Although Jianzhou is adjacent to North Korea, they actually don't know much about North Korea.
In these years, Nurhachi has been unifying the Jurchen tribes and has not paid much attention to North Korea, which is separated by the water.
If it hadn't been for several wars with the Ming Dynasty this year, pushing himself to the point of despair, he would not even think of fighting North Korea.
Even if he captured thousands of Korean soldiers in March, he only used them in exchange for some food, because he knew that the biggest enemy at present was the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, he must try his best to unite all the forces that can be united.
But when Dai Shan and others were transporting the harvest from North Korea back to Jianzhou, his heart boiled.
They never expected that North Korea, with a population of tens of millions and complex terrain, would be so vulnerable.
It only took Daishan and others more than ten days to control Hamgyong Road and Pyongan Road in northern North Korea.
Now the food and coating issues he was most worried about have been solved.
After this batch of Korean soldiers entered Jianzhou, a large number of Han soldiers could be liberated and trained into new Han army Niulu.
He has now figured out that it is impossible to overthrow the Ming Dynasty through the Jurchens.
Even if the "savage tribes" are included in the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou, the population does not exceed 400,000.
Even if they fight to the death, they can only raise 60,000 to 70,000 flag soldiers.
This year alone, 38,000 Eight Banners soldiers have died in battle, and now there are less than 30,000 Eight Banners soldiers in Manchuria.
He could only maintain the scale of the Eight Banners' troops by incorporating Niu Lu from other ethnic groups into the Eight Banners.
Now it is the Han Army Niulu. Maybe in the future we will have to distinguish the Koreans and count all the Koreans with Jurchen ancestry as Jurchens. This will probably increase the number of tens to 20,000 bannermen, although these people are weak in combat. , but they can be allowed to manage North Korea.
Originally, he was just planning to plunder, but now he changed his mind. He was planning to take over the entire North Korea directly.
Of course, the food must be eaten one bite at a time, and they cannot directly annex the Eight Routes of Korea.
Therefore, his goal is to conquer Hamgyeong Province and Pyongyang Province in northern North Korea first.
Then let North Korea declare itself a vassal and pay tribute.
Of course, there are risks in doing so. Although North Korea is a lost dog without being beaten.
But this dog also has an owner, and it is impossible for his owner Daming to watch him swallow this fat piece of North Korea like this.
At the moment, we can only take advantage of the fact that Ming Dynasty is still unable to use its hands, and make a quick decision to swallow up one more bite of North Korea's fat meat.
After receiving Nurhaci's order, Daishan temporarily stopped searching various parts of North Korea and continued to advance south.
Although news of Jianzhou's massive invasion of North Korea had been received, the defense of Huanghaido was still like paper.
Daishan led the two red banners south from Pyongyang and conquered Bongsan and Haeju, the capital of Hwanghae Province. On the other side, Manggultae's Jeonglan Banner set out from Hamhung in Hamgyong Province and passed through Deokwon to conquer Gusan. Finally, the two red flags joined forces in Kaijing.
Gaekyung is the ancient capital of the Goryeo Dynasty. Its suburbs are rich in Korean ginseng. It is a famous commercial city in North Korea. It is located in Gyeonggi Province, the core of North Korea, and is the gateway to Hanyang, the royal capital of North Korea.
At this time, a young man wearing a blue python robe was looking anxiously into the distance on the city wall of Kaijing.
Bingcao Shutei Zhang Wan said: "I am reporting to Lord Ayang that Huanghaidao's troops have all retreated into Kaijing. Currently, the number of defenders in Kaijing has reached 5,000."
Hearing that five thousand soldiers and horses had gathered in the city, the young Lord Ayayo seemed very excited.
Lingyangjun Li Zhu was the nephew of the current Korean King Li Hui and the eldest son of Dingyuan Jun Li Yan.
Li Hui was not the legitimate son of the former King of Joseon, Li Ho, although he became the crown prince through his performance in the Imjin Japanese Rebellion and succeeded him as King of Joseon.
However, because the Ming Dynasty was undergoing a "national dispute" at that time, Li Hui was canonized as the crown prince of Joseon as a concubine, which obviously set a bad example for Wanli. Therefore, the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty has been unwilling to recognize Li Hui's status as the crown prince. .
The lack of canonization from the Ming Dynasty also questioned the legitimacy of Li Hui's succession.
Although the Ming Dynasty finally recognized his succession as the King of Korea, the doubts have never stopped.
Therefore, after Li Hui ascended the throne, he continued to eliminate those who threatened the throne, and Dingyuan Jun's family was no exception.
Li Quan, Li Quan's younger brother and Lingchangjun, the third son of Lord Dingyuan, was involved in a rebellion in the 43rd year of Wanli (1615) and was persecuted to death. Even Lord Dingyuan's home in Saimendong was destroyed because of the "King Chi" was demolished to build Gyeongdeokgung Palace.
Under this situation, Dingyuanjun's family became even more frightened and could only endure the humiliation and bear the burden to save their lives. This year, Li Jie's father, Dingyuanjun Li Yan, finally passed away in fear.
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Ayayo-kun, the nephew of the king who is wary of the king in every possible way, to get the opportunity to command an army.
But now that the Eight Banners of Jianzhou are in full swing, Kaijing must be the target of their attack. No one in the DPRK dares to guard Kaijing.
In the end, Lord Lingyang Li Yan gritted his teeth and took the initiative to ask for orders to guard Kaijing.
King Li Hui of North Korea thought that this was a good opportunity to get rid of the king's nephew.
It would be best if he was killed by the Jianzhou Tatars. Even if he could escape from Kaijing, he could still execute him on the charge of "losing Kaijing".
So he appointed Lord Lingyang Li Shu to stay in Kaijing and recruit nearby soldiers and horses to resist Jianlu.
With the support of his uncle Gu Hong, cousin Gu Renhe, court official Zhang Wan and others, Li Zhu recruited soldiers and horses to resist Jianlu.
The Tatars burned, killed and looted in Pyongyang, committing all kinds of evil. North Korea has always regarded itself as "Little China", and the local plot is also relatively heavy.
Some gentry in the capital who were unwilling to leave their homeland donated gold, silver, and grain to support Li Zhu.
However, what Li Hui was looking forward to at this time was not the soldiers and horses from Huanghaidao, but a special "mercenary army".
Finally, as he expected, a well-equipped army appeared outside the south gate of Kaijing.
Ju Hong said: "This is the great pirate 'Bei Batian' from Liaodong. His mercenaries are elite men and they will definitely help us defend Kaijing!"
Of course, this "Northern Batian" was faked by Kong Youde. At this time, Kong Youde was not the miner who had never seen the market more than half a year ago. He had traveled to the grasslands, the capital, and Liaodong. His footprints had traveled all over the Northeast.
Even when facing Lord Lingyang of North Korea, he acted neither arrogant nor humble. Kong Youde saluted and said: "My brothers were all elites in the Ming army in the past. They followed Kong throughout the world in these years. Never missed a beat.”
"But our asking price is not low. Is Ayang-kun ready for the money?"
Originally, Ayayo-kun was somewhat skeptical of this so-called "mercenary", thinking that they were just a group of Ming pirates who committed murder and swindled goods.
I was really shocked when I saw them. Most of the people in this team wore cloth face armor, and a few actually wore piercing armor.
Their weapons are also extremely elite, and they have many fire blunderbuss.
It's just that he has never seen this kind of fire blunderbuss. It is longer than the bird blunderbuss from the Ming Dynasty.
Not to mention combat prowess, this equipment alone is enough to defeat the imperial army in the royal city.
Of course, the asking price of this group of people is not low. It is 5,000 taels of silver for showing up, 1,000 taels of silver for every day of persistence after 5 days, 5 taels of silver for killing an enemy, and 20 taels of silver for killing one person.
Lord Lingyang pointed to the silver boxes and said, "Don't worry, strong man, we have enough money!"
The thousand people brought by Kong Youde were regular civilian guards.
Originally, Li Xianzhong led the Tatars to North Korea on the one hand to reduce the pressure on the Liaodong Ming Army, and on the other hand he took the opportunity to sell weapons such as blunderbuss to North Korea and make a fortune for himself.
He originally thought that when the Tatars came to Korea, they would grab a vote and force the Korean king to surrender and withdraw his troops, just like in history.
Unexpectedly, the North Korean army was so bad and completely vulnerable. The main force of Jianzhou under Daishan and Mang Gurtai suffered almost zero casualties, and too many were captured.
This gave Nurhachi the idea of completely occupying North Korea as a base.
This was far beyond his expectation. He quickly asked Pingluwei to go down the Liao River through the route of transporting copper, and boarded the ship directly from Yingkou to North Korea.
As for the Tatar capture in Pyongyang, Li Xianzhong wanted Kong Youde to dress up as a pirate and directly carry the stick to Wang Jing.
Fortunately, after Daishan captured Pyongyang, he spent some time looting northern North Korea and did not go south to Wangjing immediately. Otherwise, they might not even be able to collect the body of the North Korean king in time.
Soon the Tatar vanguard appeared outside the east gate of the capital.
When Kong Youde saw that it was the Han army enclosing the armor, he asked the Korean army to greet them first with bows and arrows.
These Han troops clearly showed confidence in the Korean battlefield. The vanguard of only a thousand people dared to directly attack the heavily defended town of Kaijing.
In fact, although the North Korean army is a bit poor in hand-to-hand combat capabilities, it is not without merit.
The bows they made were quite good. In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent North Korea from producing more high-quality bows, the Ming Dynasty even banned the export of horns (raw materials for making bows) to North Korea. After that, exports were resumed, but they were limited to 200 pairs.
The 5,000 Korean troops assembled by Lord Ayang were originally prepared to come to Kaijing to fight these Tatars desperately, so they had a relatively strong will to fight.
A thousand Han troops actually began to fill in the moat directly under the cover of a small number of shieldmen.
Following Li Jian's order, thousands of Korean archers on the city began to fire arrows at the Han army below the city. There were not many shield bearers in the Han army, and many Han soldiers fell to the ground after being hit by arrows.
Over the past few days, the Han army was almost accustomed to surrendering as soon as the Koreans attacked the city. This sudden scene stunned them and they had to withdraw in despair.
The North Korean troops on the city cheered. Although they only shot dozens of Han troops, this seemed to be the first time since Jianzhou invaded North Korea that the North Korean army had won and repulsed the enemy.
Kong Youde and Yu Wanli on the side sighed, wouldn't it be nice to let them attack the city and eat these thousand people?
These Koreans were so inexperienced that they only shot dozens of people and then let them go. What a pity!
Soon after, the main force of the Han army arrived, but they did not come to fill in the moat. Instead, they drove a large number of Korean people to fill in the river.
This is another torment for Ayang Jun Li Zhu. Ordering the shooting will damage his reputation; if he fails to order the shooting, the morale of the Korean troops in the city will plummet!
Kong Youde could see that Li Zhu was in a lot of trouble now, so he said: "It doesn't matter, let them fill it. If they don't attack the city, I won't be able to make more money!"
Soon these Han troops set up ladders and launched an attack on Kaijing. At this time, the Korean soldiers on the city were already itching with hatred.
They filled their bows with all their might and fired arrows at the Han army below the city.
However, these Han troops also learned the tactics of the Tatars, and they pushed the carriages and started shooting at the Korean soldiers in the city.
The two sides barely managed a draw.
After suffering a certain amount of casualties, the Han army quickly scaled the city wall.
The melee combat ability of these Korean soldiers is really poor. If they had not appeared in Kaijing, it is estimated that the 5,000 Korean troops of Li Zhu would have been annihilated at the most cost of 1,500 Han troops.
Kong Youde quickly asked Yu Wanli to call hundreds of spearmen from the Pinglu Guards to join the battle.
At this time, Mang Gurtai was still slowly marching towards Kaijing. Since entering North Korea, he had changed his original habit of charging into battle.
Although the Han troops under his banner usually seemed weak in combat, they were fierce in the face of the North Korean army.
It seemed as if they had changed a group of people, and they really showed a bit of the style of the Eight Banners of Jianzhou.
At present, the main job of Zhenglan Qi under him is to collect money and food. If he has nothing to do, he can find two North Korean women to warm his bed. He is living a comfortable life.
They are completely happy to miss Shu. They don't want to return to Jianzhou at all. They just want to stay in North Korea and let themselves go.
Just when Mang Gurtai was imagining what the women in the Korean harem looked like, he saw a Han army hurried over and said: "Master, the Han army did not capture Kaijing and lost more than two thousand people?"
Mang Gurtai could not believe his ears. They had only lost a few hundred people since they entered North Korea, including less than 50 people from the Eight Banners of Manchuria.
Now, more than 2,000 people were lost in Kaijing City all at once. How is this possible? The Han army said: "The Korean army on the city has very sharp bows and arrows. We had already attacked the city, but for some reason, a Korean army wearing iron armor suddenly appeared on the city. They are very powerful and tough. They drove us down alive."
The Koreans are indeed good at making bows, and many of his Eight Banners soldiers have replaced them with strong Korean bows.
He really didn't expect that there were armored infantry in North Korea.
However, Kaijing is one of their three capitals after all. It is unknown whether the King of Joseon transferred the elite imperial guards to Kaijing.
Soon 1500 Zhenglan flags appeared at the foot of Kaijing City.
The Tatar guards are very familiar with these Tatar tactics, but this is North Korea after all, and it is best not to expose the Rumi gun.
Yu Wanli said: "Firegunners, be careful, fire within 60 steps, don't expose the range!"
Soon the Tatar's bows and arrows flew to the top of the city. By this time, the iron shield bearers of the Pinglu Guards were already in place.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As the Tatar carriage entered within sixty steps, the Rumi cannons on the city sounded one after another.
The North Korean army had many firearms, and Zhenglan Banner didn't care. It was hard to say whether their firearms could penetrate their own cloth armor at this distance. It was impossible to penetrate the carriage.
But soon Mang Gurtai was dumbfounded. The Koreans' fire cannons actually penetrated the carriage, and many bannermen fell to the ground and howled in pain.
Angry and angry, Mang Gurtai pulled out his sword directly, and then Zhenglan Banner began to attack the city by force.
Now that they have started to attack, the Pinglu Guards naturally no longer hold back. The Tatars still thought that they encountered only the elite guards of North Korea, but they hit the iron plate directly.
The "North Korean troops" on the city were all wearing armor and cooperated with each other tacitly. The bannermen of Zhenglan Banner could not take any advantage at all.
They were often beaten down by well-trained "North Korean troops" as soon as they climbed the city wall.
Even Bai Baiyala of Zhenglan Banner did not open up the situation. At this time, a group of soldiers desperately blocked Mang Gurtai who wanted to attack the city personally.
Niulu Ezhenguna said loudly: "Sanbeile, you can't put yourself in danger. It's better to wait for the main force to arrive before attacking the city."
In the end, Mang Gurtai had no choice but to withdraw his troops, but left seven to eight hundred corpses in Kaijing.
The whole Kyoto was in a state of excitement. They actually blocked the Tatar attack. This was unique since the beginning of the war.
The reputation of Ayang Jun Li Zhu has also reached its peak. During the day, he mercifully spared the Korean compatriots who filled the moat for the Tatars, and now he has defeated the Tatars twice.
Compare this to the current king who dotes on the capital marshal Jiang Hongli and bows to the Tatars. This is really a world between heaven and earth.
Soon the main force led by Deshan also arrived near Kaijing.
Also coming with him was Fan Wencai, the popular third-class lieutenant next to the Great Khan. With the great success of the conquest of North Korea, Daishan and Mang Gurtai's attitude towards Mr. Fan became much more respectful.
Even the Great Khan compared him to a "crouching dragon and a phoenix chick". Now everyone who sees him calls him "Mr. Fan"!
Fan Wencai's purpose of going to North Korea this time was to serve as an envoy to force the King of North Korea to sign an alliance under the city. After all, Daishan's main force could not stay in North Korea for a long time.
The most important purpose at the moment is to force North Korea to cede two lands in the north, and then pay tribute to Dajin.
When they heard that Mang Gurtai had lost nearly 3,000 people at the gate of Kaijing this time, they were all shocked.
The North Korean army that opened Beijing had powerful guns and an armored force stationed there?
Soon Daishan and others led the main force to the foot of Kaijing City.
There are more than 6,000 Jianzhou Eight Banners under the city, as well as a considerable number of Han troops, which makes Lingyang Jun Li Zhu and others seem a little less confident.
In fact, let alone the Koreans, even Kong Youde and Yu Wanli were still frightened. If the Tatars attacked the city with all their strength, they would definitely be here today.
Soon thousands of Han troops began to push carts to attack the city. Since the "Korean troops" on the city yesterday did not expose their range, the Jianzhou Eight Banners still provided bow and arrow support behind the Han troops.
Yu Wanli said: "The fire gunmen aim at the Tatar archers under the city and start shooting directly!"
At this time, they no longer cared about being exposed or not. If the Tatars were to take over Kaijing, they would still be exposed.
At this time, the Korean archers on the city also began to fire arrows at the bottom of the city, and a larger-scale siege began.
As a burst of white mist on the city dispersed, the Jianzhou Eight Banners, who had not yet entered their attack position, were shot by fire cannons on the city.
Many people were directly hit by firecrackers.
A hundred steps away?
Only the elite troops of the Kaiyuan Ming Army possess such firearms.
Fan Wencai said: "Da Baylor, I think the defenders in this city don't look like the Korean army, but more like the Ming army?"
When Fan Wencai said this, Mang Gurtai quickly reacted. Yesterday, the army on the city did not expose its firing range, so he did not think about it for a while. If it was coupled with the Crouching Tiger Cannon, wouldn't this be the Ming army's way of fighting?
Of course, Kaijing City is also equipped with cannons, but these Korean cannons basically don't have much power, that is, they only make a sound.
Sure enough, the Han army was repelled by the "North Korean army" on the city, and they could not attack at all.
Fan Wencai said: "Big Baylor, if it is really the Ming army, we will definitely suffer heavy losses if we attack Kaijing. Even if we capture Kaijing, we may not be able to attack Wangjing in North Korea."
"It would be better for us to leave some soldiers and horses to besiege Kaijing and attack Wangjing of North Korea. As long as we force the King of North Korea to sign an alliance under the city, our goal will be achieved."
Soon after, the attacking Tatars retreated.
They left Yue Tuo to lead thousands of people to continue besieging Kaijing, and the main force headed directly towards Hanyang, Wangjing of North Korea.
After seeing the purpose of these captives, Ling Yangjun Li Zhu suddenly changed his face and even wanted to return to help Wang Jing.
However, Kong Youde quickly stopped him from seeking death.
In 1392, Li Chenggui established the Kingdom of Korea. Two years later, he moved Wang Jing from the original Kaijing to Yangzhou, the capital of the former Goryeo Dynasty, "Nanjing".
In order to show his admiration for Han culture and the Central Plains dynasty, Li Chenggui changed Yangzhou's name to Seoul.
Because Seoul is located in the north of the Han River, and according to the Feng Shui theory, the "mountain to the south and the water to the north" is Yang, so it is also called Hanyang.
As the royal capital of North Korea, it is still very dangerous. Hanyang is surrounded by mountains to the north and the Han River is dangerous to the south.
Among them, Bukhan Mountain Fortress, located in Bukhan Mountain, is the most dangerous fortress north of Hanyang.
Although the scale of the mountain city is not large, it is very dangerous to be built on the mountain. 1,000 elite royal guards were originally stationed here.
However, King Li Hui of Korea was worried that Hanyang's troops were insufficient, so he actually removed half of the garrison here.
Jianzhou is mostly a mountain city, and they are very experienced in attacking such mountain cities. Mang Gurtai went into battle personally. Although the North Korean troops defending the city were extremely brave, they still captured Bukhan Mountain City after paying the price of 200 casualties.
The loss of this mountain city also meant that Hanyang City was directly under the attack of Jianzhou.
Fan Wencai said with a smile: "Now Wang Jing in North Korea is like a big girl who has been stripped of her clothes and is not allowed to be played by us!"
When Jianzhou's cavalry appeared at the foot of Hanyang City, all the Korean princes and ministers were frightened.
After all, it is the capital of North Korea, and the surrounding areas of Hanyang are relatively wealthy.
While Daishan was plundering Wangjing, he sent an envoy to deliver a message to the King of Joseon. If Joseon did not agree to his terms, he would rush directly into Wangjing in one day, and he would definitely call Hanyang Chicken and Dog Not Remaining.
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