When Yan Shiyi signed the agreement, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's war map finally put together the last piece of the puzzle.
He could finally use his troops with confidence and boldness to realize his ambition.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi quickly gathered 150,000 troops and divided them into nine corps to launch an offensive. At the same time, he gathered 100,000 troops along the coast, ready for reinforcements at any time.
The war went surprisingly well.
In nineteen days, the Japanese army penetrated most of Korea.
In the battles of Busan and Dongnae, the Korean army was defeated successively, and more than ten thousand Korean troops were killed.
In the Battle of Chungju, General Shen Li was killed in battle, and all his 8,000 troops were wiped out.
In the Battle of Imjin River, 12,000 Korean troops were defeated miserably.
In the Battle of Guangjiao Mountain, the 50,000-strong imperial army was defeated by Anji Wakizaka with only 2,000 men.
The North Korean army's combat effectiveness was so poor that it almost collapsed in a short period of time. The Japanese army was overwhelming, reaching Wangjing and then breaking through the city. Li Ao fled north overnight, all the way to Pyongyang.
However, the Japanese army refused to give up and continued to move north. Li Huo had no choice but to continue heading north and planned to directly enter the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
The reason why he is still here now is because a messenger who claims to be from the Luzon Governor's Palace came in front of him.
The Luzon Governor-General's Palace imitated the Ming Dynasty and set up six departments, namely the Military Department, the Household Department, the Industry Department, the Punishment Department, the Personnel Department and the Foreign Affairs Department.
It was Yan Zichong, the minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who came.
Li Huo took a small part of his precious traveling time to meet him.
"Nowadays, many roads have fallen and the army has been defeated. Although there are still many people in your country who have spontaneously organized rebels to resist, the situation is still dangerous. My opinion is that your Majesty will cross the river first to preserve your body, and then return to the country after the rebels have regained their territory."
Yan Zichong's words were thorny and a bit provocative. As a king, you just abandoned your people and ran away?
But Li Huo didn't seem to hear it, and he didn't react at all to his words. His expression even had a vague meaning of "have you finished speaking, I will leave after I finish speaking."
He suddenly felt that he had overestimated the level of the Korean king and underestimated Ming's influence on countries in the Chinese cultural circle.
He may really want to live in the Ming Dynasty and wait for death for the rest of his life.
"If His Highness just runs away without putting up a decent resistance, Ming Dynasty may not be willing to send troops."
Yan Zichong was also prepared. When he saw that one way was not working, he immediately changed it:
"Although your country is a subsidiary of the Ming Dynasty, it is its own country after all. Now that the Ming Dynasty army collapsed without a fight and abandoned the country to others, why did the Ming army spend money and food to save your country?"
Hearing this, Li Huo, who was originally the old god, suddenly became anxious. He seemed to have been stepped on and shouted:
"My country has served the Celestial Empire for two hundred years, and the Celestial Empire will definitely not abandon me!"
Yan Zichong took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it over calmly.
What was written on it was the letter from the ministers in the court. At this time, the Ming Dynasty had received Li Huo's request for help.
But the opinion of most people is just like what Yan Zichong said - your Korean army doesn't defend its own country, and you just want to call the Ming Dynasty when you encounter the enemy. So why should we help?
After a month of defeat to this point, even if you say that you are seriously resisting, you won't even believe it.
Some people even suggested that Li Fang should not be allowed to cross the river, which made him dizzy.
Moreover, at this time, the Ming Dynasty was already in some financial difficulties. The Ming army was still dealing with Ningxia's defeat, and the ministers really did not want to continue to use troops in other places.
After reading it, Li Hao, who was originally as steady as a rock, was already sweating like rain, and his palms were shaking uncontrollably.
He looked around in confusion, and then saw Yan Zichong standing with his hands behind his back. He immediately ran down from the throne as if he had seen a savior, held his hand firmly, and said repeatedly:
"Sir, save me, sir, save me!"
However, the corner of Yan Zichong's mouth quietly curled up into a smile, and he took the bait.
He immediately said:
"I believe that if His Highness can command the army and fight the Japanese army for a few battles or maintain a stalemate for more than a month to show his determination to resist, the opinions of the government and the opposition may change."
Of course Li Huo was completely willing, but he also pointed out that his troops' combat effectiveness was really not good enough, and it would be unrealistic to resist Yue Yu.
This was the moment Yan Zichong was waiting for, and he said loudly:
"Your Highness, please don't panic. I have already considered this for Your Highness."
He immediately ordered his men to show off his accompanying items - a lot of arms.
Including matchlocks, flanges and general cannons.
In plan No. 1, the most ideal situation is that the Japanese troops on the expedition are held back by North Korea and the Ming Dynasty, and are unable to return or even suffer heavy losses. It is best to force Toyotomi Hideyoshi to stud and use the 100,000 domestic reserve troops. Then strengthening North Korea has become an essential part.
At this time, the Flange machine had been researched by Tiangongfang and had been improved to a certain extent, becoming lighter and more accurate. The red cannon had also been successfully copied and started to be installed. So Yan Ling rolled his eyes and simply let it go. The Governor's Mansion took out the replaced French guns and general cannons and sold them.
He could remember how the United States rose in his previous life. Selling arms has always been a lucrative business, not to mention the fact that they are fighting Japanese people, so there is no moral baggage.
Although they are obsolete weapons, they are already very good for North Korea, and even for Ming Dynasty, they are quite good and can be equipped with the main force.
They are all products of the older generation, but Japan basically does not have Franchise machines and cannons... It will definitely not be able to turn the tide of the war. The Korean army is really too weak, but it can still cause more losses to the Japanese army.
In addition, seeing that North Korea was still using the old-fashioned fire blunderbuss, Yan Zichong once again launched a product - the matchlock gun, which is what the Ming Dynasty called the bird blunderbuss.
And there are only three words left in Li Huo's mind: buy buy buy.
As long as he can block Japan's attack and then get support from Ming Dynasty, he is willing to do anything.
Looking at this large list of weapons orders, Yan Zichong was so happy that Li Hao couldn't stop until he had bought all the arms for the several ships he had brought.
He doesn't have to worry about buying too much and not having enough equipment. Now a large number of broken troops are heading north and gathering in the Pyongyang area. The North Korean army here has reached an astonishing 30,000, which is completely enough.
"With these equipment, can we temporarily block the Japanese attack?" Li Huo was cautious, not even daring to say that he was repelling the attack. He only hoped to be able to temporarily block it. He was already scared.
"Of course, Your Highness, as long as you are equipped with these and do a little training, even the Japanese army will not be able to easily defeat your army."
Yan Zichong cupped his hands, smiled, and said seductively with a seductive voice:
"Why not go to the battlefield and give it a try? Let the heaven see your determination to protect your home and country?"
All in all, it’s just one sentence——
You've been strengthened, come on!
(End of chapter)
