November 15th, early morning.
Before dawn, a river composed of torches was flowing southward on the east bank of the Han River filled with ice floes. It was mighty and unstoppable, heading straight for Seoul.
Such a big movement would of course alert the pacesetters of the North Korean Governor's Office who were standing guard at Donui Gate, the west gate of Seoul. So Zhu Heji, who was sleeping soundly with Dae Bo Ryung in his arms in Daejojeon of Changdeokgung Palace, was woken up by a warning gong sound of "bang bang bang".
After waking up, he quickly received a report from the Palace and Military Affairs Department. Therefore, he did not dare to neglect, so he quickly dressed up, and together with Da Bo Ling, braved the howling northwest wind, and headed straight to Donui Gate.
When Zhu Heji and Da Boling, escorted by a group of Guangdong soldiers who were a little stiff from the cold, braved the freezing cold of unknown degrees below zero to climb the Donui Gate Gate Tower, they found that the tower was already crowded with people.
Song Shilie, Yin Jin, Li Yongxi, Jin Xuan and other senior officials of the former Korean Kingdom, as well as Ming army generals such as Emperor Hu De, Su Zhanshan, Yu Xiaoqian, Ling Zongjun, Liu Yan, Ma Weixing, Zhao Desheng, etc., have already arrived. Princess Ming'an Li Wenji also arrived. She was wearing a white jacket trimmed with white fox fur, a white moonlight skirt, and a white fox fur shawl. She looked like a warm little fox. , which makes people have the urge to hold it in their arms for warmth.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry. Qing Yao's army is coming. If not one hundred thousand, there are eighty thousand!"
Just when Zhu Heji was thinking about taking the "little fox princess" into his arms to keep warm, an old man with a white beard rushed over and said, "The king is not good"...
This old man was Song Shilie, who had just become the deputy prime minister. .
Old Man Song was certainly very satisfied with his official position as Zuo Deputy Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, but he did not rush to Nanjing to take up the post. Instead, he always followed Zhu Heji and discussed Neo-Confucianism with him whenever he had time... .It is not the physics of an apple falling to the ground but not flying to the sky, but the Neo-Confucianism passed down by Zhu Xi.
Zhu Heji nodded, with a confident smile on his face, "Okay! Just in time... I already have five towns in my hands, enough to defeat Kangxi's 100,000 pure demons!"
Hearing what Zhu Heji said, the local North Korean officials Song Shilie, Yin Jin, Li Yongxi, and Jin Xuan were all shocked.
Song Shilie said: "Your Majesty, three of your five towns are newly built, and the proportion of Koreans among the officers and soldiers in the five towns is too high!"
Yin Yin, who insisted on the "Northern Expedition Theory" when he was an official for Li Zhen in the early days, also quickly echoed: "Your Majesty, if the five towns in your hand are all composed of elite soldiers from the Ming Dynasty, of course you don't have to be afraid of a hundred thousand pure monsters. But half of the 60,000 people in these five towns are Koreans..."
"Yes, yes, the North Koreans cannot defeat Qingyao!" Li Yongxi said, "The previous battle in Pyongyang is proof!"
Jin Xuan also said: "Your Majesty, you'd better evacuate to Namhan Mountain City as soon as possible!"
After listening to the words of these North Korean officials, Zhu Heji was a little surprised - why do you agree? Shouldn't you have a party fight? Aren't you divided into the Southerners' Party and the Westerners' Party? Why are we united this time?
Zhu Heji couldn't figure out what the North Korean officials were doing, but he still wanted to hear Li Wenji's opinion, "Ming'an, what do you think?"
"Me?" Li Wenji was stunned.
Zhu Heji smiled and nodded: "Ming'an, you have been following me these days when I inspected various towns for combat readiness training. Do you think the Koreans in the army can fight?"
Li Wenji shook her head, "Your Majesty, I can't tell who is a Korean... The soldiers of the Ming army all wore the same clothes, held the same weapons, and formed a shoulder-to-shoulder queue. You can rely on the golden drums and The sound of the suona advances and retreats, and it is really difficult to tell who is from North Korea."
In fact, there is a big difference between the Koreans in the five-town Ming army stationed in Seoul and the officers and soldiers from the six provinces of the Ming Dynasty... Most of the former are joining the army for the first time, and they have not been in the army for a long time. Some were former third-hand officers and soldiers, while others were recruits who had been in the army for about two months and had just learned to use flintlock guns and make some simple tactical actions under the command of the officers. The latter have all completed at least three months of recruit training and three months of camp training, and a considerable number of them are veterans who have been in the army for one or two years.
However, when these veterans and recruits were crowded together to form a leader-level (company-level) horizontal team, and then together to form a battalion-level large horizontal team, because the North Korean recruits were escorted and led by officers and veterans from the six mainland provinces, Therefore, it is normal for the inexperienced Li Wenji to have difficulty distinguishing.
Zhu Heji nodded and looked at the six people including Yu Xiaoqian, Su Zhanshan, Ling Zongjun, Liu Yan, Ma Weixing, and Zhao Desheng. Except for Yu Xiaoqian who served as the marching division, the others were all the general soldiers of the first town.
"What do you think?"
Ling Zong's soldier didn't say much, so he was the first to reply: "Your Majesty, you can fight!"
Yu Xiaoqian also nodded and said: "The Korean recruits in the army have mastered the basic formation and spear stabbing skills, and can also load flintlock guns and fire. Each of them has fired live ammunition at least thirty times, and they have already Very good! I heard that the fusiliers of many Western countries have not been able to fight this number for several years!
And they can also fire a flintlock volley according to the sound of the suona and the command of the officer... This is considered a qualified infantryman! "
Liu Yan, who killed Fu Quan with his own hands, obviously looked down upon the Qing army and replied with a smile: "Your Majesty, I think we can fight. The Korean fusiliers and pikemen are a little inferior, but the grenadiers and snipers The soldiers, artillery, and cavalry are all solid veterans, and most of the officers are very good."
Su Zhanshan, the second-generation leader of the Su family, also nodded and said: "Your Majesty, I also think we can fight..."
As soon as he said this, several roars suddenly came from somewhere in the north of Seoul... This was the sound of sugar grenades exploding, and then there was a burst of "crackling" gunshots.
Zhao Desheng was the first to react, "Your Majesty, it's Beihan Mountain! If Beihan Mountain is lost, Qing Yao will be able to peek at Seoul from a high position!"
Ma Weixing immediately said: "Your Majesty, those are my troops fighting Qing Yao... Beihan Mountain is my defense area, and I am ambushed at every entrance to the western foot of Beihan Mountain. But in Beihan Mountain There are so many roads that it is impossible to block them all. So I just placed a battalion of troops around the Zuduli Peak in the southwest corner of Bukhan Mountain, because it is the highest point on the north side of the open area west of Seoul and is very important. !”
Zhu Heji nodded and said: "I know! It seems that Kangxi's troops will be divided into two groups, coming all the way along the Han River; coming all the way through Beihan Mountain, they may get close to Beiyue Mountain, or even detour to the east of Seoul. .
But they can't cross Bukhansan Mountain so quickly... Let's mobilize the team first!
Following Guan Gu's order, every town blew the wake-up call, and the crew began to prepare breakfast and three-day field rations. Today's breakfast was provided according to the highest standards, including broth, rice... and wine and meat!
In addition, I once again informed the entire army that there are no direct concubines or concubines in the Ming Dynasty army, only military law and military merit. Anyone with military merit can be promoted to the position of prince, and they can also earn with military merit... How much glory and wealth they have depends on their own ability! "
Then he said to the people around him: "Su Zhanshan, Ling Zongjun, Liu Yan, Ma Weixing, Zhao Desheng, you go back to each town to assemble your team and wait for the military order issued by the Palace and Military Affairs Department!
Yu Xiaoqian, you first go back to the palace to join the military department, gather the staff, and formulate a decisive battle strategy.
Prime Minister Song and Yin Futai, you immediately mobilize the people of Seoul to go to the city to set up defenses, and then distribute all the old weapons in the warehouse to them. All common people who participate in the defense of the city will be given fifty, no, one hundred copper coins a day. If they unfortunately die in battle, they will be given a settlement allowance of 10,000 copper coins... In addition, the floating bridge on the Han River outside the South Gate will be Burn it for me! Let me tell you that the lonely king will not abandon the people of Ming Dynasty. The lonely king wants to live and die with them!
Governor Hu, Ming'an, you follow Gu, and we will inspect the camps together to boost morale! "
