The Japanese army forced Wanggi for half a month, and the decisive battle of Chungju was killed

On April 13, the 20th year of Wanli and the first year of Japan's Bunroku, the Japanese invasion army with a total of 158,000 troops went to sea one after another in nine routes, and the first team of 18,000 people headed by Konishi Yukinaga was the first to arrive in the waters of Busan, North Korea, on April 14. At this time, Zheng Po, the head of the North Korean town of Busan, was drinking and having fun with his soldiers after hunting, and the Korean military equipment was relaxed, as if entering a no-man's land, although the Japanese exploration ship was noticed by the Busan lookout guards, but it thought that it should be sent to Tsushima and ignored it and was attacked and killed by the exploration team. The expedition team reported that Konishi Yukicho had 800 guards, most of them were hunting, and Busan was almost defenseless, so Konishi Yukicho ordered the First Army to prepare to land in Busan immediately.

Zheng Po, the governor of Busan Town, led his troops back to the city, looking at the Japanese ships from overseas, and at first mistakenly thought that Tsushima Island was sent and did not care, and when all the ships of the First Army of Konishi were in sight, Zheng Po was shocked, and urgently ordered the people outside the city to take refuge in the city, and the various departments were strictly on standby and notified Gyeongsang Zuoshui to make Park Hong and Dongnae Fu envoy Song Xiangxian to support.

On that day, the sea fog was filled, Konishi Yuki's army was arrayed in the sea fog to prepare for battle, although the eight hundred defenders on the city of Busan were in place, but there had been no war in Korea for two hundred years, Zheng Po was uneasy in his heart, and Gyeongsang Zuoshui made Park Hong rush to inquire about the scale of the thieves, Zheng Po said: "The sea fog is great, the specific number is unknown, but there are about 100 ships." Park Hong heard: "If there are 100 ships, there may be 10,000 or so, why are there so many pirates this time?" When Zheng Po strictly understood that this was not a pirate but should be an army of the Japanese state, Park Hong was also shocked.

Just when the Korean defenders were uneasy, the Japanese army in the fog was exhausted, slowly like a forest, the sound of the first step resounded through Busan, Konishi Yukicho signaled to Zong Yoshitomo to order the whole army to attack, the Japanese army Ashigaru took the lead in charging Busan, Zheng Po saw this, ordered to shoot back with fire cannons and flying shock thunder, North Korean firearms were inferior and scarce, and the firepower was insufficient to suppress the Japanese army, Zheng Po ordered the archers to shoot, although the Japanese army had casualties and still quickly advanced to the city gate one hundred and fifty paces ago, Konishi Yukichang ordered the wooden fence to push forward to resist the bow and arrows, and cover the iron gunners to shoot the city gate defenders alternately with three shots, Japanese iron artillery shooting accuracy, strong penetration, under the three-stage circular shooting of the iron artillery, the city defense of Busan was in chaos in an instant, the Japanese army took the opportunity to break under the wall to set up a ladder, rushed to the city gate, and landed the city with a sword samurai, the gun samurai followed, the iron gunner covered the shooting, the Busan soldiers were not satisfied with the difficulties to block the enemy, the Japanese army took the opportunity to break through the city gate with baked jade, the Japanese army poured into Busan, although the Korean soldiers and civilians fought hard and bloodily, they were not the enemy of the well-trained Japanese soldiers, Gyeongsang Zuoshui made Park Hong see that the Japanese army was unstoppable, and withdrew from Busan after burning the grain and grass in the treasury, Zheng Poli, the governor of Busan Town, died in battle, and Busan fell within half a day, and none of the soldiers and civilians in the city were spared.

Park Hong escaped and immediately sent someone to gallop into Beijing to report, the Korean king Li Hao was shocked after reading it, and the internal official comforted: "Your Highness, don't worry, the official army will be able to defeat the enemy." Li Hao calmed down for a moment, and ordered the night assembly to be held.

The hundred officials were silent for a long time, and Li Hao was furious: "Why is there nothing to say? The widow once said that there would be no change, but now he laughs at the widow! "The northerner soldier Cao Jushu Hong Ruchun said: "Your Highness, it was the ministers who were not prepared to make the Japanese invaders capture Busan, please give the ministers a death", and the ministers apologized. Li Yuanyi, the official Cao's judgment, played: "Your Highness's top priority should immediately deploy troops to meet the battle. ”

Li Hao asked Li Shanhai what should be done to lead the council, and Li Shanhai said: "According to the minister's opinion, this should be just pirates, although the number of 10,000 is large, but if it is the invasion army of the Japanese country, it is a small number, and if it is strategic, the enemy should not land in Busan, but should capture Jeolla Province, the land of the barn." ”

Wang Kyung sentenced General Yoon Shin-hyun and said: "It is precisely Your Highness, the benefits of Jeolla Province should be known to the enemy and me, and so far I have not heard of any military situation in Jeolla Province, how can I be so reckless in attacking Busan if the national war is going on, so the minister agrees with what the Prime Minister said, and the fall of Busan should be done by large-scale pirates." ”

Li Hao was about to agree, and Liu Chenglong, the left councilor, said: "Your Highness, now there is only one report of the report, and the truth is difficult to discern, if there is no longer a military situation outside Busan, it is a great luck, and it is unknown whether the rest of the army of the Japanese country has not yet landed." ”

Hong Ruchun argued: "There are only a hundred Japanese ships, and the national strength of the Japanese country is weak, even if it is a local army, the scale of such ships must be limited. ”

And Li Shanhai's son-in-law Li Dexin said: "Be prepared, instead of speculating here, we should immediately issue a military mobilization to the eight provinces of Korea." ”

After hearing this, Li Hao hesitated to mobilize the Eight Provinces due to the coastal issue of Gyeongsang-do, and the official Cao sentenced Li Yuanyi to ask for the transfer of the Beijing army to suppress it, and Shin Hyun asked himself to lead the Beijing army south to Pusanpo to sweep the Japanese invaders. Another general, Li Yi, also invited himself to go with him, Shen Qi and Li Yi were the pillars of the Korean protectorate, the southern peace and the northern imperial Hu Di, who would win every battle and have outstanding military achievements. Therefore, Li Hao was delighted.

Afterwards, Li Shanhai convened important ministers in the Beibian Division to listen to the strategic deployment of Hong Ruchun, the judgment of Bing Cao, and decided to take Li Yi as the vanguard to go down to the middle road, the left defense to make the east road out of the sun, and the right defense to make Zhao Bing out of the west road, and then to use the righteous army and soldiers Cao to assist in the defense, which could prevent the thieves from continuing to go north. Liu Chenglong also urged Li Shanhai to order the Beijing army to move south as soon as possible and then formulate a follow-up strategy. Li Shanhai then ordered Shen Qi and Li Yi to prepare for departure as soon as possible.

At the time of the deployment of Wang Jingjun's ministers, after the commander of Konishi captured Busan, he was preparing for the reception on the spot, and on the other hand, he waved his army and even two ports to attack Dongnae on the 15th, and in Dongnae City, Song Xiangxian, the envoy of Dongnae Province, and Li Yu, the left soldier of Gyeongsang-do, discussed: "Busan has fallen, is outnumbered and caught off guard by a surprise attack, and Dongnae has 3,000 troops and 20,000 military and civilian contracts, and if it is properly garrisoned, it will be able to block the enemy." ”

Li Yuyan: "I led my troops to ambush on the good mountain, and when Donglai and the thieves were in a stand, I attacked its back and made it suffer from the enemy." Song Xiangxian persuaded Li Yu that the surprise attack was ineffective, and it was better to join forces together, but Li Yu insisted that it should not be.

Outside the city of Donglai, Governor Konishi made a plan with the generals in this formation, and Governor Konishi said: "The terrain of Donglai is gentle, the Korean ordnance is old, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is low. So Governor Konishi sent a letter to Song Xiangxian, in which he wrote that if there was a war, there would be a war, and if there was no war, it would be a false way. Song Xiangxian replied that it was easy to die in battle, but it was difficult to fake it. Governor Konishi was overjoyed when he saw this, and ordered the immediate capture of Donglai.

Donglai defenders under the command of Song Xiangxian first bombarded the formation with firearms, the power of the North Korean firecrackers is insufficient, the explosion range is only three steps, in order to resist the precision shooting of the Japanese iron cannons, Song Xiangxian ordered the shield wall to resist the iron cannons, archers and firecrackers shoot alternately, for the iron cannons, although the Korean shield can block for a while, but three shots must be broken, Konishi Yukinaga gathered the iron artillery team for multiple rounds of salvos, the Japanese army made the big iron cannon salvo, the Korean shield array is difficult to support, the city defenders suffered many casualties, when the Japanese army built a ladder and the North Korea was in the tug-of-war, the North Korean city gate has been broken by baked jade, Zongyi Zhi ordered a thousand foot light guns to be in front of the formation, the iron gunners gathered in the rear, and the follow-up samurai attacked the city defenders, and when the iron cannons were assembled, the ashigaru array was divided to cover on both sides, and the Korean soldiers were killed and wounded under the multi-section salvo of the iron cannons, and the military heart collapsed and fled, Konishi Yukichang ordered to cover up the killing, Song Xiangxian died in battle, Donglai City was broken, and the left soldiers of Gyeongsang Province stationed in Seonsan Mountain made Li Yu's department see that Donglai City was broken, so he was afraid of the enemy like a tiger and immediately withdrew his troops. After Konishi Xingchang captured Donglai, he repaired for two days and then connected the four towns of Qizhang, Liangshan, Milian and Zhaolian.

When the news reached Wang Jing, the Korean king Li Hao was terrified, only to understand that it was definitely not a pirate rebellion, Li Hao was weak and sick since he was a child, and he was so frightened that he couldn't wake up.

The next day, at the Korean meeting, the Korean king Yi Hao questioned the ministers why the Korean military strength was so vulnerable, and the reverberation of the leader of the council Li Shanhai was not due to the weakness of the troops but due to insufficient preparation, and the border patrol envoy had led his troops south, and the military camps in various places had urgently marched to Busan, Gyeongsang-do, which would surely be able to inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Li Hao asked again: "What if I can't win?" If you can't win, it's your turn to Zhongju, and if Zhongzhou doesn't protect it, it's Wang Jing's turn! The king was in a hurry, and the ministers were silent.

Liu Chenglong played: "Your Highness, all the elite military attaches in the country are ready, and now we should immediately order the defeated troops in the south and the garrisons around Chungju to assemble in Chungju as soon as possible, transfer the northern garrison to help, and give General Shen Yan as the envoy of the three patrols, give the right to arbitrarily command the Beijing army and all the departments in Zhongzhou, and assemble the army under the unified command of General Shen Yan or can annihilate the enemy." Li Hao agreed and dismissed the soldier Cao and sentenced Hong Ruchun.

In the school field outside Beijing, Shen Yan gathered the Beijing army and issued an order: "The mighty Korean soldiers, shameless Japanese invaders who came across the sea do not know the might of our Korean soldiers, and act recklessly on our land, before the invasion of Hu Di in the north, although it is claimed that 10,000 are as fragile as the fallen leaves in the autumn in front of our army, now let the Japanese who slaughtered our family return blood for blood, North Korea will win!" "The crowd was passionate.

After Shen Li's departure, Li Hao summoned Li Shanhai and Liu Chenglong in the park, and Li Hao wept and accused himself of being ignorant and ignorant and not listening to advice, resulting in unprepared border defense. Li Shanhai and Liu Chenglong knelt down to blame themselves when they heard this, and Liu Chenglong said: "It's definitely not His Highness's fault, it's the ministers who are not prepared, even if they don't have permission, they should make some preparations as much as possible." Li Shanhai also said: "It is the ministers who relax their vigilance because of their luck, and it is all the fault of the ministers, I hope Your Highness will not blame yourself." Li Hao seemed to have something on his mind, and he stopped talking about it, and he had to give up after thinking about it again and again.

At this time, the First Army led by Governor Konishi was about to break through the left and right roads of Gyeongsang, and the Japanese army slaughtered the city everywhere it passed, and the surrounding officials and officials abandoned the city in fear. Captain Konishi then marched in the direction of Daegu, the Daegu garrison had been short of food for many days, and waited for the Beijing army for a long time, and heard that the Japanese army had arrived in the Qing capital, only half a day's journey from Daegu, the army was panicked, although the officers once suppressed the intention to prepare for the next day to meet the enemy, but the army was discouraged that night, the Daegu garrison had all fled, and the next day Konishi Yuki's troops entered Daegu without bloodshed. Subsequently, * marched into the Sangju area in an attempt to open the gate of Chungju.

On April 18, Hideyoshi's favorite general, Kato Kiyomasa's second team of 22,000 people had landed in Korea, Kato Kiyomasa was murderous, the military discipline was strict, and he was extremely loyal to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Later, in the Gimhae area west of Busan, the 12,000 men of the 3th team led by Kuroda Nagamasa and the 14,500 men of the 4th team led by Shimazu Yoshihiro landed one after another, occupied Gimhae in the west of Gyeongsang-do and Seongju Fortress in the north and began to march towards Wangjing.

Konishi Yukichang is stationed near Sangju, Zong Yoshitomo reported that Kato Kiyomasa has captured Gyeongju and taken a shortcut to Chungju, Konishi Yukichang knows that Kato Kiyomasa intends to take the lead in capturing Wangjing, so he ordered to prepare to attack Sangju, Sangju was camped outside the city by 4,000 troops led by the Korean general Li Yi, since a few days ago he heard the news that the Japanese army had approached Sangju, and the people were panicked but did not see the trace of the Japanese army. So that when Governor Konishi was only one day's journey away from Shangzhou, Li Yi was still unaware. So Governor Konishi waited for many days and then raided the camp while the Shangzhou army was eating at noon, and the Shangzhou army immediately scattered and fled, and the military camp was chaotic and the scheduling failed, and the general Li Yi was nowhere to be found. Konishi Yukinaga was able to occupy Sangju, and Wang Jing was left with only one line of defense in Chungju.

The news of the fall of Shangju reached Wangjing, and the king Li Hao was at a loss, and Liu Chenglong asked: "Your Highness, the northern army has gone south, and General Shin Ji has deployed defenses in Chungju, if His Royal Highness is still not at ease, Weichen has the courage to play, please canonize the prince, call on the royal family to live forever, and revitalize the people's hearts, and the Korean army and people will swear together with His Royal Highness and the prince to fight the Japanese to the end." The courtiers chimed in.

Li Hao was shocked and turned to Li Shanhai to inquire, Li Shanhai said: "It is true that when the country is in crisis, the canonization of the prince is a foolproof plan to protect the country. Li Hao was helpless, but he didn't want to let Guanghai Jun sit firmly on the throne of the prince, so he said to the ministers: "It is true that even the widow is difficult to protect himself, please discuss who should be appointed as the prince, but the widow made it clear in advance that this canonization is not a note to the seal of the Heavenly Empire, but a temporary canonization in response to the national disaster, and the prince needs to be renegotiated when the national disaster is settled, do you understand?" "All the princes obey the king's commandment.

In the palace, Jin Guiren, the mother of Xinchengjun, was being persuaded by his brother Jin Gong: "His Royal Highness the Lord loves your sister and Xinchengjun deeply, but almost all the courtiers have their hearts set on Guanghaijun, if you don't speak to His Royal Highness as soon as possible, the position of the prince will inevitably be taken away by Guanghai!" ”

Jin Guiren knew the meaning of the king of Joseon: "His Royal Highness loves Xincheng deeply, so he announced this as a temporary canonization in the court, and when the war is tortuous, the prince is very easy to act as a substitute for the dead ghost to protect the king, and it is better to let Gwanghaejun be the prince at this time." Jin Gongliang suddenly realized.

The other queen summoned her eldest son Linhaijun and her second son Guanghaijun to ask for advice, and Linhaijun was also dissatisfied with being the son of the troubled world and left angrily. The only one left Guanghai Jun was sullen and worried: "Your Highness loves Xincheng deeply, and Linhai has a stubborn temperament, I am afraid that only an insignificant person like me will become a prince and die for the king" The queen interrupted: "If Guanghai is established as the prince, how can it be insignificant? What's more, the children of the royal family, when they are role models for the people, can do whatever they need for the country and the people, and their mothers will be inseparable from Guanghai. Gwanghae-kun admired.

At this time, in the camp of Konishi Yukicho in Sangju, Zong Yoshizhi found a Japanese interpreter from among the captives, and Konishi Yukicho was worried that if the Ming Kingdom sent reinforcements in the future, he would be forced to prolong the war in Korea, so he had been hoping to negotiate with Korea to obtain favorable conditions to avoid falling into an embarrassment. Zong Yizhi said to Konishi: "When I traveled to and from Korea several times before, there was a person named Li Dexin who is now the governor of the same office, and his father-in-law is the leader of the current North Korea, and he can deliver news to the king of Korea for us. Konishi Daiki ordered the Japanese interpreter to return to Wang Jing to convey the need for Li Dexin to negotiate as an envoy.

The king Li Hao was puzzled by the sudden proposal of Governor Konishi to negotiate, and Li Shanhai was also worried about fraud, Liu Chenglong said: "The Japanese can have driven straight into Zhongzhou and even Wangjing, and the rest of the Japanese thieves are also raging in arrogance, if the fraud is only to remove an official, it is not necessary, so the minister thinks that there is something to negotiate, even if there is no negotiation in the end, he can also take this opportunity to reorganize the armament." ”

Li Dexin said: "The minister is willing to be the messenger, as long as he can buy time for the country, the minister will not regret his death." Li Hao agreed, and when he arrived at the palace gate, Li Shanhai was reluctant to give up on Li Dexin, and repeatedly told him, but Li Dexin left in tears.

In addition, the border patrol envoy Li Yi disappeared after the war in Sangju, but actually fled all the way north to the Shenqi military camp in the south of Chungju. Shen Yan soothed: "It is rumored that the border patrol envoys died in battle, fortunately, you and I should fight side by side and rape the enemy together." Li Yi was ashamed: "The general of the defeated army is shameless, and he is only willing to die on the battlefield, hoping that the three patrols will be fulfilled." ”

Shen Qi helped Li Yi sit down and inquired about the firepower of the Japanese army, and Li Yi said: "Compared with these, I have doubts, why did the general choose the easy to defend and difficult to attack Bird Ridge to deploy defenses, but chose to open and safe around here?" ”

Shen replied: "I have been stationed at Bird Ridge, but it is too far away from Chungju, the enemy is mostly infantry, and our cavalry is the majority. And we're not at the point where we need to take the risk. Compared with the steep slopes of the Bird Ridge Mountain, it is more beneficial for our army to develop on flat ground. The troops stationed in various places are cowardly and fearful of war, which is an insult to the national prestige, and the elite soldiers of the DPRK are by no means inferior to the Japanese invaders, and in order to convey this belief to the world, it is necessary to fight quickly and quickly to inspire the fighting spirit to drive directly to Busan. I want to fight to the death against the Japanese invaders, so I camp here. ”

Li Yi objected: "Although most of the enemy is infantry, most of them have iron cannons, which shoot accurately and powerfully, and they will be hit if they are shot one hundred and fifty paces away. Shen Yan said disdainfully: "The range of bows and arrows is longer, and it still takes time to reload after a shot of iron cannons, and when they are loaded, our army's bows and arrows and cavalry have already been killed in front of them, what is there to fear?" Li Yi persuaded: "The enemy has a technical formation of continuous iron cannon shooting, and if you rush to fight, you will suffer heavy casualties. ”

Although Shen Yan hesitated, but after all, he failed to agree to Li Yi's request, Shen Yan said: "The Japanese thieves must have passed through Shangzhou, and our army is here to hold the road that Zhongzhou must pass. For this reason, our army must not leave this place, and must turn its back to the Han River and fight a decisive battle against the water! The horse army I led has been in battle for a long time, and the enemy will be torn apart under the iron hooves of our army! ”

On 28 April, when the two armies were arrayed in the area around Danqintai on the Namhan River, Shen Yan asked the adjutant general Kim Ruwu: "If you are a foreign enemy, how should you be deployed?" Kim Ruwu replied that he should divide his troops to surround him, and Shen Yan praised him. Li Yi asked for advice on how to guard against the iron artillery, and Shen replied: "Try to increase the distance between the horses, and when the distance is close, first disperse the enemy's forces with bows and arrows, and then advance forward." Since the enemy has landed in Busanpo, he has been like a bamboo, so that our country's prestige has been lost, and the enemy is like a tiger, and at this time, if you want to boost your morale, you must win head-on with the enemy, and even if you don't win, you can annihilate half of the weak enemy. The pressure on the defense of the Han River will be reduced, and you should be aware of this. "The generals commanded.

Konishi's side learned that the Shin army was about 8,000, of which 3,000 were cavalry, so he set a strategy, and Konishi Yukinaga personally led 7,000 to stop the flag in front of him, and used the dense forest of Danqintai to block the sight of North Korea and secretly approached the Korean army to raid again, and ordered Zong Yoshitomo and Matsuura Zhenxin to lead 3,000 points each to attack North Korea along the bank of the Han River, and then ordered Arima Harunobu, Omura Kizen, and Goto Jungen to lead 3,700 troops to secretly circle the enemy's rear, and after the two armies fought, they led the army to take Chungju directly and cut off the enemy's way back.

Konishi Yukinaga took the lead in the charge, and when Shen Li found out that Korea had been surrounded on three sides, Shen Ji ordered Jin Ruwu and Li Yi to lead 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry each to block the Japanese troops on both sides, and Shen Yan led 5,000 soldiers and horses to attack Konishi Yukinaga head-on, and Shen Li ordered to charge with 1,000 horses to break through the iron artillery fire with bows and arrows, and then use 1,000 horses to attack the enemy's formation and disrupt its position, and attack the enemy with infantry to make the enemy collapse. Seeing this, Konishi Yukinaga ordered the Iron Artillery Team to be divided into two parts, the front and back, protected by ashigaru array of guns, and the Sabre Samurai and the Lancer Samurai Team to stand by in the rear. Shen Qi cavalry cavalry is relatively well-trained, arrows rain, although the front of Konishi Xingchang set up a wooden fence to cover, there are still a lot of Japanese soldiers killed and wounded, when the Shen Qi cavalry burst to a hundred steps, the iron cannon fired, three consecutive attacks, the vanguard cavalry was killed and wounded more than half, the iron artillery team then retreated by the ashigaru gun formation to meet the enemy, the remaining 500 cavalry of the vanguard department hit the gun array, under the two impacts, although the Japanese gun array was chaotic, hundreds of dead and wounded, but the vanguard horse team has all been killed.

Without waiting for the Japanese army to reorganize, Shen Qi had taken the opportunity to lead a thousand cavalry to charge the Japanese formation again, and the Japanese army was annihilated in front of the light foot and the iron artillery team. Unmoved, Konishi Yukicho ordered the spear warriors to be divided into left and right formations to surround the enemy, and the rear iron artillery team immediately fired, and the enemy's iron cannons fired continuously on three sides, and the rear team had large iron cannons to suppress the formation, and the cycle went on and on, and the Korean army was greatly defeated. The Japanese pikemen followed up the assault, the Korean horses were frightened and confused, and they counterattacked the Korean infantry army, and the North Korea suffered many casualties under the iron cannon fire.

Zong Yizhi and Matsuura Zhenxin completed the encirclement, Konishi Yukichang ordered the whole army to attack, Shen Yan led the Korean army under the siege and the Japanese army short hand, the Korean army regardless of armor and weapons, morale and combat power are inferior to the Japanese army, Shen Yan ordered the whole army, gathered troops to set up a ring formation to resist the enemy, with the shield in front of the spear in the rear, the archer in the center, reorganize the morale, Shen Qi shouted: "If you lose, the country will be ruined, and if you win, you will be rich and noble, don't let the Japanese go to Wangjing one step!" "The battle to dusk, the Korean army was annihilated, Shen Yan led Jin Ruwu and Li Yi to lead the outstanding encirclement in two ways, Konishi Yukichang pursued and surrounded Shen Yan, Shen Yan fought and retreated to the river cliff without a way, and Jin Ruwu said goodbye to each other, each committed suicide by throwing himself into the river, Li Yi fled to Chungju but had already been occupied by the Japanese army, Arima Harunobu, Omura Kizen, Goto Junxuan led the army to attack, Li Yi was frightened and fled, the battle Konishi Yukicho's army suffered more than 8,000 casualties, heavy losses, had to be stationed in place, and it was difficult to enter Wangjing.