Chapter 42 Chapter 21: Inevitability and Contingency of Sacheon

After Shi Shiyong told the story of Guo Guoan and Xu Yi after he went to Japan to meet Xu Yi, Mao Guoqi was very surprised.He asked a question: "Can you help me?" "Yes! He has the ambition to serve the motherland in Japan, and this time he can be our internal support." Shi Shiyong said confidently. (Guo Guoan, The Chinese also, go and live together in Japan, and swear to serve the dynasty, and now they are here, so it can be done) "Then go quickly." Before Mao Guoqi finished speaking, Shi Shi walked away bouncing. The history books did not mention how these two people got connected, but simply said "Naimou Tuozhi".Then the two old friends on the secret front finally catch up.

Guo Guoan was not polite at all, and told Shi Shiyong the deployment of Japanese troops in detail.Only then did Shi Shiyong know that the supreme commander of the entire Nanjiang defense line was the Shimadzu family general Hisakane Terayama. "Can you cooperate with the Ming army to cooperate internally and externally, and mess up Wangjin Peak?" Shi Shiyong asked.As long as Wangjin Peak is in chaos, it is certain to win. "can." Shi Shiyong asked again: "Wangjin Peak is the core of the defense line, and the camp guard must be a confidant of Shimadzu. Are you sure you can deceive him?"

"I'm the battalion guard." "..." Shi Shiyong knew that Guo Guoan was very popular in the Shimadzu Army, but he really didn't expect that Guo Guoan's status was so high. Then this plan of Wangjin Peak's separation, isn't it to let Guo Guoan harm himself?After he goes back, can Shimadzu Yoshihiro spare him? Guo Guoan's answer was unambiguous at all: "You don't care, just come and fight. As soon as you cross the river, I will burn the food in the camp. When the time comes, the morale of the army will be shaken, and you can win without fighting."

Dong Yiyuan and Mao Guoqi burst into tears when they heard this.From ancient times to the present, there is only one family that has done so caringly for others, and there is no other semicolon! As for whether his coach will be punished after losing Wangjinfeng, Guo Guoan doesn't seem to have thought about this issue.Or he has enough confidence to let Yoshihiro Shimadzu will not punish him. On September 19, the Lan Fangwei Department of the Ming Army's Central Route Army began to cross the river.When Terayama saw the beginning of the Ming army for a long time, he also gathered troops and planned to attack them halfway.But when the Ming army was halfway across the river, the generals of the Ming army who were watching by the river all cheered.

All I saw was a few wisps of green smoke slowly rising from the sky above the Japanese army's Wangjinfeng camp, and then the smoke became bigger and gradually turned into several black smoke columns. The raging fire was visible to the naked eye.Hisayama Terayama and the Satsuma soldiers under his command did not expect this unexpected situation at all, and the lineup began to commotion. The Ming army seized the time and crossed the Nanjiang River in one fell swoop.When they rushed to the front of the camp, the Japanese army had collapsed without a fight and ran towards Jinzhou.Lan Fangwei followed the enemy in pursuit, beheaded more than 50 ranks, smashed two large villages in a row, and burned more than 2,000 barracks.

When Dong Yiyuan saw that Guo Guoan was true to his word, he was overjoyed and marched forward. The tens of thousands of Ming troops who had just crossed the river rushed straight to the city of Jinzhou without stopping. The Japanese soldiers in Jinzhou City panicked.Nanjiang was broken through so easily, so they were unprepared and fell into a predicament where they could not defend themselves. How can it be impossible to defend?Doesn't Jinzhou City have a city wall? There is, or rather, there was. Don't forget that during the massacre a few years ago, the city wall of Jinju was burned to brittle by the Japanese army, and part of it was collapsed by the heavy rain.This paragraph has never been fixed.For the attacker, this section of the city wall is the best breakthrough.As far as the defenders are concerned... there are no defenders left.

Seeing that the Ming army was approaching menacingly, the Jinzhou defenders simply abandoned the city and fled without doing anything to resist.The Ming army took back Jinzhou. After Jinzhou was taken down, Dong Yiyuan immediately dispatched two rangers to Yongchun in the east and Kunyang in the west. Can't spare a hand to rescue. The good news came one after another.On the night of the 20th, Yongchun was broken by the Ming army; in the early morning of the 22nd, Kunyang, which was a little further away, was also burned.The defenders at these two places panicked and ran towards the city of Sacheon.The threat of the Ming army's outer flanks was wiped out.So far, the peripheral defense system that Shimadzu has painstakingly managed has been trampled badly by the Ming army.In this battle, Guo Guoan must be pushed for the first victory.

It is said in "Conquest of Korea" that Yoshihiro Shimadzu deliberately gave up the three villages of Wangjin, Yongchun and Kunyang in order to lure the enemy to go deep. This is obviously a taboo for the venerable.Because judging from the subsequent development of the war, Yoshihiro Shimadzu did not arrange any backup after "luting the enemy to go deep", but just nested in the city and drew circles. Hard to say. After Dong Yiyuan wiped out the peripheral forces, he approached the city of Surabaya. He observed the terrain and was a little bit toothache. These little Japanese guys have no other skills, but they really have a knack for repairing tortoise shells.

It's like Ulsan is divided into Ulsan Old City and Dosan Waseong.There are also two castles in Sacheon, one is the old castle of Joseon, and the other is the newly built Japanese castle by Shimadzu, which is located on Fachi Island near the old castle. The name of Fachi Island is an island, but it is actually a peninsula extending into the southern waters. It is surrounded by the sea on three sides and land on one side. There is a port to maintain the transportation route at sea.The city defense here not only has traditional stone walls and wooden fences, but also uses seawater to dig a moat to protect the city, completely turning the Japanese city into an island city.

Around Sacheon City, in addition to Yongchun and Kunyang, there are also legions of Tachibana Zongshige stationed in Gimhae, Gucheng and other places. In the face of this intensive defense, Dong Yiyuan didn't want to attack by force for the time being, as the loss would be too great. Just like after Magui surrounded Daoshan City, he stopped attacking temporarily and turned his head to watch the movement in the middle; Dong Yiyuan also decided to stand still and turn his head to look west, intending to see the progress of Liu Chen's attack on Suncheon before making a decision . Therefore, the Ming army surrounded the Japanese city of Sacheon, but did not rush to attack the city.

The Ming army did not move, and Shimadzu Yoshihiro was also happy.He knew the fighting power of the Ming army, and he had no intention of confronting the Ming army head-on—he really didn't want to squander the last fortune of the Shimadzu family in North Korea.At this time, Tokunaga Shouchang had arrived in Sacheon as a special envoy to inform him of Hideyoshi's death, and Shimadzu Yoshihiro didn't even plan to fight. The two sides fell into a confrontation like this, and the confrontation lasted for six days. During this period, it was not Shimadzu who was most anxious, but Zheng Qilong who came to help. Zheng Qilong is regarded as an excellent general in the Korean army. He has always maintained a domestic record-he is the only Korean general who commanded the Ming army in combat.When Li Ning died in Shapingyi, Zheng Qilong was nearby. He gathered the retreating Ming army, led them to get rid of the threat of the Japanese army, and escaped.Later, when Emperor Wanli heard about it, he appreciated it, and issued a decree, allowing him to keep this part of the Ming army under his command, which is an unprecedented honor. When Zheng Qilong saw that the Ming army had stopped moving, he was very anxious, fearing that this attack would end without a problem, so he called for battle many times.He was praised by Emperor Wanli, and Dong Yiyuan couldn't refute him. He has to say that the enemy is firmly defending, and our army's attack will only increase casualties. If the enemy moves out of the city, I will send a general to be the vanguard.Zheng Qilong listened to Dong Yiyuan's promise, and wandered outside the city of Sacheon every day, looking for fighters. On September 27th, the opportunity Zheng Qilong had been waiting for appeared. At that time, the Shimadzu family was in the old city of Sacheon, and they also stationed two generals, Tadashi Kawakami and Toyoyori Sagara, plus 300 soldiers. Their task was to guard the old city and the Dongyang storehouse near the old city.When the Ming army gathered, Shimadzu Yoshihiro was afraid that they might make a mistake, and asked them to pack up the grain in Dongyang warehouse and transport it to Sacheon Wacheng. After receiving the order, Kawakami Tadashi and Sagara Laifeng hurriedly packed up their troops, assembled their troops and horses, and prepared to leave the city. Zheng Qilong saw their movements, and immediately reported to Dong Yiyuan: "Mr. Dong, the enemy is leaving the city, let's fight!" Dong Yiyuan saw that he couldn't regret it, so he mobilized two thousand infantry soldiers from the battalions. 1,000 cavalry, let Zheng Qilong take them first, and then he personally led 4,000 elites to arrive later. These 8,000 people (including Zheng Qilong's subordinates) pressed towards the old city of Sacheon in a dark manner, and it was already midnight when they reached the city. The first to attack was Li Ning, the leading general of the Ming army.When he rushed to the bottom of the city, the follow-up troops hadn't caught up. Li Ning vaguely saw in the night that many Japanese soldiers were running around outside the city with rice in their arms.When these Japanese soldiers saw Li Ning, they dropped the rice in fright, turned around and ran into the city. Li Ning was both surprised and delighted. What surprised him was that the Japanese army had discovered his whereabouts. What pleased him was that the Japanese army really planned to move, so the defense would inevitably be very weak.He thought to himself that he could simply take advantage of the darkness that the enemy didn't know the truth and go in, and he would secure a piece of the first achievement. After the plan was made, Li Ning rushed into the city with a few personal followers. It wasn't until he entered the city that he realized that he had made a mistake.When the Japanese soldiers in the city heard the warning, they put down their luggage one after another, drew their swords and prepared to fight.Li Ning wanted to run out again, but the back road had been cut off.As a result, Li Ning was outnumbered, hacked to death with random knives, and sacrificed heroically. Let me say one more thing here.There are many questions in the Imjin War, and "the mystery of Li Ning's identity" is one of them.There are two Li Ning recorded in historical materials, one is Li Ning, the deputy commander of the Liaodong Army, and the other is Li Ning, the general of Datong.The former died in Juchang, while the latter participated in the siege of the West Route Army and lived until after the war. At this time, the third Li Ning who appeared in the Central Route Army was also from Datong, and his rank was also a general. The only difference was that he died in Sacheon.The deeds of this third person are only briefly recorded in "Pingdaolu of the Two Dynasties", and are not mentioned in other history books.I don’t know if it was true that three Li Nings appeared on the Korean battlefield at the same time, or because of some misremembering The death of Li Ning not only frustrates the vanguard, but also alarms the Japanese army preparing to retreat.Generals Kawakami and Sagara saw that the Ming army had attacked the old city of Sacheon first, so they did not dare to run away and prepared to defend the city on the spot. But the old city of Sacheon is no longer so easy to defend.You know, the Japanese army originally planned to retreat secretly, and more than half of the food, grass, and luggage had been moved out of the city, and large areas were placed between Dongyangcang and Sacheon City.The arrival of the Ming army made it difficult to retreat, neither running nor defending. In the early hours of the morning, Dong Yiyuan's army arrived.Kawakami and Sagara looked pale when they saw the enemy's formation.At this time, a young general in a golden robe and gold armor stood up and said that I would take someone to stop the Ming army for a while, and the two generals withdrew quickly. He led all his men and horses, straddled out of the city, and yelled loudly at the formation of the Ming army.In the middle of shouting, suddenly stopped shouting. It turned out that there was a lieutenant-general named Fang Shixin in the Ming army. Seeing that this Japanese general was too loud, he shot an arrow in the throat, turned over and fell off his horse, and died. All of a sudden, the morale of the Ming army was strong.Dong Yiyuan saw that the morale of the army was available, and immediately ordered the assault to begin.The guerrilla Lu Degong led the cavalry to the front and knocked down many Japanese soldiers who were too late to prepare, causing chaos in the city of Sacheon.The Japanese army at the top of the city hurriedly raised their guns to fight back and fired randomly. Lu Degong was shot coldly because he rushed too far, and died immediately. But at this time, the advantage of the Ming army was unshakable, and Mao Guoqi had already rushed to the city wall with the Zhejiang infantry.Kawakami and Sagara's troops were their opponents, and after a few repetitions, the city wall fell.The rest of the Ming army rushed in, and the battle of defending the city turned into a street battle.The street warfare has turned into a defeat war again. The Japanese army in the old city of Sacheon was defeated under the persecution of the Ming army. These brave Satsuma soldiers completely lost their fighting spirit, dropped their luggage one after another, and ran towards their only hope-Wacheng in Sacheon.Naturally, the Ming army unceremoniously covered up and pursued from behind, killing the Japanese pirates crying for their father and mother, and they chased them all the way to the Japanese city before being shot back by iron cannons. During the chaotic battle, a general named Kama Kemoyu Jiuye, a member of the Japanese army, was beheaded.This name comes from Korean historical materials, and it is difficult to restore it to a Japanese name. From the analysis of pronunciation, it should be a member of the Kawakami family. He is considered the most unlucky, but the two coaches are not much better. Toyoyori Sagara was seriously injured and almost died on the way; Tadashi Kawakami was even worse. When he climbed into the city, he was already unconscious. The Ming army dispersed the Japanese, occupied the old city of Sacheon, and won a victory.But Dong Yiyuan knew that this victory was insignificant, because the Ming army was the attacker, and the old city of Sacheon was useless to them, it was useless to defend it, and it would be a pity to abandon it.His real goal is always only Sacheon Wocheng. Dong Yiyuan didn't want to stay in this place for too long, so he ordered that all the grain and grass in the old city and Dongyang warehouse be burned, and then he withdrew his troops and returned to the camp.The Dongyang warehouse is the grain and grass that the Shimadzu family has accumulated for many years. It burned continuously for two days and two nights before the smoke gradually dispersed.Shimadzu Yoshihiro looked over from the top of the city, feeling extremely distressed-but even though he felt uncomfortable, he still refused to go out of the city to fight the Ming army. There is one rather strange thing about this battle.The combat records of the Ming army said that they killed more than 130 enemies, while the records of the Japanese side said that they lost 150 people. The difference in numbers is not big. However, the total number of participating troops of the Ming army was 7,000, including the Koreans, over 8,000.With 8,000 men chasing 300 men, only half of them were killed. Is the fighting power of the Ming army too weak? But if you think about it more carefully, the old city of Sacheon is related to tens of thousands of grains and grasses in Dongyang warehouse. Yoshihiro Shimadzu has an army of more than 10,000, but only sent 300 people to guard the important area of ​​the granary. The number of 300 defenders comes from "Conquest of Hanlu", which is also the same book, and another number is mentioned, that is, the total number of troops of Terayama Kanejiu on the Nanjiang defense line at Wangjin Peak is two hundred. You must know that the historical materials of the Ming and dynasties all mentioned that the first reaction of the Japanese army when they saw the Ming army crossing the river was not to retreat, but to intercept.Terayama Kanehisa is not a military god, if he only has 200 people under his command, how could he try to resist the nearly 40,000 Ming army crossing the river? Recalling the explanation of Shimadzu's abandonment of the three battalions of Wangjin, Kunyang, and Yongchun in "Conquest of Hanlu", we will be relieved. "Conquest of Korea" has been desperately trying to find excuses for Yoshihiro Shimadzu's disadvantages in the early days. In order to prove that Yoshihiro Shimadzu was not defeated but lured the enemy deep, it must write down the number of troops deployed by the Japanese army on the outskirts of Sacheon. ——Since you want to lure the enemy to go deep, of course you will not set up heavy troops outside. The figures in "Zheng Hanlu" have very low credibility, and they can talk nonsense for political service.For example, they would say that the total number of casualties of the Ming army in the Battle of Sacheon was 38,700, which was close to the total number of the Ming army in the middle road. These casualty figures are all nonsense. In order to prove Yoshihiro Shimadzu's wisdom, it is nothing at all to modify the figures of the defensive forces.So there are such strange numbers as "two hundred people in Wangjin" and "three hundred people in the old city of Sichuan". The most direct rebuttal evidence is that when the Ming army broke through the Nanjiang River, they burned more than 2,000 Japanese houses in the Japanese camp.If there were only two hundred Japanese guards, an average person would have to live in ten rooms, which is ridiculous. Some people may say that the Japanese army deliberately set up many empty battalions to confuse the Ming army. This is possible, and there are similar battles in history.But don't forget that if Yoshihiro Shimadzu wanted to lure the enemy deep, it should be to make the Ming army feel that the weaker the Japanese army, the better, rather than bluffing.There is no need to set up so many empty Japanese rooms. As for the battle under the old city of Sacheon, the historical material "Two Dynasties Ping Rang Lu" of the Ming Dynasty also contradicts the "Zheng Han Lu", which clearly records that "thousands of Japanese fought in a hurry." Which of the two is more credible can be understood after thinking about it.Facing a mere 300 Japanese pirates, Dong Yiyuan could never ignore the Japanese city army and send 8,000 people to besiege. But the actual situation is that Dong Yiyuan did mobilize 8,000 people to rush to the old city of Sacheon, so there is only one reason: there are a lot of enemies here, and 8,000 people are necessary to ensure victory. Therefore, I think that the defenders of the old city of Linjin and Sacheon are both more than a thousand people, the former is about 1,500 to 2,000 people, and the latter is about 2,000 to 2,000 to 2,500 people. "Conquest of Korea" here is playing a digital trick, only recording the direct troops of Terayama Kanehisa, Kawakami Tadashi, and Sagara Toyoyori-the three of them do not have a high number of territory stones, and they brought North Korea's troops Probably only a few hundred people. It is a pity that this time was not the beginning of the war, but the end of the war. The Japanese army was at an extreme strategic disadvantage, and there was no time to pay attention to the principle of "limiting the strength of generals to the height of the territory".In order to strengthen the defense, Shimadzu drew troops from other retainers and equipped the three of them with more troops than Shi Gao. This is very likely.There is an example nearby: Tachibana Muneshige's rated force was 3,000, but during this period, he led the number of troops to 7,000. The 8,000 men of the Ming army carried out a brief pursuit of 2,500 men, and gained a total of more than 130 levels of gains, actually annihilating 150 men.This series of numbers is more credible than the numbers given in "Zheng Hanlu". After winning this battle, the morale of the entire Ming army was high, and now Dong Yiyuan faced two choices. One is to encircle the Japanese city of Sacheon without fighting, and go first to break through Tachibana Zongshige, who is in the east wing of Gucheng. The second is to immediately launch an attack on the Japanese city of Sacheon, and kill Shimadzu Yoshihiro before Tachibana Zongshige comes to the aid. Mao Guoqi firmly believed that the strategy of "besieging the city and fighting for aid" should be adopted.He told Dong Yiyuan that the Japanese city is strong and the attack will take a long time. If the enemy reinforcements come from behind, it will become another battle of Daoshan.It's better to defeat the Tachibana army first, let Yoshihiro Shimadzu fall into despair, and then fight. Dong Yiyuan stroked his beard and shook his head: "Otherwise, it's very important to have a quick army. As long as we conquer Sacheon with lightning speed, the enemies of Gucheng will surely lose their courage." Isn't this nonsense?What I'm worried about is that I won't be able to conquer Sacheon quickly!Mao Guoqi was a little crazy when he heard this. "Leave the matter of siege to me! Guaranteed to go down anytime!" A general suddenly stood up and said, patting his chest.Everyone saw that it was a general named Peng Xingu.He is an officer from the Beijing camp, and he has an average relationship with the generals, and his subordinates are not very well behaved. Peng Xingu said that I personally went to the city to investigate, and there was very little smoke in the enemy's city, which shows that there are not many troops.If you take me as the vanguard, you can attack in one day—but you have to give me a day to prepare. People always believe what they want to hear.When Dong Yiyuan heard what Peng Xingu said, he was overjoyed, and immediately decided to do it.Mao Guoqi felt that it was not reliable, but the military order was like a mountain, so he had no choice but to follow the order. After Peng Xingu and Mao Guoqi left, Zheng Qilong came again. He brought Dong Yiyuan a very critical piece of information: there is no water source in the city of Sacheon. Previously, in the Japanese city of Daoshan, it was because there was no water source that the Ming army was trapped to death.Unexpectedly, Yoshihiro Shimadzu didn't have a long memory and still repaired the well outside the city. As a result, when the Ming army surrounded him, Ji Dao made a decisive decision. Zheng Qilong suggested that since the enemy is short of water, we might as well encircle three of them and give them a chance to escape, and then encircle and annihilate them halfway.Dong Yiyuan waved his hand: "Don't be so troublesome, you can attack the city tomorrow, and you can go down in one day." This is almost a replica of what Wu Weizhong suggested to Yang Hao in the Battle of Daoshan.But Dong Yiyuan, like Yang Hao, refused to accept it. In fact, Yoshihiro Shimadzu was in the city at this time, already sitting in a sleepy city.There is no food or water in the city, and a large army gathers outside, which is a situation of internal and external difficulties.Someone suggested to him, saying that the sea route is still smooth now, why don't you hurry up and leave by boat.Shimadzu Yoshihiro smiled wryly, and said that if I fled back like this, the Shimadzu family would be finished. At this time, there were more than 10,000 people in the city, all of whom were the elite of Satsuma. Once Shimadzu left, these people would undoubtedly die.When he returns to Japan, he will also be severely warned, not to mention cutting the feudal clan and reducing stones, whether the Shimadzu family can keep it is a question - the new power territories of the Toyotomi family are all in Kyushu, next to the Shimadzu family's plump The land is worrying that there is no reason to expand it. Thinking of this, Shimadzu Yoshihiro dug a big pit on the spot, sat in the pit and sighed: "This is my grave." At around 7 o'clock in the morning on October 1st, the Ming troops who had had breakfast began to gather towards Wacheng, Sacheon. According to Dong Yiyuan's arrangement, Peng Xingu, as the vanguard, sent out first, and the three infantry battalions of Mao Guoqi, Ye Bangrong, and Zheng Qilong supported and supported; , to contain the enemy; Lan Fangwei and Zu Chengxun attacked the wooden gate in the northeast of Wacheng. The Ming army was bustling and bustling, but the Japanese army stood still. Not sedated, but stupid. They prepared rolling logs, boulders, iron cannons, bows and crossbows, and planned to fight a fierce battle to defend the city, but the vanguard of the Ming army did not approach at all, and stood far away, not knowing what to do. Sensing this abnormality, Yoshihiro Shimadzu quickly climbed up to a high place and looked down the city. As a result, he saw two rows of dark things. The first row of dark things is the muzzle.The muzzle of this cannon is larger than the mouth of a bowl, and the cannon body is extremely long, with nine iron hoops on it and two wheels on both sides.Compared with it, the tiger squat is like a poodle; compared with it, the iron cannon is like a toothpick. Some Japanese recognized it, this is the General Cannon.This kind of cannon is very powerful, it can shoot seven catties of lead bullets, and it can rot a large area with one shot.When Li Rusong attacked Pyongyang, he used this kind of artillery to bombard him from a distance, and finally blasted Xiao Xixing out of the city. The General Cannon is good in everything else, but it is extremely heavy, weighing more than five hundred catties, and it moves extremely slowly in the mountains of North Korea.When the Ming army attacked Ulsan, these cannons did not catch up to participate, otherwise Kato Kiyomasa would suffer even more. At this time, the general's cannons finally rushed to the battlefield, and there were dozens of guns lined up, all aimed at the city wall of Sacheon Wa City. And the dark things in the second row are even more terrifying. This is a bunch of dark people. It is not the tanned skin of Yunnan-Guizhou mountain people or grassland herdsmen, but completely black, so dark that only the whites of the eyes and teeth are white. Is this a monster, is it a monster, or is it a monster? These soldiers are Peng Xingu's personal guards, and they are also the biggest feature that distinguishes him from other troops.Of course, their identities come as no surprise to modern man. These are black people from Africa. They were sold to East Asia by the Portuguese as slaves and bought by Ming Dynasty. Daming spoke highly of black slaves, thinking that these people were good at fighting, powerful, and very loyal to their masters. They were natural bodyguard materials. Many maritime merchants would bring two or three with them, first to show off their wealth, and second to watch their home guards. hospital.These blacks are good at diving and can dig boats with knives, so they are also called "sea ghosts".Their ancestors were called "Kunlun slaves" in the Tang Dynasty, and now they have changed to a more dazzling name, called "Different Faced Soldiers" Peng Xingu's family was probably very rich. He somehow got a large number of black people under his command and brought them to North Korea.Even the king of North Korea asked him to go over and practice it after hearing about it, so as to open his eyes. Now that the Japanese city of Sacheon was about to be attacked, Peng Xingu deliberately pulled these black people out and put them in front of the battle to scare the Japanese army. So on the Korean battlefield in the sixteenth century, a large group of black Africans wearing Ming army armor faced the Japanese army directly. This scene is really interesting.You know, this is the first time that the Black Legion appeared on the Korean battlefield; the second large-scale appearance of black soldiers in North Korea will have to wait until the American soldiers hundreds of years later... Behind the general's cannon and the blacks is a simple camp fence, which is full of gunpowder and shells piled up like a mountain.This is why Peng Xingu asked for a day to prepare.He bullied the Japanese army so that they dare not go out of the city, and sneakily put the gunpowder depot directly behind the artillery position. When the artillery started to roar, the gunners would get supplies from the barracks nearby to maintain the continuity of firepower. He was not worried that he would be raided by the Japanese army if he got so close. The three battalions of Mao Guoqi, Ye Bangrong, and Zheng Qilong surrounded the artillery regiment and made it airtight.Even if the Japanese are determined to go out, even better, Marshal Dong's cavalry is looking forward to a field battle with the Japanese. North Korean sources say that Peng Xingu brought 1,000 people, but Ming sources say 3,000.I think it's because of the different perspectives.Peng Xingu brought 1,000 men from the Beijing Army and 2,000 men from the Artillery Battalion into North Korea.But this artillery battalion, in theory, is not under Peng Xingu's direct control, but under Dong Yiyuan's, but it was temporarily attached to Peng's command when he was in Sacheon. Peng Xingu saw that the artillery was ready, and with an order, dozens of general cannons began to roar. The momentum of the salvo of artillery shocked everyone, large clouds of gunpowder smoke rose from the position, and dozens of shells roared and smashed heavily on the city wall of Wacheng, Sacheon, shaking the ground in an instant.Pyongyang's nightmare seems to be back. When the terrified Japanese soldiers raised their heads and the roaring in their ears hadn't stopped, the second round of shooting started again.The rain of cannonballs came crashing down, some of them hit the city oars, cutting off a piece of rubble; some fell into the city, smashing down several hiding houses.The entire Sacheon City was bathed in a sea of ​​flames, and there were endless screams. The Japanese army tried to fight back, and soon the city of Wacheng roared. It turns out that the Japanese army also had artillery. Although this kind of large cylinder is not as powerful as the General Cannon and the number is not large, it is a "cannon" rather than a "gun" after all. The shelling of the two armies lasted from seven o'clock to ten o'clock, and the whole city of Wa was completely enveloped by fire and gunpowder smoke.The General Cannon has no aiming equipment and lacks accuracy, but the density and frequency make up for this shortcoming.After an hour and a half of bombardment, the seemingly indestructible Japanese city was bombarded to pieces.The history books say that "the battlements were broken in several places." It is enough to explain the effect of the shelling. Suddenly there was a heavy sound of falling to the ground, and the Ming army cheered. It turned out that the gate of the castle in Wacheng, Sacheon, finally couldn't withstand the fierce shelling of the Ming army, and fell to the ground. The passage leading to the interior of Wacheng was opened. In the Battle of Pyongyang, the Ming army blasted open the city gates and entered the city in the same way.As long as you go in now, a glorious victory comparable to Pyongyang is within your reach. All the Ming troops focused their attention on the city gate. Unexpectedly, it was not Mao Guoqi or Ye Bangrong who moved first, but Peng Xingu. Except for the blacks, Peng Xingu's subordinates are all officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp.The military discipline of the soldiers in Beijing has always been poor, which was one of the long-standing evils of the Ming Dynasty. In the "Two Dynasties Peaceful Records", they are simply called a bunch of scoundrels.At this time, seeing that there was a great achievement in front of them, these people couldn't hold back their excitement, they left the cannon position first, and rushed towards the gate. Mao Guoqi and Ye Bangrong were a little surprised. They didn't expect Peng Xingu to leave the position without authorization, coming to attack and claim merit.But they were too late to stop them, so they had to restrain the troops and prepare to follow in and fight a street fight. At this moment, the most dramatic scene in the Korean War appeared. The moment Peng Xingu's troops rushed into Wacheng, Sacheon, a general cannon on the position suddenly exploded. It's hard to say whether the explosion of the cannon had anything to do with Peng Xingu's leaving the battle position without authorization, maybe it was just because the continuous firing time was too long to cool down.But its sudden explosion had disastrous consequences. Because behind this cannon is a mountain of gunpowder and shells. As a rule, a certain distance should be kept between the powder depot and the artillery.But Peng Xingu set the two locations too close for the convenience of firing. A little spark can cause an explosion, not to mention the power of a general's cannon. The gunpowder depot of the Ming army was ignited instantly, and an extremely violent explosion occurred.People standing in the distance first saw a group of dazzling flames explode in the artillery position, and huge black clouds rose into the sky, and then the ear-piercing roar reached their ears.The scorching flames and shock waves spread indiscriminately around, and the stumps and arms of the nearby Ming army were thrown high into the air, and then fell to the hot ground.There was almost no blood, as all the liquid had been dried at high heat. Gunpowder smoke covered the sky, and the sky of the entire battlefield suddenly darkened. Everyone, no matter the Japanese army or the Ming army, stopped their movements at this moment. No one could react immediately what happened. But everyone has seen that this violent explosion happened in the Ming army's position. Both the soldiers charging in front and the generals in the rear panicked.They didn't know the cause of the explosion, they could only subconsciously think that their army had encountered a terrible attack, and hundreds of people were instantly swallowed up.The desire to survive drove them to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible, and turned around and fled one after another. The Ming army was in chaos. If the West Route Army or the East Route Army encountered such a thing, Liu Ting and Ma Gui would restrain the troops, at least to keep the chaos and not collapse. But the Central Army couldn't do it. Because the West Route Army is dominated by the Sichuan Army, and the East Route Army is dominated by the Xuanda Army, they cooperate tacitly on weekdays, and the generals know the soldiers, and the soldiers know the generals. The Central Army is different.Its ingredients are very complex, and everyone comes from all corners of the country.Zu Chengxun was from the Liaodong Army, and he led soldiers from Zunhua; Ma Wencheng was from Xuanfu, but he led soldiers from Sichuan; Baoding soldiers and Sichuan soldiers come from many sources and have complicated affiliations. These forces lack trust among each other, let alone tacit understanding.So when Dong Yiyuan took over, he was aware of this problem and felt that he could not control it. He would rather go back to Liaodong to recruit servants than choose followers from these troops. Now that such a big explosion was suddenly encountered, the consequences of the lack of backbone of the Central Army were finally exposed.All the ministries went their own way, feeling that a catastrophe was imminent, and they could only take care of themselves. Yoshihiro Shimadzu is a veteran after all.After a short period of surprise, he immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity to counterattack.The Japanese troops who were huddled in the castle came out one after another, and launched a counterattack when the Ming army's morale was shaken.Shimadzu Yoshihiro's son, Shimadzu Tadahiro, took the lead and went to beat the dog in the water. Regarding this mysterious explosion, Zhao Qingnan wrote in his "Miscellaneous Records in Chaos": "Yihong recruited soldiers, counted dendrobium with smoke and gunpowder, buried them outside the city, dug side holes, and sneaked soldiers with fire...Russian fire broke out, and the army The soldiers and soldiers were all burned up"; "Chaoye Qian Wenlu" contains: "Yihong Fu smoked a few dendrobiums, and placed fire tools next to him..." "Chaoyehuitongjuan" said, "The thieves put the nitrate outside the city, and the fire tools came out by themselves. .” It sounds like the "explosion" of the Ming army seems to be a trick devised by Yoshihiro Shimadzu. But Yoshihiro Shimadzu is not a god. How could he know in advance that the Ming army would set up the gunpowder depot?How could it have been predicted that Peng Xingu would push the cannon close to the city and shoot?How can one predict that the Ming army will be completely shocked by this explosion? More importantly, if the Japanese won because of this conspiracy, how could they not boast about it? In fact, whether it is "Shimadzu Family Records" or "Conquest of Hanlu", this example that best reflects Shimadzu Yoshihiro's extraordinary strategy is omitted.On the contrary, they quoted Mao Guoqi's words, "I also said that the other army did not have cannons and he fired them with cannons, and burned the medicine cabinet, which caught me by surprise."This sentence seems to imply that the gunpowder depot of the Ming army was ignited because of the shelling of the Japanese army. However, "Xuanmiao Zhongxingzhi" and "Two Dynasties Pinglonglu" clearly stated that "misfired in the medicine cabinet" and "suddenly the wooden bar (cannon) broke, and the medicine shot into the sky", which was the Ming army's own mistakes. The exact cause of the outbreak has not been verified.For the Ming army at that time, the reasons were not important, but the consequences. The first to collapse was Peng Xin's ancient department, which had already entered the city.They couldn't accept the change from a big victory to a big defeat for a while, and they were defeated by the Japanese army and fled backwards from the city gate. Mao Guoqi and Ye Bangrong are two excellent generals. They did not shock the troops after the explosion, and they are still faithfully carrying out combat missions.When Peng Xingu's troops retreated in a massacre, they heroically went up to try to protect the friendly troops. This action allowed Peng Xingu to escape from birth, but made Mao and Ye fall into the heavy siege of the Japanese army. The cavalry of Hao Sanpin, Ma Wencheng, and Shi Daoli, who were in charge of containment outside the city, were very disturbed by the explosion just now. At this time, they saw Peng Bu's Ming army retreating in panic, and Mao and Ye were surrounded by Gaixia. Instead of rushing to help the battle, they turned around and fled. Thousands of war horses ran up, and the momentum was quite astonishing.In the eyes of other Ming armies, it looks like the whole line has collapsed.The formation of the entire central route army was completely messed up at once. At this time, the only ones who remained calm were Dong Yiyuan and his Liaodong servants.He retreated to a relatively high ground, gathered Liu Shixin, Chai Dengke and other troops that had not yet fled, and organized them into an army. Dong Yiyuan noticed that the Japanese army was actually very chaotic at this time.Shimadzu Tadahiro rushed too fast, there were not many soldiers around, and more Japanese troops were blocked in front of Sacheon City, fighting desperately with Mao and Ye.He led the cavalry past Shimadzu Zhongheng, went around the city, first rescued Mao and Ye, and then turned and killed Shimadzu Zhongheng behind him. Shimadzu Tadani broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly retreated to the side.Fortunately, Dong Yiyuan had no intention of fighting, so he fled directly to the north. At this time, more than 30,000 Ming troops had already ran all over the mountains and plains, and everyone rushed towards Jinzhou.The explosion in Peng Xin's ancient camp became a reminder for the Ming army. At this moment, they were not running because of defeat or fear, but because others were also running, and they had to run. At this time, the last straw fell on the camel's body. 固城的援军立花宗茂已经赶到了战场，这一支生力军正好冲到明军的右翼。立花比岛津还狠，立刻撒开了手下开始屠杀。日本人像发了狂的野兽，挥舞着枪矛扑了过去。 这是一场不折不扣的追歼战。明军已经完全没有了抵抗的意志，从一支成建制的军队沦为一个个惊慌失措的孱弱个体，任由日军像杀鸡一样肆意杀害，割去首级与耳朵。从泗川到晋州之间的广阔地点，变成了明军的地狱，尸横遍野，血流成河。 茅国器一路退到望津峰以后，清点了一下兵力，发现自己伤亡了六七百人，同僚徐世卿遇难。而彭信古更惨，只余五六十人——那只黑人军团，也在爆炸和溃逃中十不存一。这还是在有组织撤退的情况下，那些一路跑成散沙的部队，还不知伤亡有多少。 茅国器看着望津峰，心里又是沮丧，又是惭愧。沮丧的是数万明军，居然是这么溃败了；惭愧的是，实在是枉费了郭国安一番苦心。 要说浙军，不愧是朝鲜战争第一靠谱的部队。茅国器对部下说，泗川咱们是败了，可望津峰是一处天险，还不容易才拿下来的，如果这里丢了，下次再打过来就难了。败退到此为止，无论如何，这里得守住！ 茅国器就地扎营，收拢散落的明军，准备打一场防守战。赶过来会师的有祖承训、蓝芳威、郑起龙，这些人的部队都是相对比较完整的。 这时候董一元也跑过来了。茅国器把话重复了一遍，希望董帅同意，可没想到被拒绝了。董一元认为这里孤悬敌后，背靠南江，如果泗川和固城从两个方向进攻，就是背水一战的死地。 茅国器问那咱们怎么办？董一元说：“回星州。” 回到星州，就意味着中路军这几天的辛苦完全付之东流。存在临津峰的一万两千多石粮草，要全部丢弃。 但董一元执意要回，谁也劝阻不了。 于是明军在望津峰稍事停留，渡过南江，往北撤去。他们携带的辎重、粮草都丢弃一空，马匹也都死去不少，万分艰苦地在群山之间跋涉。许多士兵又冻又饿，惨号声和哭泣声不绝于途，还有人走着走着，一头倒毙在路边，连收尸的都没一个。 居昌本来有八千石粮草，也因为不及运走而全扔了。 到了三嘉以后，董一元唯恐日军尾随追击，留下了祖承训、茅国器、杨绍祖、蓝芳威、彭信古、秦得贵六将防守，其他人继续往北撤。 一直撤到陕川，明军这才能得以停下来喘口气。董一元正想休整一下，死里逃生的彭信古告诉他：“殿后的郑起龙全军覆没啦！”董一元大惊，连忙拔营而走，一路撤到星州方停。就在这一路逃亡之中，方时新染病身亡。 再一问，彭信古根本就是胡说，日军根本没有越过南江追击。 日军没有追击的原因有二：一是粮秣不足，不敢轻进；二是没时间，他们要忙着庆功。 对于泗川与固城的日军来说，这一天是盛大的节日。人人都砍到了明军首级，人人都立了大功，每一个人都笑逐颜开。从濒临全灭到大获全胜，这样的惊喜实在令人兴奋。 岛津义弘事后清点战果，把所有割下来的明人鼻子装了十个大樽，特意运到名护屋去。至于割下来的首级，在清点完以后统统埋入一个大坑，填埋成土包，当作京观来炫耀武功。 这个首级塚的具体位置，一直到了二十世纪八十年代才被考古学者确认。韩国在此设立了朝明联军战殁慰灵碑，来祭奠这些不幸战死的战士们。 泗川之战，是明军败得最惨的一场战役，也是最让人惋惜的一战。 明军凭借着数倍于敌的优势兵力，以犁庭扫闾之势开局，在距离胜利最近的时候，居然因为一次意外的爆炸而中道崩溃，演成大败，这实在让人扼腕。 董一元和彭信古虽然是战败的两个罪人，可是他们的决策，不能说是完全错误的。 毕竟如果没有那门大炮的意外炸膛，明军便能顺利攻入城内。他们的计划很好，只是运气太差。 这种说法，是在暗示，明军的胜负完全取决于一门大炮。这么说，是否公平？ Not quite. 泗川之战确实是因为一个偶然性的意外而转折，但这偶然之中，又蕴藏着必然。 如果董一元肯听茅国器的建议，先攻固城，局面或许会大不相同。 如果郑起龙的建议被采纳，围三阙一，说不定岛津会选择出逃，而不是困守。 如果彭信古的部队严守纪律，不抢攻入城，而是留在阵位上照顾大炮，说不定那门炮便不会炸膛。即便炸膛，也不一定会引燃火药库。 如果郝三聘、马文呈与师道全三部骑兵在事发后没有逃走，而是前进支援，说不定日军的反攻会被扼杀在萌芽中。 如果明军诸部都像祖承训、茅国器等人治军有方，虽惊不乱，一营一营徐徐后退，日军便不会有这么多机会展开屠杀。 这一连串“如果”说明，中路军在进攻之前，已经存在着严重的纪律问题。诸部各行其事，打顺风战就一窝蜂地冲，战况不利就一哄而散，缺少整体的协调性。 日军面对的，实际上不是数万人的大军，而是一大堆支离破碎的小部队。这样一支军队，面对少数敌人会发生溃败，其实一点都不意外。 泗川大捷的消息传到日本，五位托孤大老都大为欣喜。他们正在发愁怎么撤军，岛津的这场胜利，为最后的撤离创造了极为有利的条件，等于帮了他们的大忙。 有鉴于此，德川家康、前田利家两位实际掌权者给了岛津家丰厚的赏赐：岛津义弘受赐长光刀，以及四万石的封地；岛津诚恒受赐正宗刀，封近卫少将，出水地区为封邑。 至于明军这边。董一元撤退的时候，忽然想起来在日军里还有一个大号内应郭国安，遂派史世用再度前往日军营寨，看是否能走郭国安的路子，跟岛津议和。 史世用到了岛津营内，见到了岛津义弘。岛津义弘正是意气风发的时候，没有理睬他的和谈请求，反而说：“你们等着吧。我先破星州，再取汉城，咱们到时候在辽东再相见吧。” 史世用回来告诉董一元，董大帅居然信了…… 他连滚带爬地找到邢玠，说大事不妙大事不妙。邢玠一听，鼻子差点气歪了。 你董一元这什么智商？敌人这明摆着就是胡吹大气，你居然也信？你信也就罢了，还敢吃了熊心豹子胆，想擅自和谈？你他妈知道那些援朝大员里有多少人就栽在了“和谈”二字了吗？你害你自己不够，还要害我呀！丁应泰就在旁边支楞着耳朵呢你知道不！ 邢玠大骂了一顿董一元，然后对史世用说：“你去告诉岛津义弘，我这就整顿军队，再来相斗！” 邢玠到底是明白人，他知道日军的痛脚在哪里。岛津在泗川是侥幸胜了，但战略劣势却丝毫没得到改善。如果明军再来一次，他真不知道能否撑过去。 果然如邢玠所意料的，史世用三进岛津营，把邢军门的话复述了一遍，岛津义弘沉默不语，本来咧开的大嘴又合上了。 稳住了日本人，邢玠开始下狠手处理。这次他不打算隐瞒了——事实上也瞒不住——直接把情况告诉徐观澜，汇报给朝廷。 朝廷的处理意见很快就下来了：郝三聘、马呈文两个率先逃走的将领被枭首示众，师道立革职；彭信古念在有破门之功，死罪免去，活罪难逃，充在军中，戴罪立功；董一元革官御，降府职三级。 茅国器后来总结泗川战败的原因，一共有五点：一是进兵太晚，让岛津从容把倭城修完；二是明军不攻固城而先攻泗川；三是陈璘水师没有及时跟进，封锁海路；四是明军没料到日军也有火炮，而且受到了火药库爆炸的影响，完全被打糊涂了；五是岛津反击及时，奋战勇猛。 泗川之战中，明军的伤亡数字一直存在争议。有说损失三万的，有说损失过半的，这些说法都太过离谱。 日军自称斩下三万八千多明军首级，数字有零有整，但这个数字水分实在很大，即使是真的，也很可能是日军冒杀朝鲜平民或民夫，去凑中路明军的总数——反正当时败兵跑了一个漫天遍野，谁知道你是老百姓还是明军？ 还是老办法，我们可以详细分析一下明军伤亡一般都出现在哪个阶段。 伤亡最大的部队，是彭信古的三千人。这支部队只剩下七八十人，基本上等于是全军覆没。 茅国器的部队总数为三千，伤亡大约是在七百人，伤亡近四分之一；叶邦荣所部伤亡率也差不多，一千五百人，估计战死者也有三、四百人. 也就是说，最靠近泗川城的三支部队，阵亡人数在四千出头。 中路军的其他部队里，郝三聘、马文呈、师道立早早地就跑了，又是骑兵，基本没受多大损失。祖承训、蓝芳威因为不在主战场，撤退也很及时，伤亡也不大。其他如柴登科、杨绍祖、秦得贵等人，多为骑兵，跑起来也不是日军能追及的。 值得注意的是，明军在泗川之战前后死亡的将领包括李宁、卢得功、方时新、徐世卿等。这里除了徐世卿阵亡于大溃败以外，要么病死，要么在早期战死。中路军的指挥层在大溃败中并未蒙受巨大损失，他们还维持着最低限度的组织度。 也就是说，在那一场溃败中，明军不是完全地跑成一片散沙，而是以这些参将、游击为一个个小核心，拼命向北运动。伤亡情况，基本上都出现在这些小核心外围以及后面的离散明军。这些人跑得漫山遍野，看着很多，实际上数量并不大。 彭部全军覆没，姑且不论；茅、叶以步兵深陷敌阵，伤亡率为25%，那么位于阵后的其他骑兵部队伤亡肯定不会超过这个比例，最多也就10%的伤亡率。三万明军，百分之十就是三千人。 三千人加四千是七千人，这个数字与《宣祖实录》记录的明军伤亡数字基本吻合；另外《再造藩邦志》里说步兵阵亡者三千，骑兵也多有伤亡，步骑比例也差几近之。 七千人，足足七千名明军士兵倒在了泗川到晋州之间的土地上，倒在了距离胜利最近的时刻，这足可以称为援朝战争第一惨败了。 十月初六，泗川惨败的消息传到了正在围攻蔚山的东路军中。麻贵一听，大为震骇。中路的溃败，意味着泗川、固城日军可以肆无忌惮地向蔚山增援，士气此消彼长，这一仗变得不好打了。 麻贵留下四员将领在蔚山附近的毛火村监视加藤清正，然后带领大军移屯到庆州，而他的行营则移到了更北边的永川。蔚山之围，不战自解。 麻贵不甘心就这么退回去，也不敢冒险继续作战。于是他打算停在永川观望一下形势，看看中路军失败以后，西路军的进展到底怎样。 那么，刘綎的西路军在这期间，到底干了什么呢？