Just when Anthony Van Diemen and Zheng Zhihu were discussing going to Nanjing to meet Zhu Youjian, the great emperor of tomorrow and the Khan of Mongolia was already on his way back to the capital.
Originally, Zhu Youjian planned to stay in Nanjing for a few more months and wait until the good news from Luzon was delivered before setting off to return to the court. However, at the end of December of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhu Youjian, who was still leisurely in Nanjing, received an urgent report from Li Xin, the commander-in-chief of aid to Korea - Japanese pirates suddenly invaded the coast of Gyeongsang Province in southeastern North Korea!
In fact, the courts of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea had long known about the collusion between Japan and Qing Dynasty, and Li Xin, the commander-in-chief of aid to Korea, and Li Jian, the king of North Korea, had also made corresponding arrangements. They transferred an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment of the newly formed Korean Separate Army, a total of more than 5,500 people, to Gyeongju, the capital of Gyeongsang Province, to be stationed. They also ordered the Dongnae Protectorate to send troops to expel the Domopo Japanese Museum in Busan. The Japanese.
Unexpectedly, the officials of the Dongnae Protectorate were bribed by the Japanese merchants in Domopo and did not execute the expulsion order on time. Instead, they allowed the Japanese merchants to finally transport a batch of goods from the sea into Busan. It turned out that this batch of "goods" turned out to be 400 Japanese samurai led by Matsudaira Nobutsuna and 100 white-armored soldiers of the two white flags of Manchuria led by Nikon!
Don't underestimate these 500 people. The 400 samurai selected by Matsudaira Nobutsuna are all masters of kendo and spearmanship (Japanese kendo masters at that time were all proficient in spearmanship), and the white-armored soldiers led by Nikon are all capable of shooting arrows. .
At the Busanpo Pier, the Japanese samurai rushed forward bravely, and the Manchurian White Armor used continuous fire to support them. They actually killed two to three thousand local troops sent by the Dongnae Protectorate to a rout. Even the Dongnae Protectorate's headquarters in Busan , were all captured by this small Japanese-Qing coalition!
When the two regiments of the New Army in Gyeongju learned that the Japanese pirates were attacking (they did not know that the Manchurian soldiers were also coming), they immediately dispatched all their troops to attack Busan.
At the same time, a follow-up force of about 2,500 troops from the Japanese and Qing coalition forces arrived immediately after Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Nikon succeeded in raiding the Pusanpo Pier.
After obtaining the original, Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Nikon immediately sent troops to attack Miryang, ninety miles north of Busan. When the Japanese and Qing allied forces arrived in Miryang, North Korea's new army almost arrived. So the two sides started a battle outside Miryang City!
The result of the battle surprised Li Xin, who was far away in Hanyang and was supervising the tens of thousands of troops resisting the main force of the Qing army.
The 5,500 new soldiers were defeated by less than 3,000 Japanese troops (actually the allied forces of Japan and Qing Dynasty). They lost more than half and fled back to Gyeongju.
The reason for the New Army's disastrous defeat in this battle was actually that the New Army's cavalry regiment was defeated by the Japanese cavalry at the beginning of the battle!
Without the cover of cavalry, the new army could no longer maneuver flexibly on the battlefield and could only form a regiment-level square formation and fight and retreat. The Japanese army followed with infantry, and at the same time used cavalry to constantly harass the tired enemy, chasing the Korean New Army for two days and two nights. Only when they were exhausted and their morale was close to collapse, did they launch the final blow.
After Li Xin, who was far away in Hanyang, learned about the defeat of Miyang, he certainly did not dare to take it lightly. He sent reinforcements to Gyeongju and detailed operations to Busan.
Finally, I finally found out that the enemies who raided Busan were not only Japanese pirates, but also hundreds of slave and bandit cavalry!
It's no wonder that the North Korean cavalry was defeated miserably by their opponents - the new Ming army now uses Spanish square formations and traditional feudal cavalry. Although they can charge a dozen wall-style charges, they are not very clever at it. , the impact is average. After all, given the quality of the war horse, how strong can its impact be? The North Korean cavalry did not have enough farms to allocate, so they did not have the financial resources to prepare their own war horses, so they could only rely on purchasing Mongolian horses from Mongolia.
It is impossible for the Mongolian ministries to sell good horses to the Koreans, and North Korea cannot pay high prices, so they can only buy some horses and use them reluctantly.
Coupled with the fact that the cavalry did not cherish their official horses and the cavalry who became monks on the way were not very skilled, the strength of the Korean cavalry was very weak, perhaps a little stronger than the Japanese cavalry, but it would only lead to death when encountering the Manchurian cavalry.
Due to the joint actions of Manchurian cavalry and Japanese infantry, the situation in Korea that was originally maintainable took a turn for the worse.
Zhu Youjian had to end his southern tour ahead of schedule and embarked on the road back to the capital after the spring of the ninth year of Chongzhen.
It is different from the style of traveling quickly all the way during the southern tour. This time Zhu Youjian's journey north was much grander and the route was different. Instead of taking the road between Chuzhou and Fengyang, we took a boat and went north along the canal. After arriving at Huai'an, we took the overland route and walked slowly to Dongchangfu, then changed to a canal and went north to Jinmen.
The reason why he went north so slowly was not because he was lazy, nor because he was worried that his rebellious son Zhu Cixi would not be able to ride a horse, but because the concubines who followed Zhu Youjian on his southern tour were all pregnant with dragons one after another and could not bear the bumps.
...
"Father, today's cabinet report states that Li Xin suffered another defeat in North Korea, and Hanyang City is likely to be lost. Li Xin has sent the King and Crown Prince of North Korea to Ganghwa Island and Namhansan Fortress respectively... ....”
The one who was reporting to Zhu Youjian was Zhu Cixiang, the nephew of the emperor who was just nine years old. He now knew a lot of words and could read memorials and cabinet transcripts.
The so-called cabinet copy is a briefing prepared by the cabinet in Beijing after summarizing and refining the information received from various memorials from various places every day.
Zhu Youjian is now running around and is too busy to read a lot of memorials in one day. Therefore, we can only trust the cabinet and let it report on important matters.
The important things are, of course, the four major things of "soldiers, money, food, and disasters".
Among them, there are the most military affairs... The trees want to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop!
Zhu Youjian wanted to "shoulder the tribulation" with peace of mind, but unfortunately the enemies didn't want to make it easy for him. Not only did the Japanese and Qing allied forces invade North Korea, but there was also the incident of the National Advisor Khan of the Oara Alliance and Batur Hutaiji of the Junggar Tribe entering Qinghai in the name of going to Tibet to make tea - this is no small matter! The noble concubine Ulyanha, who stayed on the grassland to preside over Mongolian affairs, also specially sent Batma Hong Pegasus to go south to explain to Zhu Youjian face to face the purpose of the national counselor Khan going to Tibet to make tea.
The so-called going to Tibet to make tea is actually a religious activity in which leaders of Mongolian tribes who believe in Tibetan Buddhism go to Tibet to worship Buddha and make alms. However, the state minister Khan and Batur Hutaiji went to Tibet this time not just to worship Buddha, but to plot the snow-covered plateau!
Because all Mongolians believe in Tibetan Buddhism, Tibet can play a very special role in the struggles of various Mongolian tribes.
Therefore, Zhu Youjian, who also served as the Great Khan of Mongolia, could not just watch the Cod Plateau be controlled by the Oara.
In addition, the Oara Alliance has not recognized Zhu Youjian's status as the Great Khan of Mongolia until now, and even secretly maintains contact with the Qing Dynasty.
I don’t know if the National Preceptor Khan will take advantage of the Ming Dynasty’s “Heavenly Tribulation” and the Korean War to start another game on the snow-covered plateau?
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian's brows tightened.
Now his plate is getting bigger and bigger, and the troubles are getting more and more!
"Father, are you worried about North Korea?" Nizi's voice interrupted Zhu Youjian's thoughts.
Zhu Youjian glanced at his son and asked, "Brother Chun, do you think Li Xin can withstand it?"
"Definitely." Zhu Cixiang's answer was very affirmative.
"How can you see that?" Zhu Youjian said, "There was only one Japanese pirate during the Wanli period, and North Korea couldn't resist it. If we hadn't sent troops, North Korea would have been gone."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "But General Li's memorial did not mention that North Korea was in danger of national subjugation, which shows that they can still resist.
Moreover, Li Xin has been resisting slave thieves in North Korea for several years... slave thieves are more ferocious than Japanese pirates. Didn't Li Xin save five ways? Erchen feels that North Korea will lose at most two or three more this time. "
This kid has a big heart! Zhu Youjian said heartily: I don’t know what the king of North Korea thinks?
"Brother Chun," Zhu Youjian said, "What if Li Xin can't stand it?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "Then you can't stand it... When we are done with the disaster, my father can send the third or fourth son to go to North Korea to rescue the people of North Korea. Their abilities are not small, and they will definitely be able to do it." "
Save the people of North Korea? Where is the King of Korea? Zhu Youjian said: No more? Replace the third or fourth child and become the king of Korea? How could a great Ming Dynasty do such a thing?
