Jeonju is the capital of Jeolla Province and is located in a rare plain farming area in North Korea.
Li Shifang is a veteran, and of course he knows that such terrain is not conducive to defense.
Jeolla Province originally had 8,000 troops, but lost more than 2,000 in the battle on the Nakdong River. After Li Shifang came back, he recruited troops aggressively and expanded his army to 15,000 people.
Although these troops were of mixed quality and were extremely short of weapons, they at least gave him some confidence.
Li Shifang knew that if he just defended the city, he would never be able to defend it.
We must make good use of the surrounding terrain to block Xia's army layer by layer, so that we can take the initiative.
He only left 3,000 new soldiers in the whole state, and all the rest of the troops that could fight were sent out to guard the main roads and mountains everywhere.
He was waiting, waiting for Xia Jun to retreat and come to negotiate.
However, what he waited for was bad news.
"Sir, the Xia army has appeared in Jinshan, with more than 5,000 troops."
Li Shifang was horrified and quickly checked the map, sweat began to appear on his forehead.
Geumsan is located in the northeast of Jeonju, only a few dozen miles away. He didn't expect that Xia Jun would either not show up or appear right in front of him.
"Can Li Wanhu resist?"
The messenger was frightened and naturally brought the message of the frontline defender.
"The Xia army has so many artillery pieces, I don't know how long they can withstand it."
Li Shifang knew very well that Jinshan must not be lost, otherwise his careful arrangement would be completely ineffective.
Xia's army could pass through the mountains from here and reach Quanzhou City directly.
At that point, Xia Jun will only be in the center.
"Tell Li Wanhu that no matter what the price, Jinshan must be defended."
The messenger left in a hurry, but Li Shifang's heart was beating fast.
Although he guessed that Xia Jun would attack, he never expected that Xia Jun's first target would be Jinshan.
Before he could recover, the urgent military situation came to him again.
"Sir, Zhen'an has discovered Xia's army. It has a large number of troops and artillery. I dare to ask you to send more reinforcements."
Li Shifang was hit hard.
Zhen'an is located due east of Quanzhou, closer than the distance from Jinshan to Quanzhou.
Where did this part of Xia Jun come from?
Bad news never comes alone. It either doesn’t come or comes one after another.
"Sir, Datian was attacked by more than 5,000 Xia troops. Many parts of the city wall were destroyed. Zheng Wanhu was seriously injured and could no longer guard him."
Li Shifang felt dizzy and fell directly into the chair.
So far, Xia Jun has been discovered from three directions.
And these three directions are all the exits from Jeolla Province to Gangwon Province, but now they are all blocked by Xia Jun.
Master Li instinctively sensed the seriousness of the situation.
But what should he do?
Jinshan and Zhenan are close to Jeonju and cannot be ignored. But once Datian is lost, the situation will be equally dangerous.
etc……
He suddenly noticed something.
"How many troops are there in the Xia army attacking Daejeon?"
The messenger quickly reported.
"More than five thousand."
Li Shifang slapped the table and scolded him on the spot.
"The Xia army that attacked Jinshan and Zhen'an was more than five thousand, and the Xia army that attacked Datian was more than five thousand. Where did the Xia army get such strength?"
Li Shifang still knew exactly how many soldiers and horses Xia Jun had in North Korea.
When he thought about it, the Xia troops in the three directions of Daejeon, Geumsan, and Zhenan must be the fourth division from Busan.
But the problem is that the main opponent of the Fourth Division is the Qing coalition forces retreating north.
That is an army of 200,000 people. Even if the Fourth Division goes all out, it may not be able to win.
At this time, ten thousand troops were sent to deal with him, which makes no sense at all.
None of the generals present could answer this question, but the messenger who rushed in revealed the mystery.
"Sir, the Xia Army landed at Mokpo and captured Gwangju. Tan Yang and Chang Wall are in urgent need. The Xia Army's flag is the fifth division, and there should be new troops joining the battle."
Li Shifang felt like he was struck by lightning.
No matter what, he never expected that Xia Jun would think so highly of him that he would send new troops to attack Jeolla Province.
He swallowed hard.
"How many troops are there in the Xia army in Mokpo and Gwangju?"
The messenger was extremely embarrassed.
"There are more than 10,000 troops. Deputy Ambassador Luo said that he will never be able to withstand it with the troops he has on hand."
That's more than 20,000 Xia troops.
The military strength is already far superior to that of Li Shifang, and it is also under a new banner.
After comparing Xia Jun's establishment, Li Shifang suddenly thought of something.
"Is there anything unusual in the direction of Qingyang and Gongzhou?"
These two places are in the north of Jeonju and are also the gateways to the Jeonju plains. Once these two places are lost, the plains of the entire state are open to the public.
Immediately some generals were waiting to check.
At noon the next day, the bad news came back.
More than 10,000 Xia troops were moving from Lishan, Asan, and Tianan, completely blocking the northward passage.
At this point, there were heavy Xia army troops from the north, east and south, squeezing towards the whole state.
To the west is the vast sea.
After the entire North Korean Navy was annihilated, this direction has completely lost its effect.
In other words, at this moment, Li Shifang has no way to go to heaven and no way to go to earth even if he wants to escape.
The defenders of Daejeon once again called for reinforcements.
"The east gate has been blown up by the Xia army, and the city may be lost at any time. Zheng Wanhu said that if there are no reinforcements, Datian will be lost."
What can Li Shifang do?
He had already allocated his troops, leaving only 3,000 new soldiers in his hands. Even if you want reinforcements, there is nothing you can do!
The only way is...
"You go back and tell Zheng Wanhu that if you stick to it, there will be a solution."
The messenger was stunned, but there was nothing he could do. He could only return the way he came, filled with grief and anger.
Under Datian City, the fighting was extremely fierce.
"Gather all the mortars of the entire regiment and move with the infantry. Wherever the resistance is fierce, I will blow it up."
Hou Chengzu held a telescope and looked at the broken city wall of Datian and the shadowy figures on it, and decided to go all out.
Among the four armies, Daejeon was the farthest from Jeonju.
But one good thing is that once this place is breached, there will only be two small cities in front of Gyeryong and Nonsan, which will not be able to block it at all.
The 19th Regiment can ride fast and charge into the plains of Jeonju in one go.
Maybe he could be the first to arrive at Jeonju Castle.
Under his command, the 19th Regiment stepped up its offensive.
The mortars followed the infantry step by step. Whenever they encountered a key point that the infantry could not attack, the mortar shells were thrown at them as if they were free of charge.
The fortifications built by the Daejeon defenders could protect the front, but not the top.
Under the continuous precise strikes of mortars, the defenders on the city wall could no longer stand.
The Xia army soldiers finally attacked the city and firmly occupied it.
Engineers stepped forward and used hundreds of kilograms of explosives to completely destroy Datian's city gate.
The 19th Regiment poured into the city like a flood and completely destroyed the confidence of the defenders.
Datian guard Wanhu Zheng Rutao was seriously injured and captured, and the rest surrendered one after another.
The door to Jeolla Province was opened.
