816 The change of the center of gravity of Ming Dynasty
In mid-January of the 21st year of Chongzhen, the land of North Korea was still a vast expanse of white. Although the snow had stopped, the severe cold weather still allowed the snow on the ground to continue to decorate the earth.
In this kind of weather, most of the Ming army huddled in the city, waiting for winter to completely pass.
At this time, North Korea did not refrain from attacking southern Korea because of insufficient military strength.
As the commander-in-chief of the front line and the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, Wu Sangui naturally knew this very well. What restricted his next move was the issue of food and grass.
Even if shipping can reduce a large amount of food and grass consumption, it is not suitable for large-scale transportation in this severe cold season. Only when the weather gets warmer and the food and grass supplies are sufficient can we launch further wars.
However, what he never expected was that on this day, when he was thinking about the troop deployment plan of the Japanese army in southern Korea, he stayed up all night and came to report.
"What?" Wu Sangui was shocked when he heard it, and immediately confirmed, "The Japanese army has been in chaos, and even many of them were killed by the Korean rebels, and how many cities were captured?"
Due to climate, traffic and other reasons, the Ming army sent out at night was only a few hundred miles away from the Ming army's defense line. At most, the Japanese army in Seoul had more monitoring areas.
Unexpectedly, those Korean rebels funded by the Dongjiang Army were actually attacking the city and seizing land!
No matter how incompetent the Japanese army is, they are still an army after all, so it’s not like this, right?
After confirming the news of Ye Buhui, Wu Sangui couldn't sit still.
It’s not that he was afraid that the North Korean rebels would take credit for the city they captured and would not listen to the orders of the Ming army. If that were the case, there would be no need for the rebel army to exist!
Wu Sangui was worried that if he acted too late, the Japanese would be killed by the Koreans.
Even if he had given instructions in advance, he would still try to capture as many Japanese as he could. However, he had been familiar with North Korea for several years in Dongjiang Town. The Koreans had a deep hatred for the Japanese, and they would probably find various excuses to kill the Japanese.
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However, the imperial court's decree to Wu Sangui was that these Japanese were free laborers, and if they could be captured, they should be captured as much as possible.
Therefore, he could not wait for the grain and grass from behind to arrive, and immediately sent an order to all the ministries to march to southern Korea. At the same time, he also sent people to Du Yinxi, the governor of Jiliao in Liaodong, to report quickly.
In early February, Du Yinxi received the second urgent report from Wu Sangui, saying that the entire North Korea had been occupied, the Ming flag had been planted in Busan, and he had contacted the naval officers on Tsushima Island.
There are approximately 700,000 or 800,000 Japanese people in Korea. Of course, this includes Japanese people. But when Wu Sangui occupied the entire southern part of Korea, there were only less than 300,000 Japanese people in total. The other Japanese people were all
Koreans found various reasons to kill them.
In the emergency report, Wu Sangui still defended the Koreans, saying that the Koreans had a deep hatred for the Japanese and so on. He said a lot, and the reason was naturally the cruelty of the Japanese in Korea.
In addition, Wu Sangui's urgent report also contained news from the Japanese mainland.
King Fuku has occupied the entire Kyushu Island, but there are still Japanese elites on Honshu Island, mainly the direct troops belonging to the shogun. According to the situation detected by the naval expeditionary force, if the imperial army wants to land on Honshu Island to fight, it would be best
Be adequately prepared, otherwise there may be relatively large casualties.
After seeing this news, Du Yinxi thought of the news from the capital, and suddenly had an idea. So, he immediately wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital together with the victory document.
At this time, the imperial court was already busy. Some troops and generals were dispatched to the west and east of the Ming Dynasty. All the yamen were busy with this, including Emperor Chongzhen.
After receiving the victory documents and memorials from Du Yinxi, Emperor Chongzhen was also very happy: Liaodong and North Korea were all pacified!
At this time, it was time to make a decision on the issues that had been discussed before.
This issue is the ownership of North Korea and the resettlement of North Koreans!
North Korea was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but later, North Korea betrayed the Ming Dynasty and became a vassal state of the Jianlu people, and sent troops to assist the Jianlu people in fighting against the Ming Dynasty. The first fall of Pidao was attributed to the Korean Navy.
However, there were people in North Korea who were fond of the Ming Dynasty and kept informing the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen even knew through Liu Weichao that North Korea continued to use his Chongzhen reign name until it was occupied by the Japanese.
To be honest, the reason why Korea changed into a vassal state of Jianlu was because the Ming Dynasty was not strong enough and Korea was forced to have no choice.
Generally speaking, North Korea has always been a relatively obedient vassal state to the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, some officials in the DPRK believed that after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Japanese army in Korea, it still wanted to restore Korea.
However, unfortunately, the King of Korea and his ministers were chopped into pieces by their people at Ninggu Pagoda, leaving little blood.
Therefore, one of the issues discussed between North Korea and China recently is that if North Korea ceases to be a state and becomes part of the Ming Dynasty, what will happen to these North Koreans?
There is a view that since North Korea is included in the territory, the Koreans are naturally Ming people and should be treated equally.
However, other officials objected to this argument, saying that no matter what, the Koreans worked hard for the Jianlu people. They not only provided food and supplies to fight against the Ming Dynasty, but also sent troops to help the Jianlu people fight against the Ming Dynasty. If there were not
If the Koreans worked hard to open up wasteland and farm for Jianlu at Ninggu Pagoda, Jianlu would not be able to sustain it for so long.
Therefore, they believe that the Koreans must not be equated with the people of the Ming Dynasty. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty worked for free, so they punished the Koreans as coolies and made them dig mines and build roads, etc. At most, they were given a shorter period of time, such as
Ten years, five years, etc.
Both views had supporters. Emperor Chongzhen did not make a decision immediately, and asked the officials outside the border to express their opinions.
Emperor Chongzhen's idea was very simple. After the Ming Dynasty opened up the territory and expanded the territory, there would definitely be many prisoners who needed to be dealt with. Then the officials in the court and the feudal officials from various places would discuss it and see if they were all
Whatever he thinks, he will decide later.
As for Liu Weichao, Emperor Chongzhen actually asked about it, but Liu Weichao said that he can give advice on science and technology, major policies, or some difficult problems, but all of these must be in line with the Ming Dynasty.
The actual situation needs to be considered by Emperor Chongzhen himself.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen felt that regarding the prisoner, it was best for him to come up with a countermeasure that he was at least satisfied with, and just ask Liu Weichao when he made a decision later.
Originally, Emperor Chongzhen had been hesitant, but it was not until he saw Du Yinxi's memorial that he came to a conclusion, and said with emotion: "It is better that Du Qing knows more about the situation in North Korea, and the result of this treatment can be considered
It makes me satisfied!”
Subsequently, Emperor Chongzhen held an imperial meeting and made public the plan to block Yinxi. In the end, it was approved by most of the officials, and the plan to deal with North Korea was decided.
The plan to block Yinxi is actually simple to say.
For the Ming Dynasty, the Koreans could not be treated as the same as the Jianlu and the Japanese, but if they were treated like ordinary Ming people, it would be an advantage for them.
Therefore, except for the part of Koreans who originally belonged to the Korean rebels who could be directly converted into Ming people, other Koreans had to prove themselves;
And it's very simple for them to prove themselves. They can prove it by killing the enemy.
Now the Jianlu have been wiped out, but the Japanese who caused harm to Korea are still there, on Kyushu Island.
Therefore, the imperial court will arm the Koreans and send them to Honshu Island to avenge the Japanese, proving that they are not cowards and are qualified to be Ming people, and then they can become Ming people!
If you don't even dare to do this, then you are not qualified to become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, and you can become a prisoner of the Ming Dynasty and work as a coolie to atone for your sins.
Du Yinxi's plan was morally justified by the Ming Dynasty and was not easy to criticize. By the way, it could also help the Ming Dynasty consume the Japanese troops on Kyushu Island and reduce the casualties of the imperial army. It was a plan that killed two birds with one stone.
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Liu Weichao did not object to this plan, so it was naturally promulgated and implemented.
What Emperor Chongzhen, Du Yinxi and others did not expect was that Ming people who were former Korean rebels also asked to participate in the attack on the Japanese mainland.
In this regard, they can only lament that the Japanese pirates have committed too many crimes!
It is naturally impossible not to agree to such a request!
The complete annihilation of enemies in Liaodong and North Korea allowed the imperial court to mobilize more troops from these two sides.
The main cavalry force of the imperial army regrouped at the front line of Baotou and Guihua City; generals and soldiers who had been in the southwest or were from the southwest were also transferred to the southwest, and some were transferred to Guangdong and Guangxi.
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Suddenly, the Ming Dynasty was filled with passing armies.
At the same time, the navy of the Japanese Expeditionary Force and the Denglai Navy also dispatched warships to gather on the Fujian front line.
On the eastern front of the Ming Dynasty, only half of the Japanese kingdom was left to survive, and it was enough to leave a part of its military strength. Most of the Ming Dynasty's military strength began to tilt toward the west and south.
Public opinion tools such as newspapers under the Political and Communication Department also began to focus on the new enemies of the Ming Dynasty, namely the Annan rebels, the Dutch colonists, the Toungoo dynasty of Dongwu, and the enemies on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
These enemies, which were originally unknown to the people of the Ming Dynasty, appeared in front of them from many aspects and angles.
Some people in the Ming Dynasty are actually a little disapproving of these new enemies. In the past, as long as they were obedient and paid tribute to the court, why bother to fight? It is mostly just alarmism to say how big a threat they pose!
It was at this time that Gushi Khan and other western coalition forces launched a war against the Ming Dynasty.