The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 357: The Resistance of the Vassal State of Korea

In July, the vassal state of Korea was already scorching hot.

The attack and defense of Yizhou City was also in full swing.

The Ming army in the city didn't seem to have any advanced weapons and equipment, but they seemed to have prepared a lot of kerosene.

Every time the Japanese pirates rushed to the city wall and set up their ladders, a pile of kerosene cans would be thrown down from the wall.

The Ming army's kerosene was very strange. As soon as the torch was thrown down, the fire would burst into flames. Although they prepared wet quilts, it was too late to put out the fire on the ladders. They could only put out the fire on people.

Konishi Yukinaga was so angry that he had killed hundreds of people and injured thousands of people, but he hadn't even touched the arrow embrasures on the city wall!

He originally thought that the artillery could suppress the Ming army on the city wall, but who knew that their shields were made of iron sheets, and the artillery shells could not break them at all. Moreover, the Ming army specifically shot arrows when their artillerymen were loading ammunition, so they didn't hit a single Ming soldier.

This would definitely not work, so he decided to fill up all the trenches on the south side, build large siege equipment, wrap it with wet quilts, and rush forward to fight the Ming army!

However, this would take a long time, and the Ming army could not just sit there and watch them fill the trenches.

Sure enough, as soon as they started filling the trench, the Ming army began to throw kerosene into the trench dozens of steps away from them. After the kerosene was thrown, a bunch of rockets were fired at them, and the trench immediately turned into a wall of fire.

This kerosene can made him so angry that he almost vomited blood.

In fact, he was not the only one who was almost vomiting blood due to the kerosene.

When the attack and defense of Yizhou City was in full swing, the secret guards also began to lead the elite troops of Shenji Camp and Shenshu Camp to harass the rear of Yizhou City along the coast.

These guys are even more annoying. They have telescopes and can avoid both the Japanese pirates' fleet and large forces.

They would target those Japanese pirates who were alone or in small numbers, and they would shoot them from behind. After knocking the pirates down, they would set fire to them. They would set fire to food, supplies, carriages, tents, etc., and then run away!
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi received the news, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

The Ming army could kill dozens or even hundreds of them in a day just by launching sneak attacks and shooting arrows. What's more important is the supplies. The Ming army didn't even know how much of their supplies they had burned.

If this continues, at least a thousand of them will be killed by the Ming army every month, and tens of thousands will be killed in a year. Moreover, they won't even see the shadow of the Ming army.

However, he has not yet considered sending more troops.

Are you kidding? The main force of the Ming army has not even been seen yet, why would he send more troops?

He decided to set up traps to wipe out the small groups of Ming troops that attacked them.

This is also like a joke. The secret guards all carry binoculars, and they are extremely careful every time. They can spot any trap from a distance and just turn around and leave.

However, this time they could not launch a sneak attack on many Japanese pirates, because apart from those who set traps, there were almost no other lone Japanese pirates.

When Wanli received the news, he couldn't help but frown.

This old fox Toyotomi Hideyoshi is really difficult to deal with. If a small-scale sneak attack doesn't work, how about a large-scale sneak attack?
Early in the morning at about noon, he was discussing with Qi Jiguang in a side hall where maps were displayed, when Luo Sigong came again asking for a meeting.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Luo Sigong said excitedly, "Your Majesty, we have contacted Yi Sun-sin, the governor of the Jeolla Left Province Navy."

What's so exciting about this?
Lee Sun-sin must still be here now. He's not famous yet and doesn't have many soldiers under his command.

Wanli asked with a bit of lack of interest, "How many warships and troops does he have now?"

Luo Sigong said without hesitation: "He now has more than 80 warships and 4,000 to 5,000 troops, but he can contact the Jeolla Province Observer Quan Li and many rebel forces.

The number of troops under Quan Li and those rebel forces probably exceeds 100,000, but they lack weapons and equipment and cannot confront the Japanese pirates head-on.

Yi Sun-sin said that if we can provide them with sufficient weapons and equipment, they will be able to continuously deplete the strength of the Japanese pirates. At that time, we will not need to send many reinforcements to drive the Japanese pirates out of Korea, our vassal state.

Are there any volunteer forces in Korea, a vassal state?

This looks like something that could be put to good use.

They could have equipped the rebel army to fight the Japanese pirates. In this way, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would have been slapped in the face. This guy still wants to annihilate the main force of the Ming army, but I can't let you annihilate the rebel army!
We'll see if you send more troops then.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Hurry up and send someone to contact Yi Sun-sin and ask him to provide the specific number of troops and weapons and equipment required by Quan Li and the other rebel forces. I can provide them with weapons and equipment."

Luo Sigong quickly bowed and took his leave.

Qi Jiguang cautiously warned, "Your Majesty, they have over 100,000 troops. If we give them enough weapons and equipment, they can even use their familiarity with the terrain to defeat the pirates one by one. If that happens, Toyotomi Hideyoshi will probably withdraw his troops."

Wanli smiled slightly and said, "It takes time to build weapons and equipment. I can't give them too many weapons and equipment at once. Giving them tens of thousands of sets at a time will be enough.

I will also have Wang Guozhang stamp a Ming seal on all weapons and equipment and tell Toyotomi Hideyoshi that we are providing weapons and equipment to the rebel army in our vassal state, Korea.

If he doesn't want to be humiliated by the rebels of his vassal state, Korea, or even be forced to withdraw, then he should quickly increase his troops and wipe out these rebels. Otherwise, where will he put his face? "

This is it.

Qi Jiguang still reminded with some concern: "Your Majesty, many heroes are shameless."

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "I know this. Toyotomi Hideyoshi may be shameless, but he needs morale and people's hearts.

If he was beaten back in such a disgrace by the rebel army of his vassal state, Korea, his morale would surely be gone, and the people's hearts would be scattered. Once the people's hearts were scattered, he would basically be finished, as there would be many people in Japan who wanted to replace him.

Besides, we can't just think of one strategy or tactic to consume the main force of the Japanese pirates. In fact, using a counter-espionage plan to provoke internal strife among them is also a good strategy or tactic, which will also consume a lot of resources.

Let's wait and see if Toyotomi Hideyoshi dares to be so shameless. If he does, I will have Yuan Sheng pretend to be a profit-seeking merchant and secretly sell strategic materials to the princes who are capable of competing with Toyotomi Hideyoshi for control of Japan."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I am a little narrow-minded. I have only considered this one strategy and tactics. I need to think more about it and see if there are other strategies and tactics."

Well, then you should think about it carefully.

Anyway, we don't need to worry at this moment. It is Toyotomi Hideyoshi who should be worried.

Once the rebel army of the vassal state of Korea is equipped, it will definitely fight to the death with the Japanese pirates.

So, how many volunteer troops were there in the vassal state of Korea?
A few days later, Luo Sigong presented a detailed list.

When the Japanese pirates first invaded, the court of Korea, a vassal state, was controlled by pro-Japanese Westerners, so they offered no resistance at all. However, the common people of Korea, a vassal state, could not bear to be bullied by the Japanese pirates, and many of them rose up to resist.

For example, Guo Zaiyou from Seongju, Gyeongsang Province, organized tens of thousands of troops to occupy the Seongju area. He once defeated the troops led by Japanese pirate generals Ankokuji Keikyo, Hosokawa Tadaoki and Hasegawa Hidetsugu, and intimidated the entire Gyeongsang Province.

For example, Zhao Xian of Gongju, Chungcheong Province, and the monk Linggui also organized tens of thousands of troops, and they actually fought back and forth with the Japanese pirate Sixth Legion led by Kobayakawa Takakage and Tachibana Muneshige.

There was also Li Yanxiang in Haizhou, Gyeonggi Province, who organized several thousand troops to fight several battles with Kuroda Nagamasa of the Third Legion of the Japanese pirates.

In addition, Zheng Renhong, Sun Renjia and Jin Mian from Gyeongsang Province had a combined force of more than 10,000 troops. They actually resisted the Seventh Corps of Mori Terumoto, the largest number of Japanese pirates.

There are also Kim Cheon-il from Gwangju in Jeolla Province, Go Kyung-myeong and Hwang Jin from Jeonju, etc. There are quite a lot of volunteer soldiers.

The Jeolla Province Governor Kwon Yul gathered more than 20,000 defeated soldiers and young and strong men and headed straight for Gyeonggi Province, claiming that he wanted to recapture the royal capital!

At this moment, this guy is confronting Ukita Hideie of the Japanese pirate 8th Legion in Suwon.

As soon as Wanli saw the list, he immediately had an idea.

He decided to treat them all equally and give Quan Li and the various rebel forces a thousand sets of cold weapons first.

In this way, Quan Li and the various rebel forces would surely be greatly encouraged and would all go to fight the Japanese pirates.

Once Quan Li and the various rebel forces fought against the Japanese pirates, their weapons would be more or less confiscated by the pirates. In this way, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would soon discover that he was sending weapons and equipment to the rebel forces in his vassal state, Korea.

Let’s see what Toyotomi Hideyoshi will do then.

(End of this chapter)