The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 523: Incheon Landing
When the second Shogun was frightened to death, the so-called stupid son of the Nabeshima family, Katsushige Nabeshima of Saga Domain in Kyushu, had already died in battle at Incheon Port in Gyeonggi Province in central Korea.

It was a brutal asymmetric war.

A month ago, the third lord of Saga Domain, Lord Katsushige Nabeshima, with the permission of the Shogun, led his troops across the Tsushima Strait and landed in Busan, preparing to go north to fight against the Qi army that swept across Korea.

The Koreans' attitude towards Japanese reinforcements was complex and ambiguous.

Korea and Japan were sworn enemies. It had only been a short thirty years since the end of the Imjin War, and the brutal and inhumane image of the Japanese pirates remained deep in the memories of many knowledgeable people.

Now, the former enemies have become allies. Faced with this abrupt change, it is difficult for the country of gentlemen to accept it both emotionally and rationally.

Fortunately, North Korea calls itself a "Little China" and is deeply influenced by Confucian culture. It knows the principle of taking emergency measures.

Like its mother country, Greater China, Little China has strong political adaptability and sufficient adaptability and flexibility.

Facing the invasion of Liu Bang, who was a hundred times more brutal than the Japanese pirates (Liu Bang threatened to abolish private property, confiscate land, and abolish the two-shift system after conquering Korea), it was not shameful to unite with the old enemy Japan.

The situation on the peninsula was complicated, and later generations called this great chaos between Qi, Japan and North Korea:
"The First Japanese Invasion"

In the past thirty years, the Han people have become the enemy of Korea, while the former enemy Japan has become an ally of Simicada.

History is always so unpredictable.

After the Saga army entered Korea, Katsushige Nabeshima strictly followed the orders of the Shogun and restrained his troops so that they did not harm anyone.

The Japanese army marched north from Busan and soon arrived in Incheon. They planned to board a ship here, march north across the sea, and defeat the arrogant Kaewon Army in Pyeongan Province.

However, before the Saga warriors could reach the battlefield and fight with the Qi army, they were hit head-on by the Qi navy at Incheon Port and were completely wiped out.

On the second day of November, the Sixth Corps fleet entered the waters of Seocheon. Wu Aheng ordered the accompanying Korean interpreter to go ashore and deliver the "Letter from the Emperor of Great Qi to the King of Joseon" to the chief official of Seocheon Prefecture, urging the Incheon Joseon army to surrender immediately and unconditionally.

The stubborn Koreans not only sent people to accept the ultimatum, but when they saw the Qi Marines coming ashore, they drew their bows and arrows without saying a word and shot them at them.

This tactical move by the Shuchuan garrison left the Da Qi sailors puzzled, and Meng Jinbao laughed heartily.

"remarkably brave."

The naval generals had known in advance that North Korea's coastal defense was weak and military discipline was lax, but they did not expect the enemy to use bows and arrows and naval guns to fight back.

Meng Jinbao raised the telescope and saw the Shuchuan shore cannon, which was covered in rust and looked like an antique from some dynasty.

"Captain Meng, why are you wasting time talking to them? Fire!"

A group of sailors have traveled from the East China Sea to the Bohai Sea and now to North Korea, and they are already ready to take action.

"fire!"

Seeing the Koreans being so provocative, the warships immediately opened fire in retaliation. The sea was filled with the roar of artillery fire, and the forts on the shore and the nearby defenders suddenly became frightened birds. Looking around, there was not a single person left who had escaped from the area around the Shuchuan Fort.

Although the war was won, what made Meng Jinbao feel helpless was that all the people had fled and the letter could not be delivered. Emperor Wuding wanted to defeat the enemy without fighting, but this goal seemed difficult to achieve.

He had no choice but to put the "Letter to the King of Korea" in a bottle and throw it into the sea, waiting for someone to pick it up and start a political legend.

Then the fleet hurriedly weighed anchor and continued north.

According to the naval strategy formulated by Emperor Wu Ding, the Da Qi Navy started from Busan and moved north along the Korean coastline, moving to another location after each shot.

The maneuverability of ships far exceeds that of the army. Although Wu Aheng only has 5,000 sailors, he can concentrate and deploy troops to attack any Korean port in a short period of time. In this way, in order to deal with the Qi army, the Korean army will inevitably be exhausted and fall into a passive position.

This is actually an imitation of the British army's strategy against the Qing army during the First Opium War. ~~~~~~
The Joseon army suffered heavy casualties, all coastal artillery positions were destroyed, fifty soldiers were killed, and more than 1,200 were injured, while the Qi army suffered no casualties.

Jin Jung-jeong, a civil servant in Seocheon Prefecture, described this battle as the "Great Victory of Seocheon" and reported it to King Yi Jong, who was two hundred miles away, saying that he would repel all the invading Qi troops.

After occupying the Shuchuan Fort, the Qi army was stunned to find the manufacturing date and the name of the caster engraved on the cannons.

It is engraved with "Torre died 1301", which means that the artillery used in the port is more than years old, longer than the lifespan of Emperor Zhenwu!
Actually, it is an antique left over from the Mongol rule over Korea. The cannon-casting craftsman was named Toleisi.

To quote a famous line from a movie: This is like using the Yuan Dynasty's artillery to attack the enemies of the Ming Dynasty (North Korea considers itself still part of the Ming Dynasty). How bold!
On November 74, three days after the Battle of Seocheon, the Pyeongwon with 44 guns, the Weiwon with 4 guns, and four light warships sailed north to Incheon and began to attack the Incheon West Waterway.

The waters around Incheon are one of the highest tide areas in the world.

The water flows eastward and, over thousands of years, has formed a vast mudflat; when the tide is low, the mudflat extends about 6000 yards from the coast.

In addition, the waterway in and out of Incheon Port is winding and narrow. If there is no waterway landing aid and sailing under enemy fire, entering and leaving the port will be extremely dangerous.

Furthermore, there is a Wolmido Island 800 yards outside the west side of Incheon Port, which is connected to the port area by a causeway. The causeway covers the entire port area, making Wolmido Island a good firepower point for clamping down on activities inside and outside Incheon Port.

Although the Qi navy had strong ships and powerful guns, carrying out an amphibious assault landing in the center of the city was a brand new challenge for Wu Aheng.

The Weiyuan and Pingyuan anchored in the middle of the West Waterway and opened fire on the Incheon Fort with their harpoon guns, bombarding the North Korean artillery and barracks there. Because the North Korean artillery had a short range, they were unable to fight back and finally collapsed after being bombarded for several hours.

By the time of Shenshi (3 p.m.), the Yonggu and Gongan artillery batteries in Incheon Port were completely destroyed by the Qi army.

Because the two artillery batteries were surrounded by artillery fire and had nowhere to escape, a total of 380 people were killed, more than 1000 were injured, and more than 2000 were captured by the Qi army.

The Korean army's previous tactics were to block the enemy ships from entering at every level, especially to force their way through the eastern waterway.

However, in the face of the Qi army, which had absolute superior firepower, any tactics of the Koreans were pale and powerless.

On November 11, Wu Aheng, commander of the Sixth Corps Navy, issued an ultimatum to Incheon, demanding that all North Korean positions on the port line be handed over to the Qi army to "hold". By dark, the Qi army had not received a reply from the North Koreans.

On the 15th, the Qi army attacked again. The Marines first attacked the outer island of Incheon, Wolmido, and set up a field artillery position with a total of eight heavy artillery on the commanding heights of the island. From a high position, they covered the city of Incheon with fire.

At this time, the Battle of Wolmido was nearing its end, and further reinforcements would be meaningless.

But to everyone's surprise, the defenders in Incheon City still did not surrender because the Japanese came.

On the morning of the 16th, the north wind rose and the main force of the Imperial Fleet set off.

The Dingyuan (flagship) equipped with 74 guns, the Zhenyuan, and the armed steamer Jing'an attacked Wenshan at the southern foot of Incheon. The Saga clan reinforcements were stationed in Wenshan, blocking the Qi army's eastward advance.

The Dingyuan and Zhenyuan dropped anchor half a mile and one mile southwest of the Wenshan Fort respectively, and bombarded the Wenshan Three Fort with heavy artillery fire.

The main force of the Qi army chose to break through the relatively weakly defended East Waterway of Wenshan, while the Qi warships stationed in the West Waterway turned to attack the even weaker defended northwest of Wenshan.

Due to the limited firing angle, the two artillery batteries in Wenshan were unable to resist the bombardment of Qi’s naval guns and were quickly destroyed.

In the afternoon, Meng Jinbao personally led 500 marines, landed on a small boat, and attacked the various artillery positions in Wenshan.

At five o'clock, all the artillery positions fell and the defending commander Katsumuro Nabeshima committed suicide by seppuku.

Five hundred Japanese soldiers were killed in the battle, and another half fled before the Qi army landed.

From then on, the battle of Incheon was over.

(End of this chapter)