynasty spent a high price to train knights, war horses, and armor, and trained them hard, but their performance on the battlefield was not as important as imagined.

After considering it for a while, Qi Jiguang said, "In fact, I think it is very valuable. You see, there are no large armies equipped with firearms around the Ming Dynasty. Heavy cavalry is still the best way to settle the battle, completely undermine the enemy's will to resist, and end the war."

"The heavy cavalry battalion charged and created a blank on the battlefield. The Japanese pirates collapsed as a whole. Around the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese pirates were considered a very capable army, but they still couldn't withstand such an impact."

"On the battlefield, it is easy to gain an advantage, but it is very difficult to turn the advantage into a victory, or even turn the victory into an end to the war. The battlefield is changeable, and it is very likely that a small matter will change the situation. The longer it drags on, the greater the variables."

"The Heavy Cavalry Battalion has a natural advantage in ending the war. After all, no one can withstand the fear in their hearts when seeing the iron mountain coming towards them like a city wall."

In the Battle of Gaoliang River, people always focus on the joke that the donkey cart god of war ran 170 miles in one day and night despite being injured. But in fact, the Northern Song army had always been in an absolute advantage. However, due to the lack of cavalry, the lack of ability to expand the results of the battle, and the lack of heavy cavalry that could make the final decision, the Liao army finally found an opportunity and launched a surprise attack on Zhao Er.

The Northern Song army was extremely powerful at that time. Even after losing its commander, it still maintained its organization and formation and left the battlefield without further defeat.

However, Zhao Er lost his prestige as an emperor because of this, and even became suspicious, emphasizing culture over military affairs. In the end, Zhao Er failed to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which also led to the first substantial demise of the Central Plains dynasty.

The barbarians trampled on the mountains and rivers, and it was not until a hundred years later that the country regained its light.

Qi Jiguang believed that the cavalry battalion was not only important, but also the only weapon to end the war at present and was irreplaceable.

"General Qi is right." Li Rusong was stunned for a moment, then agreed with Qi Jiguang's opinion.

The heavy cavalry battalion should maintain a certain size as a means to end the war. In this battle, he was the commander of the cavalry battalion, but he felt that the emperor's efforts and gains were not equal. The cost of one heavy cavalry was equal to that of five elite soldiers. His opinion was from the perspective of the cavalry battalion. In short, the momentum was enough, but not enough people were killed.

But Qi Jiguang didn't think so. He saw the effect of the heavy cavalry battalion.

It has been a tradition since Qi Jiguang led the army to have a summary after the battle. After the battle, all the lieutenants and captains sat together to talk about the gains and losses of the battle. This kind of experience summary atmosphere is to say whatever you want to say, rather than Qi Jiguang's one-man show. After summarizing the experience, you can fight better next time. He has been doing this since he led the army in Zhejiang. There is a saying in the army that three lieutenants are as good as one Zhuge Liang.

The atmosphere of the post-war review was very relaxed, and experience was formed after sufficient discussion.

For example, what Marin said, "A force that is not deployed is weak no matter how strong it is," is very meaningful. The cavalry battalion will no longer form more heavy-armored cavalry battalions in the future, but will maintain its current size and change to half-armor, which also represents the development direction of the cavalry. The combat power of the line formation exceeds the imagination of all generals.

Firearms changed the basic pattern of the battlefield. Past experiences were rendered invalid due to the extensive use of firearms. For example, Konishi Yukinaga's wave attack was no problem, but he encountered a musketeer team.

Qi Jiguang felt that fighting a war was a very simple matter. It could be summed up in four words: play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, and make the most of your own advantages to attack the enemy's weaknesses.

"If there are no problems, then write a battle report to commend the Ming army, and by the way, send the prisoners of war and Konishi Yukinaga's body to the capital." After Qi Jiguang finished the post-war summary, he asked everyone if they had anything to add. When no one added anything, Qi Jiguang wrote a victory report to request credit.

Zhu Yijun had already known the news of the great victory in Pyongyang because the rumors had spread everywhere. It was five days after the victory that Qi Jiguang's victory report reached the Ming capital.

Zhu Yijun could understand that the front line needed to count enemy and allied casualties, make a comprehensive summary of the war, escort prisoners to shut up the civil officials in the court, organize battlefield statistical gains, and so on.

A lot of things need to be done on the front line to ensure victory. A large part of these things are for one thing, which is to prevent the literati in the court from celebrating funerals and happy events. The literati in the Ming Dynasty were very good at this kind of thing. Qi Jiguang himself was a victim. After winning the battle, he was rewarded with meritorious service. Even the opportunity to reward meritorious service is precious.

Zhu Yijun remembered what Qi Jiguang said to the soldiers: Is it difficult? If there is hope and we can win the battle, it will definitely not be our turn. If we are asked to fight, it is definitely a battle that we have no hope of winning. Winning a battle that we have no hope of winning is considered a skill and a chance. Is it difficult? But it is not difficult. It is not our turn.

This was the dilemma of the Ming soldiers before Zhenwu. This dilemma made all the soldiers extremely confused. Zhu Yijun never forgot why Zhenwu set out.

"Report! Great victory in Pyongyang! Great victory in Pyongyang!" A man named Duntai Yuanhou, with a vermilion dragon pennant on his back, ran into the Tonghe Palace and came to the door of the imperial study without any hindrance. He shouted loudly: "Congratulations to the Ming Dynasty, congratulations to His Majesty, great victory in Pyongyang! Our Ming army defeated the Japanese pirates!"

"Reward!" Zhu Yijun stood up suddenly. He had been looking forward to the victory report, and finally received it. Although he knew that the victory report from the front line had to be accurate, he was a little anxious. He immediately rewarded Duntai Yuanhou, and then took the victory report from Feng Bao and read it carefully.

Zhu Yijun took the victory report, walked and read it and said: "Good! In the battle of Yangjiaodu, our Liaodong soldiers showed bravery! Zu Chengxun was defeated in one fell swoop, and the possibility of the Japanese pirates retreating from Yangjiaodu was cut off!"

"Great! The line-up tactics have been put into practice. The tactics of firing squads have been used repeatedly, proving the reliability of this tactic!"

"Great! Li Rusong led the heavy cavalry to make the final decision! Ma Lin led the vanguard battalion to pursue and kill the pirates, expanding the victory! A total of 21,000 Japanese pirates were killed, not counting the Hwarang Association, and the troops went straight to the city of Kaesong!"

"Good! Good! Good! Our Ming army cooperated closely on the Liaodong battlefield and did not hinder or rush to gain credit. We will be rewarded greatly! All of them will be rewarded greatly!"

Zhu Yijun looked at the victory report over and over again, and he couldn't suppress the smile on his face. His smile was very bright and sunny. Konishi Yukinaga's humiliating defeat and the crushing victory of the Ming army made Zhu Yijun very happy. This was the great success of Zhenwu in the 14th year of the Wanli Reform.

"Ah? How come this Konishi Yukinaga was trampled to death by the Korean Hwarang Association?" Zhu Yijun noticed the details.

Konishi Yukinaga was miserable! He had suffered a humiliating defeat and died a humiliating death. He did not die at the hands of the Ming army, but at the hands of the Korean Hwarang. They really trampled him to death with one foot each. These Hwarang had no other skills, but they were very good at escaping.

Feng Bao said with a smile: "It's like this on the battlefield. Life and death are unpredictable." The governor's internal minister Li Yougong had actually already reported this crushing victory, but some specific details still required Qi Jiguang's victory report.

"Send a memorial to the Ministry of Rites to compile the victory report into a document, describing the situation of the battle clearly in vernacular Chinese and with pictures and texts, and send it to the imperial gazette, and announce it to the world, so that everyone in the world will know about the great victory of our Ming army." Zhu Yijun handed the victory report to Feng Bao. He was like a child who got a treasure and showed it off everywhere. He wanted to keep telling everyone in the world how wonderful this treasure was.

"General Qi submitted a memorial suggesting the abolition of the 'Instructing the People's Code'. I thought it was a good idea and sent a decree to the Ministry of Rites to study it." Zhu Yijun mentioned another detail.

In the 11th year of the reign of King Sejong of Joseon, Yi Yeong-hee promulgated "Hunminjeongeum", created the Korean phonetic alphabet - the Yeonmun alphabet, and fully annotated the Chinese characters, marking that the Korean Peninsula had its own writing system.

This Yanwen was not a good person. Qi Jiguang originally thought that this was a landmark event in the King of Korea's pursuit of autonomy, but after a detailed study, Qi Jiguang discovered that this "Hunminjeongeum" was intended to distinguish classes.

In Korea, the upper class learned Chinese and used Chinese characters, and all laws were written in Chinese. The lower class used Yanwen and could not understand the laws at all. Korea's Imperial Academy Sungkyunkwan did not teach Yanwen at all, only Chinese. In other words, the literati in Korea used Yanwen to completely monopolize the path to upward mobility.

Even the clerks in the government office had to know Chinese, otherwise they would not be able to understand the laws. The same went for doctors, so if you were really born in Korea, your whole generation would be poor laborers.

Qi Jiguang meant to abolish the Yanwen of Hunminjeongeum and replace it with comprehensive Chinese text, that is, "Hongwu Zhengyun", because Yanwen itself is the phonetic notation of Chinese characters, but due to the problem of accents in various places, Yanwen became strange, like the barking of a dog, which was not conducive to the Ming Dynasty's kingship of Korea.

Zhu Yijun's attitude was to let the Ministry of Rites study it and decide whether to retain its cultural characteristics or abolish it directly. The Ministry of Rites quickly replied to the emperor, approving Qi Jiguang's suggestion to completely abolish Yanwen. In the view of the Ministry of Rites, this was justified. Anyone who wanted to analyze it could go to Qin Shihuang and ask him why he wanted to unify the writing system, the wheel gauge, and the weights and measures.

On March 15th of the 14th year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Emperor rarely asked the three dukes and high priests to go to the suburbs to worship their ancestors. Instead, Emperor Zhu Yijun went to the Western Hills in person to preside over the suburban sacrifice. This was the first time since the Wanli reign.

In Zhu Yijun's view, this crushing victory could give an explanation to his ancestors. The reason for such a high-level sacrifice was mainly to tell the Taoist that the Ming Dynasty had now avenged the Japanese invasion.

After the coroner's examination, it was confirmed that Konishi Yukinaga's body had indeed been trampled to death. It had been burned to ashes and scattered at Chaoyang Gate for people to trample on.

According to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, in grand ceremonies such as suburban sacrifices, the empress had to accompany the emperor to offer sacrifices. Wang Yaozhuo was pregnant, and the imperial physician said that walking more and doing proper exercise at this time would be good for the development of the fetus.

The carriage stopped at Yangcuiling of Tianshou Mountain, where the Taoist's mausoleum was located. Zhu Yijun, wearing a twelve-tasseled crown and a twelve-chapter robe, got off the carriage and pulled Wang Yaozhuo, walked through the outer Luocheng, walked through the three-arch red mausoleum gate, stepped onto the sacred road, walked past the statue, passed through the Zun'en Gate, and came to the Zun'en Hall.

The steps along the imperial road are carved with dragons and phoenixes playing with pearls. Inside the Zun'en Hall, there are god beds, tablets of the emperor and empress, imperial books, clothes, thrones and other items. If the emperor comes, the main table, the auxiliary table and the three-animal table box are set up for sacrifice. There are five stone offerings on the table, and candlesticks and vases on both sides.

At this point, only the emperor, empress, and eunuchs were allowed to enter. Civil and military officials were waiting in front of Danbi. Zhu Yijun took the incense from Feng Bao and inserted it into the incense burner surrounded by the five stone offerings.

Zhu Yijun took out a piece of paper and said in a rambling voice: "The heavy snow fell on the battle robes, the north wind blew the snow all over the river; the latent dragon opened the ditch and awakened, the red courage overwhelmed the cold sky; the army raised its arms to the sky, the army was glorious and mighty; the battle wiped out the national humiliation, and the men returned victoriously."

"Heavy snow fell on the battle robe, covering it with a thick layer of frost. The north wind was howling, and both sides of the Yalu River were covered with snow. In the fourteenth year of Zhenwu, the Ming army was like a latent dragon awakening from its slumber. The loyalty of the soldiers was like the scorching sun covering the cold sky and the earth. Zhenwu's long spears pointed straight to the sky, and the army was neat and shining. Even the power of heaven had to avoid its edge. In the battle of Pyongyang, the warriors of the Ming Dynasty washed away the national humiliation of the Japanese invasion during the Jiajing period with blood. The victory news came from the front. I am waiting for their triumphant return and drinking with them."

"Today, I will tell Emperor Sejong that I intend to completely wipe out the Japanese pirates. I hope that our ancestors will bless our Ming Dynasty and bring prosperity to our military."

Zhu Yijun finished reading the sacrificial words on the paper, then lit them on the candlestick and threw them into the incense burner. He waited until the paper burned out before saying with a smile, "Since you didn't reply, that means you have tacitly agreed. I will take it as the ancestors' agreement to my plan to destroy the Japanese."

"I really don't know how to write poetry, nor can I write Qingci. I will just write it as it is, and my ancestors will just read it as it is."

Suddenly a breeze blew through the Zun'en Hall, fluttering the gauze curtain. It was unclear whether the breeze was mocking Zhu Yijun for being shameless and misinterpreting the ancestors' intentions, or whether it thought Zhu Yijun's poems were not good, or whether it agreed with Zhu Yijun's plan to destroy Japan.

The reason why Zhu Yijun did not come to the suburban sacrifice was actually very simple. He had no outstanding achievements to show to his ancestors. It would be enough for him to report to the Taimiao. The great victory in Pyongyang killed more than 21,000 Japanese pirates. In Zhu Yijun's view, this was an outstanding achievement. Another reason was that he was the Prime Minister.

At the end of the Jiajing period, the Taoist priest who was devoted to self-cultivation appointed prime ministers who were good at writing Qingci. Zhu Yijun really couldn't write, and he was unwilling to let his ministers write. So when he came to offer sacrifices, he wrote a poem according to his own wishes, which had no poetic style and no rhyme, and said some words in a rambling manner.

He was the emperor, and he had the final say on the format of Qingci.

"My husband's poem is excellent. The rhythm and word choice are good, but the intention is not as good as it is." Wang Yaozhuo said with a smile: "The news of victory came from the front. My husband is really happy. I also hope that there will be more victory news from the front."

Wang Yaozhuo felt that Xunzi, who invented the term "cheap Confucian", must be a genius. He was a Confucian scholar but still so cheap. This accurately portrayed a group of people. They were few in number, but had the loudest voice and shouted the loudest. They kept asking for privileges, manipulating public opinion, confusing right and wrong, and calling a horse a zebra. These cheap Confucian scholars were tearing the Ming Dynasty apart.

For Queen Wang Yaozhuo, the impact was really great, because the remarks and actions of these despicable Confucian scholars always made His Majesty look gloomy. In order to convey the feelings of the people above, the Emperor could only tolerate these nonsense. The Emperor was unhappy, and the Queen would naturally be unhappy. In Wang Yaozhuo's view, it was a good thing that Mr. Zhang dealt a heavy blow to the despicable Confucian scholars in order to protect his disciples.

Before the news of the great victory in Pyongyang reached the capital, there were no lowly scholars talking nonsense. But there were some in the past. The governor of Shanxi, Zhou Liangyin, did this before. He said that the military exploits outside the Great Wall were not military exploits, and that Li Chengliang was taking credit for killing innocent people. He went there in person and saw that Gule Village had been razed to the ground, so he accused Li Chengliang of being harsh on civil officials and acting like a military leader.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty offered sacrifices in the suburbs for no other purpose than to tell Daoyou that the blood debt of the Japanese invasion was being repaid with blood.

The victory report written by Qi Jiguang was sent to the Ming Dynasty, and Kato Kiyomasa also wrote a victory report and sent it back to Japan. At the same time, Oda Nobunaga received the victory report from the front line and the report from the Ming Dynasty.

"So, did the Ming army win, or did we Japanese win? Did the Ming army deceive the Ming emperor, or did our expeditionary army deceive me, the general?" Oda Nobunaga said angrily as he looked at two completely different battle reports.

"We should take the imperial reports as the basis. After all, battle reports can lie, but the battle lines cannot. It is an indisputable fact that the Ming army has advanced to the outskirts of Kaesong. There is no reason why the battle lines would shrink drastically after a great victory." Kuroda Kotaka answered the question, although Oda Nobunaga asked the question knowing the answer.

Oda Nobunaga was very talented in military affairs, and no one in Japan could defeat him. Of course, he could tell at a glance that the battle report was fake.

Kato Kiyomasa's battle report was: The Japanese expeditionary force was unstoppable, and it completely wiped out the Liaodong Army at Yangjiaodu. The morale was high, and it was the Japanese army that broke through the torn linear formation of the Ming Army's defense line. After achieving a great victory and killing 50,000 enemies, the triumphant expeditionary force obeyed Oda Nobunaga's order and chose to retreat.

During the retreat, Konishi Yukinaga unfortunately died of illness and was buried in Qingdang Mountain.

"A great victory in Pyongyang, bullshit! A great defeat!" Oda Nobunaga threw Kato Kiyomasa's battle report on the ground and said sternly, "I told them to stop in Seoul and not to attack rashly. They should build a defense line in Seoul, Chungju, and Busan, and make the Ming Dynasty realize that helping Korea will cost a very high price, and that the Korean royal family is not as submissive as it seems. The best outcome is to negotiate peace in the end."

"How did they do it? Before the Chinese New Year last year, they couldn't wait to start attacking. In the Korean battlefield, the one who determined success or failure was never the North Korean army, but the Ming soldiers. Now they have ended up like this, they deserve it!"

In fact, Oda Nobunaga was not that angry, because those who were sent to die were not his direct descendants. No matter how many of them died, Oda Nobunaga would just regard them as a waste of samurai. These guys would only make food prices higher in Japan.

Since 150,000 samurai invaded Korea, the price of grain in Japan finally stopped soaring and showed a downward trend. Moreover, without the physical threat, farmers everywhere were able to go about their spring farming in an orderly manner.

Oda Nobunaga looked at the very simple geomancy map for a long time and said, "It's still not too late to build fortifications now. Order the front line to build a defense line immediately. It will take at least three to five years to hold the Ming army back! As long as it takes three years, the Ming will not be able to reach the Japanese mainland."

"My strategy from the beginning to now has been to use offense instead of defense to prevent the Ming Dynasty from attacking our homeland."

Kuroda Xiaogao was stunned for a moment and said, "Is it enough to just hold on for three years?"

Oda Nobunaga pointed his long pole at the location of Songjiang Prefecture and said, "Yes, because the focus of the Ming Dynasty is changing, the opening of the sea is in full swing. The more the Ming Dynasty invests in the northeast, the more it will delay the opening of the sea. As long as it can be delayed for three years, the cost for the Ming Dynasty to completely destroy our country of Japan will be too high."

"Korea is mountainous, and Japan is even more mountainous with little land. There are so many places in Southeast Asia waiting for the emperor to reclaim. Investing too much in the northeast would be irrational. A wise Ming emperor would weigh the pros and cons."

"General, that's a good idea." Kuroda Kotaka looked at it for a long time and agreed with Oda Nobunaga's idea, but he said with great concern: "General, is it inappropriate to entrust the fate of the country to the emperor's mercy?"

Oda Nobunaga shook his head and said, "If we don't expect the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to weigh the pros and cons, do we expect the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to let go of the blood feud?"

Oda Nobunaga's sister, Oda Ichi, is in the Ming Dynasty. All of Oda Nobunaga's descendants were sent to the Ming Dynasty because they were going to invade Korea. Now Oda Nobunaga is really not afraid of the Ming Dynasty attacking the Japanese mainland.

The greatest danger of semi-colonial and semi-feudalism is that the survival of the ruling class is completely separated from its homeland, and its survival is entirely dependent on the support of the colonial power.

(End of this chapter)