A few days later, the imperial army led by Matsudaira Nobutsuna arrived at the ruins of Seoul as scheduled. The reason for this was not only because there was an advance route that had been explored by early scouts, but also because there were basically no battles along the way. Even if they encountered active Koreans, they would all flee upon hearing the news and did not dare to fight the Japanese army at all. , which did not delay our army's schedule at all.
He was very satisfied with this. He kept shouting "Xi" all the way. Even if Fan Wencheng, who was not talking to him, could not understand his usual mumbling in Japanese, he could feel his mood.
Standing on the top of the city wall of Seoul, looking around and looking at the grain fields in the distance, he was even more satisfied that they could be used with a little tidying up.
Seeing Matsudaira Nobutsuna pointing his finger and saying something in Japanese to his subordinates, Fan Wencheng felt a little lonely for some reason. Suddenly, he felt the need to learn Japanese. Whether it is to prevent the Qing Dynasty from having bad luck, to embrace the Japanese country, or as a representative of the Qing Dynasty, it is necessary to deal with the Japanese country for a long time.
Thinking like this, he took a chance, stepped forward with a smile and praised Matsudaira Nobutsuna: "I didn't expect that your army would reach Seoul so quickly after all the devastation. It's really gratifying and congratulatory!"
No matter what the person carrying the sedan chair is, it is always right to start with a bunch of flattery.
However, Matsudaira Nobutsuna raised his head and glanced at him, then turned to look at the Han River. Although he still smiled, his words lost their warmth and said: "There are almost no Koreans along the way, let alone Akito. Well, if that’s the case, how can we talk about destroying ancient things?”
When Fan Wencheng heard this, he was a little embarrassed, as if he didn't like this flattery, but he was also thick-skinned, so he immediately put this embarrassment behind him, and immediately followed Matsudaira Nobutsuna's intention and replied: "That's right, This Korea has been swept back and forth many times by our Qing Dynasty, so naturally there are no Koreans left. As for the Ming people, they were restrained by our Qing Dynasty and did not have any extra troops stationed in North Korea. This time, your army must not have stabilized North Korea. questionable!"
This time, Matsudaira Nobutsuna nodded, everything was as expected. Thinking of this, he happily said: "Mr. Wen Cheng, look here, how many farmers are needed to reclaim these grain fields to provide enough food for the army?"
Fan Wencheng was delighted when he heard that he was consulting him, and he quickly used all his skills to analyze Matsudaira Nobutsuna from all aspects, and finally figured out how much manpower was needed. He understood that it was naturally impossible for all Japanese farmers to come to Korea. If the minimum number of people could be obtained, it would be easier for the Japanese to make arrangements. Therefore, it was best to be as accurate as possible in estimating the number of people.
After answering, Fan Wencheng said with congratulations: "The land around Seoul is fertile. After the grain fields are reclaimed, it must be enough for the army. By the way, there is also a lot of land in the north, all the way to Pyongyang. Fertile grain fields, these are unclaimed lands, as long as your country makes use of them, not to mention an army of 100,000, but an army of 200,000 or 300,000, I believe there will be no problem."
Matsudaira Nobutsuna beamed when he heard this. Isn't this what he and the general expected?
Just as he was about to say something, suddenly, a Japanese army leader rushed over from the ruins of the city, holding something in his hand. This situation was a bit unusual, and it immediately attracted his attention, and he said nothing.
Fan Wencheng also saw it and was a little curious about what the Japanese leader found in the city? Generally speaking, Seoul has been raided many times by the Qing army, so there should be nothing important or valuable left?
I saw the Japanese leader quickly ascending to the top of the city, panting and reporting to Matsudaira Nobutsuna: "Sir, this was found in the city!"
After he finished speaking, he held up a long wooden sign with both hands. It could be seen that one end was inserted into the soil.
Matsudaira Nobutsuna took a look at it curiously, and immediately frowned. Fan Wencheng saw it and stretched his neck slightly to take a look. On the wooden sign in his hand, there was written in Chinese characters: The location of the Han County Government Office of Korea Province in the Ming Dynasty, the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.
"What's going on?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna asked Fan Wencheng a little unhappy, "Didn't you say that Korea is a land without one? How come it became a province of the Ming Dynasty again?"
Although the Japanese decided to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, if they could start the war later, it would be better to start the war later.
If North Korea is a land without one, based on the Japanese understanding of the Central Plains Dynasty, even if they want to send troops, the ministers in the court will quarrel first. If they finally send troops, it will definitely be delayed for a long time. However, once Korea became a province of the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese army appeared, there would inevitably be only one opinion in the Ming Dynasty court, at least more unified than before. This situation is not what the Japanese army wants to see!
Fan Wencheng himself was also curious and couldn't help but said in confusion: "Could this sign be a trick played by the Koreans here to scare away your army?"
Seeing that Matsudaira Nobutsuna seemed a little unhappy when he heard this, he quickly added: "The villain is just analyzing the facts. After all, when the Japanese army attacked Korea in the past, they were repelled by the Ming Dynasty. Those remaining Koreans , I definitely don’t want your army to occupy North Korea, so I guess I can naturally think of this intimidation strategy. However, I believe that adults will not care about this at all. This bad idea of the North Koreans is of no use at all. "
This was well-founded. Matsudaira Nobutsuna nodded after hearing this, but he still frowned and ordered his subordinates: "Immediately search a hundred miles around to see if there are any traces of Akito. If a Korean is caught, we must He was tortured and asked for information from some wise people to see if this sign was set up by a wise person or was caused by North Koreans!"
"Hi!" His men agreed and went to work.
Then Matsudaira Nobutsuna gave the order again, and the army began to camp and rest, and no longer went north. One is to stabilize the rule here and drive those annoying Korean monkeys out of the mountains and eliminate them. Otherwise, it would not be what he wanted to see when he jumped out to threaten the rear of the army.
In addition, the army's food also had to wait for the navy to transport it from the Han River to Seoul along the coast. If it were transported by land alone with the army, the food consumption would be too much.
Two days later, in addition to some Japanese troops who began to search and suppress Koreans, another group of Japanese troops began to clean up grain fields.
These Japanese soldiers were farmers before joining the army. Relatively speaking, tending the fields was their main job. Suddenly, the area around Seoul was full of Japanese people working in full swing.
Matsudaira Nobutsuna looked at all this and no longer cared about the hidden worries caused by the wooden sign. So what if the Ming Dynasty knew that it occupied North Korea? With the Qing Dynasty controlling them, how many troops could they send to North Korea and even go as far as Seoul? By the time they actually came, they would have been fully prepared and their foothold was secure. By then, the Ming Dynasty will come from afar, and if they want to fight, they can fight!
At this time, suddenly, Matsudaira Nobutsuna saw a fast rider coming from the south again. At that speed, he was running desperately. He knew at a glance that something was urgent.
What will happen behind the scenes? Matsudaira Nobutsuna couldn't help but frown when he saw it. If it was said that the extermination of the Koreans was not going smoothly, there seemed to be no need to be so anxious.
After waiting patiently for a while, after seeing the person clearly, Matsudaira Nobutsuna couldn't help but said in surprise: "Isn't this going to deliver food to the Qing Dynasty? Why are you here?"
Because it was related to the Qing Dynasty, he said it in Ming Dynasty official dialect.
When Fan Wencheng heard this, he immediately felt something bad. However, when I think about it carefully, I think it doesn’t make sense!
In order to guard against the Ming army's troubles, when we first discussed this batch of food, it was as far away as the Ezo Sea. The activities of the Ming army were limited to Zhenjiang Fort at most. What's more, since the Geng Zhongming incident, the Ming Dynasty's focus has shifted to Gaizhou and Haizhou, not to mention Zhenjiang Fort. Even near Jinzhou, the activities of the Ming army have decreased.
Therefore, Fan Wencheng ruled out the possibility of the Ming army causing trouble, and frowned and asked Matsudaira Nobutsuna, "Could it be that there was a storm, so we couldn't send food?"
Thinking of this, he felt that it made sense, and added his reasoning: "So the Qing Dynasty did not receive food and the war was tense?"
Hearing this, Matsudaira Nobutsuna thought of Inordai's anxious look a few days ago, and couldn't help but believe it.
As a result, he frowned. If this was the case, the pressure on the Qing government would be great. So here in the Japanese country, do we still want to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight? I'm afraid it's not tigers fighting, but tigers bullying sick cats!
Just when they were guessing, the leader who was speeding up had already rushed in front of Matsudaira Nobutsuna and started to report breathlessly.
Fan Wencheng was watching on the side. Although he couldn't understand, he saw Matsudaira Nobutsuna's expression suddenly changed drastically, and he was chattering quickly to communicate with that person. Even the Japanese people around him had ugly expressions. Suddenly, Fan Wencheng's bad feeling just now emerged again.
Before he could think about anything, suddenly, he saw Matsudaira Nobutsuna staring at him and shouting with a ferocious expression: "What is the combat power of the Qing Dynasty? It doesn't mean that it is invincible in Liaodong, invincible in field battles, and the Ming army could barely even defeat the capital. Lost it?"
As soon as he heard this, Fan Wencheng understood. It turned out that his intuition was correct, and it was really related to the Ming army!
However, after this, he couldn't figure out what happened to the Ming army. Are there traces of them?
So, he quickly asked: "What's going on? Did something happen?"
"The food was handed over to Prince Heshuosu of the Qing Dynasty. But just as the fleet left, I saw with my own eyes the Ming Dynasty cavalry. It was like a devastating attack, and the Qing army was completely annihilated. !" When Matsudaira Nobutsuna said this, he felt a little panicked, and asked Fan Wencheng even more fiercely, "Tell me, what's going on, why is this happening? Could it be that the Qing Dynasty has tricked my general?"
