The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 362: Most Tyrants Are Shameless

The Japanese pirates' reinforcements have arrived.

Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Date Masamune successively led the 10th, 11th, and 12th Corps to Busan.

The dense mass of them surging onto the shore was just like a ferocious beast with its bloody mouth wide open, ready to devour anyone.

The remnants of the Korean army and the rebel army seemed to be frightened. They turned around and fled to Geochang in the northwest of Gyeongsang Province, and even abandoned the city of Miryang that they had just captured.

This time Toyotomi Hideyoshi was confused again.

He thought these guys would fight them to the death.

If these guys really rushed to Busan to fight them, they could just wipe them out in one go, so that they could focus on dealing with the main force of the Ming army.

Who would have known that these guys not only did not rush to Busan, but instead ran to Geochang City, the farthest city from Busan!
Now he didn't know whether to withdraw the 50,000 or 60,000 reinforcements or let them continue to guard Busan.

While he was hesitating, news came from Tieshan that the Ming Kingdom had gathered countless craftsmen and was building a port terminal on the coast west of the Yalu River estuary!

Does this mean that the main force of the Ming army is finally coming to support its vassal state, Korea?
Then Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Date Masamune do not need to withdraw for the time being. No one knows how many Ming troops will come. If they want to swallow them all in one go, they naturally have to leave more troops there.

Who knew that urgent news would come from Xingzhou soon after.

The remnants of the vassal state of Korea and the rebel army swarmed in and launched a fierce attack on Seongju City!

This time, the vassal state of Korea seemed to have gathered more than 100,000 troops to attack Seongju.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi received the urgent news and looked at the map again, he almost vomited blood in anger.

Seongju City is located in the middle of the road from Chungcheong Province to Gyeongsang Province. If Seongju is captured by these guys, their army will be divided into two.

The hundreds of thousands of troops in Chungcheong Province, Gyeonggi Province, Hwanghae Province and Pyeongan Province will be in danger!

He seemed to understand that the main force of the Ming army was probably coming to deal with the tens of thousands of troops in Chungcheong Province, Gyeonggi Province, Hwanghae Province and Pyeongan Province.

This Xingzhou must not be taken.

He could only urgently order Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Date Masamune to lead their troops to Seishu for support.

This support almost made him vomit blood in anger.

It was as if the remnants of the vassal state of Korea and the rebel army were playing a joke on them. Before the reinforcements arrived, these guys ran back to Geochang.

Now he finally understood that the Ming Dynasty was using the remnants of the army and the rebel army of its vassal state, Korea, to play tricks on them.

If the fighting continued, it was uncertain whether the main force of the Ming army would be attracted to the vassal state of Korea. However, most of his troops would be trapped in the quagmire of the vassal state of Korea and would be in danger of being annihilated at any time.

Because the more than 100,000 remnant soldiers and rebel forces of the vassal state of Korea are completely following the command of the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty.

These guys are much more familiar with the terrain of their vassal state, Korea, than they are.

If these rebel armies and remnants are not eliminated, the vassal state of Korea will become the home turf of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty can play with them however it wants and beat them however it wants.

Also, his tactics this time were problematic. He shouldn't have seized most of the territory of the vassal state of Korea in one go.

As a result, not only was the battle line stretched too long, but the troops were also greatly dispersed.

More importantly, the King of Joseon, Yi Sun, was frightened by him and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty with a group of court officials, leaving him without any help.

If King Yi Sun of Joseon and his court officials were there, they would have surely asked the main force of the Ming army to come and support them. It is even possible that the main force of the Ming army would have been trapped in the encirclement and eaten up.

In short, there were too many strategic and tactical problems this time. He had to withdraw his troops and first use underhanded tactics to kill those generals and rebel leaders in his vassal state, Korea, who dared to lead their troops against him. Then he would make a comeback and dig a hole south of the Korean royal capital to annihilate the main force of the Ming army.

Most warlords are shameless, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi is even more shameless. He immediately ordered someone to contact Shen Weijing and prepared to withdraw his troops under the pretext of peace talks.

Shen Weijing happened to have something to discuss with Toyotomi Hideyoshi at this time. This guy came very quickly. In less than ten days, he arrived at Nagoya by speedboat.

It was already past 5 p.m. that day and night had fallen. As soon as Shen Weijing arrived at Nagoya, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took him to a secret room that had been prepared long ago.

Under the tiny light, the two men sat cross-legged facing each other, their faces seemingly filled with gloom.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was quite dissatisfied and said, "Shen Sang, why didn't you pass on any information to me? This puts me in a passive position, do you know?"

Where can we get any information now?

Shen Weijing replied in fluent Chinese: "Your Highness, Kapitan Li Dan betrayed us and stole a large amount of our goods. We have suffered a huge loss and have no money to buy intelligence."

What does it have to do with me if you don’t have money? Do you still want me to give you money?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi ignored all this and asked directly: "Who is the commander of your Ming Dynasty this time? He is so cunning and sly, and only uses shady tactics. He is not upright at all."

We don't know about this. Shen Weijing thought for a moment and simply said perfunctorily: "It should be Qi Jiguang. He defeated your people during the Jiajing period. Our young emperor trusts him very much."

Qi Jiguang, the Ming Dynasty's God of War?
That's blown out!
Toyotomi Hideyoshi shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no, no, Qi Jiguang is not as powerful as you boast. What he defeated during the Jiajing period were just ronin. They were a mob, not our regular troops at all."

Then I can guess him, and there is nothing I can do if you don’t believe me.

Shen Weijing thought for a moment, then said solemnly: "Your Highness, we want to get rid of Kapitan Li Dan. I hope you will stop doing business with this traitor."

So where do I get the supplies I need?

Toyotomi Hideyoshi shook his head slightly and said, "I have to purchase three to four million taels of goods from him every year. If I don't do business with him, can you guys ship it to me?"

Well, we must get rid of him first before we can train new pirates!

Shen Weijing pondered and said, "We can send you some first, but it will probably take two years to get three or four million taels of supplies."

Okay, I'm planning to withdraw my troops anyway, so it won't be a big problem in one or two years.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi nodded slowly and said, "I can consider this, but you have to help me do something."

Do you have any other conditions?
Shen Weijing frowned slightly and said, "Your Highness, what do you want me to do?"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi said gloomily, "I want you to take my envoys to ask for peace under the guise of a merchant. We don't want to fight anymore and are ready to withdraw our troops."

Are you kidding me?
No fight now?
You are about to take over the entire territory of our vassal state, North Korea!

Upon hearing this, Shen Weijing said in disbelief, "Your Highness, are you planning to withdraw troops from Korea, your vassal state?"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi nodded gloomily and said, "Yes, as long as the Ming Dynasty and the vassal state of Korea agree to my conditions, I will withdraw my troops from the vassal state of Korea."

Are there any conditions?

You took the initiative to ask for peace talks, and it's good enough that the other party didn't put forward conditions to you, but you still put forward conditions to them.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's way of fighting wars was sometimes confusing.

It’s just like the battle between him and Tokugawa Ieyasu. When he saw that he couldn’t beat Tokugawa Ieyasu, he actually ran to find Oda Nobuo and asked Oda Nobuo to force Tokugawa Ieyasu to retreat!
Who could have thought that he would do this?
Shen Weijing was quite puzzled and asked, "Your Highness, what are your conditions?"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi took out the list of seals from his pocket and handed it over.

When Shen Weijing took the list and looked at it, he was stunned.

Are you afraid that you are mentally ill?
You can even propose such conditions!

The conditions proposed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi really sounded like he was mentally ill.

The first one is to marry a Ming princess to the Eastern Kingdom as the Empress;

The second is to develop trade between Ming and Japan;

Article 3: The military commanders of Japan and Ming Dynasty swear an eternal alliance;

Article 4: The royal capital and the four northern provinces were returned to Korea, and the four southern provinces were ceded to Japan.

Article 5: Korea sends a prince to Japan as a hostage;
Article 6: Return the captured second prince of Joseon and other Joseon officials;

Article 7: Korean ministers swear never to betray Japan.

The first one is to deliberately make things difficult for the Ming Dynasty.

According to the imperial ancestral precepts, the Ming Dynasty does not accept marriage alliances!
Shen Weijing was stunned for a moment, then said with a look of embarrassment: "Your Highness, I don't know whether the vassal state of Korea will agree to your conditions, but we in the Ming Dynasty will definitely not agree to it."

Unexpectedly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi even smiled sinisterly and said, "It doesn't matter if you, the Ming Dynasty, don't agree. We must negotiate. I didn't say that you, the Ming Dynasty, must agree to these conditions."

Then why did you list it?
You want to deliberately piss off our little emperor, right?

That kid has a very bad temper. He will chop people if he makes you angry!

If he saw your condition, he would definitely kill you.

Forget it, I won’t show it to the little emperor.

Shen Weijing thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "Okay, I will take your envoy to request peace talks."

(End of this chapter)