In the twentieth year of Chongzhen, in mid-March, Zhenjiang Fort.

Shi Daxuan, the chief officer of the Beiyang Fleet, rode his horse into the fort, followed by a huge convoy of thousands of carriages, which were loaded with money, food, and military supplies.

Shi Daxuan ordered the officers and men of the Beiyang Fleet to escort the convoy to the treasury in the fort, and he rode his horse to the location of the Chinese army.

After a while, Shi Daxuan came to the Chinese army, at this time in the lobby, Liu Yan and the general officers of the army had all arrived, after Shi Daxuan came in, he saluted directly to Liu Yan: "The last general, Shi Daxuan, live up to his mission, transport the last batch of money, food and materials on time, and come to return to the elder!" ”

Liu Yan had already received the news from the Beiyang Fleet three days ago, and knew that the last batch of money, food, and materials would be delivered today, so he made the decision to hold a military meeting today.

Liu Yan smiled and said, "Okay! General Shi brought money and food to the big guys, so our army has abundant materials, and the officers and men of various departments have also gone through several months of training, and in my opinion, the attack on North Korea can also be put on the agenda. ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately cheered, and they all cast expectant glances at Liu Yan, and Shi Daxuan also hurriedly took a seat and looked over.

Liu Yan said: "From now on, all units of the National Defense Forces stationed along the Yalu River began to assemble at Zhenjiang Fort, and at the same time, the Third Army of the National Defense Army, mainly the Third Army, began to search for ships in various places, and together with all the Beiyang Fleet, they were ready to cross the river. ”

"Yes!"

Then, Liu Yan began to inform everyone about the situation in Korea.

At present, the various units of the Ming army are still operating in various parts of North Korea at night, and a large amount of information is constantly being sent back.

After analyzing and judging this information, Liu Yan has basically grasped the general situation of the DPRK's military strength and defense.

According to intelligence, the DPRK has now reorganized at least 1 million troops, including more than 200,000 in Pyongan Province, more than 100,000 in Hamgyong Province, more than 300,000 in Hwanghae Province, more than 100,000 in Gangwon Province, and more than 400,000 in Gyeonggi Province.

Everyone was also a little surprised to hear that the DPRK had reorganized so many troops in a few months, but it was expected that judging from the DPRK's national strength and production capacity, it was destined to be unable to fully equip itself with one million troops in a short period of time.

Among the more than one million soldiers and horses, it is estimated that most of them will be miscellaneous soldiers with farm tools and even wooden sticks, and they are not even as good as the dead soldiers under Li Zicheng at the beginning.

Therefore, at this time, everyone present did not have too many worries, and Liu Yan warned everyone: North Korea's poverty and weakness are the actual situation, and everyone can despise North Korea strategically, but when it comes to specific operations, they must pay attention to it tactically.

After all, North Korea is a large country with a population of tens of millions, and there is a high probability that there will be some capable people and capable generals, and Liu Yan does not want to lead a large army to capsize in the gutter of North Korea.

Everyone nodded at Liu Yan's admonition, indicating that they had written it down.

Then Liu Yan began to deploy the strategy of marching.

The more than 400,000 soldiers of the Ming army all set out from the area of Zhenjiang Fort and crossed the Yalu River into Korea.

The battle was fought with the 3rd to 6th armies and the 11th to 14th armies of the Wehrmacht as the main corps, and after entering Korea, they quickly captured Uiju and then marched all the way to Pyongyang, the headquarters of Pyongan Province. After capturing Pyongyang City and annihilating the Korean soldiers and horses in Pyongan Province, the main army continued to march south, occupied Hwanghae-do, and finally entered Gyeonggi-do, captured Seoul, the capital of Korea, forced Korea to surrender, and signed an alliance under the city.

With the 15th and 16th armies of the Wehrmacht as the flank corps, after entering Korea from Uiju, the flank corps with Zheng Chenggong, the chief officer of the 15th Army of the Wehrmacht, as the main general, and Chen Hui, the chief officer of the 16th Army of the Wehrmacht, as the deputy general, the army quickly captured the Jiangjie and Changjin of Pyongan Province, and waited for an opportunity to enter Hamgyong Province to contain the forces in the north of Korea and protect the rear flank of the main army.

After listening to Liu Yan's strategy, everyone could be said to have a high fighting spirit, and they were eager to try the upcoming war.

Then Liu Yan announced a good news to everyone: "The reward strategy reported by this prince has been approved by the imperial court, and you are now the county princes of the Ming Empire!" ”

According to Liu Yan's reward strategy, now the chief officers of the various departments of the National Defense Force are all county dukes, the deputy commanders are all marquises, and the generals are all earls.

At this time, there were continuous cheers in the lobby, and Liu Yan's face was also full of pride and relief.

After a while, Liu Yancai continued: "The officers and men of all departments must be assembled within three days, and at the same time, the Beiyang Fleet and all ships must be assembled in place. ”

Shen Tuo said worriedly: "Elder Ge, our army's ten national defense forces, more than 400,000 soldiers, more than 100,000 war horses, pack horses, plus all kinds of carts, baggage, etc., if you cross the river by boat, it will take at least ten days, such a long time is enough for the Korean army to respond." ”

The rest of the people also had this concern, and Liu Yan said: "This time to cross the river, our army does not take a boat, but crosses the bridge. ”

"Crossing the bridge?"

Haven't you heard that there is a bridge on the Yalu River in the area of Zhenjiang Fort?

In fact, Liu Yan also referred to the method of volunteering ~ the army to enter the dynasty in later generations, and prepared to build a pontoon bridge on the river around Zhenjiang Fort with a large number of boats for the soldiers of the army to cross the river directly.

In fact, as a large river in the northeast, the width of the Yalu River is not exaggerated.

The widest part of the Yalu River is almost more than 1,500 meters, that is, a distance of more than three miles, and is mainly located near the mouth of the Yalu River.

Historically, where volunteers ~ soldiers entered the court, the width of the river was only more than 600 meters, that is, the width of more than one mile. The narrowest part of the Yalu River is said to be in the Hushan Great Wall section of the upstream tributary, which is known as "one step across".

And in history, the place where the volunteers~ army entered the dynasty was the area of Zhenjiang Fort at this time, that is, Dandong City in later generations!

With a width of more than one mile, even with the current pontoon bridge technology of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Yan is confident that he can build several solid pontoon bridges, as long as the number of ships is sufficient.

After Liu Yan explained his method, everyone suddenly realized, and then Liu Yan looked at Shi Daxuan and said: "The heavy task of mobilizing ships and building pontoon bridges will be handed over to General Shi, and the responsibility is heavy!" ”

Shi Daxuan clenched his fists and said, "Elder Ge, rest assured, the last general will definitely handle this matter." It's just that how long does it take for the elder to give the general, and how many pontoon bridges need to be built? ”

Liu Yan thought for a moment and said: "From today onwards, my father will give you five days to build a pontoon bridge, at least two or more, is there a problem?" ”

When Shi Daxuan led his troops to transport money and food supplies for the army, he took many boats back and forth between the river and the open sea in the area of Zhenjiang Fort, so he was very familiar with the water ripples and river width in this area.

In addition, Shi Daxuan is also very good at building pontoon bridges with boats, so after thinking for a while, he said: "Don't worry, in eight days, you will be sure to build three pontoon bridges at the end, with quality and quantity!" ”

"Okay."

It took eight days to build three pontoon bridges, in fact, the amount of work was not small, and it also included the time to mobilize ships, so Liu Yan also knew the pressure on Shi Daxuan.

So Liu Yan said: "That's it, three pontoon bridges, ten days, General Shi will go and prepare today." ”

"Order!"

Ten days to deduct three days for assembling and mobilizing ships, and seven days for building pontoon bridges for the rapid passage of large armies, is already faster than transferring troops by ships.

Moreover, if you use a pontoon bridge to cross the river, you can also avoid the drawbacks of "throwing troops in batches" and prevent them from being broken by the North Korean army.

After the military discussion was over, Shi Daxuan hurriedly left Zhenjiang Fort to start mobilizing ships and building pontoon bridges. And the rest of the people also set off to return to the army, seizing the time to mobilize soldiers and horses to start assembling.

Three days later, the officers and soldiers of all the units of the Ming army gathered in Zhenjiang Fort, which is not a big Zhenjiang Fort City, surrounded by flags and barracks, more than 400,000 soldiers of the Ming Army gathered in one place, and it was magnificent from afar.

At the same time, a large number of transport fleets of the Beiyang Fleet and a large number of civilian ships collected by the Ming army from the Yalu River were also gathered on the surrounding rivers, which were being commanded and reinforced by the officers and men of the Beiyang Fleet.

On the other side of the river, in the area of Uiju in the Korean state, the Ming army also began to act "blatantly" and began to vigorously clean up the Korean army scouts along the river, which suddenly made the soldiers and generals deployed in the area of Uiju extremely nervous.

Liu Yan even ordered the officers and men of the Beiyang Fleet to send a part of their troops and horses to occupy the tidal flats on the other side of the river to cover the construction of the three pontoon bridges.

Although more than 10,000 Korean soldiers and horses were stationed in the city of Uiju at this time, and the Korean state had already greatly increased its troops, these more than 10,000 Korean soldiers were still at a disadvantage in the face of the 6,000 well-trained soldiers of the first detachment of the Beiyang Fleet.

At this time, Liu Yan was no longer ready to hide the movements of the Ming army, and the Ming army was completely in an absolute advantage in terms of combat strength and supply quantity, and there was no need to engage in strategies such as surprise attacks.

The reason why the later generations of volunteers~ army wanted to ensure the suddenness of entering the DPRK was completely forced by the superior weapons and powerful firepower of the Yankees, and it was a last resort.

And Liu Yan also wrote a new military song, ordered people to copy many copies, urgently conveyed it, and ordered the soldiers of the whole army to learn to sing it. Anyway, it was not the first time that Liu Yan ordered the soldiers of the whole army to sing military songs, so the soldiers were also accustomed to it, and soon learned it while waiting to cross the river.

In the blink of an eye, on the eighth day, three pontoon bridges spanned the Yalu River, Shi Daxuan stood on the flagship and looked at the three pontoon bridges, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The officers and men of the Ming army also set out from Zhenjiang Fort and assembled by the river.

At this time, it is already the middle of March, which is equivalent to April in the Gregorian calendar, and although there is still a cold air by the river, it is far from cold.

Liu Yan stood by the river, with the mighty river in front of him and the three pontoon bridges on the river, and behind him were more than 400,000 elite soldiers and soldiers, and for a while his heart swelled with monstrous pride.

"Command the Ministries: Cross the River!"

More than 400,000 officers and men of the 10 armies of the Wehrmacht passed through the three pontoon bridges in batches, and on the opposite bank, the 6,000 officers and men of the first detachment of the Beiyang Fleet had already built fortifications to ensure the safety of the army crossing the river.

"Majestic, high-spirited, across the Yalu River ......"

"To beg for betrayal and hatred is to repay the country......"

At this time, Liu Yan listened to the familiar melody, and sang the changed lyrics with the soldiers of the army, and his heart was even more agitated: "From this moment on, a new era has begun, and Daming will start a new journey from the inside out." And North Korea is the sacrifice of this new era, which can be regarded as an honor for North Korea! ”

(End of chapter)