Jinju is located in the middle of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, only about 40 to 50 miles away from Sacheon on the seaside. According to Liu Wei's estimation, after occupying Sichuan, if his troops do not need too much clearing and reorganization but go directly north, then they will be able to surround Jinzhou around noon tomorrow.
However, this idea could not be implemented because Gao Pragmatic decided to temporarily stay in Sichuan. This was an unexpected "change" for Liu Wei, because he originally thought that Gao Pragmatic would not go ashore for the time being, and would stay on the "Dongchang", the flagship of the Ping-Japanese Fleet, and would not return to the army until the main force of the Ming army moved south. .
Taking a step back, Liu Wei believed that even if Gao Pragmatic came ashore early, he would still choose to stay in his own unit - here he refers to his Liu family's army. Although the native soldiers who are currently preparing to stay in Sichuan are undoubtedly "Ming troops", but...how to put it, after all, they cannot be completely regarded as Han soldiers.
Gao Pragmatic was able to make such a decision, and of course it was not a fool's errand. He was well aware of the many chronic problems of the Ming military system, such as the idea that the chieftain soldiers and horses were not regarded as one of their own, but only as servants. [Note: If we want to make an analogy, the relationship between the Ming army and the accompanying chieftain army is somewhat similar to the relationship between the Russian army and the Chechen army in the current Russo-Ukrainian war. ]
However, Gao Pragmatic does not hope that the regular army of the Ming army and the chieftain army will always have such a relationship. Although the root of this relationship is that the Ming Dynasty's governance of the chieftains has always "allowed the chieftains a high degree of autonomy." Simply relying on the influence of the chieftain army may not be very effective. Good effect, but Gao Pragmatic still hopes to try it.
Therefore, Gao pragmatically moved the military expedition ashore with only 800 guards and stayed in Sichuan, where the chieftains were planned to be stationed. Due to this incident, Liu Wei did not dare to go north immediately. Instead, he decided to stay one more night and try to use this night to investigate and clear out the area around Sichuan, just in case anything happened.
However, the contingency he was worried about did not appear. The Japanese army's defense in the area was really empty. In addition, there were not many Koreans in the area, so it was still very easy to check.
In fact, since Sichuan was only a small town, its population before the year of Renchen was only about 20,000, and now after the war, it is less than 10,000. That is to say, even if Liu Wei's Liu Jiajun leaves tomorrow, the remaining 15,000 chieftains will already be more than the Korean people here. In this case, there will really be no problem with high-pragmatic security - unless the chieftains The army mutinied.
Chieftain mutiny? Liu Wei is really not worried about this. First of all, with his high pragmatic reputation and status, it is estimated that no chieftain would have the courage to stage a mutiny against him.
Secondly, this place is North Korea, which is thousands of miles away from the chieftains’ hometown. After the mutiny, there was no sea supply. Do you plan to starve to death here?
Thirdly, the chieftain troops mobilized this time were all well-known to Liu Wei. Among them, the stone and white pole soldiers brought by Ma Qiancheng and his wife were the most famous. And Ma Qiancheng and his wife were famously loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Even if there were real chieftains When soldiers and horses quarrel, the couple must be the pragmatic type who swear to protect Gao to the death.
Finally, the eight hundred soldiers around Gao Jingshi are no joke. As the last security barrier around Gao Jingshi, they are the real elite carefully selected from the more than 200,000 armed servants of the Gao family of various types. Martial arts, various tactics, and even weapons and equipment are all at the top level of the Ming Dynasty today.
Judging from his sister's past descriptions, Liu Wei believed that they would be able to defend even if they faced an onslaught of three thousand surrendered Japanese soldiers. If even the Japanese surrender could be blocked, what else could Liu Wei have to worry about?
Since the Marquis's safety could be ensured, Liu Wei could sleep peacefully that night, but he still summoned all the chieftain leaders to give a lecture - after all, they were all Sichuan chieftains, and they were originally under his control.
There is nothing else to say. The only purpose Liu Wei explained is: Although there should be no military danger in Sichuan, if there is a police force, your first priority is to ensure the safety of the Marquis. If anything goes wrong in this matter, don't blame me, Mr. Liu, for not talking about our old friendship.
Although Liu Wei's words were very serious, the chieftains still understood them. The relationship between the Liu family and Gao Pingshi has never been a secret, and it is natural that Liu Wei attaches so much importance to this matter.
However, the chieftains did not feel any difficulty. For the chieftains, staying in Sichuan this time was a good job. They don't need to contribute to the attack on Jinzhou, but staying in Sichuan and Gao Pingshi also means that they can be the first to receive supplies, and they will have a lot of military exploits - this is the escort management team!
On this basis, if you can still think of ways to leave a good impression on Mr. Hou, then your life will definitely be better in the future. What a rare opportunity this is!
So Liu Wei was faced with a group of impassioned chieftains who were eager to have their hearts cut open to prove their loyalty, vying to express their determination. They always put the protection of high pragmatism as if it was more important than protecting their own ancestral tombs, which made Liu Wei very satisfied.
Early the next morning, the Liu Jiajun went north on time. Beforehand, Liu Wei came to say goodbye to Gao Jingshi and asked Gao Yongshi what instructions he had for the capture of Jinzhou. Gao Yongshi said that he had no special instructions, but asked Liu Wei not to go eastward for the time being after finishing Jinzhou. Just use a small force to make a reconnaissance posture to the east. Liu Wei understood and quickly led his troops to the north.
After Liu Wei left, Gao Jingshi issued an order to the Ping-Japan fleet temporarily stationed in Sichuan, asking them to select the fastest ship to start patrolling eastward, making a posture of imminent attack on Busan. This task was directly and pragmatically handed over to Chen Lin and Deng Zilong, while the Sea Trade Alliance fleet was parked in Sichuan.
After that, Gao pragmatically invited the chieftains headed by Ma Qiancheng to arrange a defense zone for them and blockaded the entire Sichuan, especially the port area. Anyone, including Koreans, would be bounded by twenty miles around Sichuan. , only allowed in but not allowed out.
In addition, Gao Pragmatic also showed his consistent style and ordered Ma Qiancheng to supervise all the chieftains' troops during Liu Wei's absence. Each chieftain must obey Ma Qiancheng's dispatch. Ma Qiancheng and his wife were very excited about this and were even more willing to serve.
At the same time, Gao Pragmatic did not give up the old method and announced the payment of additional allowances to each chieftain. The amount was not large. One tael of cash was given to each person who sent troops. The general manager did not care about the distribution process and paid it directly to the chieftains according to the number of troops sent. in hand.
Don't look at the total of only fifteen thousand taels. As I said before, the characteristics of most chieftains are that they need people to deal with and money. With the power of Huang Zhiting's family at that time, the amount of money they paid to the court every year was only Six hundred taels, so one tael per person is a completely unexpected windfall for these chieftains.
Once this money was given, everyone became less resistant to taking orders from the young Ma Qiancheng - just think of it as a way to give Mr. Gaoge face! Little things, all little things.
After arranging these things, Gao Pragmatic seemed to be free, and actually took people around to "view the scenery".
He has nothing to do here for the time being, so why not talk about Liu Wei first. Liu Wei already knew the general situation in Jinzhou by consulting previous battle reports, but it was not until he arrived in Jinzhou that he realized that his original estimate was a bit off.
According to his previous thoughts, since North Korea was able to win the first battle of Jinju, it meant that Jinzhou was either easy to defend and difficult to attack, or the city defense facilities were strong and complete. Therefore, although his battle may have a certain degree of suddenness, As a critical battle, I am afraid that some casualties will still have to be paid as a price.
However, when he arrived in Jinzhou, he found that the terrain of Jinzhou was not particularly difficult to attack. Although it was considered an upward attack, the angle of the upward attack was very limited, at least for a large number of artillery vehicles with adjustable firing angles. It’s nothing to Liu Jiajun.
What really surprised him was the so-called "strong city defense". Jinzhou's city walls were in tatters. Not only did they have many traces of smoke and fire, but there were also gaps or cracks in more places. As for the dried blood stains, they were everywhere. .
He picked up the telescope and looked carefully, and found that there were craters everywhere on the city wall, which had obviously been hit by a large number of musket pellets.
Liu Wei understood that this must be the masterpiece of the Japanese army during the Second Battle of Jinju. It is said that the Japanese army, in order to avenge the First Battle of Jinju, almost killed the entire Jinju after capturing this place. About 70,000 Korean soldiers and civilians were slaughtered before and after.
Liu Wei secretly cursed: Damn it, these Japanese pirates are more bloodthirsty than I am, and they slaughtered 70,000 people at will.
However, despite the scolding, Liu Wei was relieved, because after such a massacre, the population of Jinzhou could not recover quickly. At this time, there were probably not many people in Jinzhou City at all, and the Japanese army had no choice but to defend the city. It's all up to me, and I can't even coerce the North Koreans to beat them up.
The Liu Jiajun quickly surrounded Jinzhou on three sides. This was a typical besieging three buildings and was a routine operation. However, it may not be routine to say that it is routine, because Liu Qing's purpose in surrounding the three buildings was not to reduce his own casualties, but because he sincerely intended to let go of the Japanese soldiers who were hoping to escape.
The reason is simple. Gao Pragmatic's order was that after he finished attacking Jinju, he was not to advance eastward for the time being. He only needed to send a small force to the east to make a reconnaissance posture. This meant that the purpose of attacking Jinju was to frighten the Japanese army in Busan. , not necessarily for Jinzhou City itself.
Since the main purpose was to shock, it would not be right to annihilate the Japanese troops in Jinzhou. Therefore, Liu Wei's approach was simple and crude: after surrounding Jinzhou City on three sides, he pulled out all the artillery and pushed forward directly.
The Liu Jiajun's 15,000 men were equipped with more than 80 cannons in total. Among them, the most common No. 3 cannons of the Ming Army's elite land divisions were mainly used (the non-elite ones generally used No. 4 cannons, which have relatively weak firepower), but there were also ten cannons. There are fewer No. 2 heavy artillery guns among the Ming Army's land divisions.
Since the main force has already moved north, the number of Japanese troops in Jinju City is not large. There are only a thousand people in Jinju City. Therefore, after learning that Sichuan fell yesterday, the Jinzhou Japanese Army has made preparations to cage the city and plans to rely on Jinju City Defense to hold on for reinforcements.
However, they originally thought that Sichuan was being attacked by Yi Sun-shin's North Korean navy. Obviously, they did not expect that the elite Ming army would arrive. They especially did not expect that this Ming army would have so many artillery pieces, including ten giant cannons. This incident suddenly caused the Japanese troops in the city to become panicked.
The name of the Japanese garrison in Jinzhou was Kuwana Yoshinari. This man was a retainer of Chozong Gabu Yuanqin. His original surname was Nakauchi and his given name was Tojiro. Later, he became the son-in-law and adopted son of Kuwana Fujizoto. After his adoptive father died, he inherited the Kuwana family business and became Nakamura Jodai, Hatata County, Tosa Province.
When he was eleven years old, he met Yuan Qin with his father and elder brother, and at Yuan Qin's instruction, he served in Yuan Dynasty. When he was seventeen years old, he first entered the battlefield and attacked Fujime Castle in Zanqi Kingdom.
In the Battle of Nakafuchuan in the tenth year of Tianzheng, when the war horses ran into the enemy's formation while grazing, Ji Cheng rushed into the enemy's formation and recaptured the war horses. After that, he was highly praised by Yuanqin for his extraordinary courage and bravery. He then made further military exploits in the attack on Awa Ichinomiya Castle and the Iyo Kanshudera clan shortly afterwards.
In the 13th year of Tensho (1585), after Motochin surrendered to Hideyoshi, he served as an envoy to pay homage to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi gave him a pair of saddles and stirrups, and Ieyasu gave him a Wufu. .
In the 14th year of Tensho, under the orders of Hideyoshi, he led the Chosoga army with Motochi to rescue Bungo Otomo's family. In December of the same year, after suffering a tragic defeat at Tojigawa, he escorted Motochi to evacuate to Fuuchi Castle. The next year, he followed the general Toyotomi Hidenaga to attack Gaocheng and other places.
In the 16th year of Tianzheng's reign, he served as Kira's personal supervisor and funeral attendant during the succession dispute of the Changzonggabe family. In the year of Renchen, he went to Korea with Yuanqin and led 67 servants to serve as Yuanqin's bodyguard. This time he still went out with the army and got the opportunity to defend a city alone.
Originally, he thought that even if he could not get much military exploits by guarding Jinzhou alone, he could at least gain some qualifications and that he would be able to improve his status in the Chosonggabe family when he returned to Tosa.
Unexpectedly, God is not as good as man. He never expected that he would encounter a big battle even if he stayed in the rear areas like Jinzhou, and the opponent was not Yi Sun-shin or other Korean troops at all, but the colors of many Japanese troops changed after hearing this. Ming army!
At this moment, preparations were made for the cage city. Even if the Ming army came, Yoshinari Kuwana, who was not yet forty years old, was not willing to flee without a fight or raise his hands to surrender. He decided to give it a try no matter what - the first Japanese army. Didn't he capture Jinzhou the second time? During the Second Battle of Jinju, the Japanese army used 50,000 to 60,000 troops to win! It seems that the Ming army does not exceed 20,000 at most. Could they easily capture Jinzhou? Kuwana Yoshinari didn't believe it.
However, the performance of the Ming army quickly broke Kuwana Yoshinari's fantasy. Unlike the Japanese army, which did not have much long-range heavy firepower, Liu Wei's troops had no good way to face the city. The Liu Jiajun did not even approach the city to make an appearance of siege, but After the three rows of bayonet and musket arrays, the cannons were fired in a row and began to bombard the city wall round after round.
Yoshinari Kuwana found out angrily that he could not make any counterattack against the Ming army's attack at this distance because there was no weapon available. Even if he had two hundred iron gunners (arquebusiers) in his hands, it would be useless. The shooting distance is obviously beyond the range of the iron cannon.
Kuwana Yoshinari was extremely angry and was cursing angrily. He was suddenly reminded by his subordinates that after the defeat of the Korean army in Jinzhou, there were still three Ming army artillery intact and had been kept. Should they be pulled out and used now?
In fact, Kuwana Yoshinari knew about this. However, due to the shortage of gunpowder in the Japanese army, even iron cannons were used sparingly during combat. Therefore, Kuwana Yoshinari had never considered using the "Ming Army Big Barrel" left by the Korean army before, but he was completely passive at this moment. Being beaten is definitely not the answer, so I have to treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor. As for the gunpowder... let's save our lives first.
However, Kuwana Yoshinari still underestimated the power of the Kyoka No. 2 cannon. This kind of cannon, which is more commonly used on naval ships, is completely a demolition weapon on land. It may be difficult for them to hit the Ming Dynasty's own solid city walls, but it has long been difficult to hit one. The scarred North Korean city is completely adequate.
Just as Kuwana Jisung looked expectantly at the Ming army's "big barrel" being pulled over, he heard a loud "bang" sound. A section of the city wall west of the south gate of Jinzhou City was hit by several large solid iron bullets in succession. Then it collapsed!
It’s over!
Yoshinari Kuwana was so frightened that his hair stood on end, and shouted: "Block the gap, hurry, hurry, the death squads block the gap, the iron artillery squad is ready to stop the enemy!" He originally wanted to add "repair immediately," but when he looked across the way, The Ming army immediately realized that this move was meaningless.
Because although the Ming army saw that a small section of the Jinzhou city wall collapsed, they had no intention of launching a strong attack here. Instead, they continued to prepare for the artillery bombardment.
Kuwana Yoshinari knew that he was being sentimental. The small gap did not faze the Ming army at all. They planned to continue the bombardment and launch a large-scale attack after the southern city wall was completely destroyed.
We can't hold it anymore and must withdraw! Kuwana Yoshinari suddenly made up his mind at this moment.
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