Daming talker

Chapter 684 Generals of the Ming Dynasty
After completing the initial contact with the Kingdom of Korea, conferring with Liaodong Governor Hao Jie and deploying logistical work, Lin Jinglüe still could not sit idle.

Although he had already met with three first-rank generals, Li Rusong, Ma Gui and Dong Yiyuan, he still had to continue meeting with generals above the guerrilla level.

Firstly, as the commander-in-chief of a region, it is a basic requirement for him to be familiar with the main officers under his command. If he doesn't even know his officers, there is no point in fighting this battle.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty's official army was too fragmented. No matter whether the general's title was guerrilla, lieutenant general or deputy general, they were probably all parallel independent combat units.

The main difference between them is probably the number of soldiers in their camps, most of which are around one or two thousand, and at most three thousand.

It is really a parallel relationship, not a hierarchical relationship where the deputy general manages a few lieutenant generals, and the lieutenant general manages a few guerrillas.

Unless there is a temporary formation during wartime, a deputy general or general will lead several battalions in a certain route.

Therefore, Lin Tailai would meet with all generals above the rank of guerrilla commander to ensure that he was familiar with every combat unit.

The Liaodong Jizhen system under the control of Li Rusong had the largest number of troops and generals, including three deputy generals Li Rubai, Zhang Shijue and Yang Yuan, as well as Li Ning, Zha Dashou, Zu Chengxun, Li Yousheng, Li Pinghu, Luo Shangzhi and others.

It can be seen from the list that they are either direct descendants of the Li family, generals or servants of the Li family, or from the Li family’s old base, Di Tieling. The only exception is the southerner Luo Shangzhi.

Historically, this was basically the lineup of the first wave of troops entering North Korea. The subsequent capture of Pyongyang was also taken by these people, and even the recovery of Kaesong, Seoul and even Byeokjegwan was also carried out by these people.

Lin Tailai encouraged the generals one by one, talked about the characteristics of the Japanese soldiers, reminded them what to pay attention to, and then ended the meeting.

Before the Battle of Biti Pavilion, the people in the Liaodong Jizhen system did not have much trouble fighting, and there was no need for too much interference from time travelers.

Besides, the Li family's imprint is too deep on this group of people, so Lin Tailai can't exert much influence for the time being.

So Lin Tailai did not waste his precious time on these people. It was enough to have Li Rusong to control them.

Then the second wave of people who came to participate were the generals of Xuanda who were under the command of Ma Gui, including Xie Sheng, Niu Boying, Yang Dengshan, Bai Sai, Po Gui, Hei Fenghu and so on.

Among them, Xie Sheng, Yang Dengshan, Bai Sai and Po Gui were not very famous in history books, but they were also known as the four fierce generals of Xuan Da at that time.

However, Lin Jinglue greeted Black Wind Tiger first. Strictly speaking according to his rank, Black Wind Tiger was not qualified to come in today.

Then Lin Jinglue pointed at Hei Fenghu and said to the generals and officers, "This is a martial arts student from our academy. I hope you will take good care of him."

Yang Dengshan, the most senior representative of the Xuan Dazhong General, replied, "Okay, okay."

Even if we put aside Lin Tailai's relationship, Heifenghu is also the adopted son of Heixiao, a veteran general of Xuanfu Town, and is not an outsider.

"Sit down!" Lin Tailai pointed to the seat and said cordially, "Xuanfu Governor Wang Xiangqian is the nephew of my wife's family. You were recommended by Wang Xiangqian to come and kill the Japanese. Therefore, my family and you are not outsiders."

Seeing that the governor was showing goodwill, the generals felt a lot more relieved. Who doesn’t want to have a superior who is “one of their own”?
If Li Rusong of the Liaodong faction became the main general and there was no one else to support him, those of the Xuanda faction would really be raised by a stepmother.

After a few pleasantries, Lin Tailai began to talk about the Japanese soldiers in detail and without getting tired of it.

"I have written to you before about the Japanese soldiers' tactics. First, their firearms are sharp. Second, they are good at building fortifications. Third, they have rich combat experience and a decent fighting spirit.

As for the shortcomings, they are probably the lack of cavalry and large firearms, etc. I won’t go into details today.”

"What I want to say today is that the overall situation now has two notable characteristics.

First, the Japanese invasion of Korea has been too smooth so far. They have advanced one or two thousand miles in one breath and occupied dozens of cities.

This has caused the Japanese soldiers to become lax and arrogant. "

Yang Dengshan asked, "I dare to ask for your advice, General. Why do you think you have become arrogant?"

Lin Tailai replied: "From two points, we can know that after Konishi Yukinaga, the commander of the Japanese First Corps, occupied Pyongyang, he stopped advancing northward.

Then the Japanese soldiers did not seize the time to recruit Korean people to prepare for war, such as transporting food and fodder or building fortresses and manufacturing equipment.

Instead, they issued a decree to reassure the people and exempted the Korean people from corvée labor. How lax and complacent is this?"

Yang Dengshan praised him, “General, you are wise,” and said no more.

Everyone thought secretly that Lin Jinglie's information was simply too detailed and they had to accept it.

Then Lin Tailai continued: "The second characteristic of the overall situation now is that the Japanese soldiers have occupied almost the entire territory of Korea, so they have to divide their troops to guard various places and even build fortifications everywhere. This is the way Japan is used to fighting civil wars.

But our Ming border troops have sufficient horses, so we have the opportunity to split and encircle the Japanese soldiers.

At least in the first stage, before the Japanese soldiers have adapted, there is a great chance that they will be divided and surrounded."

"Please give the order, General!" Yang Dengshan heard the hidden meaning. Lin Tailai emphasized this to their Xuan Army, there must be some related planning.

Lin Tailai smiled and said, "It still needs to be kept secret for now. You just need to prepare your troops for war. But our headquarters has already said that your mission will definitely be different from that of the Liaodong Army."

It is now known that the Japanese troops had two vanguard corps in the north. Konishi Yukinaga's first corps marched into Heian-do and Pyongyang, mainly on the west coast;
Kato Kiyomasa's Second Corps advanced into Hamgyong Province, went deeper along the east coast, and even crossed the Tumen River at one point.

Given North Korea's terrain, there are towering plateaus and mountains between the east and west coasts, so it is difficult to connect the two coasts.

In the original history, Li Rusong led more than 30,000 people across the river and headed straight for Pyongyang. He defeated Konishi Yukinaga's corps in Pyongyang and then continued southward.

At this point in time, if you have a bird's eye view, you can see that after the defeat of Konishi Yukinaga's Corps, Kato Kiyomasa's Corps located in the northeastern coast direction almost became an "isolated army deep in the enemy's territory."

Whether it was due to insufficient manpower or insufficient intelligence, the Ming army did not take action against Kato Kiyomasa's army.

Then, after being delayed for more than ten days, Kato Kiyomasa's "alone and deep" corps was still not surrounded or intercepted, and it successfully withdrew thousands of miles from the northeast of Korea to Seoul.

So Lin Jinglüe had an idea. Since the military force he had was more sufficient than in the original historical time and space, the war must be a little different.

Li Rusong's troops will still attack Pyongyang, while Ma Gui and Dong Yiyuan's troops seem to be able to go south first and then directly to the east coast to block Kato Kiyomasa's corps from retreating southward.

The northern part of North Korea is entirely covered with plateaus and mountains, with only small plains and main roads on the east and west coasts.

Therefore, the only way for Kato Kiyomasa's corps to retreat southward was along the coast, which was relatively easy to find and intercept. As long as they could be successfully intercepted, it would not be difficult to annihilate them completely, as they were more than 20,000 elite Japanese soldiers.

Currently, this concept is still in the map-working stage, and Lin Jinglue has not made any public ideas.

So today, when he met with the generals of Xuanda Army and hosted a banquet for them, he only talked at length about the situation of the Japanese troops and provided them with information about them, without revealing any military secrets.

After the Xuanda Army is the Yansui Army. However, due to the long journey, the Yansui Army currently has fewer troops. Its main generals include Zuo Cong and Yu Shangde, etc.

Lin Jinglie once again personally explained the various situations of the Japanese soldiers. In fact, this was also the purpose of meeting with dozens of generals.

After all, in the entire Ming Dynasty, no one understood the Japanese army better than Lin Jinglie, so Lin Jinglie had to seize every opportunity to instill information into his soldiers.

Just when Jinglüe was receiving generals above the rank of guerrilla commander, two more people came to Jiuliancheng on orders to meet him. They both wore the robes of Ming Dynasty military officers but had pigtails.

They were Nurhaci, the deputy governor of Jianzhou and the general of Dragon and Tiger, and Nurhaci's younger brother, Shurhaci, the commander of Jianzhou.

If Nurhaci means wild boar skin, Shuerhaci means little wild boar skin.

Historically, in Nurhaci's early fighting career, many well-known figures in later generations had not yet appeared on the stage, such as Huang Taiji, who was still a fetus.

At present, the confidants that Nurhaci relied on were his younger brother Shurhaci and the "Five Ministers", namely Eyidu, Fei Yingdong, He Heli, Anfeyanggu, and Huerhan.

Among them, Shurhaci can be called the "king who stands shoulder to shoulder with Nurhaci". He has been fighting for the country with Nurhaci since he was a child. His prestige among the Jianzhou Jurchens is only slightly weaker than that of Nurhaci.

In history, Shulhaci's final fate was that he was imprisoned and died after a conflict with his brother Nurhaci. This is considered one of the "secret histories" of your Qing Dynasty.

This time the two brothers rushed to Jiuliancheng because Lin Jinglüe asked them to come and explain in person.

When Kato Kiyomasa led his troops across the Tumen River to attack the Haixi Jurchen tribe, why did the Jianzhou Jurchens not obey the order and send troops?

Nurhaci originally wanted to bring the "Five Ministers" with him for protection and courage, but when he remembered the tragedy of the "Five Ministers" being wiped out by Lin Tailai alone when he went to Beijing for pilgrimage three years ago, he decided to leave the "Five Ministers" in his hometown.

Standing at the gate of Jiulian City, Shuerhazi couldn't help but complain: "If we had sent out a little more troops to support the various tribes in Haixi, we wouldn't be in such a state of anxiety today."

Since the Jianzhou Jurchens accepted the Ming Dynasty's enthronement, they were nominally vassal states. Although they could "obey orders but not announcements," they could not have no symbolic expression at all after receiving the order to send troops.

Moreover, Buzhantai, the leader of the Haixi Jurchens who was slapped by Kato Kiyomasa at that time, was a double relative of Shuerhaci.
Nurhaci replied sullenly, "The Ming army will have no time to take care of other things when they are fighting the Japanese.

Our unit is about to have a chance to achieve great things, so all soldiers must be used with care and not be wasted.

As long as we can get through this visit safely, we in Jianzhou will have a bright future!"

He also didn't expect that this minister of strategy would still be interested in holding on to the small Jianzhou while busy with the Eastern Expedition.
According to normal logic, shouldn't the Minister of State Affairs be obsessed with Japanese soldiers and Korea at this time? How could he still focus on the Jianzhou Jurchens who had no impact on the overall situation?

At that time, the Jianzhou Jurchens did not have the ability to openly resist the Ming Dynasty. After receiving the order from the Minister of Strategy, the brothers had no choice but to go to Jiuliancheng.

After hearing the news from the city gate in the shogunate lobby, Lin Jinglue called Cui Wukui over and said, "First, take the two chieftains of Jianzhou Nuzhi to stay in the inn."

Cui Wukui was quite puzzled. Why did they specifically ask him to pick them up? Although he was in charge of diplomatic affairs, why did they need to be with two barbarian chieftains?
Then, Lin Jinglue ordered: "These two people should be given the same level of etiquette, the same level of housing, and the same level of banquets."

Cui Wukui reminded him, "Are you sure they are of the same rank? One is the deputy governor, the Dragon and Tiger General, and the other is the commander. They are not of the same rank."

Lin Tailai didn't explain, but scolded: "Just do as I tell you!"

Cui Wukui was ordered to go out and meet the brothers Nurhaci and Shurhaci at the city gate. When he greeted them, he greeted them in the same way.

When they arrived at the posthouse, he first escorted Nurhaci into the main house of the courtyard, and then led Shurhaci out.

According to normal etiquette, Nurhaci would live in the main room and Shurhaci would live in the side room.

Nurhaci finally realized that something was wrong and couldn't help asking, "Where is Lord Cui taking my brother?"

Cui Wukui replied: "We need to go to the main house in the next courtyard, which is exactly the same as this one.

By the way, tonight’s banquet will also be a separate treat, and both of your brothers will be the guests of honor, to show our generosity!”

Nurhaci: “.”

I had planned everything and even prepared myself for humiliation, but I didn't expect to encounter this!
If there were people like Lin Tailai in the Ming Dynasty, would he still have the chance to become the king of the Northeast?
That night, two lieutenant generals came forward and each was responsible for entertaining the two Jurchen brothers from Jianzhou, using exactly the same etiquette.

The next day, Cui Wukui came again and led the two brothers to the shogunate lobby.

Lin Jinglie, despite his busy schedule, took time out to receive the greetings and first spoke to his younger brother Shuerhaci, chatting in a friendly manner about family matters.

Nurhaci, who was being ignored, immediately turned pale. This Lin Tailai was still so rude!
Although he didn't want to deal with Lin Tailai, he was the leader of Jianzhou, okay?

Even if he has to be stabbed, he should be the first to get hurt!
Lin Tailai asked Shuerhazi, "I heard that you are marrying Buzhantai, the chief of the Wula tribe of the Haixi Jurchens?"

Shuerhaqi answered honestly: "I will marry my daughter to Buzhantai, and then I will marry Buzhantai's sister."

"Ah, this is a match made in heaven." Lin Jinglue said against his will and swallowed the words "your circle is so chaotic".

Shuerhaci was secretly puzzled. He had heard from his brother Nurhaci that Lin Jinglie was extremely brutal and extremely hostile to the Jurchens.

But the Lin Tailai I saw with my own eyes today was very friendly. He didn't seem like what my brother said.

Then Lin Tailai asked, "So the Japanese pirate Kato Kiyomasa crossed the Tuman River and invaded the various tribes in Haixi.

Then he severely injured Bu Zhantai and reportedly killed more than 900 of Bu Zhantai's men. Why didn't you send troops to rescue him?"

Shurhaci didn't know how to answer, or perhaps he didn't want to lie to his brother Nurhaci, so he looked at his brother Nurhaci helplessly.

(End of this chapter)