The good news about Pyongyang quickly spread among the ministers.
In fact, most officials are somewhat disapproving of North Korea's victory.
After all, it is an old tradition to lie about the number of enemies killed, not only among the Korean army, but also among the Ming army. They have long been familiar with it.
Many people felt that maybe it was just a small group of Japanese troops, vanguard scouts and the like who were careless and were wiped out by the heavy Korean army, and that was it.
After all, the North Korean army was being chased and beaten not long ago, and now it suddenly wiped out a large army of 20,000 people. Even the devil would not believe it.
However, as the report from Liaodong came, the officials' eyes widened in astonishment.
Of course, it was impossible for 20,000 Japanese troops to be annihilated, but the news they received was shocking enough: the North Korean army resolutely resisted in Pyongyang City, annihilating five to six thousand Japanese troops, and indeed repelled the invading bandits.
As for the assistance from the Luzon Governor's Palace, he did not mention it. Li Huo tried his best to hide the matter. He only told the Korean soldiers that it was the inventory in the treasury. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty would think that it was the Korean army's own determination. Result of resistance.
Facts also proved that Yan Zichong's words were not wrong. This counterattack by the Korean army proved their determination to resist, which made the courtiers of Ming Dynasty less disgusted.
A large part of the reason why the ministers opposed sending troops before was because according to North Korea's morality, they knew that once the Ming army entered the North, they would most likely have to fight Japan independently, and they might even be held back by the North Korean army.
But if the Korean army still has combat effectiveness, then the situation will be different. The number of people entering the Ming Dynasty to fight in the DPRK can be reduced a lot, reducing the burden.
They are less resistant to sending troops to North Korea.
At this time, Wanli also made up his mind, and they hit it off immediately. After some discussions, the imperial court finally decided to formally reinforce North Korea, and ordered Liaodong Deputy General Zu Chengxun, Staff General Dai Chaobian and others to lead Jizhen and Liaodong soldiers. A total of 20,000 people crossed the river to support them.
At this time, the Korean army was under fierce attack by the Japanese army.
The Japanese army soon discovered the true and false status of the North Korean army. Although they did not understand why the North Korean army suddenly had so many new weapons, this did not prevent them from continuing to attack. After discovering that the North Korean troops with new weapons were basically concentrated in After Pyongyang, they launched a brazen raid on the remaining cities on Ping'an Road, and in an instant several cities had been lost.
The North Korean army was forced to divide its forces and set up a release line on Ping'an Road with Pyongyang as the center. At the same time, it purchased a large number of firearms from the Luzon Governor's Mansion. In one go, it bought more than 10,000 matchlocks, gunpowder, and cannons. As for other of artillery, but there are only some old-fashioned ones - the inventory has been sold out. Leading weapons such as the Big Franchise and the Red Coat Cannon will not be sold to North Korea even if they are killed.
Fortunately, these are barely enough, after all, they only need to defend the city.
After the defense line was formed, the Japanese army failed to attack several times. At this time, the Ming army suddenly crossed the river and launched an attack on Xianjing Road. The second army was caught off guard and lost several battles in a row. With the cooperation of the Korean rebels in Jingdao, the Ming army finally regained Xianjingdao, but was immediately blocked by the Japanese army.
After all, there are as many as 150,000 Japanese troops in North Korea, which is an absolute advantage in terms of numbers. Compared with the original, they have already divided North Korea, and each defends their own territory, resulting in the dispersion of troops. Now that Ping An Road has not yet been controlled, A large number of Japanese troops were still assembled and ready to fight, and they had the upper hand in numbers.
The combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's frontier army was naturally stronger than that of the Japanese army, and they also had general artillery and Franchise machines, but after all, they had few people. Although after the recovery of Hamgyong Province, the Korean rebels also joined the battle, adding more than 30,000 troops, but there were still They could only barely defend, and the front could not advance any further.
The battlefield was in a tug of war.
This also led to changes in the Japanese military's combat situation.
In the original history, because the Ming army progressed too smoothly, the Japanese army retreated steadily and suffered heavy losses. As a result, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was forced to decide to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty in order to preserve the achievements of the Southern Fourth Route.
But the current situation is that after the Ming Dynasty allied forces occupied Ping An Road and Xianjing Road, the two sides were in a tug of war. No one had an obvious advantage. This gave Toyotomi Hideyoshi hope. He looked at the one hundred thousand in his hand. The reserve team is quite ready to make a move.
He came to Nagoya Castle to inspect the reserve troops stationed here, and took this opportunity to reveal his idea of increasing troops in Korea. Soon he received a reply from the daimyo.
However, to his surprise, most of the daimyo did not support him.
"Everyone is opposed to my decision to increase troops in Korea." Toyotomi Hideyoshi said with some dissatisfaction, and beside him stood the guard here, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
"The daimyo do not want to waste their own armies and are just stingy with their military strength." Tokugawa Ieyasu responded respectfully:
"It's because they are unwilling to contribute to your cause, Mr. Taige. They limit their vision to this island country and are unwilling to look at this huge world. They are only satisfied with the small gains of conquering North Korea and want to retreat when they encounter some setbacks. , How can this happen!"
"I firmly support your decision to conquer North Korea and seize control of Tang Dynasty. This is a major event that will benefit the future. It is completely reasonable to increase troops for this purpose!"
The reluctance of the daimyo actually makes sense. After all, this Japanese army is actually a "coalition force" composed of their own troops.
The tug-of-war consumes a lot of personnel. Since entering the DPRK, the total casualties of the North Korean army have reached 120,000, the Ming army has also suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and the Japanese army has also suffered more than 30,000 casualties.
More than 30,000 casualties have made some daimyo feel very dissatisfied. Now Toyotomi Hideyoshi wants to increase troops, which naturally arouses the opposition of many daimyo. They believe that they should stop when things are good and stabilize the current territory in order to plunder North Korea. Lord.
This typical behavior of wanting benefits but not wanting to pay certainly made Toyotomi Hideyoshi very unhappy.
Among the many forces, Tokugawa Ieyasu was one of the few who supported him.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi smiled. He knew Tokugawa Ieyasu's talent. He was the one who made the original proposal to conquer Korea and achieved good results. Now that the two of them agreed, this strengthened his determination.
He raised his head, let out a long laugh, and patted Tokugawa Ieyasu on the shoulder:
"Okay, since you think this is right, then add more troops! We can't let these short-sighted people stop us from achieving our great cause!"
"When this is done, the land in Longxi of Tang Tu will be yours!"
Toyotomi Hideyoshi finally decided to increase troops in North Korea!
"Thank you, sir!" Tokugawa Ieyasu bowed down, but where Toyotomi Hideyoshi couldn't see him, the corners of his mouth slightly curved.
(End of chapter)
