On September 28, the first year of Munrok (1592), at Nampo Port in the southwest of Pyongyang City, the Japanese navy of Todo Takatora escorted Imagawa Ujihira's fleet and arrived smoothly. Governor Konishi had already led his troops to wait outside the port. I saw
After Imagawa Ujihira landed ashore, he immediately rushed to greet him.
"Your Majesty Momiji, it's safe to say there is no danger." Konishi Governor glanced at Imagawa Ujihira, then looked at the intact fleet behind him, and let out a sigh of relief.
"What? Do you think the danger is greater on the way I came?" Imagawa Ujihira smiled upon hearing this, patted Governor Konishi on the shoulder and said, "Let me guess, is it because you can't handle the North Korean navy?"
"Your Highness Ming Jian, those Yi Sunchen and Li Yiqi are so fierce, and those dozen turtle boats covered with armor, our navy is helpless. Now we still can't take over several ports in Jeolla Province."
Xi Xingchang clicked his tongue repeatedly with lingering fear, then clasped his hands together again and made a sign of the cross on his chest, "Amen, fortunately His Highness did not meet them on the way here."
"Have you completed the mission you were given?" Imagawa Ujihei asked in a low voice as he followed Mr. Konishi to the camp outside Pyongyang.
"Don't worry, Your Highness, everything is done. Everyone is detained in the camp." Governor Konishi also replied in a low voice, "Except for a few remote collateral lines that escaped, we have basically detained all the direct descendants of the Korean royal family.
.In this way, the Toyotomi family will no longer be able to continue to inquire about the movements of the Ming army through their spies who have infiltrated into the Li Dynasty."
"Well done." Imagawa Ujihira nodded with satisfaction. From a distance, you could see the flag in Konishi Yukinacho's camp - it was the Red Leaf Army composed of Jincabei, the 17th Reserve, and the 19th Reserve.
Flag of the 7th Brigade.
After the Battle of Maple Leaf Mountain Castle, the Red Leaf Army began to rebuild. Although the losses of veterans and officers were very serious, which brought an irreversible blow to the combat power, the number of people still returned to the pre-war scale. After that, in order to deal with the Spanish
, the Dutch fought in various parts of Southeast Asia, and the Red Leaf Army launched an expansion operation, almost tripling the number of troops. Later, the more than 20 reserve units that became the army were named after the sequential numbers of the army. And there are Chinese characters for
The twelve reserve units of the designation were called the old Hongye Army. Masayuki Sanada of the staff department mixed the old Hongye Army and the new Hongye Army and organized them into ten brigades. In addition to the three subordinates of each brigade,
In addition to individual reserve units, there are also specially equipped cavalry, artillery, engineers, medical troops, staff, logistics auxiliaries and supplementary troops. The total number of people in a brigade is about 18,000. However, the brigade is a relatively flexible organization.
The reserve team is not static like that. Sometimes, for combat needs, the staff headquarters will reorganize and reorganize the brigade. There is even a precedent of one brigade having five reserve teams.
"But what I care more about is another mission." Imagawa Ujihei continued to ride forward. Several villages outside Pyongyang came into view, and he suddenly changed the subject.
"I reported back to Your Highness, and all of them were complied with." President Konishi responded in a low voice with the same respect, "The Seventh Brigade and the daimyo of the Yuqiu clan all abide by military regulations, and Qiu did not commit any crimes along the way, and the impact on ordinary people was ignored
It has dropped to the lowest level. On the eastern route we took, that is, Gyeongsang Province, Gangwon Province, and Hamgyong Province, no large-scale arrests occurred, and a few looting behaviors were immediately stopped. Therefore, within the three routes, all
There was no major popular uprising or resistance."
"
What about those Toyotomi daimyo on the Western Front?" Imagawa Ujihira heard the voiceover of Konishi Yukinaga and asked directly.
"They refused to accept our restraints. They burned, killed, and looted as soon as they landed, which aroused large-scale riots and uprisings among the people. The North Korean people formed many militia groups in Jeolla Province, Chungcheong Province, Gyeonggi Province, and Hwanghae Province to conduct guerrilla warfare.
This method disrupted their logistics. This caused them to struggle after they captured Seoul and Kaesong, and their speed was much slower than that of us walking on mountain roads."
"Later, His Highness Toyotomi Hidematsu, as the commander-in-chief, realized something was wrong, and began to order the Toyotomi clan daimyo to follow our example, ban arbitrary arrests, and appease the people. Only then did the people's riots gradually be suppressed. So generally speaking, the people
The casualties were not very high." When Governor Konishi said this, he couldn't help but admire, "As expected of His Highness Taige's son, he is very quick to respond. It is not easy to calm so many senior generals and let them restrain their subordinates.
"
"But a lot of innocent people still died, right?" As Imagawa Shihei walked, he discovered a corpse pit in the southwest of Pyongyang City - a large pit where the Japanese army piled the killed North Korean officers, soldiers and civilians.
——They will be collected and buried after being claimed by the surrounding people in a few days. A few brave women and children can be seen here and there, dragging the door panels of their homes to the corpse pits, and turning over the severed limbs and remains that exude a putrid smell.
Looking for, wanting to recover the remains of their loved ones.
"This..." Governor Konishi swallowed, and finally lowered his head and admitted, "That's right...but this is war, and there is nothing we can do about it. His Highness, your peace order has minimized the casualties of the Korean people.
It's probably worse than famine..."
"There is no need to make excuses for my choice, and I will not escape." Imagawa Shihei shook his head and interrupted Mr. Konishi's explanation, "I know better than anyone else that if I instruct the Yuqiu family to firmly oppose it, Zheng
It was impossible for North Korea to implement it smoothly. It was I who chose to compromise, and it was I who chose to implement that plan that led to the destruction of so many innocent people in North Korea."
Imagawa Jihei's eyes fell on a family beside the corpse pit. It seemed that the old woman, her daughter-in-law, and her early ten-year-old granddaughter came to the corpse pile to look for someone. They covered their mouths and noses and rummaged for a long time, and suddenly they came from the corpse pile.
He grabbed an arm. The old woman suddenly fell to the ground sobbing loudly, and her daughter-in-law and granddaughter also burst into tears. It took a lot of effort with their two delicate arms to lift the body of the male owner from the pile of corpses.
The daughter-in-law came out and carefully placed it on the door panel. The daughter-in-law wiped the blood stains on her husband's face with the handkerchief she had wiped her tears from, and then she and her little daughter walked in tandem, staggeringly carrying the door panel toward the village.
By accident, the little daughter tripped, the door panel slipped to the ground, and the man's body suddenly fell into the mud pit by the road. The little daughter burst into tears and refused to leave even after saying anything.
Without any intention of blaming her daughter, she took her husband's body out of the mud pit again and wiped the muddy water with her sleeves.
"This is a choice I made myself. The trauma suffered by so many innocent families is all because of me." Imagawa Ujihira murmured to himself, not knowing whether he was talking to Yukino Konishi or to himself. He just said
I felt a chill spread throughout my body, my body trembled and then became calm again.
"Your Highness, do you regret it?" Konishi Governor glanced at the family member Imagawa Jihei looked at and sighed softly.
"exist
From the moment I agreed to conquer the imperial court and implemented the final plan, regret has been with me for several years, lingering day and night. How could it suddenly arise from seeing the tragedy of a family?
I have seen this scene countless times in the decades of chaos. I don’t need to see it in person to know what it will look like. And on the entire Korean Peninsula, in the lands of the Ming Dynasty and Japan, this
I'm afraid there are thousands of sad scenes." Imagawa Shihei shook his head, then slowly lowered his head, and his expression became determined, "But in order to end this endless troubled world, in order to give this cursed person
History has come to an end, and I have made my choice."
"I will not escape regret. Every tragedy here is caused by my own hands." Imagawa Ujihei opened his arms, as if embracing countless suffering people from a distance, "Everyone and every family's suffering will be affected by it."
It has become the regret that I carry, and this burden will force me to keep moving forward until all the regrets are burned out."
"Every tragedy that happens because of me is the reason why I absolutely cannot lose."
·
"Red leaves, although I don't know what kind of medicine you are selling in your gourd, I will never lose." Almost at the same time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Nagoya Castle murmured while holding the report sent back from the front line.
He whispered in a low voice, "I have gone through a lifetime of hardships and tribulations, and climbed from a commoner despised by everyone to a position among the people of the world. I enjoy respect that I could not even imagine in the past, and enjoy the kneeling worship of all people in the world. If anyone wants to
Pull me down from this position and turn me back into the common man that everyone despises. No matter how noble his motives are, no matter how lofty his ambitions, no matter how kind-hearted his heart is, I will crush him to pieces.
.”
"By this time, you should have arrived in North Korea...you probably don't know that you will never come back." Toyotomi Hideyoshi stood up with a sneer, put the secret message in his hand into the luxurious candlestick and lit it.
·
Not long ago, in Edo Castle of Musashi Province, Tokugawa Ieyasu slowly burned the secret letter sent by Imagawa Ujimitsu on the oil lamp, and then walked out of the secret room.
"The third son of Momiji announced that Maple Mountain Castle has announced that the plan has begun." Tokugawa Ieyasu whispered to Honda Masanobu and Okubo Nagaan who were waiting outside the secret room.
"Then my lord, have you recovered from your 'illness'?" Okubo Chang'an asked in a low voice, and Tokugawa Ieyasu himself chuckled twice when he heard this.
"Who cares about the 'sickness'? No matter whether it's Taikaku, a famous person in the world, or a knowledgeable person, who doesn't know that I deliberately pretended to be sick and didn't go to Nagoya Castle?" Tokugawa Ieyasu patted him.
With his increasingly plump belly, he looked towards the distant northwest, "I don't know if Saburo and the others can escape safely."
"Imagawa Jibu has made arrangements in advance. There is a fleet waiting outside the port of the Chosougabu family's territory. As soon as the plan is launched, we will immediately escort the Yuqiu clan daimyo to escape from Kyushu. My lord, there is no need to worry." Honda.
Masanobu leaned towards Tokugawa Ieyasu and said, "At this time, we have probably set sail."
"Okay, in the name of Kuroda Takataka still hiding with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, we raise troops to Qingjun's side." Tokugawa Ieyasu moved his body slightly, and then ordered in a deep voice, "Assemble the Tokugawa army and join the troops of the Imagawa family.