The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 361: Japan's Fragile Unification

Wanli's tactic of attacking the enemy and then rescuing them really gave Toyotomi Hideyoshi a headache.

He had to save Busan. If he didn't, his army of more than 100,000 might be lost.

The question is who should he send to rescue?

Although there are still more than 100,000 troops left in Minghu City, these troops cannot be easily mobilized.

Although he unified Japan, it was not a true unification, but a fragile one.

The vassal states still existed, and many daimyo, or vassal states, were not eliminated. These daimyo were simply forced to submit to him, and these guys still retained their own territories, retainers and armies.

In this situation, he could not take it lightly. He could only find ways to consolidate his power and strengthen his control over the daimyo.

The solution he thought of was to mobilize these daimyos to conquer the world, and the first goal he set was to conquer the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, he took advantage of the daimyo's nature of aggression and expansion, consumed their strength, and consolidated his own rule.

The problem is that these daimyos are not fools, and many of them saw through his plan at a glance.

In order to avoid being consumed by him, these famous people tried their best to fight him.

For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was powerful enough to compete with him, clearly refused to go.

He wanted to conquer the Ming Dynasty, and Tokugawa Ieyasu did not object, but Tokugawa Ieyasu made him promise in advance not to use other people's troops!

He had no way to deal with this. Once Tokugawa Ieyasu turned against him, Japan's fragile unity would immediately break apart.

I have to say, his vision is still very accurate.

Given the fragile unity of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu really couldn't afford to offend.

History has proved this point. After his death, Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately united with various daimyos to destroy his Toyotomi clan!

Some princes used various excuses to say that they could no longer lead their troops into battle!

He did have a way to deal with these daimyos, which was to send his trusted confidants to lead their troops into battle.

For example, the general commander of the First Army, Konishi Yukinaga, the general commander of the Second Army, Kato Kiyomasa, the general commander of the Third Army, Kuroda Nagamasa, the general commander of the Fifth Army, Fukushima Masanori, and the general commander of the Eighth Army, Ukita Hideie, were all his confidants.

Most of these people commanded the troops of daimyo from Kyushu and Shikoku.

There were also some who were forced by him to lead their troops to participate in the war, such as the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army, Shimazu Yoshihiro, and the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army, Mori Terumoto.

As for those who led the troops and stayed with him in Nagoya Castle, apart from Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Date Masamune, they were not simple figures.

Maeda Toshiie was his best friend, used to guard against Tokugawa Ieyasu, so he certainly could not lead troops to the vassal state of Korea. The rest, Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Date Masamune, all had their own ulterior motives, so he could only use the complicated relationships between these people to check and balance each other.

After much deliberation, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to let Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Date Masamune lead their troops to provide support.

These people had another 50,000 to 60,000 troops under their command. Now the total number of troops he used to attack the vassal state of Korea exceeded 200,000, while Nagoya only had 40,000 to 50,000 troops left.

He came to Nagoya to take charge in order to prevent the Ming Dynasty from taking the opportunity to attack the Japanese mainland. Forty or fifty thousand troops were definitely not enough. He had no choice but to transfer fifty thousand to sixty thousand troops from Osaka to make up a total of one hundred thousand troops.

With this deployment, almost all of the more than 300,000 troops assembled to attack the Ming Dynasty were mobilized, and he didn't even have any reserve troops under his command.

Wanli's move made him so upset that he wanted to retreat and use some underhanded tactics.

His strategy was to lure the main force of the Ming army to the vassal state of Korea to destroy it. The problem was that he hadn't even seen the main force of the Ming army yet he had to send reinforcements.

What forced him to send reinforcements was not the Ming army, but the remnants of the army and the rebel army of the vassal state of Korea.

If he continues to fight like this, not only will he not gain any advantage, but he will also lose a lot of money.

He didn't want to suffer any loss, so he wanted to retreat and use underhanded tactics.

These remnants of the army and the rebel army in the vassal state of Korea are actually very easy to deal with.

As long as he asks for peace talks, the officials from the vassal state of Korea who come to contact them will definitely be the Dong people who are currently in power.

At that time, as soon as he withdraws his troops, the Westerners will use this as an excuse to slander the Easterners for collaborating with the Japanese and take the opportunity to take power!

After the Westerner came to power, he could just use the power in his hands to kill all these remnant generals and rebel leaders without having to spend a single soldier.

He was thinking about how to use underhanded tactics to deal with the remnants and rebel forces of Korea, a vassal state, while Wanli was thinking about how to use the remnants and rebel forces of Korea, a vassal state, to continue to attract reinforcements from the Japanese pirates!

Lee Sun-sin was a pretty competent general of Korea. As soon as the first batch of Japanese pirate reinforcements arrived in Busan across the sea, this guy ran to the capital to ask for instructions on what to do next.

That afternoon, around dusk, Luo Sigong and Yi Sun-sin had just arrived at the palace when Wanli summoned Qi Jiguang to the Grand Council to discuss matters. The remnants of the Korean vassal state and the rebel army were truly useful. He hadn't imagined that such a motley crowd could capture two cities.

This also proves that Korea, a vassal state, was not completely defenseless against the Japanese pirates. The reason why the Japanese pirates advanced so fast at the beginning was because there were too many officials in Korea, a vassal state, who collaborated with the enemy and sold out their country.

Now those officials were either in the areas occupied by the Japanese pirates or had followed King Yi Sun to surrender to the Dai Palace. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had no way to let these traitors deal with the resistance forces in his vassal state, Korea.

Now, he can fully utilize this to have a good time with Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

He carefully examined the map and then said solemnly, "General Li, how is it? Did the medicine for the plague work? Have any of your men been infected with the plague?"

Li Shunchen nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, the medicine for curing the plague is amazing. As soon as my men felt something was wrong, they immediately took the medicine according to the prescription. After taking the medicine, they were no longer in trouble.

The medicine His Majesty gave was truly effective; they even cured many of the remaining civilians along the way according to the prescription."

Just be useful.

It seems that it is a good idea to give each person ten types to cover all the symptoms.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Okay, I'll have them make more and keep sending them to you."

Li Sun-sin bowed repeatedly and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

That’s nothing.

Wanli said solemnly, "You have done very well this time. Not only did you attract the Japanese pirates to come to our aid, but you also captured two cities. This is a great achievement. I always reward meritorious service. What reward do you want?"

Well, what they need most is naturally weapons and equipment. However, it’s not that His Majesty will not give them weapons and equipment, but it takes time to build weapons and equipment.

Weapons and equipment will be given to them once they are made, and this doesn’t seem to be counted as a reward.

As for money, there are wars everywhere now, and you can't buy anything with money, not even food.

Li Sun-sin thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, I would like to give my soldiers some food. I wonder if this is possible."

food?

This is simple.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then nodded and said, "Okay, this time I will give them each a reward of one stone of grain, as well as ten kilograms each of beef, mutton, and smoked fish.

This isn't because I'm stingy, but we have so much food and supplies to transport right now that the navy's express ships are currently overwhelmed. When the navy fleet returns, I'll have them bring a large amount of food and smoked fish from Nanzhili, and I'll replenish it for you then."

This reward is already incredible. Many rebels now can't even get enough food to eat, let alone eat delicious fish and meat.

Li Sun-sin was so moved that he bowed repeatedly and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Once this reward is given, you have to work.

Wanli looked at the map carefully again and then asked, "Is it convenient for you to transport food from Jeolla Province to Geochang City?"

Lee Sun-sin said without hesitation: "It's convenient. We are very familiar with the mountain roads over there. It will be no problem to transport food and supplies there."

That's good.

Wanli pointed at the map and gave detailed instructions: "Next, you will abandon Miryang and retreat to the Geochang area to rest and recuperate, and then attack Seongju.

Remember, you don't have to fight hard this time, just bluff. If the Japanese pirates from Busan don't come to reinforce, you will besiege Seongju. If the Japanese pirates from Busan come, you will retreat to Geochang.

In short, if the enemy retreats, we advance; if the enemy advances, we retreat. We should try our best to attract all the Japanese pirates in Busan to Seongju. Do you understand?"

Does this mean that we should try our best to hold on to the Japanese pirate reinforcements coming from Busan?

Li Sun-sin nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli pondered again and said, "Yuan Jing, we have to show some strength. If we don't make any moves, Toyotomi Hideyoshi will probably consider withdrawing his troops when he sees that there is no hope of achieving his strategic goal.

We can't let them get away this time, so we have to make a move to send troops to support our vassal state, North Korea.

You have to work hard and go to Zhenjiang Fort again. Select a piece of coastline west of the Yalu River that is suitable for building a port and wharf, and then ask Liangyu to dispatch 10,000 craftsmen to build a wharf there.

Build more berths for Fuchuan and Centipede ships. The docks we build this time should be able to accommodate at least a thousand ships at once, and we'll have to continue building them later."

This is actually not a bluff. They will eventually send troops to their vassal state, Korea, to deal with the main force of the Japanese pirates. At that time, those docks will come in handy.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)