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Volume 1: Dragon Trapped in the Shoals Chapter 156: Sudden Surprise

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    Chapter 156 A sudden surprise

    Chen Yuzhong was the commander of the guerrilla generals of the Ming Dynasty. He commanded the Yansui camp with 2,000 troops and was ordered to garrison the entire state.  Jeonju is more than a hundred miles north of Namwon and belongs to the Jeolla Province of North Korea. Although Jeonju is not as important as Namwon in terms of geographical location, it is also a must-pass for the Japanese army to advance northward.

    Ever since North Korea's combat-effective navy was wiped out by Japan, Chen Yuzhong knew something was wrong. He could predict that without the restraint of the North Korean navy, the Japanese could attack boldly with confidence, and the important Jeolla Province  It will be attacked first.  Sure enough, before he could receive a response to the distress letter he sent to Seoul, the Japanese had already attacked Nanyuan!

    As the closest military garrison city to Nanyuan, the first person that came to mind after Nanyuan was besieged and who might be able to assist was Jeonju!  However, there were only 2,000 Yansui battalion soldiers brought by Chen Yuzhong from the Ming Dynasty in the whole state and more than 1,000 capable Koreans who had surrendered nearby. Chen Yuzhong was in trouble.  When it came to rescuing Nanyuan, Chen Yuzhong really didn't know that he could pass through the Japanese interception and reach Nanyuan City with the help of 3,000 infantrymen. In fact, this is a polite way of saying it. If he had 3,000 cavalry, he would definitely not hesitate.  He went to Nanyuan for rescue, but unfortunately he did not have cavalry in his hands. If you go to reinforce Nanyuan with these three thousand, he thinks the most likely possibility is that you will beat the dog with meat buns before passing the Japanese encirclement in Nanyuan - there will be no return.  .

    Faced with a series of letters asking for help from Nanyuan City, Chen Yuzhong was still unable to make a decision to reinforce Nanyuan after weighing it again and again. He doubtfully guessed that the reason why the messengers asking for help from Nanyuan City were able to pass through Japan safely every time  In the encirclement of people, it is very likely that the Japanese are already ready to encircle the point and provide reinforcements. He cannot lead his men to die.  Regarding Nanyuan City, Chen Yuzhong knew that if nothing unexpected happened, facing the attack of nearly 60,000 troops, it would only be a matter of time before it fell, and it shouldn't be too long.

    However, what Chen Yuzhong didn¡¯t expect was that an accident occurred. Nanyuan City miraculously waited for reinforcements!  Chen Yuzhong knew that in his reply to him, Admiral Ma Gui clearly told him that he would not send reinforcements in the near future, and there were no reinforcements to send. Seoul must leave the necessary troops and horses to prevent them from being lost.  In the case of the Korean navy, the Japanese did not hesitate to expend material resources and risks, and took a direct detour from the sea to attack Seoul. They also had to leave some troops and horses for emergency purposes. What's more, they only had a few thousand men at their disposal.

    Chen Yuzhong's surprise can be imagined when he heard that the crisis in Nanyuan was not only resolved, but that the reinforcements actually defeated more than 50,000 Japanese.  He has led troops for many years, and he knows very well that even the Japanese have mediocre combat power, far less astonishing than the Mongols and Jurchens. But even so, if he wants to defeat more than 50,000 Japanese equipped with a large number of firearms, even if  It was an unexpected situation, and without more than 10,000 cavalry, it was simply impossible!

    The news that came one after another surprised him even more, so much so that he couldn't believe it. Until several groups of spies were sent to report the information at the same time, he was still a little doubtful - could it be that His Royal Highness, the eldest son of the emperor, is really a relative?  Lead reinforcements to reinforce Nanyuan City?  Looking back, he began to believe it. Admiral Magui did not have so many cavalry at all, and only His Highness the First Prince had 6,000 Liaodong cavalry as escorts.  After hearing that His Royal Highness the First Prince was attacked in Seoul last time, the King of Joseon immediately dispatched 10,000 Koreans to protect the safety of the First Prince. It is said that among the 10,000 Koreans, 6,000 were cavalry.

    To say that the combat effectiveness of the Koreans is not worth mentioning, even if the Koreans are mounted on horses, it is difficult for people to think of the kind of stern cavalry.  But Chen Yuzhong knew that the 10,000 Koreans responsible for protecting His Highness the Grand Prince were somewhat different. Since they were assigned to the Grand Prince more than half a year ago, their daily training has been with the thousands of elite Liaodong cavalry.  After that, even if it can't compare with the Ming Dynasty's cavalry, its combat effectiveness should still be considerable. At least it can charge and bluff people.

    Next, Chen Yuzhong completely believed that Zhu Changluo had come to Nanyuan City, because according to the urgent information sent by the spies in front, the Japanese right route army gave up attacking several small cities along the line and quickly headed towards Quanzhou.  Come on!  Chen Yuzhong was self-aware and well aware of the importance of Quanzhou. He did not think that the Japanese would give up attacking several cities along the route in order to attack Quanzhou with all their strength.  Obviously, the target of the Japanese right army is Nanyuan!  To be more specific, he is the eldest son of the Ming Emperor!

    However, even if he guessed that the Japanese target was Nanyuan, Chen Yuzhong still felt cold all over. Although Quanzhou is not as important as Nanyuan, it is still important compared to the few small towns that the Japanese abandoned with almost no garrison.  There are too many, and they belong to the kind that must be won!  What's more, Jeonju is on the only way to Namwon. The Japanese right-line army with 70,000 troops will never give up on "conveniently" capturing only 3,000 troops when going to Namwon.Garrisoned throughout the state.

    Chen Yuzhong even thought with some sadness, how long can Quanzhou resist the Japanese right-wing army?  With 6,000 soldiers and horses defending the city, Nanyuan was able to withstand more than 50,000 Japanese left-route troops in five days and almost broke the city. But what about Quanzhou?  Three thousand people were somewhat unable to meet the minimum requirements for defending the four city walls. Chen Yuzhong was not belittling. He felt that if the Japanese attacked with all their strength, the whole state could withstand it for a day, which would be regarded as an extraordinary performance.

    what to do?  Chen Yuzhong thought about it, and under the current circumstances, there was only one way to go, and that was to withdraw quickly and abandon Quanzhou City before the Japanese reached Quanzhou.  However, he gave up the idea as soon as it arose. If Nanyuan had been conquered and the Japanese army pressed on, he might have been able to abandon Quanzhou City. Even if he was held accountable for fleeing without fighting, the most he could do was  Just dismissed from his post and sent to the army.  After all, the location of Quanzhou City is not as important as Namwon City, and there are too few defenders in Quanzhou. Even if they do not abandon the defense of the city, they will hardly be able to cause resistance to the Japanese army.

    But things are different now, because the eldest son of the Ming Emperor is in Nanyuan City. If he dares to give up Quanzhou City, which is equivalent to the gateway to Nanyuan without a fight, it will definitely not be as simple as fleeing without a fight.  , when it comes to investigating the responsibility, it will definitely not be as simple as dismissal from the post and sent to the army!  This is tantamount to putting the eldest prince in danger, failing to fulfill his responsibility to stop the enemy from protecting the eldest prince, and abandoning the eldest prince's safety

    Chen Yuzhong could imagine and be sure that if the Japanese did not cause any harm to the eldest prince this time, he would be a tyrant. But if something happened to the eldest prince this time the Ming Dynasty's Jin Yiwei would probably help.  If you thoroughly calculate the specific population of your nine tribes, you will definitely be punished by the nine tribes!

    However, the development of things once again exceeded Chen Yuzhong's expectations. Just when he accepted his fate and prepared to be buried with Quanzhou, he did not expect that Yang Yuan, who was far away in Nanyuan, sent an envoy and brought his  Handwritten letters.  It was this letter that made Chen Yuzhong feel that life is so wonderful. Survival from desperate situations does not only exist in legends. No, this was what he encountered.

    No matter where he was, it was impossible for Chen Yuzhong to refuse Yang Yuan's proposal to lead troops to Nanyuan to protect His Royal Highness the eldest prince. In addition to the Koreans' apparent reluctance to abandon Quanzhou,  Of course, the people of Ming Dynasty put the safety of His Highness the First Prince first!  As for the whole state of North Korea, what is it compared to the safety of His Highness the First Prince?

    When Chen Yuzhong led his troops to Nanyuan, Zhu Changluo gathered 6,000 elite cavalry as he wished. Of course, he must bring more than 800 Jinyi guards with him. These people are much better at protecting people than soldiers.  Moreover, Nanyuan also left almost 11,000 people to garrison. Not to mention the extra thousand people, its importance is very great. If nothing else, at least the defenders of Nanyuan City can take turns to defend the city.  For example, when Yang Yuan's 6,000 men were stationed, everyone could hardly get any rest.

    Before the Japanese right army joined the crippled left army, Zhu Changluo secretly left Nanyuan City with 6,000 cavalry and more than 800 imperial guards.  However, in order to stagger the Japanese right-leg army and the cities occupied by them, and to avoid being discovered by places that have become Japan's sphere of influence, Zhu Changluo planned to start from Nanyuan and go north, taking the Jeolla Road  Geumsan and Chungcheong-do's Cheongju and Chungju, almost detouring through Gyeonggi-do where Seoul is located, and then going east from Chungju, the northernmost end of Chungcheong-do, into the north of Gyeongsang-do, and finally along the sparsely populated coast of Gyeongsang-do  Andong, Gyeongju, Ulsan, and enters Busan.

    Chungju is located at the northernmost end of Chungcheong Province, adjacent to Gyeonggi Province to the north, only more than 200 miles away from Seoul, the capital of North Korea, and adjacent to Gyeongsang Province to the east. The geographical location may seem important, but in fact, from a strategic point of view, it is basically  Dispensable.  Although it borders Gyeonggi-do where Seoul is located and Gyeongsang-do where Busan is located, it is not the only way for Chungcheong-do and Gyeongsang-do to enter Gyeonggi-do.

    It is such a useless city, but it is garrisoned with Ming Dynasty rattan armored soldiers who are even more feared by the Japanese. Needless to say, the leader of the garrison in Zhongzhou is Staff General Wu Weizhong.  As a confidant who followed General Qi Jiguang on his expeditions to the south and north, defeated the Japanese pirates along the coast many times, and made great military exploits. He also followed Qi Jiguang to the north to Jizhen and the south to Guangdong. It is obvious that after the death of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang was ostracized. Wu Weizhong  Not immune either.

    ¡°Obviously, as Qi Jiguang¡¯s favorite general, and Qi Jiguang was Zhang Juzheng¡¯s favorite general, Wu Weizhong was basically labeled as a member of Zhang Juzheng¡¯s party, and was almost destined to be excluded.  In recent years, Zhu Yijun can no longer pursue the people of Zhang Juzheng's faction, but it does not mean that others will not pursue them fiercely!  Just like these cabinets, most of them were once excluded by Zhang Juzheng. Now that they are in power, they will certainly not let go of those promoted by Zhang Juzheng easily.  Just like Wu Weizhong, a general led by Qi Jiguang, although he was very brave in marching and fighting,Even if someone has made great achievements, it is difficult to be promoted. At least the report of meritorious service reaches the Ministry of War and the Cabinet, and they are suppressed by the Ministry of War and the Cabinet.

    Just like before the war, Wu Weizhong led three thousand vine armor soldiers to garrison Nanyuan far away in Jeolla Province. The task was to build a city far away from the political center of North Korea in a thankless manner.  When the war broke out and Nanwon became an important part of the country, he was sadly pushed out of Nanwon, where he had been stationed for several years. He led his three thousand vine-armed soldiers to garrison in Chungju, where his grandma did not care for his uncle and his uncle did not love him.  Once being pushed out of a place where it is easy to make meritorious deeds.

    Zhu Changluo had heard Li Rumei mention Wu Weizhong last time and knew that this man was brave and resourceful. Otherwise, he would not have been able to serve as his powerful general and let him lead after Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang had died for so many years.  The Tengjia soldiers became the unit that the Japanese were most afraid of encountering during the last Japanese invasion of Korea, ranking ahead of the Liaodong cavalry.  Think about it, even the Liaodong cavalry, if the Japanese are prepared, can still have a chance to compete with a large number of equipped firearms, but against the rattan armor soldiers brought out by Wu Weizhong, they are almost helpless and can only rely on their strength.  Fight hard!

    After all, the large rattan armor that has been treated with special techniques and can completely block the soldiers behind it cannot be penetrated by Japanese firearms, cannot be broken by knives, cannot be penetrated by arrows, and is fireproof. However, hiding behind the rattan armor for training  Skilled soldiers can also throw throwing knives, and when they get close, they can use the sword in their hands to chop up the neck and chop down the legs The Japanese are full of resentment towards the rattan soldiers.

    Before the war started, when Wu Weizhong was still stationed in Nanyuan, Zhu Changluo once led troops to Jeolla Province, and also decided to go to Nanyuan to meet Wu Weizhong and prepare to help him, but he ended up in Jinzhou in Jeolla Province.  There, they encountered more than 20,000 soldiers and horses ambushed by Kobayakawa Takakage. In the end, they miraculously captured more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers including Kobayakawa Takakage alive. As a result, they had no time and opportunity to go to Nanyuan again and missed meeting Wu Weizhong.  But this time, Zhu Changluo actually did not have to detour to Chungju on Chungcheong Road. He only had to go to Qingzhou on Chungcheong Road to go east to Gyeongsang Province. But for the sake of the three thousand Tengjia Army that Zhu Changluo had long envied, and even more for Wu Weizhong.  Zhu Changluo specially transferred this general to Zhongzhou.

    Since the last time he planned to raid the Japanese outside Nanyuan City and something unexpected happened, Zhu Changluo has accepted this lesson that is not a lesson. No matter what he does in the future, he must have a backup plan.  For example, the raid on Busan this time was a major event that was absolutely related to his future destiny. There was no room for any mistakes, so Zhu Changluo was thinking about Wu Weizhong's three thousand vine armor soldiers just in case.

    According to his own intelligence, Li Rumei said that Wu Weizhong's three thousand vine armored soldiers were simply the nemesis of the Japanese. Three thousand vine armored soldiers could defeat 10,000 Japanese troops. This had to make Zhu Changluo tempted!  If it weren't for the fact that the rattan armor of the rattan armor was time-consuming and labor-intensive to make and almost impossible to mass-produce, Zhu Changluo would have wanted to vigorously develop the rattan armor after he took power. After all, the firearms of this era, whether they were Western muskets or Japanese  Or even the Ming dynasty's cannons couldn't penetrate the vine armor, which was much lighter than the iron shield!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi has been in a good mood recently. Since the beginning of the all-out war, everything has been going so smoothly. Even the North Korean navy, which has caused great trouble to its troop transport ships from Japan to North Korea, is also using tricks to often  After the naval battle of Qiliangchuan, the entire army was wiped out, allowing him to implement some of his deployments even more unscrupulously.  Under the separate attacks of the Left Route Army and the Right Route Army, almost all of Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla Province were soon captured.

    Of course, at this time Toyotomi Hideyoshi had selectively forgotten how furious he was after receiving the news that the Left Army was almost crippled in Nanyuan a few days ago, so much so that he executed more than ten innocent samurai on the spot.

    "It's good that the left army has been crippled!" This is what Toyotomi Hideyoshi said happily after receiving another news. He was still regretting that he was about to return to China. It seems that he will come to North Korea in person this time.  The goal is destined to be impossible to achieve. As long as the eldest prince of the Ming Dynasty stays in Seoul, even if he leads his own troops to capture Seoul, it is absolutely impossible for the eldest prince to coexist and die with Seoul. As long as he wants to escape,  With the protection of nearly 10,000 cavalry in his hands, there was no way he could catch him.

    However, just after he confirmed his itinerary to return to the country, he felt that God was giving him a gift to return home. The eldest prince actually lost his mind and personally led troops to reinforce Nanyuan!  What a God-given opportunity. Toyotomi Hideyoshi suddenly felt that even if the left army was defeated, it would be absolutely worth it. The eldest prince threw himself into a trap and came to Nanyuan. If he didn't catch the turtle in the jar, wouldn't he be ashamed of God?

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi was very concerned about the fact that the Left Route Army gathered its remnants and took the initiative to contact the Right Route Army. The Right Route Army gave up some small cities and instead joined forces with the Left Route Army to prepare for the siege of Nanyuan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was verySatisfied, he also took the initiative to issue a handwritten letter, which was extremely unusual and praised the Left Route Army for not being hit by the failure and for taking the initiative to atone for his crimes by contacting the Right Route Army to explain the situation. He also praised the Right Route Army for understanding the priorities of the matter and issued a verbal edict.  As long as the Left Route Army and the Right Route Army unite to capture Nanyuan this time and capture the eldest son of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, then the rewards for them will be generous, and they are promised to at least double their territory!

    In order to be more safe, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent out almost all the naval forces in Busan and asked them to completely block the sea area near Nanyuan to prevent the eldest prince of Ming Dynasty from escaping from the sea after Nanyuan City was broken.  Moreover, he also sent out 8,000 of Pusan's only 15,000 garrison, leaving only 5,000 people in Pusan. He was not worried that Pusan, far behind, would be attacked.  According to the information he received, the only person in North Korea who might pose a threat to him today is the nearly 10,000 cavalry of the eldest prince of the Ming Dynasty. As for the reinforcements sent by the Ming Dynasty to North Korea, they are randomly stationed in various places, and there are still some left!

    Of course, in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's view, the Ming prince and his nearly 10,000 cavalry are now trapped in Nanyuan. Even if Busan, which has been operating in the rear for so many years, only has a few hundred troops, it is enough to ensure his own safety, so  Leaving 5,000 garrison troops in Busan, what else can you worry about?
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