The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 351 Why is it so vulnerable?

In early June, the capital was bustling with activity.

When the sun is high in the sky during the day, the water in the lakes and ponds can be scalded.

The wind blowing around at night was no longer a cool breeze, but a heat wave.

The weather during this Little Ice Age was so weird. It was so cold in winter that people could die, and so hot in summer that people could die. Some places were barren, while others were flooded.

If it were in previous years, Wanli would have taken his entire family to the Mountain Resort.

However, he did not go to the summer resort at this time. He was waiting in the palace for news from the vassal state of Korea.

At about 4 p.m. that afternoon, a courier from the post station suddenly came galloping from the east. There were three small flags with the word "urgent" stuck on the back of the postman, which meant that it was extremely urgent and no one was allowed to stop him, so he had to get out of the way immediately.

The express riders from the post station entered directly from Chaoyang Gate, passed through Dong'an Gate and Donghua Gate, and soon arrived at the imperial palace.

At this moment, Wanli was having dinner in Kunning Palace with a group of concubines, princes and princesses.

However, Li Xuancheng still walked in without hesitation, holding the urgent report, and bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is the 800-mile urgent report from Liaodong Town."

Finally here.

Wanli put down his chopsticks, took it, opened it and took a look, his brows couldn't help but frown.

This express report was sent by Luo Shangzhi, deputy general of Liaodong Town.

The envoy of Korea, a vassal state, rushed to Zhenjiang Fort with a letter asking for help. Luo Shangzhi asked this guy about the current situation of Korea, a vassal state. This guy just vaguely said that the Japanese pirates landed in Busan on April 14, broke through Wangjing on May 2, and broke through Zhongjing Kaiping on May 8.

No one knew what happened to this guy next, because after he fled with King Lee Sun to Uiju, he lost contact with other places.

This is obviously wrong.

The Japanese pirates landed in Busan on April 14th and captured the royal capital in just 19 days?

Why was the vassal state of North Korea so vulnerable?
Busan is at the southernmost tip of Korea, and the royal capital is in the central part of Korea. The Japanese pirates can capture the royal capital of Korea in 19 days, so it will take less than 40 days to penetrate the entire vassal state of Korea.

This is simply a joke. Even if the vassal state of Korea did not resist Wangjing, it would not have fallen so quickly.

The most famous blitzkrieg in later generations was Germany's blitzkrieg on Poland during World War II, which took Poland more than 30 days to resist.

If you look at the map, Poland should be a little bigger than today's North Korea. The problem is that North Korea, a vassal state, has a long and narrow terrain, and its depth exceeds that of Poland. At that time, Germany advanced with planes and tanks, not by running.

What do the Japanese pirates have now?
They don't have many war horses, so they can only run on their own two legs.

The Japanese pirates captured the Korean capital in just 19 days?

Two legs can outrun planes and tanks!

This is too outrageous.

How did the Japanese pirates do it?
How did the vassal state North Korea do it!
Wanli frowned and thought for a while, then stood up and said, "You guys eat first, I'll go do something."

After saying this, he hurried out, saying, "Quickly summon Yuan Jing to the Qianqing Palace for a discussion."

Soon, he and Qi Jiguang gathered in the side hall of the Qianqing Palace where maps were specially displayed.

After the king and his ministers exchanged greetings, he handed over the urgent report in his hand.

Qi Jiguang took it respectfully with both hands and looked at it, then he couldn't help but frown.

After a long while, he finally said cautiously, "Your Majesty, this situation seems to be even stranger than you originally described."

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Yes, I thought that Korea, a vassal state, could hold out for two or three months at the very least. Who knew that their capital would be captured after only nineteen days? If King Yi Sun hadn't fled, Korea, a vassal state, would have already changed hands by now."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang said with a hint of worry, "Your Majesty, judging from the speed at which the Japanese pirates are advancing, it seems that the officials of the vassal state of Korea and even the local officials who are colluding with the Japanese are not just a few, but the majority.

In this situation, it would be too dangerous for us to go to Korea, a vassal state, and fight against the Japanese pirates. The advantages of both location and people are on the side of the Japanese pirates."

This is not the point.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "With the speed at which the Japanese pirates advanced earlier, can they still hold Yizhou?"

This was also not right. The Japanese pirates had penetrated half of Korea in just nineteen days and captured Wangjing, which had the largest number of defenders.

If we calculate based on the previous speed, the vassal state of North Korea will be defeated in less than 19 days.

The question is, the capital of the vassal state of Korea fell on the second day of May, and now it is the sixth day of June. Thirty-four days have passed, but the Japanese pirates have not yet reached Yizhou?

Qi Jiguang pondered this for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Your Majesty, are you suggesting that the Japanese pirates and their vassal state of Korea are putting on a show? Their goal is the same as ours: to draw as much of our main force as possible over there, consume it, and then attack the Ming Dynasty!"

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "They shouldn't all be acting, but those officials who are collaborating with the Japanese should be acting in conjunction with Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

There's a reason Toyotomi Hideyoshi was able to unify Japan. This guy must have been a master of military strategy. More importantly, he's been fighting for decades, and his experience in battles is far greater than both you and I. He must also be well versed in the art of deception."

This guy is really capable.

If he were to lead the Japanese pirates in Japan, it would be impossible for him to capture the Korean capital within 19 days.

There are too many things involved. It is absolutely impossible to capture the Korean royal capital in such a short time by normal means. Even if you march at a normal speed without encountering any resistance, it will not be so fast.

How did Toyotomi Hideyoshi do it?
Can't tens of thousands of troops just charge towards Wangjing without taking any food or supplies?
What do they eat?
Also, don’t they need to bring tents?

Where do they sleep at night?
More importantly, along this route of more than 800 miles, with more than ten cities of different sizes and dozens of passes, they were able to open up the links in advance, preventing the enemy from offering any resistance. How was this done?
These are really hard to understand.

Qi Jiguang thought for a moment and then simply asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think we should do now?"

He fought a normal war, and he was really not as good as Wanli in fighting this extremely strange war.

At this time, Wanli was trying hard to recall how the two Ming Dynasty wars to aid Korea were fought in history.

The first time, the Japanese pirates seemed to be frightened by Li Rusong's bravery.

The Battle of Pyeongyang was originally caused by Li Rusong's carelessness and underestimation of the enemy, which resulted in a cavalry squad of 500 people rushing into the encirclement of 40,000 to 50,000 Japanese pirates.

Under such circumstances, the Japanese pirates thought they could easily encircle and annihilate this cavalry squad.

Unexpectedly, when Li Rusong heard that the cavalry squad had been ambushed, he immediately ordered all nearby cavalry to rush to support, and personally led two thousand Liaodong cavalry to charge in.

As a result, Li Rusong led less than 5,000 Liaodong cavalry and fought a bloody battle with 40,000 to 50,000 Japanese pirates for more than three hours, from noon to dark, and forced the Japanese pirates to retreat!
Both sides suffered heavy losses in this battle. From a strategic and tactical perspective, it was Li Rusong's mistake because he underestimated the enemy.

However, judging from the results of the battle, the Liaodong cavalry won a great victory.

The Japanese pirates were so badly beaten that they lied to the outside world and said that they had fought a decisive battle with 100,000 Ming cavalry at Bitiguan.

What’s funny is that at that time, the total number of Ming troops aiding Korea was only 40,000, and the entire Ming Dynasty could not even muster 100,000 cavalry.

Li Rusong fought a bloody battle at Biti Pavilion, which made the Japanese pirates dare not fight the Ming army in the open again.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi probably felt that with such a powerful general around, his hope of winning was slim, so he ordered people to follow the traitor Shen Weijing to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty.

This is actually a delaying tactic. This guy wants to use other means to bring Li Rusong back to the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, Li Rusong did not come to the second Ming Dynasty's aid to Korea. Moreover, it was during this war that Li Rusong inexplicably led his troops into the territory of the Tuman tribe and was killed in battle!
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's enemy was indeed very powerful, and this time he had met his match.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Let's wait and see. The envoys from the vassal state of Korea have come to the capital with a letter asking for help. Even if this guy rides a horse to the capital, it will take at least five or six days. Let's see if the Japanese pirates will attack Yizhou in these five or six days.

If the Japanese pirates don't attack Yizhou in the next five or six days, it will prove that Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his vassal state, Korea, are collaborating with us and betraying their country."

what's next?

Qi Jiguang asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, if Toyotomi Hideyoshi is playing a trick on us, what should we do?"

Wanli said calmly, "Then let's act too. He wants to compete with me in acting skills. Let's see who will fall into the trap in the end!"

Life is like a play, and it all depends on your acting skills. This statement is absolutely true.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi must have discussed this with officials from Korea, a vassal state that was in cahoots with Japan, in advance to stage a big show and trap the main force of the Ming army.

Little did they know that Wanli also wanted to stage a show to trap the main force of the Japanese pirates.

At this time, you can only rely on your acting skills.

(End of this chapter)