Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 592 Zhengde Epilogue (3)
"Announcement from the Ming Daily..."

In September of the seventh year of the Zhengde reign, with the loss of six provinces of Korea, the king fled to the Donghai Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty for refuge. On September 15, the Ming Dynasty also notified its 21 vassal states at home and abroad to send troops to Korea to fight against the Japanese invaders and aid it!
Zhu Houzhao led the reorganized Shangzhi Five Armies and Fifteen Guards to attack Korea, with a total force of 45,000.

At sea, the South Atlantic Fleet was also transferred to the North Korea-Japan Tsushima Strait.

On September 24, the Ming army sent troops from Donghai Prefecture and launched an attack on Pyongyang.

"Beep--"

"Boom boom boom!!"

A shrill whistle sounded in Korea. The Ming Dynasty launched a counterattack on the western front with the main force of four armies, concentrating the strength of one army to give the "Japanese army" a surprise attack on the western front.

More than 400 "Zhengde-style" field guns? They were first shown to the world on the Korean battlefield.

At that time, the weapons equipped by countries around the world were mainly cannons, with a firing rate of about one round per minute, and the shells were mainly solid shells.

The Ming Army's "Zhengde-style" field artillery had a firing rate of up to 4 rounds per minute, a caliber of 75mm, and mainly used collision-fired shells containing high explosive (TNT).

When the shells landed, the orange-red flames almost engulfed everything. The 20,000 Japanese troops stationed at the Cheongcheon River suffered a devastating blow at the first moment of the war and had to retreat to the south of the Cheongcheon River.

According to statistics after the war, the Ming army killed more than 5 enemies, which was % of the Japanese troops that entered Korea...

When the battle situation was reported back to Seoul, Ashikaga Yoshikazu immediately sent a clear-coded telegram to the Ming army, once again stating that he was only targeting Korea, not the Ming Dynasty.

Faced with Ashikaga Yoshikazu's surrender, Zhu Houzhao refused on the grounds that "I cannot allow others to snore beside my bed."

In Zhu Houzhao's view, no matter what Ashikaga Yoshiaki's original intention was, since he dared to send troops to Korea, it was equivalent to disobeying the orders of the Ming Dynasty.

If he can invade Korea today, he will be able to invade Siam, Champa, and even the Ming Dynasty next time!

On September 27, Qi Jiguang, who was supposed to fight in Dongzhou, suddenly appeared in Mutsu, Japan, and led more than 18,000 Ming troops stationed in Mutsu, Dunga, Fukuoka and other places in Japan to attack other Japanese troops in Japan.

At that time, there were as many as 80,000 Japanese troops stationed in Japan, and 170,000 including the reserve forces.

Tomorrow the difference in military strength between the two sides in Japan will be basically one to ten, but such a gap is nothing to Qi Jiguang.

Under his command, armies in three different directions continued to fight forward with the goal of capturing Kyushu Island and attacking Kyoto and Edo.

At that time, among the 30 million people in Japan, nearly 2 million were Han Chinese who settled in Japan, and the native Japanese people had a great fear of the Ming army since the Hongxi period.

In addition, the Ming army promised Japan a three-year tax exemption policy, so ordinary Japanese people, who usually bear a 45% tax rate, immediately changed their roles. They not only helped the Ming army lead the way, but also provided food to support the Ming army in fighting.

For a time, the Japanese army was retreating step by step on its homeland.

Not only on the second day of October in Japan, Kunlun Guard Commander Yu Dayou led his troops to launch a counterattack against the Japanese troops in Kunlun Continent.

Yu Dayou, with a force of 30000 men, swept away two Japanese armies ( men) stationed in Kunlun Island.

The two armies were losing ground and could only use their vast north-south depth to delay the battle.

While the Japanese army suffered blows both at home and overseas, the Ming army's counterattack in the war against Japanese invaders and aid to Korea officially began.

On October 24, the seventh year of Zhengde, with the cooperation of Korean militia, the Ming army on the eastern front lured the Japanese army to the designated battlefield, and suddenly launched an artillery attack on them, wiping out all 12,000 Japanese troops on the eastern front.

In addition, the four armies of the Ming army on the western front crossed the Cheongcheon River and launched a general attack on the six armies (9 men) of the Japanese army on the south bank of the Cheongcheon River...

"what is that!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"Long live His Majesty the King of Heaven!!"

Outside the smoke-filled city of Pyongyang, the defensive fortifications that the Japanese army had spent more than half a month building collapsed under the artillery fire of the Ming army.

As the artillery positions were destroyed, one steel monster after another rushed out from the smoke. The Japanese soldiers who were holding their positions kept shouting for "loyalty to His Majesty the Heavenly King" and stood up and pulled the trigger on these steel monsters.

However, the bullets that hit them were all bounced off, and a gun barrel on the steel monster suddenly began to aim at the soldiers.

As they watched in horror, a snake of fire gushed out of the gun barrel, setting a large number of Japanese troops on fire.

The "Zhengde-style" armored vehicle appeared on the battlefield. It consisted of six wheels, weighed three tons, and was equipped with a flamethrower fixed inside.

On the battlefield, its speed is 20 miles per hour, which is about the same speed as a human walking fast.

It can carry six people and has five additional firing holes inside the armored vehicle.

This was a product before the tank. At present, the Ming Dynasty's internal combustion engine was not able to run heavy tanks, but it was no problem for light armored vehicles, just a little slower.

There were only 200 armored vehicles deployed in the Korean battlefield, but was this enough to destroy the fragile defense line of the Japanese army?

On October 27, Ashikaga Yoshikazu abandoned Pyongyang and Wonsan and retreated south of the "38th Parallel".

In the Battle of Pyongyang, the Ming army wiped out more than 24,000 enemies, not including Japanese civilian laborers.

After a brief rest, the Ming army launched the Battle of Kaesong on November 6th.

Less than three days after the war broke out, the Ming army had penetrated 20 miles into the Japanese defense, completely disrupting the Japanese deployment and forcing the Japanese army to retreat across the board.

During the retreat, more than 4,000 Japanese troops were annihilated by the Ming army due to their untimely retreat, but the Japanese heavy force group was not annihilated.

Zhu Houzhao believed that Ashikaga Yoshikazu was deliberately luring the enemy deep into his territory, so he ordered the Ming army to stop pursuing them.

At the end of the Battle of Kaesong, the Ming army suffered only 37 casualties, while the Japanese army suffered more than 4,800 casualties.

At the same time, Kyushu Island was completely captured by the Ming army, and Qi Jiguang attacked two important Japanese cities, Kyoto and Edo.

When the news reached the Korean battlefield, Ashikaga Yoshikazu immediately ordered the Japanese fleet to annihilate the South Atlantic Fleet and clear the Tsushima Strait for sea transportation.

Under his orders, the Japanese fleet was forced to end its guerrilla warfare and launch an attack on the Ming South Atlantic Fleet stationed on Tsushima Island.

The Japanese fleet had 46 warships, including four 5,000-ton warships, twelve ships over 3,000 tons, and the remaining 30 ships were basically around 2,000 tons. The total tonnage of the fleet was around 150,000 tons.

In comparison, the South Atlantic Fleet had only twenty-four warships, including three ships of 8,000 tons, nine ships of 5,000 tons, and twelve ships of less than 5,000 tons.

At 7:00 a.m. on the second day of the twelfth lunar month, the Japanese army took the lead in launching an attack.

When the two fleets were about five miles apart, the Japanese fleet, while firing fierce artillery fire, increased its speed, crossed the front of the South Atlantic Fleet, turned left, changed course, and attacked the four ships Suining, Jinghai, Changde, and Huaiqing on the right wing of the South Atlantic Fleet.

All four ships were launched before the 15th year of the Hongzhi reign, and are now 17 years old. However, even so, the tonnage of the four ships reached 4,000 tons.

Faced with the superior firepower of the Japanese ships' one-sided salvo attack, the four ships firmly withstood the bombardment and counterattacked in a timely manner.

Seeing this, the remaining twenty warships of the South Atlantic Fleet finally reacted and launched artillery fire at the Japanese ships.

The 8,000-ton Toshu, the main battleship of the South Atlantic Fleet, destroyed the lookout of the Japanese fleet's flagship Fuzeyuki in the first salvo of fire.

Japanese naval governor Yamamoto Isoshige, who was supervising the battle on the lookout, was blown away by the shock wave of the shell and fell heavily on the deck, unable to command the battle.

Then, the Dongzhou shot down the Japanese commander's flag and destroyed the signal rigging.

The Japanese ships had no way to send out signal flags, and the fleet lost command and communication.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese fleet had lost unified command, the ships of the South Atlantic Fleet began to fiercely bombard the Japanese fleet, mainly with their main guns at the bow.

The subsequent ships, including Kyoto, Fuso, Edo, and Mutsu, were cut in half by the South Atlantic Fleet's longitudinal formation due to their slow speed and weak armor, and were separated from the main force of the fleet.

At this time, the Dongzhou, Kinmen and right wing ships of the South Atlantic Fleet fired starboard artillery fire at the enemy ships Kyushu, Shikoku, Iwami and other warships. Under the fierce artillery bombardment of the South Atlantic Fleet, four Japanese ships could not sail, and three ships were hit in the watertight compartments and were about to sink.

Seeing that the seven Japanese ships were unable to move, the South Atlantic Fleet immediately used its instinct to beat the downed dog and continued to bombard the Japanese ships, eventually sinking the seven ships into the sea.

Twelve ships including Honjima and Dunhe attempted to bypass the left wing of the Dongzhou and launch an attack on it, but they were ambushed by the naval commander Chen Lin and were trapped by the South Atlantic Fleet.

As a result, the twelve ships including Honjima were bombarded fiercely from all directions, so that the hulls, sails, and rigging were almost completely destroyed, and the military flag hanging on the mast was also shattered.

Then, the Dongzhou was hit on the starboard side with a 220mm cannon.

The shell exploded in the rear mast, destroying the lower deck and causing a fire. Dozens of Japanese soldiers were smashed to death and Admiral Taro Ishida was torn to pieces.

In an instant, a fire broke out on the rear deck of the ship, spewing out thick smoke that was very high and fierce, and the ship sank into the sea amidst the raging flames.

After the operation was successful, Chen Lin followed suit and immediately commanded the South Atlantic Fleet to besiege the remaining Japanese ships.

During the siege, Ming warships once again hit the right-side gun shields of the bridges of Akagi, Tottori, Osaka and other ships, killing dozens of gunners. Blood and brains splattered on the gun platforms, creating an extremely bloody scene.

Then, countless shells flew in and knocked down the mast. In total, more than 30 people were killed, and almost all the officers on the ship were killed.

Later, the South Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Chen Lin, continued to encircle and suppress Japanese ships. Seeing this, the Yukikaze led the remaining Japanese ships to retreat, and the Battle of Tsushima ended. In this battle, 32 Japanese naval ships sank, and only 14 succeeded in breaking through. Two of them sank at sea due to heavy damage. In the end, only 12 ships including the Yukikaze were withdrawn to Busan.

The Japanese fleet lost 1,824 officers and soldiers, 216 officers, and about 2,000 people drowned.

In contrast, the South Atlantic Fleet lost no ships, suffered only 24 casualties and 92 injuries.

There is no doubt that this was a complete and utter defeat for Japan.

The failure of the naval battle plunged the Japanese troops landing in Korea into complete despair.

Zhu Houzhao was also aware of the despair faced by the Japanese army, so on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, he launched the Battle of Seoul.

As expected, facing the attack of the Ming army, the Japanese army completely abandoned Incheon and Seoul and retreated to Chungju and Cheongju in the south.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao sent people to grant the Korean King Li He the title of Marquis of Korea, and his salary was the same as that of a prince, which was 15,000 taels per year.

Several of his descendants also basically obtained the hereditary rank of the third grade. Although they were not extremely rich, at least they had no worries about food and clothing for several generations.

After the enthronement, Li He and others were brought to Beijing to live, and Korea was incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty as promised before the war, and was governed by the Three Korean Offices.

On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Houzhao launched the fourth campaign and attacked Chungju and Cheongju.

The Japanese army could not retreat and could only begin to defend the mountains and rivers. Even so, they still had to surrender Chungju and Kiyosu and retreat eighty miles, only then did they barely stop the attack of the Ming army.

The Ming army had sufficient ammunition and control of the sea and land, so the Japanese army gradually fell into despair.

Zhu Houzhao no longer pursued the attack, but instead began to encircle the Japanese army in an attempt to trap them to death.

During this period, Ashikaga Yoshiaki proposed surrender three times, but each time it was terminated because Ashikaga Yoshiaki's conditions were too high.

In Zhu Houzhao's view, the Japanese army not only had to surrender, but also had to submit to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for a chance to survive.

After all, Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou have won successive victories in Japan and Kunlun Continent respectively. The longer the time drags on, the more advantageous it will be for the Ming army.

"Crackling..."

The year passed with the sound of firecrackers, and the eighth year of Zhengde arrived as scheduled, faster than anyone expected.

This was the first time since Zhu Houzhao became emperor that he did not celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, but he appeared very happy.

In one battle, Zhu Houzhao recovered two pieces of territories and made a name for himself. Naturally, he was happy.

From then on, Zhu Houzhao became an emperor with military merits.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao, as the emperor, sang and danced with many soldiers in the army.

His behavior reassured many soldiers who had fought in Korea and missed their hometown.

The emperor accompanied them on the expedition and fought in battle, so what was there for them to be pretentious about?

"Reward! Twenty strings of cash for each person!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!!"

Zhu Houzhao spent nearly a million yuan with just a wave of his hand.

But in his opinion, the nearly one million dollars spent was worth it.

The internal rebellion was quickly put down, and Korea and Japan would become part of the Ming territory.

Such power is enough to make those ambitious people in the country behave themselves.

Now we just need to fight a few more battles in the west, and the Ming Dynasty will be completely peaceful.

With such ambitions in mind, Zhu Houzhao gradually calmed down, while in the Japanese position not far from the Ming army's position, Ashikaga Yoshiharu's heart gradually died.

On the 24th day of the first lunar month, the Japanese ruler Ashikaga Yoshiaki surrendered and begged to join the Ming Dynasty.

Because Japan has a large population and there are still some remaining troops roaming around, Zhu Houzhao decided to grant Ashikaga Yoshikazu the title of Marquis after careful consideration.

He gave Ashikaga Yoshiaki the surname "Kane" and made him the Marquis of Edo.

With the surrender of Ashikaga Yoshikazu, other parts of Japan also followed suit.

On the second day of July, Qi Jiguang completely unified Japan, and Zhu Houzhao also established Korea into three departments and seven prefectures, and Japan into three departments and nine prefectures.

As for the land of Kunlun Island, after careful consideration, Zhu Houzhao decided to give the land of Kunlun Island to Siam, Champa and Ganbozhi for development.

The current Ming Dynasty can no longer govern a large area of ​​land like Kunlun Continent. Forcible management will only backfire.

Even as far as the current land is concerned, it is very difficult to manage it well, and there is always the risk of rebellion and independence.

In August, Zhu Houzhao led his army back to Beijing, promoted Qi Jiguang to the rank of Marquis of Pingwo and Chen Lin to the rank of Marquis of Dongyang, and continued to implement the policy of the New Deal.

In October, the Nanzhou rebellion was suppressed, the entire family of Nanzhou Xiang King Zhu Youzhu burned themselves to death, and the envoy Zhang Quan was defeated and killed.

In the twelfth month, Qi Jiguang led his army back to Dongzhou to continue suppressing the rebellion. Zhu Houzhao dispatched Yu Dayou, Chen Lin and others to Kunlunzhou to suppress the rebellion.

At this time, the number of troops suppressing the rebellion in Kunlun Continent had reached 240,000, while the army of King Song Zhu Youji was less than 60,000.

Even so, Zhu Youji was still able to achieve a small victory amid the encirclement and suppression by many famous generals.

As time passed, Zhu Houzhao successfully promoted and implemented the new policy with the cooperation of the army thanks to his military achievements.

In the tenth year of Zhengde, after more than four years, the new policy was finally implemented, and Wang Shouren retired in the same year and asked to go home to retire.

Zhu Houzhao agreed to Wang Shouren's memorial and also approved Zhang Cong's retirement.

At midnight on December 12, the tenth year of the Zhengde reign, an extremely strong earthquake occurred in the Fenwei Valley.

The earthquake waves shook most of the Central Plains. In an instant, the land covering an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers shook and trembled. The sound was like thunder, and the ground cracked like a painting, sometimes forming hills and sometimes sinking into ditches. Countless buildings collapsed in an instant.

The sleeping people of Shaanxi were caught off guard, nearly one million people were buried, and the Guanzhong Railway was destroyed.

At that time, Zhu Houzhao was in the Daming Palace in Beijing. He also felt the shock and hurriedly asked the eunuchs in the inner court.

The next morning, the palace reported the situation in Shaanxi. Zhu Houzhao heard that the situation in Shaanxi had turned against him, so he sent 48 guards from various places, totaling more than 144,000 soldiers and horses to Shaanxi to provide disaster relief.

On the 15th, the provincial governments of Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi and other places reported that nearly 100,000 people were killed, more than 2 million were injured, and 550,000 households were displaced.

On the 18th, the three provinces reported again that the losses caused by the earthquake were extremely serious, and that houses, government offices, temples, and academies were reduced to ruins.

The more sturdy tall buildings, city towers, pagodas, and palaces in the area all collapsed, Zhuma Bridge west of Huayin County was broken, the ground in Dayuan Village north of the city was cracked several feet, and water surged several feet.

Ziwei Temple in the south of Dali County and Taibai Pond in the southwest of Chaoyi dried up after the earthquake, Daqing Pass and Puzhou river embankments on the south bank of the Yellow River collapsed completely, and the stone spring at Fenggu Mountain in Hua County became a dry spring.

On the 24th, the Shaanxi Provincial Administration reported that there were counties with a death toll of over 10,000, from Jingyang in the west to Anyi in the east.

The counties with thousands of deaths extend from Pingliang in the west to Qingyang in the north and Jiangxian in the east.

The earthquake occurred in the middle of winter, and the victims were short of 4 million pieces of cotton clothing and 12 million shi of grain.

Because the earthquake caused large-scale deformation of the ground surface, such as landslides, mudslides, ground fissures, ground subsidence, ground uplift, water spraying, sand gushing, etc., railway transportation is no longer feasible.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Houzhao issued 6 million yuan from the treasury and 12 million yuan from the Ministry of Revenue to purchase quilts, tents, cotton clothes, and food to enter the disaster-stricken areas for disaster relief.

In addition, 7,000 military trucks were dispatched from the army, and all troops actively carried out disaster relief.

In March of the following year, statistics showed that the earthquake caused more than 167,000 deaths, more than 2 million injuries, and more than 246,000 deaths from the injuries, for a total of 413,724 deaths.

After the earthquake, fields became barren, rivers changed their course, groundwater levels dropped, and working and farming became extremely difficult.

When Zhu Houzhao heard about the incident, he exempted the 12 severely affected counties from taxes for three years and allocated another 4 million strings of cash for post-disaster reconstruction.

The remaining 89 counties that were least severely affected were exempted from taxes for two years, and 30 million strings of cash were allocated for post-disaster reconstruction.

An earthquake caused Zhu Houzhao to squander all the money and grain that he had accumulated for more than three years, and even used up six million yuan of the imperial treasury.

You must know that since Hongxi, the royal family has not used the treasury many times, and even if it was used, it was only tens of millions or hundreds of millions.

This kind of call for six million is the first time in more than 160 years...

(End of this chapter)