The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Chapter 1067 Send Troops
Two thousand cavalrymen led the Korean envoys into Korea that very day.

Pan Yu, who was urgently summoned to the army, served as the vanguard and was responsible for leading the Korean envoys ahead.

The Korean envoy was still in a daze. He had been sent by the king to the Ming Dynasty to seek help. He had planned that it would take at least three days to get from Jianzhou to the capital, and at least half a month for the emperor to make a decision and send troops. But he was able to borrow troops on the same day he met the Liaodong general.
The Korean envoy was somewhat flustered, fearing that the Liaodong General had acted on his own initiative. Regardless of his purpose, it would be bad if the emperor misunderstood Korea and their king.

But being on horseback, he couldn't find an opportunity to speak until after dark when the army stopped to rest. Only then did he stumble over to Pan Yu and tentatively ask, "General, has my king reported the matter of borrowing troops to His Majesty the Emperor? My king has always served the Emperor with utmost respect and has never dared to overstep his bounds..."

Pan Yu comforted him, saying, "The King of Joseon is known to be respectful to the Emperor, both in the court and among the people. Therefore, Your Majesty was very angry when you first learned that the Japanese had invaded Joseon."

Pan Yu praised the King of Joseon repeatedly, saying that Joseon was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the King of Joseon had always served the emperor as a subject. Now that Joseon was in trouble, the emperor cherished his people and was determined to seek justice for the King of Joseon and his people.

The Korean envoy paused for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Does His Majesty the Emperor know about the Japanese invasion of Korea?"

“Not bad,” Pan Yu waved to his adjutant, who immediately led the telegraph operator forward with the telegraph machine on his back.

Pan Yu said, “This is something that can transmit messages over long distances. The telegraph machine of Jianzhou Guard is high-powered and can transmit over a long range. The hand-cranked one we brought has low power, but we are not far from Jianzhou Guard and can still communicate with them. We can send the information back to Jianzhou Guard and then Jianzhou Guard will report it to the capital.”

Pan Yu said, "When we arrive at a certain place and meet the King of Joseon, he can use this method to communicate with His Majesty."

He said, "When His Majesty received the report from Jianzhou Guard, the court and the public were shocked. In less than a quarter of an hour, he decided to send troops to aid Korea. Envoy, His Majesty is very kind and fond of Korea."

The envoy was moved to tears and immediately knelt down to bow three times and kowtow nine times in the direction of the capital.

After Pan Yu finished bowing, he pulled the man up and said, "The Grand Preceptor's birthday is approaching. We must drive the Japanese out of Korea before then, as a birthday gift for the Grand Preceptor."

The envoy's eyes lit up, and he immediately said that the King of Joseon had prepared a very good gift for the National Preceptor's birthday. In order to get to the capital as soon as possible and cultivate a relationship with the emperor, they originally planned to depart on May 20th and arrive in the capital on June 10th. He was one of the envoys.

Unexpectedly, the mission was delayed by the invasion of Japan. Korea lost three cities in succession, and the Japanese even massacred the city. The Korean king suddenly felt the danger of the country's demise and urgently sought help from the Ming Dynasty.

There are still forty-two days until the National Preceptor's birthday. Actually, it doesn't necessarily take a month to travel from Korea to the capital. They can travel there in ten days by fast horse. So as long as they can drive out the Japanese pirates within a month, they can attend the National Preceptor's birthday celebration on time and present the Korean national gift to His Majesty the Emperor and the National Preceptor.

Pan Yu also wanted to end the war as soon as possible so he could celebrate his sister's birthday.

Even if he can't go back, he can't let her birthday be shrouded in the shadow of war.

Whether Li Song had anticipated this or not, he deliberately appointed him as the vanguard, letting him lead the troops ahead.

Pan Yu rushed to Kaesong, where King Yi Do and the royal family of Joseon had moved there.

The Japanese attack came suddenly and unexpectedly, and there were many inside agents in Korea, most of whom were Japanese ronin who had come to Korea in the last two years.

In fact, this matter has something to do with the Ming Dynasty.

Because of the lifting of the sea ban, the imperial court had a considerable amount of revenue from customs duties. In addition, with the mining of silver mines in Omori Township, the imperial court launched three concentrated crackdowns on pirates in order to ensure maritime trade. That's right, last year, taking advantage of the opportunity to clean up military affairs, the navy along the southeast coast carried out another crackdown on pirates.

The Japanese pirates dared not invade again, and after the new emperor ascended the throne and established his authority, he successfully repelled the Japanese invasion. They dared not harass the Ming Dynasty, so they turned their attention to Korea.

After the development of maritime trade during the Ming Dynasty, not only did maritime trade in Ryukyu and Japan follow suit, but Korea developed even faster.

Most of the goods that North Korea has are also available in Japan. However, Japan is currently plagued by internal strife and its economic environment is not good, so merchants may encounter dangers such as robbery and fraud.

The situation in Korea was different. Under Yi Do's rule, Korea enjoyed a stable environment, and its economy and culture developed rapidly. Furthermore, Korea maintained a good relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and Ming merchants had a secure presence in Korea. Therefore, merchants preferred to come to Korea.

Traveling by land is both long and dangerous, while traveling by sea is much more convenient.

Moreover, the shipping route could first pass through North Korea, and then go up the coastline to Nurgan Commandery, where there were also large areas of resources available for trade.

Seeing the bustling activity in Korea, the Japanese, separated by a strait, were naturally envious. As a result, a large number of merchants came to Korea, both to trade with Korea and to buy goods from the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, a large number of ronin also arrived.

The Wokou were mainly composed of ronin (masterless samurai).

These ronin would rob fishing boats and merchant ships when they reached the sea, and after changing their clothes, they would become merchants or laborers when they went ashore.

Korea was suffering terribly, so Yi Do sent a large army to suppress the bandits. However, no one expected that the Japanese would bribe and control the deputy general of the army.

With the help of both inside and outside forces, they landed in Busan on May 14th, and Busan fell in just one day.

After the fall of Busan, the southern defenses of Korea collapsed, and the Japanese army advanced rapidly, offering no resistance to the Korean forces.

The ronin who had been hiding inside Korea quickly gathered and caused chaos in the city before the Japanese army arrived. Some even went so far as to sneak up to the city gate, open it, and let the enemy into the city.

So by the tenth day, the Japanese army had reached the outskirts of the capital of Korea.

At this time, the capital of Joseon was called Wanggyeong, also known as Seoul. In the midst of the crisis, King Yi Do fled north in panic, and many ministers and princes were captured. Because the battle lines had collapsed, and it was unknown how many traitors were hiding in the various cities, King Yi Do realized that he could not stop the Japanese. Therefore, he urgently sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to request assistance.

He had already retreated to Kaesong, and if he retreated further, he would have to go to Pyongyang. If Pyongyang also fell, he would have no choice but to jump into the Yalu River and would have no face to meet his ancestors.

So when Li Tao saw Pan Yu arrive with his army, he led his ministers to greet him three miles away and almost burst into tears while embracing Pan Yu.

Pan Yu reassured the King of Joseon, asked him for ministers and elders familiar with the terrain, and then sent out scouts to investigate the strength of the Japanese army, etc.

Pan Yu did not rush to take action. Instead, he took over the North Korean troops, met with the local elders, and ordered them to count the North Korean population. All the outsiders were brought to the camps.

The Han Chinese were managed in a separate battalion, while the Japanese investigated their identities, and anyone who could not produce a definite identity was killed.

During the statistical process, all those who resisted, regardless of their nationality, were killed without exception.

When the Han Chinese who came here to do business heard that reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty had arrived, they obediently took out their household registration, travel permits, and entry and exit documents as soon as the order was issued. Some even brought their fellow villagers to vouch for them.

Pan Yu sent a troop of soldiers to assist. The official script of the three kingdoms was Chinese characters. Their household registration, travel permits, and entry and exit documents were all in Chinese characters. Anyone who could read could speak Chinese. Therefore, the Koreans could not distinguish between the ronin who forged documents and pretended to be Chinese.

They also lack the ruthless methods that Pan Yu employed.

But Pan Yu can.

The King of Joseon also relinquished military power, allowing him to command the Joseon troops. Since he was a general from a superior country, Joseon believed that his word was law.

Pan Yu's soldiers were fluent in various dialects, and after a search, they actually found quite a few vagrants pretending to be Han Chinese.

Whenever they encounter someone like this, they drag them out and chop them down without saying a word.

The reason is, if you weren't planning to do bad things, why would you impersonate Han Chinese?
As a result, the practice of forging documents was immediately curbed.

The spies in Kaesong were purged as quickly as possible, and no more news from within the city spread outwards.

Even so, the Japanese army received news that Ming reinforcements had arrived in Kaesong.

Ouchi Hisaichi was somewhat angry: "This is a matter between us and Joseon. What right does the Ming Dynasty have to interfere?"

"It must be that the King of Joseon has asked the Ming Dynasty for help!"

Ouchi Hisaichi slammed his fist on the table in anger: "The Ming Dynasty is going too far! We have already avoided Ming territory, so why are they stopping us from expanding our territory?"

Other generals also felt that the Ming Dynasty was too domineering: "Isn't our delegation going to the Ming Dynasty to celebrate the birthday of their Grand Preceptor? Why don't we complain at the state banquet that Korea has plundered the wealth of our merchants? We are here to seek justice for our merchants, and we ask the Ming Dynasty not to interfere."

"Let's find out the strength of the Ming reinforcements and the generals leading them. If we can defeat the Ming here..." Ouchi Hisaichi's eyes flashed, and he clenched his fists, saying, "Japan has too few resources and too many earthquakes. Why should Koreans and Han Chinese be able to occupy such a large area rich in resources? Heaven is unjust, and we should make it fair!"

The generals, as if injected with adrenaline, raised their weapons and roared, agreeing with Ouchi Hisaichi's assessment.

Then they were attacked that night.

The attack came suddenly and unexpectedly, but the retreat was also swift.

Ouchi Hisaichi was still accustomed to fighting the Korean army. After the enemy retreated, he immediately mustered his troops to pursue them. However, they were ambushed halfway and fought until dawn. His army was defeated and fled.

Pan Yu led his troops in pursuit, but only chased them for a little over ten miles before withdrawing.

In the darkness, Ouchi Hisashi could not see the general leading the troops, but he keenly sensed that the army that launched this surprise attack and ambush was different from the Korean army of the past.

“They are reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty, all of them cavalry. We cannot confront them head-on,” said Ouchi Shouyi. “But their cavalry is limited, so they dare not disperse their forces. We will attack Pyongan Province and Gangwon Province first, forcing them to divide their forces. Once they divide their forces, we will turn around and open the city gates. As long as we kill the King of Joseon, Joseon will be leaderless, and this land will belong to us.”

The crowd roared.

So Ouchi Hisaichi regrouped the defeated troops and divided them into two routes. Only 5,000 troops went to Pyongan Province, but 28,000 went to Gangwon Province.

Some of the defeated soldiers had disappeared and could not be recovered immediately.

Pan Yu tapped his finger lightly, and after receiving the scout's report, he made a strategic adjustment after a moment's thought.

On his way to Gangwon Province, Ouchi Hisaichi encountered an ambush, but it was not large-scale. The two armies parted ways as soon as they met and retreated very quickly. Moreover, judging from the enemy's weapons and uniforms, they were North Korean troops.

Until he joined forces with another Japanese army in Gangwon Province, Ouchi Hisaichi did not encounter any large-scale attacks, nor was he ambushed by cavalry. Just as he was wondering about this, a messenger suddenly came to report that the 5,000 troops that went to Pyongan Province had all been wiped out, and even Pyongan Province, which had already been captured, had lost two county towns.

(End of this chapter)