Chapter 20 Chapter 19

This person is naturally Li Rusong. If there was a Ming Dynasty general draft in North Korea in the 21st year of Wanli, then the champion would definitely be taken away by Wu Weizhong, not Li Rusong or anyone else. The North Koreans like this taciturn general soldier so much.He comes from the legendary south of Ming Dynasty; he has great ability; he is Qi Jiguang's direct disciple; He also took the initiative to help them repair their houses and help the young and old. Many North Koreans fleeing from the war, when they heard that General Wu’s troops were passing by, they would come out to welcome them. All the way from Uiju to Pyongyang, there were steles praising General Wu.

Wu Weizhong's reputation reached its peak after the Battle of Pyongyang, and his glorious deed of being shot through his chest was widely praised by the monks and soldiers of Master Xiu Jing.As a result, Luo Shangzhi's great achievement in climbing the tower first was also described by the Koreans as "worthy of being a southern soldier with the same background as Wu Zongbing". In the Ming Dynasty, where there were people, there must be party disputes. If there were no party disputes, it would not be the Ming Dynasty.Admiral Li Rusong was very displeased with the North Koreans' behavior of admiring the southern soldiers.

After the Pyongyang War ended, Li Rusong began to reward his meritorious service.Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he gave Li Rubai the first job of entering the city, the reason being that the southern city he was in charge of attacking was the first to be breached. This move caused an uproar in the Confederate Army.The casualties of the Southern soldiers in the Battle of Pyongyang were quite tragic. Most of the three thousand casualties were theirs, and they worked hard.Luo Shangzhi was the first to climb the tower, this is the fact that many pairs of eyes have seen, but Li Rusong broke his promise and became fat, and insisted on crediting this great contribution to Li Rubai - what's more, Wu Weizhong and Luo Shangzhi were seriously injured at this time He was bedridden and unable to refute at all.What Li Rusong did was really unreasonable.

Wu Weizhong heard that Li Rubai had assigned the first job to Li Rubai on the sickbed, looked up at the sky, and remained silent.Later, when Yin Doushou went to visit Wu Weizhong on behalf of the North Korean monarchs and ministers, the latter was quite seriously ill, with a sullen expression and resentment in his chest.He was so ill that he could not speak, so he wrote a small note to Yin Doushou, with one sentence on it: I guess I am dying, and I hope that for the sake of my bloodshed for Pyongyang, a cypress coffin can be bought for me. When Yin Doushou saw it, tears were about to fall, so he hurriedly sent people to Dingzhou Ranyuan Mountain to find a good cypress tree.Fortunately, both Wu Weizhong and Luo Shangzhi were martial arts masters with strong physiques. After a while of cultivation, they finally recovered, escaped catastrophe, and were able to continue fighting on the Korean battlefield.

Not only the two of them, but another general of the Southern Army, Qian Shizhen, also suffered grievances. Qian Shizhen's experience is quite legendary. He was a Juren of Jiajing Jiazi Branch. He felt that being a pen was not enough, so he resolutely changed his major. He actually passed the martial arts exam in Wanli Yichou Branch. Also considered rare.He was addicted to horses all his life. In Korean folklore, it was said that after Qian Shizhen came to North Korea, he met a ferocious wild horse. The local people said that this horse not only ate grass, but also ate meat. The beasts ate it all, and there were not even tigers left.Qian Shizhen fought with the horse for a day and a night with a copper hammer and steel cable, and finally tamed it.

This time, Qian Shizhen was being attacked by Li Rusong intentionally or unintentionally.In the Battle of Pyongyang, he was always at the forefront, and his family members Yang Wenkui, Xu Dasheng, Guo Ziming and others took the lead in going to the city.When the Southern Army entered the city, those mighty Liaodong Army.He was still not close to the city wall.After entering the city, he collected the army for training, but the Liaodong soldiers were noisily looting the spoils everywhere. This is heartwarming enough, but there are more annoying things.After Xiaoxi Xingchang left the city, he led his troops to chase across the Datong River, and met a white-robed Japanese general on the way, hacked him to death in two or three, cut off his head, and took his battle robe back to ask for reward.Li Rusong asked him what his name was, Qian Shizhen was taken aback, how would I know.Li Rusong shook his head, this credit cannot be credited to you.

All kinds of injustice finally aroused the backlash of another general of the southern army, his name is Wang Bidi. Wang Bidi is also in Qi Jiguang's former department, and he is a colleague of Wu Weizhong, Luo Shangzhi and others, and his rank is slightly lower.After Wu and Luo were seriously injured, he was the only one who could support the Qi family army. Li Rusong entered Kaesong on January 25 and dispatched general orders.According to the rules, everyone below Guerrilla must kneel to accept orders, but Li Rusong looked up and found Wang Bidi standing there alone.Li Rusong frowned and asked him what was going on, Wang Bidi said calmly: "Li Rusong, you are not wise, benevolent or trustworthy, this battle cannot be fought."

Li Rusong was a little angry, please tell me clearly, why am I not wise, benevolent or trustworthy?Wang Bidi replied: "In the battle of Pyongyang on the eighth day of the lunar new year, you blasted up the soldiers to fight so early in the morning that you didn't even have time to eat breakfast, and let us attack the city hungry. This is inhumane; during the siege, I heard Admiral Li shouting He said, "Three hundred taels of silver will be rewarded to the first to climb the city, or the official position of the commander of the capital." As a result, so many people bravely killed the enemy and climbed to the city to be shortlisted. Now what about the silver? What about the official position? This is unbelievable; now you put the main force in Pyongyang If something happens, the army will waver and retreat. This is unwise."

After hearing these three items, the faces of the generals around turned green.Wang Bidi's three points are all slapped in the face. It seems that a small guerrilla dares to speak to the admiral like this. The strange thing is that Li Rusong didn't fly into a rage after hearing this, but waved him back.After the meeting was adjourned, Li Rusong called his subordinates and ordered some money to be allocated to the Southern Army troops in Pyongyang and Kaesong, but Wang Bidi was not punished. When Li Rusong returned to Kaesong after narrowly escaped death from the Bichi Pavilion, he found Wang Bidi, and instead of blaming him for his crow's mouth, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "I know that the soldiers in the South have worked hard, and these days have been really hard work." The army retreated.Wang Bidi expressed his reluctance to retreat, Li Rusong nodded and said he understood, he understood, and wrote him a general order, allowing him to stay and leave as he wanted.

With Li Rusong's arrogance, he was not polite to Song Yingchang, how could he be condescending to a small guerrilla? Li Rusong is not born a villain, nor is he a villain, he also has his own difficulties. What Li Rusong represented was not himself, but an interest group.Although he is the core of this group, he says what he says, but if he does not seek benefits for this group, he will be abandoned soon. Li Rubai, Li Rumei, Yang Yuan, Zhang Shijue, Zu Chengxun, Zha Dashou, Li Ning and more middle- and lower-level officers of the Liaodong faction have formed a small and intricate Liaodong clique.When Li Rusong was fighting, he had to consider the national interests and the interests of this small group at the same time.For the benefit of the small group, Li Rusong must arrange for the Southern Army to attack first, and the Northern Army to cover the rear; for the benefit of the small group, he must try to avoid the damage of the soldiers of the Liaodong Army, so he did not hesitate to let Xiao Xixing go.

The Pyongyang Tougong incident was actually the result of joint pressure from the Liaodong generals.Li Rusong was well aware of the contributions made by the Southern Army, and it was not that he had not considered rewarding them.But as long as he showed his tone a little bit and praised the Southern Army, Li Rubai and Zhang Shijue, the backbone of the Northern Army, tried their best to slander the Southern Army and scold the Southern Army as worthless. If Li Rusong dealt with it impartially, I am afraid that the generals of Liaodong will be separated from their virtues and this small group will fall apart.Therefore, Li Rusong had no choice. However, in Li Rusong's heart, he was not without guilt for the shameful act of stealing credit, which damaged his pride as a soldier.Therefore, he showed unusual magnanimity to Wang Bidi's outspokenness, tried his best to appease him, and made up for his debt to the Southern Army through other means. It's a pity that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop.Before Li Rusong had time to show his tenderness to the Southern Army, the bosses behind the Southern Army had already started to fight back. The world is always divided into factions.North Korea has the Eastern People’s Party and the Western People’s Party; Japan has the Wenzhi faction and the Arbitrary faction; and in the Eastern Expeditionary Army of the Ming Dynasty, the Southern and Northern armies have long been clearly separated, each forming its own basic strength and upper-level relations.The Liaodong Army relied on the power of Li Rusong and Li's family, while the Southern Army relied on Yuan Huang from Jiashan and Song Yingchang from Shaoxing and other Zhejiang court officials. Once the label of a faction is attached, the nature of the dispute will change, from the theory of right and wrong to the theory of faction, and even the theory of origin. Li Rusong played all kinds of tricks against the Southern Army, whether it was intentional or unwilling, in short, it caused irreversible damage to the Southern Army, and it was bound to cause a strong backlash. The initial bounce, was some drizzle. On January 23, on the way back to Pyongyang, the king of North Korea met Song Yingchang who had just arrived in North Korea.Song Yingchang also brought Huang Yingyang, an old friend of the Korean people.Several people met and talked happily. During the meeting, Huang Yingyang said how did the Zhejiang soldiers I recommended back then perform?Li Yan said it was awesome, but it is a pity that only more than 3,000 people came. If 10,000 came, the Japanese would be finished.Huang Yingyang chuckled, and took out a piece of paper with a mysterious expression on his face.Li Yan asked what is this?Huang Yingyang replied: "Admiral Li is cruel by nature and loves to kill. If this fight continues, civilians may be massacred. I brought a lot of death-preventing posts this time and distributed them along the way, which can save ordinary people from dying under the butcher knife of the Liaodong Army." . Huang Yingyang also belonged to the faction of the Southern Army, and was the first person to introduce the Southern Army to the Korean monarchs and ministers.The Koreans were convinced by his words, so Li Rusong quietly became a bloodthirsty tyrant in the hearts of the Koreans.Li Yan specially sent many people to various places to distribute death-preventing posters, telling people nearby to walk around Li Rusong's army. Ironically, Song Yingchang and Li Rusong's joint signatures were the signatures of this death-prevention post. This is a bit too embarrassing. The military discipline of the Liaodong Army is not very good, but it does not prevent them like the Japanese. This was just a small trick, and then, a powerful rebound came. Yuan Huang, chief of the general staff, arrived in Pyongyang after the war and secretly told Luo Shangzhi and others: "Your grievances are known to the imperial court. In the memorandum I wrote to the above, none of your credits will be missing, so don't be impatient." Not long after, a rumor began to spread among the coalition forces of the Ming Dynasty and the North Korea that Liaodong soldiers liked to kill North Koreans indiscriminately and pretended to be the heads of Japanese pirates. Cut off the neck at once, then shaved the hair, and came back to receive the meritorious service-at that time, all men in China and North Korea had hair, and only the Japanese had to shave their heads. This rumor is pretty nasty.This trick is indeed a common trick used by the Liaodong Army.When they fought against the Tartars in Liaodong, they often hacked and killed the people along the way to pretend to be military leaders. The local censor impeached the Liaodong generals. This crime has never been less.Coupled with the public opinion created by Huang Yingyang in North Korea, once this rumor was spread, it was immediately recognized by many people and helped forward it one after another. Wait until the trouble is almost over.Yuan Huang stood up, found Li Rusong, and asked him, "Master, why did you do such a thing?" Li Rusong became angry when he heard it, when did I do such a wretched thing!He grabbed Yuan Huang's neck and shouted: "Damn old monk, where can I hear such words!" This rumor is pretty nasty.This trick is indeed a common trick used by the Liaodong Army.When they fought against the Tartars in Liaodong, they often hacked and killed the people along the way to pretend to be military leaders. The local censor impeached the Liaodong generals. This crime has never been less.Coupled with the public opinion created by Huang Yingyang in North Korea, once this rumor was spread, it was immediately recognized by many people and helped forward it one after another. Wait until the trouble is almost over.Yuan Huang stood up, found Li Rusong, and asked him, "Master, why did you do such a thing?" Li Rusong became angry when he heard it, when did I do such a wretched thing!He grabbed Yuan Huang's neck and shouted: "Damn old monk, where can I hear such words!" Let me explain, Yuan Huang is a lay Buddhist, and he would read a few words with a Buddhist bead whenever he had anything to do. He is most famous not for his name Yuan Huang, but for his dharma name, Liaofan. Facing Li Rusong's anger, Yuan Huang's face was calm: "This is a public opinion. It has been spread all over the world. How can there be falsehood?" He raised his hand and said that I have reported to Song Shilang, and the court will send people to investigate of. " This is a civil servant's counterattack, soft and subtle, beating around the bush, not as sharp as a spear, but a killer emerges from a silent place. No matter Yuan Huang or Song Yingchang, they all have their own classmates and classmates in Beijing, and they are powerful, and they are not comparable to Li Rusong.If he really wants to play Li Rusong to death in the officialdom, there are many ways. This counterattack didn't frighten Li Rusong, but on the contrary frightened the North Korean monarchs and officials.They didn't know whether Li Rusong was wronged or not, but they knew that if this matter got to Wanli and Li Rusong was dragged back to investigate, the Ming army would definitely stop their offensive and change their generals one after another. It might take more than three months.It is very likely that the counterattack will fail. The North Koreans had no choice but to send envoys to defend Admiral Li Da.Debating and slandering has really become a specialty for North Koreans... So is the indiscriminate killing true or false? The ending of this conflict is recorded in "The Record of Xuanzu", which is very intriguing: "Afterwards, Huang Xie made a mistake." It means that Yuan Huang apologized to Li Rusong, saying that my source of information was wrong.It looks like he admitted to being a false accuser. But immediately after this sentence, there is another sentence in the record: "Zebei also verbally apologized to Yuner." The Liaodong general kowtowed to apologize, which shows that this thing really happened, and he was caught. That is.Indiscriminate killings are indeed happening, but the organization considers them to be individual phenomena, which cannot prove that the Liaodong Army has done these things in an organized manner.The final solution is: ask Yuan Huang to apologize, and arrest the officer who caused the incident to punish him. The "indiscriminate killing of North Koreans" incident ended with a tie between the North and the South and mutual compromise.Li Rusong proved to Song Yingchang that the surname of Li was always the one who counted in the Eastern Expedition Army; Song Yingchang also proved to Li Rusong that you better not be too arrogant, there are people in our court, and there are ways to punish you. The dispute between the north and the south lasted for a long time. Later, Li Rusong and Yuan Huang turned against each other and wrote a letter to impeach Yuan Huang for ten crimes. That's the next story... Now for the time being, let's zoom back to the first month of the 21st month of Wanli. The recapture of Pyongyang was a great strategic victory.The power of the Japanese army throughout North Korea was shaky because of this victory.This made Li Yan and the North Korean ministers overjoyed, and they began to pack their things in Yizhou and prepare to drive back to the city. But since the occupation of Pyongyang, the food crisis has become more serious.The front line moved forward, making the already fragile supply line even worse.The coalition forces found only three thousand stones of supplies from Pyongyang City after the Japanese army retreated, which could not last for a few days.The nearby villages have already been reduced to ruins due to the war, let alone any supplements.The North Korean monarchs and ministers got together and talked about the topic of grain and grass supplies every day. They sighed and sighed, and they couldn't think of any good way except to beat the grain officials. In order to raise food, they even planned to use Ganghwa Island above the Yellow Sea as a transit point, one east and one west, from Uiju in the west, Jeolla-do and Chungcheong-do in the east, and then transported to the land via Ganghwa Island, directly Transported to the front line in Seoul.After being taught a few times by Yi Sun-shin, the Japanese navy has been negligible, and the grain ships of the North Korean army should be safe. Song Yingchang was also aware of North Korea's dire situation, so he deliberately shipped an additional 60,000 shi from Liaodong to North Korea.But no matter how much food and grass there is, it's useless if it can't be transported away.Ming's next plan is to reinforce another 40,000 troops, including 20,000 southern troops and 20,000 northern troops.If the supply problem cannot be resolved before then, the army will be in chaos without fighting. At this time, signs of chaos had already appeared. Many wounded soldiers of the Ming army were unable to eat or drink water on the way of transfer. Li Rusong became anxious and sent people to beat North Korean officials along the road with his flag, ordering them to give priority Consider caring for the wounded of the Ming army.The logistics officers of the Ming Dynasty were also anxious-the front military officer took Pyongyang, and the DPRK and China received the report of the great victory. At this time, if the rear civilian officials can't even keep the wounded, there will be endless troubles.Once any general of the Liaodong Army made an attack because of this, all the civil servants would be finished.Therefore, Ai Zixin, the head of the household department, even disregarded the diplomatic problems that would be caused, and continuously blamed three senior North Korean officials, Jin Yingnan, the central government official, Jin Yingnan, Hucao Shenjuan Min Ruqing, and Uiju pastoral envoy Huang Jin... Faced with this grim situation, Li Rusong's only choice is to move on.He had to go in. Faced with this grim situation, Li Rusong's only choice is to move on.He had to go in. There is no food in the rear, so you can only go to the front to find it. There are Kaesong and Seoul in front.There is a large amount of grain and grass stored in the Longshan warehouse near Seoul. As long as Seoul is occupied, the supply crisis will be solved. What's more, Li Rusong didn't really want to stay in Pyongyang, and faced the resentful eyes of the southern army generals all day long. On the second day after the fall of Pyongyang, his younger brother Li Rubai had already made a tentative attack to the east without stopping.On the ninth day of the lunar new year, Li Rubai entered and occupied Huangzhou, and on the tenth day, he arrived at Fengshan, where the city was empty.Immediately Li Rubai brought more than a hundred servants to investigate Xishui, but they couldn't find the enemy, so they had to return to Fengshan, and immediately entered Pingshan and other places. On the eleventh day of the lunar new year, Li Rubai's troops began to attack the Kuroda Nagamasa Army stationed in Baichuan.President Konishi had previously persuaded Kuroda Nagamasa to leave together. Kuroda Nagamasa said you go first, and I will retreat without firing a shot. It is really unreasonable.President Xiaoxi could only retreat by himself first. The Japanese source "Kuroda Family Records" stated that the Ming army that attacked Shirakawa on January 11 totaled 30,000 people. This figure is not accurate.Excluding the previous losses and the garrison troops in the cities near Pyongyang, the total number of troops that the Ming army could mobilize at this time was about 30,000 people, and it was impossible to attack Baichuan on the tenth day.Full attack and full calculation, the attack force is at most 10,000 people. At this time, Kuroda Nagamasa only had more than 6,000 people in Baichuan, which was only more than half of Li Rubai's force, but he still decided to fight. In Jiangyinzhai, the Ming army first encountered the desperate resistance of Kuroda's subordinate Sushan Shiroemon, causing mutual casualties.When Li Rubai's vanguard broke into the city of Baichuan, Kuroda Nagamasa concentrated the superior iron artillery force and fought back violently.The Ming army was afraid of too many casualties, so they retreated to form a camp, and the two sides turned into a stalemate. But this stalemate will certainly not last long.The main force of the Ming army was already on the way. When the artillery troops of Ming Dynasty arrived, the defense of a small city like Baichuan might be worse than that of Pyongyang. But Kuroda Nagamasa is also a bull tempered person, so he just refused to leave. It wasn't just him who refused to leave, but also Takakage Kobayakawa, the head of the Sixth Army.This old man was stationed in Kaesong, east of Baichuan, and had 10,000 soldiers ready to fight. He thought he could also fight the Ming army. He claims to be a wise general, but he suffers repeatedly in North Korea. The old man's self-esteem is a bit unbearable, so he decides to fight the Ming army in Kaesong to save his reputation. The old and the young are unwilling to withdraw, but if they don't leave, it will have too much influence on the Japanese army.After the fall of Pyongyang, the Japanese headquarters in Seoul was quite shaken.After discussions between Hideo Ukita and the senior counselors, they made a strategic contraction decision and ordered all Japanese troops east of Pyongyang to gather in Seoul. But if Kuroda Nagamasa and Kobayakawa Takakage don't leave now, it will seriously affect the Japanese army's action plan.The Xiu family had no choice but to invite a monk named Anguosi Huiqiong to lobby. Anguosi Huiqiong is a monk and diplomat of the Maori family, with a quick tongue.On January 14, he first went to Kuroda Nagamasa and advised him to return to Seoul as soon as possible to fight the enemy in a wide area.Nagamasa shook his head like a rattle, saying that he would run away when he saw the enemy, not to mention his personal reputation, and the country would suffer shame because of it.Anguosi Huiqiong had a bad nose with Changzheng, and then went to Kaesong to find her old superior Kobayakawa Takakage. Unexpectedly, Long Jing didn't give face at all, he replied: Ever since I crossed the sea, I have no intention of going back alive.To die in battle with the Ming army today is considered a well-deserved death for a veteran! Anguosi Huiqiong had nothing to do with them, and returned to Seoul in despair.Xiujia thought forward and backward, and sent a more senior lobbyist - Otani Yoshitsugu. Otani Yoshitsugu is one of the three magistrates, and has a distinguished status. Any decision in the Korean theater must be approved by him, Ishida and Masuda, and Hideka before it can be implemented.It is impossible for Long Jing to treat Da Gu with such unkindness as he did to his old subordinates, and he could not save his face. After Dagu's painstaking persuasion, Longjing finally agreed to return to Seoul, but he put forward a condition: "I see that he can advance, and the commander will follow up." That means, if I think I can fight, I will turn around Come on, you have to help me.For this request, Dagu naturally agreed with all his heart. Since Kobayakawa was going to retreat, Kuroda Nagamasa's persistence in Shirakawa lost its meaning, and he also retreated immediately.Li Rubai saw that the enemy retreated voluntarily, so naturally he refused to let go of this opportunity.As soon as Nagamasa left, he entered Baichuan City on the back foot, and occupied the empty Kaesong City on January 20. Li Rubai wanted to cross the Linjin River in one go, but when he got to the riverside, he saw three or four thousand Japanese troops on the other side.The Japanese army also saw Li Rubai, and quickly sent a Korean woman to tell the interpreter that the Japanese were in a hurry to return to Seoul, and they were stationed here because the Ming army was chasing them closely.If your pursuit can be a little slower, the Japanese army will retreat on its own, and both families will be happy. Li Rubai was in a state of momentum at this time, he didn't listen to this at all, and ordered to kill him across the river.But he suddenly discovered that the Japanese army was moving strangely, and he was worried that the ice surface of the Linjin River would not be firm. In order to be cautious, he immediately canceled the order to cross the river.Li Rubai sent several scouts to see exactly how many Japanese troops there were. The scouts quickly reported that the total number of Japanese troops was 16,000... These 16,000 people happened to be the combined forces of Kobayakawa Takakage and Kuroda Nagamasa.They had just evacuated from Lecheng, and they were walking reluctantly towards Seoul.It happened that the Ming army came after them.Long Jing secretly put on a weak position, as long as the Ming army rushed over, he would have an excuse to return to the army and fight.It's a pity that Li Rubai was not fooled, so Long Jing had no choice but to leave angrily, filled with resentment. Li Rubai secretly rejoiced that he sent two generals, Li Ning and Zhang Yingzhong, with more than 6,000 people, to follow the Japanese army across the Linjin River.In Paju, not far from Imjin, the Ming army had a small-scale conflict with the Japanese army, beheading dozens of people, and the other Japanese army fled back to Seoul.Li Rubai established a forward base, and then quickly sent messengers to inform Li Rusong in Pyongyang. The news spread to the rear, and North Korea was full of joy.The stationing of Paju marks that the military demarcation line between the enemy and ourselves has moved westward to the Linjin River.So far, North Korea's Yellow Sea, Ping'an, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong Four Provinces, Pyongyang, and Kaesong have finally all recovered and returned to the rule of the Lee Dynasty. This was a brilliant victory, and everyone believed that it was only a matter of time before the invaders were completely driven out.But the real situation is that the Japanese army voluntarily gave up this area with unstable rule, and did not lose much vitality except for the battle of Pyongyang.And with the retreat of the Japanese army and the pursuit of the Ming army, the supply advantage between the two quietly changed-but at this point in time, few people are aware of this hidden worry. When Kuroda and Kobayakawa returned to Seoul on January 23, they found that other people were already waiting for them.Except for the 13,000 people of Kato Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naomo who remained in Hamgyong-do, the total strength of the Japanese army here is about 40,000, which is roughly equivalent to the total strength of the Ming army. Takakage Kobayakawa wanted to fight but failed, so he arrived in Seoul full of emotions, and refused to enter the city desperately.The Xiu family sent someone to persuade him, but the old man widened his eyes, saying that the army was coming soon, it would be more convenient for me to prepare for the battle outside, why go to the city.All the generals talked about it, brought him into the city, and discussed how to defend the city.Long Jing tried his best to sing the opposite tune, saying that we have so many people and so little food, and we will die if we stick to it!The Ming army set out from Pyongyang, and it took ten days on the road, and the morale must have been much worse than before.If you don't want to have a decisive battle now, you are still defending the city! His opinion was endorsed by the young faction.For example, Tachibana Muneshige, who is known as the number one brave general in the Western Kingdom, raised his hands to agree with Long Jing's opinion. He thought that once Seoul was besieged, the supply line to Busan would be cut off, which was not a good strategy.The enemy has just captured Pyongyang, and they must have taken us extremely lightly. They should have taken a decisive battle by surprise, and they will definitely win. When the Xiu family heard it, all right, then please go out and patrol.So Tachibana Muneshige was in charge of patrolling the periphery of Seoul, leading his subordinates to monitor the movement of the Ming army at any time.At the same time, other troops were also performing exercises at Dongdaemun, Shahanli at Nandaemun, Han River, etc., and antlers were planted all over Seoul.In order to prevent spies in Seoul from reporting to North Korea, the Japanese even brutally carried out a round of massacres on the people of Seoul.For a time, there was a bloody storm inside and outside Seoul, and people's heads were rolling. While the Japanese were intensively preparing for war, Li Rusong had been closely monitoring the frontline situation in Pyongyang.He hoped that the Japanese army in Seoul would also take the initiative to retreat like they did in Pyongyang and Kaesong, so that the Ming army could complete the mission without paying too much. At this time, a Japanese military officer surnamed Zhang—probably Zhang Dashan, the traitor translator—said to Li Rusong: "The elite of the Japanese army are all in Pyongyang. Once Pyongyang is defeated, the other Japanese troops will have nothing to fear." People generally tend to believe what they say in their hearts, and Li Rusong is no exception.He couldn't hold back the joy in his heart, and immediately issued an order to send 20,000 people from Gao Sheng, Sun Shoulian, and Zu Chengxun to set off first. He led the Chinese army behind him, leaving only 3,000 people from Gao Ce and Liang Xin to guard Pyongyang. Li Rusong's main force arrived in Kaesong on January 25.The day before, he received a message from a North Korean sentry on the road, saying that Seoul was empty ahead.This time Li Rusong did not act rashly, since the matter was serious, he had to be cautious.He appointed Cha Dashou as a striker to go to Seoul for investigation. Zha Dashou was a foolish and bold man. He took hundreds of cavalry across the Linjin River, accompanied by Gao Yanbo of the Korean Army, who was actually a guide and interpreter.They ran for eighty miles at a stretch, passing through Yuanping, Bichi Pavilion, and Sungkyun Pavilion, and reached Muhua Pavilion on the morning of the 25th. With this touch, he found out the most legendary and confusing battle in the Renchen War - the Battle of Bizhiguan In North Korea, the so-called "guan" refers to the post house where the envoys of the Ming Dynasty rested along the way.There will be a special museum every few tens of miles on the official road.For example, the king of North Korea, Li Yan, was in Yizhou, and the place where he received envoys from the Ming Dynasty was the Yishun Pavilion.There is Linpan Hall in Dingzhou and Anding Hall in Shun'an.The standard in Pyongyang is relatively high, called Datong Hall.In many Korean history books, the authors sometimes simply use the names of these museums as place names. Muhua Pavilion belongs to the Guest House in Seoul and is located outside the West Gate.When Zha Dashou walked to the Muhua Pavilion, it was as if he had touched the city wall of Seoul. Here he encountered a Japanese patrol.This patrol team of about one hundred does not belong to Tachibana Muneshige's peripheral patrols, but the city defense force directly under the Hide family, and belongs to the Hide family's military senior officers, Maeno Nagayasu and Kato Koyasu. When they saw the figure of the Ming army, they were very shocked. Could it be that the main force of the army had arrived in Seoul so quickly?Why did the peripheral patrols go without alarm? There was a brief confrontation between the two armies, and the Japanese army, which was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, was no match at all, and was completely defeated.Zha Dashou was afraid that the lone army would go deep, so he didn't pursue seriously, and returned to Kaesong overnight. Zha Dashou reported to Li Rusong that the Japanese army did not abandon Seoul, but the defenders' combat effectiveness was very weak, and they were probably ready to abandon the city.This is a good time to advance troops.In "Records of the Eastern Expedition", Qian Shizhen believed that the reason why Zha Dashou said this was to seek credit, so he told a lie to let Li Rusong enter the army as soon as possible, which resulted in a big defeat. This evaluation is a bit of hindsight, not to mention that Qian Shizhen has always been prejudiced against the Liaodong Army. In his opinion, the greedy Liaodong generals do things for greed.In this matter, I think that Zha Dashou just misreported the enemy's situation, and he didn't intend to be greedy for credit - he just drew an inaccurate conclusion based on the results of that encounter. After Li Rusong got Zha Dashou's confirmation, he finally believed that the defense of Seoul was vulnerable.The adventurous factor in Li's blood began to flare up at this time, causing huge waves in his heart.Coupled with the fact that the overall situation of the Ming army, Pyongyang, and Kaesong was so bad at that time, it had developed to the point where Li Rusong felt that he could no longer delay the march into Seoul. He finally made a decision. In the early morning of January 26, Qian Shizhen and other Ming generals discovered that three Liaodong generals, Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, and Zu Chengxun, hurried out of Kaesong with Li Rusong and three thousand elite descendants of each general. Li Rumei is also in the army. The army galloped all the way west.Along the way, the defenders including Qian Shizhen went up to ask questions, but the three generals faltered and refused to answer, and shook the reins and left. Before Qian Shizhen came back to his senses, he saw Li Rusong leaving Kaesong with Yang Yuan, Li Rubai, Zhang Shijue and 2,000 people.Qian Shizhen asked him what he was doing, and Li Rusong replied that he was going to investigate the enemy's situation, and he also told the others to defend Kaesong.Qian Shizhen cursed in his heart: You lied to ghosts! Explain it here.Jia Ding is a special military organization that appeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. It is an armed group controlled by generals through means of concealment, private service, and recruitment.These servants nominally belonged to the establishment of the official army and were paid by the court, but they only obeyed the orders of the general himself.When the general is transferred to another area, the servants are also allowed to follow, which is actually equivalent to the general's private army.The number of servants is regarded as a manifestation of the strength of the general - one of the reasons why Li Rusong made an exception in Pyongyang and did not want to fight head-on with Chief Konishi was that he did not want his own strength to be damaged. The two waves totaled 5,000 people. The generals were all Liaodong generals, and the soldiers were all servants of the generals. The intention to steal merit was clearly revealed. At this time, there were signs of early spring, the temperature rose, the ice and snow on the roads melted, and there was a lot of rain, making it very difficult to walk in the mud.Li Rusong's troops waded across the Linjin River, arrived at Wenshan in the evening, and arrived in Paju the next morning.Counting the 6,000 people stationed here before, the Ming army gathered a total of 11,000 people west of the Linjin River. The defeat of the Japanese patrol team stimulated the admiral's utilitarianism.Since the enemy is so vulnerable, what are you waiting for!He set off on the road in such a hurry, in order to get the credit for recovering Sandu as soon as possible. The defeat of the Japanese patrol team also caused an uproar in Seoul. Being easily touched by the scouts of the Ming army under the city of Seoul, this greatly stimulated the Japanese generals.Mitsunari Ishida and others thought that the city defense should be strengthened immediately, but Takakage Kobayakawa found Hideya and dragged Kichitsu Otani to say that we have an appointment.Now that the enemy is approaching, I must go out to meet him. Hideka was forced to do nothing by Takakage Kobayakawa, so he had to agree.When discussing who should be the vanguard, all the generals rushed to be the first. Kobayakawa Takakage swept his eyes and said calmly: "Although I am old, I am very thoughtful. Please allow me for today's matter." His qualifications are here, no one Dare to fight, so Pioneer settled down like this. Before attacking, the Japanese army in Seoul divided the 40,000 troops into three parts. The first part is the Sixth Army of Takakage Kobayakawa. In addition to Tachibana Soshige, there is Kobayakawa Hidebo under his command, a total of 15,700 people; the second part is the main force led by Ukita Hideka, including Kuroda Nagamasa and Kato Hikaru Tai and others, a total of 15,000 people (the total strength of the Kuroda Army is 11,000, but Kuroda Nagamasa only brought 5,000 people this time); Yitong, the two bereaved dogs, is responsible.The Japanese army's strength in this battle was as high as more than 30,000, which can be described as an all-out force. The reason why such a large-scale lineup was mobilized was because Xiujia believed that the main force of the Ming army was about to come, and they had to fight with all their strength in order to win.None of the Japanese generals expected that there were only 10,000 Ming troops crossing the Linjin River at this time, and they did not carry large artillery. Tachibana Muneshige was originally in charge of patrolling the periphery, but the Ming army took advantage of the loophole and killed him under the city. He was very ashamed and asked to take the lead.Some people questioned whether he was not safe enough to go deep alone. Kobayakawa Takaki patted Tachibana on the shoulder and said a famous saying: "The 3,000 members of the Tachibana family can be used by 10,000 people in other families." With the endorsement from the boss, no one will question it.So Tachibana Muneshige took 3,000 and 200 people as the vanguard and set off first; Kobayakawa Takakage led more than 12,000 people from the Sixth Army to follow, and the leader Ukita Hideka was the last. Therefore, both Ming and Japan took the initiative on January 27, and both sides marched towards each other from Paju and Seoul at the same time.Paju is a total of 80 miles away from Seoul, and Biche Hall is just at the midpoint of this road. At this time, neither the Japanese army nor the Ming army knew the strength of the other side, which was quite different from what I expected...