However, Kuroda Nagamasa also understood that Seoul must not be defended. If they did not defend Seoul, then the land that the Japanese Army had spent a lot of effort and resources to occupy in Gangwon Province, Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheong Province, Jeolla Province, and Jeolla Province would all be taken back by the Ming Army. They could only defend the southernmost area of Gyeongsang Province, Pusan, and rely on the Wacheng community built there to resist bitterly. There was basically no hope for them to continue to fight back.
At that time, unless the Taige really brought the 100,000 reserve troops of the Dongguo daimyo, it would be a problem for them to go back.
Therefore, Han City must be defended to the last moment and must not give up. Otherwise, what they would give up would be the fruits of the blood and sweat of the entire Japanese army.
All the senior officials of the Nipponese Army, including Ukito Hideo's family, were well aware of this. Therefore, the defense of the area from the Imjin River to Sharishi Hill was handed over to the resourceful Kuroda Nagamasa. Behind Kuroda Nagamasa, the famous strategist Kobayakawa Takakage was reorganizing the rest of the troops to support Kuroda Nagamasa.
At present, the high-ranking generals of the Japanese Army, Kuroda Nagamasa, Mōri Yoshinari, and Kobayakawa Takagi had gathered in Seoul. The army consisted of 8,000 soldiers from Kuroda Nagamasa's Third Army, 14,000 soldiers from Mōri Yoshinari's Fourth Army, and 12,000 soldiers from Kobayakawa Takagi's Army. Together with the 10,000 soldiers from the Eighth Army led by Ukito Hideika, and the 10,000 reinforcements sent by Fukushima Masanori, the entire city of Seoul had gathered a large force of 54,000 soldiers. The total military strength exceeded that of the Ming Army.
But even so, they still didn't have much confidence and were rather nervous.
When the Ming Army bombarded the riverbank, Kuroda Nagamasa led 8,000 people from the headquarters to set up a defense around the Jade Hoof House. He was resting when he suddenly heard the faint rumbling of thunder. This made Kuroda Nagamasa a little uneasy. He put on his clothes, stood up, and walked out of the military tent. He found that many people had noticed the faint rumbling thunder.
Kuroda Nagamasa immediately sent someone to investigate. About an hour later, when the sky was bright, the person who went to investigate brought back a panic-stricken Shimazu Yoshihiro. In his impression, this man should not have such an expression on his face. But now, it was really there. This caused Kuroda Nagamasa to feel gloomy.
"What's going on? Why didn't you continue to defend the riverbank? Why are you here?! "
Kuroda Nagamasa scolded Shimazu Yoshihiro.
Shimazu Yoshihiro wasn't Kuroda Nagamasa's direct subordinate, so he wasn't afraid of him. Instead, he shouted at Kuroda Nagamasa, "Why didn't you tell me that the Ming Army has so many stone fire cylinders? As soon as the battle started, their cannons covered our entire position. My cannoneers were killed before they could fire. Moreover, the cannoneers kept coming one after another. Before the cannoneers could finish firing, the second round of cannoneers came. I didn't even have time to react! How do you think I should fight?! "
Kuroda Nagamasa was stunned. At this time, he remembered what the three soldiers of President Konishi, who he had brought back to Seoul, had said about the fierceness of the Ming army's artillery. They had destroyed President Konishi's troops and finally wiped them out. Without the support of heavy firepower, the Japanese army could not fight head-on with the Ming army, which was fully armed and equipped with both light and heavy firepower.
As they only had three main weapons — long swords, cannons, and long spears — they didn't even have many crossbows. They could only rely on the North Korean archers to support the battle. But when the North Korean archers encountered the Ming Dynasty Army, they would either go easy on them or pretend to be dead. They didn't put in any effort at all, so the Japanese were quite passive.
But facing such a situation, the Japanese still didn't plan to make any changes. On one hand, they didn't have enough resources, and on the other hand, they didn't have the technology. At the moment, the North Koreans didn't have any artillery technology. The Ming's artillery technology was unparalleled in East Asia. Faced with such a situation, the Japanese could only passively take a beating, or use the terrain to fight the Ming Army in close combat. The Ming Army's cannons couldn't be used effectively.
This required the Japanese and the Ming Army to fight each other. But according to those people, the Ming Army wasn't afraid of close combat. The fierce Southern soldiers held strange weapons and rushed at them in groups. Even the strongest samurai were no match for them, not to mention the neat formation and the shiny spears. Every poke of the spears left a hole in the enemy's body. Just thinking about it made people shiver.
So after thinking about this, Shimazu Yoshihiro ran away. He didn't even care about his subordinates. Of course, after a while, the surviving subordinates followed him. In order to prevent these guys from running back and hurting the army's morale, Kuroda Nagamasa intercepted all the defeated soldiers and regrouped them into the army. He sent his subordinate, Kuroda Issei, to lead 500 soldiers to investigate the situation.
In addition, he didn't forget to send someone to the rear to inform Kobayakawa Takakage that the Ming Army had broken through the Imjin River defense line and had brought a large number of cannons with amazing firepower. Their army needed to be on guard as soon as possible. He also advised them to avoid fighting with the Ming Army in the field. They should try to use the terrain to their advantage or retreat to the city to defend.
Kuroda Nagamasa couldn't do anything to Shimazu Yoshihiro for the time being. He could only send someone to take him to Seoul to await punishment. He stayed in the Jade Hoof Hall and defended the mountain, trying his best to buy time.
Cha Daishou led the 300 cavalrymen south according to the route Xiao Ruxun had specified. Their target was the Jade Hoof Hall. According to Xiao Ruxun, as long as they broke through the Jade Hoof Hall, it would be a flat plain suitable for cavalry to fight. Li Rusong's cavalry suffered heavy losses in the last battle. There were only about 2,000 of them left, and the remaining 4,000 were on the way. It was estimated that they would only arrive in about 10 days. Currently, the cavalry was relatively weak.
But because of this, Li Rusong asked everyone in the internal meeting not to relax or be timid. If they encountered an enemy, they must bravely charge forward and fight fiercely. They must show the Liaodong Army's spirit and show those southern barbarians what a real man was! Cha Daishou was a hardcore member of the Liaodong Army and a trusted follower of Li Rusong. He always did this kind of thing.
So this time, not only did they have to explore the way, they also had to take advantage of the situation. The only pity was that the heads of the Japanese pirates were not as valuable as those of the Mongolians and Jurchens. The Daming stipulated that the heads of the Mongolians were the most valuable, followed by the Jurchens, the Japanese Pirates, and the southwestern natives. The heads of the Japanese pirates were ranked third. Obviously, they were not as valuable as the heads of the Mongolians. But no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat.
Cha Daishou knew how much anger Li Rusong had suffered not only from outsiders, but also from his own people. Those Liaodong Army leaders kept asking for this and that, treating the Li Family as a free ATM. They thought that as long as they worked hard, they could get whatever they wanted. They did not care about the actual difficulties the Li Family was facing. This was part of the reason why Li Chengliang had come this far.
Therefore, Cha Daishou was very clear about the situation of the person he was loyal to. He decided to fight for his master no matter what.
Cha Daishou led his men all the way. It did not take long to run a short distance to the Japanese defense area near the Jade Hoof Hall. Someone in front reported that they had encountered a patrol of Japanese pirates. There were about 500 of them. Most of them were infantrymen with firearms. They asked Cha Daishou whether to fight or retreat.
Retreat? Sorry, there was no such word in Li Rusong's dictionary, and there was only the word "forward" in Cha Daishou's dictionary.
"Kill them!"
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