The prince of the Shifting Dynasty was almost convicted, and the Liaodong Army was defeated in Pyongyang

In July of the twentieth year of Wanli, Dai Chaoben, a general of Liaodong, and Shi Ru, a guerrilla general, led the troops to cross the Yalu River to arrive in North Korea. Li Hengfu repeatedly asked the Ming army to immediately go south to expel the Japanese invaders, but Dai Chaoben insisted that he could not leave until the whole army assembled. Dai Chaoben said: "The second-echelon staff general Guo Mengzheng and the guerrilla general Wang Shouguan's headquarters have been opened, and the deputy general town has not yet arrived. ”

Li Hengfu was impatient and urged the Ming general: "The fighter plane is fleeting, the king is looking forward to you coming to help day and night. The guerrilla general Shi Ru asked: "The military orders are like a mountain, and we only obey the orders of the commander-in-chief, and at the end of this battle, the generals have not heard that they need to obey the command of the DPRK, and the last generals cannot obey the words of the soldiers." ”

When Li Hengfu heard that he could not obey the command of the DPRK, he felt uneasy: "The heavenly soldiers help suppress, the DPRK is the host, and it is necessary to have a lot of knowledge of the situation of the Japanese and the dangers of the terrain, so it is natural that the DPRK should lead the war." ”

Dai Chaoben said: "With all due respect, the general said bluntly that Korea is a vassal state, and he should not only ask for help from the country, but also ask for instructions on everything. Moreover, the last general heard that it was still difficult for North Korea to judge the strength of the Japanese and that there was a shortage of food, so how could the last general rashly attack? ”

The guerrilla general Shi Ru also said: "Moreover, the Korean official army was crushed, scattered and fled, and there was not one out of ten. Li Hengfu was silent.

The next day, General Guo Mengzheng, guerrilla general Wang Shouguan, and Liaodong deputy commander-in-chief Zu Chengxun led their troops to arrive in Korea one after another to join Dai Chaoben and Shi Ru, and the Liaodong soldiers sent a total of 2,348 troops, 2,622 war horses, and more than 30 large and small artillery.

On the Korean side, Yoo Sung-ryong, the governor of the government, and Kim Myeong-won, the marshal of the capital, were ordered to work the army. Jin Mingyuan thanked him in advance according to etiquette: "After a long drought and a rainy day, the grace of the rescue of the kingdom will never be forgotten." Zu Chengxun hugged his fists and saluted back: "Marshal Du said seriously, North Korea is a country of brothers, and there is no reason for brothers not to save them if they are in trouble, and they will go all out to conquer Pyongyang this time and stabilize the hearts of the North Korean army and people." ”

Jin Mingyuan said: "Everyone should rest for a few days to recuperate, and His Royal Highness should also have a banquet for the general." Zu Chengxun politely refused: "Our army can rest for a while, please tell Your Highness, thank you for your kindness, but this time I will only come to drink the blood of the Japanese invaders, and it is better to stay in Pyongyang for the banquet." ”

Liu Chenglong saw that Zu Chengxun was impassioned, but he was worried about the supply of grain and grass, so he explained to Zu Chengxun first: "The general came from afar, and the grain and grass should have been supplied by North Korea, but at present, only three or four military rations have been raised, but we will definitely make up for it as soon as possible." ”

Zu Chengxun didn't care: "The prince of the palace is bothered, it doesn't matter if the funds are insufficient, the military rations and follow-up grain and grass of our army can still be supported for three months, and there are another 100,000 loads of military rations, can the prince of the palace know where these 100,000 loads are now?" Liu Chenglong didn't know, Zu Chengxun said with a smile: "In Pyongyang, I heard that when the king of your country evacuated Pyongyang, he failed to transport the military rations in time, and all of them were captured by the Japanese invaders, and now is the time to return his goods to their original owners." ”

Liu Chenglong advised: "The general should not underestimate the enemy, the Japanese soldiers are brave and brave, and the iron cannon they hold is very powerful." Marshal Jin Mingyuan also immediately echoed: "That's right, our army has suffered defeats before, all thanks to this iron cannon, the killing is accurate, and it is easy to pierce the armor and break the chamber, so we must make a comprehensive response plan." ”

Zu Chengxun laughed more than once: "The so-called iron cannon is just a bird, and the firing range is no more than 100 steps, while our army has a thousand-step artillery, what are you afraid of?" Liu Chenglong and Jin Mingyuan saw that Zu Chengxun was so confident, so they didn't say more.

Later, Liu Chenglong turned to the branch court, and Guanghai Jun was about to leave Yongbyon, and chose a suitable place as the branch court, which was convenient to receive the eight folds, so he asked Liu Chenglong. Liu Chenglong was thinking about it when he suddenly heard a person outside the door come in and propose: "Yichuan in Gangwon Province is more suitable, it is relatively central, and there is no Japanese activity. It should be conducive to receiving eight messages. Liu Chenglong fixed his eyes and saw that this person was immortal, his eyes were bright, and it turned out to be Zheng Zhuo.

Zheng Zhuo is highly respected in North Korea, and Guang Haijun has great respect for the old minister Zheng Zhuo, and asked Zheng Zhuo why he came here? Zheng Zhuo replied: "The minister is bored in Yizhou, so he applied to come here, if the prefect of the palace is here, the old man will not have to come from afar." ”

Liu Chenglong replied with a smile: "This is wrong, I have to leave after the military rations, since the adults are here, I am completely relieved that the prince has your assistance." Zheng Zhuo nodded, turned to Guanghai Jun and said: "Your Majesty, the old man is willing to fight the Japanese to the end, please don't cherish the old man, although the order is" Guanghai Jun thanked him.

Compared with the Joseon king Yi Hao, who fled north, Gwanghaejun led the courtiers to hide from the enemy sentry posts in the enemy formation, and quietly acted to issue a notice to the scattered officials and rebels in the eight provinces of Korea, calling for joint operations. At the same time, in order to prevent winter, it was difficult to raise the secret distribution of clothes for subjects and soldiers, and the people's hearts began to tilt towards the division of the dynasty. But as early as the beginning of the division of the dynasty, Jin Guiren was worried that Gwanghae-jun would go all out to resist the enemy and win the hearts of the people in the sub-dynasty, which would not only threaten her and Xinchengjun's future status, but also worried that if Gwanghae-jun tried too hard, the people's will would force the king to abdicate, and Gwanghae-jun would ascend the throne as king. arranged in advance for his younger brother Jin Gongliang and a Shang Gong to stay in the branch court, and reported Guanghaijun's words and deeds to Jin Guiren at any time.

Regarding the matter of Guanghaijun moving the dynasty and mobilizing the people, Jin Guiren said to Li Hao: "Although His Highness ordered Guanghaijun to temporarily mobilize the army and the people for His Royal Highness, it is really rash to carry the card of the ancestor of the previous kings, and to travel through the area where the enemy is rampant. "Li Hao was discussing with Jin Guiren when he heard that the Metropolitan Decree Kim Yingnan had left Yongbyon and was established in Icheon, Gangwon Province. After hearing this, Li Hao immediately convened the courtiers to discuss it.

Li Hao said to the ministers: "I said in advance that major state affairs need to be decided by the widows, and the prince actually moved the division of the dynasty to the enemy-occupied area without consulting the widows in advance, what is the difference between this and disobedience? Ito Shou replied: "When His Highness established a separate dynasty, he asked the prince to mobilize the officials and the people to overcome the national difficulties instead of His Highness, which was to give him the right to work cheaply. Therefore, the prince moved the branch from the border to Gangwon Province, which can be dredged everywhere even if it is risky, and this is also in accordance with the royal decree of His Royal Highness. ”

Zheng Che agreed: "What Zuo Yizheng said is extremely true, the behavior of the division of the dynasty is not so much disobedience to the order as it is a deep sympathy for His Highness's great ambition to overcome the war, but a brave act of resistance, and His Royal Highness should be rewarded by the prince's residence and the branch dynasty." ”

Li Hao said angrily: "The meaning of the widow is that why didn't the prince of the world ask for instructions in advance and do it cheaply?" The widow is not in Liaodong, but still in Yizhou, and has not been reported within reach. It is clearly ignoring the abuse of power by the widow, and the widow cannot turn a blind eye to this. ”

Bing Cao's judgment Jin Yingnan advised: "If you ask for instructions in advance and wait for a reply, it is very likely that you will miss the opportunity and it will be difficult to move, and Your Highness should not misunderstand what His Majesty did in the Prince's Mansion." Li Dexin, the chief priest, also persuaded: "The intention of the prince is to resist the enemy no matter what, and serve His Royal Highness, please forgive the prince's painstaking efforts." ”

The ministers asked to be considerate of the prince again, Li Hao saw that the ministers unanimously spoke for Guanghai Jun, and the anger in his heart became even more unbearable, and he was immediately furious: "The branch of the dynasty that enshrines the royal tablet should be self-respecting and self-loving!" If the royal tablet falls into the hands of the enemy, it will be no different from the destruction of the Jongmyo Society! Therefore, the unauthorized action of the division of the dynasty is by no means cheap, but an act of overstepping the royal power! ”

Idoushou advised Li Hao not to punish the prince lightly for this, otherwise it would inevitably arouse the disgust of the army and the people, which would be conducive to the invasion of the Japanese invaders. Li Hao thought that Yi Doushou was accusing him of overcoming the obstacles of the national disaster, and the ministers wanted to defend him, but Li Hao turned to pretend to be sad: "The widow is incompetent, you should be let go to follow the virtuous son, and the widow can stay here to cheer for the son." ”

The ministers repeatedly asked for guilt, but Li Hao was still unwilling, thought for a moment and then said to the ministers: "Okay, the widow should be regarded as the son of the world who is loyal and commendable but acts recklessly, the crime of the son of the world can be avoided, and the crime of the ministers who assist the division of the dynasty must be investigated." All of them will immediately pass on the order to remove all the ministers of the sub-dynasty! The ministers were stunned.

When the royal order was passed to the Yichuan Dynasty, Guanghaijun said bitterly: "What is the fault of the ministers? It's better to abolish the position of my son and remove the ministers, how can I do it alone? The minister of the sub-dynasty earnestly asked the prince to stick to it, for the sake of the people of Li, not to be affected by this matter, and Gwanghae-jun hoped to seek the clear support of the sub-dynasty: "If I ignore the king's order, are you still willing to go with me?" The people's hearts are dividing the dynasty, and only with the people's hearts can the society be restored? The ministers were silent.

Zuo Yuan Zheng Zhuo admonished: "Your Majesty, you must not, if you act like this, no matter how much you carry the hearts of the people, you are splitting the society and becoming a traitor, the prince of the palace has sent a letter, please join the ministers to ask for guilt, and credit to His Royal Highness the Lord, you can calm the anger of the Lord and continue to lead the subjects to fight against the Japanese Invaders." Guanghaijun saw that Zheng Zhuo insisted again and again, so he had to agree. So Gwanghaejun led the crowd to the north and kowtowed to apologize and submit a petition to the king for his guilt. Therefore, Li Hao will no longer pursue the matter.

Since the Liaodong Army crossed the river, the headquarters of the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Zu Chengxun, has been stationed at the official office of Ping'an Province to rest, and Li Yuanyi of Ping'an Province has been persuaded again: "General, you have crossed the Yalu River and come to North Korea for a long time, should you march to Pyongyang?" Zu Chengxun asked whether the Japanese in Pyongyang had retreated, and seeing that the Japanese had not withdrawn, Zu Chengxun said: "The general has been given enough steps, but the Japanese have not appreciated it, and the soldiers who surrender without a fight are also good people." In that case, Ben would have had to go to Pyongyang to harvest the head. "The Liaodong Army began to march into Pyongyang.

Governor Konishi in Pyongyang was holding a meeting to deal with the Ming army, and Zong Yoshizhi said: "Although the Ming reinforcements are less than 3,000, I have heard that the power of its artillery is formidable, and it may be difficult for our army's iron artillery to compete with the Ming army head-on." Jing Zhe Xuansu is also worried: "Now there are many people in our army who are not adapted to the soil and water, and the combat strength is declining. ”

Konishi Yukicho decided: "When our army is at a disadvantage, it is even more necessary to stimulate the fighting spirit of the opponent. This was the first battle of the Ming Kingdom into Korea, and it must have been anxious to make meritorious contributions, show weakness to the enemy, convey false feelings, make him arrogant and underestimate the enemy, and set up an ambush in the city of Pyongyang to gather and annihilate. ”

During the march, Zu Chengxun and Li Yuanyi overheard a report from the Malay Detective that most of the Japanese troops in Pyongyang had left Pyongyang and rushed to Hanyang, and only a small garrison in Pyongyang remained. Zu Chengxun was overjoyed after hearing this: "Seeing that our army was approaching, I finally couldn't hold on to the wind and fled, I knew that I should quickly force Pyongyang and kill the enemy to establish meritorious deeds." Li Yuanyi said: "General, there are not many troops in Pyongyang who have been reported, and now that most of them have been transferred, it seems that there should only be about 1,000 troops left in Pyongyang, and it is the fighter plane that has arrived." ”

Later, when Zu Chengxun wanted to order the whole army to march quickly, he was rushed to stop by Liu Chenglong, Liu Chenglong said: "General, I have also heard the rumor that only part of the Japanese are stationed in Pyongyang, but please be cautious and careful, this may also be a plan for the Japanese to lure the enemy." Zu Chengxun disagreed: "A plan to lure the enemy? Well, what the prince of the palace said may be good, but whether it is a plan to lure the enemy or not, he doesn't care, and it is the general's long-cherished wish to see what kind of magical powers this group of Japanese robbers has. ”

The observation of Ping'an Dao made Li Yuanyi advise Zu Chengxun that even so, it was best to win with the least casualties as much as possible. , so Zu Chengxun asked people to find the people of Pyongyang for interrogation. Under interrogation, it was learned that the Japanese army had urgently withdrawn from the Japanese army in the early hours of this morning, and the grain, grass and ordnance were all coming and taken away. Yoo Sung-ryong was still suspicious of what the people of Pyongyang said, and when he saw that Zu Chengxun was about to march urgently, he proposed that he could first send the rear of the North Korean enemy to Pyongyang to find out the details before making a decision.

Zu Chengxun was unhappy and asked Liu Chenglong if he was unwilling to let the Ming army break the city first and make meritorious contributions, Liu Chenglong defended that everything was only for the sake of the safety of the Ming army, and he would never compete with the Ming army to recover Pyongyang. Zu Chengxun said: "This general is not a person who robs others of their merits, our army will break into Pyongyang, and the North Korean army will wait outside to prevent the Japanese from attacking from outside the city." ”

On that day, it rained heavily, and Zu Chengxun ordered the whole army not to rest and march in the rain, and Zu Chengxun said: "It has been raining heavily all the way to Pyongyang, and the road is difficult to navigate. "After receiving the military order of the ancestors, the Liaodong army rushed straight to Pyongyang in the rain non-stop.

In the early morning of 16 July, the Liaodong Army had arrived outside the city of Pyongyang, Zu Chengxun ordered the guerrilla general Shi Ru to lead the vanguard of 500 iron cavalry to rush into the Qixingmen, Zu Chengxun led the guerrilla general Wang Shouguan to lead 500 iron cavalry to follow, and the generals Dai Chaoben and Guo Mengzheng led the rest of the troops to stay outside the city and stand by. Konishi Yuki's general Matsuura Town Nobuyashi and more than ten Japanese soldiers patrolled on the Seven Star Gate, and suddenly saw an arrow coming, Matsuura Town Nobuya was wounded by an arrow, and the Ming army was killed, and he hurriedly led everyone to retreat into the city.

The guerrilla general Shi Ru led a thousand general Ma Shilong, Zhang Guozhong broke into the Qixing Gate and saw that there was no one around, and he was suspicious, and suddenly saw about 100 Japanese soldiers with knives to kill, Shi Ru and other generals saw this, led the Liaodong cavalry to meet the enemy, the iron cavalry was strong, and in a blink of an eye, more than 100 Japanese soldiers rushed to the ground, Shi Ru took the lead, beheaded ten, the Japanese soldiers fled to the city in a hurry, Shi Ru ordered the headquarters to continue the pursuit, and then Zu Chengxun also led the troops into Pyongyang, seeing that Shi Ru had chased into the city and was worried that Shi Ru was weak alone, so he led the army to chase.

Shi Ru's cavalry pursued all the way, and the fleeing Japanese soldiers were all killed, Shi Ru said: "Back then, the Japanese invaders ravaged the southeast coast, and it took many years of hard fighting to exterminate them. How did I get to be a widow, and when I saw it today, I couldn't be full of old and weak soldiers? If the Japanese soldiers were so vulnerable, it would only take Liaodong a few thousand more elite cavalry to go straight to Busan. ”

Just when Shi Ru was proud, the walls of the houses on both sides suddenly rose and fell, and Shi Ru's vanguard army was suddenly shot by 700 iron gunners, and Shi Ru was hit in the chest by an arquebus and fell to his death on the spot. Seeing that the situation was critical, the two generals Ma Shilong and Zhang Guozhong led troops to fight back, and the Japanese iron gunners withdrew after the third section, and the vanguard of the Ming army had been killed and wounded, and only more than 200 people remained.

When the Ming army panicked, Zu Chengxun and Wang Shouguan led five hundred iron cavalry to kill the Japanese army, the Japanese army was frustrated, the front was shaken, the two armies suddenly fell into a melee, the Ming cavalry was wearing iron armor, coming and going like the wind, the momentum was strong and sinking, the Japanese were mostly infantry, it was difficult to parry for a while in the melee, Konishi Yukichang saw this, and ordered the pikemen to gather and surround, and the five platoons of the formation slowly approached, shortening the range of movement of the Ming cavalry, and the iron artillery team waited for the opportunity to break the formation, and the rest of the soldiers responded from the side. Wang Shouguan saw that the Japanese spears were arrayed, relying on the iron armor of the Liaodong iron cavalry to be unstoppable, and led the team to charge the formation several times, and the spear formation was almost broken through several times, and the Ming army also had many casualties, but the Japanese iron cannon rang out in succession, and the Ming army's war horses were shot and fell to the ground, and the power of the Japanese army's big iron cannon pierced several people, and the Ming soldiers also suffered a surge in casualties in the blink of an eye.

Zu Chengxun ordered the whole army to dismount and fight, avoid the enemy's firearms, and engage the enemy's short soldiers. But the Ming army was outnumbered, the guerrilla general Wang Shouguan, the thousand general Ma Shilong, Zhang Guozhong and other generals were all killed, Zu Chengxun saw that the iron gunners on both sides of the city wall gradually assembled, knowing that it was not good, the casualties of the Ming army gradually expanded, the Japanese army repeatedly threw baked jade to make people fearful, Zu Chengxun was afraid, so he led more than a dozen personal soldiers back to kill Pyongyang, and urgently ordered the generals Guo Mengzheng and Dai Chaoben to lead the remaining troops and ordnance to withdraw to Liaodong, Zu Chengxun took the first step, non-stop, and was able to cross the Yalu River and return to Liaodong within one day.

Yang Shaoxun, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, asked Zu Chengxun about the reason for the defeat of Pyongyang, and Zu Chengxun defended: "General Zhen Rongbing, the main reason for this defeat in Pyongyang is that the grain and grass are not continuous, and the local North Korea can no longer supply enough military food to meet the needs of the heavenly soldiers, and it has to help North Korea to show the great grace of the Celestial Empire, so that our soldiers are not half full, and their combat strength is limited; Second, the military situation is untrue, according to North Korean intelligence, the defenders of Pyongyang are only more than 1,000, but in fact they are more than 10,000, so that our army is deeply encircled and can fight to the death. It can be seen from this that it is not impossible that the Japanese army entrenched in various provinces of Korea should be more than one or two hundred thousand; Third, the Korean ministers have always been eager for them to command the overall situation, and have repeatedly interfered with the deployment of our army, pressuring the Ming army to send troops under unfavorable conditions, and the Korean soldiers who assisted the attack were like sleepwalking in wartime, and they were about to collapse at the slightest touch. In addition to the firearms and swords of the Japanese invaders, the sharp weapons of our army were also found to have Korean-made bows and arrows, and I don't know how many Korean soldiers have served the Japanese soldiers; Fourth, the general was indeed guilty of neglecting to overlook the enemy and strayed into an ambush by the Japanese invaders. The above are the causes of Pyongyang's defeat, please take a clear look at the general and ask the general to make meritorious service. Zu Chengxun is well-founded and has been a tiger general in Liaodong for a long time, so Yang Shaoxun, the general soldier of Liaodong, is convinced of Zu Chengxun's defense.