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 soldiers recaptured Hamhung Prefecture, an important town in the northeast of Korea. Anyway, it was a scorched earth and it was not suitable for living for the time being.

The Japanese Second Corps Naoshige Nabeshige's troops were basically wiped out. Except for more than a thousand Japanese soldiers who fled in a scattered manner and dozens of them were captured, the other more than ten thousand Japanese soldiers were not left alive.

The "Essentials of Restoring the Country" in this time and space recorded: Tianshuai Lin Tailai pretended to underestimate the enemy, lured the Japanese soldiers to attack at night, and then counterattacked to the north gate.

Later, Tianshuai could not bear to see the casualties of his soldiers again, and once again put on heavy armor and took the lead in climbing the city. He smashed the heads of more than a dozen Japanese pirates with iron caltrops, and then seized the gate and broke the city. Unfortunately, Taizu Hamhung's main palace was burned down by the fire. ”

The Wanli Dichao Renchen Volume says: "The governor Lin Tailai first attacked the gate at dawn, and the royal army entered the city. A total of more than 3,000 people were beheaded and more than 6,000 people were burned to death. The Japanese pirate leader Naoshige Nabeshige and his son burned themselves to death.

In addition, less than a month after entering the Joseon Kingdom, the governor Lin Tailai killed, burned or drowned 25,000 Japanese soldiers in two battles, so he was called the Blood Demon King by the Japanese. ”

After conquering Hamheung Prefecture, the Third Battalion of the Governor of the Ming Dynasty and the Second Corps reunited and re-camped at the upwind mouth.

Lin Tailai summoned Ma Gui and asked: "Old Ma, do you know how to write a battle report?"

Ma Gui answered confidently: "Two hundred and ninety-nine people were killed in this battle. In addition, due to the negligence of General Lin, he failed to protect the Hamheung Palace of the Joseon Dynasty, which was burned down by the Japanese. "

Lin Tailai was a little surprised. Is your General Ma so smart? You know how to write a war report without my careful guidance?

If you have such a brain, wouldn't it be better to mix in the civil service circle?

Suddenly, Lin Tailai realized something and asked directly: "Did you plant an insider among the clerical staff around Li Rusong?"

Ma Gui argued: "How can it be called an insider? This is called sharing what we have and learning from each other.

In case Li Rusong writes a book to slander me, it's better to be prepared.

In addition, there must be an insider of Li Rusong among the clerical staff around me!"

Lin Tailai: "."

If the two of you attack the city together, do you have to divide half of your troops to monitor each other?

Ma Gui sighed again: "Our army is actually equivalent to an isolated army now. There is no route to send out the war report after writing it. ”

Two or three hundred miles to the north is probably Kato Kiyomasa’s army, to the south is Gangwon-do occupied by Japanese soldiers, and to the west are mountains without mature transmission routes.

Now that the battle report has been written, which direction can it be sent?

Because the Ming soldiers occupied Yongxing, they cut off the connection between the Japanese soldiers in Hamgyong Province and other regions, and Hamgyong Province has become a completely independent plate that is disconnected from the outside world.

After a little thought, Lin Jinglue said: "The battle report of the great victory can inspire morale and deter the Japanese soldiers. It still needs to be sent out. Let those Koreans try it.

One group of people followed the way they came, crossed the mountains again, and sent the battle report back to the recovered areas on the western front;

Another group of people carried the battle report to the southwest to see if they could cross the Japanese-occupied area and find other Ming official troops.

All Koreans were used to deliver them. They 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: "From Hamgyong Province to the southwest, through the Japanese-occupied area, can we find the Ming official troops? ”

Lin Tailai replied: “If Li Rusong’s army can move south fast enough, then it can!”

Hearing the three words “Li Rusong”, Ma Gui immediately sobered up and couldn’t help asking: “According to the military’s estimation, where has Li Rusong advanced on the western front?”

Lin Tailai replied: “After the great victory in Pyongyang, the Japanese pirates who were scattered and guarding various places in Hwanghae Province must have been terrified and took the initiative to retreat south.

Konishi Yukinaga’s 16,000 to 7,000 troops were completely annihilated, so how could those Japanese pirates who were scattered and guarded in various places have the courage to defend to the death?

So when Li Rusong’s army moved south, most places were bloodless, and the speed of advancement was only limited by the speed of food and grass supply and the speed of taking over the cities along the way.

Now that half a month has passed since the great victory in Pyongyang, Li Rusong can advance five or six hundred miles to the south.

If nothing unexpected happens, Li Rusong should have arrived in Kaesong, one of the three capitals of the Joseon Kingdom.

Kaesong and the royal capital, Hancheng, are very close and have little significance to the Japanese pirates, so the Japanese pirates who retreated south must have abandoned Kaesong and focused on defending Hancheng.

At this moment, it is estimated that Li Rusong is temporarily staying in Kaesong to scout and evaluate the situation in the royal capital, Hancheng. "

Ma Gui was stunned for a moment and said unconvincedly: "Li Rusong actually got the credit for recovering Kaesong for nothing."

After all, Kaesong is nominally one of the "three capitals" and its political status is there.

And Hamheung Prefecture is just a place where pythons fly and snakes thrive. Compared with Kaesong, it is like the difference between Fengyang and Nanjing.

Ma Gui said unhappily again: "If Li Rusong takes down the royal capital Hancheng in one go, what will we have to do in the future? "

Lin Jinglüe said with a complicated expression: "He probably can't take it down."

Ma Gui was stunned. Why did Lin Jinglüe's negative tone seem to make him not want Li Rusong to take Seoul in one go?

Lin Tailai explained: "Seoul is a place that the Japanese pirates must defend. There are already tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers gathered there, so it is not so easy to conquer.

I suggested to Li Rusong that he should stop going south when he reaches Kaesong and wait for the army to gather.

As for whether he will listen to it or not, it all depends on his own luck. "

Ma Gui was even more confused. Why did he even use the word "luck"? Is General Lin talking about metaphysics? What does he want to express?

In history, it was under such a background that Li Rusong, with his contempt for the Japanese soldiers and the pressure of the shortage of military food, rushed to Seoul with thousands of cavalry.

As a result, he encountered the Battle of Pyeongjeon several dozen miles north of Seoul, and General Li was almost surrounded by the Japanese soldiers.

Of course, the Ming army's 5,000 soldiers were able to break out of the 30,000 or 40,000 Japanese soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was still very strong, but the strategic level was indeed frustrated.

And another consequence was that General Li's personal guards suffered heavy casualties, which caused General Li to suffer a huge psychological blow and lose his spirit.

It must be said that General Li is actually an emotional and very emotional person.

At this moment, Lin Tailai's mood was complicated because, first, he did not want to conquer Seoul at this time, he wanted to slow down the pace and fight for a while.

It was a bit too fast to conquer Seoul after entering Korea for a month, which was not conducive to the slow layout and control of the northern region of Korea.

In addition, if the small court of Korea began to clamor for returning to the capital again, it would be even more difficult to find an excuse to stop it.

So he didn't go to the west line and went south because he didn't want to take Seoul.

Second, he couldn't force Li Rusong to not attack Seoul and give more blood to Korea and Japan.

Otherwise, General Li would think that he didn't want him to make merit, and the relationship would be broken.

Third, the Battle of Pyeongyang in history was still very dangerous. If General Li's luck was a little worse, he would really be in danger of being killed.

If a similar situation occurs in this time and space, who knows how lucky General Li will be this time?

In short, Lin Jinglue didn't want to take Seoul at this time, but he couldn't stop 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 get worse and he would be in danger and die.

So this is a complex feeling unique to time travelers, and others can't understand it at all.

"Forget it, don't mention Li Rusong!" Lin Jinglue asked Ma Gui again, "How much military rations do we have left?"

Ma Gui replied, "We checked when we set up camp. When we set out from Shunan, we carried 30 days' worth of dry rations, and we have consumed nearly half of them.

Fortunately, we seized several hundred stones from Yongxing. All in all, the military rations in hand can barely support 20 days."

Lin Jinglue felt a little pressure again, "In other words, we must annihilate Kato Kiyomasa within 20 days, recapture Hamgyong Province, and open up the supply line."

Just as Lin Tailai estimated, the biggest pressure in entering the Kingdom of Korea to fight will always come from the supply of food and grass.

Limited by technical conditions, no matter how well prepared you are, it will never feel enough.

Ma Gui said with some regret: "There should have been some food in Hamhung, but the fire burned the city and burned it all."

Lin Jinglue said: "There is no way, no one can do things perfectly, there are gains and losses. In order to annihilate the enemy as soon as possible and reduce casualties, we have to pay such a price."

Lin Tailai was unwilling to leave any survivors in the two sieges. In addition to wanting to save trouble, it was mainly due to the consideration of military food.

The military food of the Tianbing was already tight enough, and the various parts of the Joseon Kingdom were so poor and dilapidated that nothing could be found. How could they feed thousands of prisoners?

Instead of being forced to kill prisoners on a large scale in the end and bearing the bad reputation of killing surrendered prisoners, it is better not to take prisoners from the beginning.

There are so many dozens of living Japanese prisoners, which can be used to ask for intelligence or for future ceremonies.

Since we are talking about prisoners, Lin Tailai remembered something and said:

"Let's study how to solve Kato Kiyomasa's troops as soon as possible! Only by solving Kato Kiyomasa can we be completely free.

We captured some traitors in Hamhung City. Bring them here. I want to interrogate them personally. I wonder if I can dig out some useful information."

When they were clearing the city earlier, although they did not leave any Japanese soldiers alive, they still tried to capture some traitors who were mixed in with the Japanese soldiers alive.

Lin Tailai felt that these traitors who were greedy for life and afraid of death and who only care about their mothers were useful, and they might be more loyal than Liu Chenglong and Li Dexin.

When Ma Gui heard that Lin Jinglie was going to interrogate the intelligence himself, he said in surprise: "General, can't you just count with your fingers? Why are you asking these traitors?"

Lin Tailai sighed: "You have tried to spy on the secrets too many times, and it is easy to be backfired. You can't use it often."

Not long after, the biggest traitor captured this time, Ju Jingren, was pushed in.

At this time, there were two traitors in Hamgyong Province, "Wenwu". The Wu one was Han Kezhen, the former North Hamgyong Province military commander. After being defeated and captured, he surrendered to Kato Kiyomasa and gave his two daughters to Kato.

The Wen one was Ju Jingren. When Kato Masaki was at the gates of the city, he directly tied up two princes of the Joseon Kingdom and presented them to Kato Kiyomasa. He was not just afraid of death.

Looking at Ju Jingren who was like a dead dog and couldn't kneel straight, Lin Tailai said with disdain: "Can you kneel straight and answer?"

Ju Jingren said weakly: "Do I still have a chance to survive?"

Lin Tailai said: "The king and ministers of the Joseon Kingdom are about to cut you into pieces, and the Japanese pirates probably won't let you go. The only one who can give you a chance to survive is probably the Honbuyuan."

Ju Jingren saw hope and slowly straightened his kneeling figure.

Lin Tailai asked: "Is Kato Kiyomasa in Jizhou? What's the situation there?"

Ju Jingren replied: "Kato is indeed in Jizhou to eliminate the volunteer soldiers, with a force of about 10,000, and there are also 2,000 to 3,000 Koreans assisting."

Lin Tailai was a little surprised that Kato Kiyomasa actually had 2,000 to 3,000 "fake soldiers" on his side, which he had not calculated.

I couldn't help but sneer: "There are so many traitors in Hamgyong Province, and they can even form an army!"

Ju Jingren replied indignantly: "The Joseon Dynasty regards Hamgyong Province as an inferior place. People from Hamgyong Province cannot go to the capital to serve as officials. In the time of national crisis, they still want to ask Hamgyong Province to work hard and be loyal. Isn't it ridiculous?

Fortunately, only two princes went to Hamgyong Province for refuge. I heard that the king had considered taking refuge in Hamgyong Province before. If he really came, I'm afraid the king would be trapped by the thieves."

Lin Tailai shook his head. The ruling foundation of the Joseon Kingdom in Hamgyong Province is really hard to describe, and many policies are even difficult to understand.

No matter how corrupt 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 again: "You surrendered to Kato Kiyomasa for several months, and you must have dealt with him frequently and have some understanding of his behavior.

Then the headquarters asks you, if Kato Kiyomasa knew that Pyongyang was defeated, the Japanese troops on the western front retreated five or six hundred miles to the south, and at the same time, Hamhung on the eastern front had been conquered by our Ming Dynasty troops, and his retreat in the south was cut off, what choice would he make?"

Ju Jingren thought for a while and replied: "Kato is a courageous person who dares to take risks.

If it were an ordinary general who encountered such a situation where his retreat was cut off, he would definitely try his best to break out to the south , fighting for a chance of survival, as many as possible can escape.

But Kato will definitely try his best to collect all the nearby food and grass, and then defend Jizhou to the death, and will not rashly break out to the south. "

Lin Tailai frowned and asked, "Why?"

Ju Jingren replied, "Kato will definitely see that the heavenly soldiers must have crossed from the mountainous area, because they are restricted by marching and can only carry limited food and grass.

He only needs to defend Jizhou to the death, and wait until the heavenly soldiers' food and grass are exhausted, and then he can naturally seek a chance of survival. "

Lin Tailai couldn't help but sigh, this is what he is most worried about.

Hamgyeong-do is very narrow and long, about 300 miles from Hamhung to Jizhou.

So if you take the initiative to attack Kato Kiyomasa, you have to drive 300 miles to attack the city. After the battle line is extended, the uncertainty factors will be too great.

If Kato Kiyomasa takes the initiative to break out to the south, you can wait for the opportunity to be tired and easily intercept and fight. But from Ju Jingren's oral account, Kato Kiyomasa is not that stupid.

Things in the world don't always turn out the simplest. It seems that we have to march to Jizhou.

Otherwise, we can't afford the 20-day supply of food and grass.

No wonder those famous generals have strong psychological stress resistance. Lin Tailai has experienced it today.

Ju Jingren may have racked his brains to provide information in order to survive. "Also, Kato's Japanese soldiers have a lot of firearms, and almost 30% of them are musketeers. They are definitely the elite of the Japanese soldiers."

Lin Tailai slammed the table and said, "The troops in our headquarters are the elite!"