Chapter 28 Chapter Seven Going and Staying

In mid-July, Hideyoshi suddenly announced in Nagoya that he would make concessions to Daming. This concession is no longer a lie, but a real concession. On July 14th, the two armies of Mori Terumoto and Kobayakawa Takakage began to retreat from Busan and returned to the country; on July 21st, the two Korean princes Lin Haijun and Junhe Jun, who had been captured for more than a year, arrived at Pusan ​​Port. Make more stops, and go straight to Seoul with Xie and Xu, two Ming envoys.On August 5th, he sent another big gift package and officially issued an order to withdraw the Japanese troops in North Korea. The Japanese troops began to return to the country in an orderly manner.

This little old man who always had his eyes above his head suddenly became extraordinarily considerate. This series of concessions by the Japanese confuses the allied forces of the Korean and Ming Dynasties. They are used to the cunning and dishonesty of the Japanese. Why did these beasts suddenly change their nature? The reason is not the needs of the economic structure, nor the political and military demands, nor the voice of the social class.This reason is very simple, so simple that every ordinary person can understand: Master Taige is old enough to have a son, so we have to celebrate it.

On August 3, Yodohime, a concubine in Osaka, gave birth to a healthy son for Hideyoshi, named Toyotomi Hideyori. Hideyoshi wanted to have his own son almost crazy. He once had a son Hesong, but he died a year before the Imjin War, which made him miserable and indirectly contributed to the war of aggression against Korea.After Tsurumatsu's death, Hideyoshi always thought that his body was declining and he would never have a chance to have a son.Unexpectedly, this time the iron tree bloomed, Dian Ji gave birth to a son smoothly. This made Master Taige almost crazy with joy. Long before Yodohime gave birth, President Konishi persuaded Hideyoshi, saying that the child was about to be born, so he should reduce fighting and increase his fortune.Hideyoshi was very superstitious, and was afraid that the child would die because of his killing karma, so at the end of July, Hideyoshi agreed to release the two princes and withdraw part of the army.

After Hideyori was born on August 3, the ecstatic Hideyoshi immediately didn't even want to stay in Nagoya, and couldn't wait to return to Osaka to hold his son in his arms.At this time, he turned back into an ordinary old man, full of joy, and didn't want to think about anything except his son.President Konishi took the opportunity to propose the withdrawal of troops again, this time Hideyoshi agreed more happily, and approved without saying a word. In this way, the situation in North Korea, which was suddenly tense due to the Battle of Jinju, changed dramatically with the birth of this baby.The Japanese army began to withdraw its troops in August. By the end of October, Nagakichi Asano, Shigemasa Mori, Hidekatsu Hashiba, Hideka Ukita, Hidemoto Mori, Masanori Fukushima, and Masamune Date successively retreated. China, which accounted for half of the Japanese occupying forces.

In Hideyoshi's view, the Japanese army's retreat was a return to the country after a great victory, but in the eyes of the Ming and Korean coalition forces, it was a sign of Japan's softness. It seemed that the war was coming to an end.Both Liu Chenglong and Li Rusong breathed a sigh of relief at this moment.At this time, Ming Fang had received reports from Xie and Xu, saying that "Guan Bai treated him with great respect and courtesy, and wished to obey the Heavenly Dynasty." Now Hideyoshi has proved this point with practical actions. The sarcastic remarks surrounding Naito Ruan and Shen Weijing gradually disappeared, and more and more people believed that Naito Ruan really went to Beijing to ask for payment with sincerity.Naito Ru'an and Shen Weijing were full of gratitude to President Konishi. If it wasn't for his dealings in Japan, they might have spent their entire lives in Seoul.

At the end of August, Shen Weijing and Naito Ruan finally took the second step to make Ming difficult, marching from Seoul to Pyongyang.Following their retreat, there were 30,000 Ming troops. Most of these 30,000 Ming troops belonged to Li Rusong's Liaodong Army.They have been fighting in North Korea for nearly a year and are exhausted.The North Korean minister once heard "Shan Po Yang Xiao Ci" in the Liaodong Army. There are a total of ten poems, all of which complained about the hard life in North Korea. At that time, he asserted that the Liaodong Army had no morale to fight again.

As soon as Li Rusong, the supreme commander of the Liaodong Army, received the order to withdraw his troops, he left without delay.On August 14th, Li Rusong, who had retreated halfway, was received in Huangzhou by King Li Yan of Korea. Although North Korea complained a lot about Li Rusong, North Korea's three capitals were restored in the hands of the admiral after all, so it is necessary to express gratitude to the benefactor anyway. When Li Yan, the king of North Korea, saw Li Rusong, he respectfully kowtowed three times to him.Kowtowing to an admiral with the honor of a king has greatly exceeded the standard of etiquette.Li Rusong was startled, and quickly helped Li Yan up, saying that I was so ashamed that I didn't completely drive the Japanese away because of the shortage of food and grass.

The next two people chatted about daily routines for a long time. Li Rusong was about to leave, and his words were also kind. He dragged Li Yanxu and babbled for a long time. , Jeolla and how to defend.At this time, Zhang Yunyi, a North Korean minister, stood up and asked loudly: "This time the admiral returned to the west, will he never come back again?" Li Rusong said solemnly: "The Japanese pirates haven't finished yet, how could I not come back." " Admiral Li broke his promise.After meeting Li Yan in Huangzhou, he continued to lead his people to retreat westward, crossing the river and returning to Liaodong on September 12, ending his nine-month journey in North Korea.After returning to China, Li Rusong was added to the crown prince Shaobao because of his meritorious service against the Japanese, and he was appointed as the left governor of the Chinese army's governor's office.Five years later, Li Rusong went deep into the Qing army in a battle with the Tatars, and died in the Hunhe River. He never set foot in Korea again in his whole life.

After he returned to the country, officials in the court kept writing letters, criticizing him for seeking peace, losing power and humiliating the country.Since then, the evaluations of Li Rusong in the past dynasties have been different. Although the Korean history books have nothing good to say about him, the Chinese history books also do not speak highly of him, with more derogations than praises. It must be admitted that Li Rusong did have a lot of stains in North Korea, for example, he spared no effort to suppress the southern soldiers; for example, his bad attitude towards North Korean ministers; for example, the Liaodong Army’s poor military discipline in North Korea; Widely criticized.

But Li Rusong's achievements on the Korean battlefield should not be denied.Before he entered the dynasty, Li Chao could only linger in a corner of Ping'an Road; after he entered the dynasty, the three capitals and eight provinces were restored one after another, and the Japanese army was compressed to Busan.A general who conquered the three capitals with an army smaller than the enemy's and whose supplies were inferior to the enemy's, and fought for three thousand miles, can be called a famous general no matter what. Both Japanese and Korean history books attribute the final retreat of the Japanese army to Yi sun-shin and the Joseon rebels, which is an evaluation that puts the cart before the horse.Admiral Yi Sun-shin and the Joseon Rebel Army had been fighting since the Japanese invasion began, but several tactical victories failed to weaken the Japanese army's strategic advantage.Even Yi sun-shin's miraculous counterattack at sea only slowed down the advancing speed of the Japanese army, but did not fundamentally reverse the situation.

The real turning point of the war happened just after Li Rusong entered the court. Apart from Pyongyang, Li Rusong had not fought a few battles with the Japanese army, and his record was not so good.But as the saying goes, "A good fighter has no great military exploits." Under his command, the Ming army exerted great external pressure on the Japanese army. This pressure gradually made the Japanese army passive strategically, forcing them to switch from offense to defense. And finally had to retreat-you know, this is the result of the 40,000 Ming army who lacked food and clothing against the 100,000 Japanese army. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" said: "The victory of a good fighter has no wisdom or bravery, so he won't win. If he doesn't win, he will win by what he does, and he will win and lose." It means, good at For a person who fights, others can't see how resourceful he is, and he can't count any impressive achievements, but he can always quietly lead his army to remain invincible, making victory seem natural. Sun Tzu was talking about people like Li Rusong. Let us make an assumption.Assuming that Li Rusong did not enter the DPRK in the end, can the North Koreans rely on their own strength to achieve a counterattack? The answer is obvious: impossible. Admiral Li's value lies here. Li Rusong left, but some of them didn't.Song Yingchang issued an order on August 10, asking Liu Ting's Sichuan Army and Wu Weizhong, Luo Shangzhi, and Wang Bidi's Zhejiang Army to stay and help defend Gyeongsang and Jeolla Provinces, with a total strength of more than 16,000 troops.The salary was paid by Ming Dynasty, and the food and grass were provided by North Korea—after all, half of the Japanese army remained in North Korea, and they had not been completely withdrawn, so they had to be watched by someone. Song Yingchang always believed that there would be a war between tomorrow and Japan, and peace talks about paying tribute were just expedient measures and should not be taken seriously.Therefore, all deployments must focus on fighting a major war in the future. It was a strategically wise decision, but politically terrible.Those who advocate the war believe that Song Yingchang is groveling and blindly seeking peace; those who advocate peace think that Song Yingchang deliberately provokes and sabotages the peace talks-the result is that he is not human on both sides. To make matters worse, the backbone of the main peace faction is the superior who once stood behind him and supported him—Shi Xing, Minister of the Ministry of War. Before the outbreak of the war, Shi Xing was the most determined main combatant in the DPRK. He strongly advocated aiding North Korea and contributed to the dispatch of troops by the Ming army.But now that the war has progressed to this point, his position has quietly changed. The 21st year of Wanli happened to be the year of Jingcha. If Shi Xing wanted to make further progress in the workplace and get involved in the cabinet, he had to try his best to be safe and not make any mistakes.Now that the three capitals of North Korea have been recovered, the king has returned to the throne, and the strategic goal of Ming Dynasty to aid North Korea has been achieved, which is enough to give an explanation to Emperor Wanli and the ruling and opposition parties.As long as the agreement is successful, a great contribution of "assisting the vassal state and the Japanese surrendering" is indispensable.At this juncture, there is really no need to take the risk of going to war, and it should be done as soon as it is good. However, the imperial court has always had disputes over the matter of paying tribute, and it is divided into two factions, arguing endlessly with each other.One group was Zhang Wei and others, who believed that it was a good thing to pay tribute, which could save them from fighting, and that doing business was better than fighting. However, more people still have doubts about the Japanese pirates. During the incident, Zhang Fuzhi believed that "Xu Gong will lift the martial law at home and abroad, and the disaster will be delayed and great; Jue Gong will fight and prepare, and the disaster will be quick and small." He even strongly opposed it. Peng Yingshen, the inspector of Zhejiang Province, stated that the Japanese pirates are a group of robbers by nature. Allowing them to pay tribute from Ningbo is tantamount to opening the door to China. They attacked Song Yingchang and Shi Xingqun, thinking that they sacrificed the interests of the country for the sake of greed, and even dug up the old accounts, saying that Shen Weijing promised to pay tribute to the Japanese pirates in Pyongyang and Seoul, and it must be the instruction of Song and Shi. , All three guys should be dismissed and investigated. This accusation was so serious that Song Yingchang had to write a letter to defend himself, explaining that the false payment of tribute in Pyongyang and Seoul was just to confuse Japanese pirates, and it was not a joke about the imperial court.Although Shi Xing had the idea of ​​reconciliation in his heart, seeing the turmoil in the crowd, he didn't dare to speak out, and quickly defended Song Yingchang, insisting that "paying tribute" was false and deceiving the enemy was true. But Shi Xing is a veteran of the officialdom, he played his mind in the performance, and didn't say anything dead.While defending Song Yingchang, the memorial hinted vaguely that the Japanese did intend to beg for tribute. If they really came with a surrender form, we have to check their sincerity before we talk about paying tribute. There used to be a joke about a waiter in a restaurant who made more money than others every time he served customers.When a customer orders food, someone asks: Do you want an egg, but what he asks is: "Do you want one egg or two eggs?" Shi Xing also used this kind of technique. He didn't say whether to pay tribute to Japan, but what should we do if the Japanese came to beg for surrender, and virtually set up a peace negotiation position for Wanli and the imperial court. Emperor Wanli listened to Shi Xing's suggestion and thought it was good, so he said that it was no problem to make Hideyoshi a king of Japan, but it was just a short title.As for the tribute, it's better to be exempted, just let them stay on the Japanese island honestly. According to Wanli's oral decree, the imperial court drew up a bottom line: Japan withdrew all troops from North Korea; Now that the emperor had set the tone, the officials also temporarily stopped.Shi Xing was overjoyed, and quickly told Song Yingchang, don't you still have a Japanese envoy in your hand?Get it here quickly. The Japanese envoy that Shi Xing mentioned was Naito Ruan. It turned out that Shen Weijing and Naito Ru'an were retreating with the Ming army in Seoul, and they thought they could go to Liao with Song Jinglue and Admiral Li.But on September 12, Song Yingchang and Li Rusong crossed the river to return to Liao, but they were left in Pyongyang for more than two months. Regarding the detention of the envoy, Song Yingchang's explanation was high-sounding: "I intend to detain Naito Ru'an for a few months. At that time, the remaining Ming army troops will be settled, and the North Korean army will be fully trained. , I don’t have any worries. As for whether the Japanese envoy should be killed or sent to Beijing, let’s listen to the court’s words.” Now Shi Xing asked to send the envoy to Beijing, but Song Yingchang refused.Song Yingchang was really angry. I just wrote a letter saying that the tribute was fake. Now, Mr. Shi, you want to send the Japanese envoy to Beijing to negotiate a peace. Doesn’t this make me slap myself? In the previous round of impeachment, Song Yingchang was impeached most miserably, and took a lot of blame for Shi Xing.Now that Shi Xing came out like this again, Song Yingchang was very upset. Shi Xing was also very unhappy with Song Yingchang's negativity, and urged him repeatedly, but Song Yingchang never responded positively.His reason was: Naito Ruan claimed to be here for peace, but he didn't have any documents on him.His Majesty requested that Bai's surrender must be made before the peace talks can continue. Song Yingchang moved out the emperor as a shield, but Shi Xing had no choice but to instruct him to go to Japan as soon as possible to get a copy of the surrender form and come back. Letters went back and forth between Song Yingchang and Shi Xing, and it was November in a blink of an eye.During this period, Shen Weijing stayed on pins and needles in Pyongyang.Naito Ruan was unable to rush to Beijing for a long time, which made him have a very bad premonition.The longer it takes, the more likely his lie will be discovered. One point needs to be clarified.Under Shen Weijing's daring manipulation, Naito Ru'an behaved very submissively, as if he was going to worship the Celestial Dynasty.Neither Emperor Wanli, Shi Xing, nor Song Yingchang knew at this stage that Hideyoshi had put forward seven extremely demanding demands—if they had known this, they would have turned the tables and started fighting, and there would never be any peace talks. Another lie maker, President Xiaonishi, was also very anxious in Xishengpu. Lord Taiko had gradually woken up from the ecstasy of Mr. Hiderai, and began to ask when Beijing would sign the document ceding North Korea.President Xiaoxi couldn't wait any longer, so he wrote a letter to Shen Weijing, asking him what happened with harsh words. Shen Weijing smiled wryly after receiving the letter, this matter has gotten a little out of control, and he has nothing to do. Things froze there. What Shen Weijing and President Xiaonishi never expected was that the person who finally helped them out was Kato Kiyomasa. Since the armistice between tomorrow and Sunday, large-scale fighting has ceased, but small fights have continued.In Gyeongju, Xiongchuan and other places, there were frequent battles between the Japanese army and the allied forces of Ming and North Korea.On October 29, another conflict broke out between Kato Kiyomasa and the North Korean army in Yongshan, and the North Korean general Zhao Xiren died in battle.On November 2, the Ming side wanted to send Shen Weijing to negotiate, but he was too far away from the front line, so he temporarily sent a commander named Tan Zongren to Xiongchuan to question. Without saying a word, Kato Kiyomasa put Tan Zongren under house arrest in the camp.When the news came back to the Ming army, Shen Weijing was refreshed, realized that this was an opportunity, and took the initiative to invite Ying to negotiate.No one in the Ming army was willing to associate with Japanese pirates. Since he asked for it, he was released. After Shen Weijing arrived in Xiongchuan, instead of looking for Kato Kiyomasa, he first found President Konishi.As soon as the two met, Shen Weijing hurriedly told the president of the conditions proposed by Daming. The president became anxious when he heard this, and said that it was too different from the requirements of Lord Taige, and it was impossible to reach an agreement. If this matter is exposed, no matter whether it is President Xiaoxi or Shen Weijing, there will be no good fruit to eat.Both of them looked sad, and they were both asking what to do. What else can I do?Continue to hide it! Didn't Emperor Wanli want to close Bai Jiangbiao?No problem, we fake one for you! On December 21st, two daring guys actually forged a report. In this forged surrender form, "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" stated extremely respectfully that the previous war was completely a misunderstanding, and it was really because Japan was too eager to pay tribute to Ming Dynasty.Now that the misunderstanding has been eliminated, Japan knows its mistake, and hopes that Emperor Ming can forgive it and give it the title of "King of Japan". President Xiaoxi was afraid that the lie would be too big to end, so he deliberately revised the content of "Seven Seven Points of Show".Hideyoshi said that he wanted to cede Sidao, and with a swipe of his pen, he changed it to Qingshang Yiyi; Hideyoshi said that he wanted a princess, and he swiped a stylus, saying that the woman was no longer wanted, and he would reward 20,000 taels of silver; Hideyoshi said four or five requirements , With a swipe of his pen, he changed it to as long as it is compatible with the resumption of trade. If Hideyoshi were to know, each of these changes would be enough to cause Konishi to have 10,000 laparotomies. Seeing this period of history, many people are puzzled by the actions of President Xiaonishi and Shen Weijing. Do they think Japan and Daming are idiots for such an obvious lie? In fact, if you string together the entire peace negotiation activities, you will find that the two only wanted to tell a trivial lie at the beginning, and then had to tell a bigger lie in order to cover up this lie, gradually escalating, and gradually losing control. By the time the whole thing has risen to the point of absurdity, there is no turning back. This story tells us how terrible lies can be.