Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1014 1009 [Landing Across the Sea]

The seat of Goryeo, Haizhou, and Anxi Protectorate.

There were five such protectorates during the heyday of Goryeo.

Now there are only four. In the territory that the Ming Dynasty has annexed, there is an Anzhou between Pyongyang and Baozhou. It was the station of the Anbei Protectorate of Goryeo. It was destroyed when the Jin soldiers went south. The Ming Dynasty took advantage of the situation to firmly control Anzhou.

The administrative divisions of Goryeo were extremely complex. Since the abolition of the Transport Commissioner, "dao" has gradually become a geographical concept.

The first-level administrative divisions were: four capitals, five protectorates, and eight provincial governors.

Well, "a certain state governor" is actually a place name.

When "州牧" is used as an official title, it is actually an informal title, just like in the Ming Dynasty, the prefect and the governor were called "太守".

The head of Goryeo's "Mr. of a Certain Province" was officially called "Mr. of a Certain Province's Chief Official".

This position is both permanent and temporary, and is often held concurrently by a minister of the central government or even by the prime minister himself. Usually, he lives in the capital and rarely goes out to perform his duties. If he is sent out, he often leads troops and horses, and is a frontier official who is in charge of both military and political affairs.

The head of Haizhou was a third-rank official, with the title of "Anxi Protectorate Chief Envoy".

Some time ago, there was a military coup, and the Cui family of Haizhou took the opportunity to launch an uprising and drove away the Protector-General appointed by Ren Yuanhou.

Then, they pushed forward a clan member named Cui Daoxiu, who volunteered to be the Anxi Protector of Haizhou. To put it bluntly, the Cui family of Haizhou took control of the military and political power of Haizhou, and Zheng Zhongfu actually directly agreed to this separatist regime.

Since it is a separatist regime, the imperial court will not be responsible for maintaining the army and officials.

The salaries of officials in Haizhou and the food and wages of soldiers in Haizhou need to be borne by the Cui family of Haizhou themselves.

Most areas of Goryeo have become like this.

That is, the military government actually controlled the capital, and the aristocratic families actually controlled the local areas. Those local officials paid a symbolic amount of taxes to the central government, and the rest was all theirs.

The officials and soldiers who fled from Huangzhou were still dozens of miles away from Haizhou City, and the Ming army had already crossed the sea!

The Ming army boarded ships at the mouth of the Taedong River, and the first batch of 2,000 soldiers and civilians and baggage heading south landed at Haizhou Port in a swagger.

When Anxi Protector-General Cui Daoxiu saw this, he was frightened out of his wits.

His thinking was still stuck in the past, believing that even if the Ming army came, they would first capture Huangzhou and then go all the way south to Haizhou.

How could someone take a ship to bypass Huangzhou and go directly to attack Haizhou?
Most of the soldiers of Anxi Protectorate were stationed around the city. At this moment, some were farming, some were working, and they were not prepared at all.

"Amitabha!"

Cui Daoxiu was the top leader of Haizhou. Seeing this situation, he couldn't help but chant the Buddha's name.

Daoxiu is his Buddhist name!
This guy is the son of Deputy Prime Minister Cui Hongzai. As his father, brothers, uncles, and cousins ​​were all killed, the Cui family could not find someone who could take charge of the situation, so they asked Cui Daoxiu to return to secular life urgently to control the place.

Cui Daoxiu ordered: "While the enemy army has not yet reached the shore, quickly gather the soldiers to defend the city!"

It was difficult to gather troops quickly because there were no people to be found.

The Goryeo defenders could only frantically ring the bell to sound the alarm, hoping that the soldiers would hear the bell and gather inside the city.

Many Goryeo soldiers, upon hearing the bell, did not enter the city to defend it, but rushed home with their hoes, either hiding at home or fleeing with their wives and children.

The Ming army lookout on the mast of the ship raised a telescope and shouted, "There are many Koreans everywhere outside the city, carrying weapons and running towards the city wall. They must be the enemy troops stationed outside the city. Most of them did not have time to put on armor, and they were in groups of three or five, mixed with the civilians who fled into the city!"

Zhe Yanzhi gave the order: "Fire everywhere outside the city wall to disperse the enemy troops and civilians! The ships carrying the cavalry should land first. As long as you can gather five cavalrymen, don't wait for the friendly forces, and immediately charge outside the city to kill everywhere."

"Boom boom boom!"

A series of artillery fire rang out, and the southern city wall facing the sea became the main target of the bombardment.

Many Korean soldiers and civilians who had fled to the south city were frightened by the shells and ran away. Some residents of the suburbs there hid in their homes and trembled, while others rushed out of their homes to escape for their lives.

The first batch of Ming cavalry who landed, without waiting for the subsequent friendly troops to disembark, and without caring whether the horses were adapted, gathered five people and immediately rode out.

They rushed towards crowded places and specifically attacked and killed those who had weapons in their hands.

Even wooden sticks were regarded as weapons by the Ming cavalry. They would immediately rush forward and chop them to death when they saw them, and quickly disperse a large number of Goryeo soldiers and civilians.

The Ming army's ships stopped firing, but more and more cavalrymen were landing and charging.

"Close the city gates, close the city gates, don't let the Ming army rush in!" Cui Daoxiu shouted in horror.

The Ming army arrived too quickly on their ships and were not discovered until they were close to the bay.

As the most important military base in the western part of Goryeo's Kaesong, at least half of the garrison troops did not have time to enter the city.

Commander Sun Gui said: "Protector General, we must open the east, west and north gates and send troops to support the soldiers entering the city. Otherwise, when the enemy lands completely and most of our soldiers are outside the city, Haizhou will be impossible to defend!"

Cui Daoxiu asked: "What if spies sneak into the city among the civilians?"

Sun Gui said: "The soldiers who go out of the city to meet the enemy must also be responsible for intercepting civilians and not allowing any civilians to approach the city gate!"

Cui Daoxiu thought for a moment and said, "Okay, send troops immediately."

The three city gates not facing the sea were opened one after another, and bells and gongs on the city walls were rung frantically.

The Korean defenders went out in groups and built barricades on the inner side of the moat bridge. Only Koreans with weapons in their hands could pass through the gaps in the barricades, and civilians who approached would be shot and driven away.

But they saw five brave Ming cavalrymen chasing and chasing the Goryeo soldiers who wanted to enter the city and rushing onto the bridge.

In panic, the Goryeo soldiers jumped into the moat one after another.

The Goryeo officer guarding behind the chevaux de frise said to his soldiers, "Don't be afraid, don't run away. We have more than 200 people, and they only have five. Shoot arrows, shoot arrows!" But the five Ming cavalrymen each shot an arrow on the bridge, then dismounted and rushed towards the Goryeo army.

The bows and arrows of the Goryeo soldiers hit the cotton armor of the Ming cavalry and the light vests of the Ming war horses, causing almost no effective damage.

The five brave cavalrymen of the Ming Dynasty, carrying four-meter-long spears, rushed to the front of the chevaux de frise on foot and engaged the enemy in close combat across the fortifications.

Five people took the initiative to kill more than two hundred people!
The more than 200 Korean soldiers did not even dare to cross the barricades and could only fight behind the fortifications.

The equipment gap between the two sides is too big.

The armor of the top generals of Goryeo is not much different from that of Liao, and both are evolved from the Tang Dynasty. Not only is it not crude, but it is very sophisticated, but the number of such armor is very small.

Normal Goryeo armor was leather with iron lamellars.

They made leather into armor plates, strung them together to form armor plates, and put some iron armor plates on key parts. This reduced the production cost, made daily maintenance easier, and made it more prestigious to wear. At first glance, you might think it was iron armor.

This kind of armor made of iron sheets mixed with leather pieces was called "Jie Zhou" in Goryeo.

Even the generals of the six armies of Goryeo all wore armor. The more iron pieces, the better the armor; the more leather pieces, the worse the armor.

As for Goryeo's low-ranking generals, officers and elite soldiers, they all wore leather armor.

Ordinary soldiers don’t even have leather armor!

When they saw the cotton armor of the Ming cavalry, they thought it was all cloth armor, so they were quite brave at the beginning of the battle - at least they did not desert the battlefield.

But as the fight went on, he felt something was wrong. The spear was poking at the cotton armor, and there was really something wrong with the force!
As for the Ming Dynasty's cavalry, almost every shot drew blood as long as it hit the enemy.

The Goryeo defenders couldn't break through the defense after trying for a long time.

The Goryeo general who was in charge of leading the troops was surprisingly brave. He shouted, "There are only five enemies. Go over the barricades and surround and kill them!"

This guy led the team personally and rushed out from the gap in the barricades.

The five Ming warriors fought and retreated until they reached the center of the moat bridge. The bridge was not wide, and the five of them lined up to block it. No matter how many Goryeo soldiers there were, it would be useless. At most, they could send a dozen people to fight at the same time.

After fighting for a while on the bridge, none of the five Ming cavalrymen were killed, and none of them even suffered any external injuries, except for the pain from being stabbed by the enemy.

On the other hand, seven or eight Goryeo soldiers were killed or wounded.

If Goryeo's front row had not been protected by shieldmen, they would have been defeated by the Ming cavalry long ago!

"Woooooo~~~"

Outside the moat, a horn sounded.

More than thirty riders came to help, and another two or three hundred riders rushed towards the other moat bridges on this city wall.

Feeling the sound of reinforcements' horses approaching, the five Ming cavalrymen on the bridge immediately seized the opportunity to counterattack.

"kill!"

They all rushed forward with spears raised, ignoring the enemy's weapons, and when they got close they dropped their spears and drew their secondary weapons.

They are all blunt instruments, just swing them and smash them.

The Goryeo officer in charge of the team had his head smashed by a bone.

"Run away!"

The Goryeo soldiers were defeated immediately. It was already difficult for them to fight five people, and more than thirty cavalrymen rushed up from behind. How could they have any hope of winning?

Five brave cavalrymen of the Ming Dynasty took the opportunity to pursue and kill the enemy. When they reached the barricades, they did not seek credit for themselves, but moved the barricades away to clear the way for the friendly forces.

The Ming cavalry followed in, and someone on the Goryeo city wall shouted, "Close the city gate, close the city gate!"

This group of defeated Goryeo soldiers were fleeing into the city and watched the city gates close little by little.

All the city gates were closing one after another.

All the Goryeo soldiers who went out of the city to fight were abandoned by their friendly forces.

Well, it’s not like we’re really giving up.

Many baskets were hung on the city wall, and arrows were shot at the pursuers.

But the number of baskets was limited, and the Goryeo soldiers, who were eager to escape, fought among themselves for the baskets.

The fighting gradually subsided.

The first batch of troops under Zhe Yanzhi have all landed, and Haizhou City has been surrounded.

The so-called siege means sending cavalry to patrol around the city in turns and prohibiting any contact between the inside and outside of the city.

There was no siege for the time being, so the soldiers camped on the shore and unloaded the baggage on the ship. The ships had to go back to the mouth of the Taedong River to pick up the second batch of Ming troops.

Zhe Yanzhi wants to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements!

This is the western gate of Kaesong, the capital of Goryeo. Once Haeju falls, Kaesong will be exposed to the eyes of Ming soldiers.

If Zheng Zhongfu did not send troops to rescue, the only options left were to move the capital or take the king on a "hunt eastward" expedition, otherwise the capital might be surrounded at any time.

(End of this chapter)