Chapter 9 Chapter Eight: The Ming Army Begins

While North Korea was in full swing to welcome reinforcements from Ming Dynasty, Japan was in pain and joy. The happiest person in the whole world in the year of Renchen is probably Hideyoshi in Nagoya.Ever since the First Army Corps landed in Busan, good news has been spreading to Japan.The good news that flew in like flakes was like good fuel, burning Hideyoshi's already vain fire even more vigorously, making him completely intoxicated in his dream. He did have reason to be so confident.In just over a month, North Korea has completely fallen into the hands of Japan.At this time, the Eight Routes of Korea have been occupied by the Eight Army Corps of the Japanese Army.

Among them, Terumoto Mori’s Seventh Army controls Gyeongsang-do, which is the closest to Tsushima Island and is the key communication channel between the invasion army and Japan; Terumoto Mori’s uncle Takakage Kobayakawa continues to struggle in the mountains of Jeolla-do, The Japanese army advanced too fast before, and this place has not had time to be completely controlled. At this moment, it has become the counterattack base of the natural enemy of the Japanese - Yi Sun-shin.Kobayakawa Takakage's Sixth Army shoulders the important task of clearing away the serious troubles in his heart.

On Chungcheong Road above Jeolla Province, Masamori Fukushima's Fifth Army was scattered depressingly.He and Kato Kiyomasa are members of the famous Japanese military group "Qiyue Qibengun" in the Warring States Period. Kato sang loudly at the front to attack the city, but he could only pick up people's teeth and make harmony at the back. As depressed as he was, there was Maori Jicheng, the Fourth Legion entrenched in Gangwon Province.Mori Yoshinari, also known as Mori Katsunobu, is a direct descendant who followed Hideyoshi to fight the world, and he is not under Kato and Fukushima when it comes to closeness.Now he can only follow behind Kato's butt in depression, accompaniment half envious and half grateful.

The Eighth Army of Ukita Hideo’s family was stationed in Gyeonggi-do. He was based in Seoul, the former capital of North Korea, and regarded it as the headquarters of the Japanese army and the location of the future Governor-General of North Korea.This year, Xiujia was just in his early twenties, and he was still a young man. He ran amok in Seoul all day long, even going to the mausoleums of the kings of all dynasties, which made the Koreans angry and hated. Surrounding the Ukita Hide family at this time were the seven staff officers sent by Hideyoshi to North Korea: Masuda Changsheng, Ishida Mitsunari, Nagatsu Masaka, Kimura Changlusuke, Maeno Changyasu, and Kato Koyasu. Similar to the group of elders, it is responsible for the management of North Korea's military and political affairs.

Ukita Hideo's family is too young, and they only bear the name of a commander-in-chief, and the actual authority is controlled by this elder group.Their most urgent task is to re-measure and count the land of the Eight Provinces of Korea according to the Japanese method, so as to facilitate the distribution to the heroes and stabilize Japan's rule in Korea. There is a proper term for this matter in Japan, which is called "Eight Ways", which means to re-divide the eight kingdoms of Korea. Closer to the border between China and North Korea, the three vanguard corps of the Japanese army are busy with their own affairs.

Kuroda Nagamasa of the Third Army has never been able to fully control the Yellow Sea Road, and is mopping up endless volunteer soldiers every day. After the First Army of President Konishi occupied Pyongyang, they stopped their furious attack.He stayed in Pyongyang by himself, and only sent a part of the army to chase after the Korean royal family. The only one that still maintains a strong fighting spirit is Kato Kiyomasa's Second Army.He has gone deep into Hamgyong-do, the northernmost part of North Korea.He lost to the most hated Governor Konishi in the previous peninsula race, and he had to win more meritorious deeds to save face.

During this period, North Korea as a country barely existed.Three thousand miles of land has become Japan, no, it will become Hideyoshi's appendage, and become the bridgehead to conquer Ming Dynasty. Hideyoshi held the report on the Eight Kingdoms, and all the arrogance and fantasies in his whole body exploded.He wrote a letter to Toyotomi Hideji, who was then Guanbai, and conceived a grand plan unprecedented in Japan. In this plan, North Korea and the northern part of Ming Dynasty have been conquered by Japan.His Majesty Emperor Goyosei will move to Beijing, and Toyotomi Hideji will be the Guanbai of the Tang Dynasty. The number of fiefs will be ten times that of the previous ones.The throne of the emperor of Japan was handed over to the younger brother or son of Emperor Goyosei; the throne of Korea was handed over to Hashiba Hidekatsu or the head of the Ukita Hide family.

As for Hideyoshi himself, he set Ningbo as his base camp, commanded the army to continue to conquer the south, and vowed not to return to the army until the entire Southeast Asia was brought down. This plan marked that Hideyoshi's mental state had slipped into a completely unpredictable abyss. Hideyoshi's megalomania reached its climax on the second day of the sixth month of the Imjin year—that is, shortly after the fall of Seoul—and he decided to personally lead the army across the sea to launch a grand plan to conquer Ming Dynasty.Just looking at him is already not satisfying, and he is gearing up to prepare himself to go into battle.

His plan drew opposition from almost all normal people. First of all, Emperor Goyangcheng firmly opposed it.Hideyoshi has always cared for the royal family. He and Hideyoshi are grasshoppers on the same rope. He is afraid that Hideyoshi will have some troubles. Not only will he not be the emperor of Tang, but he will lose his happy life. Hideyoshi's own mother also objected.The old man doesn't know about military and state affairs, but she knows her son. She knows that this son is a little abnormal, and if he goes out to explore again, something will happen. Tokugawa Ieyasu also objected. He knew that if Hideyoshi wanted to personally conquer North Korea, he would definitely bring all of their famous names with him, and take away all the strength of their territories and invest them in the vast Central Plains.He didn't want to pay his own efforts on Hideyoshi's ambition at all.

Hideyoshi's cronies also think this plan is unreliable. For example, Hideyoshi's close buddy Maeda Toshiie firmly opposes it. The reason is simple: Hideyoshi is a mountain town under the new Toyotomi regime. With his departure, those big names with ulterior motives in Japan It must be ready to move. In short, people from all walks of life opposed Hideyoshi crossing the sea himself for different reasons.But Hideyoshi didn't listen to anyone. His brother-in-law Asano Nagamasa tried his best to dissuade him, but he was almost hacked to death by him. Hideyoshi was very angry and wronged.

You know what a fart!At the beginning of the conquest of North Korea, you also unanimously opposed it. What happened?Lao Tzu is always right!Now that the situation in North Korea is very good, it should be happy to expand the results of the war. He tried his best to get ready to cross the sea with great interest, but the cold reality quickly slapped him hard. In mid-June, the important minister of the Shimadzu family, Ume Kitakuni, received the order to go out and led 300 soldiers under his command to transfer to Sashiki Castle in the Higo Kingdom of Kyushu, and then took a sea boat to Busan.Mei Beiguo didn't want to go to North Korea at all. After he got to Sashiki Castle, he didn't leave. He brazenly occupied Sashiki and flagrantly raised the rebellious flag. His rebellion gathered thousands of people within a few days, and Ume Kitakuni, greatly encouraged, began sending letters to daimyos from all over Kyushu, inciting them to unite, surround Nagoya, and capture Hideyoshi. This disrupted all of Hideyoshi's plans.Feihou is an important logistics and transit base for the conquest army. If there is chaos here, there will be no need to fight ahead. As a general of the first army, Mei Beiguo's reason for the rebellion was very simple-he didn't want to go to North Korea to fight, and the life ahead was too hard. The farmers who responded to the Meibei rebellion also had a simple reason-the front was fighting in North Korea, but life in the rear was too hard. In order to support hundreds of thousands of troops in overseas wars, the whole of Japan is almost exhausted, almost draining the last drop of blood from the people.Especially farmers, not only have to cultivate their own part of the field, but also cultivate their fields on behalf of those peasants who have been transferred to the front line. The amount of labor has doubled, and the tax has also doubled. Three draws and one ration rent.In this case, the common people can only choose to flee or resist. For this reason, Hideyoshi issued several orders in succession, demanding severe punishment for those who strike, but this policy only aroused greater dissatisfaction.In Bungo alone, nearly 40% of the fields have been reduced to wasteland. So when Mei Beiguo and Denggao called out, they received a strong response from the miserable people of Kyushu. The Umekita Rebellion quickly failed under the joint strangulation of Toyotomi and Shimadzu, but it was only the tip of the iceberg, showing that Japan had already suffered countless small cracks under the huge war consumption.From distant Satake to Kyushu, which is the closest to North Korea, riots have occurred everywhere, and abandoned good fields have become wasteland everywhere.Yoshinobu Satake, a daimyo from Tohoku, almost starved to death on the way to Nagoya because of the riot at home. The Meibei Rebellion was a wake-up call for Hideyoshi. No matter how arrogant he was, he still had to face up to this problem.Hideyoshi realized that Japan was already unstable, and he could still rely on his prestige to guard it when he was there. If he went to North Korea, what would happen to the rear would be even more unimaginable. After weighing again and again, Hideyoshi finally dismissed the idea. Japan is in chaos, and the Korean front is not necessarily much better. Strange, isn't it saying that the situation in North Korea is doing well? Yes, but not quite.The situation of the Japanese army in North Korea at this time can be described in one sentence: pain and happiness. The occupation of North Korea is an indisputable fact.However, the occupation of the Japanese army only controlled every main road and cities along the route in North Korea. Other places became the battlefield where the Japanese army fought with the North Korean rebels and the remaining government troops, and they could not form effective control.The Japanese are like a giant spider that has laid a net all over the Korean peninsula, and in the end even they are entangled in it and cannot move. The most unlucky one was Takakage Kobayakawa, "one of the three wise generals of the Warring States Period". He must have never counted his horoscope before he went out to fight, and he didn't know that he was destined to "go out to meet the nobles". He bumped into Guo Zaiyou, a genius of North Korean guerrilla warfare, and fought fiercely for several days, exhausting all his breastfeeding strength, but he couldn't cross the Nakdong River.Immediately afterwards, they met the old tough guy Gao Jingming, who refused to retreat, barely fought a miserable victory, and then was ambushed by a little-known military officer in Lizhi, with heavy casualties, and was forced to retreat.That small officer was called Quan Li, so this victory was promoted by the court, and he became the first and only famous army general in North Korea during the entire war. Under the bite of the endless rebel army, the Sixth Army of this wise general has never been able to fully enter Jeolla Province. The situation of other Japanese generals was not much different.They found that there were enemies everywhere in North Korea, whether they were scholars, farmers or monks chanting scriptures, they formed teams of different numbers and fought desperately with the occupying forces. The continuous battles made the soldiers extremely tired, and war weariness began to permeate the Japanese army.Under such circumstances, it is normal for deserters to appear continuously.In order to boost morale, they could only allow their subordinates to burn, kill and loot. The atrocities of the Japanese army aroused more civil uprisings and rebels, forcing the Japanese to adopt more brutal methods, falling into an endless loop. If the rebellion of these rebels was nothing more than lice bites, which were uncomfortable but irrelevant to the overall situation; then the existence of Yi sun-shin was like a pair of giant hands strangling the throat. For North Korea's almost world-renowned star Yi Sun-shin, we will make a separate chapter in the future.From the beginning of the war, he fought alone and fought a dozen naval battles in Okpo, Hepo, Chijinpo, Sacheon, Tangpo, Tanghangpo, Supu, Hansando, and Angupo in a row, making the Japanese Sea lanes are in jeopardy, with less than a third of normal traffic. The Japanese army on the Korean peninsula suddenly fell into an extremely difficult situation. The Korean plain was relatively small, so the production of food and grass was limited. The Japanese army overwhelmed it with over 200,000 troops, but failed to form an effective control. Supplies suddenly became a big problem, and they could only rely on domestic transportation.But the navy was not up to the mark, and was so suppressed by Yi Sun-shin that it couldn't lift its head up.Food and grass are easy to handle, but the firearms and ammunition that the Japanese army is proud of must be produced domestically. Under all kinds of harsh conditions, Japanese soldiers kept fleeing from the North Korean front. Even if all kinds of severe punishments were imposed, the problem still could not be solved.For example, in Naoshima Naoshige's troops, there were more than 50 people who deserted at one time, and these more than 50 people were all combat troops, including more than a dozen lower-level samurai and retainers.There are countless fugitives from other daimyo units.In order to prevent deserters from sneaking back to the country, Hideyoshi had to order all the troop carriers to gather at Nagoya. The only ones that don't have to worry about the problem of deserters are the first and second legions.They are in the westernmost part of North Korea, and the deserters have nowhere to escape... The two regiment commanders of the first and second regiments each have their own Xiao Jiujiu. Kato Kiyomasa was determined to invade Daming, so he didn't consider any loss at all, and made great strides forward with a strong spirit.President Xiaoxi can't do it, he is essentially a businessman, and he has to calculate the gains and losses in advance in everything he does. He has always hoped to exchange the minimum loss for the maximum benefit.So since entering North Korea, President Konishi kept writing letters to the King of North Korea, hoping for peace talks.Unexpectedly, although the Koreans suffered repeated defeats and battles, their backbones were quite strong. Even if the Ming Dynasty was not the king and the Korean country was gone, they would never surrender to the Japanese pirates.The only negotiation between the two sides was before the fall of Pyongyang. Because the words were not speculative, the talks collapsed within a few words. Now Seoul, Kaesong, and Pyongyang are all taken by Chief Konishi, and the feats are enough to convince the public.He began to calculate in his mind that continuing to attack would be nothing more than icing on the cake, which would be of little significance. Instead, the troops would collapse due to excessive wear and tear.Although there is the Joseon royal family ahead, there is also the Ming Dynasty, and the outcome is hard to predict. Besides, the supply is also a big trouble now. President Xiaoxi didn't want to cause too much damage to the direct troops, so he decided to slow down and wait and see the situation. In short, when the Ming army entered North Korea, the Japanese army was entering a bottleneck period of expansion due to the limit of its logistical capabilities. All the legions were stagnant due to one or another problem—only Kato Kiyomasa had maintained a high-speed assault. , but he is already at the end of his battle. In fact, it is not only the Japanese who are facing supply difficulties, but also the Ming army. As the saying goes, before soldiers and horses move, food and grass go first, and food is consumed in war.The Liaodong Army has been on the battlefield for a long time, and naturally knows that logistical support is the key to victory or defeat.When Zu Chengxun was still preparing troops in Phoenix City, Li Dexin asked him to rush to the court to support him.Zu Chengxun's answer was: "The grain and grass are not ready yet, and the troops will naturally be dispatched when they are ready. Liaodong is easy to handle. There are special military supply warehouses in castles all over the country, and they can be replenished as they go, without worrying about starvation.But once in North Korea, the situation is very different.Transporting grain from Liaodong is a protracted and costly work, and the cost is too high. The best solution is to eat locally and let the North Koreans be responsible for the grain—especially the Ming army may have to go deep into North Korea and attack Pyongyang and other places. The distance is long, and it is impossible to expect to carry it with you. Daming sent troops to sacrifice their heads and blood for you. You are responsible for supplying food, of course you have a duty to do so. According to the records of the Korean Bibian Division, a soldier of the Ming army consumed 1.5 liters of rice a day, and a war horse consumed three liters of forage and bean cakes a day.Daming had a total of 3,000 troops in North Korea at this time, and about 3,500 horses, so the daily consumption was 44 shi of grain and grass, and more than 80 shi of grass beans. For this figure, the North Koreans were quite optimistic at first.On June 15th, the day when the Ming army crossed the river, Li Yan called Liu Chenglong over and appointed him to be in charge of all activities with the Ming army, and at the same time responsible for raising food and grass.The two monarchs and ministers summed it up. In Anzhou, which is the closest to Yizhou, there is still 500 shi of grain and grass reserves, plus the reserves of surrounding counties and counties, enough to feed 5,000 people for half a month.Li Yan was still in the mood to tell Liu Chenglong that he would use forty shi to make wine to celebrate the arrival of the heavenly army. But Liu Chenglong went to the nearby villages and towns to investigate and found trouble.What the imperial court has in their hands are all the numbers on the books. The war is so big that it should be burned and run away. The warehouse has already bottomed out.Li Yuanyi, Director of Safety Supervision, put it more bluntly: "The food in the hands of the government now cannot be supplied by a thousand-man Ming army." What's even more unfortunate is that Liu Chenglong didn't even have a single servant under his command, and they all ran away.Luckily, Liu Chenglong is a capable official, so he gathered a group of young civil servants, rolled up their sleeves, and dug three feet in Ping'an Road like a groundhog in winter, and finally managed to scrape together five or six hundred shi in Jiazhou.As for Dingzhou, which is close to the front line, there is no food at all.This means that once the Ming army attacked Pyongyang, food and grass had to be transported from the rear, and it was difficult to recruit civilians. Just thinking about it, Liu Chenglong's head has become bigger than two. On June 25, the situation regarding grain and grass suddenly changed again.Liu Chenglong wrote to the imperial court, saying that there was food in Dingzhou, Lin Lin finally figured it out, enough to last 10,000 people for a month. Could it be that Liu Chenglong is a fairy, and he can turn out a lot of rice grains just by flipping his hands? We are atheists, insisting that there has never been any savior in this world, and of course there are no gods, so there is only one conclusion: Liu Chenglong is lying. But there is a real reason for telling this lie. It turned out that seven days ago, Shi Ru and Guo Mengzheng of the Ming army who crossed the river in advance joined forces and rushed 180 li to join the Korean royal family at Linpanguan.After the Ming army arrived, the excited ministers strongly urged the two commanders to go directly to Pyongyang.Shi Ru and Guo Mengzheng hurriedly said that we are only pioneers, and we are only responsible for escorting you to Yizhou safely. The North Korean ministers quit, and the crowd was passionate.In this regard, they, like the officials of Ming Dynasty, have always taken it as their duty to criticize others, so although they have been running in a hurry for the past month, it does not prevent them from criticizing the Ming army for its cowardice.For a while, the scene was extremely chaotic, and someone even suggested that Marshal Kim Ming-won of the North Korean capital should take care of these people. Shi Ru and Guo Mengzheng turned their faces when they heard this.We have come all the way to rescue you, and instead of being grateful, you are trying to deprive us of command.Damn, I am a general of the Ming Dynasty, not your lackeys of the Koreans. The Liaodong Group Army was proud and powerful in the Ming Dynasty, and few people could control it. During the Chongzhen Dynasty, they dared to break Shanhaiguan from Beijing and return to Liaodong. How could this allow the North Koreans to look at them? Knead the sand.Guo Mengzheng pointed directly at the North Korean minister's nose and cursed - you people are too rude!Then he led his army back to Yizhou that day. As soon as he left, the North Korean monarchs and ministers sat in wax, and quickly sent someone to ask for forgiveness.The other party threw back a sentence: no food, no way to go. This reason is too high-sounding, no one can find anything wrong.Li Yan asked Guo Mengzheng to send troops quickly, but the latter declined sarcastically, "Okay, as long as you have enough food and grass, we will send troops immediately." Li Yan couldn't answer a word. The Koreans were all counting on the Ming army to counterattack, so they were offended all of a sudden, but what happened.While Li Yan scolded those ministers who owed him, he told Liu Chenglong about the situation.Liu Chenglong understood, and made a memorial before Zu Chengxun arrived in Yizhou, boasting that we have food, and the army will pass by, which is enough for us. Didn't you say you won't leave without food?Then I will tell you that there is, and I will trick you over here first.When you run out of food halfway, you can't retreat. Naturally, you have to move forward bravely and take down Pyongyang. Li Yan is the best at this kind of cleverness. After Zu Chengxun arrived in Yizhou the next day, the Ming army officially assembled.Li Yan happily showed Liu Chenglong's report to Zu Chengxun, saying, General Zu, let's go to the expedition? Zu Chengxun is not an idiot, and the North Koreans can't hide these tricks from him.He made another excuse, saying that our general Yang Shaoxun, who was in charge of logistics, hadn't arrived yet, so let's talk about it when he arrives. The 3,000 people of the Ming Dynasty continued to station in Yizhou, as motionless as a mountain, even when the king came, showing the demeanor of a strong army. Li Yan saw that the plan was not going to work, so he had no choice but to urge Liu Chenglong to continue raising food. The army of the Tian dynasty is all donkeys, and they will never push back if they are not fed. In order to raise food, the North Korean rulers and ministers tried every possible trick. They even consulted Daming to discuss the possibility of transporting food from Tianjin to North Korea along the sea route.It is a pity that neither the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty are fools. We sent troops to North Korea to fight for you, and we still need to transport food from China?No play. It was not until July 4th that North Korea's supply plan took initial shape.At this time, Liu Chenglong was so busy that his eyes turned blue, hemorrhoids broke out due to excessive fatigue, and he could hardly get out of bed. His plan is as follows: First, let the Ming army carry three days' worth of grain and grass with them when they set off in Yizhou, and then walk ninety miles on the first day, stop at Liangce, and transport one day's grain from nearby Longchuan On the second day, we walked another 90 miles and arrived at Linpan Pavilion, where the food for the day was transported from nearby Xuanchuan; and then we went to Dingzhou, Jiazhou and other places to supply according to this method. After arriving in Anzhou, they entered the war zone, and there was no food at all.Liu Chenglong arranged for the three counties near Longgang to raise food and grass, and transport it to the lower reaches of the Laojiang River by large ships, so that the Ming army could be supplemented nearby in Anzhou. There was no replenishment along the journey from Anju to Pyongyang, but the three days of food and grass carried by the Ming army before departure from Uiju had not yet been consumed.There is still one hundred and ninety miles to Pyongyang, which can be covered in two days, leaving one day to attack Pyongyang city.There are 40,000 shi of food and grass in Pyongyang, as long as they are smashed down, there is no need to worry about it. This plan fully demonstrates the extreme wisdom of a person in a desperate situation.Liu Chenglong clearly realized that the grain and grass stocks in the remaining areas of North Korea were small and scattered, and it was absolutely impossible to concentrate in one place and then send civilians to establish transportation lines.Therefore, he decomposed a big problem into countless small problems, allowing local point-to-point short-distance replenishment, layer by layer relay, and completed a nearly impossible task.This supply plan is meticulous and complete, with meticulous calculations, and it can be called a masterpiece in logistical planning. Moreover, this plan also implied a careful thought of the North Korean monarchs and ministers. They only prepared one-way food and grass for the Ming army to Pyongyang City, and there was no return plan-you either took Pyongyang City or starved to death. The North Korean monarchs really couldn't think of how to motivate the Ming army to send troops. When historians of later generations study the military strength of the Imjin War, they will notice that the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty are rough and brief, and the records of the Japanese side are often exaggerated. digits, and the date of action is accurate to days or even hours.For example, how many months and days, who's army, a reconnaissance team, where dozens of people went, what they did, how far they traveled, and when they returned to the station, they were extremely detailed and tireless.Based on this, some people praised that the Koreans are the most educated in history, but that is not the case at all.The fundamental reason is that the North Korean side has to afford the supply of the Ming army, and they will give as much food as the Ming army has.Their meticulous records are actually forced out by the lack of food. At the same time, Liu Chenglong also sent people to build pontoon bridges on the two rivers of Dading River and Qingchuan River to ensure that the road for the Ming army to march was smooth, and by the way, to ensure that they could not find an excuse to refuse to march. After these preparations were completed, Li Yan sent someone to urge Zu Chengxun to march in as soon as possible.On July 7th, Zu Chengxun issued a condition, saying that we were not familiar with the places in North Korea, and we must arrange guides for us, and the number of guides must not be small.Because the language is not fluent, a large number of people are needed to lead the way and be responsible for communication. At least there must be such a few North Koreans for each general and captain.Now, every class must have a fellow who leads the way and an interpreter. When the North Koreans heard it, this request was not too much. After all, it was their own family's business, and it was unreasonable for them to do nothing.They selected some of the rout soldiers who had retreated all the way to the south, and some were recruited from various counties. They put together more than 2,000 soldiers to serve as guides for the Ming army. Li Yan thought to himself, it's almost time to leave this time, right?As a result, when I looked the next day, Zu Chengxun was nowhere to be found.This can scare the North Korean monarchs and ministers.They still remember that before Zhongzhou's disastrous defeat, the coach Shen Li also disappeared for a game the night before. Could it be that Tianjiang also has this hobby? In the early hours of July 9th, Han Yingyin, the judge of Gongcao—the one who went to Beijing to report the Japanese situation last year—run and panted to Yizhou, and the truth came to light. It turned out that Yang Shaoxun, the Liaodong General Soldier, led 500 subordinates, and arrived at Tangzhan on the Daming side of the Yalu River yesterday. Zu Chengxun hurriedly crossed the river to meet his boss. Fortunately, Yin Geunshou and Han Yingyin, who were in charge of Liaodong liaison, were in Tangzhan at that time.When they saw Zu Chengxun running back to the country, they knew something was wrong, so they didn't have time to ask the king, so they quickly found Yang Shaoxun and asked him to urge Zu Chengxun to enter the army. Unexpectedly, Yang Shaoxun seemed to be slower than Zu Chengxun. He said to the two envoys: "Our army is all cavalry, so we can't cross the river. There are two rivers between Yizhou and Pyongyang, so we can't cross it." Yin Genshou had been prepared for a long time, and immediately replied: "The pontoon bridges of Qingchuan River and Dading River have been built." Yang Shaoxun was a little embarrassed, and asked again: "The food and ships, these also have to be raised." Han Yingyin quickly replied: "It's all arranged, just wait for your word!" This time Yang Shaoxun had nothing to say. After Han Yingyin and Yin Genshou got together, Yin Genshou was in charge of continuing to follow Yang Shaoxun, while Han Yingyin ran back to Yizhou overnight to report the latest situation to the king.Zu Chengxun also returned to Yizhou on the same day. On July 10th, Yin Genshou struck while the iron was hot and continued to lobby Yang Shaoxun, babbling, babbling, babbling for a full day.Yang Shaoxun really lost his temper after being tortured by him. Seeing that the Koreans were really prepared, he had to relax and agreed to let Zu Chengxun join the army.He then led his 500 men across the river to take over the duty of guarding Yizhou from Zu Chengxun. The next day after Zu Chengxun received Yang Shaoxun's order, with Shi Ru's troops as the vanguard, the army left Uiju and went to Dingzhou, the base to counterattack Pyongyang.The guide battalion of the North Korean Army and other local troops also moved closer to Dingzhou.It has been more than three months since the entire Imchen War started, and the DPRK finally launched a formal counter-offensive—although the main force of the counter-offensive was the Ming army. Yizhou to Dingzhou is a total of 180 miles. The Ming army did not walk slowly. It should be considered a rapid march, not a forced march. It took two days on the road.After arriving in Dingzhou, the nearby North Korean army has been assembled, and the North Korean commander is called Li Xie.Zu Chengxun divided the Ming army into three divisions: the forward Shiru Division, the main force of the Chinese army, Zu Chengxun Division, and the Guo Mengzheng Division in charge of the rear.The North Korean army was also divided into three parts, which were evenly distributed among the three armies of Shi Ru, Guo Mengzheng and Zu Chengxun as the leader.The total strength of the Chinese and North Korean coalition forces reached 5,000. After the reorganization was completed, Zu Chengxun issued an order: the whole army pulled out the stronghold and rushed to Pyongyang at full speed. Strange, isn't Zu Zongbing not always interested in counterattacks?Why the sudden change of sex this time? All because he saw a piece of information. Two days ago, Huang Yuan, governor of Sunan County near Pyongyang, sent a letter to Marshal Kim Ming-won. The letter said that the main force of the Japanese army was shrinking towards Seoul. At present, Pyongyang is almost an empty city, and there are even abducted women standing on the top of the city. , affectionately calling on North Korean soldiers to rescue. All military information in North Korea was disclosed to the Ming army, so Zu Chengxun also saw it.After he finished reading, he was overjoyed. He was able to conquer the capital without any effort. Is there a better opportunity to commit crimes than this in the world? He cheered up and gathered his men and horses, ready to go.At this time, Liu Chenglong and Jin Mingyuan ran out quickly, pulling the horse's head to dissuade them. Didn't North Korea always hope that Ming would march in quickly?Why have they changed their gender? All because of a heavy rain It was summer in North Korea and there was a lot of rain.From July 14th, it began to rain continuously from Dingzhou to Pyongyang.Liu Chenglong and others know the weather in North Korea very well. They know that the rain will never end, and it will make the road muddy and difficult.Entering troops under such climatic conditions, whether in combat or logistics, will be very stressful, and it is really not a good choice.Moreover, Ming's Liaodong Army is mainly cavalry, and North Korea's two-legged logistics obviously cannot keep up with Ming's four-legged cavalry. Facing the obstruction of the Koreans, Zu Chengxun laughed on the horse and raised his whip: "When I was in Liaodong, I often led 30,000 cavalry, and it was no problem to wipe out 100,000 Tartars, let alone these Japanese pirates!" He refused to listen to persuasion at all and insisted on marching. Liu Chenglong saw that he couldn't stop this great tomorrow general, so he had to let three North Korean guide battalions set off with the army, and sent urgent envoys to inform all places to hurry up to transport food according to the supply plan.The king Li Yan who was far away in Yizhou heard Liu Chenglong's report and had no choice but to order Li Cao officials to sacrifice to the mountains and rivers and pray for the weather to clear up soon. Li Hengfu, the military judge, is the most die-hard pro-China faction in the court, but even after he heard that Zu Chengxun sent troops, he was full of worry and shook his head. Let's see it's over this time. From Dingzhou to Pyongyang, there is a total of 400 miles, and it is raining heavily, making the road difficult.Zu Chengxun set off on the 14th day of the seventh month and traveled fast all the way. This time he marched by force. He traveled 160 miles in one day and arrived at Jiashan on the evening of the 15th day of the seventh month. After arriving in Jiashan, Zu Chengxun heard two more news.One is a battle report sent back from the front, saying that Tong Dagang, the nephew of Tong Yangzheng, the guard of Kuandianbao, was killed in Shun'an. This is the place where the battle between Japan and North Korea was the most intense. Tong Dagang, as a military observer of Daming, has been fighting side by side with the North Korean army here, and passed a lot of information back to Liaodong.His death in battle shows that the Japanese army has begun to become active again. This battle report did not arouse Zu Chengxun's vigilance at all. He asked the locals about the situation of Pyongyang City.The locals told him that there were still Japanese troops in the city.However, due to the misleading information from North Korea, Zu Chengxun concluded that it was a small number of Japanese soldiers. He was overjoyed and thanked God with a glass of wine, saying that it was God's will for me to succeed!He didn't rest at the moment, and continued to urge the soldiers to rush on the road overnight, rushing 180 miles a day and a night, and rushed to Shun'an County. Sun'an is the gateway to Pyongyang, only sixty miles away from Pyongyang.The later Pyongyang International Airport is located here. By the time they arrived at Shun'an, the Ming army had become a weary army.Shi Ru suggested that the army was exhausted after driving for three consecutive days, so it is better to take a rest in Shun'an, and there is no rush to march again the next day.Zu Chengxun was a little hesitant. Military common sense told him that Shi Ru was right, but he was also worried that he would miss out on a good opportunity to attack the city. In the end, he was motivated by a desire to win, so he decided to move on. After walking for more than ten miles from Shun'an, it began to rain heavily, and the rain became heavier and heavier, and it was almost impossible to see the road clearly.The road was muddy by the rain, and the hoofs of many cavalry horses were soaked, and they cracked when they ascended the slope a little bit, and they could no longer gallop, so they had to replace the horses. Seeing that the situation is not good, Shi Ru once again suggested to withdraw the troops.Zu Chengxun pondered for a while, this time he did not act arbitrarily, he found a fortune teller. The Liaodong generals were very superstitious and respected various gods headed by Guan Gong. They would bring one or two trustworthy fortune tellers with the army to facilitate divination before the battle.The fortune teller brought by Zu Chengxun is called Wang Manzi.Fortune tellers are always good at observing words and expressions. Wang Manzi has long seen Zu Chengxun's eagerness to enter the army and make meritorious deeds. Naturally, he followed his words, pretended to do a divination, and then told Zu Chengxun: "Don't withdraw, the tenth day of this month The seventh day is an auspicious day, which is good for attacking the city." Zu Chengxun was overjoyed when he heard this, and ordered the whole army to march all night, braving the wind and rain.In order to prevent dispersal, he reorganized the troops and asked the former military Shiru department to send out five sentry troops, each sentry led by a hundred North Korean soldiers, and rushed to Pyongyang. Finally, in the early hours of July 17, the vanguard of the Ming army arrived on the west side of Pyongyang City.The North Korean army had never experienced such an arduous march. The five-sentry guide actually ran away from the four-sentry. It is strange that the Ming army, who did not know the way, did not run away all the way.Fortunately, Pyongyang City is also close at hand, so they don't need to give directions anymore. In the swaying rain, Zu Chengxun squinted his eyes and saw the majestic city wall of Pyongyang City. "Destroy the city, and then have breakfast!" Zu Chengxun commanded majestically. At this time, the Japanese were still ignorant of the impending crisis.