"How should we explain this to Taikaku? Taikaku sent a letter a few days ago asking about President Konishi and Kato Kiyomasa. These two are Taikaku's confidants. What will Taikaku think if he can't get any news about them? How should we deal with it? "
Masuda Nagamori questioned Ishida Mitsunari's statement.
"That's what we have to consider! In short, we can't let Taikaku know the real situation now. Once he knows, according to his character, do you think he will send reinforcements or even go to North Korea personally? If he comes, what will we use to feed him? If another 100,000 troops come, will we have enough food to eat? And we don't even know how many Ming Army there are on the other side! We also lost three battles in a row and lost half of North Korea. What do you want us to do? "
"No! We can't let Taikaku bring the reserve troops to North Korea, or Japan will be finished! "
Kato Mitsuyasu frowned and said, "There are many daimyo in the East who have surrendered in name, but in fact, very few have surrendered. Once Taikaku squeezes them too much, they will definitely be dissatisfied! Tokugawa will be the first to oppose it! At that time, if North Korea doesn't fall into chaos, the country will fall into chaos. What will we eat when the country is in chaos? We will starve to death here!
These days, we should also know that North Koreans are poor and don't have much food to provide for us. Our own food is only enough to eat. Now that we have lost two corps, our pressure has been reduced a lot. In contrast, the Ming Army has moved here and hasn't launched an attack yet. It should be because the food is not in place yet.
Once the Ming Army's food is in place, they will attack immediately. We must strengthen the line of defense during this time and hold on for as long as we can and consume the Ming Army's food. As long as we can hold on long enough, even if we have to sacrifice more troops to consume the Ming Army's food reserves, we can achieve a stage victory. If it doesn't work, we can pretend to sue for peace and negotiate to buy time. We can use all kinds of methods. Anyway, we must not lose Seoul, or we will have to retreat to Pusan! "
"That's right! I support Kato's opinion! Jeolla Pass and Yi Sun-sin's navy were still threatening us. If we lost Han City, we would have no choice but to retreat to Pusan. Then, all the sacrifices we had made to attack North Korea would be for naught. We might as well retreat immediately! That way, we can still preserve our strength! "
"That's true!"
"Agreed."
"That's it?"
Seeing that a group of elders had agreed, Yukita Shuja naturally did not have a better way, so he followed their advice. However, there was a thorn buried in his heart — he heard that the general of the Ming Army on the other side of the river, Xiao Ruxun, was only 23 years old, three years older than him, but he was already the general of the Ming Army. He had led the entire army to three consecutive victories and defeated the Japanese army, which he was the general in name. This made him feel very embarrassed.
If the other party was in his thirties or forties, Yukita Shuja would not have thought much of it. However, the other party was only 23 years old, not much older than him. They were the same age, but he had to be the general in name while Xiao Ruxun was the actual general. He had lost the battle and Xiao Ruxun won the battle. Why was there such a huge difference? Could it be that I am inferior to Xiao Ruxun?
This kind of thought could not be erased from the beginning. The thought in Yukita Shuja's heart grew stronger and stronger, almost uncontrollable.
The next day, when the two sides faced each other across the Linjin River, the Daming court finally received the battle report from Song Yingchang from Liaodong. The report detailed the series of things that Xiao Ruxun had done after arriving in Liaodong. Only then did everyone understand why Xiao Ruxun had delayed until the 30th of October in the 20th year of the Wanli calendar to lead the army into battle.
When Xiao Ruxun first arrived in North Korea, he found that the situation in North Korea was so chaotic that it was almost unbearable. The roads were broken, and the military stations were abandoned. There was no way for the army to pass through or to store food and fodder. The North Koreans actually lied that the food could support the army for half a year, and that there was still a large amount of food for the army to eat in Pyongyang.
In the end, Xiao Ruxun found out that the food available to the North Koreans could only support the army for a month at most. As a last resort, Song Yingchang transferred 80,000 dan of food from the mainland as support.
Then, Xiao Ruxun waited for the army to cross the river to investigate the field in North Korea. He was furious and ordered the North Korean officials to bring people to repair the roads and military stations, and store food along the way. He swore that he would not send out his army until the roads were repaired. Under all kinds of pressure, the North Koreans were forced to repair the roads. Otherwise, the ground would be full of potholes, and not only would heavy objects like cannons be unable to pass through, even the soldiers and horses would not be able to pass through.
Up until the 30th of October, when Xiao Ruxun sent out his army, the North Koreans still had one-fifth of the roads that had not been repaired. It was Xiao Ruxun who brought people to repair the roads along the way, and they barely managed to repair the roads. That was how they managed to win the victory in Pyongyang and the ambush at Sinuiju. Think about it, if the roads were too muddy, not only would the army not be able to pass through, even the North Korean food caravans would not be able to pass through. At that time, the army would have to fight on empty stomachs. Not only would it consume a lot of energy, but they would also suffer great losses.
Now, Xiao Ruxun had achieved two consecutive victories. He had annihilated two Japanese legions, killed more than 36,000 enemies, beheaded more than 6,000 people, captured two of the enemy's generals, conquered Pyongyang, and recovered two roads. Now, he was preparing to attack Kaesong and confront the Japanese pirates across the Imjin River. As long as they could recover Kaesong, half of North Korea would be theirs. Xiao Ruxun truly had the demeanor of a famous general from ancient times. Song Yingchang suggested that the imperial court reward Xiao Ruxun and the army generously.
Such a glorious battle record made many Imperial Censors, including those who opposed Xiao Ruxun and supported Li Rusong, instantly shut up.
Originally, according to the fine tradition of being unreasonable and sly, the task of the Imperial Censors was to criticize others. The more ruthless they were, the higher their status would be, and the higher their official rank would be. They were not afraid of being beaten or killed. It was a perfect tonic. If they were beaten up, their reputation would rise, and they would receive unexpected benefits. Many Imperial Censors were not afraid of death. They were only afraid that no one would pay attention to them.
But for such a hard achievement, and one that was obtained step by step, they couldn't find a reason to criticize it. This made them very unhappy. They faced this memorial with a nitpicking attitude, but they still couldn't find a place to criticize it. Of course, they didn't know that there were places to criticize it, and they could even kill Xiao Ruxun.
However, Song Yingchang and Liu Huangshang, who were at odds with the literati group, cherished talents and played a trick of substituting flowers for trees. They saved Xiao Ruxun's life. Xiao Ruxun also had a second plan. He took the route of the Imperial Bodyguard and privately submitted a secret memorial to the Emperor. Now, the memorial that was enough to kill Xiao Ruxun was in Zhu Yijun's hands.
"Your Majesty, this is the secret memorial that Xiao Pinglu sent to Your Majesty through the Imperial Bodyguard."
Zhu Yijun took the secret memorial, opened it, and carefully read it. After reading for a long time, Zhu Yijun looked up to the sky and sighed. "The imperial court treats civil officials well and uses civil officials to rule the military. In the end, it is a military general who understands my intention the best."
Zhu Yijun closed the secret memorial, stared at Luo Sigong, and asked, "No one knows about this secret memorial except you, right?"
Luo Sigong nodded. "Apart from His Majesty and me, no one else knows of this secret memorial."
Zhu Yijun nodded. He paused and said, "If those bastards know about this, it will not be as simple as losing a good general. Zhang Cheng, haven't you always complained to me about how inconvenient it is to be outside and how you are always hindered? I will find you a helper. "
Zhang Cheng asked, "May I know who the helper is, Your Majesty?"
"Look at this." Zhu Yijun handed the memorial to Zhang Cheng. "I allow you to read it."
"This old servant obeys." Zhang Cheng took the memorial with trembling hands. He opened it and glanced through it. He was shocked.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
