In late November of the second year of Taichu, Qi Jin led 5,000 elite soldiers across the Yalu River. The Third Corps and Zhao led the teaching department to join forces to form an Eastern Expedition Army of nearly 10,000 people.
The Eastern Expeditionary Army took a short rest in Sinuiju and formed a new organization. The command of the army was given to Qi Jin. At the beginning of the first month of the first year, the army continued to attack the southern states and counties of the Korean Kingdom.
Qi Jin changed his strategy and gave up the beheading operation carried out by the Eighth Corps before. He no longer chose to rush in with light troops and attack Seoul. Instead, he attacked steadily, starting from Ping'an Road, not sparing any border town. Every time he conquered a city, The stubborn elements in the city must be cleaned up, and the Liaodong people who came with the army must be properly settled before they can continue to attack the next city.
Sometimes, when there are not enough people in the field and they need to be temporarily dispatched from Liaodong, the Eastern Expedition Army will rest on the spot and wait for people to come from the rear, sometimes for more than ten days.
Since then, the Third Corps has been advancing at a slow pace. From November to March of the next year, for four months, Qi Jin commanded the Eighth Corps and only advanced less than 300 miles (this is This is the speed at which Zhao led the army to advance in ten days).
Such a strategy of steady and gradual digestion, compared with the rapid advance during the first Eastern Expedition, was almost two extremes. The Korean King Li Zhu had no temper at all towards Qi Jin's style of play.
To be precise, the Korean army was the apprentice of the Qi family army. Before and after the Wanli War to Aid Korea, the officers of the Ming Dynasty who stayed in Korea (including Liu Wei and others) helped the Koreans farm fields, mines, and train troops, and assisted this small Eastern vassal in the long-term fight against Japanese pirates. . At that time, the tactics used by General Ming to train the Korean army were basically based on those practiced by the Qi family army.
Now the master meets his apprentice. The master is still the same master as before, and he is more powerful than before. His weapons and tactics have been comprehensively upgraded. However, the apprentice of the North Korean Army has followed the old path of the Ming Army, becoming completely corrupt and worthless for combat effectiveness. Mention it.
The North Korean King Li Jie had no concept of guerrilla warfare, and could only watch Qi Jin encroaching on his territory bit by bit. During this period, the North Korean army launched several counterattacks, but they were no match for the Qi army, and they basically ended up losing their lives.
Fortunately, Qi Jin didn't seem to want to attack the capital Seoul at all. Instead of fighting in the Eastern Expedition, he would rather go to Ping'an Road to farm. His army stopped at Ping'an Road and did not even attack the Yellow Sea Road, let alone the Yellow Sea Road. Head south to Seoul and Pyongyang.
Emperor Wu Ding was very dissatisfied with Qi Jin's rapid advance in North Korea, and issued several edicts in succession, ordering the Third Corps to capture Seoul as soon as possible, and at least Pyongyang.
However, Qi Jin continued to act expediently in North Korea on the grounds that the general was out and the emperor's orders were not accepted. He only sent a small number of elite cavalry south to break through the North Korean defense line and finally stopped in Busan, taking advantage of the arrival of winter to kill the few cavalrymen. The cavalry all retreated to Ping'an Road and returned to the Eastern Expedition Army's base camp.
The coir guards and instructors reported these things that happened on the Korean front to Emperor Wu Ding.
When Emperor Wu Ding learned that the Third Corps was so negligent, he became furious and reprimanded in front of all the civil and military ministers:
"Zhao Lüjiao can't do it, Qi Jin can't do it, the Eighth Corps can't do it, and the Third Corps can't do it. Should we send Korean Jin Yinghe to conquer North Korea?"
Of course, the Emperor said this just in anger. At the moment, he can still dispatch the troops for the Eastern Expedition: Zheng Yishi's troops of the Tenth Corps, Wu Aheng's troops of the Sixth Corps, and Wang Zengbin's troops of the Seventh Corps. Of course, this is only theoretically possible. After all, the troops The Sixth Corps is the navy. Conquering a large country like North Korea with a population of nearly 10 million cannot be achieved by landing a few thousand naval troops.
In the main hall of Prince Fu's Palace in Luoyang, the civil servants and generals of the Qi Dynasty were divided into two rows on the left and right, standing silently, not saying much.
Today, Emperor Wu Ding summoned his ministers to discuss the plan for the Eastern Expedition. The Qi army's first two battles against North Korea were not satisfactory. At least, there was still a long way to go before the complete conquest of North Korea that the Supreme Emperor had in mind.
Zhao led Jiao's first eastern expedition and made certain progress, occupying five counties in northern Korea and approaching Seoul. However, due to underestimating the enemy and dividing his troops, he ultimately failed. In the end, not only the troops were lost, but also countless horses, weapons, and armor were lost, all of which were aided by the enemy;
The second Eastern Expedition was completely out of control. Qi Jin and the main force of his Third Corps had been hiding in Ping'an Road for farming and mining, and had been reluctant to go south. Although they had the advantage, this combined with the division of troops planned by Emperor Wu Ding was devastating. It's really quite different.
Two Eastern Expeditions, one victory and one defeat, it was considered a tie with North Korea.
The original plan was to complete the victory in one battle and quickly conquer North Korea with a partial division. Facts have proved that this strategy is unlikely to be realized.
To deal with North Korea, we still have to do what the four emperors of the Sui and Tang Dynasties did, who tirelessly conquered generation after generation and continued to weaken their strength.
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