Magui, the admiral of Pingwa, rode a tall brown-gold horse that was a mixture of Arabian horses and Akhalje golden horses. He commanded more than 50,000 Ming troops to successfully enter Kaicheng, which had been abandoned by the Japanese army, announcing that the Ming troops had once again recovered. Kaesong's victory.
Although this was a victory achieved because the Japanese army voluntarily gave up the battle, who dares to say that such a victory is not a victory? After all, if the strength of the Ming army had not reversed the war situation, how could the Japanese army easily abandon Kaesong, one of the three capitals of Korea?
The North Korean officials, generals and even soldiers who were accompanying them were all high-spirited and held their chins high, as if they had won this victory through hard work. The performance of these Koreans made Ma Gui quite disdainful, and he couldn't help but think of an idiom in his mind: A fox pretends to be a tiger.
However, Admiral Ma did not show it on his face. He was not interested in wasting words on the performance of the Koreans. Instead, he convened a military meeting immediately after taking over the city defense.
The Ming army that Ma Gui was directly responsible for commanding at this time was mainly divided into three parts. The first group is naturally the elite of Xuanda, but it is also divided into two groups. One group is brought directly from the third town of Xuanda by Ma Gui this time, and the other group is the Xuanda elite who were transferred to Liaodong by Gao Pragmatic earlier. Most of the direct descendants had served under Xiao Ruxun before.
The second part is the southern army that stayed in North Korea, including Qi Jin, Wu Weizhong and other troops. This part has been described in detail earlier and there is no need to go into details.
The third part is the Liaodong Army that was once again transferred to North Korea to fight - to be precise, it is still the first part of the Li Jiajun. The vast majority of this part of the Li family's army is not a direct descendant of the Li family, but is drawn from the troops commanded by Li Chengliang's direct generals. However, the leader at the moment is neither Zu Chengxun nor any other general who is not of the Li family's blood. , but Li Rusong’s fifth younger brother Li Rumei.
The situation of this part of the Liaodong Army needs to be discussed separately. Li Rusong's previous return to town was because the direct lineage of the Li family army had suffered too much, which would have weakened the branches and strengthened the branches. Therefore, Li Rusong returned to town to rest and replenish his lineage.
Since it is necessary to avoid weak leaders and strong branches, when Li Rusong's strength declines, it is necessary to reduce the strength of the remaining Li family troops deployed in Liaodong itself. Therefore, after Gao Pangshi once again took over the post of general manager and assumed control of Liaodong's military affairs, he transferred about half of the Li Jiajun from Liaodong's affiliated factions to Korea again with a transfer order.
As for why the leader of this army is Li Rumei, the reason is very simple. There are three main reasons: First, since the army is drawn from various branches of the Li Family Army, it needs a nominal "master" to command it, not a Zu Chengxun, Zha Dashou and other foreign surnames, otherwise other tribes may not be convinced.
Secondly, Li Rumei was the best military performer among the five sons of the Li family except Li Rusong. He had already served as the governor of Qianshi before the year of Renchen. In the year of Renchen, when Japan invaded Korea, Li Rusong went south to Korea as the commander-in-chief and admiral of the Japanese army. Li Rumei also served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Japanese army, so although he was young, he had sufficient qualifications.
Third, Li Rumei is already married to Gao Jingshi and is Gao Jingshi’s brother-in-law. It is normal for her to be taken care of by some uncles. This is not a mockery. In fact, under the special military system of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of arrangement is the only one. It's a matter of course.
Of course, no matter how you say it, the importance of this one can only be ranked last. Gao Pragmatic is willing to use him mainly because he is more up-to-date. His contribution when he went south to fight in Korea last time is obvious to all.
In the Battle of Bokutokwan, Li Rumei first shot and killed the general of the Tachibana Munemo family with one arrow for ten seconds. During the fierce battle that followed, Li Rusong was surrounded by superior Japanese troops because his light troops broke in to rescue General Zha Dashou and others. .
At that time, a golden-armored general in the Japanese army led all the Japanese troops to rush and kill Li Rusong, but Li Rumei killed him with an arrow. This frightened the Japanese pirates into scattering, saving the crisis and allowing the Ming army to successfully withdraw. After subsequent investigation, it was found that the golden armor he killed was Ono Shigeyuki, an important retainer of Tachibana Muneshige.
Tachibana Muneshige was not an easy person. His original name was Takahashi Toutora. After marrying Chiyo Tachibana, he inherited the Tachibana family as his son-in-law, and then he changed his name to Tachibana Muneshige. Toyotomi Hideyoshi once praised him as "unparalleled in the Western Kingdom". When Kobayakawa Takakage besieged Li Rusong, he mainly used the elite of his Tachibana family as the main force, which shows the combat power of his army.
Even with such an opponent, Li Rumei killed two generals of the Tachibana family. It is not an exaggeration to say that he turned the tide from defeat, which in turn proved Li Rumei's ability.
Because of this, Gao Pragmatic believed that Li Rumei was both qualified and capable to serve as the leader of the Liaodong Army that was marching south again. The total strength of this Liaodong Army is about 12,000 people, half of whom are servants, and the rest are Liaoxi Frontier Army - although they are also guards, these Liaoxi Frontier Army are relatively effective in combat.
When the military meeting began, Ma Gui did his part and spoke first: "Everyone, everyone has read the order of the Marquis. Now because of the crisis in Busan, all or most of the Japanese pirates in Hanyang will inevitably be transferred to the south. This is a good opportunity for our heavenly troops to regain Hanyang. Everyone Feel free to speak out if you have any opinions.”
What surprised Ma Gui was that Li Rumei, who had always been taciturn in previous military discussions, actually took the lead in expressing her position this time, saying: "In my opinion, no matter how the next battle plan is formulated, one principle is certain. That means it must be fast. The Marquis landed in Sichuan and occupied Jinzhou, which was behind the Japanese pirates. We are still not sure how many Japanese pirates there are in Busan now, but I think it should be at least ten or twenty thousand.
I originally thought that the Marquis planned to take Busan directly, but now it seems that is not the case. The Marquis was actually forcing the Hanyang Japanese pirates to go south. In this case, two situations will arise: first, Hanyang's defense must not be as tight and strong as before; second, the Marquis may face a siege by the Japanese pirate army.
At this time, what our army must achieve is, first, to capture Hanyang as soon as possible, and second, after capturing Hanyang, it must pursue southward as soon as possible to avoid too much pressure on the Marquis and Liu Zongrong. "
Now that they are married, it is natural that Li Rumei is more worried about Gao Jingshi's safety than before. Everyone can understand what he said, and the words themselves are reasonable - who dares to put Gao Jingshi aside and just save himself? strength? The idiot who did this didn't talk about preserving his strength. Whether he could save his own head was another matter.
Since Li Rumei mentioned that Hanyang should be captured as soon as possible, Qi Jin, who had the most powerful artillery under his command, became energetic and immediately said: "I checked the defense situation of Hanyang in detail in the year of Renchen. The city itself is not bad. Strong, but North Korea's city defense construction does not take into account the defense of giant cannons. Our southern army is sure to break through the city walls or gates within three days, allowing the army to enter the city as soon as possible."
Ma Gui's son Ma Chengzhao said: "Everyone, the last general was ordered to patrol the city and found that many Korean people came outside the south city. The last general sent people to inquire and found that most of them escaped from Hanyang. According to what they said, the Japanese pirates were big The Japanese troops had already evacuated Hanyang and headed south yesterday. The number of Japanese pirates in Hanyang City is now only about 20-30% of what they were at the peak.
The general asked further, and they said that people in Hanyang City are currently in panic. Although the Korean people hope that our heavenly soldiers will help them regain Hanyang as soon as possible, they are also worried that the heavenly soldiers' artillery fire is too fierce and they will be beaten together... In addition, the Japanese pirates are also very strange. They actually deliberately opened the city gate for a long time and allowed North Korean people to evacuate Hanyang. This was something that the general did not understand. "
The news provided by Ma Chengzhao was interesting. After hearing this, Qi Jin wondered: "The Japanese pirates opened the city and let the people out of the city? Why didn't I find that these Japanese pirates have such a conscience before?"
But as soon as he finished speaking, Li Rumei shook her head and said: "No, the Japanese pirates were not discovered by conscience, but because there was insufficient food and grass in the city. Ma Yourong, when you asked the fleeing North Korean people, did you ever pay attention to whether they carried enough food? Food rations?”
Ma Chengzhao suddenly understood and said: "Ah, that's it. General Li really has a sharp eye. Almost all the Korean people he saw just now came empty-handed, and he didn't see how much food they carried." He paused. After a pause, he frowned and said, "General Li, do you mean that their food has been confiscated by Japanese pirates?"
"I think so." Li Rumei nodded slightly: "The Marquis suddenly stabbed the Japanese pirates in the back. Now that Busan is in danger, the Hanyang Japanese pirates are eager to go south to avoid running out of food. With such an urgent mobilization of the army, they must bring enough food.
They took away most of the food, so the Japanese pirates who stayed behind naturally had to find ways to collect food. The best way was to drive away the Korean people and forcibly confiscate their food rations. In addition, because our heavenly soldiers are teachers of benevolence and righteousness, they will be burdened with the food and drink of these Korean people... Huh, kill two birds with one stone. "
Li Rumei said so, but Ma Gui was obviously not that philanthropic. Admiral Ma sneered and said: "I am the admiral. I only care about fighting. What does the Korean people eat have nothing to do with me? Naturally, these matters are left to the accompanying Korean officials to figure out a solution. They are the parents and officials of the Korean people!"
Pogui, the deputy commander-in-chief of Mongolian origin, agreed very much with this and laughed: "What the commander-in-chief said is absolutely true. We came to help the Koreans fight. This is the emperor's act of benevolence and righteousness in the two hundred years of Korean vassalage." But feeding the North Korean people is not our business. These tasks are originally the responsibility of North Korean officials. Do we still need us to allocate a large amount of military rations? What a joke, why?"
Qi Jin didn't want to discuss this issue, so he interrupted: "I have one thing that I don't understand. The Japanese pirates drove away all the Korean people. So after we attacked the city with artillery and destroyed the Hanyang city wall, did they plan to repair it by themselves instead of relying on the Korean people? "
This issue is very critical. After all, in this era of city defense, soldiers were generally only responsible for fighting. Local people were usually requisitioned for tasks such as repairing or strengthening city walls. If the Japanese army drove away all the Korean people, what would happen to these chores? Didn't anyone do it?
Ma Gui immediately turned around and asked Ma Chengzhao: "What proportion of able-bodied men have you seen among the Korean people?"
"Ah!" Ma Chengzhao slapped his forehead and said: "So that's what happened. The Korean people I saw just now barely saw a few strong men. Those who watched the Japanese pirates and drove them away were all old, weak, women and children, strong men. If they are useful in combat, they must have kept them."
Ma Gui nodded and said nothing, while Qi Jin shook his head and said: "It seems that the Japanese pirates are still unwilling to give up. Judging from these measures, they should be planning to defend Hanyang."
Ma Gui asked the other generals for their opinions. Everyone felt that the Japanese pirates did it with such a mentality. In short, everything was planned to defend Hanyang.
Ma Gui then said: "If this is the case, it is not good news for our army. It seems that the battle for Hanyang can only be attacked by force... Today we must deal with the defense of Kaicheng first, and the attack on Hanyang must wait until tomorrow anyway. Qi Canrong, when our army bombards Hanyang, it will be up to you to create a gap in the city defense."
Qi Jin cupped his hands and said, "The admiral's words are serious. This is what the last general should do."
Ma Gui nodded, and then said to everyone: "Although Kaicheng needs to be prepared today, the situation in Hanyang must also be investigated. In addition to how many Japanese pirates are left in Hanyang, we also need to find out how many Japanese pirates remain in Hanyang." Who are the generals?"
Another general of Mongolian origin set the stage: "Admiral, I am willing to take over this matter." Ma Gui was very satisfied and immediately handed over the investigation task to him.
That night, Bao Sai found out Hanyang's current defensive situation through various means and reported it to Ma Gui ten times.
When Ma Gui learned that one of the two Japanese generals left behind was Shimazu Yoshihiro, he was immediately overjoyed and said to himself: Lord Marquis is really good at predicting events. It seems that Hanyang may not need our army to attack desperately to buy time. I just don’t know if Shimazu Yoshihiro is smart enough to form a tacit understanding with me without any discussion.
Magui had hopes, but he didn't know that the main force of the Japanese army defending the city was Kato Kiyomasa's First Army Corps. Shimazu Yoshihiro's Fifth Army Corps was not directly responsible for any section of the city wall. Even if he wanted to have a "tacit understanding" with him, there was no way. condition.
Therefore, during the siege the next day, Hanyang City became a shooting range for the Ming army's artillery. Qi Jin concentrated most of the army's artillery and bombarded it back and forth for almost a whole day, although the Hanyang city wall looked riddled with holes. , but it cannot form a breakthrough for a while. And Ma Gui did not wait for the ideal "Japanese pirates surrender" or "Japanese pirates internal strife", the first day of the battlefield was wasted.
At night, Magui frowned deeply. After thinking about it, he finally thought that since the Japanese army in Hanyang had Kato Kiyomasa, who was said to be an important direct line general under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he must have personally supervised the city defense. Even if Shimazu Yoshihiro is determined to do something, I am afraid it will be difficult to find an opportunity.
To explain whether the army can break through Hanyang, Ma Gui is full of confidence in this, but as Li Rumei put forward in the military meeting yesterday, his current trouble is that he must win quickly, otherwise if the Marquis is in danger in southern Korea, Then my responsibility is huge.
Ma Gui was thinking about whether he must attack Hanyang tomorrow regardless of losses. Suddenly he saw Zhuo Sai and Ma Chengzhao coming to report that Japanese pirates were seen from the city wall when the sentries were patrolling, and they pretended to shoot the sentries. A secret message arrived, stating that it was to be delivered to the admiral, so the two of them came together to deliver the message.
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