When the second-generation General Zhengyi was frightened to death, the stupid son of the Nabeshima family in his mouth, Nabeshima Katsushige of Kyushu Saga Domain, had already died in the battle at Incheon Port in Gyeonggi Province, central Korea.
It was a tragic asymmetric war.
A month ago, Lord Nabeshima Katsushige, the third-generation lord of the Saga Domain, led his troops across the Tsushima Strait with the permission of the shogunate and landed in Busan, preparing to go north to fight against the Qi army sweeping across Korea.
The attitude of the Koreans towards Japanese reinforcements was complex and ambiguous.
Korea and Japan were feuding countries. It had only been thirty years since the Imjin Japanese Rebellion ended, but the image of the Japanese pirates' brutality and cruelty remained deep in the memories of many knowledgeable people.
Nowadays, the former feuds have become allies. Faced with this sudden change, it is difficult for the country of gentlemen to accept it, both emotionally and intellectually.
Fortunately, North Korea calls itself "Little China", is deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and understands the principle of obeying power in urgent matters.
Like the mother country "Greater China", Little China has extremely strong political adaptability and sufficient adaptability and flexibility.
Facing the invasion of Liu bandits who were a hundred times more ferocious than the Japanese pirates (Liu bandits threatened to abolish private property, confiscate fields, and abolish the two-shift system after conquering North Korea), it was not a shame to unite with the old enemy Japan.
The situation on the peninsula was complicated. Later generations called this great chaos between Qi, Japan, North Korea and the Three Kingdoms:
"The Japanese Rebellion in the Early Period"
In the past thirty years, the Han people have become enemies of Korea, while Japan, the original enemy, has become Smecta's ally.
History is always so elusive.
After the Saga army entered Korea, Nabeshima Katsushige strictly implemented the orders of the shogun and restrained his troops so that they would not commit any crimes.
The Japanese army headed north from Busan and soon arrived at Incheon. They planned to take a boat here and march northward on the sea to defeat the invincible Kaiyuan Army on Ping'an Road.
However, before the Saga warriors could reach the battlefield and engage the Qi Army, they were attacked head-on by the Qi Navy at Incheon Port and the entire army was destroyed.
On the second day of November, the fleet of the Sixth Corps entered the Suchuan waters. Wu Aheng ordered the North Korean general to go ashore and deliver the "Message from the Supreme Emperor of Da Qi to the King of Korea" to the chief officer of Suchuan Mansion, urging the Incheon Korean army to surrender immediately and unconditionally.
The stubborn North Koreans not only sent people to receive the ultimatum, but when they saw the Qi Marines coming ashore, they bent their bows and nocked arrows on the spot without saying a word, and fired arrows at them.
This tactical move by the Shuchuan garrison made the Daqi sailors feel baffled, and Meng Jinbao laughed.
"remarkably brave."
The naval generals had known in advance that North Korea's coastal defenses were empty and military discipline was lax. However, they did not expect that the enemy would use bows and arrows and naval guns to fight.
Meng Jinbao raised his telescope and saw that the Shuchuan shore cannon in his field of vision was rusty and it was an antique from an unknown dynasty.
"Meng Yingguan, why are you talking nonsense to them? Let's fire!"
A group of sailors have traveled from the East China Sea to the Bohai Sea, and now they have arrived in North Korea, already gearing up.
"fire!"
Seeing the provocation of the Koreans, the warships immediately fired back. The artillery fire roared on the sea. The forts on the shore and the nearby defenders suddenly became frightened. Looking around, not even half a person was left around the Suchuan fort.
Although the battle was won, Meng Jinbao felt helpless that all the people had fled and the letters could not be sent out. Emperor Wu Ding wanted to conquer the enemy without fighting, but this goal seemed difficult to achieve.
He had no choice but to put the "Letter to the King of Korea" in a drift bottle and throw it into the sea, waiting for someone to pick it up and start a political legend.
Then, the fleet hurriedly weighed anchor and continued northward.
According to the naval strategy formulated by Emperor Wuding, the Daqi navy started from Busan and moved north along the Korean coastline, firing one cannon and changing places.
The maneuverability of ships far exceeds that of the army. Although Wu Aheng only has 5,000 sailors, he can concentrate his troops and attack any Korean seaport within a period of time. In this way, the Korean army must be exhausted to deal with the Qi army, and thus fall into passive position.
This is actually imitating the strategy of the British army against the Qing army in the First Opium War.
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The North Korean army suffered heavy casualties. All coastal forts were destroyed, fifty soldiers died, and more than 1,200 people were injured. The Qi army suffered no casualties.
Jin Tingzhen, a civil servant in Shuchuan Prefecture, described this battle as a "great victory in Shuchuan" and reported it to King Li Zhuo, who was two hundred miles away, saying that he would repulse all the Qi troops in the future.
After the Qi army occupied Shuchuan Fort, they were stunned to find the year of manufacture and the name of the caster engraved on the cannon.
It is engraved with "Torrei died 1301", which means that the artillery used in the port is over 330 years old, longer than the life of Emperor Zhenwu!
All in all, it is still an old antique left over from the time when Mongolia ruled Korea. The name of the cannon-casting craftsman is dragging death.
To paraphrase a famous quote from a certain movie: This is using the artillery of the Yuan Dynasty to attack the enemies of the Ming Dynasty (North Korea thinks it still belongs to the Ming Dynasty). How bold!
On November 6th, the third day after the Battle of Seocheon, the Pingyuan with 74 guns, the Weiyuan with 44 guns, and four light warships went all the way north to Incheon and began to attack the Incheon West Waterway.
The waters of Incheon are one of the highest tide areas in the world.
The water flows eastward and has been washed over thousands of years to form a vast mudflat; at low tide, this mudflat extends about 6,000 yards from the coast.
In addition, the channel entering and exiting the Incheon Port is winding and narrow. Without channel sign-in assistance and sailing under enemy fire, entering and exiting the port will be extremely dangerous.
Furthermore, there is Wolmi Island 800 yards west of Incheon Port, which is connected to the port area by a causeway. The causeway covers the entire port area, so Wolmi Island has become a good firepower point to suppress activities inside and outside Incheon Port.
Although the Qi navy has powerful ships and powerful guns, it is a brand new challenge for Wu Aheng to implement an amphibious assault landing in the center of this city.
The Weiyuan and Pingyuan anchored in the middle of the West Water Channel, and opened fire on the Inchon fort with string guns on both sides, bombarding the North Korean fort and military camp there. Because the range of the North Korean artillery was too short, it was unable to fight back. After being bombarded for several hours, it finally collapsed.
By Shenshi (3 p.m.), the two forts of Yonggu and Gongan in Incheon Port were completely destroyed by the Qi army.
As the two forts were bombarded from all sides, the Korean army had nowhere to escape. A total of 380 people died in the battle, more than 1,000 people were injured, and more than 2,000 people became prisoners of the Qi army.
The North Korean army's previous tactics were to block enemy ships from entering at all levels, especially by forcing their way through the East Water Channel.
However, in front of the Qi army with absolutely superior firepower, any tactics of the Koreans were pale and powerless.
On November 14, Wu Aheng, the chief naval officer of the Sixth Corps, issued an ultimatum to Incheon, demanding that all North Korean military positions at the port be "held" by the Qi army. As of dark, the Qi army had not received a reply from the North Koreans.
On the 15th, the Qi army attacked again. The Marine Corps first attacked the outer island of Incheon, Wolmi Island, and set up a field artillery position with a total of eight heavy artillery pieces at the commanding heights of the island. From a commanding position, it covered the city of Incheon with fire.
At this time, the Battle of Wolmi Island was on the verge of ending, and even more reinforcements would be meaningless.
But to everyone's surprise, the defenders in Incheon City still did not surrender because the Japanese came.
On the morning of the 16th, the north wind picked up and the main force of the imperial fleet launched.
The Dingyuan (flagship), Zhenyuan, and the armed ship Jing'an carrying 74 guns attacked Wenshan at the southern foot of Incheon. Saga Domain reinforcements were stationed at Wenshan, blocking the Qi army's eastward advance.
Dingyuan and Zhenyuan anchored half a mile and one mile southwest of Wenshan Fort respectively, and bombarded the third Wenshan Fort with fierce artillery fire.
The main force of the Qi army chose to make a breakthrough in the east water channel where Wenshan's defense was relatively weak, while the Qi warships entrenched in the west water channel turned to attack the northwest of Wenshan where the defense was even weaker.
Due to the restricted shooting angle, the two forts in Wenshan were powerless to withstand the bombardment of Qi warship artillery and were quickly destroyed.
In the afternoon, Meng Jinbao personally led 500 marines to land in small boats and assault the forts in Wenshan.
At five o'clock, all the forts fell, and the guard Nabeshima Katsushige committed seppuku.
Five hundred Japanese soldiers died in the battle, and half of them fled before the Qi army landed.
Since then, the Incheon battle has ended.
