Chapter 735 What is the fifth time? (Please vote for me!)
In the spring of the 21st year of Wanli, the Japanese pirates completely retreated to the south coast of Gyeongsang Province, centered on Busan, from Jinju to Ulsan.
Thirty thousand men from Li Rusong's First Corps arrived in the Seongju area in the north, and moved firmly from north to south, squeezing the Japanese army's space from the front.
The 14,000-strong Magui Second Corps arrived in Gyeongju in the east and confronted the Ulsan Japanese army.
The 15,000-strong Fourth Corps of Li Huan arrived at Namwon in the west, more than 100 miles away from the Japanese army in Jinzhou.
Now that the situation on the front line is gradually becoming clearer, and matters such as canonization and mining in the rear have been basically arranged, Lin Tianshuai is also preparing to set off south.
This was not yet the end of Chongzhen, and it was indeed rare for a civil servant like Lin Tianshuai to be keen on visiting the front line in person.
For the fifth time. Oh no, in order to eliminate the Japanese pirates and rebuild the vassal state, Tianshuai is also working hard.
At this time, Chen Lin, deputy chief of the navy, rushed to North Korea from the southeast with hundreds of warships and 13,000 troops.
Not counting the battle losses so far, the troops entering the DPRK include Li Rusong's First Corps of 38,000 men, Ma Gui's Second Corps of 17,000 men, Dong Yiyuan's Third Corps of 10,000 men, and Li Yu's Fourth Corps of 10,000 men.
Five thousand people, Chen Lin's navy has 13,000 people, and the Sanbiao camp has 6,000 people.
The total military strength has reached 99,000. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an army of 100,000, and it is a real 100,000 soldiers.
Within the last hundred years, this is an unprecedented scale.
However, so far, through five large-scale battles in Pyongyang, Hamhung, Jizhou, Byokjeokwan, and Seoul, the heavenly soldiers have sacrificed about 5,000 people, less than half of which were sacrificed by General Li in Byokjeokwan.
However, it is said that after naval commander Chen Lin landed at Inchon, which was only eighty miles away from Seoul, he immediately rushed to the west of Seoul to meet with Lin Tailai, the minister of economics and strategy.
Cui Wukui, the attaché of the shogunate, welcomed Chen Lin at the gate of Xique Palace to express the importance that the shogunate attached to the naval admiral.
Deputy General Chen smiled and handed Cui Wukui a small bag of tips. There was a clear and pleasant sound of metal collision as it shook.
Faced with this greeting gift, Cui Wukui accepted it after hesitating for a while, and then reminded: "Lin Gong prefers to be addressed as the commander-in-chief recently, rather than the Duke of Jinlue or the military gate."
Chen Lin bowed her hand to Cui Wukui and went to the hall to meet Lin Tailai.
Marshal Lin was sitting behind the case and said calmly: "General Chen is a little late."
Chen Lin said with a smile: "I brought some new-looking gadgets for the commander to enjoy."
Marshal Lin didn't say anything, so Chen Lin took it as acquiescence and called on the soldiers to bring in a box.
After opening it, there was a box full of silver coins. Marshal Lin picked up a silver coin and took a closer look. It had an eagle-shaped pattern engraved on it.
Chen Lin explained: "This is the Yingyang that has been spread from overseas in recent years. One piece contains eight coins and is quite beautifully made. I boldly gave it to the commander in a few boxes for his enjoyment."
Of course Lin Tailai knew that after the Spaniards conquered Latin America, especially Mexico, half a century ago, they seized massive amounts of silver and used it to mint silver coins. This "Eagle Ocean" style is a very classic one.
Later, in maritime trade, a large amount of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty through trade in the form of Yingyang.
Today is the first time Lin Tailai has seen the real Yingyang with his own eyes since he traveled through time.
In recent years, Chen Lin has been guarding Zhangzhou and Tingzhou as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy, and it seems that he has made a lot of money.
Since the decline of Ningbo's sea trade, Zhangzhou Yuegang has been the largest sea trade port in recent decades. Leading the navy to guard this place will be profitable.
Holding the silver coin, Marshal Lin suddenly felt something again and fell into deep thought.
Should we also mint "silver currency" with Lin's characteristics in Suzhou? One tael of silver and one silver dollar?
The nominal official currency of the imperial court was copper coins and treasure banknotes. No matter what shape the silver was cast into, it should not be illegal in theory.
This was the case in many areas of the Ming Dynasty. After more than two hundred years of changes, many of the systems established in the early years of the dynasty have become names on paper, and are completely different from reality.
For example, does anyone still uphold the famous prohibition that "officials and scholars are not allowed to engage in prostitution?"
So if you mint silver coins and don't be too ostentatious about using "Lin Datou" everywhere, you should be fine.
Seeing the marshal holding Yingyang and thinking for a long time, Chen Lin suddenly felt a little panicked. Could something be wrong?
No matter whether the commander is smiling or scolding him righteously, there is nothing wrong with it, but what does it mean to be in a daze while holding Yingyang?
Isn't this Yingyang just money? Chen Lin, who had nothing to do with it, didn't dare to say anything, so she just stood below and waited.
After a while, Marshal Lin finally finished thinking and put down the Eagle Ocean in his hand.
Then he kindly said to Deputy Commander Chen: "You are here at the right time. The Japanese pirates are entrenched on the south coast. If we want to completely wipe out the Japanese pirates, we need your naval force to make great efforts."
Just now it was "General Chen came a little late", now it is "he came just in time".
The amount of money is not important. Does Marshal Lin, who has full control over Susong's industry, agriculture, commerce, transportation, engineering and construction, and finance, still lack a few boxes of Yingyang?
What matters is the attitude shown. Marshal Lin is a person who attaches great importance to attitude.
Then Marshal Lin ordered: "The main tasks of your navy are twofold. First, completely cut off the Japanese army's retreat route back to the country; second, cut off the Japanese army's sea food route!
If you want to completely annihilate the southern Japanese pirates at the minimum cost, these two conditions are indispensable.
On the premise of completing the above two tasks, we can appropriately deter the Japanese troops in their homeland."
Chen Lin promised without hesitation: "We will definitely fulfill the commander-in-chief's military orders!"
Marshal Lin still believed in Deputy General Chen's statement.
Although the Japanese pirates claimed to use thousands of ships to conquer the dynasty, most of them were transport ships, which could only be left empty in the port when they were not transporting troops.
The real navy only had more than 9,000 people, and the warships were said to have 700.
Moreover, in this era, many people may not know that the shipbuilding technology of Japan was not as good as that of Ming Dynasty, but even that of Korea was inferior.
The Japanese warships were not as strong as those of the Ming and North Korea in terms of their sturdiness and fire protection.
Why was the famous North Korean navy general Yi Sun-shin able to steal the show and be so praised when the North Korean army was completely incompetent and defeated?
Mainly due to the technical and tactical advantages of the Korean navy, it was indeed able to defeat the Japanese navy in naval battles.
But no matter what, the North Korean navy still couldn't get ashore, and its scale was not enough to carry out a complete naval blockade. Therefore, it was ultimately unable to reverse the war situation and achieve a strategic victory.
The navy was too professional. Marshal Lin could only entrust the direct command of the navy to Chen Lin and could not handle it as he did with General Li.
However, he still had to "talk on paper" to highlight his abilities and establish prestige in front of Chen Lin.
This is the "way to control their subordinates" practiced by many leaders, and it is not unique to Marshal Lin.
Then Marshal Lin spoke eloquently: "Among the Japanese ships, the largest was called the Anzhai ship. According to the custom of the Japanese state, many shooting holes were set up, and the hull of the ship was built very high.
Therefore, this kind of warship has three weaknesses: first, it has a deep draft and is extremely inconvenient to turn; second, its center of gravity is high and the target is large; third, there are too many wooden structures and it is very flammable."
Chen Lin responded to Dashuai Lin's "advice" with a "hmm, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, ah, ah, ah," and thought to herself, maybe the marshal knows a thing or two?
After finally waiting for a break in Marshal Lin's speech, Chen Lin quickly got down to business and asked for instructions:
“I heard that Yi Sun-shin, the famous North Korean state-owned navy general, led dozens of warships to win two or three naval battles last year.
Is it possible to cooperate with Yi Sun-shin and join forces to eliminate Japanese pirates at sea?"
Marshal Lin looked at Chen Lin with strange eyes, which made Deputy General Chen feel a little numb again.
Before coming here, I heard that Marshal Lin often killed North Korean civil and military officials for fun when he had nothing to do. Could it be that Yi Sun-shin was also on the list?
"Why do you want to unite with Yi Sun-shin?" Marshal Lin asked.
Chen Lin explained: "Yi Sun-shin fought several battles with the Japanese navy last year. He at least has some experience and is familiar with the water conditions."
Marshal Lin gave very clear instructions: "Don't cooperate with the North Korean Navy. Our Ming Dynasty Navy will fight on its own and let them fend for themselves."
Seeing Marshal Lin's attitude of being very resistant to cooperation, Chen Lin asked curiously: "I dare to ask, what's the reason for this?"
Marshal Lin replied: "You don't want others to say that you, Chen Lin, fought under the command of Yi Sun-shin hundreds of years later, right?"
You don’t want to say that a few hundred years later, Yi Sunchen will be named the best general in ancient and modern times, while you, Chen Lin, will remain unknown, right?”
Chen Lin: "?"
Marshal, what kind of joke are you talking about? It doesn't sound funny.
Marshal Lin pointed to his eyes, "Believe it or not, my eyes can see some of the future."
Deputy Chief Chen thought, from a purely literary point of view, the level of your joke, Marshal Lin, is indeed very low.
Marshal Lin didn't know what was going on in Chen Lin's mind, so he continued to add: "The strength of their navy is just that. At the beginning of last year, Yi Sun-shin did win three naval battles.
However, the average number of Japanese naval warships destroyed per battle was only twenty, and the total number of Japanese warships was seven hundred.
Check out the correct version one by one!
Then Yi Sun-shin drifted away and began a large-scale attack on Busanpo, the Japanese pirate base. As a result, he was defeated and he almost couldn't come back.
So not cooperating with them will have no impact on us, but it will avoid a lot of trouble, so why not?"
When the words reached this point, Chen Lin responded: "Yes, I will obey the commander's military orders."
“In addition, although the west coast of North Korea has a long coastline, the wave height is too great, so there are not many places that can be used as good harbors.
Therefore, when you are sailing between ships, you should take the opportunity to survey and see if there is any place on the southwestern coast of Korea suitable for use as a large seaport."
It was all a trivial matter, and Chen Lin agreed immediately, so the meeting was a complete pleasure for both host and guest.
After that, the generals took action on their own. Chen Lin led the navy southward by sea, first looking for a suitable port as a base in Jeolla Province.
Marshal Lin ordered Dong Yiyuan's Third Corps of 10,000 troops to stay in the rear, responsible for guarding the safety of the road from Kaicheng to the southern front line, as well as the defense of Wangjing and Seoul.
At the same time, he ordered 3,000 people from the Wu Weizhong Battalion, one of the three battalions to be commanded, to stay and be responsible for protecting Concubine Kim Soon-bin and Lord Soon-hwa when they went to Pyongyang.
Marshal Lin himself led the Dayun Camp and Ye Bangrong Camp to rush south to the front line.
After crossing Chungcheong Province, you enter the northern part of Gyeongsang Province, which is located in the southeasternmost part of the peninsula.
At this time, the northern part of Gyeongsang Province had been abandoned by the Japanese pirates, and General Lee's headquarters on the northern line was stationed in Seongju.
In later generations, Daegu, next to Seongju, was actually more famous and was the fourth largest city in the Nambang Kingdom.
Hearing that the commander-in-chief had come to join the First Corps again and had entered Xingzhou City, General Li went to the military headquarters to pay a visit.
When General Li entered the White Tiger Hall, he saw a large map hanging in the middle. Marshal Lin was facing the map, standing expressionless with his hands behind his back, motionless as if he was lost in thought.
If you look closer, you can see that the big map is a situation map of Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla Province in the southernmost part of North Korea.
This is normal. The war in the future stage will not go beyond these two areas.
Seeing Li Rusong coming, Marshal Lin spoke first and said without any doubt: "I have decided, first of all, to end the war before winter!
Second, on the premise of ensuring this time, try to obtain the final victory at the minimum cost!"
Li Rusong fully agreed: "It should indeed be so!" Then he asked curiously: "I just saw Junmen looking at the map in a trance. Did you get anything out of it?"
Marshal Lin pointed to the map and said: "Now the Japanese pirates have shrunk to the south coast, and our army has surrounded the Japanese pirates from the north, east and west.
Is it possible to fake defeat on the northern front and induce the Japanese pirates to invade Daegu?"
General Li was puzzled. Was there something wrong with his thinking?
Why do you want to fake defeat inexplicably? Why do you want to lure Japanese pirates to occupy Daegu? What is the meaning of this?
Besides, the Japanese pirates' current overall strategy is to shrink and defend, and they may not be willing to extend the front line.
Out of respect for Lin Jinglue, General Li didn't say anything and just treated him with silence.
Marshal Lin changed his fingers and said, "Isn't it possible? Then on the western front, is it possible to fake defeat in Nanyuan and lure the Japanese pirates to advance to Jeolla Province and occupy Gwangju?"
Marshal Lin's response was still silent. General Li didn't want to take a stand on such a plan that he could only come up with if he had a brain in his head.
Marshal Lin's face was filled with regret, and he sighed and said: "Not even the Western Front? Then the only option is Ulsan on the Eastern Front.
There is no need to feign defeat here, Ulsan is the front line occupied by the Japanese pirates, just go and fight."
General Li asked unbearably: "What is your combat intention, Junmen? Why do you go to Daegu in the north, Gwangju in the west, and Ulsan in the east?"
Marshal Lin explained: "In order to find the best location for the fifth, fifth, fifth major battle."
General Li obviously didn't believe it and sneered: "What's the fifth time? Are you sure you're talking about a battle? Not that Lao Deng or something like that?"
Marshal Lin further explained: “There have been four major battles in Pyongyang, Hamhung, Jiju, and Seoul. Isn’t this the fifth?
If you insist on counting the Battle of Bade Hall, then it doesn’t hurt to say that this is the sixth time.”
General Li: "."
Break off the relationship! Break off the relationship! Must break off the relationship for three days!
Marshal Lin looked at the map again. He was only one step away from being able to climb first before being able to stand alone in the past and present. For such a glorious moment, of course, he had to choose a memorable location as much as possible.
On this map of the southern part of the peninsula, there are Busan, the second largest city of the later Nambang Kingdom, Daegu, the fourth largest city, Gwangju, the sixth largest city, and Ulsan, the eighth largest city.
It can be said that these are the only four places that are slightly famous in later generations.
The most famous city, Busan, is the home base of Japanese pirates on the peninsula. It is not currently on the front line and is impossible to reach now.
Since Daegu and Gwangju are in our own hands, it is unrealistic to deceive the enemy into defeating them and then recapture them. Therefore, the only one that is possible to attack at the moment is Ulsan, which is the least well-known.
Alas! Marshal Lin felt somewhat regretful that Ulsan was still not worthy of his illustrious martial arts.