Chapter 699 The Situation on the East and West Fronts
After two days and one night of fierce fighting, on the second day of November in the 20th year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty soldiers regained Xianxing Mansion, an important town in the northeastern part of Korea. It can be regarded as a recovery for the time being. Anyway, the scorched earth was temporarily uninhabitable.
The Nabeshima Naomao Division of the Japanese Second Corps was basically wiped out. Except for more than a thousand Japanese soldiers who fled scatteredly, dozens of them were captured, and more than 10,000 others were not left alive.
The "Jing Lue Fugu Yao Bian" recorded in this time and space: Tianshuai Lin Tailai pretended to underestimate the enemy, luring the Japanese soldiers to attack at night, and then counterattacked to the north gate.
The commander-in-chief the day after tomorrow couldn't bear to see the casualties among his soldiers, so he once again put on heavy armor and took the lead in ascending the city. He smashed the heads of more than ten Japanese pirates with iron caltrops, then seized the gate and broke through the city. Unfortunately, Taizu Xianxing's palace was burned to the fire."
"Wanli Residence Copying the Renchen Volume" says: "After Lin Tailai came to seize the gate at dawn, Wang Shi entered the city and beheaded more than 3,000 people in total and burned more than 6,000 people to death. The Japanese leader Nabeshima Naomao and his son burned themselves to death.
Also, in less than a month after Lin Tailai entered Korea, 25,000 Japanese soldiers were beheaded, burned or drowned in two battles, and he was called the Blood Demon King by the Japanese."
After capturing Xianxing Prefecture, the Ming Dynasty managed the Sanbiao Battalion and the Second Corps to rejoin the forces and re-camped upwind.
Lin Tailai summoned Ma Gui and asked, "Lao Ma, do you know how to write a battle report?"
Ma Gui replied confidently: "Two hundred and ninety-nine people were killed in this battle. In addition, due to Lin Junmen's negligence, he failed to protect the Hamhung Palace of the Joseon Dynasty, which resulted in the Hamhung Palace being burned down by the Japanese."
Lin Tailai was a little surprised, are you, General Ma, so eye-catching? You know how to write a battle report without having to give detailed instructions yourself?
If you, Lao Ma, have such a mind, wouldn't it be a good idea to join the civil service circle?
Suddenly, Lin Tailai had a realization and asked directly: "Have you placed an insider among the clerical staff around Li Rusong?"
Ma Gui argued: "How can we call it internal response? This is called sharing what we have and learning from each other.
It's good to be prepared in case Li Rusong writes a book to slander me.
Also, among the clerical staff around me, there must be an insider from Li Rusong!"
Lin Tailai: "."
If you two attack the city together, do you have to dedicate half of your troops to monitor the other?
Ma Gui sighed again: "Our army is actually a lone army now. Even if we write a battle report, we have no route to send it out."
Two to three hundred miles to the north is probably Kato Kiyomasa's tribe, to the south is Gangwon Province occupied by Japanese soldiers, and to the west is the high mountains with no mature transmission routes.
Now that I have written a battle report, in which direction can I send it?
And because the Daemongmen occupied Yeongheung and cut off the connection between the Japanese soldiers in Hamgyong Province and other areas, Hamgyong Province seemed to have become a completely independent sector that was disconnected from the outside world.
Lin Jinglue thought for a while and then said: "The battle reports of the great victory can boost morale and deter Japanese soldiers, so we still need to send them abroad and let the Koreans have a try."
A group of people followed the way they came, crossed the mountainous area again, and sent battle reports back to the areas that had been recovered on the Western Front;
Another group of people carried the battle report to the southwest to see if they could pass through the Japanese-occupied area and find other Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
Send them all to Koreans, who are more familiar with the geography and customs. Whoever can deliver the battle report will be rewarded heavily."
Ma Gui looked at the map and asked: "Going southwest from Hamjing Road and passing through the Japanese-occupied area, can you find the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers?"
Lin Tailai replied: "If Li Rusong's regiment moves south quickly enough, then it can!"
Hearing the words "Li Rusong", Ma Gui immediately woke up and couldn't help but ask: "Based on the military estimates, how far has Li Rusong advanced on the Western Front?"
Lin Tailai replied: "After the victory in Pyongyang City, the Japanese pirates who were scattered and guarding various parts of the Yellow Sea Road must be frightened and take the initiative to withdraw southward.
Commander Konishi's 16,000 to 7,000 troops were completely wiped out, so what courage did those Japanese pirates who dispersed their troops have to defend?
Therefore, when Li Rusong's regiment moved all the way south, most of its troops were invincible, and its advancement speed was only limited by the speed of supply of food and grass, and the speed of receiving cities along the way.
Now half a month has passed since the victory at Pyongyang City, and Li Rusong could advance five to six hundred miles south.
If nothing unexpected happens, Li Rusong should have arrived at Kaesong, one of the three capitals of North Korea.
Kaicheng is very close to Wangjing and Seoul, and it is of little significance to the Japanese pirates. Therefore, the Japanese pirates who retreated south will definitely abandon Kaicheng and defend Seoul with all their strength.
At this moment, it is estimated that Li Rusong is temporarily staying in Kaicheng to conduct reconnaissance and assessment of the situation in Seoul, Wang Jing's capital."
Ma Gui was stunned for a moment and then said unconvinced: "Li Rusong actually took the credit for regaining Kaicheng for nothing."
After all, Kaicheng is also one of the "Three Capitals" in name only, and its political status is there.
And Hamhungfu is just a place where pythons and flying snakes flourish. Compared with Kaesong, it is like the difference between Fengyang and Nanjing.
Ma Gui said unhappily: "If Li Rusong defeats Wang Jinghan in one go, what will happen to us in the future?"
Lin Jinglue said with a somewhat complicated expression: "He shouldn't be able to defeat him."
Ma Gui was stunned. Hearing Lin Jinglue's negative tone, he didn't seem to want Li Rusong to conquer Seoul in one go.
Lin Tailai explained: "Seoul is a must-defend place for Japanese pirates, and tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers have gathered there, so it is not that easy to conquer.
I suggested to Li Rusong that we should stop heading south when we reach Kaicheng and wait for the army to gather.
Whether he listens or not depends entirely on his own destiny."
Ma Gui was even more confused when he heard it. Why did the word "creation" even come out? Is Lin Junmen talking about metaphysics? What do you want to express?
Historically, it was under this background, coupled with his inner contempt for the Japanese soldiers and the pressure of a shortage of military supplies, that Li Rusong rushed toward Seoul with thousands of cavalry impatiently.
As a result, dozens of miles north of Seoul, he encountered a battle at Byokjeokwan. General Li was almost made dumplings by Japanese soldiers.
Of course, the Ming army's 5,000 soldiers and horses were able to break out of the 30,000 to 40,000 Japanese soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was still very fierce, but the strategic level was indeed frustrated.
Another consequence was that General Li's personal bodyguards suffered heavy casualties, which greatly affected General Li's psychology and made him lose his morale.
It must be said that General Li is actually a very emotional and emotional person.
Lin Tailai's complicated mood at this moment is that, first, he does not want to conquer Seoul at this time, he wants to slow down the pace and fight for a while longer.
Taking Seoul within a month after entering North Korea was a bit too fast, and was not conducive to the gradual layout and control of the northern part of North Korea.
In addition, if the small imperial court of North Korea starts to quarrel again, it will be even harder to find excuses to stop it.
So he didn't go south on the Western Front because he didn't want to capture Seoul.
Secondly, he could not force Li Rusong to tell Li Rusong not to attack Seoul but to bleed more blood for Korea and Japan.
Otherwise, General Li must have thought that he was unwilling to let him perform meritorious service, and the human relationship would be broken.
Thirdly, the battle of Bitiguan in history was still very dangerous. If General Li's luck was even slightly worse, he would be in danger of being killed in battle.
If a similar situation occurs again in this time and space, who knows what General Li's fate will be this time?
All in all, Lin Jinglue did not want to capture Seoul at this time, but he could not prevent General Li from attacking Seoul. At the same time, he felt that General Li would not succeed, but he was more worried that General Li's luck would deteriorate and he would be killed in danger.
Therefore, this is a complex emotion unique to the time traveler, and others cannot understand it at all.
"Forget it, don't mention Li Rusong!" Lin Jinglue asked Ma Gui again: "How much rations do we have left?"
Ma Gui replied: "We checked it when we set up camp. We carried thirty days' worth of dry food when we set off from Shun'an, and nearly half of it has been consumed.
Fortunately, several hundred more stones were seized from Yongxing. After all, we have enough military rations to last for twenty days."
Lin Jinglue felt some pressure again, "In other words, we must annihilate Kato Kiyomasa, regain Hamgyong Road, and open up the supply line within twenty days."
Just as Lin Tailai predicted, the biggest pressure when entering Korea to fight will always come from food supplies.
Limited by technical conditions, no matter how well prepared you are, it will never feel like it’s not enough.
Ma Gui said with a little pity: "There should have been some food reserves in Xianxing City, but the fire burned down the city."
Lin Jinglue said: "There is no way. You can't do things perfectly. If you gain something, you will lose something. In order to annihilate the enemy as soon as possible and reduce casualties, you have to pay this price."
Lin Tailai was unwilling to leave any survivors during his two attacks on the city. In addition to wanting to save worry and trouble, it was also mainly because of the military ration situation.
The rations for the Heavenly Soldiers were already tight enough, and all parts of Korea were so poor and dilapidated that nothing could be found. How could they feed thousands of prisoners?
Rather than being forced to kill prisoners on a large scale in the end and having the reputation of killing and surrendering, it would be better not to take prisoners from the beginning.
There are dozens of live Japanese captives, just for asking for information or for use in future ceremonies.
Now that he mentioned prisoners, Lin Tailai thought of something and said:
"Let's study how to solve Kato Kiyomasa's department as soon as possible! Only by solving Kato Kiyomasa can we be completely freed.
I have captured some traitors in Hamhung City and brought them here. I want to interrogate them personally and wonder if I can dig out some useful information."
During the previous raids in the city, although the Japanese soldiers were not spared alive, they still tried their best to capture some of the traitors who mingled among the Japanese soldiers.
Lin Tailai felt that these traitors who were greedy for life and fearful of death, and who would be their mothers if they had milk, were still useful, and they might be more loyal than Liu Chenglong, Li Dexin and the like.
When Ma Gui heard that Lin Jinglue wanted to personally review the intelligence, he was surprised and said: "You can just pinch the military gate and calculate it? Why do you ask these traitors?"
Lin Tailai sighed: "There are too many times of spying on the secrets, and it is easy to be backlashed, so it cannot be used frequently."
Not long after, the biggest of the captured traitors, Ju Jingren, was pushed in.
At this time, there were two major court traitors in Hamgyong Province, both civil and military. The military leader was Han Kechen, the former military envoy to the North of Hamgyong Province. After being defeated and captured, he surrendered to Kato Kiyomasa and gave his two daughters to Kato.
The author of this article is Ju Jingren. When Kato Masaaki's army came to the city, he directly tied up two Korean princes and presented them to Kato Kiyomasa. He was not an ordinary greedy for life and fear of death.
Looking at Ju Jingren, who looked like a dead dog and couldn't even kneel straight, Lin Tailai said with disgust: "Can you kneel straight and reply?"
Ju Jingren said weakly: "Does the little one still have a way to survive?"
Lin Tailai said: "The monarchs and ministers of North Korea are trying to cut you into pieces, and the Japanese pirates probably won't let you stay. The only person who can give you a way to survive is probably the Honbu Yuan."
Ju Jingren saw hope, and his kneeling figure slowly straightened up.
Lin Tailai asked: "Is Kato Kiyomasa in Jizhou? What's the situation there?"
Ju Jingren replied: "Kato is indeed clearing out the rebels in Jizhou, with a force of about 10,000 people, and two to three thousand Koreans assisting him."
Lin Tailai was slightly surprised that there were actually two to three thousand "puppet troops" on Kato Kiyomasa's side. This was something he had not calculated.
He couldn't help but sarcastically said: "There are so many traitors in the Xianjing Dynasty, and they can even form an army!"
Ju Jingren replied angrily: "The Li Dynasty regarded Xianjing Road as an inferior place. Xianjing Taoists were not allowed to go to Wang Jing to serve as officials. Isn't it ridiculous to ask Xianjing Road to provide allegiance during the national crisis?"
Fortunately, only two princes took refuge in Hamgyeong Province. I heard that the king had also considered taking refuge in Hamgyeong Province before. If he really came, I am afraid that the king would be the one who fell into the trap."
Lin Tailai shook his head. The foundation of North Korea's rule in Hamgyong Province is really difficult to describe in one sentence, and many policies are even difficult to understand.
No matter how decadent the Ming Dynasty was, it did not prohibit scholars from Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Liaodong, and Hainan from entering the court as officials.
Then Lin Tailai asked: "You surrendered to Kato Kiyomasa for several months. You must have dealt with him frequently and have some understanding of his behavior.
So the headquarters asks you, if Kato Kiyomasa knew that Pyongyang was defeated and the Japanese soldiers on the western front had withdrawn five to six hundred miles south, and at the same time Hamhung on the eastern front had been captured by our Japanese soldiers, and his southern retreat was cut off, what would he do?
How to choose?”
After Ju Jingren thought for a while, he replied: "Kato is a brave man who dares to take risks.
If an ordinary military commander were to encounter such a situation with no escape route, he would definitely try his best to break out of the encirclement to the south and fight for a chance of survival. He would escape as much as he could.
But Kato will definitely try his best to collect all the food and grass nearby, and then stick to Jizhou and not break out rashly to the south."
Lin Tailai frowned and said, "Why?"
Ju Jingren replied: "Kato must have been able to tell that the heavenly soldiers should have crossed over from the mountainous area, because due to marching restrictions, they could only carry limited food and grass.
He only needs to defend Jizhou with strong walls and clear fields, and when the heavenly troops and food are exhausted, he can naturally seek for a chance to survive."
Lin Tailai couldn't help but sigh, this was what he was most worried about.
The Xianjing Road is very long and narrow, about three hundred miles from Xianxing to Jizhou.
Therefore, if we take the initiative to attack Kato Kiyomasa, we have to travel three hundred miles to attack the city. After extending the front line, the uncertainties will be too great.
If Kato Kiyomasa took the initiative to break through to the south, he could easily intercept and fight while waiting for work. But judging from Ju Jingren's oral account, Kato Kiyomasa is not that mentally retarded.
Things in the world don't always come in the simplest form. It seems that we have to send our troops to Jizhou.
Otherwise, I really can’t afford to use up the twenty days’ worth of food and grass in my hand.
No wonder those famous players have strong psychological resistance to pressure. Lin Tailai finally experienced it today.
Ju Jingren probably racked his brains to provide information in order to survive, "Also, the Japanese soldiers of the Kato tribe have a lot of firearms, and almost 30% of them are fire gunners. They are definitely the elite of the Japanese soldiers."
Lin Tailai slapped the case and said: "The people we fight in this department are the elites!"