After dark, several of Kobayakawa Takakage's direct retainers all gathered together. They were looking at the prey and were about to take the bait, but they always lingered on the edge of the trap and refused to take a step forward. They were already anxious.
"My lord, I took a look just now. They camped on that mountain road, and their defense is very lax. As long as they charge, these Ming people will lose their armor. Please give me 3,000 men, lord. I will The boy who went to capture Ming Dynasty alive has been freezing in the cold weather. His little cubs have been eating and drinking cold food these days, but they dare not light a fire. Thousands of them have fallen ill. If we spend another night like this, the situation will be even worse tomorrow. Ah," Kobayakawa Takakage's confidant Hirakawa Hayao said with some annoyance. He really couldn't understand and felt contempt for the Ming Dynasty's army actually choosing to camp on that small mountain road. He really didn't have any common sense about marching.
Of course, Hirakawa Hayata doesn't care whether these people in the Ming Dynasty have military knowledge. The less the other party has military knowledge, the more beneficial it is to Japan. However, if the other party does this, doesn't it harm his own army who has set up an ambush here?
"Capture alive? Haha, on this mountain road, it is easy for you to defeat the unsuspecting Ming army. Just wait for you to kill all the way. The prince may have disappeared long ago? Please use your brain more before speaking next time. "Shichiro Honami, another retainer of Kobayakawa Takakage and someone who had some problems with Hirakawa Hayao, curled his lips, sneered, and said sarcastically without hesitation.
"Hagamoto, I want to duel with you and I want to cut off your head and drink." Hirakawa Hayao glared at Shichiro Honami. If the other party was not also a confidant of Kobayakawa Takakage, he would have chopped him up long ago.
"Ha" Shichiro Honjo turned his head disdainfully, shook his head, and laughed in a voice that could be heard by everyone present: "What a great hero. A military general actually proposed a duel with me, a civil servant, haha."
No matter how stupid Hirakawa Hayatai is, he still heard Shichiro Honami¡¯s sarcasm. While secretly regretting what he said, he argued forcefully in his mouth: ¡°If you are a man, you don¡¯t want mother-in-law to have sex¡±
"That's enough." Kobayakawa Takakage frowned and stopped Hirakawa Hayao's words. When it came to the dispute of words, how could this reckless man be the opponent of Bengami Shichiro, so he simply told him to shut up to avoid making a fool of himself.
"Benshang, tell me, did the prince of Ming Dynasty find out that we are ambushing here, so he has been delaying entering the valley?" Kobayakawa Takakage turned his head and asked his adviser Shichiro Honami. Although he saw Ming Dynasty's The army horse was defenseless on the mountain road, and it didn't look like he had discovered anything. He didn't think the other party could detect it in advance, but he still asked.
"Lord." Bengami Shichiro had already considered this issue and said, "Since noon, they have been resting and making food without any precautions. Now they are even more laxly guarded when setting up camp. I don't think there are any." The person who discovered us might have been the noble prince, who has never experienced hardship and is not used to traveling on such a bumpy mountain road. He stopped when he got tired and didn't want to leave, right?"
After thinking about it, Shichiro Honami added: "Of course, it is not ruled out that the other party may have noticed clues and was afraid of being ambushed while resting in the valley. Didn't they search in the valley for most of the day today? In fact, if they didn't stand still, If you think about it from the general's point of view, but from the prince's point of view, you might be able to understand why he camped on that mountain road to rest."
"It's full of nonsense." Hirakawa Hayata snorted: "Do we, generals who have experienced hundreds of battles, think less about problems than that prince kid who has never experienced any difficulties? What a joke. Is it possible to set up camp on that narrow mountain road? , can it be better than camping in the valley? That¡¯s bullshit. Don¡¯t think that if you have read a few more books, you will be smarter than us.¡±
Shichiro Honami smiled and didn't take it seriously. Instead, he asked Hirakawa Hayatai: "In that case, let me ask you, we are ambushing in the valley. As long as the other party enters the valley, can we catch the prince?"
"Of course." Hirakawa Zaitai raised his head high and pointed his nostrils at Shichiro Honjo: "Hmph, I admit that the four thousand Liaodong cavalry led by the prince are amazingly powerful. As long as they charge on the plain, maybe maybe I have twenty thousand. The army has nothing to do with them for the time being. But as long as the opponent enters the valley, the valley is not conducive to cavalry galloping. We only need to send a few hundred people to block the entrance of the valley. Once the 20,000-strong army comes out, are the dismounted Liaodong cavalry still Liaodong cavalry? As for Those six thousand North Korean farmers, in this valley, there is no problem at all in capturing that prince alive."
"Where are you on the mountain road? Are you sure you can capture the prince alive?" Shichiro Honami smiled and asked.
Hirakawa Zaitai opened his mouth, but in the end he still did not say anything positive. He was self-aware that on such a narrow mountain road, as long as the opponent had the idea of ????escape, he would probably run away by the time the cavalry blocking the mountain road were resolved. No trace left.
"As long as he doesn't run away, I will definitely be able to catch him." Hirakawa Hayata retorted somewhat weakly.
Hirakawa Hayao didn't hear what Shichiro Honjo meant, but Kobayakawa Takakage did: "Honjo, you mean to say that this noble prince camped on such a mountain road because he was afraid of death?"
"Yes, lord." Shichiro Honami said with a cupped hand: "After we entered the valley, although we sent people to eliminate some traces at the entrance of the valley, it was difficult to avoid leaving any traces. I estimate that the other party may have discovered some clues. But he couldn't find the source. For the sake of safety and his own life, the prince came up with the idea of ??camping on the mountain road. In this case, whether he attacked him from the valley side or from another place, he would be able to attack him. There is enough time to escape. Aren't those soldiers placed at the front closest to the valley the Koreans? They are a natural barrier. Think about it, the four thousand Liaodong cavalry were stationed next to the prince to protect his safety. As long as the four thousand Liaodong cavalry are not lost, the prince will wait until the cavalry can deploy, and his safety will be guaranteed. As for the Koreans blocking the front, will the prince care about the lives of the Koreans? "
Kobayakawa Takashi nodded, thinking that Bengami Shichiro's analysis was very reasonable, and said one by one: "In other words, they may have discovered some suspicious points, but they did not find us, so for safety, they stayed overnight on the mountain road."
"My lord is wise." Shichiro Honjo said respectfully.
Hirakawa Zaotai muttered something, which was probably not a good thing.
Kobayakawa Takakage thought about it. As one of the Five Elders, he is known for his foresight. There is such a story widely circulated in Japan. One day Kuroda Josui asked him: "Because I judge things by feeling, I often make mistakes. And His Highness Kobayakawa The judgment is not biased at all. Is there any secret?" Kobayakawa Takakage said: "It's not what you said. I don't have as sharp a judgment as you, so I can only think about it and think about it again and again, and finally come to a conclusion. Because Black Mr. Tian has an excellent mind, so he can make quick judgments, but deviations may occur due to errors in intelligence."
After a long while, Kobayakawa Takakage finally made a decision and said in a deep voice: "Give me the order and send someone to closely monitor every move of the Ming army to prevent them from escaping during the night. Hirakawa, tell the little brats below to stay quiet tonight." Stay quietly and be determined not to cause any trouble to prevent your whereabouts from being revealed and being discovered by the other party. Tell them to hold on for one more night, have a good sleep, and recuperate so that they can go into battle to kill the enemy tomorrow."
"yes"
¡¡¡¡¡¡
In the big tent on the mountain road, after Li Rumei and others had left, Zhu Changluo changed his confident expression just now, frowned and paced for a moment, then shouted outside the tent: "Here comes someone!"
When we were in Seoul, since the dozen or so people in the Jinyi Guards happened to "bump into" the fleeing Japanese who assassinated Zhu Changluo and died together with them, it didn't take long for the Jinyiwei to become Zhu Changluo's bodyguards again. It's just that after that attack, most of the personal guards assigned from Teng Xiang's right guard were killed or injured, so the remaining positions were replaced by people from the secret guard.
"What orders do you have, Your Highness?"
Zhu Changluo looked at the people who came in and saw that they were from the secret guards, so he said, "Wang Xintai is here." The Wang Xintai he mentioned was also a member of the secret guards.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Not a moment later, Wang Xintai's voice came from outside the tent: "Little Wang Xintai, please see His Highness."
"come in."
A corner of the big tent was opened, and by the candlelight in the tent, a burly man in his thirties walked in. He kowtowed respectfully and said, "See Your Highness."
"Get up." Zhu Changluo waved his hand, signaling Wang Xintai to get up and reply. After the other party stood up, he did not beat around the bush, but asked directly: "Wang Xintai, do you really know everything about the Hulu Valley ahead?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Wang Xintai said with clasped fists: "For non-locals, it is generally difficult to find out what is going on in the Hulu Valley in front of you. Even if you find something suspicious in the valley, you will not think of going deeper to the right side of the valley mouth. It will suddenly become clear to me that there is another small Calabash Valley, and I still remember this place freshly."
After organizing his speech, he spoke again: "During the last Imjin Japanese Rebellion, Japan quickly captured almost the entire territory of Korea. We, the Ming Dynasty, sent troops to aid Korea. After a hard battle, we slowly drove Japan back to Korea. The southern end. The entire territory of Jeolla Province, including this place, was occupied and garrisoned by a Japanese daimyo named Kobayakawa Takakage. My Ming Dynasty attacked Jeonju in Jeolla Province, but unfortunately Kobayakawa Takakage was somewhat capable. , combined with other Japanese troops who had retreated to Jeolla Province, counterattacked our Ming Dynasty garrison, resulting in the loss of Jeonju, and forced the retreat."
"Oh?"??Zhu Changluo once heard Lao Ying say that he spent a lot of effort in Jeolla Province at that time, and even failed to recover Jeolla Province during the peace talks. It seems that Kobayakawa Takakage is somewhat capable: "You participated in that war. ?¡±
"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Xintai nodded, seeming to be lost in memories: "Thinking about it now, it turned out that he fell into Kobayakawa Takakage's trick. He retreated all the troops at the junction of Jeolla Province and Chungcheong Province, and lured them back. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, and when the number was only one-sixth of the opponent's, they launched a decisive battle with the opponent across the entire state"
Sighing, Wang Xintai continued: "Kobayakawa Takakage is really cunning. In Quanzhou, he only sent half of the army, but it was nearly three times more than Ming Dynasty, and started a bloody battle with Ming Dynasty At that time, Xiaobayakawa was He was sent to provide intelligence to the army, and eventually participated in that war. In that battle, my Ming Dynasty only had one-third of the opponent's strength on the battlefield. After fighting for more than two hours, we began to take the initiative, but Kobayakawa Takakage watched helplessly. The people who followed him were eaten away bit by bit by our army, but they remained indifferent."
Pursing his lips, Wang Xintai said with some emotion: "Kobayakawa Takakage is very calm and cold-blooded. Nearly half of his people on the battlefield were slowly killed, but he was still indifferent and just watched the Ming Dynasty's army become more and more superior." It became more and more obvious Almost two hours later, more than 10,000 of his 30,000 soldiers and horses were killed, and countless more were defeated. As the saying goes, if you kill a thousand enemies, you will lose 800, although I The Ming Dynasty did not suffer far less losses, but after such a long time, everyone was exhausted"
"Is Kobayakawa Takakage taking action at this time?" Zhu Changluo frowned and couldn't help but interject. He had only heard Lao Ying talk about the war without a winner at that time, but Lao Ying was far less clear than Wang Xintai, the person involved. .
Wang Xintai nodded silently: "Your Highness's prediction is correct. At this moment, Kobayakawa Takakage sent out the other half of the army that had been waiting outside the battlefield for a long time. With the addition of 30,000 new troops, it became a tired army. How could our Ming Dynasty's soldiers and horses resist it? What's more, there were already nearly 3,000 soldiers and horses casualties at that time. The result can be imagined After that battle, only less than 3,000 of our Ming Dynasty could leave the battlefield. This was a quick opportunity. I found that the opponent's new force, which had been ambushing for a long time, joined the battlefield, so I quickly organized a retreat, otherwise"
Zhu Changluo shook his head. He heard Lao Ying say that the reason why there was no winner in this battle was from the perspective of casualties. At that time, Japan estimated that there were at least 10,000 to 20,000 casualties, while the Ming Dynasty had 10,000 soldiers and horses, but less than 3,000 people left aliveDue to the serious losses in this war, there was also concern that the number of casualties would have an impact on what was going on at the time. The peace talks that took place were concealed by some people. On the desks of some people in the Ming Dynasty, this was just an ordinary battle.
This war changed the situation of the peace talks and made Ming Dynasty know that Japan may not be driven out of the sea for a moment. What's more, Ming Dynasty had a strong domestic anti-war sentiment at the time. The cabinet and the Ministry of War both advocated peace talks. The most important thing is that the cabinet and the Ministry of War Seeing that the war continues, even if Japan can be driven out of the sea, it will still take a certain amount of time, and the money and food of the Ming Dynasty may not be able to keep up
For Japan, this war brought their defeated situation under control. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a crucial victory.
"What happened next?" Zhu Changluo suddenly realized that this was not the time to lament about the war. He was currently concerned about the affairs of Hulugu Valley.
"Later, there were less than 3,000 of us, and we retreated all the way to this area. But because Japan wanted a big victory and wanted to wipe out all of us, they pursued them very closely. They didn't get rid of them until this place." Wang Xintai shook his head slightly, seeming to think of that unforgettable day again.
Zhu Changluo's heart moved: "Is this where you ambush their pursuers in Hulu Valley?"
"Your Highness expected it well. We retreated while fighting, and retreated to the mouth of the Calabash Valley. Here, we met local Koreans who spontaneously organized to resist the Japanese army. Although their combat effectiveness was negligible, they were familiar with the terrain. It helped us a lot. There were more than 2,000 of us, all lying in ambush in the small valley in the Hulu Valley. When the Japanese chasing army passed by, we unexpectedly rushed out and caught them off guard. Moreover, because there was no cavalry in the valley. If they are effective, their cavalry will have no use."
"How many Japanese troops participated in the pursuit at that time?" Zhu Changluo interjected.
"Ten thousand cavalry is almost all the cavalry in Japan."
Zhu Changluo took a breath of cold air. Ten thousand versus two thousand, even if it was an unexpected surprise attack, and the opponent was unable to take advantage of the cavalry due to terrain restrictions, the result would be unpredictable. When Lao Ying talked about the ambush, he was completely vague, leaving Zhu Changluo not even aware of the location of the battlefield in Hulugu Valley.However, he didn't pay much attention to the war, which was deliberately kept low-key.
"This battle was also very difficult, wasn't it?" Zhu Changluo smacked his lips and couldn't help but ask.
Wang Xintai showed a strange expression, glanced at Zhu Changluo, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "As I said, please forgive me, Your Highness, and don't have any special thoughts."
Zhu Changluo was even more curious now, what's going on?
"Let's talk, this prince doesn't have any special ideas."
Wang Xintai pursed his lips, and finally lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness, in fact, this ambush battle was extremely easy to win. My Ming Dynasty wiped out 10,000 Japanese troops with almost no losses."
"What?" Zhu Changluo's eyes widened. Is there such a thing?
Wang Xintai lowered his voice: "We actually used those Koreans to introduce all 10,000 Japanese troops into the innermost valley of Hulu Valley, and then set a fire at the entrance of the valley"
"Ah" Although Zhu Changluo was prepared, he couldn't help but screamed and swallowed: "What's the result?"
"The result?" Wang Xintai smiled bitterly: "All ten thousand Japanese soldiers were burned to death inside, and two thousand Koreans were also buried with them"
After hesitating for a while, he finally said: "Because the fire was too strong to be controlled at all, all the villages close to the valley within a hundred miles of the valley were all buried with the Japanese army. It is said It is said that this is the most important place of origin of Korean ginseng. , there are more North Koreans living here"
Zhu Changluo was silent for a moment. He finally understood why the Ming Dynasty suppressed everything about this war. It turned out to be so.