Mouri Hidemoto, the general on the right, supported abandoning Kaesong and defending Hanyang. This was an important change in the military debate. Ukita Hideie, the general on the left, hesitated for a while.
There is no doubt about Ukita Hideie's loyalty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In his view, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's request is to quickly occupy the entire territory of Korea and defeat the Ming army. So it stands to reason that he should firmly advocate a decisive battle with the Ming army at this time. No There should be no sign of timidity.
However, the problem is that with the fighting power of the Ming army, as many as 100,000 people went south this time. This strength is too strong. There is really no chance of winning by forcing a decisive battle. As for the reason for abandoning Kaicheng, they have just said it to me. Make it clear and clear: Defending Kaicheng itself is already extremely difficult. What's more important is that the Ming army still has the strength to take a detour southward by sea and take Hanyang directly.
If this comes true, once Hanyang is lost, not only Japan's core strategic fulcrum in the center of North Korea will change hands, but Kaesong itself will also become a dead place.
In other words, if Kaesong is defended, not only Kaesong may not be able to be defended, but even the entire central part of Korea may change hands in one day, and the war situation will suddenly collapse. At this time, if the Ming army took advantage of the cavalry and pursued and killed them all the way, the Japanese army might be driven back to Busan.
If you keep it, you can't keep it; if you don't keep it, you can't tell. Ukita Hideie fell into silence and refused to express his position.
Seeing this, Kuroda Rushui gently knocked on the table and said: "I have a question. I hope you guys can teach me: If the Ming army can attack Hanyang by water, then all seaports in the central and southern parts of Korea will be occupied by me." Where should the Ming army not be targeted?
Can we say that Hanyang was abandoned because the Ming army might have attacked these places by sea? If you think so, then should we simply give up Hanyang as well and withdraw directly to Busan? "
When Kuroda Rushui said this, everyone was stunned. Yes, if the Ming Dynasty army could attack Hanyang by sea, wouldn't those cities further south also be their targets?
For example, if the Ming Dynasty army landed at Jishan and then marched eastward to capture Chungju, the land passage between Hanyang and Busan would be cut off. As a result, Hanyang may soon fall into a food crisis, and it may even collapse without a fight. Then what to do?
At this time, Naoshima Naoshige said: "Does Master Rushui mean that Hanyang cannot be defended? I think it is wrong."
Everyone's eyes were immediately focused on Nabeshima Naoshige's face. Nabeshima Naoshige did not show any stage fright. He said instead: "The Ming army of one hundred thousand going south seems to be menacing, but according to the information obtained so far, this one hundred thousand army may be Not all of them may have gone south. Currently, about 70,000 to 80,000 people can be seen.
Considering that the Ming army has the habit of garrisoning important towns in the rear, I think they may also station some of them in Pyongyang this time, perhaps the 20,000 to 30,000 people who have not yet seen the flag.
In this case, based on the 80,000 Ming army going south, although it is still a large army, the Ming army is actually divided into two groups, one heading directly towards Kaicheng, and the other heading east towards Yuanshan. The purpose of Wonsan's army is to cut off the connection between our army and Hamgyeong Province. The force cannot be too weak. It is currently said to be around 20,000 to 30,000, so in the direction of Kaesong, there will be about 50,000 to 60,000.
Gentlemen, even if there are 60,000 Ming troops to the north of Kaicheng, under such strength conditions, how much can they use for a cross-sea raid? I thought it was only 20,000 at most.
After all, the area around Hanyang and Kaesong is where the main force of our army lies. If the Ming army's central army does not even have 40,000 men, how can it shake our Hanyang and Kaesong defense lines? What's more, if the number of troops is less than 40,000, our army may even launch a counterattack. It is expected that the Ming army will not fail to guard against this to avoid another Bi To Pavilion-style battle. "
Shimazu Yoshihiro rarely spoke at the military meeting, but at this time he took the initiative to express his approval of Naoshima Naoshima's words, saying: "Although the problem raised by Master Rusui does exist, I think His Highness Nabeshima's analysis is also reasonable. Ming Jun Although they are powerful in field battles, their forces are limited and they will not be able to divide their forces many times to weaken the strength of the frontal battlefield.
There is another point that I wonder if you have considered. If the Ming army divides its troops and lands at any place south of Hanyang, what will they eat? Even though the Ming Navy's navy was powerful, it was not easy to maintain the supply of an army of tens of thousands.
Judging from the situation of our military fighting in North Korea, half of the supplies rely on the mainland and half of the supplies rely on North Korea. The Ming Dynasty is the country of the Korean suzerainty, so it can't take Korean civilian food rations by force, right? Then their food and salary supply can only be completely self-sufficient. Do you think that the Ming army's transportation capacity in North Korea is already so strong? "
When Shimazu Yoshihiro said this, the commander of the Seventh Legion, Hachisuka Kasei, said: "Yes, His Highness Shimazu's words are very true. Judging from the previous battle of Imjin, the Ming army has been struggling with supplies. There was a serious gap. They were unable to continue southward at that time. In addition to the impact of the Battle of Boutique Hall, another key factor was insufficient supplies.
Although so much time has passed, the supply problem of the Ming army mainly lies in the difficult roads in the mountainous areas of northern Korea. Transportation from the Liaodong mainland to the south is very expensive. Even if the Ming army increases manpower and strengthens transportation, the improvement will be limited. At the same time, it will greatly increase the burden on Mingting.
Therefore, I think that even if the Ming army really attacks our cities in southern Korea by sea, they may not be able to penetrate deep into the hinterland, at least they cannot enter Chungju and cut off the north-south connection of our army. "
Changzong's Yuanqin said calmly: "In other words, even in the worst case scenario, our Hanyang army will at least be able to withdraw southward smoothly and will not be in danger of being annihilated."
Kuroda Rushui listened to them all expressing their opinions without saying a word. It seemed that he had just finished what he should say. However, Kuroda Nagamasa saw that several regiment commanders did not seem to agree with Nai's father's opinions, so he couldn't help but said: "Everyone, what are you talking about?" They all seem optimistic, but since the war has begun today, we might as well think back to the past scenes when we faced the Ming army. When were there any times when we were really optimistic?"
As soon as he said this, Kato Kiyomasa was not happy and couldn't help but said: "Hey, Nagamasa, don't follow the example of Konishi. How can you say such cowardly words! It's him who can't defend Pyongyang." I have no ability. Most of the main force of my conquering army is in Hanyang. How could I not be able to defend it?
As for the Ming army's possible landing somewhere in the south, I, Kato Kiyomasa, have left my words here today. No matter how many Ming troops are landing and where they land, I, Kato Kiyomasa, will be willing to go and meet them for a while! "
According to everyone's discussion just now, although the possible landing force of the Ming army should not exceed 20,000, but... what if it really is 20,000? Kato Kiyomasa suffered a lot of losses during the Imchen year. When he dispatched this time, he only had 10,000 people. Currently, he has lost a little and is already less than 10,000 people. He still has to go to meet the Ming army for a while and land on the Ming army. Just listening to these words is not enough. I really can’t say I’m not brave.
At this point, Ukita Hideie had nothing to say and stood up to express his position: "I have heard what everyone said. I support giving up Kaesong, but we must stick to Hanyang."
Although one of him and Mouri Hidemoto was the general on the left, and the other was the general on the right, and Mouri Hidemoto's troops far exceeded his troops, but...after all, the two of them were close and distant in front of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and their identities were It's quite different. In addition, Ukita Hideie was the general in the previous conquest, so from the perspective of speaking power, Ukita Hideie is far superior to Mouri Hidemoto.
In this case, as long as Ukita Hideie's words are not strongly opposed by military advisor Kuroda Jishui, there is no doubt that they are the final decision. Kuroda Rushui did not object and silently accepted Ukita Hideie's decision.
After the military meeting, Kuroda Nagamasa found his father, Kuroda Rushui, and asked as soon as they met: "Father, why didn't you insist on your opinion? I think that in the face of the powerful Ming army, only your opinion is the safest. It seems that now Defending Hanyang like this will not help at all, but will put the main force of our army in an extremely dangerous situation!"
Kuroda Rushui's expression was dull, he waved his hand and said: "Sit down and talk." Kuroda Nagamasa sat down as instructed and looked at his father with bright eyes, expecting him to answer his question early.
Kuroda Rushui was not in a hurry. He first made the pot of tea on hand and signaled his son to pour the tea. Then he said, "Why do you think I advocate withdrawing troops and returning to Busan?"
Kuroda Nagamasa was startled when he heard this and said in surprise: "Didn't my father already mention the reason for withdrawing to Busan at the military meeting? Naturally, it is to prevent the Ming army from cutting off the food route of our main force in Hanyang."
"No, no." Kuroda shook his head like water and said, "That's just an excuse. I don't think the Ming army will attack a place like Zhongzhou."
"Ah? Why? Isn't it a good strategy to cut off the food road?" Kuroda Nagamasa was greatly surprised and could not understand what his father meant at all.
"Haha, is this the best idea? It might be like this in normal times." Kuroda smiled like water, but immediately turned down his face and said solemnly: "But you have to know that the Ming army has changed its commander, and now it is the senior Gao Ge who is in charge of it. Let’s skip the Korean War.”
"So what?" Kuroda Nagamasa wondered: "Father is not saying that the famous Gao Ge Lao doesn't know how to fight and can only push forward, right?"
"Nonsense, is my father such a person who underestimates his opponents?" Kuroda Ruishui glared at his son with dissatisfaction, shook his head and said: "It is precisely because this high-ranking boss is so famous that my father has carefully studied his past battles. Commanding style. I have to say that at first glance, the Marquis does like the flat-pushing style of play, but..."
"But what?" Kuroda Nagamasa asked curiously as he had never studied highly pragmatic combat command.
Kuroda Rushui said: "But what he likes is nine points of righteousness and one point of surprise. In other words, he will give people the illusion that his troops are extremely stable, and then suddenly make a surprise move when people are caught off guard."
"Really?" Kuroda Nagamasa thought thoughtfully: "Then what will he do now? What are his regular soldiers at this moment, and what are his surprise soldiers?"
Kuroda Rushui didn't answer. Instead, he changed the topic inexplicably and said, "You haven't forgotten what I told you last time, right?"
"Are you talking about...His Royal Highness's physical condition?" Kuroda Nagamasa asked hesitantly.
"Not bad." Kuroda Rushui sighed softly, shook his head and said: "His Majesty Taige's situation should be more serious..."
Kuroda Nagamasa was about to ask again, but Kuroda Ruishui had already squinted his eyes and continued: "And this news must be known to Mr. Gao Ge, who has been running Japanese trade for more than ten years."
Kuroda Nagamasa still didn't know what his father wanted to express, but for some reason, he felt a little creepy when he heard these words. He always felt an inexplicable chill in his back, and couldn't help but ask: "Then... what does it mean?"
Kuroda Rushui pondered, but refused to answer his son's question. Instead, he seemed to be lost in thought, which made Kuroda Nagamasa scratch his head and head in anxiety.
I don't know how much time passed before Kuroda Ruishui suddenly said: "Let me ask you, how many direct troops of the Toyotomi family are still in the country?"
Kuroda Nagamasa thought carefully and calculated for a while before saying: "It should be more than 70,000 and less than 100,000, but it depends on how you calculate it."
"Then let's count it as one hundred thousand as you said." Kuroda Ruishui said with a straight face: "If soon... Taiko passes away and the Toyotomi family only has one hundred thousand direct descendants left, what will happen to Japan? "
Kuroda Nagamasa was surprised: "This hypothesis... is impossible? There are currently 160,000 to 70,000 troops in North Korea, and more than half of them are direct descendants of Toyotomi. As long as these people return to Japan, the Toyotomi family will still have 200,000 The army!"
Kuroda Ruishui waved his hand and said coldly: "I am asking you, if the Toyotomi family only has no more than 100,000 direct descendants left in the country, what will happen to the world!"
"This, this..." Kuroda Nagamasa swallowed and said with difficulty: "I'm afraid someone will have a disobedient heart." After saying this, Kuroda Nagamasa found that sweat was already forming on his forehead.
"That's it." Kuroda Rushui finally stopped playing riddles and said indifferently: "So I guess that Gaoge Lao must have prepared a surprise army, and there is only one thing that this surprise soldier has to do, and that is to ensure that I conquer the court. The army...can never return to Japan."
"Bang!"
Kuroda Nagamasa's hand shook, and the tea cup in his hand fell to the ground. The tea liquid flowed all over the floor, and the fragrance overflowed, even getting wet on his hem.
"Father, this... this is too unbelievable! What kind of extraordinary troops does he have that can do this? I don't believe it! We still have 160,000 to 70,000 troops in North Korea, how can we be wiped out by him in one battle?"
Kuroda Rushui said coldly: "When did I say that he wanted to annihilate all my Korean troops in one battle? I'll say it again, you heard me clearly: his goal is to make it impossible for my Korean troops to return to Japan!"
"Is there any difference?" Kuroda Nagamasa's eyes widened: "Then we still have to... Oh, you mean he can divide it into several battles to achieve it?"
"Is this all you can see?" Kuroda said coldly: "Let me ask you, if you are highly pragmatic and you are sure that you can completely defeat or at least completely suppress the Japanese navy, then in your opinion , can the Japanese troops in North Korea return to Japan?"
Kuroda Nagamasa felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He trembled all over and was stunned.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
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PS: After coding about half of it last night, I felt that the plan for the next war in the separate volume outline earlier was not the best. After hesitating for a long time, I decided to push it back and start over, so I rewrote the outline of the subsequent paragraph. The coding progress So it was postponed, and it’s now around five o’clock in the morning... This chapter is from yesterday, and today’s update remains unchanged.
. Lewen
