In the Central Plains battle, the Ming army only lost more than 10,000 people, and the combat power of the Jinghu defense line and the Qingyuan defense line was still strong, which put considerable pressure on the Japanese army; On the other hand, the Japanese army had more than 60,000 troops attacking on the three routes, and now only 20,000 remained, and the eastern and central routes were basically destroyed, and self-protection was barely possible, let alone a counteroffensive.

Therefore, Hideyoshi decided to abolish the Middle Route Army, and Hideya was demoted to the deputy general of the Eastern Route Army, and the president was the military commissioner, assisting the general Hidetada to defend Gyeongsang-do, and at the same time, 9,000 people from Naoshige Nabeshima, Yoshihiro Shimazu, and Kuroda Nagamasa were merged into the Eastern Route Army, so that the troops under Hidetada's command barely reached 10,000 people, and the defense was based on Eijo.

As the Battle of Yeongdo wiped out the Korean naval forces, Hideyoshi suggested to Hideho that the Busan garrison take over Sacheon, while Sacheon's 20,000 troops would go north to Mungyeong, with Fujido Takatora temporarily acting as the general to defend the Ming army on the front line of Bird Ridge.

As for Xiuyuan, he led the remaining 14,000 men to continue to garrison Cheongju to guard against an attack on the front line of Jinghu.

In fact, due to the excessive consumption of the Central Plains joint battle, in the next half a year, both sides were unable to fight again, until the end of September, the Ming army launched a tentative attack in the middle of the road, led by Li Jingxiao 3,000 troops to attack Bird Ridge, under the calm command of Gao Hu and the heroic battle of Qingxing and other generals, the Ming army not only did not make much progress, but encountered the pursuit of Longqing father and son when withdrawing from the north, Li Jingxiao's third brother Li Jingyi was pierced by Longqing's arrow through the throat and died on the spot, and the second brother Li Jingzhong was also injured by the iron artillery team led by Suzuki Shigechao, Nearly killed. After this battle, Dong Yiyuan, who was in charge of Cheongju, never launched a large-scale attack again, and this situation continued until the spring of the following year.

On the eighth day of October, he ordered Kato Kiyomasa to lead 5,000 troops to seize the ruins of Tian'an, and build another new city, trying to use this as a bridgehead to recapture the southern foot of the Zhuling Mountains and drive the Ming army back to the Pyeongtaek-Chenghuanli line.

Zhuling was to the Japanese army, just as the Great Wall was to China, it was an important barrier to prevent the Ming army from moving south, and Ma Gui also knew this, even if he retreated, he still firmly occupied Zhenchuan and Zengping, in order to control Yunling and create conditions for large-scale attacks in the future.

At first, Qingzheng raided Zhenchuan and took the first city for the Japanese army, and Magui immediately led his troops to support Zengping, so that the defenders instantly reached 8,000 people, and Qingzheng knew that he could not do it, so he led his troops to retreat to Zhenchuan to confront the Ming army. Ma Gui didn't want to delay here too much, and seeing that the Japanese army had no intention of fighting again, he led most of his troops and horses back to Suwon.

Although it was not possible to completely recapture Zhuling, but Tian'an and Zhenchuan clamped down on Zengping with the momentum of the horn, which was considered unsatisfactory, on October 15, after leaving 3,000 defenders, Qingzheng led the rest to return to Qingzhou, after which the two armies fought for more on the Yunling line, but until February of the following year, did not change much.

Compared with the confrontation between the middle road and the west road, the east road is much more complicated, learning that the loyal dynasty was killed, as the elder brother of the loyal government was filled with grief and indignation, personally led the family of 2,000 troops into the war in the court, first on September 20 to conquer the city of Zhubian, slaughtered the city to avenge the loyal dynasty; Later, with the cooperation of the Wenqing garrison, they recaptured the two mountains of Taibai and Xiaobai, and drove the Ming army back to Gangwon Province; On October 18, Danyang was conquered, and the troops once came to the city of Dichuan.

Seeing this situation, Dong Yiyuan, who was stationed in Chungju, and Li Rumei, who was stationed in Yuanzhou, jointly launched the third battle of Jecheon on the 20th, and defeated the Japanese advance led by Chungseong with 30,000 troops in one fell swoop.

As of February of the third year of Gyeongchang, the Japanese army still controlled all of Gyeongsang, Jeolla, most of Chungcheong-do, and a small part of Gangwon Province, and the two armies basically formed a confrontation along the Zhuling-Namhangang-Taebaeksan Mountain, and the area occupied by the Japanese army accounted for about one-third of the total area of the Korean Peninsula, and the war situation was still not optimistic for the Ming army.

Since moving to Busan in May last year, Hideho has been temporarily acting as the general for almost a year, there is not much war to disturb, he is also happy to be idle, not long ago, Xiuqiu because of "rash action" (as the general personally killed the enemy), was deprived by Hideyoshi of 307,000 stone Zhixing of the former famous island, and transferred to Kitanozhuang, becoming a daimyo with only 100,000 stone high, the so-called tree fell and scattered, and the ministers who called for wind and rain under him also left him in a smoke, such as Yamaguchi Munega, who had squeezed out Longqing before, and turned into a change, He became a 63,000-stone daimyo of Kaga Daishoji Temple, and his retainers such as Takao Matabei were directly recruited by Mitsunari to help him manage the 300,000-stone territory that had been confiscated into the hidden land.

"The lord is still thinking about the young lord and the royal front, right?" Qingsheng sat at the bottom of the hall and said slowly while sipping Jinju's snow-topped tea. Since there was no fighting for more than a year, agricultural production in the southern part of the peninsula gradually returned to normal, and most of the soldiers under Xiubao's command were involved in farming to reduce their dependence on the mainland, and at the same time, through the promulgation of some more lenient policies, more and more Korean farmers also returned to the fields from the mountains and resumed normal work.

"How can I not think about it, this time the emperor gave birth to a boy, and I will also forget about it." Hideho picked up a piece of rice cake and put it in his mouth and chewed it with relish. On the eighth day of the lunar month last year, Ju Ji successfully gave birth to a baby boy, and after Hideho knew about it, he named it "Takeomaru" with reference to Hidenaga's milk name "Xiaozhu", and set this milk name as the common name of the son-in-law of the Yamato Toyotomi family, officially establishing the status of the young head of the Toyotomi family of the baby boy.

"There may be something big going on in a few months, and you'll see if there's any way to get me back early." Hideho removed the topic.

"Big deal?" Qingsheng couldn't help but ask, but immediately stopped: "It's the minister who said more, but judging from the current situation, unless the battle situation takes a turn, it will be difficult to let Taige let him go." ”

"The minister has a plan, I don't know if I can help the lord." Kiji respectfully said to Hideho that after the end of the Central Plains War, Kiji officially became Hidebo's retainer and knew three thousand stones.

"Oh, again, you guys, tell me about it?" Hideho immediately became interested.

"The lord can follow the example of the Battle of Wenlu and negotiate peace with the Ming army, so that he can find an opportunity to return to China."

"Peace talks? How easy is it to talk about, the last peace talks lost all the face of Taige, this time he will never agree to peace talks, right? Xiubao's mouth never stopped, and he ate one piece of rice cake after another, and he didn't delay him from speaking.

"Taige is also a smart person, it's been a year, and he should know that our army is at the end of its power, and now only by negotiating peace can we maximize our interests." The guard said calmly.

"That's right," Xiubao nodded slowly, leaned over and asked, "Can Ming Jun agree?" ”

"Whether you agree or not, it depends on whether the price we offer is sincere." Kizi replied.

"For example?"

"Return the castles of Chungcheong-do and Gangwon-do, and only Jeolla and Gyeongsang-do will remain." Jiji blurted out: "It's really not good, you can consider using the Luodong River and the Jinjiang River as the boundary, and the territory of Jiangbei will also be ceded." ”

"Wouldn't that be to cut out half of the territory?!" Qingsheng said in shock.

"I don't think even so, the Ming army won't be willing." Xiubao shook his head: "There is North Korea to provoke behind it, unless our army withdraws, the Ming army will never agree to negotiate peace." ”

"No matter what, let's take a look at the attitude of the Ming army first, if it doesn't work, let's think of another way." Kizi replied.