Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

On the day when the Korean king and his ministers evacuated Seoul, Duoduo and Shuotuo led their troops to capture Pyongyang.

Kim Ji-jeon, who was appointed as the Marshal of the Western Route, had already fled to the Zhengfang Mountain City near Hwangju when Huang Taiji's army entered Korea.

Pyongyang was captured by Jianlu soldiers without any resistance.

Then Duoduo and Shuotuo followed Huang Taiji's order and bypassed the city. Two days later, on November 15, they arrived at the north bank of the Han River.

The speed was so fast that Cao Bianjiao, who was on guard against the Jianlu cavalry, was also frightened. He quickly sent people to the city to inform them of the news.

Fortunately, the Joseon king and his ministers were frightened by the Jianlu and began to retreat the night before, running 60 miles overnight to reach Incheon. Now they have taken a boat out to sea and landed on Yeongjong Island to hide.

The Jianlu had no navy, and the ships along the coast were taken over by the Ming navy, so they could not threaten the Korean monarch and his ministers on the island.

The task assigned to him and Zhou Yuji by the imperial court has been completed.

It is impossible for the Korean monarch and his ministers, who are protected by Zhou Yuji, to surrender to the Jianlu.

North Korea will be used as a large battlefield for them to play with.

After thinking it over, Cao Bianjiao did not return to Seoul, which was defended by the Joseon general Shen Qiyuan, nor did he go to Bukhansanseong and Namhansanseong, which served as refugees in Seoul.

He led his 300 warriors to Incheon, met Zhou Yuji on Yongzong Island, and then took a boat to Jiaodao.

This is an island south of the mouth of the Taedong River, about 200 miles southwest of Pyongyang.

After Hong Chengchou stepped down as the Grand Marshal, he led his Ming and Korean soldiers to Jiao Island.

Following the instructions of the Privy Council, he followed Mao Wenlong's example and used this coastal island as his base.

There were not many people on Jiao Island before, but thanks to the Ming Dynasty's opening up of vassal states to the north, ships often passed by along the coastline. A lighthouse and a dock were set up on the island, and there was a certain amount of infrastructure.

After Hong Chengchou brought his troops here, he led the soldiers to build barracks and sent ships to Bailing Island to assign personnel there.

The island was originally named Gu Island, but it is also called Bailing Island because the shape of the island resembles a white feather spreading its wings and soaring in the sky. It is larger in area, farther from the land, and has fertile land with some fields that can be cultivated.

Hong Chengchou had already made plans to stay at sea for a long time. Because Yongzong Island, where the Korean king and his ministers took refuge, was very close to the land and might be captured by the Jianlu, he planned to bring the Korean king and his ministers to Bailing Island when the sea froze.

In that way, the Ming Navy would be more confident in protecting them, and it would be basically impossible to capture the island without large ships.

When Cao Bianjiao arrived at Jiaodao, Hong Chengchou was reading the war reports from Korea.

The Korean Pacification Office, which had already established a basic intelligence network, was able to transmit the war situation in Korea to the island by carrier pigeons and ships.

Many Koreans were also willing to help, as they hated the Jianlu who burned and looted.

At this time, Hong Chengchou was lamenting that the Jianlu were advancing so quickly, and he also realized that the Jianlu led by Huang Taiji were completely different from before.

This was a commander with great talent and strategy, and Hong Chengchou felt that he was inferior to him.

Even if he led the same number of troops, he was not sure he could stop Huang Taiji.

Not to mention that the fighting outside Seoul showed that the new firearms army was temporarily incapable of engaging in a field battle with the Jianlu.

Hong Chengchou was extremely concerned about this battle and asked Cao Bianjiao in detail.

Cao Bianjiao also looked solemn and said:

"The Jianlu are too fierce!"

"During previous exercises, the hollow square formation with bayonets was able to effectively resist cavalry, and the horses would not charge forward when they encountered the bayonets."

"But the Jianlu were different. In the battle in Seoul, some soldiers formed a hollow square formation with bayonets and spears, but the Jianlu charged fearlessly and directly broke the square formation."

"Their soldiers don't know what fear is!"

This was what shocked him the most, and he also realized that there was a big difference between exercises and actual combat.

No wonder the emperor was worried about the effectiveness of the exercise and asked them to teach the Korean army tactics and test them first.

The results of the test now show that the hollow square formation is not feasible. This formation is fine against the Mongols and Koreans, but it is simply a meal for the Jianlu.

Even if Ming soldiers were braver than Korean soldiers, firearms and bayonets were no match for real cold weapons in close combat, unless everyone was equipped with hand guns, and more than one.

But that was obviously impossible. Only the Imperial Camp had the financial resources to equip two spring-wheeled hand cannons. In other Ming armies, hand cannons were not standard weapons.

Therefore, the new army with firearms should not engage in close combat with the Jianlu. It can even be said that they do not have the strength to engage in large-scale field combat with the Jianlu.

Hong Chengchou also came to the same conclusion, and after communicating with Cao Bianjiao, he further confirmed this.

He also understood why the court asked him to resign as the Grand Marshal and lead his soldiers to retreat.

If he was still serving as the commander-in-chief in Pyongyang, he would have the responsibility to defend the city against the invaders.

Given the fighting power of the Korean soldiers, if he was not sure of defending Pyongyang, the city might be broken by the Korean invaders, and he would be faced with the choice of living or dying. Hong Chengchou felt terrified just thinking about it, and was even more glad that he was in Jiaodao at this time.

Thinking that the King of Korea had appointed him as the Marshal of all the provinces of Korea and granted him all the power, Hong Chengchou frowned again and asked Cao Bianjiao:

"Now I hold the position of Grand Marshal, and I have the responsibility to fight against the Jianlu."

"General Cao, what do you think we should do to resist the invaders? Do you have any good ideas?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Bianjiao said:

"If it is in Liaodong, I suggest defending the city."

"But North Korea has a few mountain cities with good defenses, and the rest of the country is simply undefendable."

"Then we can only follow the previous method and harass the Jianlu's logistics and set up an ambush."

This is the most effective method, and it is also the tactic that Dongjiang Leader explored when fighting against the Jianlu.

However, the Jianlu had fought in Dongjiang for several months and had gained experience. After Huang Taiji's vanguard bypassed the city and arrived in Seoul, he led the army to advance steadily and now crossed the Cheongcheon River to Anzhou.

The areas around Anzhou and Pyongyang are all plains, so there is basically no chance of an ambush. Huang Taiji can obtain enough food and cannon fodder here, and then attack Seoul.

Hong Chengchou looked at the map carefully drawn by the Ming army and fell into deep thought:
"Now that I am no longer the commander-in-chief stationed in Pyongyang, I do not need to worry about how to defend Pyongyang."

"We just need to defend Seoul as much as possible and let North Korea keep holding on to the Jianlu."

"It seems that the best way is to ambush them in the mountains and forests north of Seoul, so that the Jianlu can't get through."

"The best place for an ambush is probably this area!"

A line was drawn on the road from Pyongyang to Huangzhou, and then to Pyeongsan and Kaesong. Hong Chengchou believed that the rugged terrain here was very suitable for an ambush.

Even if the Jianlu tried to take another route, there were still many mountains and forests in between.

Hong Chengchou decided to send a general to lead a firearms army to ambush, so that the Jianlu could not drive the population in the Pyongyang area and use them to attack Seoul.

After Cao Bianjiao learned of Hong Chengchou's plan, he volunteered to go.

But he was good at cavalry, which was difficult to perform in the mountains and forests.

Hong Chengchou also wanted him to help him lead the troops, but naturally he did not allow it.

In the end, Liu Xingzuo was entrusted with this important task and led his Jurchen Niulu and the sniper brigade in Zhengfangshan City next to Huangzhou to the mountains and forests of Pingshan and Kaesong.

Many more Korean musketeers will be sent there later, and they will be tasked with finding ambush sites and establishing bases.

Choi Nam-yi and others who were protecting Kim Ja-jeon in Jeongfang Mountain Fortress were eager to go to Kaesong.

Although he and many Korean soldiers accepted orders from the Ming Dynasty, they were still full of concern for Korea.

The Jianlu invaded and captured cities in Korea, wantonly killing the residents in the cities, which made the people so angry that they wanted to fight the Jianlu immediately.

However, the ambush sites in Xuanchuan had been completely destroyed by the Jianlu army. They did not have the ability to fight the Jianlu army head-on, so they could only suppress their anger in their hearts.

Jin Zidian of Zhengfang Mountain City made them disdainful again, and they thought that this Marshal was not worthy of their protection.

After receiving Hong Chengchou's order to ambush in the Kaesong area, they planned to set off immediately, carrying weapons and supplies to the south of Kaesong, looking for an ambush site along the way.

After all members were equipped with breech-loading rifled muskets and adapted to this new weapon, they were confident that they could achieve greater results and even capture other high-ranking Jianlu officials who had bounty cards on them.

However, Kim Ji-jeon, the commander of the Western Route Army of Korea who stayed behind in the Jeongbongsan City, did not allow them to leave. He stopped them from leaving on the pretext that the Jianlu were about to attack.

This statement is indeed true. Huang Taiji was heading towards Huangzhou. He tried his best to search for supplies by "beating grass and valleys" along the way. The soldiers of the Eight Banners were well fed and were extremely supportive of him as the Khan.

After easily capturing Huangzhou where Jin had evacuated, Huang Taiji became a little interested when he heard that the Korean Western Route Marshal was leading his soldiers to gather in the nearby Zhengfang Mountain City.

However, after Jin Zidian fired his magic arrows from a distance and the soldiers of the sniper brigade shot and killed several Jianlu, Huang Taiji wisely chose to ignore this place.

The dense firearms in Dalinghe Fort left him with a psychological trauma. Unsure whether Zhengfang Mountain City was another Dalinghe Fort, he was unwilling to take the risk of fighting head-on.

In addition, Zhengfang Mountain City was not on the main road at all, and the field combat capability of the Korean soldiers was very poor, so it was impossible for them to pose any threat. Huang Taiji ordered the Eight Banners soldiers who stayed in Huangzhou to pay attention, and then led his army south to Pingshan.

Jin Zidian breathed a sigh of relief and continued to have fun in the mountain city, and often expressed his resolute resistance in front of the soldiers.

As the Marshal of the Western Route of Korea who defended the Zhengfang Mountain City, he is still the backbone of Korea and a great contributor to Korea's fight against the Jianlu!

After Xie San and Cui Nanyi's sniper brigade repeatedly requested for transfer, they were finally released from Zhengfang Mountain City. Some soldiers in the mountain city who wanted to resist the invaders were also sent out by him.

These will be the evidence for his future assessment of merit. All the achievements they have made should be shared by him as the Grand Marshal.

Jin Zidian hopes that when the merits are rewarded in the future, he can ask for a higher title! (End of this chapter)