The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 525 Because We Have Been Here
Incheon, Baiyun Mountain, Yonggung Temple, early winter morning, bitter wind and rain.

This ancient temple, founded a thousand years ago by King Munmu of Silla (670 AD), is now the place where the Sixth Corps' instructors promote the new policies of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Navy Chief Instructor Han Keke stood under a thousand-year-old pine tree in the Seven Star Pavilion.

The giant tree has dense branches and leaves, shaped like an umbrella.

A large crowd of civilians, about five or six hundred in number, surrounded the ancient pine tree. A team of navy soldiers from the Sixth Corps was stationed around the temple. Each soldier was armed with a firearm, dressed in neat uniforms and brightly armored.

Han Keke called several Korean interpreters and walked to the front of the crowd.

The ground was piled with bloody heads like a mountain. A group of Incheon officials who did not have time to escape were tied up by the Qi army and made to kneel in front of the people.

Han Keke put down the loud speaker, pointed at the kneeling Smida, and roared angrily:

"Emperor Wuding kindly handed Korea over to you, hoping you would protect the borders and keep the people safe, and educate the Korean people. Look at what you've done! It's truly a waste of the Emperor's efforts!"

"They've robbed the people of their food, stolen their money, raped their wives and daughters, and even taken their bones to make soup. And that's not enough. Now they're colluding with the Japanese pirates to sell everyone into slavery in Japan!"

The soldiers brought up a group of Japanese pirates, all of them were covered in blood and beaten half to death.

"Kill them, kill them!"

The angry people rushed forward, surrounded the tied-up Japanese pirates and beat them up with punches and kicks. Some overly excited fishermen even bit them with their mouths. Incheon has convenient shipping and has been attacked by Japanese pirates for many years. It is normal for people to be harmed by the pirates and their families will be destroyed.

"Kill the Japanese pirates!"

Amid the angry cries of the Korean people, the poor dozen or so Kaga samurai were quickly killed on the spot. The Incheon officials who were tied up around them were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they did not move, as if they had lost their souls.

Han Keke nodded with satisfaction.
"What about the nobles of the Yangban class, the great scholars and gentry? They're all bullshit! Have they ever taken good care of you? Now that Emperor Wuding has arrived, your good days are over! To be honest, the Qi army came to Incheon not to steal your money or your women, but to save you! We'll go to the granary to release the grain, and you'll kill anyone who dares to stop us!"

"Emperor Wu Ding is here, your good days are coming!"

The instructor jumped onto the platform and waved his arms exaggeratedly at the people.

"Go to the granary, go to the masters' homes, and take back your things! As long as Da Qi is here, you won't starve, and you won't be bullied!"

"After we leave, they will waive part of your rent and usury, and give you food rations. This is not because they have a change of heart, nor because they have become good people, but because we have been here."

On that day, Meng Jinbao followed the orders of his superiors and led 300 soldiers into Incheon, beheaded the Korean traitors who were causing chaos, opened the granaries, and appeased the people. The training officers of the various battalions of the Sixth Corps preached the elegant politics of Qi to the people of Incheon.

The totalitarian egalitarianism created by Emperor Wu Ding is always tempting at any time and in any place. The beautiful blueprint of equality and warmth everywhere is extremely inspiring to the Korean people who are in dire straits.

~~~~~~~~
On the 19th, the fleet left Incheon and continued northward. On the 21st, it arrived at Ganghwa Island.

As usual, Wu Aheng sent a Korean interpreter ashore to deliver the "Letter from Emperor Wuding to the King of Korea" to persuade the defenders of Ganghwa Island to surrender.

As a result, the unfortunate interpreter was brutally killed by his compatriots as soon as he got ashore.

There is no hope for peace talks, only war.

At noon on the 21st, the flagship Dingyuan and the battleship Zhiyuan anchored two miles away from the island and used their broadside guns to fiercely bombard the Ganghwa Island fortress Caozhi Town and the Gwangcheng Town garrison.

The original garrison of Ganghwa Island consisted of 3,000 people, with more than 60 artillery batteries deployed. However, when the garrison heard that the Da Qi navy was heading north, more than 1,000 people fled overnight. The remaining 1,000 people were not loyal and brave. When they wanted to escape, they were blocked in the barracks by the servants sent by the commander Yu Zaiyuan.

At that time, there was a saying circulating in Gyeonggi Province of Korea that the reason why the Korean army was defeated repeatedly was all because of the involvement of Korean traitors. This was the case in the Battle of Seocheon, the Battle of Incheon, and even more so in the Battle of Ganghwa Island.

This statement is obviously nonsense.

However, General Yu Zaiyuan of Ganghwa Island believed this statement without a doubt.

Due to its unique location, Ganghwa Island is relatively close to Seoul and Pyongyang, making transportation convenient. Many former Ming Dynasty merchants gathered here to do business. Hearing that there might be traitors to the Ming Dynasty, the Joseon soldiers massacred innocent Han people on Ganghwa Island before the Qi army even approached.

In any case, the warships of the Great Qi were invincible. On the 23rd, the fleet occupied Caozhi Town and bombarded the city of Guang.

Guangcheng was a complete stone city. The Korean commander Yu Zaiyuan led the defenders to fight bravely, but they ran out of ammunition and food and lost their support. Finally, they used swords and spears to fight the Qi army. When the swords and spears broke, they fought with stones and fists until all of them died heroically.

To this day (Yonghe 2023th year ), when tourists from Daqi visit this place, they can still see traces of the naval artillery shells on the old pines and city walls of Ganghwa Island.

After the fleet easily captured Ganghwa Island, it did not stay there, but immediately sailed north. On the 28th, the navy arrived at Haeju.

Upon hearing the news of the fall of Ganghwa Island, Haizhou Censor Li Bu did not stand aside. He knew that Haizhou's coastal defense would have a crucial impact on the war in the north.

The question is, can Li Bu stop the Qi army?
Li Bu, who came from the Yangban class, actually had little to do when facing the powerful ships and cannons of Qi.

When the Qi warships entered the waters near Haizhou, they bought enough matches, water and rice for the Qi warships, and also demonstrated to Li Bu.

Who dared to sell things to the people of Qi? The people of Qi didn't buy anything, so they sent people to find Li Bu. His attitude was very clear: sell the materials that Qi needed to Qi, and you won't be embarrassed. Otherwise...

Li Bu promised Wu Aheng that he would do his best to satisfy the Qi army. Haizhou was known as a key coastal defense town, but in reality, it had almost nothing.

The so-called coastal defense consisted of only a few rusting cannons. The coastal defense troops available to Haizhou were only a thousand men, not including the soldiers Li Bu had temporarily transferred from other prefectures.

~~~~~~
In people's habitual impression, the Taichu Japanese Rebellion (i.e. the Eastern Expedition in the third year of Taichu) was a battle in which the few defeated the many.

The Qi army, with only 80,000 soldiers, faced the 400,000-strong Japanese-Korean coalition army and eventually defeated the enemy.

If we only consider the absolute number of troops on both sides, the Japanese-North Korean coalition certainly has the advantage.

However, if readers carefully read the relevant historical materials, they will find a shocking fact:

In several important battles of the Taichu Japanese Rebellion, except for the final decisive battle of Pyongyang, the Qi army and the Joseon army (Japan had been eliminated) had basically the same strength (60,000 vs. 50,000). In other battles (such as the Incheon Landing, the Busan Annihilation Battle, the Seocheon Bombardment, the Haeju Invasion, etc.), the Qi army had far more troops than the Joseon army.

In the Sixth Corps, Wu Aheng's more than 7,000 sailors fought against the Gyeonggi-do and Chungsang-do provinces with a total strength of 200,000, and they were not at a disadvantage.

Why did the Li Dynasty's 200,000-strong army in the south suffer defeat everywhere when facing the mere 8,000 Qi troops that came across the sea?
In fact, the reason is very simple.

In addition to the huge disparity in combat power between the two sides' armies, another important reason was that North Korea's territory was long and narrow, and the defenders in each region were forced to respond hastily and lacked mobile forces.

According to historical records, at that time, the total number of registered royal troops, Japanese defense troops, and trained soldiers in various provinces of Korea reached 30. Putting aside the cases of those who drew empty salaries, the number was actually at least over . The main force of the Lee Dynasty was concentrated in the south, with a strength of at least .

Compared with the 20 navy troops under Wu Aheng's command, this force has an absolute advantage of 1:.

However, judging from the dispersion of the Joseon army's garrisons and the use of its forces, none of the Korean provinces could use all of its main forces to fight against the Qi army.

Because each route was hindering each other and there was no rescue from each other, the Qi army was facing isolated Korean troops.

On the other hand, the Qi army, thanks to the use of steam engines on their warships, had strong ships and powerful guns, strong mobility, and could travel a thousand miles a day, truly achieving the goal of hitting wherever they were directed. Coupled with the magical brainwashing effect of the "Qi Dynasty Land System", although they were fighting away from home, they completely dominated the battlefield.

Therefore, in the Eastern Expedition to Korea in the third year of Taichu, when the Qi navy was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength, the commander-in-chief Wu Aheng effectively implemented Emperor Wu Ding's strategy of "concentrating superior forces to annihilate the enemy" and defeated each prefecture in central and southern Korea one by one.

On November 29, the Sixth Corps finally landed in Fengchuan. Wu Aheng received an imperial edict from Emperor Wu Ding and quickly assembled to the southeast of Pyongyang. At this time, the defenders of the Yellow Sea and Gyeonggi Province were tortured to death by Wu Aheng. They were already exhausted and no longer able to resist this navy.

In early December, the Sixth Corps joined forces with the Central Army and the Eastern Army on the Fengchuan and Huanggang lines to cut the eight provinces of Korea into two sections, north and south.

Since then, Pyongyang lost foreign aid and became a dead city, and the Lee Dynasty began to face the fate of total collapse.

(End of this chapter)