In the face of Hidebo's question, Okubo Tadashi told the truth despite his embarrassed face: "Although it was a great victory, it was still delayed for two days after all, and Naka-Nayan was worried that the great achievement of capturing Suwon would be robbed by the Senate, so he led his army to continue westward without resting, intending to capture Anseong, and send troops to Osan before the Senate captured Pyeongtaek, and control the only land route north to Suwon." ”

"Could it be that Zhong Nayan was defeated and captured in Anseong?" Hearing this, Xiubao couldn't help but ask.

Zhonglin shook his head and continued: "On the contrary, in Anseong, Chung Na Yan took the lead and led 3,000 banners to attack in turn, and in less than two hours, he captured the city, beheaded more than 800 people, and completely wiped out the Korean defenders in the southeast of Gyeonggi Province. ”

"According to what you say, Zhong Nayan was in distress during the attack on Osan Mountain?" Xiubao guessed that it must be Xiuzhong's pride and underestimation of the enemy, so he was defeated and captured under Osan Castle.

"No," Zhonglin still shook his head, got up and came to the map, pointed to a small hill between Pyeongtaek and Anseong, and said, "Before I saw the shadow of Osan Mountain, Zhong Nayan was captured by the Ming army here." ”

"Since Mungyeong and Choryeong broke into Chungcheong-do, Chung Na Yan has not tasted defeat, and since then he has entered Gyeonggi Province and won a series of battles, encouraged by this situation, he was a little flustered, and on the afternoon of the capture of Anseong, he insisted on leading his troops to attack Osan despite the persuasion of his foreign ministers, and tried to arrive at the foot of Osan Castle in the early morning of the next day, and follow the strategy used in Zhusan to conquer the southern gate of Suwon in one fell swoop."

"The foreign minister felt that the soldiers had already been exhausted by a few days of rapid marching, and now they had to march in the night, let alone people, and even the war horses could not bear it. Moreover, at that time, when they were patronizing the war, they did not have time to communicate with friendly forces, which would inevitably lead to a delay in news and seriously affect the overall situation of the war. ”

So the minister hoped to send a small team to Pyeongtaek to see if the senate had already set out, and if so, then the two armies could meet under the city of Osan and fight together; If it does not set off, then the army does not need to be in a hurry, it can rest for a while in Anseong, wait until the two sides coordinate the details of the dispatch, and then go north along the official road together. ”

"Hmph, that's a nice thing to say, you just want to capture Wushan before us, which caused the disaster of Jishan, and you are embarrassed to behave here and win sympathy from the servants?" Kato Kiyomasa jumped out first and directly accused his loyal neighbors, which made the Tokugawa generals very dissatisfied.

Seeing this, Xiuyuan immediately stepped forward to stop it, and warned sharply: "Zhongnayan is young and vigorous, and it is inevitable to make mistakes, and the speed of our army's march is indeed slow, which gives the Ming army in Pyeongtaek an opportunity, how can you rashly blame the Tokugawa family ministers such as Daisuke of the Zhibu." ”

Hearing this, Xiubao somewhat understood: "It seems that the Western Route Army has not yet captured Pyeongtaek, but Zhong Nayan has no idea, thinking that he has been pacified behind him, so he can rest assured that he will send troops to Wushan, but he did not expect to be attacked by the Pyeongtaek defenders, defeated and captured?" ”

"If it's just the 2,000 Ming troops in Pyeongtaek, it's not a big deal, the key is that the Ming army stationed in Suwon is also all dispatched, nearly 20,000 people, how can the flag of Zhongnayan be able to fight!" Speaking of this, the loyal neighbor finally couldn't help but sob, and even Honda Tadasa, who was listening quietly, burst into tears: "The three thousand elites are gone, and Zhong Nayan was captured by the Ming army again, I am really shameless to see the lord again!" ”

"Twenty thousand troops!" Xiubao couldn't help but gasp: "As far as I know, this time the Ming State only sent a total of 30,000 troops, and 3,000 cavalry had been wiped out in Nanyuan before, if the army left in Pyongyang is removed, wouldn't it mean that all the remaining Ming troops are concentrated in Nanyuan?" ”

"That's right," Xiuyuan nodded, pointed to the map with a folding fan and analyzed: "This time, our army and the Central Route Army marched together and went north along Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Road respectively, and apart from the stubborn resistance encountered in Namwon, we never encountered a decent battle to defend the city. What's more, even large cities such as Jeonju and Chungju were directly abandoned by the Ming army. We originally thought that it was a plan by the Ming army to lure the enemy, but after many investigations, we found out that it was the commander-in-chief of the Ming army, Maguile, who issued a military order to summon all garrisons to withdraw to Seoul to avoid repeating the mistakes of Nanyuan and being broken by each one. ”

The foreign ministers were also aware of the movements of the Ming army, especially after capturing the empty city of Chungju, the foreign minister sent someone to ask the Senate about the situation of the Ming army in Cheongju, and when he learned that it was also an empty city, the foreign minister immediately warned Zhong Nayan to be careful, so as not to suffer the enemy in the deep belly and back of the lone army. But Zhong Nayan wanted to make a head, and did not listen to the advice of the foreign ministers, especially after conquering Zhushan and Ancheng with a face, the arrogance was even more out of control, and he insisted on attacking Osan non-stop, but the main force of the army was already exhausted, and the generals were also complaining bitterly, there was no way, the foreign ministers had to bite the bullet and admonish Zhong Nayan, hoping to rest in Ancheng for a while, and wait for the morale of the army to recover before attacking the city. But ...... "Speaking of this, the loyal neighbor choked, although what Xiuzhong did was wrong, but the ugliness of the family should not be publicized, after all, it is the young master of the Tokugawa family, and the loyal neighbor is a courtier, and exposing his old background in front of outsiders is to discredit the main family, which is really disloyal, so it is difficult to open up when it comes to the topic.

Fortunately, after listening to it for so long, Hidebo could probably guess the course of this battle, and his loyal neighbors were embarrassed, so he took the first step to say: "However, Zhong Nayan thought that the soldiers were fast and resolutely refused, so he decided to follow the battle of Anseong, with the 3,000 banners under his command as the vanguard, and the main force went north to attack Osan one step ahead." Just when the army marched to the area of Jishan shown on the map, it was attacked by the Ming army from the north and south, and at this time the main force had not yet arrived, and the three thousand elites were isolated and helpless, and finally all were wiped out by the Ming army at the foot of Jishan Mountain, and Zhong Nayan was captured by the Ming army at that time. Jibe-sama, do you think what you said is correct? ”

"That's right, the servants are extremely smart, and the ministers are really impressed." Loyal neighbors excitedly bowed down, this worship is ostensibly an admiration for Xiubao's ability to analyze and associate, in fact, the most important thing is to thank Xiubao for saying these words for himself, if you really let the loyal neighbor himself, I am afraid that after returning to China, someone will talk nonsense in front of Ieyasu, maybe he will really cure himself of the crime of disloyalty.

"Now that the process is clear, it's easy to do." Xiubao turned around and asked Xiuyuan: "As far as you know, are the 20,000 troops of the Ming army stationed in Pyeongtaek?" ”

Xiuyuan shook his head and replied: "No, Pingtaek is a peaceful city, easy to attack and difficult to defend, Magui only left 3,000 people to defend, and the main force of the army returned along the same road, of course, Zhong Nayan was also taken by them." Although they returned along the same route, it is not clear whether they were stationed in Osan on the spot, returned to Suwon, or withdrew to Seoul. ”

Since Xiuyuan didn't know the movements of the Ming army on the front line, Xiubao couldn't know it, but he still had a lot of feelings about the battle of Jishan: "Zhong Nayan was in this plan at the beginning, he thought that the main force of the Ming army would be north of Wushan, or even Hancheng, so he dared to lead 3,000 banners to pass directly through Jishan, but the Ming army did not defend the city as Ma Gui threatened, but went south out of Wushan, set up an ambush in Jishan City, and took advantage of the lax spirit of our army to attack, first disrupting our army's position, and then the Pyeongtaek defenders blocked the road, Attacking from both sides, the flag team was surrounded and annihilated without much effort, and this trick was really beautiful. ”

"According to the opinion of the servants, how should our army act now, should we storm Pyeongtaek and force the Ming army to hand over people, or send people to negotiate peace?" Xiuyuan originally just wanted to teach Xiuzhong a lesson, but now he was almost killed, and at this moment, he had to calm down and listen to Xiubao's opinion.

Xiubao's answer was very direct: "A strong attack is absolutely indispensable, you have also seen it in Nanyuan, the Ming army is not a soft bone, if they are really forced to hurry, Zhong Nayan will not be far from death; The reason why Zhong Nayan did not die is that he hopes to use him in exchange for power, this deal is also fair, as long as nothing goes wrong on the way, Zhong Nayan will definitely be able to return safely. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the envoy sent this time must be resourceful and adaptable, I wonder who in the army can take on this important task? ”

"If Your Highness doesn't like it, please leave this important task to the foreign minister." As everyone exchanged words, a burly samurai with an eyepatch in his left eye stepped out from behind his loyal neighbor.