The Chungcheong Provincial Righteous Army captured Cheongju, and Kobayakawa was trapped in Geumsan Castle

Since the Japanese invasion of Korea, only Jeolla Province has never fallen from the eight provinces of Korea, and the 15,000 men of the 6th Japanese Army under the leadership of veteran Kobayakawa Takakei have occupied Geumsan, the northernmost part of Jeolla Province. Geumsan is a strategic location connecting Chungcheong and Jeolla. Since the Japanese occupation of Geumsan, the officers and rebels of Jeolla Province have begun to spontaneously assemble in response to the war.

In order to protect the state, the Jeolla Provincial Gwangju Envoy Kwon Li was ordered to be the capital control envoy and garrison the Jeonju Gate to contain the Japanese army. The defense of Jeolla Province led to the convergence of Kwak Rong at Iji and was ordered to recapture Geumsan, and the leader of the Jeolla Provincial Righteous Army, Ko Kyung, led his people to help. Quan Li heard that Gao Jing was coming, and hurriedly went out of the tent to greet him. Gao Jingming saw Quan Li personally greet him, and he couldn't help but be flattered: "Those who have long been dismissed from their official positions, He Lao moderation made the Lord personally greet him." ”

Quan Li clenched his hands and thanked him: "It is precisely because the government affairs have long been dismissed from office, and I should be even more grateful for coming here at this moment." Although the imperial court abandoned the government affairs, but at the time of the national crisis, the government affairs still stood up to organize volunteers to fight against the Japanese invaders, and the government affairs were highly respected, and as soon as they raised their arms, Jeolla Province responded en masse, and the rebel army rose in all directions, making it difficult for the Japanese to run rampant. ”

Gao Jingming said: "General Quan Li has a good reputation, the old man has learned nothing but loyalty and righteousness, and now he has led seven thousand righteous troops to help, and behind me are my two sons, heroic and thick, please see the general." Quan Li persuaded: "Government affairs, you are old, the war is dangerous, if the whole family goes into battle, it will be difficult to keep the incense." Gao Jingming replied: "The general is too worried, if the country perishes, what is the point of continuing the bloodline?" My father and son have decided to share the weal and death with the country, and hope that the general will be fulfilled. Quan Li was moved and immediately asked to enter the account.

Kwon Li was the first to say, "Jeolla Province is the land of the country's barn, which is relied on by the imperial court and coveted by the Japanese invaders. At present, there are left and right water along the coast of Jeolla Province, which makes Yi Sunsin and Yi Yiqi firmly controlled, and the eastern part of the country is mountainous and dangerous, and it is difficult for the Japanese to enter lightly, and the Jeolla Provincial Volunteer Army is rising, and the army and the people are united. So that the Japanese had no choice but to occupy Geumsan and try to encroach on Jeolla. ”

Ko Kyung-myeong proposed: "If the Japanese want to invade Jeolla Province from Geumsan, they will first attack Ichi and Bearg, and then occupy Jeonju, so they need to divide their troops to defend the two important places of Irichi and Bear. The defense envoy of Jeolla Province, Guo Rong, said: "Our army should not focus on defense, and when the Japanese invade Iji and Xiongzhi, we should concentrate a group of elite troops led by the general to attack Geumsan, cut off their way back, and attack and occupy the enemy's base camp. The Japanese will rush back to the rescue. If you win, you can take advantage of the situation to annihilate the enemy, and if you can't win, you can also save the safety of Lizhi and Xiongzhi and defeat the enemy. Quan Li agreed, thinking that this plan was feasible. Gao Jingming also expressed his willingness to go with Guo Rong.

On 9 July, Kobayakawa Takakei stationed in Geumsan ordered Tachibana Muneshige and Kobayakawa Hidebo to each lead a division to attack Xiongzhi and Irizhi respectively, and the Kwonli headquarters and the righteous army jointly defended Irizhi. In the other place, Xiongzhi was not in good condition, and had to retreat in defense in the face of the Japanese army's strong attack, and was in danger. Gao Jingming heard this, he and Guo Rong accelerated the pace of march and arrived at Jinshan at the time of Shen, Gao Jingming and Guo Rong's soldiers divided into two roads, Guo Rong's headquarters attacked the west side of Jinshan, Gao Jing's headquarters attacked the south side of Jinshan, Kobayakawa Longjing ordered Zhuzi Guangmen and Takahashi to increase the division of troops to resist, Kobayakawa Longjing ordered the whole army to stick to the danger, echelon configuration, only to fight back with iron artillery and not rashly fight, the two armies fought fiercely in Geumsan intermittently until late at night, Geumsan was still not conquered by Gao Jingming and Guo Rong.

After a fierce battle, Kobayakawa Takashi found that the morale of Guo Rong's department was low, and it was far inferior to Gao Jing's department to fight to the death. Takahashi replied, "Presumably, Lord Longjing has already made a plan to break the enemy, please do not hesitate to give orders." ”

Kobayakawa Takakei said: "Takahashi, the North Korean soldiers are divided into two routes, but although the North Korean officers and troops on the west road are powerful, the military spirit is not as good as the south road, if you want to relieve the siege of Geumsan, I will concentrate my military strength to conquer the west road first and then turn to the south road, I want to ask you to defend the south gate tomorrow, and you must hold on until I return to help, but I can only give you part of the troops, it is very dangerous, can you do it?" Takahashi replied: "The way of the samurai, loyalty and righteousness, my brother and father-in-law all have high hopes for me, and I will never humiliate my family in the next place, and it is a great honor to follow you to fight in Korea, please rest assured that I will hand it over." ”

Kobayakawa Takakei adjusted his deployment the next day, concentrating all his efforts to break through its weakness first, and then surround the lone army. Ordered most of the Tsukushi Guangmen to concentrate on Guo Rong's direction to seek a breakthrough. Guo Rong led the troops to attack Jinshan again but was hit by the Japanese iron artillery concentrated on the heavy casualties, under the two rounds of charge, Guo Rong's department has suffered more than half of the casualties, Guo Rong saw that the situation was not good, fearful, did not inform Gao Jing's order to lead the crowd to flee. Kobayakawa Takashi ordered not to pursue, and the whole army turned to counterattack Gao Jingming, Gao Jingming was fighting fiercely, and the righteous army heard that Guo Rong had fled and the army was in turmoil, and saw the Japanese army pouring out of the nest and attacking left and right. persuaded Gao Jing to retreat south, but Gao Jing did not obey his orders, and said that the only way to defeat the army would be to die in battle to atone for his sins! After the fierce battle, Gao Jingming and his second son Gao Conghou, Liu Penglao, An Ying and other generals were all killed, and the remnants were scattered.

The Japanese troops who were attacking Irichi and Bearzhi heard of the attack on Geumsan and withdrew from the battlefield and hurried back to rescue Geumsan, and after joining up with Kobayakawa Takakei, they recuperated from their wounds and marched again the next day. Kobayakawa Takakei ordered Takahashi to lead an army of 1,000 to feint to attack Rishi, and he personally led the army to break through from Kumazhi. Takahashi commanded the order, led the crowd to kill to the pear zhi, but was ambushed by the right to be ambushed on all sides, the right to the army included the previous Gao Jing's order to lead the righteous army, heard that Gao Jing's death was full of righteous indignation, under the siege of the right to kill, the Japanese army was caught off guard, outnumbered, heavy losses, Takahashi Tongzeng only led nearly 100 people to break out of the encirclement and return to Jinshan.

The main force led by Kobayakawa Takakei was attacking Xiongzhi, Xiongzhi Pass was poorly defended, and it was difficult to resist the impact of the Japanese iron cannon rounds, and the defender Li Zhan saw that the Japanese army was menacing, and concluded that Xiongzhi was difficult to defend and led the rebels to retreat to Xiongshan to set up defenses. Kobayakawa Takakei chased after him, Li Zhan led the rebels to fight with the Kobayakawa Takakei army by virtue of the mountains, Kobayakawa Takakei saw that the Korean rebels tried in vain to use the terrain to consume and slow down their offensive edge, in order to avoid the formation being disturbed by the North Korea, he ordered all the troops to gather, set fire to the mountain, and annihilated the enemy in a roundabout way, Li Zhan and many other volunteers died. In order to confuse the Japanese army and make them dare not enter Jeonju lightly, the Jeolla Provincial Patrol made Lee Hun spread torch flags on the road he had to pass, and ordered more than a dozen teams of light horsemen to gallop through the mountains, pretending to be suspicious soldiers. Kobayakawa Takakei's army had just gone through a bitter battle, and when he heard that the Korean Kon Gyuri had defeated Takahashi Tongzeng's army and was chasing after him, he did not dare to act rashly, so he ordered to return to Geumsan for the sake of safety. Grateful for the heroic battles of the Korean volunteers at Geumsan and Bear Mountain, Kobayakawa Takakei ordered the collection of the dead bodies of the Korean volunteers at Bear Mountain for burial, and personally erected a wooden monument to "pay tribute to the loyalty and courage of the Korean state." ”

At the same time, in Chungcheong-do, Gongju Daru Cho Heon joined forces with the monk Yeonggyu to rebel against the enemy. Since the founding of the DPRK, Confucianism has been vigorously promoted, believing that Buddhism is a deception and stealing fame and has been suppressed and excluded for a long time. The people flocked to the people, and the monasteries around the country felt that they should contribute to the national disaster and protect the people, and some monks took the lead in recruiting monks. Xishan Master Xiujing raised 1,500 monks and soldiers in Shun'an Faxing Temple, the eldest disciple Weizheng monk raised 700 monks in Pseong Qianfeng Temple, the second disciple Chu Ying raised 1,000 monks in Jeolla Province, and the third disciple Linggui raised 700 monks and soldiers in Gongju Jiasa Temple, etc., the first batch of monks and soldiers in the country has reached 8,000 people, and the monasteries around the country have responded to the news, and Xiu Jing was thus canonized by the imperial court as the general capital of the eight provinces and sixteen sects, and led the monks and soldiers of the whole country.

As a master of Confucianism in North Korea, Zhao Xian will be known as the Eighteen Sages of the Eastern Kingdom in the future, and he will be even more responsible in times of national crisis. Hearing that the monks and soldiers were in a hurry, he led his disciples to set up a high platform in Gongzhou to recruit volunteers. Zhao Xian called on the people: "The family and country are in trouble, the beasts are invading, destroying my mountains and rivers, plundering my land, killing my people, breaking my foundation, the official army is sluggish, the royal family is relocated, and the world is in chaos." Civilians have been displaced, centuries of social security are on the verge of collapse, and generations of fathers and sons have long since destroyed their homes. Fortunately, there was a red-clothed general Guo Zaiyou who descended from heaven in Qingshangdao to raise the banner of righteousness for the first time to raise volunteers, and then there were more Jin Wei, Jin Qiankui, Gao Jingming and others flocked up, and the volunteers from all over the country frightened the Japanese Kou, and even the monasteries around the country recruited monks and soldiers to defend the country and go to the country together. Jeolla Province Yi Sun-sin defeated the Japanese army in succession, and the prince's palace was in danger, shuttling through the enemy's camp to comfort him, and calling on all parts of the country to join forces to resist the enemy. We are Confucian scholars, full of poetry and books, hard to learn the road, on the occasion of this national crisis, we are abiding by etiquette, righteousness and shame, loyal to the monarch and patriotic, and sacrificing ourselves to protect the people of the world. Follow my righteous banner and join my righteous army. Expelled the Japanese invaders, restored my mountains and rivers, sacrificed their lives fearlessly, and left their names in history, but for loyalty and filial piety, they will not regret their death! Zhao Xian was impassioned and excited, and on the same day, a total of more than 1,100 volunteers were recruited.

Afterwards, Zhao Xian made an appointment to meet Linggui and said: "Cheongju is an important town in Chungcheong Province, and there is a large amount of grain. Previously, when the Japanese invaded the north, Qingzhou had been heavily guarded as a stronghold, and recently heard that most of the Qingzhou Japanese army had been transferred north, and there were only a few hundred Japanese troops left in the city of Qingzhou, defending Qingzhou alone, and the strength was lonely. ”

Linggui said: "The public saying is very true, but the little monk thinks that although the Japanese army is small, it still has firearms, our army is thin in armor, and the city of Qingzhou is large, if it is rashly attacked without any rules, the city of Qingzhou may not be good for our army, and it will increase casualties, so the little monk proposed that the joint official army should set up a plan to lure the enemy to encircle and annihilate it. ”

Zhao Xian was displeased when he heard Linggui's proposal to unite the official army, and Zhao Xian said: "The master doesn't know, the official army is incompetent, and has no fighting spirit, otherwise it will be difficult for the Japanese to be so rampant, and if they join forces with the official army, they will be burdened by it." If the master has mercy on the officers and soldiers, he can let them watch the battle, and if our army wins, he can let them pursue the remnants. Linggui agreed.

Zhao Xian said again: "The Japanese have always been arrogant, seeing that our righteous army will not care, as long as we can lure the enemy out of the city to be completely annihilated and then strengthened to gain momentum, the Japanese will be frightened and panicked, morale collapses, even if they have sharp weapons, it is difficult to use effectively, at this time our army will attack Qingzhou again, the enemy will be difficult to resist." ”

At this time, the Japanese garrison in Cheongju Castle was the head of the Wasuka family, and his headquarters was guarding the large and small towns between Cheongju and Chungju, and the troops were scattered, and there were only more than 300 people in Cheongju Castle. However, since the Japanese landing, the Korean army was about to collapse at the first touch, and the Japanese army could be said to have never encountered an enemy, so the Wasuka family disdained the Korean combat power, although only a few hundred soldiers were left around to suppress Cheongju and deter the surrounding area.

On 1 August, 1,100 people from Zhao Xian's headquarters, 700 Linggui monks, and 500 officers and soldiers arrived in Qingzhou. Previously, Zhao Xian had already set up a plan, ordering the headquarters to send 500 people to lure the enemy out of the city, and the remaining 600 rebels and 700 monks were ambushed on both sides to wait for orders, and the official army was responsible for chasing and defeating the army.

Seeing that the provocateurs outside Cheongju were all civilians, armed with crude knives and guns, hoes, pitchforks, wood axes and other farm tools, the queue was scattered, and they only knew how to shout and curse outside the range of the arquebus. The housekeeper of Bee Suga said angrily: "There are only a few hundred untouchables, and they can't even be called ashiki with farm tools in their hands, so how dare they dare to scold outside the city." All the corpses must be broken into pieces to set an example. Then he ordered a hundred soldiers to pursue and kill this rebel army. The righteous army saw more than 100 Japanese troops attacking and fought with it, although the righteous army had 500 people, but the armor and weapons were not as good as the Japanese army after all, there were nearly 300 volunteer casualties at the moment of fierce fighting, Zhao Xian saw this and hurriedly signaled, the front retreated to lead the Japanese army to pursue, and then the ambush on both sides protruded, and the Japanese army was encircled in an instant, and the Japanese army could not break through, and all were killed by the righteous army and monks. The rebels captured the arquebus but could not use it, so they had to make cold weapons with them first.

Bee Suka housekeeper saw that the enemy had ambush soldiers in the castle tower, and couldn't help but be surprised, and counted down and was surprised to find that the enemy army was actually thousands, and at this moment there were only two hundred guards left in the city. Zhao Xian and Linggui took advantage of the situation to order the monks and rebels to attack the city with all their might, and the morale of the rebels was high, and the shouts resounded throughout Cheongju, and they fought a fierce battle with the Japanese army under the city. At this moment, suddenly dark clouds were thick, the sky was pouring rain, the Japanese arquebuses were all ineffective, and the North Korean side was also unable to attack the city due to heavy rain, Zhao Xian had no choice but to order the withdrawal of the siege.

Seeing the heavy rain falling from the sky, Wasuka housekeeper hurriedly knelt down to thank the gods for their protection, knowing that the next day the Tianqing Righteous Army would attack the city again, and then Cheongju would not be protected, so Wasuka housekeeper made a decision and led the rest of his troops to evacuate Cheongju overnight. In the early morning of the next day, the rebel army besieged Qingzhou again, but saw that Qingzhou had already opened the city gate, and the people of Qingzhou were moving around, Zhao Xian and Linggui were puzzled, and found a woman to ask Fang Zhi that the Japanese army had left last night, Zhao Xian was suspicious, and he didn't dare to act rashly because he didn't know if it was a plan, but the officers and soldiers heard that they went straight to Qingzhou first, and Qingzhou was recovered.

After the recovery of Qingzhou, Zhao Xian asked the officials and soldiers to show their merits and check it, but the officials and soldiers did not give it, Zhao Xian led the crowd to take it and see, and sure enough, the first credit for the recovery of Qingzhou was attributed to the officials and soldiers, and praised the monks and soldiers for helping, but did not mention anything about the volunteers. Zhao Xian was furious, and the rebels clashed with the official army.

Ling Gui comforted both sides, and Zhao Xian said: "More than 1,000 righteous people are not afraid of life and death and fight with the enemy, and they dare to report the first merit when they enter the empty city before they have made an inch, which is clearly a personal revenge against the officials and soldiers who are not allowed to participate in the battle, and such shameless acts must not sit idly by." Master Linggui, since you are a person who has no desires and no desires, please do not say much, the sword has no eyes, and if you come forward again, you will suffer a calamity! "Linggui was helpless, and the alliance of the Gongzhou rebels, monks and soldiers, and officials and soldiers almost collapsed.

In mid-August, Zhao Xian received an order for the rebels, monks, and officers to join forces to move south to regain Geumsan. Zhao Xian resolutely opposed the joint efforts of the official army, and decided to lead the righteous army to recover Geumsan, Linggui persuaded: "The public must not be rash, the battle of Cheongju, the righteous army is only 700 left, Geumsan will be Kobayakawa Takakei, I heard that it is a famous general of the Japanese country, very strategic, his subordinates are many generals and brave, occupy the danger, and the current army of the public is less than a thousand, and there must be no return." It is better to follow the order of the imperial court, work together with the three departments, and consider the long term. ”

Zhao Xian did not comply, insisted on acting alone, Zhao Xian said: "The king humiliates the ministers to death, since I have received the military order, I should immediately go to Jinshan to make another calculation, even if the moth fights the fire, I will definitely recover Jinshan." But please forgive me for not working with the little guys. If the master is still willing to kill the enemy and serve the country, he will go with me. Zhao Xian said goodbye to Linggui and left.

When Kobayakawa Takakei heard that Gongju Zhao Xian led hundreds of rebels to attack Geumsan and stayed outside the city, he said to Tachibana Soshige: "Although the Korean rebels are brave, they are still very different from our army, and they dare not use this kind of military strength to station outside the city, I am afraid that they are suspicious soldiers." However, if the leader of the army is Zhao Xian, it should be a different matter, I heard that Zhao Xian is a famous Confucian in Korea, but he is withdrawn by nature, stubborn and extreme, and it is difficult for anyone to work with him for a long time, so it is inferred that this army should be alone. Besides, although Zhao Xian is well versed in Confucianism, he does not know the essentials of military strategy, Zong Mao, you let Gao Qiao lead an additional 1,500 people to secretly go out of the city at night, and go around the back, one is to find out whether there are ambushes around, if it is indeed a lone army, it will lie behind the enemy, and tomorrow you and I will personally lead the warriors out of the battle, attack each other before and after, and seek the head of the enemy general. "Tachibana Soshige commanded.

In the early morning of the next day, most of the righteous army in Zhao Xian's array was still in a dream, the gate of Jinshan City was wide open, Kobayakawa Takakei and Tachibana Somao led troops to kill Zhao Xian, the sentry of the righteous army panicked, Zhao Xian heard the shouting and ordered the whole army to fight, but the main force of the Japanese army was close at hand, the ambush soldiers had already been killed, the righteous army was in chaos, Zhao Xian led the people to resist desperately, and inspired his subordinates to say: "There is only one life, it must be vigorous, for the country and the people, and kill all the Japanese invaders!" "The Japanese army is outnumbered, well-equipped, well-coordinated, and the damage is huge, Zhao Xian's son wants to attract the enemy army with a robe to facilitate Zhao Xian's escape, but the Japanese army has dense firepower, Zhao Xian's son was shot and killed in an instant, and after the fierce battle, Zhao Xian and seven hundred volunteers did not survive. Kobayakawa Takakei retreats to Geumzan.

The next day, Zhao Xian's disciples led a small group of rebels to arrive, and found corpses everywhere, so they gathered for burial. Three days later, Linggui led the monks to attack Geumsan, Linggui heard the news of Zhao Xian's death and was inexplicably sad and angry, and swore to avenge Zhao Xian, Linggui led the monks and soldiers to take advantage of the mountain situation to deal with the Japanese army, and fought for three days and three nights, the monks and soldiers were brave and had Buddha nature, and the Japanese army had many people who believed in Buddhism, and they were relatively concerned about this. Kobayakawa Takakei strictly ordered to defend to the death, constantly adjusted the defense, and shot day and night condescendingly, all the monks and soldiers were destroyed, and Linggui was killed in battle. However, after the death of Geumsan in battle by Ko Kyung-myeong, Cho Heon, Yeong-gyu, and others, the rebel armies in Jeolla, Chungcheong, and Gyeongsang were all indignant, and they scattered or gathered troops to attack Geumsan one after another. Kobayakawa Takakei originally wanted to use Geumsan as a stronghold to capture Jeolla Province, but he was already the target of public criticism, and he was trapped in Geumsan Castle and tired of defense, which was really unexpected.

The seventh army of Gyeongsang-do Maori Huiyuan did not make good progress in exterminating the rebel army, and the military division Kuroda Kanbei rushed from Hanyang to Gyeongsang-do to help, Kuroda Kanbei asked Maori Huiyuan to send generals to distribute the cities to gather the people's hearts, and Kuroda Kanbei personally led 3,000 elites to set up a plan to lure the enemy in each city, deliberately showing weakness, inducing scattered rebel troops to enter and kill, and then pacify the people until they were stable. He also ordered the Yoshikawa Guangjia to lead 10,000 troops to keep an eye on Guo Zaiyou's troops, advance step by step, compress their guerrilla areas, and unite with the Ninth Army to force Guo Zaiyou and other rebel troops to retreat to Jinju.