Chapter 887: Naval Blockade
Let's say that early in the morning, Kong Youde led the Ming army musketeers under Luo Shouzhong's command to press the formation, urging the Korean army to cross the mountains, get out of the mountains and forests, and march inland in the south of Yanyuan Port.
As the deputy general of the Dongjiang Town Naval Division stationed on Yingzhou Island, Kong Youde led the fleet of the naval division under his command many times, harassed the coast of Tsushima Island, and attacked the merchant ships coming and going to Tsushima Island, but he never really led the army to land ashore, and he was not very clear about the situation on Tsushima Island.
By the time they had just seen the legendary Golden Stone Mountain Castle, their whereabouts were also discovered by the watchmen of the mountain castle.
What was originally a surprise attack had to be turned into a strong attack.
Kong Youde was not worried about a strong attack, after all, if the North Koreans were not able to do it, there were 500 musketeers and a few Franc machine guns that he had brought with him just in case.
It's a pity that Kong Youde also underestimated Tsushima Domain.
At this time, the twenty-six-year-old lord of the Tsushima Domain, Zong Yoshinari, and the old monk of Sensoji Temple, who was respected by him as a teacher, were resourceful and bold figures in the original history, and this time since he chose to go to war with the sailors of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally had to be prepared.
The Ming Dynasty sailors on the sea outside Yanyuan Harbor, from afternoon to evening, and then to this early morning, only used the artillery on the warship to launch artillery bombardments, but never launched a landing attack, which had already made this Zong Yicheng and Gui Bo Xuanfang suspicious, and gathered many feudal soldiers outside Jinshishan City to hold on to the city.
At the same time, he also sent people to Qingshuishan Castle, dozens of miles away in the north, last night, to send orders to Yanagawa of the Tsushima Domain's family to lead the army to reinforce.
As a result, it can be imagined that the envisaged surprise attack turned into a strong attack, and the opportunity was lost, and the Jinshi Mountain City, which was built on top of each other and built on the mountain, was very tall and strong.
The few Franc cannons brought by Kong Youde couldn't get forward at all, and they were repelled by the guns at the head of the city.
Shin Chang-hwan, who was sent by Yuan Doopo to lead the main battle, led the Korean army under his command to launch the first wave of offensive against the outer walls of Jinshishan Fortress, when he was killed by the dense muskets of the defenders of Tsushima Island on the way to the charge.
Kong Youde and Luo Shouzhong finally gathered the chaotic ranks of the Korean army, and they didn't think about what to do, whether they should retreat or send someone to ask for help, but they suddenly went to the middle attack of the Japanese soldiers from the north, and the Korean army, which had already lost its commander, did not communicate well with Kong Youde and other Ming army generals, and soon fell into chaos again.
As the defenders of Jinshishan Castle marched out of the city in groups with arquebuses to attack, the Korean army, which was still armed with cold weapons, quickly collapsed.
In this way, Kong Youde did not hesitate, and with an order, he retreated in the direction of the coast with his Ming soldiers.
Fortunately, Luo Shouzhong, who escorted his retreat, was under the command of 500 well-equipped musketeers, and Liuchuan from Qingshui Mountain City mobilized the Japanese soldiers under his command, after the trek, the formation was loose, and in the face of the sudden breakthrough battle launched by the Ming army musketeers, Luo Shouzhong led his troops to break open.
Kong Youde took Luo Shouzhong and the Ming musketeers under Luo Shouzhong's command to break out of the encirclement, and fled all the way to the landing site.
The Korean army, which had just followed the Ming army in the rear of the Jin State after the establishment of the Jin State, had already established a little self-confidence, but under the attack of seven or eight thousand iron cannons of the Tsushima Domain, almost all the troops were wiped out.
Only a small number of Korean troops who followed closely with the Ming army had a chance to escape.
Most of the other Korean troops who were surrounded died under the muskets of the Japanese soldiers on the island.
Although the Japanese soldiers of the Tsushima Domain were all arquebuses, they advanced in a tactical formation with three strikes in a mild climate, and they were devastating in the face of the Korean army fleeing in a panic with cold weapons such as swords, spears, and short bows.
After Kong Youde fled back to the ship, he saw Chen Jisheng, who had always been unruly, and had to kneel down to plead guilty, ask for punishment, and ask Chen Jisheng to let him lead the Ming army under the sailor battalion to attack again.
Chen Jisheng had heard Li Xingzhong talk about an attack failure before, and this time he heard the statements of Kong Youde, Luo Shouzhong and others, and knew that this Tsushima Domain was not simple.
If you make a desperate bet, you may have a chance to win, but after the previous successive battles in the Tumen River estuary and the rear of the Jin Guoda after the establishment of the captivity, the ammunition carried by the army has already been almost exhausted.
The large amount of ammunition consumed by these Ming muskets and artillery could not be effectively replenished in the area where Tumen was guarded, or in the coastal ports of Korea.
If it weren't for that, this time, he wouldn't have just let Luo Shouzhong fight ashore with five hundred muskets.
Chen Jisheng rejected Kong Youde's request, then gathered the defeated army that had fled back, returned to the open sea of Yanyuan Port with the fleet, and after meeting the fleet under Li Xingzhong, which was also running out of ammunition, in the afternoon of the same day, he returned to the vicinity of the island more than ten nautical miles east of Tsushima Island, and anchored to rest.
Fortunately, Zongyi, the feudal lord of the Tsushima Domain, became the captain who attracted Li Xingzhong to attack Yanyuan Port, and deliberately left the ships on the island in the harbor as bait to show that the island was unprepared, and the existing ships on the island were destroyed, and Chen Jisheng and others were not afraid that they would run away.
After the failure of the second attack on Tsushima Island, Chen Jisheng, Li Xingzhong, Kong Youde, Li Gui, Yuan Doubi and others discussed and discussed, and decided to first adopt the method of blockade and siege to see if they could force Zong Yicheng and others on the island to accept the conditions of the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, Chen Jisheng also sent a fleet of ships that had dismantled the artillery to return to Yingzhou Island to report the news.
On the one hand, food supplies were transported for the army, and on the other hand, much-needed artillery and ammunition supplies were delivered.
A few days later, food arrived on Yingzhou Island, along with a letter from Mao Weizhang supporting their idea of blockading Tsushima.
At this time, Mao Weizhang, after serving as a town guard on Yingzhou Island for so long, had fully realized the importance of maritime trade, especially the extreme importance of maritime trade for the survival of an island.
Because Yingzhou Town Shoufu itself is an island, although the products on the island are still abundant, but if there is no merchant ships and no trade at sea, no matter how big this island is, it is just a prison on the sea.
Yingzhou Island, where the Yingzhou Town Guard Mansion is located, is okay, not to mention the large area, except for the Chaotian Mountain in the center of the island, almost all of the islands are open plains, even if they are not plains, the rest are shallow hills and hilly areas that can be cultivated.
These conditions are many times better than the mountainous, rocky, and forested terrain of Tsushima Island.
Tsushima could not even be self-sufficient in food, and once the trade of the Tsushima domain was blocked, the more defenders and people on the island, the shorter the time they could sustain themselves.
However, in a letter to Chen Jisheng, Mao Weizhang also told Chen Jisheng, Li Xingzhong and others that they must strictly restrain their subordinates.
It's okay to blockade Tsushima Island, and it's okay to intercept merchant ships bound for Tsushima Island, but don't go out of your way and attack Iki Island in the Hirado Domain.
In particular, until the imperial court had a clear will, it was not possible to expand the war on Tsushima Island to the Japanese mainland.
Chen Jisheng has also served on Yingzhou Island for a long time, because of the geographical location, when he has nothing to do, he is to inquire about the situation of the Japanese country with the maritime merchants who come and go to Seogwipo or Yingzhou Ao.
In the past two or three years, although I have not been there in person, I still have a lot of understanding of the legendary Japanese archipelago in the east, which is rich in gold and silver, and although I am full of contempt for the Japanese country, it will not make any extraneous branches at this time.
After receiving Mao Weizhang's letter, a few days later, in early June, Chen Jisheng sent a fleet back to Yingzhou Island, transporting a large amount of ammunition stored in Yingzhou Town and hundreds of Chongzhen one-type rear-loading sub-cannons dismantled on the island, and once again rendezvous with the main fleet, and began a naval blockade war to blockade the Tsushima Strait and force the Tsushima Domain to submit.
The continuous supply of powerful food, ammunition and other materials from the Yingzhou Town Guard Mansion also gave Chen Jisheng, Li Xingzhong and others the ability to lead an army of more than 10,000 people and more than 500 large and small ships to carry out the island blockade war blocking the Tsushima Strait.
These sailors and warships were divided into several fleets and infested the coasts of the North Island of Tsushima Island (i.e., the later Shimojima) and the South Island (i.e., the later Shimojima), as well as the eastern waters of Tsushima Island.
Not only did they shell the coast of Itsukuhara Port and Tsushima Island from time to time, but they also intercepted many Japanese merchant ships coming from the direction of Nagasaki and Iki one by one, either sinking them directly or taking them prisoner and bringing them back.
Since the expulsion of the Wakwan in Busan in September of the second year of Chongzhen's reign, more than half of the merchant ships have traveled to and from this sea.
When the Daming Navy Division and the Korean Navy Division patrolled and blockaded here, all the merchant ships coming from the Japanese direction were intercepted in the future, and soon no merchant ship dared to pass through this sea area.
Chen Jisheng led a huge fleet of sailors to patrol the waters east of Tsushima Island for more than two months, and the Tsushima feudal lord on Tsushima Island, Zong Yoshicheng, the old Yanagawa Choxing, and others on Tsushima Island were finally on the verge of collapse.
It was at this time that Chen Jisheng once again received a letter sent by Mao Weizhang, saying that the imperial court had a decree and asked him to take Kong Youde to immediately rush back to Yingzhou Island to receive the decree.