Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

Bichi Hall is located 40 miles north of Seoul, close to Gongshun Yongling Mausoleum, at the junction of Huiyinling and the plain area. The geographical environment here is divided by Biti Pavilion and the nearby Gaoyang City. To the north of Biti and Gaoyang is the Huiyinling mountainous area, with undulating peaks and ridges, and there is only a small road in the middle; to the south, the terrain tends to be flat, with some The hills that are not too high above sea level sandwich the avenue in the middle, which is the exit of the last mountainous area north of Seoul. From ancient times to the present, this is the only way from Kaesong to Seoul, and because it is a terrain that transitions from mountains to plains, it is a place that military strategists must contend for.On January 3, 1952, the 2nd Battalion of the 35th Regiment of the 25th Division of the U.S. Army tried to use mechanized troops to block the volunteers from the eastward advance in the open area along the lines of Bethili and Goyang. The 149th Division of the Volunteer Army occupied Goyang and opened the gate to Seoul.The importance of its geographical location can be seen.

In the middle of the night on January 26th in the 21st year of Wanli, Li Rusong arrived in Paju. He immediately sent out Zha Dashou and Gao Yanbo, and led his troops forward to investigate. Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, and Zu Chengxun followed behind. The strength is 3,000 people. Many records say that in the Battle of Bichiguan, Zha Dashou had 500 forwards, plus 3,000 from Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, and Zu Chengxun, the total strength of the Ming army was 3,500.This kind of statement confuses the Zha Dashou Seoul reconnaissance encounter that took place on the 24th with the Battle of Bichi Pavilion on the 27th.The 3,000 Ming troops in the Battle of Beecheokwan on the 27th included 500 members of the Chadashou Department who had returned to Paju on the night of the 24th.

At the same time, 3,200 people from Tachibana Muneshige also set off from Seoul and headed aggressively towards the Bijo Pavilion.At ten o'clock Lianjiu, an important official of the Tachibana family who was in charge of the investigation, quickly discovered the eastward movement of the Ming Army's Cha Dashou Department.Hearing the news, Tachibana Zongshige was refreshed and ordered the troops to speed up the march, and soon moved to Lishixian, which was located six miles south of Bichiguan. Lishixian is the last line of defense west of Seoul. Passing through here, Yimapingchuan is to the south.Therefore, Tachibana must first control this place, so that the Ming army can be locked up in the mountains near Bichi Pavilion, and they cannot enter the range of Seoul to toss.

At this time, the night was filled with fog, and Tachibana Zongshige felt that the enemy would not be able to pass through the mountain pass anyway, so he decided not to rush to attack and wait until he was full.So the Japanese began to sit down to breakfast.When the sky was getting dark, the news that Zha Dashou's troops were approaching Li Shixian came, and Tachibana Zongshige hurriedly notified the whole army to meet the enemy. In response to the strong request of ten o'clock Lianjiu, Tachibana let him serve as the vanguard, leading 500 troops together with Uchida Tosuke; Thousands of people are behind.

At 10:00 a.m., five hundred people searched northward along the main road. At around 7:00 a.m., they encountered hundreds of cavalry led by Ming army forward Zha Dashou near Maitreya Court.The two sides were equal in strength, and a short but violent battle broke out. Soon at ten o'clock, they couldn't hold on for a long time, and after paying the price of 130 people killed in battle, they were forced to retreat.Zha Dashou was very proud, and immediately ordered his subordinates to report the news to Li Rusong: "There are many enemies, people are stupid, come quickly." Zha Dashou saw that the courier had gone far, and decided that the whole team would continue to advance and expand the results. If they were lucky enough, they might be able to directly occupy Seoul.

But soon he regretted it.After retreating for a long time at ten o'clock, he joined Zhenxing Ono and Zhenjiu Midobi in the rear, and turned around to kill them back.Facing the ferocious counterattack of more than 1,000 Japanese troops twice as large as himself, Zha Dashou couldn't resist and retreated again and again.At this moment, I heard the sound of horseshoes behind me, and a large number of Ming troops rushed over. It was the Ming troops under Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, Zu Chengxun, and Li Rumei who were behind Zha Dashou. With this fresh force on the battlefield, the Ming army with a total of 3,000 cavalry once again gained the upper hand, and counterattacked for the second time, forcing the Japanese army to retreat again.

At this moment, Muneshige Tachibana also led his team of 2,000 people to the battlefield.Tachibana Muneshige, who has rich combat experience, counted the number of the Ming army and found that the total strength of his side was not much different from that of the Ming army, but the opponent was all cavalry. Realizing that he could not fight recklessly, he ordered Shishi Lianjiu and Ono Zhenxing to entangle them first Live the enemy.Specifically, at ten o'clock Lianjiu was closely entangled, Ono Zhenxing fired iron cannons across the small river, and he led his team of 2,000 people to sneak forward at the foot of Xiaowan Mountain, which is located on the south side of the Ming army, and sneaked around to the Ming army. right wing direction.

At this time, the sky was already bright, but the fog still filled the surrounding area, so Tachibana's team's detour was not fast and took a lot of time.It was hard for him to defend against the enemy on the front line for ten consecutive hours. He had been fighting bravely at the forefront, but after all, his troops were too small and outnumbered. The remaining 300 troops were attacked by 3,000 Ming troops in turn, and they were in jeopardy.Ono Zhenxing tried to rush in to rescue him from the siege, but he only had 700 people, and was blocked by the superior force of the Ming army, unable to advance an inch.

Almost when Tachibana Muneshige's team moved to the east of Xiaomaru Mountain, ten o'clock came to the end of his life.Li Rumei, who was in the formation of the Ming army, shot a poisoned arrow from a distance, and hit Shishi Lianjiu's body, killing him on the spot. Before the start of the war, Shishi Lianjiu was originally assigned to the second team. He found Tachibana Muneshige and said that Ono and Midobi were the mainstays of Tachibana's family, and nothing could happen, so he resolutely served as the vanguard in his old age.Presumably at that time, he had already realized that he was bound to die in this battle.

Tachibana Muneshige had no time to regret the death of the veteran, he led his army out of Xiaomaru Mountain in the thick fog, and suddenly appeared behind the Ming army.The Ming army was taken aback by the Japanese army coming out of the fog, and fell into chaos for a while.Tachibana Muneshige, Takahashi Tomosuke, and Ono Shinyuki who were in the front took the opportunity to clamor loudly and attack fiercely, disrupting the formation of the Ming army. At about ten o'clock in the morning, the Ming army was forced to move northward under strong pressure from both sides of the Japanese army. Three thousand people retreated to Wangkexianbei on the north side of the main road and regrouped.Although the Japanese army relied on Tachibana Muneshige's surprise attack to force the enemy back, the strength of the enemy and ours was equal, and Tachibana could not eat this piece of fat anyway with this little force in his hand.

The surprise effect quickly wore off.The Ming army quickly adjusted its formation, regained composure, and formed a confrontation with the Japanese army again. Both sides' cards are played, and the rest is the real hand-to-hand combat.Both the Ming army and the Japanese army lost their temper. When the battle was at its most intense, General Ikebe Yongsheng of the Tachibana family died in battle. Even the armor of the main general Tachibana Soshige was full of arrows, which looked like a hedgehog.This well-known martial artist in the Western Kingdom could only temporarily retreat from the front line and take a breather on Xiaomaru Mountain. The battle lasted until around 11:00 noon, when the 5,000 men from Kuroda Nagamasa's headquarters in the second formation rushed to replace Tachibana Muneshige, who was almost exhausted, and launched a superior force.This forced the Ming army to start retreating. So far, the skirmish battle of the first phase of the battle of Bishouguan is over, and the battle has come to an end for the time being. Some Japanese scholars claimed that this battle was carefully planned by Muneshige Tachibana to lure the enemy. The specific strategy was: ten o'clock for a long time, the solitary army showed weakness, and 500 people defeated 3,000 enemy troops first, and then sent 6,000 to 7,000 troops to fight against the enemy. The main force of the enemy was attracted, and then our team launched a surprise attack on the flanks, and finally killed more than 2,000 Ming soldiers, and the enemy fled in a hurry. It was a big victory. The basis for this inference does not exist in the first place.The number of the Ming army participating in this encounter was only 3,000 at most, while Tachibana Muneshige's men were 3,200, and the Japanese army had slightly more troops than the Ming army.The so-called "six or seven thousand Ming troops" by the Japanese army only existed in their fantasy. And analyze it from the combat process.Before the war, the only information that Tachibana Zongshige knew for certain was the news that "Zha Da was attacked by five hundred cavalry".To deal with this Ming army, it is impossible and unnecessary for him to implement a strategy of showing weakness. The correct approach is to quickly move the team to support the forward, forming a local force advantage-Tachibana Zongshige did exactly this. After the 10 o'clock and Ono's troops merged, the total force was 1,200, but more than 130 people had been killed before, so the force was about 1,000 at this time, and they began to counterattack Zha Dashou.At this stage, the Japanese army had the upper hand, and it was impossible for Zong Mao to adopt a strategy of showing weakness. When more than 2,000 cavalry from the Ming army came to support, Lianjiu immediately fell into a bitter battle on the front line at ten o'clock.Under such circumstances, Zong Mao has no time to plan and does not need to plan the so-called "showing weakness to lure the enemy", because ten o'clock and Onobe are already "weak" in a mess, and there is no need to act. In other words, from the moment Tachibana Muneshige sent troops, there was no chance at all to implement the "strategy of showing weakness".So the conclusion is that this "showing weakness" statement is attached to beautify Tachibana Muneshige's image of being capable of fighting.He did make a roundabout surprise attack decision, which was a good move, but it was just an excellent general's flexible use of the battlefield situation, and it was a temporary idea, not a deliberate plan. From the results of the battle, the record of the Japanese side is also quite questionable. First-hand historical materials such as "Conquest", "Kuroda Family Records", "Maori Family Records", "Anxi Military Policy", "Tachibana Joseon Records" and other first-hand historical materials all agree that Tachibana Zongshige achieved a great victory at this stage. From two thousand to six hundred. An interesting historical research phenomenon appears here.When we read historical materials, we can often find that the recorders tried their best to exaggerate the heroic deeds of a certain side in the war for some purpose, but they often ignored their heads and left some contradictory details in other records without paying attention , and finally vented his old bottom. For this encounter, we don't need to delve into how brave and skilled Tachibana's ministers were in the battle. After the above-mentioned historical materials boasted, they mentioned a detail invariably. "Tongmao returns"; while "Kuroda Family Records" says "Zongmao's armor is like a hedgehog's hair, he climbed a hill and rested, Nagasaki fought hard, and the Ming army retreated." The Japanese records were too busy boasting about Tachibana Muneshige's bravery, but forgot to change the ending. From the description in "Kuroda Family Records" that "the Nagamasa generation fought hard, and the Ming army retreated", it can be deduced back to prove that the Ming army did not flee at all during the battle with Tachibana Zongshige, but pressed on every step of the way. It is clear that Tachibana Soshige himself was oppressed by the Ming army to Xiaomaru Mountain.It wasn't until Kuroda Nagamasa came to support and took over the Tachibana Division and went into battle that the Ming army retreated, and Kuroda had the opportunity to "return with the command" and rescue him.The word "generation" and the word "return" made the previous boasting come to an end. Such an embarrassing encounter was really not the work of the winner. In fact, in this battle, the soldiers of the Ming army showed extremely strong melee capabilities and high military accomplishments from the beginning to the end - of course, this is because these troops are servants of Li Rusong and others, and their combat effectiveness is higher than that of ordinary soldiers. The Ming army must be strong—it has confronted the Japanese army several times, but it has not shown weakness.Even when they were attacked from the rear, none of the Ming army was defeated. Instead, they retreated a certain distance and quickly reorganized their formation, abruptly saving the situation.As we all know, it is unfavorable to engage in hand-to-hand combat. The entire team retreats without causing a rout, but immediately reorganizes its formation and enters the counterattack. How high is the quality requirement of soldiers and generals. Moreover, these Ming soldiers did not carry a large number of light and heavy firearms. They only had a small amount of magical arrows and three-eyed guns in their hands, and then there were standard horse fighting weapons-sabers, bows and arrows. A real hand-to-hand combat.In this subject that the Japanese army is most proud of, the Ming army did not lose the slightest. Tachibana Zongshige, who is known as the number one general in the Western Kingdom, faced the Ming army with comparable strength to his own. Apart from temporarily forcing the Ming army back by a surprise attack, he did not take advantage of the slightest advantage. The lives of the two generals, and finally even he himself was forced to retreat to Xiaomaru Mountain, and he was relieved by Nagamasa's rescue. Therefore, in this skirmish battle at the Bishoe Pavilion, the two sides can only say that they had a tie. Objectively speaking, the Ming army still has a slight advantage. After the battle, both the Ming and Japanese armies stopped advancing.The Ming army discovered that the Japanese army was fighting more and more, and began to have doubts about the intelligence of "No Soldiers in Seoul", and did not dare to act rashly. At this time, the supreme commander of the Japanese army on the battlefield was Kuroda Nagamasa. He used his troops extremely steadily and never fought uncertain battles.Seeing that the Ming army in front had choked Tachibana Somo back, he gave up the idea of ​​pursuing him, and put his 5,000 men in a defensive posture, waiting for Kobayakawa Takakage's arrival. The two sides entered the first confrontation. At this time, Li Rusong was already on his way to the Bi Ti Pavilion. After Zha Dashou repelled the first attack for ten hours, he sent him a message before the counterattack, saying that the enemy was weak and should advance quickly.Li Rusong left in a hurry with a dozen of his servants on the morning of the 27th. Before he left, he just sent a message to others, telling them to follow up. To say that this general is really outrageous, no matter how impatient you are, you really shouldn't be on the road with only a dozen people, at least wait until the troops are assembled.Six years later, on the Mongolian battlefield, Li Rusong went deep into the army lightly, and again because of such a charge, he died in an ambush near the Hun River in Fushun at the age of fifty.This is really the best example of character determining destiny - a bit of a joke. When Li Rubai and Zhang Shijue received the news of Li Rusong's departure, they all got on their horses and chased after him.They didn't gather their troops in a hurry, they only took dozens of personal soldiers to go. The other troops didn't have a unified order, so they had to advance in small groups one after another, running all the way.Only Yang Yuan stayed in Pazhou to guard and did not go with them. At about ten o'clock in the morning, Li Rusong received a second letter from Zha Dashou brought back by the North Korean courier on the way.This letter is completely contrary to the content of the first letter, saying that there are a large number of Japanese troops and that they are fighting fiercely with the Ming army, and they request support from the rear as soon as possible. Although Li Rusong was so confident in the Liaodong Army's field combat capabilities that he never thought of retreating or delaying his advance, but as a commander with excellent tactical skills, this report from Cha Dashou still reminded him that the front line The situation may have changed, and it is likely that the number of Japanese troops in Seoul has changed. It's just that he was influenced by the two investigation reports of the previous investigation, and he didn't think that the number of Japanese troops could be large enough to require him to use the main force of the Ming army.Therefore, he did not retreat, but let the North Korean messenger rush to Paju as soon as possible, and ordered Yang Yuan to lead the whole army to press down on Seoul, in case of emergency.On the other hand, he continued to hurry up and speed up the pace of his journey. Li Rusong was so devoted to the journey that when he was crossing the Huiyin Ridge, he accidentally fell to the ground and broke his left cheek. This is the third time since Li Rusong entered the court that he was defeated due to sudden advance. Ordinarily, this seems to be an ominous omen.For example, during the Battle of Chungju last year, Shen Li touched his hat to the ground before going out, which led to a big defeat.However, Admiral Li didn't care about this. In the battle of Pyongyang a few days ago, he fell twice, but still won a big victory.He got up from the ground, touched his face, patted the dirt on his body, got on his horse and continued on his way. At about eleven o'clock in the morning, Li Rusong finally arrived at the site of the Bi Ti Pavilion. The Ming and Japanese armies are looking at each other cautiously across a road.Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, Zu Chengxun, Li Rumei, and Zha Dashou were in mixed feelings.Although the battle just now was full of twists and turns, it didn't suffer or take advantage.But now that there are more and more Japanese people, they are secretly startled. The main armies of Takakage Kobayakawa and Hideo Ukita's family are arriving one after another. Together with Kuroda Nagamasa's headquarters and Tachibana's remnant troops, they gather in a dense mass of land around Komaruyama and Wangkexian. The momentum is astonishing. The Japanese army on the battlefield alone The total force has reached as high as 30,000.The combined strength of the five generals in Liaodong is only in the early three thousand. No matter how capable they are, the situation in front of them cannot be dealt with. At this moment, Li Rusong arrived.This really shocked everyone. If you are not careful, the main general will fall into it.So everyone quickly asked Li Rusong for instructions: The Japanese army on the opposite side has at least 30,000 troops, and we have a total strength of just over 3,000 troops. So should we retreat now, or retreat, or retreat? Li Rusong listened to them, glanced at them, snorted and said: "Get out of here, call me!" The Liaodong Army got the commander's order. Although they faced an enemy ten times larger than themselves, they were not afraid, and began to clamor against the Japanese army one after another.They have been scolded for greed and cruelty, but they have never been scolded for cowardice.The bloody and murderous spirit of fighting with the Tartars in the vast wilderness will not fade away because of the mere tens of thousands of Japanese troops. It's just that Li Rusong's words were so prestige that his heart was beating drums.He is not a fool, the reason why he announced not to withdraw is not because of blood, dignity or anything, but as a commander with good military qualities, he knows very well that no matter what, he must not take a step back now. Opposite him, there was a full 30,000 Japanese main army on the battlefield alone, not counting the Japanese army in Seoul.I have more than 3,000 people in my hands, not even a fraction of others.The Japanese obviously didn't know the reality of the Ming army, so they were afraid and didn't attack, so the Ming army must not retreat. Once they retreated a step, the Japanese army would cover up and kill them without hesitation. At that time, the Ming army would be finished. probably survived. So Admiral Li gave the order as soon as he arrived on the battlefield-continue to fight.So, what are the Japanese, who already have an absolute advantage in military strength, doing at this time? They are having a meeting... The Japanese especially like to hold meetings, and they often call everyone together, with a small horse, and there are many discussions.Facing the 3,000 Ming cavalry, Ukita Hideo's family gathered all the generals together and said: "Just now the scouts reported that the commander of the army, Li Rusong, has also arrived. What do you all think should be done?" No one in Japan thought that Li Rusong would have the courage to bring only a dozen people to run here. They believed that the position of the coach must be the main force of the Ming army.Behind the three thousand people at this time must be the forty thousand Ming army with various cannons. Forty thousand against forty thousand, judging from the number of people, the outcome is between fifty and five.But the problem is that the main force of the Ming army has a large number of artillery, and the main combat arm is cavalry. Once the field battle starts, the cannons will blast from a distance and then the cavalry will attack. It is equal to the combat power of Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen.No one among the current generals thinks they can beat those two military gods, so it's no wonder that the Xiu family has to solemnly call everyone for a meeting. The generals are now divided into two factions.One faction advocates temporarily withdrawing troops to avoid the enemy's edge; the other faction insists on continuing to advance troops and fight the Ming army to the death.The representatives of the former are Sanbuki Ishida Mitsunari, Otani Yoshitsugu, and Masuda Nagamori. Kuroda Nagamasa is a prudent military faction, and also advocates waiting and waiting for a while; the latter's representative, of course, is the old and strong Takakage Kobayakawa. In the end, Longjing's opinion prevailed and he decided to fight.Kobayakawa's Sixth Army Corps will act as the main force in the front line. As for those who advocate prudence, just wait and watch obediently! The greatest pressure on the Japanese army was the non-existent main force of the Ming army, so Kobayakawa decided to make a quick decision.He sent Jingxiong Awaya to lead 3,000 people to go around from the west side of the road, and Jingzhen Inoue on the east side of the road with 3,000 people to form a pincer offensive, pinching the Ming army from left to right. Just this battle, the Japanese army's combat power has reached twice that of the entire Ming army. Li Rusong knew that he must not show weakness at this time, once he showed his cowardice, it would be an irreversible situation.He gritted his teeth and could only bite the bullet, hoping to persist until the Ming army arrived. So when the Japanese army moved, the Ming army also moved immediately.Under Li Rusong's command, the entire Ming army moved southward, and when Inoue Jingzhen was not close, they first attacked and defeated Awaya Jingxiong. As soon as the two armies fought, Jingxiong Awaya's troops couldn't hold on, and retreated one after another.The Ming army was overjoyed. After the battle with Tachibana Soshige, they were confident in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. Now they were worried that they had nowhere to vent, so they rushed forward one after another. But when the Ming army started chasing Awaya, they suddenly realized that they had been fooled. January in North Korea is early spring, and it is rainy. Rain, snow, and mud mix together, making roads and fields extremely difficult to walk on.When the Ming army was on their way from Kaesong, they suffered a lot.Especially in the area west of Xiaomaru Mountain, it is a rare plain area in North Korea, so there are many paddy fields.These paddy fields are low-lying, and the melted ice and snow have turned into patches of mud. Not only are they extremely muddy, but there are also dense rice stubbles in the paddy fields, which are natural stumbling posts. Cavalry on this kind of terrain, as long as they run, they are easily caught. Trapped or tripped off a horse, you can't even do a quick maneuver, let alone a charge. The Awaya Department is dominated by infantry, and their ability to adapt to this terrain is far superior to that of the cavalry of the Ming army.In order to catch up with them, the Ming army strayed into this big swamp. Many people in the front were tripped off their horses one after another, and the follow-up troops were trapped in the paddy field and moved slowly. Jingxiong Awaya turned his head and took the opportunity to cover up the killing. Many Ming soldiers were killed in the mud.Inoue Jingzhen in the north of the road found that there was an advantage to take advantage of, and also accelerated and started to move. Li Rusong was furious, and with an order, the Ming soldiers who entered the paddy fields jumped off their horses and fought on foot.Awaya Jingxiong didn't expect the Ming army to change so quickly, he was caught off guard, and was immediately defeated and fled—this time he really escaped—after killing the threat from the south, Li Rusong quickly transferred the troops, and the troops became cavalry again Face to face with Jingzhen Inoue.Of course, Jingzhen's three thousand infantrymen couldn't resist these evil ghost cavalrymen who were red-eyed, so they had no choice but to retreat in embarrassment. Kobayakawa Longjing saw that the two armies and horses were unfavorable in the battle, so he simply stopped playing tricks. With a wave of the army fan, he personally led the Sixth Army to press on the whole line.Long Jing himself was the core of the attack in the middle, and generals Kobayakawa Hidebo, Chikushi Hiromon, and Tachibana Muneshige, who had just recovered from his breath, divided into two groups, attacking the Ming army from the flanks like fire and wind. What followed was a fierce battle with extremely chaotic scenes. The Ming army, with more than 3,000 troops, had to resist the Japanese army attacking from three directions, and the situation was very grim.Li Rusong divided the troops into two groups to deal with Kobayakawa and the troops moving from the side of the mountain to the rear of the Ming army.Soldiers of the Ming army risked their lives and fought desperately against enemies that were several times their size.Li Rubai and Zhang Shijue, who rushed to the rear one after another, had only a few dozen people in their entourage because they had learned from Admiral Li before.It's just that none of them showed any hesitation, and when they arrived on the battlefield, they rushed into the formation without hesitation. However, the situation of the Japanese army at this time is not much better, which is very strange. It may be that the Ming army, facing a desperate situation, burst out with incredible combat power in an instant, and this scuffle also made the Japanese army dangerous.During the battle, the Ming army saw that the Japanese army was trying to outflank the Japanese army, so they separated a Ming army from the main battle group, and suddenly rushed towards the thick Japanese army formation on the flank, in the direction of Kobayakawa Hideba, who was outflanking the Ming army.Xiubao did not expect that the Ming army would still have the courage and strength to carry out an assault on the battlefield at this time. He was in a hurry for a while, and before he had time to adjust, the Ming army had already killed his general Yokoyama Jingyi and his retainers Katsura Gozaemon and Gaga in one go. Rama Yahei, Harama Gozaemon, Utsumi Oninojo, Yuasa Shinemon, Yoshida Tazaemon and many other warriors came to him. Kobayakawa Hidebo turned around and wanted to escape, but was dragged off the horse by soldiers of the Ming army, and slashed at him with a knife. Bajiao was rescued.Although Xiubao was spared, his charge caused heavy casualties to his soldiers and delayed his outflanking action. Some people have always doubted the authenticity of this record, thinking it was fabricated by the Japanese.However, even if it is a fiction, it also proves from one aspect that the battle was fierce at that time, which left an extremely deep and terrifying impression on the Japanese army, so it will be played up after the war. The battle between the two armies lasted until noon, and the Ming army, which was at an absolute disadvantage in strength, finally began to lose its strength. All the generals of the Ming army—regardless of senior, senior, and junior—were all wielding their swords and wielding their swords. He went into battle and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.The whole army slowly moved to the west while retreating, intending to enter Gaoyang City and hold on.The situation of the Ming army is already extremely embarrassing. Regarding the situation at this stage, the Koreans said in their records that when the battle came to a critical point, Li Rusong personally led dozens of troops to the front of the battle, repeatedly riding and shooting, very brave.Afterwards, Li Rusong personally led the generals to serve as the rear guard for the retreating Ming soldiers.However, Japanese records such as "Kuroda's Family Records" say that when Xiubao's army went down the mountain and rushed straight to Li Rusong's middle army, and Longjing fought on both wings, "Rusong's soldiers were restrained and could advance and retreat freely. When the two heroes meet, The battle is very bitter, from Si to noon." Even though the Ming army was outstretched, the formation was not chaotic at all.In such an unfavorable and desperate situation, the generals headed by Li Rusong did not leave their subordinates to flee first, but personally killed the rear. The strong quality of the generals of the Liaodong Army is amazing. As the saying goes, the courage of the generals, the generals are like this, how can the soldiers lag behind.Three thousand soldiers of the Ming army were surrounded by an enemy army several times larger than their own. After two hours of fierce fighting, they still obeyed orders and moved forward and retreated freely. Even the enemy had to praise them.The extraordinary quality of the generals and soldiers of the Ming army is undoubtedly the main reason why the Japanese army had an absolute superiority in air force in this battle but failed to take down the 3,000 Ming army in two hours. At this point, the Japanese army will naturally not allow the wishful thinking of the Ming army to retreat. Relying on the overwhelming superiority of troops, under the command of the wise general Takakage Kobayakawa, the Japanese generals took turns to fight against the Ming army, so as to prevent the Ming army from moving westward.The other two troops that were separated continued to quickly detour from the mountains on both sides in an attempt to completely block the retreat of the Ming army. Gaoyang City is a very small walled city, which is actually not suitable for defense.After fighting till now, Li Rusong finally felt a little hopeless. The Japanese soldiers in front of him were all over the sky, and they couldn't kill them no matter how hard they tried.Even though one of his Liaodong iron cavalry counts as ten, the number is too small after all.These soldiers of the Ming army had been fighting for two hours, and they were already exhausted.Seeing that the detour troops of the flanking Japanese army are about to enter the Biju Pavilion, if the last escape route is closed by the Japanese army, then the shameful record of "the coach was captured and killed" will be born soon. At the moment of crisis, just hearing the sound of a cannon, a group of men and horses were killed from Huiyin Mountain, went straight into the enemy's line, killed the Japanese army who was responsible for sealing it, and brought the exhausted Ming army into the formation. Looking at the big "Yang" on the banner, Li Rusong felt relieved, and his tense muscles suddenly relaxed. The person who came was none other than his general Yang Yuan.It turned out that after Yang Yuan received Li Rusong's order, he didn't dare to be negligent, and hastily brought 5,000 soldiers towards Seoul. many people. This is really an invaluable new force. What's even more rare is that Yang Yuan actually brought an artillery battalion.As soon as the cannon sounded, the morale of the Ming army immediately rose.The Japanese changed their expressions in fright, and immediately slowed down their attacks.Even Yang Yuan himself did not expect that this artillery battalion, although not formally engaged in battle, was the key to the Ming army's smooth escape. After the rendezvous, Yang Yuan and the others suggested that Li Rusong retreat quickly, and when they were in charge, Li Rusong shook his head and rejected the proposal to retreat again. Li Rusong knew very well that the total strength of the Ming army on the east side of the Linjin River was only around 10,000, while the Japanese army had as many as 30,000 to 40,000 troops.If they retreat at this time, once they are chased and killed by the Japanese army from behind, they may be able to kill the city of Kaesong in one breath.At that time, the situation will be corrupted beyond control. The generals immediately asked: "Then what should we do?" Li Rusong didn't even raise his eyelids, he just uttered two words: "Counterattack." Offense is the best defense.Attack, attack, and attack again, this is Li Rusong's choice in front of the Bitu Pavilion—even in desperate situations, Li Rusong still maintains an extraordinary calmness.His sharp military vision can instantly select the only correct path from an extremely unfavorable situation. At this moment, he has completely figured out the thoughts of the Japanese generals. What the Japanese army was most afraid of was the non-existent main force of the Ming army behind him, so Kobayakawa launched a quick offensive desperately, pressing all the remaining 14,000 people at one time, hoping to defeat Li Rusong's 3,000 soldiers one step at a time. many people. Yang Yuan's reinforcements were only 5,000 to 6,000 people, Li Rusong knew about this, but Ukita Hideka and Kobayakawa Takakage didn't.They must be guessing whether Yang Yuan's army is the outpost of the Ming army's large army; whether the Ming army and the terrifying artillery unit have entered Huiyin Mountain and are looking gloomyly through the leaves on the mountain. The roar of more than 5,000 reinforcements and artillery has already made the Japanese army start to whisper.If the Ming army launched a counterattack at this time, the suspicion of the Japanese commander would become a definite answer: If there is no army behind, how dare this exhausted lone army dare to bite back without fear?The main force of the Ming army must be arriving soon, and they want to hold us back until the main force arrives to force us into a decisive battle. It is conceivable how much panic this would cause the Japanese army—since he had sung the empty city plan before, Li Rusong was determined to sing it again, and resolutely acted out the empty city plan to the end. The Japanese army's offensive had slowed down at this time, and they found that new reinforcements from the Ming army had arrived, and they felt a sense of uneasiness in their hearts.The Japanese generals on the high mountains on both sides suddenly discovered that after the desperate Ming army merged with the newly arrived Ming army, they turned their horses around, arranged their formation, and actually... started to fight back! All the Japanese troops were shocked and retreated one after another.The cavalry of the Ming army pushed up a certain distance, and only stopped when they saw that the Japanese army had retreated to a safe enough distance.At this time, Li Rusong ordered Yang Yuan's 5,000 fresh troops to cover the rear alternately in several routes, and let the whole army retreat into Huiyin Mountain. The Japanese vanguard Jingzhen Inoue and Munemo Tachibana on the flank, who had suffered a great loss before, saw that the Ming army on the ground only feinted and retreated instead of advancing. It's just that the retreat of the Ming army still maintained the previous norms: the soldiers retreated first, and the generals followed Li Rusong to cut off the rear for the entire army. Li Rusong was furious when he saw that the Japanese army still wanted to pursue them. He once again led his generals and servants to ride and shoot back and forth, fighting with Jingzhen Inoue and Munemo Tachibana who were pursuing them.During the fierce battle, Li Rusong’s horse was suddenly startled by the nearby Japanese iron artillery, and he was thrown off the horse. This was the fourth time that Li Rusong’s horse was killed in battle. The death rate of Li Rusong’s horse was too high. It doesn't work very well either. Inoue Jingzhen, who was nearby, saw the commander of the Ming army fell from his horse. He was ecstatic, and led the army to clap his horse forward, wanting to take Li Rusong's head. At the critical moment, Li Rusong's family general Li Yousheng stepped forward and fought against Inoue Jingzhen.Li Rusong was pulled up from the ground desperately by the soldiers who arrived later, and escaped from the dangerous situation.Li Yousheng, who was dedicated to protecting the lord, showed great bravery. He not only defeated Jingzhen Inoue by himself, but also killed several Japanese soldiers.During the fierce battle, Li Yousheng suddenly got hooked and fell off the horse-mostly it was done by ninjas, because neither Japanese samurai nor ashigaru used "hooks" weapons, only ninjas used this weird weapon.On one side, Inoue Jingzhen coveted an opening and took the opportunity to kill Li Yousheng. Li Yousheng is a mighty general. Back then, because he liked a prostitute, he violated military regulations and was about to be executed.Li Rusong cherished his bravery, not only rescued him, but also helped him marry a wife, and gave him a lot of belongings, which cost him a thousand gold.Now Li Yousheng has finally repaid this kindness and returned this life to Li Rusong. However, Li Rusong's crisis was not resolved because of this, Jingzhen Inoue's troops were not the only ones who came nearby to take the opportunity to take his head.He only dodged a few steps, and suddenly a Japanese general with gold armor and helmet rushed out from the diagonal stab, but it was Ono Chengxing's younger brother Ono Chengyu.I saw him wearing a peach-shaped helmet, screaming strangely and coming straight for Li Rusong.Unexpectedly, halfway through the run, Ono Chengyu suddenly paused, and then fell straight to the ground, dead. In the distance, Li Rumei put down her bow and arrow coldly.This is already the second Japanese general he has killed today. He is simply the god of death for the generals of the Sixth Army.In this battle, apart from Shishi Renjiu, Ikebe Yongsheng, and Ono Naruyuki who had just been shot dead, Tachibana Muneshige's troops died in the battle. Dong Xingzhen and others were also killed by the Ming army successively, which can be described as heavy losses. But at this moment, Yang Yuan's troops, who were in charge of the rear, had covered up to meet Li Rusong and others.The Japanese advance generals still wanted to continue the pursuit, but this move was blocked by the mature and prudent Long Jing, fearing that they would be ambushed, they were only allowed to chase up to the mountain pass road in Huiyin Mountain, and they were not allowed to advance.The shadow of the main force of the Ming army has always lingered in the minds of these generals.When they saw the Ming army retreating into Huiyin Mountain, they were relieved. Now that the enemy had left, it was really impossible to risk the lives of their precious soldiers. After the Ming army completely disappeared from sight, Takakage Kobayakawa ordered the troops to be gathered and returned to Seoul together with Xiujia and other troops. 细心一点的人，也许会发现此战中除受命与查大受一起做前锋探察及向导的高彦伯外，没有出现任何朝鲜军队。那么，跟随明军渡过临津江进驻坡州的朝鲜军在做什么呢？ 朝鲜方面的记载是这样说的：朝鲜都元帅金命元等人，认为李如松贸然轻率进军，不妥，于是虽然进兵，但只是率部队跟在其后——应该是跟在杨元所部的明军后面。因为在李如松发出要杨元进兵增援的命令后，杨元才率领坡州明军奔赴汉城的，坡州朝鲜军自然是随杨元进军，而不是李如松。但当他们看见前方明军败退后，金命元等人“案兵还阵，故我军得全”。 也就是说，金命元等人在杨元所部明军投入战斗后，他们连在后方连作壁上观都没有，而是直接案兵还阵，回坡州去了。 这则记载中，那种死道友不死贫道的沾沾自喜之意，跃然纸上。眼见明军战败，即便怕死不敢去增援，至少也可以接应一下吧？不接应，站在那里不动给明军壮下声威也好吧？可惜都没有。有的只是“案兵还阵”，然后沾沾自喜地暗自庆幸——还好还好，我军没折损人手得以保全。 他们似乎全然没想到，在他们面前抛头颅洒热血的明军将士是客军，正在为他们复国而战。他们才是主场作战的主军。 不但如此，金命元甚至还指控说因为明军在碧蹄馆战败，导致运送上去的粮草全部在碧蹄馆损失殆尽，所以后来前线才缺粮。这条，我们实在不想再费口舌驳斥了，因为编得太离谱了。 难怪明军认为朝鲜陆军中真正的将领，仅只权慄一人，非常有理。 在历史上如迷雾般众说纷纭的碧蹄馆之战，至此结束。 逃出生天的李如松，在碧蹄馆前的绝境里，一直显得异常强势，但此刻却没有一点高兴的迹象，反而显得失魂落魄。当他看到中军大旗时，终于忍不住悲痛，把李有升的女婿王审叫过来，大哭了一场。 然后他就一直哭，彻夜不停地痛哭，哭得那么大声，一直哭到第二天早晨。 我想，他是在为牺牲在碧蹄馆的那些多年跟随他及他父亲的家丁们而哭，为牺牲的明军将士而哭，也为自己的愚蠢而哭。因为李如松的轻率举动，几乎把三千明军全体都置于极危险的境地，尽管他依靠辽东军的顽强和自己过人的指挥能力逃过一劫，可这挽救不了那些战死的将士们，那些全是随侍在他左右朝夕共处的好兄弟。 对于一个骄傲的将军，没有什么比这种任性的失败更令他痛苦的了。 我相信李如松这一次是真正地痛彻心腑，一半是为了李有升和其他战死同僚，一半是因为无比沉重的自责。 从一月二十八日开始，那个意气风发的李如松不见了，变成了一个颓丧失意的萎靡之人。之后他率军从坡州回渡临津江，驻扎在东坡馆。开城他也不想呆了，打算直接后撤回平壤。 柳成龙等朝鲜大臣听到这个消息，都惊呆了。他们与辽东军没什么感情，无法体会李如松折伤肱骨般的悲痛。在他们看来，碧蹄馆不过是一场小挫折，损失也不是特别惨重，为何因一小败而毁掉反攻的大好局面呢！ 他们轮番去劝说李如松，结果李如松回答他们的，是一封正在起草的奏折。 这是写给万历皇帝的，里面说汉城日军实力强大，远远超出了他的能力所及，加上朝鲜天寒地冻，旧伤复发，乞求朝廷另外选拔能征善战之将来接替他这个没用的人吧。这份奏折的字里行间，都浸透着满满的失意。 李如松从这时开始，从最坚定的主战派变成了最坚定的主和派，再没有向东迈过一步。朝鲜人认为他是被碧蹄馆之战吓破了胆，包括柳成龙这样的亲明派在内都作如此想。很多史料及后世文人学者也都这样认为。那么，事实上是否如此呢？后面我们会对此做详细讨论。 说完这位失意的提督，关于碧蹄馆之战，又该如何评价呢？ 首先，无须讳言，这是一场败仗，是一场轻率的失败。因为战斗是以明军撤退结束的。 其次，碧蹄馆的失败，100%要归咎为李如松的轻率。 他轻率地带领明军主力抵达开城，轻率地相信张大膳与朝军关于汉城兵力的虚假情报，又轻率地从开城、坡州儿戏般地甩下主力孤身上路，让明军的兵力优势在这一次又一次不告而走中被削弱。四万明军，最后只有八千人与敌接战，其他都被留在了从平壤到坡州漫长的大路上。 对此，李如松要负全责。 同时，这也是一场光荣的失败。 失败归罪于李如松个人，光荣属于明军全体。 明军在碧蹄馆之役中，表现出了极顽强的斗志和优异的战术素养。不算杨元后援五千人的话，明军是以三千人与一万六千日军直接对抗，附近还有一万五千左右的日军虎视眈眈。他们面对的敌人也不是废物点心，而是拥有战国三大智将之一小早川隆景和西国第一名将立花宗茂的日本精锐军团。 而且他们不是据险而守，是堂堂正正地在平原与丘陵的开阔地带，在号称敌军最强科目的白刃战中，与敌人正面交火。 The results of it?日军拥有十倍于明军的总兵力，以近五倍的兵力直接投入战斗，围攻了明军一中午加半个下午，仅仅是将领级的伤亡，便包括十时连久、池辺永晟、小川成重、安东常久、小野成幸、横山景义等数十人。而且与平壤不同的是，这些伤亡几乎全发生在日军最为得意的白刃战中。 也不知道是明军确实个个强悍如超人，还是日本人实在外强中干。 而两军在战后的伤亡数字对比，更是叫人觉得匪夷所思。 明军在这一战的伤亡数字，李如松在报告里称是阵亡二百六十四，伤者四十九；朝鲜君臣的说法是三百人；南军有个叫吴惟珊的将领——可能是吴惟忠的弟弟——声称阵亡是一千五百名。这是所有史料里记载明军伤亡数字最高的。可惜吴惟珊身在平壤，又对北军怀有怨恨，他的证词很可能掺杂着个人好恶，数字未必可信。 至于日本人说的杀死明军一万人，败敌十余万云云，大家听完只要笑笑就好。 碧蹄馆之战的大部分时间，是由三千明军与日军接战，主要的伤亡皆出自这支队伍。这支军队与日军持续纠缠作战，一直坚持到了杨元来援，始终保持着建制未曾崩溃。 从常理来看，一支军队如果一线部队伤亡超过20~30%，就会丧失战斗力——当然这个比例并非绝对，但至少能给我们提供一个参考的标尺——换句话说，在杨元抵达之前，参与碧蹄馆之战的明军部队伤亡率，理论上不太会超过30%~40%，否则他们撑不到最后。 再把明军撤退时损失的人数考虑进去，是役明军伤亡当在一千余人左右，再怎么多也不可能超过吴惟珊所说的一千五。不过，这些伤亡将士，皆是李如松以下诸将的亲信家丁，辽东军的精华。 李如松说的阵亡家丁两人，明军二百六十四人，很可能是故意打了个马虎眼，汇报的是自己直属部队在编兵丁的伤亡情况，其它伤亡的不在编的纯粹家丁，和其他人如李如柏、张世爵、李宁、孙守廉、祖承训等人的家丁损失，未计在内。 而日军的伤亡情况又是如何？ 明军的记录是斩得日军首级一百六十七级。这显然不是全部数字，因为明军最后仓促后退，清理战场的是日本人，这些斩取的首级大多产生于查大受突袭战初期，之后明军就再没时间去割取首级了；朝鲜人说日军损失三百人，日军自己的记录是损失数百，听起来与明军的伤亡数字持平，甚至略低。这些直接的记录似乎都表示日军伤亡很小。 但是，我们还可以采取另外一种比较方式。 在万历二十一年的三月下旬，宇喜多秀家在汉城清算了一下手里掌握的全部兵力，数字流传至今。我们可以拿参与碧蹄馆直接作战的日军部队与万历二十年七月末进行比较。 万历二十年七月末万历二十一年三月末 黑田长政80005269 小早川隆景（含秀包）100009552 立花宗茂、高桥统增32001132 筑紫广门900327 从列表里可以看出，黑田长政减少了两千七百三十一人，小早川本队减少了四百四十八人，立花和筑紫这两支一线部队分别减少了两千零六十八人和五百七十三人。三、六两军团合计减员五千八百二十人，将近六千。 其他先不说，只从这几个数字里，我们已经可以发现一些端倪。立花部是最早与明军接战的部队，减员最严重，达70%；随后赶到的黑田部百分比要好看点，减员30%，但绝对数却与立花部很接近……最后投入战斗的隆景损失最少，只减员5%。当然，这个小百分比与他本钱厚有直接关系。 换句话说，这些部队的减员比例，是随着在碧蹄馆投入战斗的先后顺序而递减。筑紫是和小早川一起投入的战斗，两人减员的绝对数也极其接近。 另外，如果从绝对人数上看，万历二十一年三月的立花、筑紫两部，已经被彻底打残，丧失了战斗力。 而从万历二十年七月至万历二十一年三月二十日期间，除去碧蹄馆以外，第三军团、第六军团参与的大规模战事，只有延安之战和幸州山城之战。这两场战役里日军总兵力损失大约为两千人左右，如果平均分摊到三、六军团头上，约为一千。立花宗茂的部队，更是未见于随后的幸州战斗，因此他的部队伤亡，基本就是碧蹄馆的伤亡数。 加上其他零星战斗的损失以及伤病减员等等，三、六军团在碧蹄馆以外的减员，至多不会多于一千五到两千这个数。其实如果没有大规模战斗，对日本这种采取很特殊的军制的部队来说，两万人上下的军团最多出现两、三百人的浮动才是正常的，不可能出现上千的变更。 但即使按这样的数字进行计算，我们也可以发现，在碧蹄馆一战中，三、六军团的伤亡，至少达到了三千人之多。 以寡敌众，还让敌人付出两倍以上的伤亡。能够打出这样的战绩，只能感叹明军实在是太强悍了。只可惜李如松个人的失败太过明显，反而掩盖了明军善战的光芒。 这种“失败”如果再多几次，日本人很快就能“胜利”归国了。 碧蹄馆之战的大部分时间，是由三千明军与日军接战，主要的伤亡皆出自这支队伍。这支军队与日军持续纠缠作战，一直坚持到了杨元来援，始终保持着建制未曾崩溃。 从常理来看，一支军队如果一线部队伤亡超过30%，就会丧失战斗力——当然这个比例并非绝对，但至少能给我们提供一个参考的标尺——换句话说，在杨元抵达之前，参与碧蹄馆之战的明军部队伤亡率，理论上不太会超过30%~40%，否则他们撑不到最后。 再把明军撤退时损失的人数考虑进去，是役明军伤亡的上限应该是一千人左右，下限不会低于八百，而且这些牺牲者皆是辽东诸将的亲信家丁，辽东军的精华。 李如松和宋应昌说的阵亡二百六十四人，很可能是故意打了个马虎眼，汇报的是自己直属部队的伤亡情况，其他人如李如柏、张世爵、李宁、孙守廉、祖承训等人的部属损失未计在内。 而日军的伤亡情况又是如何？ 明军的记录是斩得日军首级一百六十七级。这显然不是全部数字，因为明军最后仓促后退，清理战场的是日本人，这些斩取的首级大多产生于查大受突袭战初期，之后明军就再没时间去割取首级了；朝鲜人说日军损失三百人，日军自己的记录是损失数百，听起来与明军的伤亡数字持平，甚至略低。这些直接的记录似乎都表示日军伤亡很小。 但是，我们还可以采取另外一种比较方式。 在万历二十一年的三月下旬，宇喜多秀家在汉城清算了一下手里掌握的全部兵力，数字流传至今。我们可以拿参与碧蹄馆直接作战的日军部队与万历二十年七月末进行比较。 万历二十年七月末万历二十一年三月末 黑田长政80005269 小早川隆景（含秀包）100009552 立花宗茂、高桥统增32001132 筑紫广门900327 从列表里可以看出，黑田长政减少了两千七百三十一人，小早川本队减少了四百四十八人，立花和筑紫这两支一线部队分别减少了两千零六十八人和五百七十三人。三、六两军团合计减员五千八百二十人，将近六千。 其他先不说，只从这几个数字里，我们已经可以发现一些端倪。立花部是最早与明军接战的部队，减员最严重，达70%；随后赶到的黑田部百分比要好看点，减员30%，但绝对数却与立花部很接近……最后投入战斗的隆景损失最少，只减员5%。当然，这个小百分比与他本钱厚有直接关系。 换句话说，这些部队的减员比例，是随着在碧蹄馆投入战斗的先后顺序而递减。筑紫是和小早川一起投入的战斗，两人减员的绝对数也极其接近。 另外，如果从绝对人数上看，万历二十一年三月的立花、筑紫两部，已经被彻底打残，丧失了战斗力。 而从万历二十年七月至万历二十一年三月二十日期间，除去碧蹄馆以外，第三军团、第六军团参与的大规模战事，只有延安之战和幸州山城之战。这两场战役里日军总兵力损失大约为两千人左右，如果平均分摊到三、六军团头上，约为一千。立花宗茂的部队，更是未见于随后的幸州战斗，因此他的部队伤亡，基本就是碧蹄馆的伤亡数。 加上其他零星战斗的损失以及伤病减员等等，三、六军团在碧蹄馆以外的减员，至多不会多于一千五到两千这个数。其实如果没有大规模战斗，对日本这种采取很特殊的军制的部队来说，两万人上下的军团最多出现两、三百人的浮动才是正常的，不可能出现上千的变更。 但即使按这样的数字进行计算，我们也可以发现，在碧蹄馆一战中，三、六军团的伤亡，至少达到了三千人之多。 以寡敌众，还让敌人付出两倍以上的伤亡。能够打出这样的战绩，只能感叹明军实在是太强悍了。只可惜李如松个人的失败太过明显，反而掩盖了明军善战的光芒。 这种“失败”如果再多几次，日本人很快就能“胜利”归国了。 其实碧蹄馆这种比例的伤亡，不算夸张。在整个朝鲜战役中，明军与日军的大规模野战少之又少，基本上都是城池攻防战，这是明军与日军第一次大规模没有构筑复杂工事的真正意义上的野战，对此的反思和比较就很有意义了。 其实碧蹄馆这种比例的伤亡，不算夸张。在整个朝鲜战役中，明军与日军的大规模野战少之又少，基本上都是城池攻防战，这是明军与日军第一次大规模没有构筑复杂工事的真正意义上的野战，对此的反思和比较就很有意义了。 当时的入朝明军，一线作战部队的骑兵比例极高，四万明军里有六成多是骑兵，尤其是辽东军，比例更高。从兵力配备看，明军主力是以骑兵和炮兵为主，辅以擅长近战、武艺高强的南军步兵。这样的部队，在野战中由炮兵担负远程攻击来打击对方阵型，占六成的主力骑兵可以自侧翼冲锋或正面快速进攻，步兵负责炮兵阵地防御及接敌近身搏斗。另外，明军骑兵也是配备了大量那种放完枪子还可以砸人的三眼铳的。这种配置在野战中，占绝对优势的火力覆盖远程和中程，骑兵集团的冲击和肉搏对步兵中占绝对优势，对于使用铁炮又异常缺少骑兵的日军来说，显然很要命。 另外，朝鲜战场上的日军骑兵比例极低，事实上哪怕是日本国内，骑兵军团也是极珍贵而少之又少，日方记载的几家参战大名的部队构成，也充分说明了这一点。如五岛家出兵七百零五人，战斗人员中自侍大将以下的骑马武士才十一人，步战武士四十人，其余都是侍从和足轻。岛津家出兵一万人，武士仅六百，铁炮兵、弓手、枪兵、旗手合计三千六百人，即使那六百武士全是骑兵，也不过百分之六。 碧蹄馆之战中的三千明军，全是骑兵且是军中精锐，配备有不少以霰弹覆盖杀伤的的三眼铳和神机箭。在日方及明方记载里，虽然都有提及日军的铁炮部队，但根据记载及战场地理看，这些铁炮部队基本都部署在树林及高地，明军也曾试图对其冲锋但被打退。从记录上判断，这应该是查大受与立花部的战斗中发生的，因为立花本人曾被明军打退到了小丸山的山上。最多还有小早川秀包被突袭那次。在其余的战斗中，明军并没有向山地发起冲锋的举动及必要。可见在这次没有时间构筑复杂工事的野战中，日军的铁炮部队主要进行的是阵地防御，也就是守护本阵，参与近战的相当少——两军混战中，铁炮兵本就无法参加肉搏。 所以碧蹄馆之战，几乎是一场纯粹白刃战，由明军以三千骑兵对日军步、骑武士和枪兵。哪怕按最高的百分之六比例计算，当时战场上的三万日军中，也只有一千八百名骑兵。但问题在于这些骑马武士隶属于各家大名，无法集中使用，只能一波波地投入进攻。这就使得本来就不多的骑士被分批投入战斗，去与总数三千多的明骑兵军团肉搏。所以他们即使有枪兵及弓手的配合，也会处于下风。日军这种战法，正是大规模战斗中极为犯忌的添油战术，也因此日军才久攻不下、伤亡巨大，使这次战斗持续了几个时辰之久。 从日军各大名部队的伤亡总数及阵亡将领数看，也可以证实这一点。如最早投入战斗的立花家伤亡最为惨重，后来赶到的黑田家也损失不小，日军有名有姓的将领战死达数十人之多，这些人大多是大名家族的家臣及旗本，是日军的核心战力——职业武士。而与小早川一起的筑紫广门部队，由于绝对数少，更是近于团灭，家底几乎彻底打光。 碧蹄馆之战在战略上的意义，并不是很大。日军的补给线在汉城达到极限，他们即使继续西进，也无法寻求到稳固的立足点；明军的补给线在开城达到极限，斥候兵锋可及汉城，但主力军团却很难衣食无忧地越过惠阴岭。结果开城到汉城之间的区域，日、