The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 527: Taizu divides the border into four counties, and the Holy Dynasty sends envoys to conquer the Three Kingdoms of Korea
The streets and alleys of Pyongyang were filled with people running around. From time to time, one or two shells fell into the city, exploded in the crowd, and created a pool of blood.

Those who were not killed in the explosion rolled on the ground and wailed. Some young scoundrels took the opportunity to kick open the doors of houses along the street and looted...

Amid the terrifying sounds of artillery explosions, various news about the Qi army spread everywhere.

Some say that Emperor Wu Ding burned, killed, and looted all the way from Sinuiju to Pyongyang, specifically killing people who were not wearing black clothes;
Some say that Wangjing has fallen, and King Li Zong has surrendered to Qi, and has now been sent to Shenyang to work as a male prostitute;
Some say that the Qi navy is gathering at Busan and is about to land on Tsushima Island to retaliate against the treacherous Wa Kingdom.

Some people also said that the rescue troops from the south had been defeated and Pyongyang was already an isolated city...
Rumors were like cannonballs flying from outside the city, countless, and the people were running around like headless flies, their lives worthless.

The only thing that is certain is that Pyongyang, the second largest city in North Korea, will soon fall, and most of the people in the city will face the most terrible punishment and be massacred.

Emperor Wu Ding gave them a chance to surrender, but Park Congming and his trusted generals were too confident in their own fighting power and too superstitious about the defensive capabilities of the bastion. Coupled with Zheng Douyuan's constant instigation, the defenders have been dragging on until now.

Before the war, Emperor Wu Ding issued an edict that anyone who dared to assist the rebels (the Li Dynasty army) and resist the army, regardless of whether they were military or civilian, would be charged with treason and put to death.

According to this standard, at least 30,000 of the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city were executed, because these young and strong laborers had more or less participated in defending the city.

At this time, no one was willing to continue resisting. The Qixingmen defense line, which Lord Park had originally placed high hopes on, was on the verge of collapse after several rounds of artillery fire. Before the Qi army's musketeers rushed to the city, most of the defenders on the city had already fled. In the end, only Park Congming and his direct troops were still holding on.

"Hey everyone! I'm from Yizhou, run away! The Qi army has three heads and six arms, and their necks are thicker than buckets. If you touch them, you'll die!"

A postman wearing a mandarin duck jacket and a goat hat appeared on the North-South Street and shouted loudly to the crowd running back and forth in front of him.

"If you escape too late, you'll be caught and forced to mine!"

There was the rumbling sound of cannons all around, and few people paid attention to the young postman with a stiff accent.

"Look!" The postman suddenly shouted and pointed towards the Seven Star Gate in the north.

"The Qi army is about to break into the city! There are no reinforcements, run away!"

The fleeing crowd was immediately awakened by these words and looked up towards the Qixing Gate. Flames shot up into the sky from the city wall, bricks and stones flew everywhere, and Korean soldiers kept falling down with wailing.

Without hesitation, the crowd immediately fled towards the South Gate. The streets became even more crowded, and even a few Korean soldiers who were patrolling there were swept away by the crowd.

Several people stood out behind the postman, all with gloomy expressions and as if they were carrying weapons.

The postman waited for the soldiers to leave and said to the young man with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes who was leading the group:

"Master Li, did I do well just now?"

Li Zicheng listened to the postman speaking stiff Chinese and forced a smile at this Korean who had just surrendered. Another straw raincoat guard stepped forward and said in a friendly manner:
"You've broken through the Seven Star Gate. Sergeant Li will remember your great achievement. When the army enters the city, we promise not to harm you or your family!"

The postman quickly bowed and said, "Thank you all for your guidance. I've long since given up on working for that Pu. He insisted we go out and find reinforcements, and if we can't find any, he'll kill us. Now that the Heavenly Army has arrived, we can take his head!"

At this time, a violent explosion was heard from the Qixing Gate, and a raging fire broke out on the top of the city. The burning fireball on the arrow tower could be vaguely seen falling to the ground like a fallen leaf.

The postman turned pale with fear. Li Zicheng said softly:
"The Divine Fire Crow is so powerful that it's going to burn everyone to death."

One of his men said:

"That Park guy still has some skills. He still refuses to surrender even after being beaten like this!"

Li Zicheng suddenly raised his arm and made an expression as if he was listening carefully, and several of his men immediately stopped talking.

"Listen! The First Corps' assembly call has sounded. Let's go kill a few North Korean soldiers, change into some clothes, and open the gate for the army!"

~~~~
"The Qi army is attacking the city with all their might. Their artillery fire is so fierce that the soldiers can no longer withstand it. Lord Zheng, when will the king's reinforcements arrive? The few men I have are almost gone."

In Anhak Palace in Pyongyang City, Park Subun, with a haggard face, stared at Zheng Douyuan who was walking back and forth in the palace.

"Brother Park, don't worry. Reinforcements are coming soon. Two hundred thousand troops from Gyeonggi Province are heading north. They are more than enough to deal with these barbarians!"

Pu obeyed the order and put on his armor, and the arrogance and composure on his face disappeared completely:

"During the Imjin War, the king's army collapsed at the first blow. With so much peace in recent years, I'm afraid they're even less able to fight. Lord Zheng, have you heard the rumors circulating in the streets?"

Zheng Douyuan disagreed: "What rumor? Park Yushi, you are from the Yangban class after all, and you come from a noble family. How could you be fooled by such a rumor!"

Zheng Douyuan stepped forward and patted the Pyongyang commander's armor, saying righteously:
"As the saying goes, those who do evil will eventually perish. The traitor Liu has brought disaster to the world and slaughtered the gentry. He has long been hated by both humans and gods. Brother Zheng, we have moral principles. As the saying goes, those who are righteous will have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous will have few! Why should we be afraid of him? Besides, the king has entrusted all the elite troops to you. Two hundred thousand troops will arrive at any time, and there are also one hundred thousand elite troops from Japan. Liu Zhaosun is already at the end of his strength. Why should we be afraid of him? Don't worry, send all your servants to hold on for a while, and Joseon will win."

"Three hundred thousand versus thirty thousand, the advantage is mine!"

Seeing that Zheng Douyuan was talking so clearly, Park Congming comforted himself in his heart:

"Yes, the advantage is on my side. We will win if we can hold on." There are less than 5,000 defenders left in the Seven Stars Gate. These veterans have followed Park in battle for many years and have the strongest fighting will.

They relied on the geographical advantage of Moran Peak and the Taedong River to make a final stand. When the First Corps really began to exert its strength, the defenders realized the gap between themselves and the Qi army.

The bird guns in the hands of the Korean soldiers were basically antiques from the Jiajing and Wanli periods. When these bird guns were used on the battlefield of Sarhu, they couldn't even deal with the Jiannu, let alone the Qi army.

Strictly speaking, the Korean bird gun is still a shallow smoothbore gun, which is a product of two completely different eras compared to the rifled gun equipped by the First Corps. Specifically in combat, the bird gun in the hands of Korean soldiers has a range of less than half that of the Qi army's fire gun.

The smitas used a cane to clean the barrel of the gun (washing the gun), loaded the propellant (loading the propellant), used a cane to tamp the gunpowder (loading the gunpowder), loaded the lead bullet (loading the lead bullet), used a cane to tamp the lead bullet into the bottom of the barrel (loading the lead bullet), loaded a ball of paper (loading the paper), used a cane to tamp the paper ball into the bottom of the barrel (loading the paper), opened the fire door cover (opening the fire door), poured the priming powder into the fire door (loading the line powder), then closed the fire door and installed the fuse (closing the fire door and installing the fuse)...
By the time the Korean bird-gun soldiers completed this series of tedious operations, the opposing Qi army's fire-gun soldiers had already fired at least three rounds of volleys.

Not only did the Qi army have a long range and a fast firing rate, the muskets were also accurate and powerful. They were also well organized, with six rows of musketeers firing alternately to cover their teammates' advance and ensure that the enemy troops on the city walls had no chance to breathe.

After the soldiers crossed the river one after another, light field guns also arrived at the south bank with the artillery. These field guns had higher accuracy within a range of two miles. At this moment, there were about fifty small guns scattered on the battlefield on the south bank. The artillerymen were busy raising their muzzles and began to clear out the remaining enemies on Mudan Peak that had not been eliminated by heavy artillery.

The hot air balloon pilots had marked the specific locations of the enemy artillery early on, allowing the Qi army artillery to accurately kill those remaining enemies who dared to show up. The Korean red cannons and general cannons were like frightened birds, all hiding in the mountains and forests. Under the frequent urging of the defenders on the city wall, they had to join the battle and risked their lives to bombard the Qi army infantry who were attacking the Qixing Gate at the foot of the mountain.

Two heavy iron balls were shot out from the hillside of Mudan Peak. The shells drew two sharply falling parabolas and accurately hit the front row of the Qi army's phalanx. The shells rolled a few times in the queue and fell into the queue of Qi army's musketeers marching in an orderly manner. More than a dozen musketeers were killed on the spot. The team paused for a while, and at the order of the officers, they began to advance towards the city wall again.

Seeing this, Qiu Guokun, the battalion commander of the First Battalion, who was watching the battle from the back of the formation, roared angrily:
"Have Captain Han and Captain Wang fire their cannons and shoot down all the birds on the mountain!"

The messenger immediately ran to the artillery camp to deliver the message.

The field artillery that was crossing the river stopped, dragged their wheels, turned their muzzles, and concentrated their bombardment on the mountain. At the same time, hundreds of rockets roared into the sky with a loud bang. In a moment, Mudan Peak was engulfed in a sea of fire.

The musketeers who rushed to the front of the city fired three volleys, making it impossible for the Koreans to raise their heads.

The Korean soldiers huddled behind the battlements on the city wall, allowing brick chips to fly overhead and land on their goat hats.

These elite Korean soldiers had to endure the Qi army's shield carts and ladder trucks approaching the city wall little by little, but they had no ability to fight back.

"Sibala, go to hell..."

A Korean gunner could no longer bear it and suddenly roared. As soon as he half showed his head from under the parapet, five or six lead bullets shot at him at the same time. The Korean soldier's head was smashed to pieces and he died on the spot.

Under the powerful firepower of the Qi army, the Qixingmen, which was thought to be as solid as a rock, suddenly became weak. The mobile forces deployed outside the city before the battle were completely destroyed in the first round of attacks by the musketeers.

The surviving Korean soldiers retreated into the inner city, relying on the city walls to survive, waiting for their tragic fate in great fear.

The Qi army continued to bombard Pyongyang, with shells and rockets constantly falling into the city, causing greater panic among the crowd.

The city of Pyongyang had long lost its order, with robbery and murder happening everywhere. Thick smoke filled the streets, and the divine fire crows roared and set fire to houses.

No one paid any attention to the bodies lying on the roadside, and thousands of people left the streets with their families and fled blindly towards the South Gate.

~~
In Anhe Palace, Chief Censor Pu Congming truly obeyed his father's wishes and fulfilled his father's expectation of naming him.

The North Korean troops to the east and south of Pyongyang were not only unable to reinforce Pyongyang, but could not even take care of themselves and could be swallowed up by the Qi army at any time.

In the main hall, Park Congming sat alone with red and swollen eyes. Zheng Douyuan, who had been urging him to fight to the death with the Qi army, had already escaped.

The Qixing Gate was in danger and the defenders suffered heavy casualties. Pu Cong was forced to send his servants to fight back.

"My lord, my lord!"

A servant covered in blood and with a disheveled face rushed into the hall.

"What's the matter?" Pu Congming said weakly.

"The brothers are all dead,"

This surviving servant personally witnessed the fall of Qixingmen. A group of Qi soldiers of unknown origin, disguised as defenders, hacked and killed people indiscriminately along the steps of the city wall, set fire to the city walls, and finally led the people on the city walls to rebel by throwing rolling logs and stones.

"Who did it?" Park obeyed the order and picked up the sword, as if to chop someone.

"That young man leading the group is none other than the Qi army spy who followed Zheng Douyuan to Pyongyang!"

"Where is Zheng Douyuan now? Where are the king's reinforcements?!"

The servant said anxiously, "Master, the man surnamed Zheng has escaped."

The noise outside gradually faded away. Park obeyed the order and dismissed the servants. He slowly stood up and walked to the center of the Dazheng Hall and stood there in a daze.

(End of this chapter)