The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Liaobei.

After entering February, the North Korean army, which was fighting in the mountainous areas, had a hard time advancing.

First, they encountered a series of sneak attacks from the Jurchens, and then their retreat was cut off. The Jurchens seemed to know that this group of people were easy to bully, so that by mid-February, Tang Yin's troops had lost contact with the local troops in Liaodong.

The biggest problem that the group encountered afterwards was the lack of food.

And there was no progress. Even though they captured several Jurchen camps, they moved or burned the food before the capture, deliberately leaving no food for the troops.

By the end of February, the group had completely run out of food and could only kill horses, donkeys and other animals to satisfy their hunger.

To make matters worse, there was another heavy snowfall in Liaodong at the end of February. Even though Tang Yin compromised and agreed to withdraw his troops, the troops could no longer smoothly withdraw to a safe area. They still had to deal with the invading Jurchens in this difficult environment while starving.

"Mr. Tang, the soldiers have been out of food for the past three days. Some have been gnawing on tree bark, and some even have no bark left... Some have eaten grass directly, and some have not even had rice bran to eat... The soldiers are suffering beyond words..."

The person who was most nervous about this group of people was naturally Park Won-jong who was accompanying the army.

As a meritorious figure of North Korea, he should have been staying by the side of the king and enjoying a good life, but instead he suffered physical and mental trauma.

Tang Yin picked up a piece of dough and stuffed it directly into his mouth. Park Yuanzong almost swallowed his saliva when he saw it.

"Don't I know that we're out of food?" Tang Yin asked.

Park Won-jong cursed in his heart.

We have run out of food, but you two hundred or so Ming soldiers who are following the army are not starving yet. We see that you have food to eat, so the next step will probably be a military mutiny.

Xu Jing sighed and said, "I have sent someone to send a letter to Governor Yang of Liaodong, asking him to transfer food. However, we are at least a hundred miles away from Fushun, and the roads are all mountainous. If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to arrive in about two days."

Park Wonjong asked, "Are you sure it's a hundred miles? If we go overnight, can we go... faster?"

Tang Yin said, "Bo Yin, don't worry. Even if we get to Fushun, we may not have emergency food. Now that it's snowing, the situation has changed. We had an encounter with the Jurchens yesterday. After the battle, didn't we gain something?"

Xu Jing said, "Isn't it just shooting arrows from a distance? I don't think our soldiers are willing to fight anymore. The situation on the Jurchen side is not good either. We are short of food, and they are probably too hungry to have the strength to fight."

"Who said that?" Tang Yin asked, "Didn't we find out earlier that they still have food? As long as we can grab it, we can fill our stomachs, right?"

This is to remind Xu Jing to keep his tone consistent.

Now the only goal of the Korean soldiers in the war is to grab food and have enough food. If you tell them that the Jurchens are also starving, will they still be able to fight for their lives?

"Yes, we checked them and found that they had food. It was a pity that we fought at Yaoer Mountain last time. If we had known that they were transferring food from the small road on the east side of the mountain, why didn't we send people to block them in advance? Now, they have captured prisoners but didn't bring back even a bite of food."

Xu Jing was still sighing.

Park Wonjong said: "Gentlemen, can we continue to walk now? The road ahead seems to be blocked by snow again! The brothers are hungry. Otherwise... give us the horses of our Shangbang soldiers..."

Tang Yin said: "Those horses are used to carry artillery, and if there is a battle, cavalry will be needed to attack. You can think of another way. If it doesn't work, throw away all the baggage that can be thrown away, and slaughter the last animals."

Park Wonjong said pitifully, "We don't have many animals anyway."

Xu Jing sneered, "You were not well prepared. You asked your king to transfer more food, but what happened in the end? You actually thought that you could enter the Ming territory and rely on the Ming to supply you with food? You were not harmed by the weather, nor by the Jurchens, but by your own poor preparation. How can you fight a war like this?"

Park Wonjong said, "Isn't it the envoys from the upper states, the two gentlemen, who are urging us to hurry?"

"you……"

Xu Jing was about to argue with Park Yuanzong again, but was interrupted by Tang Yin.

Tang Yin said, "You two, stop talking. You've walked thousands of miles, and you can't walk for the last hundred miles? Fushun is right in front of us, and we're about to reach the border of Jianzhouwei. The troops from Liaodong withdrew here because they encountered trouble. You have to be careful, because the Jurchens from Jianzhouwei may come out at any time!"

"They are all Tartars, so we will fight them all the same!" Xu Jing seemed very confident.

Park Won-jong glanced at Xu Jing helplessly.

It seems like you are saying, it's not you Ming soldiers who are losing their lives, we are still hungry, and you actually think the Jurchens are easy to defeat?

It's the situation now. We have run out of ammunition and food. There's really no way to survive.

……

……

After Park Won-jong went out.

Tang Yin also continued to write letters and asked the court for help. He mainly wanted to get more food and supplies through Yang Yiqing, the governor of Liaodong. He also wanted to allocate troops through Yang Yiqing.

Xu Jing said: "These Korean soldiers are really no good. They can't win in a fight. They complain every day. It's hard for them to march forty miles a day. I don't know what they do for a living."

"We should have anticipated their situation." Tang Yin said, "This battle also has a purpose, which is to consume them. Now the purpose has basically been achieved."

"Haha."

Xu Jing could also laugh at this time. He said, "Recently, we have been counting the troops. I heard that 20 to 30 percent of the North Koreans have deserted. They just ran away like this. Not to mention going back to North Korea, they can't even get out of this mountain. I heard that some of them even fled in an organized group."

Tang Yin said: "If it were me, I would run even faster."

"..." After hearing this, Xu Jing was speechless.

How can you, as a head coach, be so cowardly?

Tang Yin sighed, "How long has it been since we last contacted Liaodong?"

Xu Jing said: "It's been almost a month, and we haven't heard from them, but we sent people out, so they should know about our situation, right? The same goes for Yang Yiqing, why doesn't he send us food?"

Tang Yin shook his head and said, "None of the people who sent the message have returned. Who knows if they were intercepted or deserted? The Koreans can no longer be trusted."

"Then..." Xu Jing asked, "After replenishing the troops and food, especially the firearms, should we return to North Korea? Then we can give them a new leader! Even though this leader is young, he seems to have ambitions. He always pretends to be nice to us. We can't keep such a person."

"He is the ruler of a country. Can we decide his fate?" Tang Yin asked.

Xu Jing said: "Haven't we already made this decision once?"

"It's different." Tang Yin said, "Before, we had no choice. Some things should be dealt with peacefully. I don't know what to say. Maybe the court wants to give up on us. I hope to pass through this Jurchen land in the next two days. When we really see the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty, and have soldiers and food, we will be qualified to make plans for the next step."

……

...Another fierce battle broke out.

The Jurchens of Jianzhou Wei seemed unwilling to accept being crossed by the Koreans.

The Ming soldiers can't defeat you Koreans, so shouldn't it be easy to defeat you?
In the ice and snow, Park Won-jong followed Tang Yin's orders and sent a troop of 3,000 soldiers up the mountain. However, after a whole night, there was no movement at all.

"The vanguard troops are missing in battle?" Xu Jing came out of the tent with his hat covered in snow.

There are woods all around.

There were still many soldiers scraping tree bark, and some were guarding in front of the fire. Many of them seemed to be dead.

A heavy snowfall at night caused heavy losses to the group. Even worse was the fact that the 3,000 people who had gone up the mountain seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Park Won-jong and the Korean generals were inspecting the front line of the camp when they ran into Tang Yin who was observing the enemy situation from a high place.

At this time, Tang Yin was holding a telescope, but he could not see anything.

"The terrain is still too low." Tang Yin said, "The Jurchens of Jianzhou Guard are usually best at horse fighting, but this time the terrain forces them to use bows and crossbows for a surprise attack. Even if it is effective, they cannot afford to lose thousands of people at once."

Park Wonjong said, "Why don't we go up the mountain and look for it?"

Xu Jing was speechless after hearing this and said, "Even if we waited, we shouldn't have gone to look for them. If the troops we sent out weren't lost, why would we have to look for them?"

Park Wonjong lowered his head helplessly and said: "The troops sent out are also excluded in our team. If they go up the mountain and are bewitched by the Jurchens with food, perhaps they can do something..."

"What are you talking about?" Xu Jing frowned and asked, "Are you surrendering to the enemy in battle? As a soldier, do you even have no dignity left?"

Park Won-jong had no words to grievance.

You can't even eat and your life is almost gone, so how can you still care about your shame?

Tang Yin said: "Bo Yin, you have worked hard. Every time I asked you to send troops to Ming Dynasty, the progress was not good due to lack of food."

Park Wonjong also said helplessly: "It's all because we were not well prepared."

These words actually contain a lot of resentment.

You Ming people asked us to fight without any preparation? We can tolerate not giving us firearms, but not giving us food is a bit of a bully.

Why do you ask us to prepare our own food and help you fight the Jurchens?
Tang Yin asked: "Bo Yin, you say, the Jurchens are having a hard time making ends meet now, what might they do next?"

"I don't understand what you mean, sir." Park Won-jong said.

Tang Yin said: "I think their next step may be to attack your Korean territory and rob you of your food, livestock, and even people. Then you will..."

Park Wonjong was shocked and said, "Sir, aren't we here to fight the Jurchens? Even if something goes wrong, we can't let them do this."

Good guy.

I thought you, the Ming Dynasty, wanted Korea to fight a war of attrition with the Jurchens, but it turns out that your purpose is just to make enemies with each other and let us Koreans fend off the Jurchens' fierce invasion?
Tang Yin sighed, "I don't want this to happen either, so we have to destroy the Jurchens. If I remember correctly, when your last ruler was still around..."

"Yeonsan-gun." Xu Jing on the side reminded without any hesitation.

"It was Yeonsangun," Tang Yin said. "At that time, you, Korea, were also suffering from the Jurchens' invasion of the border, so you decided to fight them. Later, the imperial court sent troops to help you solve the border troubles, so that they did not invade again for two years. Now you take the initiative to attack, isn't that right?"

Park Wonjong thought for a moment and nodded, "Thanks to Mr. Tang and the Earl of Xinjian, the Jurchens were suppressed in Liaodong and other places, which allowed our people to live in peace for a few days. Isn't our king also allowing us to go with the army?"

"So," Tang Yin concluded, "it's time for you to fight for the country. There is another battle today. After today's battle, I will take you to Fushun tomorrow. By then, I will make sure every soldier has enough food."

Park Wonjong asked, "Sir, is this considered quenching thirst by looking at plums?"

Tang Yin said: "This is the truth. We are now crossing the territory of the Jianzhou Jurchens. If we don't fight, how can we fight our way out? It's up to you!"

……

……

Park Won-jong felt that he was being used well by these two envoys from the Ming Dynasty.

He could only mobilize the troops again and divide them into two groups to open the way on the left and right, but they did not go up the mountain, but went towards Fushun. As for the three thousand troops going up the mountain... he could not take care of them.

Let it fend for itself.

The Korean troops were responsible for clearing the way, and the biggest trouble they encountered was the Jurchens shooting arrows from behind.

Because this is their territory, the mountain roads are rugged and there are no roads in many places. After the snow, there are deep potholes in many places, so people who open roads need to be very careful.

Until dark that day, there was still no news of the 3,000 men, and they had not even traveled fifteen miles.

"If we continue like this, we won't be able to reach Fushun tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Xu Jing was also a little anxious.

Park Won-jong was so anxious that he wiped his tears and said, "The soldiers have tried their best."

Tang Yin looked at Park Wonjong's pitiful appearance and sighed, "Two horses collapsed today due to exhaustion. They have been killed. I'll send some of the meat to you so that the soldiers can have something good to eat."

"Two horses..."

Park Won-jong thought to himself that this was too little.

If we want to kill horses to satisfy our hunger, you should kill a few more. We still have more than 10,000 people, and we only need to eat two horses... You can give them all to us, right? Is this enough for us to eat?
"Report..." A messenger's voice came from outside, "The Tartars have set up a fire barrier ahead. The forest stretching for more than ten miles is on fire."

"What?" Park Won-jong stood up immediately.

He is almost reaching his destination, but now you tell him that the road ahead is blocked. Isn't this the same as telling him that he might as well wait to die?

Tang Yin said: "A fire won't last long."

Park Wonjong said: "But they might come to attack at night."

"Isn't it better to attack at night?" Xu Jing said, "We can't find their trace. Now they are in the dark and we are in the light. Only in this way can we have a chance to turn the tables."

Park Wonjong burst into tears this time, and said with tears in his eyes: "Don't talk about turning the tables. Now the soldiers have only one thought, to have food to eat, not to eat too much, as long as they don't starve to death and keep their lives. Now they have no strength, it's so cold, people fall down every moment, gentlemen, please leave some incense for these passers-by." (End of this chapter)