Chapter 736: My heart is cold (please vote for me)
After repeated calculations, Marshal Lin decided to focus on Ulsan in the next phase.
After making the decision, Marshal Lin ordered Li Rusong: "The nine columns of Li Rubai's left wing of your First Corps are temporarily placed under my direct command.
Give me three days to prepare, replenish the troops, and then set off with me to Gyeongju on the eastern front to prepare for the attack on Ulsan.
In addition, two hundred heavy artillery pieces will be mobilized from your First Corps to accompany Li Rubai's troops."
Because Li Rusong's First Corps had a relatively large number of troops, it was divided into three groups: left, center and right. The left was led by Li Rubai.
Li Rusong preferred to keep his second brother by his side, and did not want to send him to Magui on the eastern front, so he asked, "Can I choose one of the other two groups of officers and soldiers to accompany the army?"
Marshal Lin said without refutation: "As long as Li Rubai's department."
In this way, General Li stopped saying anything and acted according to the order.
The factions within the Ming army can also be said to be complicated. The Northern Army and the Southern Army, as well as the Li family's Eastern Army and Ma Gui's Western Army, all have their own factions.
In the original history, the Ming army fought very hard in some battles and even retreated. One of the reasons was internal conflicts and conflicts with North Korea.
Fortunately, in this time and space, Marshal Lin has accumulated enough prestige due to a series of glorious victories in Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia in the northwest.
Coupled with the fact that he is the brave champion of the three armies, he has the mythical color of the Nine Yuan True Immortal, and the PUA method is very effective, so he can completely suppress all the army leaders and minimize the internal conflicts.
In addition, Marshal Lin used physical means to completely eliminate interference from the North Korean side and avoid being held back by the North Korean army, effectively ensuring the smooth progress of the war.
Three days later, Marshal Lin set out for Gyeongju on the eastern front with 3,000 soldiers and horses from the Luebiao Battalion and 11,000 soldiers and horses from Li Rubai's troops, as well as 200 heavy artillery pieces.
At the same time, Li Rusong's first corps of 20,000 troops and Li Kuang's fourth corps of 15,000 troops were ordered to put pressure on the Japanese pirate group from the north and west respectively, and try to contain as many Japanese troops as possible.
However, these two directions mainly focus on seeking field battles and avoiding difficult attacks.
A few days later, Marshal Lin arrived at Gyeongju, the easternmost tip of Gyeongsang Province, only seventy or eighty miles away from Ulsan where Japanese pirates were entrenched.
It would only take one day to march normally, but it would only take an hour if we speed up the march.
Ma Gui, the commander of the Second Corps, had been waiting for a long time and had already packed up the Gyeongju Animal Husbandry Office and handed it over to Marshal Lin.
Marshal Lin, who was tired of his career, washed his face and called Ma Gui in to talk.
After General Ma sat down, he said uneasily: "There is something that I must let the commander know first."
Lin Tailai said doubtfully: "What happened? You acted without permission and you suffered a defeat and hid it without avenging it?"
"That's not the case!" Ma Gui said quickly: "Earlier on our way south, passing through Gangwon Province and the northern part of Gyeongsang Province, more than 3,000 Korean volunteers came to defect to us.
Yang Dengshan took 3,000 men and stayed in Hamgyeong Province. I only had 14,000 troops heading south.
I always felt that it was not enough, so I took in those Korean volunteers as a supplement to our army."
Marshal Lin frowned and complained: "What's the use of taking in these volunteers?
If the time comes to fight a tough battle and fight to the death, do you believe that the performance of these Korean volunteers will be dozens killed and three thousand defeated?"
However, Marshal Lin didn't say anything more, he still wanted to give General Ma some face.
"Just accept it, don't do it next time." Lin Tailai said, "Have you tried to find out the information? What is the situation of the Japanese army in Ulsan?"
Magui replied: "Previously, the Ulsan Japanese army forcibly conquered all the Koreans in the surrounding area, and then built a fortress day and night on Dosan Mountain in the south of the city.
In order to keep up with the progress, even low-level Japanese soldiers were ordered to participate in the construction.
And because stones were needed to build Dosan Castle, the Japanese pirates also massively demolished the old city walls of Ulsan Castle.”
Lin Tailai commented: "It seems that the Japanese also knew that they would not be able to defend the city with a low wall, so they urgently built a new castle near the mountain."
Ma Gui also echoed: "So it seems that the Japanese army no longer intends to hold on to the old city of Ulsan. It is estimated that they will fully retreat and defend the newly built Dosan Fortress."
Marshal Lin suddenly froze, sighed deeply and said, "If the Japanese pirates don't defend the old city, wouldn't the success of their first attack be lost?"
The city walls in North Korea are generally not high, and Ulsan Old Town is certainly no exception. It is relatively easy to climb first.
The newly built Daoshan Castle in the south of the city is built on the mountain. The wall must be very high, making it very easy to defend and difficult to climb.
"These bastards should be cut to pieces with a thousand swords! Why should the old city wall be demolished!" Marshal Lin couldn't bear it and cursed loudly.
Ma Gui is speechless, Marshal, is your focus a bit special?
Then Ma Gui continued: "Many North Koreans couldn't stand the hard work of day and night construction and found ways to escape.
Moreover, a number of Japanese soldiers who were drafted for construction also couldn't bear the pain and escaped with the Koreans.
From the mouths of these people, we also collected some information about the Ulsan Japanese army.”
Marshal Lin seemed to have lost most of his passion and asked calmly: "Who is the guard on the opposite side?"
Magui said: "The commander in chief of the city defense was Fukushima Masanori, the commander of the Japanese Fifth Corps. After Seoul was defeated, the remaining 14,000 to 5,000 men of the Fifth Corps were responsible for garrisoning Ulsan.
I heard you mention it before, Marshal, that this person seems to be the leader of the seven spears of that bastard? And Kato Kiyomasa, who was killed by you, Marshal, can only be ranked second?"
Lin Tailai said "Oh" and said, "It turns out it's him. The Fifth Corps was supposed to have 25,000 soldiers, but now there are only 14,500 left. It seems that the Fukushima Corps lost more than 10,000 soldiers in Seoul.
"
Ma Gui continued to introduce the situation and said: "In addition to Fukushima Masanori, the Japanese army's fifth corps also has two generals and one Hachisuka Kasei."
Lin Tailai added casually: "This man should be the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Suga Koroku. He can be regarded as the nephew of the old thief Hideyoshi."
Anyone who has played Taiko Ritsushiden will know Hazosuka Koroku, an NPC that will definitely appear after the game starts.
General Ma was used to Marshal Lin's "annotations" and didn't know where Marshal Lin got his information.
"There is another general in the Japanese army's fifth corps, named Chosong Gabu Motochin." Ma Gui said this and paused intentionally.
Sure enough, Marshal Lin casually explained: "This man's dream was to unify the Shikoku region of Japan, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi's big mouth woke him up, so he can only become the lord of Tosa Domain."
Magui concluded: "In short, Masanori Fukushima, Kasuke Hazosuga, and Motochika Chosogabu commanded the remaining 14,500 men of the Japanese fifth corps.
In addition, there is a river in the south of Ulsan called Taehwa River, which can be connected with Sesaengpo in the west.
There are 14,000 Japanese troops stationed in Xishengpo, the fourth corps of the Japanese army, and they may come by boat to support them."
Lin Tailai chuckled and said: "Shimazu Yoshihiro, an old thief, still couldn't withstand the persecution of Hideyoshi, the old thief, so he finally took his 10,000 troops across the sea and came to Korea.
But I estimate that Shimazu Yoshihiro will not risk his life to support Ulsan. First, he wants to preserve his strength, and second, the Japanese army in Ulsan and Shimazu Yoshihiro are not the same people at all, and Shimazu Yoshihiro has no motivation to risk his life."
I originally thought that Ma Gui had finished reporting, and Marshal Lin was about to issue various instructions, but he heard Ma Gui say again:
"There is also the latest information that was received just yesterday. A Japanese support force has entered Ulsan.
The number of the reinforcements may be around 3,000. I don’t know where they were transferred from. The leader of the reinforcements is a young man.
According to people who fled from Ulsan, this young man who was less than twenty years old seemed to have a surname of Asano and should be a noble son. The three generals of the Fifth Corps all respected this young man very much.
That’s all we know so far.”
After Lin Tailai thought for a moment, he immediately gave the answer, "This young man under twenty years old should be Asano Yukinaga.
His father was one of the five members of the Toyotomi family, and it is said that he was still writing and was responsible for managing the Gold and Silver Mountain for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
His mother's name is Mimi, and she is the sister of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife, Ning Ning. In other words, Asano Yukinaga can call Toyotomi Hideyoshi his uncle.
His betrothal partner was the daughter of Maeda Toshiie, the second most famous person in Japan.
Although such people are young, they must show respect whether they are Fukushima Masanori or Hachisuka Kasuke."
Mr. Ma was so convinced that he could no longer be convinced and almost threw himself to the ground.
I only mentioned the surname "Asano" and the information that he was less than twenty years old. As a result, the commander immediately revealed the person's identity without even counting!
Knowing yourself and your enemy to such an extent, if the Japanese pirates are still defeated, it would be unreasonable!
Lin Tailai suddenly laughed a few times and said again: "Ulsan is quite an interesting place now.
Fukushima Masanori was a descendant of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's mother's family, an absolute direct line promoted by himself, the youngest son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the housekeeper of Hazusuga, and Asano Yukinaga was the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife's family.
So many of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's relatives and friends, and the younger generation he focused on cultivating, have gathered in Ulsan.
I don’t know how Toyotomi Hideyoshi would feel if he could eat them all at once."
Later generations said that a big reason why Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched a new dungeon to invade North Korea was to consume the strength of the major names.
But now it seems that there are actually quite a few people who are direct descendants of the Toyotomi clan.
Not to mention the current Masanori Fukushima, even the previously captured Yukino Konishi and the killed Kato Kiyomasa were actually direct descendants of Toyotomi.
Ma Gui smiled along and replied: "However, this situation also shows that the Japanese pirates may not have expected that Ulsan on the eastern front would become the commander's main attack direction.
The Japanese pirates probably guessed that our army would use Jeolla Province on the western front, which has the closest supply distance and better logistical conditions, as its advance base and attack Jinju from west to east.
That’s why Toyotomi Hideyoshi and a large group of relatives and friends gathered on the eastern front in Ulsan, perhaps because they thought this place was relatively safe.”
Marshal Lin said: "If you can surprise the enemy, it can be considered a good thing."
In the original history, the Battle of Ulsan was very difficult. Due to various reasons and the good luck of the Japanese pirates, the Ming Dynasty soldiers attacked Ulsan twice but failed to capture Dosan Fortress.
However, in this time and space, the Japanese pirates are not fully prepared, so the difficulty should be reduced a lot.
That night, Governor Konishi who was accompanying the army heard that Asano Yukinaga appeared in Ulsan, and quickly reminded Lin Tianshuai: "The situation is not that simple!"
Lin Tianshuai asked shamelessly: "What do you think?"
Governor Konishi said: "I can confirm that Asano and his son were not originally on the list of conquests, and Taikaku did not want Asano and his son to go to North Korea.
Asano Yukinaga, who is only 18 years old this year, is unlikely to have come to North Korea independently. He should have followed his father Asano Nagamasa.
And Taige now sends important ministers like Asano Nagamasa to North Korea. It must be because he is extremely dissatisfied, so he asked Asano Nagamasa to supervise the war!
It is estimated that Asano Nagamasa will not be the only one to come to North Korea, there must be a large number of reinforcements and generals following him to North Korea, but I don’t know who the new generals are."
Lin Tailai thought thoughtfully: "So, Toyotomi Hideyoshi still didn't give up? So he sent more reinforcements in an attempt to try again?"
President Konishi analyzed: "Taikou may have wanted to take advantage of the favorable geographical location on the south coast to stand tight and cause huge damage to the heavenly soldiers, and then make plans later."
Marshal Lin said domineeringly: "No matter how many come, there is nothing to fear from our heavenly soldiers! Let me take Ulsan first!"
After resting for another two days, Marshal Lin ordered the entire army on the Eastern Front to dispatch!
There were 3,000 soldiers and horses in Jingluebiao camp, 14,000 soldiers and horses in Magui's department, 11,000 soldiers and horses in Li Rubai's department, and more than 3,000 Korean servants. A total of 31,000 troops left the borders of Gyeongju and headed for Ulsan.
The general's headquarters was located at the foot of Heseong Mountain in the northwest of the old city of Ulsan, and then he used Li Rubai's tribe as the left and Magui's tribe as the right to launch an attack on Ulsan City.
Marshal Lin led the Biao Battalion to supervise the battle and provide support between the east and west roads.
The Japanese army did not seem to have the intention to defend the perimeter. Seeing the heavenly soldiers coming to attack, after firing several rows of iron cannons, they abandoned the camp one after another and decisively retreated to the mountain castle on the southern island of the city.
When Marshal Lin saw with his own eyes the old city wall of Ulsan City that had been demolished to pieces, his heart dropped.
No matter how thick-skinned I am, I would still be embarrassed to be the first to sign up here.
All armies advanced together, chasing the retreating Japanese army, and easily recaptured the old city of Ulsan.
Then they marched to the south of the city and came to the foot of Daoshan Castle, the real stronghold of the Japanese pirates.
Marshal Lin also took a breath of air when he saw the appearance of Daoshan City.
This island mountain castle is indeed built entirely on the mountain, using traditional Japanese craftsmanship. It is divided into three floors, which in Japanese are the Honmaru, Ninomaru, and the Sannomaru on the bottom floor.
There is a city wall on each floor, which is built on the cliff and built with stone. Compared with the normal city wall, it is extremely tall and precipitous. It seems that the hook and ladder cannot reach the top of the city by visual inspection.
The passage between the three floors is not straight up and down, but in a zigzag shape.
In this arrangement, there is a cliff wall next to the passage, and the defenders above can attack the passage with full firepower.
The front is like this, and the side is dominated by cliffs. There is no road, and there is no chance to attack it.
The rear is closely adjacent to the Taihe River, and there are tidal flats at the foot of the mountain, so it is impossible to attack from here.
After walking half a circle around Daoshan City, Marshal Lin's heart felt completely cold.
The risk of siege is too great. It is impossible to attack the city in person first, unless you have the intention of dying for your country.