The Japanese learned their lesson. They knew that the Ming Army's firepower was strong and their combat ability in the field was not weak. They began to retreat and compete with the Ming Army in patience.
What was more troublesome was that as the Japanese retreated and the Ming Army advanced, the advantages and disadvantages of both sides quietly changed. The Ming Army's supply line was stretched longer and more difficult to transport. Even though Xiao Ruxun and Yoo Sung-Ryong had poured a lot of effort into preparing in advance, it was still very difficult to maintain the supply in North Korea due to its weak national strength.
On the other hand, the Japanese pirates had their backs against the sea and were very close to Tsushima. As long as Yi Sun-sin did not come out to cause trouble, the invading Japanese could continuously transport supplies from the sea.
Xiao Ruxun carefully observed the Japanese fortress at the frontline. He knew that such a military fortress could not be breached even if he bombarded it with all the cannons in his hands. Even if it could be breached, the price required was not something that the Ming Army of less than 40,000 people could bear. Attacking by force was definitely not the best choice. After making this clear, Xiao Ruxun returned to the Daegu camp with a sullen face.
At the moment, he could only see if the gold and silver mines could persuade Emperor Wanli to mobilize the navy.
Xiao Ruxun was worried, so was Yukita Hideika. In fact, his worry was no less than Xiao Ruxun's. Xiao Ruxun was waiting for the arrival of the navy. His intention to attack was very clear. On the other hand, Yukita Hideika was looking at the total number of troops that had just been calculated and the letter from Toyotomi Hideyoshi asking about the current situation of the war.
How could he tell Toyotomi Hideyoshi? Ishida Mitsunari's strategy of only reporting the good and not the bad could no longer be maintained. This big lie had reached a point where it could no longer be maintained.
Before the Ming Army joined the war, the battle between the Japanese and the North Korean army was smooth sailing. There were still some losses, but they did not lose thousands of people. However, the battle with the North Korean Revolutionary Army and the naval battle with Yi Sun-sin had caused them to lose more than 10,000 troops. However, this was nothing for the 160,000 soldiers of the Japanese army.
However, the Ming army's participation in the war had changed the balance of the war. In the first two battles, the Ming army had wiped out the 40,000 soldiers of the Konishi Army's First Army and Kato Kiyomasa's Second Army. Then, they had wiped out more than 10,000 soldiers at Kaesong and the west bank of the Imjin River. Then, they had wiped out the main force of the headquarters of nearly 50,000 soldiers at the Jade Hoof Hall. Now, the Yukita Family had less than 50,000 soldiers left.
However, the Ming army's momentum didn't seem to have changed much. It seemed like they hadn't lost many soldiers at all. This made the Yukita family feel both terrified and confused. Could it be that the Ming army was really invincible? The encirclement of 20,000 soldiers could not take down their 5,000 soldiers. They even fought back, causing the entire army to collapse. Yukita Hideika was lucky enough to escape, but they did not dare to stay in Seoul for even a second.
Masuda Nagamori was definitely dead. There was no doubt that Kato Mitsuyasu had died in front of them. Kobayakawa Takagi had escaped, but there was no news of Kuroda Nagamasa. They did not know if he was dead or not. Forty or fifty famous officers and even daimyo were killed or missing in this battle. Some important generals of Yukita Hideika's family also died on the spot. The Japanese army had really suffered a great loss.
One hundred thousand people! Nearly one hundred thousand elite troops were killed just like that! And they were beaten to this state by the 40,000 Ming Army. If Toyotomi Hideyoshi knew about this, what would happen?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi would personally cross the sea to North Korea with a hundred thousand reserve troops. He would first kill all the officers at the frontline, and then personally fight with Xiao Ruxun.
But that would cause the whole of Japan to collapse. Japan did not have enough manpower and material resources to support Toyotomi Hideyoshi's militarism. In other words, the half of Japan controlled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi could no longer support it. If the war continued, the strength of the daimyo of Tokugawa Ieyasu would surpass Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Nishikuni!
This was not about the number of people, but the entire Nishikuni's economy was going to collapse. Tokugawa Ieyasu had a large territory and a large population. He did not send out many troops, and the economy was still intact. If they were to compete in overall strength, even if you brought 100,000 daimyo of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had to pay for food and military expenses himself. The economy would collapse!
This was what Masuda Nagamori said before he died in the battle.
And more importantly, without the deterrence of one hundred and fifty thousand troops, would Tokugawa Ieyasu allow Toyotomi Hideyoshi to bring his 100,000 people to North Korea to die? Are they fools or mentally retarded? If we are not careful, they will quickly rebel, and we are all exhausted. Maybe we will die in North Korea, and none of us will be able to return!
Ukito Hideka saw some changes in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's mental state and state in recent years and was anxious. He could not help but think, if Toyotomi Hideyoshi knew all this, what kind of attitude would he use to treat all the officers of the Japanese invading North Korea?
If he knew that his beloved generals Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi had died in the battle, if he knew that Masuda Nagamori and Kato Mitsuyasu were dead, if he knew that Kuroda Nagamasa might also be dead, would he go crazy?
In all fairness, if Ukito Hideka was in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's shoes, he would probably go crazy. Previously, when Ishida Mitsunari's strategy of only reporting the good news and not the bad news, Toyotomi Hideyoshi happily wrote letters everywhere to show off his great victory in North Korea.
He wrote many letters to the daimyo of Dongguo to show off. The entire daimyo of Dongguo knew that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was going to conquer North Korea and attack the Ming Kingdom. During that time, many daimyo of Dongguo who did not know the truth secretly expressed their goodwill to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
If Toyotomi Hideyoshi found out that all this was a lie, that all this was not true, that everyone was just lying to him and did not tell him the truth, what would he do?
At first, everyone thought that there was still hope of a comeback, so they agreed to Ishida Mitsunari's plan. But now that the army was about to be defeated, there was no way to hide it anymore.
Out of the eight main battle legions, three of them were dead, and the remaining five were holed up in Pusan. How were they supposed to fight this war? How could they hide it? Toyotomi Hideyoshi mentioned President Konishi several times, wanting to ask about him. He even said that President Konishi was a 'bastard' for not writing to him. But how did Toyotomi Hideyoshi know that President Konishi could no longer write to him?
Of course, what Ukito Hideka did not know was that in Nippon, other than Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his people, all the daimyo of Dongguo knew about their crushing defeat in North Korea. The person who spread the news was none other than Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu had planted many spies in the North Korean army in order to grasp the news of the attack in North Korea as soon as possible in case Toyotomi Hideyoshi's surprise attack.
Basically, every corps had spies, and it was not just Tokugawa Ieyasu. The 100,000 troops of the daimyo of Dongguo were still under Toyotomi Hideyoshi's command. They were unwilling to send their troops to North Korea.
But if they were really defeated and Toyotomi Hideyoshi really went crazy, they might not be able to stop him.
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