The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 389 The Japanese Pirates Are Not a Monolithic Group

Geochang is just a small city, but its geographical location is very important.

This is because Geochang is connected to Gwangju and Naju in the heart of Jeolla Province and Seongju and Daegu in the heart of Gyeongsang Province.

The mountains between Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province are connected through this road in Geochang.

There is only this main road between the two places, and the others are mountain paths that the army cannot pass through at all.

If you don't go through Geochang, you either have to go around from the north Chungcheong Province or take the southernmost coastal highway, which is a long way around.

Such an important pass should be heavily guarded. Not only should there be troops stationed in Juchang City, but there should also be troops stationed on the hills outside the city to provide support, so as to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

However, what is strange is that there are not many Japanese pirates stationed in Juchang. There seem to be only four or five thousand people in total, and all of them are in the city.

What is going on here?
Don’t the Japanese pirates know the importance of Gechang?

Early in the morning at about 12:00 that day, Qi Jiguang and Li Shunchen climbed up the highest hill two or three miles west of Juchang City, and lay on the top of the hill to carefully investigate with a telescope.

He knew that the Emperor was very concerned about the safety of the two thousand martial arts candidates, so he came over personally to take command.

The defense of Juchang City really left him speechless.

The Japanese pirates seemed to have no idea of ​​the importance of Geochang City. They did not send heavy troops to guard it, and the defensive facilities were mediocre and not strengthened at all.

He took a careful look and then asked, "General Li, it seems the Japanese pirates attacking the west side of Jeolla Province also have four legions, right?"

Lee Sun-sin nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the pirates attacking the western front of Jeolla Province are the 7th Corps of the Japanese pirates, the 10th Corps of the Japanese pirates, the 11th Corps of the Japanese pirates, the 11th Corps of the Japanese pirates, the 12 ...7th Corps of the Japanese pirates, the 10th Corps of the Japanese pirate

It seems that the four legions here have more troops than the four legions on the northern front.

Qi Jiguang was puzzled and asked, "The casualties among the Japanese pirates on the western front don't seem to be very high, right?"

Li Shunchen nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the attack of the four legions here is not as fierce as that of the northern front, and their casualties are not very heavy."

That's weird.

There are only two main roads leading into Jeolla Province from the west, one is Geochang in the middle, and the other is Hadong in the south.

It is impossible for the Japanese pirates to take the mountain trails, and they would probably get lost if they turned in.

In other words, the frontline cities that the four legions of Japanese pirates with more than 100,000 troops needed to garrison were only Juchang City and Hedong City.

Juchang City is the core of the western front and is much more important than Hedong City. However, the Japanese pirates only sent four or five thousand troops to garrison there!

What's the matter?

Qi Jiguang thought for a moment and then asked, "Which Japanese pirate armies are responsible for attacking Juchang City?"

Lee Sun-sin said without hesitation: "This is Mori Terumoto's Seventh Army."

Mori Terumoto does not seem to be very famous, but his grandfather Mori Motonari, his father Mori Takamoto, and his uncles Yoshikawa Motoharu and Kobayakawa Takakage are all very famous in Japan.

Their Mori clan was also very powerful, and their territories included Suo, Nagato, Aki, Iwami, Bingo, Izumo, Oki, Bitchu, Hoki, and Bimasaka in Honshu and Buzen in Kyushu.

The Mori clan was the third largest power in Japan, after the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan.

This time, two of the first nine legions that attacked the vassal state of Korea came from the Mori clan, including the Seventh Legion of Mori Terumoto and the Sixth Legion of Kobayakawa Takakage.

Moreover, Mori Terumoto's Seventh Legion had the largest number of troops, with a total of 30,000 men, so one can imagine how strong it was.

However, the battle record of Mori Terumoto's Seventh Army was not very good. It seemed that several original rebel armies in Gyeongsang Province had fought against the Japanese pirate Seventh Army, with mixed wins and losses, and it seemed that no one could do anything to anyone.

As the commander-in-chief of this war to annihilate the country, Qi Jiguang had done a lot of homework and had understood all of this in detail.

Logically speaking, the army of the Mori clan should not be so weak. They destroyed several powerful princes in Japan. Could it be that they were unable to adapt to the climate in their vassal state, Korea, and failed?

This is impossible.

There is only one reason why the Mori army performed so poorly, that is, Mori Terumoto was conserving his strength!
In other words, this guy is most likely not going to fight them to the death.

So, do you want to give it a try?

Qi Jiguang looked at the densely packed 40,000 to 50,000-man army in the valley behind him, then raised his telescope to scan the sparse 4,000 to 5,000-man army in Juchang City. He said decisively, "General Li, you go down and organize all the troops to launch an immediate surprise attack."

what?
Can this be called a raid in broad daylight?

Li Sunchen was stunned when he heard this.

He thought the raid would be launched at night.

In broad daylight, the enemy discovered them as soon as they ran out of the valley.

General Qi also said to organize all the troops to launch a surprise attack?
Didn’t the Wu Camp and the Wei Camp not participate in the siege?
Oh, I see. This is to scare the Japanese pirates in the city.

Twenty thousand troops might not be scary enough, but if forty or fifty thousand troops came together, the Japanese pirates defending the city would probably be terrified when they saw them.

He was stunned for a moment, then stood up and bowed, saying, "I obey your command." After that, he ran down the mountain and ordered all the men to form a long square formation of a hundred people on the mountain road. Then he waved his hand and gave the order to attack!
A burst of dense footsteps was heard, and forty to fifty thousand troops swarmed out, marching across the west side of Juchang City and quickly formed an attack formation.

Twenty thousand sword and shield soldiers were in the front, two thousand martial arts candidates were in the middle, and twenty-five thousand spearmen were in the back, all in uniform order.

Seeing the formation of the spearmen had been completed, Yi Sun-sin immediately raised his hand and shouted, "Kill!"

"Kill!"

A roar that shook the earth was heard, and forty to fifty thousand soldiers and horses advanced rapidly towards the city wall in neat formation.

The Japanese pirates in the city were stunned when they saw this.

Baka, what is this for?
The majority bullies the minority, right?

Upon seeing this, the Japanese pirate leader actually gave the order to retreat!
There is no way. There are too many enemies. If they defend themselves to the death, they will be dead.

The order from the head of the family is to preserve our strength as much as possible. If we defend, we will die, so what's the point of defending?
This time it was Lee Sun-sin's turn to be stunned.

The walls of Juchang City were not high, and he could see half of the Japanese pirates in the city while sitting on his horse.

These guys actually turned around and ran away!

real or fake?

Seeing this, Qi Jiguang, who was on the top of the mountain, showed a look of understanding on his face.

As expected, Mori Terumoto was pretending to obey but actually disobeying in order to preserve his strength.

Your Majesty is absolutely right.

The Japanese pirates in Japan are not united at the moment, so there is a lot of room for development!

After seeing the Japanese pirates guarding the city escape, he did not order the flag bearer to issue any orders, because he wanted to see how the twelfth battalion of the vassal state of Korea was training.

At this time, Li Shunchen seemed to look back at the top of the mountain.

Since General Qi didn't give any orders, we just kept charging forward.

He didn't say a word, and the 40,000 to 50,000 troops were still advancing rapidly towards the city wall.

At this time, all the martial artists in the formation had put away their bows and arrows, drawn their weapons and were ready to climb the city wall.

They were also riding war horses, so naturally they saw the Japanese pirates on the city wall turn around and run away.

It didn't take much time to cover the distance of two or three miles. In less than a quarter of an hour, the front row of swordsmen and shieldmen rushed to the bottom of the city wall.

The wall of Juchang City was only about ten feet high, and two people stacked together could almost reach the arrow embrasures.

The first row of sword and shield soldiers in front turned around quickly, squatted down, caught the legs of the second row of sword and shield soldiers with both hands and lifted them up, and the second row of sword and shield soldiers whooshed onto their shoulders.

They stood up straight and leaned against the city wall, and the first layer of human wall was completed.

Immediately afterwards, the third row of sword and shield soldiers turned around, knelt on one knee, and straightened their backs, while the fourth row of sword and shield soldiers stepped on their knees and stood on their shoulders.

The second layer of human wall has also been built.

Immediately afterwards, the fifth row of sword and shield soldiers arched their backs and lay on the ground, and the sixth row of sword and shield soldiers jumped onto their backs in a flash.

The third layer of human wall has also been completed.

Immediately afterwards, the seventh row of swordsmen and shieldmen straightened their bodies and stood forward.

This fourth human wall is good enough.

Immediately afterwards, the last eighth row of sword and shield soldiers knelt on one knee.

This fifth human wall is also ready.

They had been practicing for several days, and the human wall was formed almost every time they blinked an eye. In just a few blinks of an eye, the human wall was complete.

At this time, two thousand martial arts candidates also rushed over on horseback.

They reined in their horses and shouted in unison, "Shield!"

With a loud noise, all the sword and shield soldiers raised their shields, and it was as if a row of iron steps suddenly appeared under the city wall, which was extremely spectacular.

Two thousand martial arts candidates jumped off their horses with their weapons in hand, jumped onto the human wall, stepped on their shields and rushed up the city wall in a few steps.

There was indeed no one on the city wall; the Japanese pirates had all fled long ago.

They actually captured Juchang City just like that!
Seeing this, Qi Jiguang on the top of the mountain put down his telescope and nodded slightly.

The twelve battalions of the vassal state of Korea have been trained very well and should have no problem fighting against the Japanese pirates.

(End of this chapter)