Chapter 44 Territorial Recovery

Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He, who were in Yaogang, were also paying attention to the place of the capital of Yongbyon, North Korea.

Forward telegrams reported that the army had reached Yongbyon Tsugo. Hearing this, Zhang Zhimu was happy in his heart, "Isn't that the place where the North Koreans did *** in their previous life?" They delayed us to solve the ****, and they kept making trouble for us. Even history can be made up. This time, we must teach them a lesson, cancel all hidden dangers and troubles in advance, and leave hidden dangers for future generations. However, seeing that Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He both cast puzzled expressions, he quickly smiled and said, "Hehe! Are we going to call Yongbyon Protectorate right away? Then we can press on Pyongyang and attract more North Korean troops. ”

Ouyang He said: "It should be like this, we should end the matter on the North Korean side as soon as possible." ”

"We just need to fight until Li Ju recognizes our original borders." Chen Yufeng said, "The rest of North Korea is the food on the plate, and we can eat whatever we want!" ”

"Yes! Our navy should withdraw as soon as possible and go south, and cooperate with Fan Chengkun on the Fujian side to take down Xiaoliuqiu (Taiwan). Ouyang He said, "Our big ship will also rush to deliver grain and forage to the mouth of Heilongjiang before it freezes." Jiang Zhu and his two cavalry armies marched towards Nuer Gandusi, and the food they needed was not a small amount. They take over such a large place, and it is convenient for some grain to do work. Besides, next year, they will march from the east road to Mobei, and they will also have to prepare the grain in advance. ”

"And yes! Zhimu, Mr. Ouyang and I have been studying whether to set up a Heilongjiang Navy Brigade, which covers a very wide range of the entire Heilongjiang River Basin, and only the warships of the Navy can move very conveniently in that area. We don't have much information about Heilongjiang now, all of which are given to us by the Ming court. However, judging from the map, if the east road marches west along the waterway, it is completely possible to cooperate with the ships of the navy on the water, so that the transportation problem is much simpler. In the long run, if we can connect one of the tributaries of the Heilongjiang River with Lake Baikal, then the waterway will cover even more. With such a network of waterways, things are much easier to do in the north! Fan Chengkun and I were angry about this, and he said that there was no problem with the personnel, as long as our ship could keep up. ”

"This is a good idea," Zhang Zhimu immediately agreed, "I think I will let Lingshui Shipyard build a few more flat-bottomed sand ship-style warships." Build them a few more gunboats and speedboats. Also, now our tugboats and barges can be mass-produced and can fully meet their needs. In my opinion, the establishment of the Heilongjiang Navy Brigade should be done immediately. This time, barges and tugboats will be sent over to deliver grain there. Next year they will be able to march west from the east road. ”

"The establishment of the Heilongjiang Navy Brigade will be done immediately, discuss it with Fan Chengkun, and I think Mu Yi will be specifically responsible!" Ouyang He said, "We have already arranged for Jiang Ji to transport grain to them this time. It has been arranged to send them several tugboats at the same time, as well as some speedboats. There are no superfluous gunboats now, let's talk about it later! Jiang Ti and their people, holding Fulin's "Descending Book Shun Table" are still very effective, and the march to Nuergan's side is quite smooth along the way. ”

After Wei Xiang received the order to immediately capture the Yongbyon Protectorate, he immediately telegraphed the troops who had arrived at the Yongbyon Protectorate.

The capture of such a city is a trivial matter for the army of Yaogang.

Leaving a company of troops to block the North Korean army following behind. A burst of artillery fire blew up the positions of the North Korean army on the outskirts of Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate into a sea of fire, and these officers and men of the North Korean army, who had never seen such artillery fire, immediately became birds and beasts, fled into the city and closed the city gate tightly.

Under the cover of mortars, infantry guns and heavy machine guns, the infantry of the Yaogang army drove over and attacked the city from the north and west gates under the guidance of artillery wagons. The gun wagon drove over and blasted the gate open, and the gun wagon ran over the broken gate, using the heavy machine guns and parallel machine guns on the gun carriage to clear the way as he went, leading the infantry into the city. This style of play is familiar to all officers and men of the Yaogang Army. When you enter the city, you start to slaughter, and it is not much of a battle. Automatic rifles against broadswords and spears, what kind of battle can be fought.

Some officers and men felt that they were really invincible and wanted to rush out of the other two gates. But they don't want to think, can there be no one waiting for them in the other two doors? Most of the people who rushed out from the other two doors were killed by heavy machine guns.

The battle in Yongbyon Protectorate began in the morning and was basically under control by noon. In the afternoon, it was to encircle and suppress the remnants of the enemy.

However, the division commander who commanded the operation did not let the gunfire stop immediately, but ordered the company that was blocking the enemy behind them to quickly retreat. The Korean troops, who had been following them, heard the sound of gunfire in the direction of Yongbyon Dolgo in front of them, and knew that it was time for them to attack, and directed their troops to attack and advance in the direction of Yongbyon Dolgo, only to be blocked by a company of Yaogang infantry. Where could these North Korean soldiers break through the fire net composed of machine guns and rifles, and they threw down many corpses in several consecutive charges, and they all retreated. The leader of this group of Korean soldiers understood that if he did not lead his troops to rush over and flank the Ming army in front, no matter whether the Yongbyon Protectorate was lost or not, he would not be able to escape the responsibility of his own unfavorable rescue. They heard the sound of the guns in front of them gradually thinning out, and they became more anxious, so they immediately reorganized their forces and prepared for the last battle. But when they charged again, the blocking position in front of them suddenly became empty. The North Korean army felt that perhaps this was the result of their desperate efforts, and the brigade rushed over the blocking position in the direction of Yongbyon Fortress, where gunfire was still ringing. But when they rushed to the bottom of the city, they saw that the banner on the city had changed, and at the same time the Ming Dynasty army appeared behind them. At this time, the army under the city understood that the Yongbyon Protectorate had already been captured, and they were also surrounded.

Before he could react otherwise, a shell exploded in the crowd, killing countless North Korean officers and soldiers who were huddled together. The artillery stopped, followed by the howls of the wounded North Korean soldiers.

The remaining Korean rebels rushed left and right, and they were all hit back by a dense number of bullets, and finally the remaining more than 5,000 Korean officers and soldiers under the castle of Yongbyon surrendered.

This battle was fought simply and neatly, and it was fought exactly according to the textbook style of fighting. In total, more than 25,000 enemies were killed, of which more than 10,000 were captured. The Yaogang soldiers thought it was strange that those North Korean soldiers who looked imposing were actually straw bales when they started fighting, and they could easily surrender.

After the Yaogang army occupied the Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate, they did not immediately advance eastward, but attacked all the large and small castles near the Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate.

More than 100 kilometers south from Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate is Pyongyang Province, and the Yaogang army did not march in that direction, but wanted to attract the North Korean army to this side and let the troops landing from the Taedong River mouth surround some more North Korean troops.

When the North Korean troops and officials in Pyongyang Province received the news that Yongbyon Prefecture had been occupied by the Ming army and that the army had suffered numerous casualties, they dared to slack off and immediately sent people to report to Wang Jing Hancheng.

The king of Joseon, Yi Ju, and the hundred officials were simply stunned when they heard the news, and most of the troops in the whole of Korea were on the banks of the Yalu River. They don't understand, how can those fools not be able to stop the attack of the Ming army at all? Some time ago, it was reported that the number of Ming troops on the west bank of the Yalu River was not large, even less than 10,000, why did the Ming army suddenly hit Ningbian Duhufu? Could it be that the hundreds of thousands of troops on the banks of the Yalu River were all killed by the Ming army, which had less than 10,000 troops? If not, how could the Ming army defeat the Yongbian Metropolitan Protectorate, which was guarded by more than 10,000 people?

Although Li Qi asked countless questions about why there was no answer, what should I do next? The ministers were watching him.

Li Kun, who calmed down a bit, asked the ministers: "Now send someone to negotiate with the Ming army, right?" Otherwise, with the military strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is very simple to hit Seoul! ”

"Your Majesty!" The minister, who went to negotiate with Wei Xiang as a special envoy last time, said with trepidation, "We will go to negotiate with them now, I'm afraid, I'm afraid their conditions will be more harsh!" That guy is a guy who doesn't eat oil and salt, he doesn't talk to us at all, and he hates us outrageously! ”

"Your Majesty! If we agree to their request, we will give the land that our ancestors have won so hard to the Ming Dynasty, we are sorry for our ancestors! "Someone is not satisfied.

"Yes! Even if our blood is gone, we will not lose our land. Someone else said, "We can agree to other conditions, such as compensation for some gold and silver, and even personnel." Land must not be given to them! ”

Li Liang saw that most of the officials did not agree to agree to the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, and those ministers who wanted to agree did not dare to speak. There was no way, Li Qi gritted his teeth and said: "Then immediately transfer all the troops we can mobilize, and immediately take back the strategic place of Ningbian Protectorate, otherwise, the Ming army will drive straight from here." ”

There are also military generals who analyzed: "After the Ming army defeated the Yongbyon Prefecture, they did not attack and advance to Pyongyang Province on the plains, which shows that their troops are not many, and they dare not go too deep into our hinterland, or they are also waiting for their successor army." We must quickly mobilize our forces to fight back and push them back before they are ready. ”

The general's words won the approval of the ministers. With the support of his ministers, Li Liang chose to fight the war. North Korea began to accelerate the mobilization of troops to concentrate on Pyongyang Province, preparing to set off from there to attack Yongbyon Prefecture.

According to the intelligence of the intelligence agents lurking in Pyongyang Province and Seoul, Wei Xiang knew that North Korea had concentrated nearly 50,000 troops and horses in Pyongyang Province, and that the city of Pyongyang was full of troops. Wei Xiang immediately informed the army on the sea that it was ready to act.

The Yaogang army on the sea couldn't wait for a long time, and two 5,000-ton ships marched towards the mouth of the Datong River under the cover of two Yaogang warships. Taking advantage of the night, the two warships of Yaogang took the lead in driving into the mouth of the Datong River, and suddenly turned on a searchlight near the shore to illuminate the forts at the mouth of the Datong River. Then the warship turned its guns and opened fire on a barracks of the North Korean army at the mouth of the Taedong River. The shells covered the barracks of the North Korean army camp and the North Korean officers and soldiers who had been awakened by the sound of artillery. At this time, the big ship of Yaogang unloaded the barge, the soldiers boarded the barge, the tugboat dragged the barge, followed the warship, and went upriver along the Datong River, in the night, the searchlight on the tugboat and the warship illuminated a wharf on the west bank of the Datong River at the same time, and found that there were some panicked Korean soldiers on the wharf, and the heavy machine gun on the warship hit a string of bullets and beat them to nothing. The tugboat docked, and the infantry quickly landed ashore.

The infantry who landed on the shore quickly established a position and covered the tugboat to return for the second time to carry infantry and supplies.

When dawn came, the warships and gunboats of Yaogang completely cut off the connection between the two sides of the Datong River.

It was not until the afternoon of the next day that the situation was not good, and the Korean army concentrated in Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 officers and men to drive out the Ming troops who had landed on the Taedong River. However, as soon as they arrived in front of the position of the Yaogang people, they were abused by the artillery of the army and the artillery on the ship, and they fled back without seeing the face of the Yaogang people. The generals of the army concentrated in Pyongyang knew that the battle could not be fought when they heard the horrific scenes described by the defeated army, and combined with the reports of the troops who had fled back from the Yalu River. They knew very well that the Ming army that occupied the Yongbyon Protectorate was not unable to attack Pyongyang, and the Ming army stopped at the Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate to concentrate them in Pyongyang, and then the Ming army landed on the Taedong River to cut off their retreat and encircle them in the Pyongyang area. At this time, the Malay newspaper reported that the Ming army on the side of the Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate had already moved in the direction of Pyongyang. The generals here realized the seriousness of the problem, and sent people to quietly cross the Datong River overnight and report the situation here to the palace at a gallop.

In fact, Wei Xiang and the others have completed the strategic deployment, and they are not in a hurry, they hope that the rest of the matter can be resolved peacefully. Therefore, they slowly pressed the troops of the Yongbyon Metropolitan Protectorate towards Pyongyang, and they were not in a hurry.

When King Ri Ju heard the news of Pyongyang's return, he almost fainted in a burst of fire. Everyone stroked their chests and knocked their backs for a while, so that Li Liang could breathe down.

After gasping for a long time, Li Qi said slowly with tears in his eyes: "If there is no more troops there in Pyongyang!" We don't have any soldiers, so let's talk about it, how are we doing? ”

One of the ministers said, "Your Majesty! It seems that we can't defeat the Ming army, and the original meaning is to show toughness so that we can negotiate with them. But we can't afford to lose these tens of thousands of soldiers! With the loss of these tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, we don't have the capital to negotiate with others! ”

Another minister said, "Yes! Your Majesty, negotiations are based on capital. We don't have the money to talk to people? ”

Li Liang scolded in his heart! The heart said: You said that you said, and now you don't want to fight, but if you want to surrender, you want me to say it. Li Qi still said to the envoy who had talked to Wei Xiang: "There is no way! We can't let the Ming army kill all of our people! You set off at once to talk to them, and we promise their terms! ”

The envoy was very embarrassed and said: "Your Majesty, I can talk about it again, but their general is very difficult, and there is no reason to talk about it at all." What if they put forward more conditions? ”

"The Ming Dynasty will not embarrass us so much, we were still their subjects after all." Li Qi said, "However, if they have to make any further requests, as long as they don't let us die, you can agree!" ”

The military generals of North Korea all bowed their heads, and none of them could say anything else. They all know that if they don't agree to others, they will ruin the country!

After receiving the order, the envoy really didn't dare to delay, and led people out of Seoul overnight, and rushed towards the direction of the Datong River.

Two days later, they rushed to the Datong River. I saw the warships and speedboats sailing on the Datong River. The envoy sent two men to row in a small boat to the middle of the Datong River, and a speedboat from Yaogang immediately approached, and the Koreans on the speedboat told them that the envoy of the Korean king was on the bank of the Datong River, asking to see the general of the Ming army.

The kiln soldiers on the speedboat used the radio to talk to the ship on the warship, and the captain immediately sent a telegram to Wei Xiang. Wei Xiang called back and said, "Ask the North Korean envoys to board the ship and ask them what they mean?" ”

The speedboat docked and took the envoy to the warship in Yaogang, and the captain saw that the North Korean envoy gave him one.

The Korean envoy had never been on such a roaring steel-hulled ship, and after sitting down tremblingly, he said: "General, I am sent by His Majesty the King to meet your general. ”

"Our general is so busy!" The captain said, "I just told our general about your coming, and our general said that you can tell me if you have anything." Now the military situation is very urgent, our infantry is preparing to march towards Pyongyang, and our naval army will soon have to provide artillery support. Tell me what the envoy has to say! ”

"Oops! Don't go to war yet! Don't go to war! The North Korean envoy was a little anxious, "Our Majesty the King has already scolded me." His Majesty the King said that we are a subject state of the Ming Dynasty and have always served the suzerainty of the Ming Dynasty. has been implementing the national policy of 'big things', and it is also helpless to commit to ***. We fully agreed to all of Daming's requests. Last time, I was ignorant and didn't immediately accept the general's advice, which led to the evil consequences of the war between our two countries. Please inform your generals as soon as possible and do not go to war again. Our family should not have bloodshed and go to war! This is the opinion of His Majesty the King! ”

The captain said in his heart: "You are cheap, I don't hurt you, you don't know what a big country is!" However, he couldn't say that, so he turned back to the staff officer who was recording next to him and said, "Send a telegram to General Wei and tell General Wei the opinion of the envoy." The staff officer nodded and went out to send a telegram.

The captain said: "We are already ready to fight this time, and we have to send it." We have already sent a telegram to General Wei about the situation, and I don't know what his opinion is. Let's wait! ”

"Then hurry up and dock and inform General Wei!" He said, "Don't go to war until General Wei replies to the letter!" ”

The captain was amused when he heard it, he knew that the envoy didn't understand what the telegram was, and he still wanted to dock early and use his fast horse to inform Wei Xiang of the situation. The captain smiled and said, "Use the fast horse to report the situation, that's the old yellow calendar!" We can send the situation to General Wei immediately by telegram. The captain also knew that this matter could not be explained to him in a few words.

At this time, the staff officer came in with Wei Xiang's reply, and the captain took the telegram, glanced at it and said, "General Wei has sent a telegram back." He said, "If you accept our demands unconditionally, we will not attack you for the time being." Ask the envoy to negotiate with our General Wei and determine the armistice treaty. However, during the armistice, your army should not make any movements that we would perceive as dangerous operations. Otherwise, we will immediately attack and destroy your army, and then directly hit your king, Hancheng. Send all your king's ministers to Hainan Island to plant rubber. ”

Although Wei Xiang's words were hard to hear, he finally agreed to stop the attack immediately. The Special Envoy immediately stood up and said that he would be in order.

The captain said, "Get off the ship at once and inform your troops to stop moving." Then ship with us to Zhenjiang and negotiate a treaty with our general! ”

"Good! I'll get off the ship and inform our army that you'll do exactly what you want!" The envoy's hanging heart finally let go.

The envoy really kept his word, and got off the ship and sent several officials who came with him with the order of the Korean king Yi Liang to inform their army, according to the requirements of the Ming army, to stop the movement, and all stayed in place.

The envoy returned to the warship, which took more than a day to send the North Korean envoy to Zhenjiang on the bank of the Yalu River from the sea.

Wei Xiang, who returned to Zhenjiang, was studying in front of the map how to ask the North Korean envoy in advance! The Yaogang Command Center sent a telegram to Wei Xiang, informing him that he should try to end the Korean war as soon as possible. As long as the North Korean envoy accepts the restoration of the border in accordance with the original Yuan borders.

Wei Xiang didn't think this was what he wanted in his heart, he wanted to draw more places to come over, how could he fight so many battles in vain. Wei Xiang also knew that since his family wanted to end the Korean war as soon as possible, he must have family considerations, so he had to sigh and grit his teeth to minimize his request.

But when he talked to the North Korean envoy, Wei Xiang's intestines were blue, but he couldn't take back what he said! The DPRK envoy agreed to his own request without any hesitation.

The boundary proposed by Wei Xiang was to redraw the boundary line from Wonsan under the city, to Yeonsan, and then to Saliwon and Nampo. The maritime demarcation line is bounded by an extension of the line connecting Wonsan and Nampo.

What Wei Xiang demanded was that the signed treaty was written to return the previously occupied territory of the Ming Dynasty in accordance with this boundary line.

However, the North Korean envoy resolutely refused to accept this writing, and demanded that this part of the Korean territory be ceded to the Ming Dynasty. The North Korean envoy understood that returning it would be tantamount to acknowledging that the original place was the Ming Dynasty and that they had taken it later. The North Korean envoy was reluctant to admit that this was to leave an ambush for the land to be demanded in the future.

After listening to the translation, Wei Xiang slapped the case and shouted: "Let me ask you, when we were in the Yuan Dynasty, was the border line probably here?" ”

The North Korean envoy was also very tricky, saying: "I don't know where the border of the original Yuan Dynasty is. But the land left to us by our ancestors is bounded by the Yalu River, and now that we can't beat you, we will promise to cede the land to you. ”

Wei Xiang smiled and said, "That's good! Let's talk again. We can write about cession, but the border is not here. Since I have ceded you, I will cede a little more. We don't want much, so we will take the Han River as the boundary, and the north of the Han River will belong to us, and the south of the Han River will be left to you. So the boundaries are easy to demarcate. Otherwise, we'll go over! ”

"That's absolutely not going to work!" The DPRK envoy resolutely opposed!

"You can now have two choices, one is to choose one of the plans I have proposed, and the other is that I will immediately send a telegram to the front-line soldiers and launch an attack immediately. I have left you without a place here. Exile all your people from the Korean Peninsula! Wei Xiang was a little anxious, and said in his heart, why don't you Koreans give face?

There was no way, so the North Korean envoy had no choice but to agree to Wei Xiang's first statement and sign the treaty. However, Wei Xiang knew that the Koreans were too scoundrels, and asked the Korean envoys to take them back and give them the king Li Liang to sign it, and to stamp the great seal of their country. Moreover, it was Wei Xiang who sent someone back with them, to see their king Li Liang sign with his own eyes. In fact, Wei Xiang hoped that North Korea would choose the Han River to demarcate the border, regardless of whether he ceded or returned, it was the same if you had the strength, and if you didn't have the strength, it would be useless to return the cession.

The North Korean envoy had no choice but to comply.

Wei Xiang told the soldiers on the front line that when they drew the border with the Koreans, they would not give up an inch of land, and they would use wooden stakes to pull barbed wire to separate the border line.

Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He of Yaogang are still very satisfied with such a result. Because in this way, the Yalu River, the Qingchuan River, and the Datong River are all our inland rivers. Wei Xiang was very scheming, and the boundary drawn in this way was easier to guard than the border during the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He all agreed to send Wei Xiang a large amount of barbed wire, as well as nails and other materials to fix the barbed wire. In this way, the border is completely secured with barbed wire. Let the two sides reduce exchanges, then separate them culturally, and relocate people. This boundary can be restored completely and quickly.

However, Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He were even more pleased that Wei Xiang was already a general who could stand alone.

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.