Fenghou

Chapter 1574 Pyongyang
On the westernmost side of the Yalu River, three pontoon bridges across the river have been built. They are wide and strong, and the troops of the three groups are marching across the pontoon bridges.

The Yalu River runs from southwest to northeast. Only the westernmost point is the border between Jin Kingdom and Korea. Most of the Yalu River does not belong to Korea. After crossing the Yalu River, go south for two hundred miles to reach the border. .

On the westernmost bank of the Yalu River is Baoju, Koryo, which is today's Sinuiju.

The entire city was razed to the ground by the Kingdom of Jin. There was no army guarding it, and even ordinary people couldn't see it.

Almost all of these ordinary people living on the border were taken into slavery by the Kingdom of Jin. Some were placed on Yanshan Road, and some were sent to Shandong Road. They were resettled as subjects of the Kingdom of Jin.

The main force of the 15 Yong army marched into Korea, which was completely different from the Sui army's conquest of Korea. Every soldier rode a horse and carried dry food, and the battle plan was very careful.

The army crossed the Yalu River from Xuanzhou. They traveled southward quickly along the official road on the west coast. They had to arrive at West Koryo Bay on the sixth day, which is about [-] miles away from Xuanzhou. The fleet of the Yong army was established here. the first supply point.

The official roads are all built along the plains. There were originally large wheat fields on both sides, and now there are wheat fields, but almost half of them are barren.

There are ruins along the way, cities and passes collapsed. These are the consequences of the invasion of the Jin Kingdom, and Koryo was unable to build it. On the one hand, the wealth was plundered and there was no financial resources for reconstruction. On the other hand, the Jin Kingdom did not allow it. On the other hand, That is, there are not enough male laborers in Korea.

In the past few decades, more than 100 million young and strong men of Goryeo died in the war. In fact, the Jurchen population is not large. After more than ten years of attrition wars with the Western Army, most of the soldiers were from the Jin Kingdom in a broad sense, that is, Khitan, Xi , Korea and Bohai people.

Without young and strong men, women will no longer be able to bear children once they pass the childbearing age. In addition, the average life expectancy is very short, generally in their forties, and the population will decline like a cliff. A village with hundreds of people , almost no newborn babies are born, and there may be only a few dozen people left in ten years.

This is also the reason why Goryeo desperately wanted to return tens of thousands of prisoners of war who were mining in Liaodong. The Yong Dynasty refused, which caused the Goryeo court to be extremely hostile to the Yong Dynasty.

Although they are all ruins, some villages still have a small population, most of whom are women. When the army passed by, these women were frightened and fled to the mountains one after another.

In the afternoon, the army arrived at West Koryo Bay, where more than two hundred ships of Wanshi were moored in the natural bay.

The army camped by the bay to rest, and at the same time received supplies.

The 15 army is actually two armies, one is the Hebei Army led by Liu Cui, stationed on Hebei Road, and the other is the Yanshan Army led by Gao Ding, who has just retreated from the grassland to Yanshan Road.

In a temporary march tent, more than a dozen generals are discussing the next action strategy.

Liu Cui said to everyone: "The emperor's strategy for us is eight characters. The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind." The cicada is the Korean army, the mantis is the Japanese army, and we are the oriole. There are [-] troops, most of them are concentrated in their capital city, Kaijing, and a small number of other troops are distributed in Xijing, Pyongyang, Nanjing, Seoul, and the southernmost Jincheng. I suggest that we capture Xijing, Pyongyang, and use the Datong River to transport food supplies , observe the progress of the situation in Xijing, and then make a decision."

Liu Cui's suggestion was supported by the generals including Gao Ding. They wanted to implement the emperor's strategy, so Liu Cui's suggestion was the best solution.

A general asked: "Will our army from the south go north?"

The army of the South Route is Liu Qiong's 15 army from Tamna Island. Gao Ding smiled and said: "The South Route is like us, and we need to wait patiently, but the Tamna Island Navy will cut off the Japanese army's retreat. This is a miracle. Pen, [-] Japanese troops will not be able to return to the island.”

All the generals made a unanimous decision. Two days later, the army was replenished, and the army continued to go south to kill Pyongyang, Xijing, 350 miles away.

After the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo, the Andong Protectorate was established. The border between the Tang Dynasty and Silla was the Taedong River, and Pyongyang City on the north bank of the Datong River belonged to the border town of the Tang Dynasty.

It was only later that the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the Tang Dynasty had no time to take care of Liaodong. Khitan annexed Liaodong, and Silla also took the opportunity to expand northward, occupying most of Goguryeo's land.

Wang Jian established Goryeo, destroyed Silla, and inherited Silla's territory.

At this time, there were 5000 troops stationed in Pyongyang, Xijing, led by the monk Miaoqing who was a favorite of King Koryo. Pyongyang City was a large city with a circumference of 3 miles, but its population was not large, and the population in the city was less than [-].

The city was plundered many times by the army of the Kingdom of Jin, and the wealth accumulated over the years was plundered. The whole city became very withered, and all kinds of shops closed down. There are only two kinds of shops left. The most basic items of life.

The other is brothels. A large number of women from poor families are forced to become prostitutes. It is precisely because of the existence of brothels that Pyongyang City maintains a little vitality.

Almost all the people make a living by farming outside the city, and the army also relies on farming to support themselves, but the soldiers of the army still have their salaries from the capital, and the officials also have their salaries from the capital. The money of the army and officials flows into brothels to buy wine and laugh The prostitutes need to buy food and supplies. Of course, the high-ranking officials like Miaoqing have a lot of money. They hire a lot of servants to serve them. After these servants get a little income, they go to buy food and vegetables. The whole city depends on this little money flow up.

But to the surprise of all Xijing people, countless huge boats suddenly appeared on the Datong River outside the city. The people in the city were shocked, and they helped the old and the young to run to the riverside to watch the boats. They had never seen such huge boats.

Someone counted them, and there were more than [-] large ships passing in front of them.

On the top of the city, the tall monk Miaoqing watched the boats on the river. He was also puzzled and couldn't understand it for a while. At this time, a general suddenly pointed to the flag on the big boat and said: "That's Yong North Korea's flag, I've seen it!"

The flag was the red-bottomed black dragon flag, and Miaoqing suddenly realized that this was a ship from the Yong Dynasty, and only they had such a huge fleet. He immediately understood that it must be the army from the Yong Dynasty.

He immediately ordered loudly: "Beat the drum, let everyone go back to the city!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

There was loud drumming on the top of the city, and some soldiers ran out, calling on the people to return to the city quickly, and the people by the river also retreated into the city one after another.

At dusk, 15 troops arrived under the city of Pyongyang, Xijing. The giant ship of Wanshi brought tents, and a large camp began to be set up under the city, and soon formed an endless company camp outside the city.

The [-] soldiers on the top of the city turned pale with fright. They were only a few thousand, and they were no match for the more than [-] troops of the Yong Dynasty.

Miaoqing had no choice but to send a civil servant to inquire about the other party's intentions.

The civil servant who was sent was Zheng Qing, about 50 years old, and an official in charge of finance in Pyongyang City. When he was young, he had studied in Bianliang, Tokyo, and could speak fluent Chinese.

Zheng Qing was led by the soldiers to the tent of the Chinese army, and the judge Liu Kun received him. The two generals were inspecting the camp and had no time to meet him, so they asked the civil servant Liu Kun to come to see him.

Of course, Liu Kun's status is not low. He is a member of the sixth-rank military department, Wailang. Among the civilian officers in the army, he is second only to Chang Shi and Sima. Chang Shi is Hu Yun, the servant of the Ministry of Officials.

Liu Kun politely asked Zheng Qing to sit down, sighed and said, "We went all the way south, and what we saw and heard was really shocking. I didn't expect Goryeo to be so dilapidated!"

Zheng Qing's nose was a little sore, and he said sadly: "Mr. Liu didn't know the tragedy of the Jin soldiers' invasion of Goryeo. They burned, killed, raped and looted all the way, the mountains and rivers were broken, and all the wealth was plundered."

Liu Kun said indifferently: "If the Kingdom of Jin is a tiger, then Japan is a wolf. Nearly 20 Japanese troops have landed near Jincheng and are heading towards Kaesong. Don't you guys know such important news?"

Zheng Qing was taken aback, and stood up abruptly, "Is it true that the Japanese army landed in Korea?"

Liu Kun nodded, "Of course it's true, otherwise why would we appear here?"

(End of this chapter)