Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1766
As soon as Yi Doushou heard Li Yan's words, he knew that something was wrong, so he quickly advised Li Yan not to punish the prince easily, otherwise it would arouse the resentment of the army and the people and benefit the Japanese invaders.

Li Yan thought that Yi Doushou was accusing himself of overcoming the obstacles of the national crisis, and the officials refused to agree, and they all defended Yi Doushou. Seeing this, Li Yan turned to pretend to be sad, and sighed: "Okay, okay." Well, after all, you are all incompetent, you should be let go to follow the wise son, and I will stay here to cheer for the son."

This statement is undoubtedly an extremely serious accusation for the Confucian-minded officials of North Korea. The officials can only plead guilty again and again, but Li Yan is still unwilling. The prince is loyal but acted recklessly. In this case, the crime of the prince can be absolved, but the crime of assisting the ministers and workers of the sub-dynasties must be investigated. We all accept the decree and immediately pass orders to dismiss all the ministers of the sub-dynasties!"

The ministers were stunned, but the current situation is to keep the son first, and the issue of dismissing the courtiers can only be resolved later. Under the current situation, it is really inappropriate to continue to provoke the king, lest he cause trouble again, which will be even worse.

When Wang Ling was passed down to Yichuan to divide the dynasty, Lord Guanghai was heartbroken and sighed: "What's wrong with the ministers? It's better to abolish my position as the son of the world. Now that all the ministers are dismissed, what can I accomplish by myself?"

The ministers of the court begged the son to stick to it, to consider for the people of Li, and not to be implicated by this matter.Mr. Guanghai hoped to seek clear support from the dynasty, pondered for a moment, and asked tentatively: "If I ignore the king's order, are you still willing to go with me? Now that the people's hearts are dividing the dynasty, only by carrying the hearts of the people can we restore the country. "

However, when the courtiers heard this, they were all silent, and no one dared to answer.Zuo Zan agreed to Zheng Zhuo's remonstrance: "Your Majesty, absolutely not. If you act like this, no matter how much you bear the hearts of the people, you are splitting the country and becoming a traitor. The lord of the court has sent a letter. Please sit down with all the ministers." Plead guilty and give credit to the king, then you can appease the king's anger and continue to lead the subjects to fight against the Japanese pirates."

Mr. Guanghai saw that the officials should not agree, but Zheng Zhuo insisted repeatedly, and finally had to agree.So Guanghai Jun led the crowd to kowtow to the north again and again to apologize, and submitted a petition to plead guilty to the king.After learning about it, Li Yan also knew that the current situation was critical and it was not appropriate to persecute him too much, so he took advantage of the situation and said that he would not pursue the matter any more.

Since the Liaodong Army crossed the river, Zu Chengxun's department, the deputy commander of the Liaodong Army, has been stationed and rested in the official office of Ping'an Road.On this day, Li Yuanyi, the inspector of Ping'an Road, came again to persuade him to send troops: "Vice Rong, you have crossed the Yalu River and come to North Korea for several days, should you march to Pyongyang?"

However, Zu Chengxun asked whether the Japanese pirates in Pyongyang had retreated. Seeing that the Japanese pirates had not retreated, Zu Chengxun said: "The general has given enough steps, but the Japanese pirates don't appreciate it. I don't know how to advance or retreat, so the general had no choice but to go to Pyongyang to harvest the heads and wipe out harm for the people." Thus, the Liaodong Army began to march into Pyongyang.

But there are some problems here. Wasn't Zu Chengxun unwilling to enter the army easily at the beginning? Why does he seem to be a different person all of a sudden?The reason is simple, his preparations have been basically completed.

Zu Chengxun, whose style name is Shuangquan, was originally from Ningyuanwei in Liaodong, and he joined Li Chengliang's command as a servant very early.He started his military career as an ordinary family member. Because of his bravery in fighting, he has accumulated meritorious service in the past 30 years and was promoted to the governor of the right army and the deputy commander of Liaodong. A few years is enough to truly become the deputy general of Liaodong.

It is absolutely impossible for such a person to say that he does not have two brushes.In fact, Zu Chengxun did four things in total in the past few days.

The first thing to do was to urge the rear army to arrive, because Zu Chengxun only brought five or six hundred family members with him this time, even if he added a few other generals, there were only more than 300 people.

However, in addition to this, there are actually about 600 other troops recruited from various defense and defense areas of the Li family army.These troops were relatively scattered, so they arrived slowly. After a few days passed, they finally arrived, and Zu Chengxun's troops finally reached [-].

Since the order that Zu Chengxun received before was essentially to put Li Yan under pressure and calm down the situation, there was a self-evident subtext, that is, act quickly.If you move quickly, you must not use guard soldiers, otherwise you will not be able to catch up, so this time they are all drawn elites, and almost all of them are cavalry.

In Zu Chengxun's knowledge, the three thousand cavalrymen of the Li family army in Liaodong could easily sweep away the Jurchen's tens of thousands of coalition forces, and in his opinion, the Japanese pirates must be no stronger than the Jurchen.Therefore, with three thousand cavalry in place, Zu Chengxun's courage suddenly grew a lot.

The second thing is to urge North Korea to keep the grain road from Uiju to Pyongyang open.On this point, the North Korean side did their best. Zu Chengxun sent people to investigate and found that at least so far, the grain road had indeed been restored.

The third thing is somewhat related to the second thing, that is, the North Korean side is required to build pontoon bridges on natural barriers such as the Dading River and the Qingchuan River between Uiju and Pyongyang, so that the Ming cavalry can rush to Pyongyang after they are ready , Taking advantage of the cavalry raid, the Japanese army was caught off guard.

North Korea also did a good job in this matter. After all, it was building a bridge and not fighting a war. The North Korean side came to the battle with soldiers and civilians, mobilized more than 8 people, and completed the construction of the pontoon bridge in just three or four days.

At this point, Zu Chengxun was still not at ease, and sent someone to investigate on his own, and found that the quality of the pontoon bridge was surprisingly reliable—well, this may in turn show how much the Koreans now hope that the heavenly soldiers will go south as soon as possible.

The last thing is to ask North Korea to provide a guide.In Zu Chengxun's view, this matter was the simplest. In fact, North Korea did it very quickly. It was not only as simple as sending a few guides, but even mobilized a few small groups of cavalry as guides for the Ming army.

In this way, everything was naturally ready, so Zu Chengxun no longer hesitated, and marched south.

At this time in Pyongyang, Governor Konishi also received news that the Ming army had sent troops and had already crossed the Yalu River, and was holding a meeting to deal with the Ming army.Zongyi Zhizhi said: "Although the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty were less than [-] (the news from the Japanese army lagged behind), I heard that the power of its large cannons (artillery) was formidable. It can be seen from the barrel, so our army's iron cannons may not be able to compete head-on with the Ming Dynasty."

Jingzhe Xuansu was obviously also worried about this, frowned and said: "Nowadays our army has a lot of people who are not acclimatized, and the combat power has already declined. In addition to Datong... now our army has an advantage in numbers, and other Almost all aspects are at a disadvantage.”

Captain Xiaoxi made a final decision and said: "When our army is at a disadvantage, we need our opponents to inspire fighting spirit. This is the first battle of the Ming Dynasty entering North Korea. I expect them to be eager to make meritorious deeds, so I decided: show weakness to the enemy, pass false information, Exaggerate the weakness of our army, make them arrogant and belittle the enemy, and finally set up an ambush in the city of Pyongyang!"

On the other side, while Zu Chengxun and Li Yuanyi were marching, they suddenly heard a report from a spy, saying that most of the Japanese troops in Pyongyang had left Pyongyang and rushed all the way to Hanyang. Now only a small garrison in Pyongyang is still there.

After hearing this, Zu Chengxun was overjoyed and said with a smile: "The Japanese pirates are timid. Seeing that our army is approaching, they finally couldn't hold on and fled in anticipation of the wind! If I had known this, I would have pressed Pyongyang as soon as possible. Killing the enemy will make meritorious deeds."

Li Yuanyi smiled apologetically and said, "Deputy Rong Yingming, according to our country's military report, there are not many troops stationed in Pyongyang, and now most of them have been transferred away. It seems that there should be only about a thousand troops left in Pyongyang. It is a great contribution to the door! "Zu Chengxun deeply agrees.

Later, Zu Chengxun wanted to order the whole army to march quickly, but Liu Chenglong rushed to stop him. Liu Chenglong persuaded: "Wait a minute, deputy army, I also heard the rumor that only a part of the Japanese pirates are stationed in Pyongyang, but please also ask the deputy army Be careful, this may be a trick of the Japanese pirates to lure the enemy."

Zu Chengxun didn't think so, shook his head and said: "A strategy to lure the enemy? Well, what the Lord Fuyuan said may be true, but whether it is a strategy to lure the enemy or not, in fact, I don't really care much about it - what is the experience of this group of Japanese pirates? Supernatural powers, that is the general's long-cherished wish."

In front of Liu Chenglong, Li Yuanyi's tone was a bit different from before, and he also advised Zu Chengxun that even so, it is the best policy to win with the least casualties.

Since both of them persuaded him, Zu Chengxun couldn't take it seriously, so he asked people to look for the people in Pyongyang to question him.After cross-examination, I learned that in the early hours of this morning, the Japanese army of the brigade withdrew urgently, and their whereabouts were unknown. They even took away food, grass and weapons.

Liu Chenglong still had doubts about what the people in Pyongyang said. Seeing that Zu Chengxun was relieved and rushed to march, he quickly suggested that the remnants of the North Korean enemy's rear should be sent to Pyongyang to investigate the details before making a decision.

Liu Chenglong's persuasion and persuasion was originally a good intention, but it made Zu Chengxun, who looked down on the combat effectiveness of the Korean army, unhappy, and asked Liu Chenglong whether he did not want the Ming army to break through the city first.

Liu Chenglong dared to bear such a charge, and quickly argued that all his actions were for the safety of the Ming army, and he would never compete with the Ming army for the recovery of Pyongyang.

Zu Chengxun looked pale, nodded and said: "This general is not someone who robs others of their merits. Since you have no such intention, then our army will rush into Pyongyang. The North Korean army please wait outside to prevent the Japanese pirates from attacking back from outside the city. Bar."

The plan has been made, but the sky fails to fulfill the wishes of the people, and it suddenly rains heavily that day.Zu Chengxun has never seen any storms, especially in the past few years under the command of Li Rusong, the "Shenxing Taibao", he has long been trained to ignore the wind and rain, so he directly ordered the whole army not to rest, and to march in the rain.

Perplexed, Zu Chengxun said, "It's a bad thing because of heavy rain and difficult roads, but because of this, the Japanese pirates must think that our army is blocked and cannot advance, so they are negligent in taking precautions. Are the elites afraid of the wind and rain? As long as they rush forward in the rain, when they reach Pyongyang, the enemy will be caught off guard, and Pyongyang will be defeated in one go."

As members of the Li family's army, all the soldiers have always regarded themselves as elites. Now that they have received the military order from their ancestors, they have nothing to say.

In the early morning of the [-]th, the Liaodong Army, which was marching rapidly even in the heavy rain, arrived outside Pyongyang. Zu Chengxun ordered the guerrilla general Shi Ru to lead the [-] forward cavalry and rush directly into the Seven Star Gate. Zu Chengxun himself led the guerrilla general Wang Shouguan with [-] cavalry. Afterwards, the generals Dai Chaobian and Guo Mengzheng led the remaining troops to stay outside the city for orders.

At this moment, General Xiaonishi Xingxing Matsuura Zhenxin was patrolling the Qixing Gate with more than a dozen Japanese soldiers. Suddenly, an arrow was shot at him. And immediately notify all parties as planned.

The guerrilla general Shi Ru led Qian Zong Ma Shilong and Zhang Guozhong to break into the Qixing Gate. Seeing no one around, he became suspicious, and suddenly saw about a hundred Japanese soldiers coming to kill with knives.

When Shi Ru and other generals saw this, they were not surprised but delighted, and immediately led the Liaodong cavalry to meet the enemy on horseback.At this time, the Liaodong iron cavalry was no joke. In a blink of an eye, more than a hundred Japanese soldiers were rushed to pieces. Shi Ru himself took the lead and beheaded ten heads in a row, which was unstoppable.

The Japanese soldiers fled to the city in a hurry, Shi Ru raised his sword and ordered the headquarters to continue the pursuit.Later, Zu Chengxun also led troops into Pyongyang. Seeing that Shi Ru had chased him into the city, he also led his troops to chase him because he was worried that Shi Ru would be alone.

Shi Ru's cavalry pursued all the way, and all the fleeing Japanese soldiers were killed. Shi Ru was a little puzzled, and thought to himself: "The Japanese pirates ravaged the southeast coast back then, and it took years of hard work to wipe them out. Seeing it is nothing more than mediocrity, is it...the Japanese army in front of you is full of old, weak and remnant soldiers?"

He changed his mind and thought again: If the Japanese soldiers are so vulnerable, what is the need for the commander in person? As long as Liaodong sends thousands of elite cavalry as reinforcements, Zu Furong can take us all straight to Busan Yes! "

Just when Shi Ru was puzzled and proud, the walls of the houses on both sides protruded into an ambush, and Shi Ru's vanguard army was shot suddenly by [-] Japanese iron gunners. It was just that he was injured by the shock, and his eyes were darkened for a while.But the Japanese army had already noticed that the armor on his body was obviously different from that of ordinary soldiers, and greeted him with iron cannons. Finally, one shot was lucky and hit his face on the spot. Shi Ru fell off his horse and died.

General Qianzong Ma Shilong and Zhang Guozhong saw that the situation was critical and hurriedly led their troops to fight back. The Japanese iron gunners withdrew after three stages, but more than half of the vanguard of the Ming army had been killed and injured, and there were only more than 8000 people left. Nearly [-] people from the First Legion had already shot out from all directions.

The vanguards of the Ming army were all veterans, so they were not particularly panicked when they saw the situation was not going well. Instead, they quickly shrank their troops and formed a defensive circle. Zu Chengxun and Wang Shouguan also led [-] cavalry to kill the Japanese army.

This move was no nonsense. As cavalry, the Ming army was actually very disadvantaged in defense. Only counterattack was the right way.Sure enough, the Ming army counterattacked, and the Japanese army was immediately frustrated, and the front line was shaken, and the two armies immediately fell into a melee.

The cavalry of the Ming army were still in disguise, and now they were wearing iron armor and coming and going like the wind. Every time they drew their swords, they were powered by horsepower. It is difficult to parry for a while.

Seeing this, Chief Xiaoxi immediately ordered the long spear team to gather and surround them, forming five rows and approaching slowly, in order to narrow the range of movement of the Ming cavalry and make it difficult for them to use the power of galloping horses.At the same time, he ordered the iron artillery team to wait for an opportunity to break the formation, and the rest of the soldiers responded from the side.

Wang Shouguan saw the Japanese army's long spear formation. Although he knew that the long spear formation was a cheap infantry formation to restrain cavalry before the bayonet formation appeared, he relied on the Liaodong iron cavalry and now has iron armor to protect him. The danger was broken several times, and the Ming army also suffered casualties.

But at this time, the Japanese iron cannons burst into flames, many of the Ming army horses were shot and fell to the ground, and the Japanese army also set up several cannons, firing several solid iron bullets in succession, killing more than a dozen Ming army cavalrymen. The Ming army also suffered a surge in casualties in the blink of an eye.

Zu Chengxun is not only brave, but he also has rich experience in many years of fighting. At this time, the encirclement has become smaller and smaller, and it is difficult to do anything on horseback. So he immediately ordered the whole army to dismount and fight, avoiding the edge of the enemy's firearms, and fighting with the enemy hand-to-hand.

However, the problem is that although the Ming army is well equipped, it is outnumbered. The guerrilla general Wang Shouguan, Qian Zong Ma Shilong, Zhang Guozhong and others will all be killed in battle.Zu Chengxun saw that the iron gunners on both sides of the city walls were gradually gathering, and he knew something was wrong. Now that the casualties of the Ming army were gradually increasing, the Japanese army repeatedly threw roasted jade, and the fire broke out, causing people to panic.

Zu Chengxun knew that there was no turning point in this battle, so he led a dozen of his own soldiers back to fight out of Pyongyang, and urgently ordered the generals Guo Mengzheng and Dai Chaobian to lead the remaining troops and weapons back to Liaodong.Zu Chengxun himself took the first step, and without stopping, he was able to cross the Yalu River and return to Liaodong within a few days.

Xiao Ruxun, deputy general of Liaodong, guards Jiulian City to supervise the transportation of grain and grass. When he learns that Zu Chengxun has been defeated, he asks him why he lost in Pyongyang.Originally, Zu Chengxun had already been assigned the title of Deputy Chief Soldier, but he has a real job, and he is now equivalent to a false job. Besides, there is an old man behind him, and his ancestors dare not make mistakes, so he justified: "Vice Rong Rongbing, there are four major reasons for Pyongyang's defeat this time, and I have figured it out one by one on the way back."

After all, the other party was also the rank of deputy commander. Xiao Ruxun didn't want to go too far, so he asked what were the four major reasons.

Zu Chengxun said: "The first thing is that there is not enough food and grass. North Korea can no longer supply enough military food to meet the needs of the heavenly soldiers. We have to turn to North Korea to show the kindness of the heavens. As a result, our soldiers are not half full and our combat power is limited;
Secondly, the military situation is untrue. According to North Korean intelligence, there are only a thousand defenders in Pyongyang, but the actual number is more than 20.It can be seen from this that the number of Japanese troops entrenched in North Korea may have reached more than [-] to [-];

Third, the North Korean officials have always been eager for them to command the overall situation, interfered with our army's deployment many times, and forced our army to send troops under unfavorable conditions.In addition to the Japanese pirates' firearms and swords, the sharp weapons used to kill our army were also found to be Korean-made bows and arrows. I don't know how many Korean soldiers have served the Japanese pirates;

Fourth, the last general did commit the crime of neglecting the enemy, and fell into the ambush of the Japanese pirates by mistake.The above is the cause of Pyongyang's defeat. Please, the deputy general will investigate clearly. "

Zu Chengxun's words sound well-founded and well-organized, and since he has been a brave general in Liaodong for a long time, Xiao Ruxun also suspects that Zu Chengxun's words may be true, and maybe there is something real.

Anyway, Zu Chengxun himself is also a deputy commander in chief, and Xiao Ruxun couldn't deal with it at all, so it's fine after asking, but he sent three letters at the same time, one to the court, one to Gao Yushi, and one to the court. Li Rusong.

However, he himself was not idle. In order to ensure the responsibility of guarding the land, Xiao Ruxun took the initiative to defend the Yalu River and other places after Zu Chengxun's defeat. Report immediately.
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(End of this chapter)