1592 AD is the 20th year of Wanli of Ming Shenzong, the first year of Emperor Goyosei of Japan, and the 25th year of King Seonjo of Joseon Dynasty.This year happened to be in the interval between the two small ice ages in China. The climate in Liaodong was not satisfactory, and there was still plenty of rain in spring and summer. On June 15th of this year, a Chinese army marched across the Yalu River valiantly and vigorously. This army started from Jiulian City not far from the Yalu River. It was not large in scale, only 1,029 people, all of whom were Liaodong cavalry who had experienced many battles.The supreme commander is an ordinary general named Dai Chaobian, and the deputy commander is a guerrilla named Shi Ru.They only carried a small amount of luggage, and the commander's expression was very relaxed. All signs indicated that this seemed to be just a routine border mission.

They crossed Kuandian Fort on the border between Liaodong and North Korea, and arrived at the ferry on the Yalu River within a day.The soldiers restrained their mounts and stepped onto the ferry in waves.The Yalu River was in the high water season, and the current was turbulent. A ferry full of soldiers from the Ming army went down the river at a very fast speed.From crossing the river in the early morning, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, all the troops set foot on the Pingan Road of North Korea, and after a short rest, they headed towards Uiju. The operation of crossing the river this time was silent and did not attract much attention from the residents along the way, but it was actually a small sharp corner of a huge iceberg emerging from the water, the beginning of a major historical event, and the opening prelude to a grand narrative .With the passage of time, this iceberg will gradually reveal its huge body, pulling out a series of intertwined interest games, and finally triggering the collision of sparks between several behemoths.

For these Ming soldiers who did not leave their names, crossing the Yalu River was just a small step for individuals, but the entire history of East Asia has taken a big step forward. This step opened the prelude to the extremely important "Imchen War" in Asian history. A few years later, Japan's Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of a gas disease due to the disastrous defeat of the war and the serious loss of his elite soldiers. Son's widow.Tokugawa Ieyasu, the most forbearing politician in Japanese history, took advantage of the situation and finally seized the ruling power of the Toyotomi family after two wars. Japan entered the 300-year-long shogunate era.

Tokugawa knew from the ending of the Toyotomi Clan after the Imjin War that the huge Ming Empire to the west was a strong neighbor that Japan could not afford to provoke now, while Portuguese and other European merchants and priests made him feel that there was still a threat from the sea. Therefore, Japan has adopted a closed-door policy for a full three hundred years since then. The biggest reason is to avoid accidentally making Daming, a powerful neighbor, unhappy and look coldly at Japan. This step allowed the Lee Dynasty of North Korea, under the protection of the Ming Empire, to completely recover the lost land from the loss of the country and the government's exile. Fortunately, it was able to restore the country and continue to preserve the royal status of the Li Dynasty.In the following hundreds of years, North Korea followed China's lead and faithfully played the role of China's vassal state. It was not until a hundred years ago that it died again in Japan.

This step has truly affected the strategic pattern of the entire Asia for the next three hundred years. However, in China, this is a step that many people have forgotten, and it is almost a step full of negative comments. At the same time, it is considered by many people to be a step that is not worth paying attention to.This point can be known from the very few records in official history.Because of this, later generations don't know much about this war, and today, it has almost become a war covered by various fogs.The Wanli Emperor and the Ming Dynasty were even more infamous for this war.This battle of resisting Japan and aiding Korea, which was supported and led by Emperor Wanli, has had mixed historical evaluations. Numerous literati and politicians in later generations have pointed out that it was one of the reasons for the decline of the Ming Empire, which is also one of the so-called three major Wanli marches.

Just, is that really the case? In order to make our vision clearer, we pause the time, adjust the focal length of the historical telescope, and draw three concentric circles on the map with this small army as the center. The range of the first circle has a radius of about five hundred miles. In the direction of Dingzhou in the southeast of the center of the circle, the North Korean king Li Yan and his officials were rushing towards Uiju with pale faces.Over the past few months, the royal family has fled from Seoul to Pyongyang, and from Pyongyang to Dingzhou, losing almost all its territory, troops and face.Li Yan was devastated, and he only wanted to cross the Liaoshui River and attach Daming.He doesn't want North Korea anymore. What he hopes most now is to be an official of the Ming Dynasty so that the Ming Dynasty can deal with this crisis.He knew that although the three thousand miles of mountains and rivers were vast, he and this desolate court had nowhere to go.

northeast direction.Kato Kiyomasa, the commander of the Second Army of the Japanese Invasion Army, is commanding more than 20,000 elite troops to race all the way on Hamgyong Road, sweeping away the bitter cold of the extreme north like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves. He even began to plan to cross the Tumen River. Into the Ming territory.In Jizhou, not far from him, Han Kecheng, the northern soldier of Hamgyong in North Korea, gathered six elite soldiers with a gloomy face, waiting for the decisive battle with the Japanese army.They are the only legion in North Korea that is still organized, and they are also the last force of the Li Dynasty.

In the Liaodong territory of the Ming Dynasty to the northwest, Nurhachi, the governor of Jianzhou Weidu of the Ming Dynasty, is leading his Jurchen cavalry through the white mountains and black waters. The memorial about the Jurchen troops' invitation to fight and enter the court has been delivered to Beijing. As long as His Majesty the Emperor gives an order, he will He is willing to use all the strength of his tribe to fight against the Japanese invaders, so as to prove his impeccable loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. And in Jiulian City, the rear of the troops crossing the river, Yang Shaoxun, the Liaodong General Soldier, has sent a letter to Zu Chengxun, the Liaodong Deputy General Soldier, urging him to lead the army out as soon as possible to catch up with the advance troops.

In this circle, the entire western part of Korea lost its function of covering Liaodong, and the flames of war were about to reach along the Yalu River. For the first time, the entire northeastern region of China faced threats from the east.The experienced Guanning Army of the Ming Dynasty is about to face the equally experienced Japanese Army—and these two military forces, no matter from senior generals to ordinary soldiers, are ignorant of the opponent's details. The radius of the second concentric circle is about three thousand miles. Throughout the Korean peninsula, the Lee Dynasty had already "lost the three capitals and disintegrated the eight kingdoms." Hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers were like a huge and greedy spider, stretching out eight hairy long legs, entrenched in all the eight kingdoms of Korea.Among them, Konishi Xingchang kept counting his food reserves in Pyongyang City, and stopped his progress worriedly; Kato Kiyomasa happily played blitz in Hamgyong-do; Several other army chiefs control almost all of North Korea's traffic arteries and important cities.

Outside of these cities and avenues, the Korean rebel army sprang up one after another. Guo Zaiyou, Gao Jingming, Jin Qianyi, Zhao Xian and other rebel leaders haunted the mountains, brewing revenge against the invaders.They must rely on their ingenuity and perseverance to persist until the arrival of reinforcements. The only consolation for these rebels is a man far away in Lishui Port.In this June, Yi Sun-shin, the left envoy of the Jeolla-do Navy, was standing on the wharf of Yeosu Port, practicing turtle boats. No one could stop his small fleet—at least at sea. In Beijing, Emperor Wanli was sitting in the Forbidden City, resting his chin, thinking hard about how to persuade his ministers to make Zhu Changxun the crown prince.For this matter, two chief assistants, Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping, have resigned successively, and countless people have been dismissed from office. Officials in almost the entire empire are fighting for which son of the emperor's family will inherit the family property, that is, "establishing an heir". too noisy.Only when Wanli was tired would he occasionally raise his head and glance at the memorials from various places to see what happened on the vast land of the empire.

All the officials were racking their brains on how to persuade the emperor to establish the heir they wanted. Only Shi Xing, Minister of the Ministry of War, yelled loudly at an inappropriate time, calling on the court to pay attention to the war that broke out in Korea as soon as possible. In this concentric circle, Japan's North Korea strategy has almost achieved all its goals, but the hidden dangers brought about by the previous hurricane-style advances are gradually fermenting.At this moment, the giants in Beijing are slowly turning their attention to the northeast.Indeed, its decision-making and reaction speed are slow, but once a decision is made, it will shake the world.The operation of crossing the river by more than 1,000 people on June 15 was the giant's middle finger extended to the Japanese invading army. Although the movement was subtle, it meant that the giant's iron fist would soon be unleashed. The third concentric circle has a radius of six thousand miles and covers almost the entire East Asian region. In Nagoya, Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi held his beloved tea set and was so happy that he couldn't get enough of it.The entire four prefectures and sixty-six countries of Japan have bowed their heads, the Eight Ways of Korea have been clarified, and his ambition and self-confidence have swelled to the maximum.Ishida Mitsunari, Masuda Changsheng, and Otani Yoshitsugu are waiting for the master's instructions obediently. They are about to go to North Korea, and they are charged with the heavy responsibility of "cutting the eight countries" to re-examine the Korean territory according to the standards of Japan's Ishiko. , and then entrusted to all meritorious ministers.North Korea will be completely annexed by Japan for the first time, and it will be used as a base to attack Daming and create a great cause for all ages. And the vast Chinese Empire has yet to draw enough power from many complicated affairs.No way, the empire is too big. In the vast northwest of the Chinese Empire, Qi Bai poked his head out of the city wall of Ningxia Town tremblingly, hoping that the Mongol reinforcements would come as soon as possible, while resisting the increasingly sharp attack of the Ming army.Not far from him, Li Rusong and Ma Gui's Liaodong army, Xuanda's elite infantry, and Zhejiang soldiers from afar were rushing on the road of conquest.They are now focused on the strategy of countering the rebellion in Ningxia, and they have not foreseen their future fate on another battlefield. In Bozhou, the farther southwest, the rebellious and rebellious Yang Yinglong embarked on the road to Chongqing with anxiety.There, the governors of Guizhou and Shu provinces will decide whether his crime is mobilizing a crowd to make trouble or conspiracy.He didn't know at that time that his fate would be slightly interfered by the Korean War thousands of miles away, which would further deeply affect the entire Ming Dynasty. Despite such complicated affairs, the Ming Empire made some corresponding preparations for the upcoming war.In Shandong, the work of rectifying the military path has been quietly carried out, and the grain from the south of the Yangtze River has been intercepted to be used as military funds; The cutting-edge warships slipped from the dock into the sea. All these signs show that the empire intends and is capable of fighting. On the vast sea beyond the Ming Empire, Ryukyu Zhongshan Wang Shangning held two letters with a troubled expression on his face.One is Japan's letter of credence requesting tribute, with arrogant and threatening words; the other is an edict from the suzerain Ming Dynasty, with gorgeous rhetoric and condescending, requesting Ryukyu to send troops to attack the Japanese and cooperate with the deployment of the Chinese dynasty in North Korea.He counted the number of soldiers in the Ryukyu Kingdom with his fingers, then looked at the two letters, shook his head, and went back to the palace to continue sleeping. In Macau, Nagasaki, and the Philippines, Portuguese and Spanish merchants and missionaries kept as indifferent and neutral as possible. They knew that a large-scale international war was obviously going to follow, so they talked in whispers about the situation in East Asia and discussed what to do. What benefits can be gained from it. In this concentric circle, the significance of national strategy has become prominent. For Japan, this is a conquest of overwhelming the country; for North Korea, this is a battle of national subjugation and restoration.As for the Ming Empire, at this moment, this is just a decent battle to declare its prestige overseas, to prove the awe-inspiring inviolability of the Celestial Dynasty, a partial battle outside the territory, that's all.The thousand-man troops who crossed the river in advance represented the firm attitude of the empire, and there was not much other practical significance. These three concentric rings are interlocking and share the same axis.The entire Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula, the entire Chinese Empire, and even the entire East Asia began to spin around this small river crossing operation.Geopolitical shocks created layers of ripples, buried various causes and effects, and promoted the stress of the old political plate to reach a peak. With this node as a symbol, they collided violently and released amazing energy; at the same time, the new Historical tension is also quietly brewing amidst the changes, accumulating strength for the next century. In short, in June of 1592, this unusual and unusual time node was like a crossroads.The delicate dynamic balance of the various forces before was slightly disturbed by the Ming army's operation of crossing the river. Immediately, this shock was quickly transmitted and amplified, and finally turned into a huge torrent, engulfing all participants. Among them, they rushed together towards one direction of the intersection. On June 17 of the Renchen year, Ming officially began to intervene in the Korean War.Dai Chaobian, a member of the Ming army, and Shi Ru, a guerrilla, led their troops across the Yalu River and entered Yizhou.This is the first spark of three concentric circles colliding with each other. After adjusting the focal length, we have to turn back the pointer of time to the previous year to understand the full meaning of this.