Chapter 51 Li Chenggui’s thoughts
It’s not that all Ming soldiers were loyal to the court and would rather die than surrender. After all, there are naturally such people. But with so many soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, there are always some who have weak bones. This is a matter of probability.
Just putting it here makes it different.
First of all, most of the Ming army were in the front team, and there were only wounded in the rear team. The wounded also knew very well that their injuries would be actively treated in the Ming Dynasty, and it was unclear whether they could be rescued. As for Goryeo, not to mention whether Goryeo would treat prisoners. During the war, even the Ming army's medical resources were scarce. How could it be used by prisoners? Secondly, is there any medical skill in Goryeo that can cure it?
So in this situation, it would be better to die.
Only after death can the family have pension and honor. But once you surrender, your family members will sit together.
Secondly, almost all of the troops Ye Chen led were selected by Ye Wang. They were elite soldiers and received good treatment. Unlike ordinary soldiers, their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, or to the Ye family and his sons, is also different.
That's how we are now.
Li Fangguo saw that Li Chenggui looked unhappy and said, "Father, victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. We didn't gain much today. It's a victory anyway, so why bother?"
Li Chenggui said: "Victory? Real victory? Come and see." Li Chenggui pulled out a Ming army standard long sword. I could see some faint bluish edges on it, and even without looking at them, I could tell they were very sharp patterns. Li Chenggui slashed a small tree with a knife, and the small tree as big as a bowl was chopped off with a single knife.
It is true that Li Chenggui is highly skilled in martial arts and is an expert with swords. For a novice, no matter how sharp the knife is, it is very likely that the knife will get stuck in the tree. Li Chenggui said: "How about this knife?"
Li Fanguo said: "It's a good sword, not much compared to the swords hidden at home. Congratulations to my father, I got another precious sword."
Li Chenggui's face became more and more ugly, and he said: "The sword, nearly a thousand people were captured this time, was used by the Ming Dynasty to arm the Jurchens."
Li Fangguo's expression changed. At this moment, he finally understood why Li Chenggui won the battle, but his expression was still so ugly.
Li Chenggui was not going to let it go, so he put a pair of armor up on a stand and asked Li Fanguo to chop it with a knife. Li Fanguo was Li Chenggui's son and was not very good at martial arts. But he was not born in a sect, and he had some attainments. He slashed at the armor with several knives. Even with all his strength, there were only a few gaps. It seemed that with a little polishing, these marks could disappear.
Li Chenggui didn't wait for Li Fanguo to speak and said, "More than a hundred sets of armor like this have been captured."
Immediately, Li Chenggui dropped the steel crossbow, spear, chainmail, and other weapons on the ground and stopped explaining them in detail. However, the sound of the collision of gold and iron as each weapon fell on the ground made Li Fangguo feel in his heart. A shudder.
A silent fear came over me.
Li Chenggui lowered his head and his eyes were covered by his armor. He moved his lips slightly and said, "Is this the Celestial Empire?"
Most people can't tell anything from these changes.
But Li Chenggui is no ordinary person.
Even though he is not the founder of North Korea, he still holds the title of the first general of Goryeo for the time being.
This time he mobilized troops, but he did not transfer all the troops here. On the pretext that the Ming army would threaten the northwest border, he left most of the troops in the northwest. There were about 30,000 troops, all of whom were fully staffed and their combat effectiveness was also high. The strongest in Goryeo.
Of course, the current Li Chenggui is not the Li Chenggui a few years later. The Li Chenggui a few years later has a higher prestige, but he only took control of the power of Koryo by hijacking the military power on the front line of Goryeo and presiding over the return of troops to Waihua Island.
This time, there were more than a thousand soldiers in the Ming army, all wearing armor, and in his opinion, it was armor that could be called a treasure. He also generously gave so many good weapons to the Jurchens and slaves. If Li Chenggui had never presided over the smelting of weapons, he would not know how difficult it was.
Just because he knew it, he didn't understand, where did the Ming Dynasty get so many armors?
Are all the Liaodong weapons concentrated on Ye Chen's unit?
Li Chenggui wanted to support this idea, but he couldn't lie to himself. From many details, he could tell that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty did not care for these armors as much as treasured armors. It could be said that although they cherished them, the extent of them was limited.
When these armors first entered the army, the soldiers cherished them as if they were their own eyes. Eventually, almost everyone had armors. Those who did not have armors did not mean that they were not in the warehouse, but that this person did not need to use them. We can't let the fire-headed soldier not take the blame, just go to the armor.
For some auxiliary units that do not directly fight in battle, there is indeed no need to wear armor.
By this time, the soldiers' love for their armor was no more than that. After all, things are rare and valuable. Of course, there are still a group of people who cherish them as their own lives, but they are also a minority.
In this situation, Li Chenggui could see clues from the captured Ming army armor. In addition, the Ming army was so generous to the Jurchens.
Li Chenggui had to admit that one thing he didn't want to admit was that this armor was Ming Dynasty standard equipment, and there were a lot of it in the army. He didn't know the specific number, but he thought that the entire Ming Dynasty must be equipped with hundreds of thousands of pairs.
Hundreds of thousands of pairs were already an astonishing number that he could think of.
That's a soldier.
You must know that many people brag about having a million dollars in armor, but most of the time they are just bragging.
It's just that Li Chenggui didn't know that he had said an order of magnitude less. In the past four or five years, the Ming Dynasty produced five to six million pieces of armor. A pair weighs only twenty kilograms of steel, which is nothing to today's Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, armor is hardly produced. Because most of the Ming Dynasty's guards had enough armor and stockpiles.
Of course, there is not much inventory, and the court will not let the people below have so much inventory.
But the popularization of armor also takes time. From the Beijing camp to the frontier army, from the frontier army to the inland garrison. In addition, in the early Ming Dynasty, the law was strict, and no one dared to resell, or those who dared to resell were now opening up their joints. It may take a few years for the armor to be resold.
Therefore, many places do not believe it even after hearing it.
Some truths are so false that they have poor currency.
Therefore, Li Chenggui has not heard any rumors in this regard. But the fact before him was already overwhelming him and he couldn't breathe.
He was the minister most opposed to war with the Ming Dynasty.
The reason is simple, you can't beat it. Lee Seong-gye's title as the No. 1 general of Goryeo was obtained by defeating Naha Chu. First of all, it’s hard to say much about Naha’s military command ability. Anyway, there are no exciting battles, and they rely more on the Muhuali family.
Secondly, the Yuan Dynasty was in turmoil at that time, and Naha probably had no intention of fighting with Goryeo.
But no matter what, defeating the Mongols was Li Chenggui's greatest achievement. Therefore, everyone in Korea hopes that Li Chenggui can regain his glory. But Li Chenggui knew very well that Goryeo could not defeat the Ming Dynasty. But what he thought was not that the Goryeo army could not defeat the Ming army.
As a proud general, he did not feel that his army was much worse than the Ming army.
What he thought was inevitable defeat. That's because of the size difference between Goryeo and Ming Dynasty. Goryeo is only a little larger than the Ming Dynasty. Goryeo can win once or twice in a battle with the Ming Dynasty, but it will definitely be defeated in the third or fourth time. Even gods can't save him.
This is caused by the gap in national power.
But the actual situation gave Li Chenggui a severe blow.
Looking at the current situation, a mere thousand Ming army cavalry can disrupt half of Goryeo. Not to mention, Ming's military equipment had reached a level he couldn't even imagine. In his opinion, the only ones who can defeat the Ming army are the heavenly soldiers and generals.
The King of Goryeo was still dreaming of defeating the Ming army.
How could Li Chenggui not be disappointed and sad?
Then a feeling of resentment arose deep in his heart.
Although Li Chenggui's parents are not Koreans. As mentioned earlier, Li Chenggui's father was originally a guard general of the two cities of Mongolia and surrendered to Goryeo. But Li Chenggui grew up in Goryeo and said that he had no feelings for Goryeo at all, which is false.
It's just that at this time, if Wang You of Goryeo doesn't change the situation, the situation in front of him will be defeated. No matter what he does, all he can save is early defeat or late defeat.
What's the point?
Li Chenggui suddenly remembered how his father Li Zichun felt, and secretly asked himself: "Is it time to make a new choice?"
Li Chenggui didn't know the answer.
No one could answer him.
