Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 398 Preparing for the Incheon Landing
In the 21st century, there is a saying that "China-Japan friendship depends on the Koreans". In the 21st century, Chinese people generally have negative feelings towards Japan. But generally speaking, the word "look down on" is rarely used to describe the Japanese. But as for the various suicide attempts by the Koreans, except for the Korean fans, most people really have no other words except "haha".
For a time traveler like Zhu Youdong, since the countries on the Korean Peninsula had done a terrible job on China in the 20th century, and the geographical location here is so important to China, when Tokugawa Yoshinao sent troops to Korea, he consciously gave in to help Tokugawa Yoshinao occupy the entire Korea.
After conquering Siam, when he turned his head to the east, he naturally thought about how to swallow up the Korean Peninsula: Zhu Youdong would never do such a thing as once again promoting the spirit of internationalism and helping Korea drive out the Japanese for free.
Originally, Zhu Youdong was thinking about how to negotiate with the current Korean king, Li Hui, to see if he could directly obtain a part of the land in the name of the current Korean king. Who knew that he asked Li Sancai to blackmail the other party as a test, and this guy was not happy in every way. After coming to Beijing, he was still thinking about petitioning all day long. This made Zhu Youdong completely disappointed with him: Being a dog requires the consciousness of being a dog. If the master hits you, it means that he has not given up on you. Just a few light hits on you, you jump up and down and are dissatisfied. What's the point of raising a dog like you?
At first, Zhu Youdong thought about how to support Li Hui's brothers to deal with him: Unfortunately, this guy killed all his adult brothers soon after he came to power, and the rest were all minors. This made Zhu Youdong very worried: poisoning would be too detrimental to His Majesty Tianqi's international reputation.
Unexpectedly, when he was sleepy, Tokugawa Yoshinao directly handed him a pillow. Zhu Youdong had been a national leader for so many years. If he didn't know how to make full use of this opportunity, then all these years would have been in vain.
However, despite all his calculations, Zhu Youdong made two mistakes that time travelers are most likely to make:
First, the mentality of the loser has not been completely changed. He and Tian Ergeng played elegant and charades. In his opinion, the word "Korea" is just Li Hui. But in Tian Ergeng's understanding, "Korea" is the entire royal family. With such an understanding, plus Li Sancai's active cooperation...
This is normal. If the boss does not issue clear instructions, the subordinates who are brave enough to take on responsibilities are likely to magnify the goals!
Second, the emotions of modern people directly replaced the emotions of the people of this era.
The Chinese in the 21st century have a very indifferent attitude towards North Korea and South Korea. However, the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty at that time felt that North Korea was too soft. Apart from that, they were basically positive. So as Li Sancai said: Tian Ergeng's official hat alone could not support it.
On February 2, when the news reached Beijing that the Joseon royal family was ambushed by the Iga ninjas of the Tokugawa shogunate on the Liaohe River and almost all of them fell into the water and died, the entire capital was speechless with surprise.
After a brief moment of surprise, the Ming officials reacted and threw a flood of impeachments at the Ministry of Public Security.
Not only were the officials indignant, but the common people were also very angry: What are you officials doing? A team of more than 2,000 people fell into the water. It is said that only more than 300 palace maids, eunuchs, and guards who were walking were rescued. Did all the nobles sitting in the carriage sink under the ice?
Can't you do a more detailed job of security? Korea is a loyal vassal state of our Ming Dynasty! You have created such a mess. How can we face the Koreans in the future?
In an instant, public opinion surged, shocking even Zhu Youdong.
Soon, the Ming cabinet issued a stern notice: Li Sancai, the governor of Liaodong, neglected his duties and failed to do a good job of security inspections around the Liaohe River. He was dismissed! He retired immediately! Luo Sigong, the Liaodong captain of the Jinyiwei who was directly responsible for the specific security work, was arrested and imprisoned! Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Jinyiwei, did not let his men do a good job of guarding, and he was jointly responsible and dismissed first!
As for comforting the remaining members of the North Korean team and letting the six major newspapers focus on reporting the origins of Japanese ninjas and the madness of the Japanese pirate chieftain, that was also the intended purpose.
However, Zhu Youdong had no idea that he thought that just throwing out these tactics would be enough. But public opinion did not buy it at all!
The Japanese are indeed bad and deserve to be killed! When we land on their homeland in the future, we must kill more. But Your Majesty, your punishment is too lenient! Well, Li Sancai is a civil servant, so he can retire. But! Tian Ergeng and Luo Sigong, you must hand over your heads! Otherwise, we can't face the many vassal states, let alone Korea!
This trend of public opinion is not only shared by officials, but also by ordinary people.
This really gave Zhu Youdong a headache.
However, even though he had a headache, he was not a selfish person like Jiajing who would throw out the ministers who worked for him to die when the time came. It was true that Tian Ergeng had misunderstood his meaning, but that could only be a warning after the fact. The treatment of Tian Ergeng, Luo Sigong and others was just a show - in fact, Luo Sigong was unaware of the whole process. If Tian Ergeng and Luo Sigong were really killed, then his spy system would be paralyzed in the future.
Fortunately, he was a time traveler. Although he made the same mistakes that time travelers often make, he also knew the rules summarized by later generations: the memory of ordinary people is actually similar to that of fish.
On February 3, the Yenching Daily reported the Liaohe incident. On the 4th, the cabinet gave the results of the handling. Then on the 5th and 6th, public opinion continued to ferment, and three cabinet elders were also impeached in large numbers.
But on the seventh day, the entire public opinion trend and the attention of officials and the people suddenly changed.
The Yanjing Daily first published a special report: Our Ming Dynasty’s royal army has completed its assembly and will soon set out to sea to attack Japan!
…
February 10, 1619, Changsheng Island, Southern Liaoning.
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, our army now has a total of 122,000 people, all of whom have assembled in southern Liaoning. Various landing drills have also completed the first phase of training. You can board the ship at any time!"
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, regarding the navy, I have already gathered more than 60 warships of various types to ensure the safe escort of the army across the sea and landing along the way. In addition, the court has dispatched a total of more than 3,500 transport ships of various types this time. Which troops will board which ship, and which ships are responsible for transporting food, heavy equipment, etc. All have been arranged in advance."
"Well, Marshal Cao and Marshal Li have worked hard." Sun Chengzong, who was sitting in the main seat, stroked his beard gently: "How is the sea situation in recent days?"
An official in the uniform of the seventh rank stepped out and said, "In recent months, the Imperial Observatory has sent people on warships to repeatedly observe the local weather, combining the experience of local fishermen. Now I can be sure that from today, there will not be too big winds and waves within seven days. However..."
"but?"
"General Sun, please allow me to report that with the help of the navy, I have approached the Incheon waters for observation and found that there are many reefs on the seaward side of the waters. These reefs will only be completely submerged by the sea during high tide in the morning and evening, so they will not affect our landing. If we land at other times, the reefs below will seriously affect the ships' landing."
"Ah?" Sun Chengzong was known for his good temper, but he jumped up when he heard this. He slammed the table hard, then walked over and grabbed the young official: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Supervisor...Supervisor, please forgive me. We only made this decision yesterday."
"Assholes! The Emperor said that we must send troops this month! And yet he only told me this now. You guys who don't know anything about military affairs are going to make a big mistake!"
"What do you mean, Commander? Wouldn't it be better for our army to land in the early morning?"
"What an idiot! We have an army of 100,000! Can we all land in just one or two hours in the early morning? If we send 10,000 people ashore first, and another 10,000 people at dusk, wouldn't that be a refueling tactic? What if the enemy sees that I don't have many people on the shore, and concentrates their main forces to push me back into the sea?"
"I, I really didn't expect this. I hope you will forgive me, Commander."
"Hey, forget it, you guys who only know astronomy and geography." After waving his hand and letting the officials of the Imperial Observatory go, Sun Chengzong said to the generals below: "What should we do? The newspapers in the capital have already said that we will send troops soon, but now we have such a mess."
"Commander, I have an idea."
"Hmm? Admiral Ma, go ahead."
"Yes, Commander-in-Chief, all the commanders. I heard that the mouth of the Han River is near Incheon. If we go in from here, we can go directly to the back of Incheon."
"Hey, Admiral Ma, who among us doesn't know this? But it's winter now, and the Han River is frozen. And even if it's not frozen, what's the use? There are more reefs at the mouth of the Han River than in the sea of Incheon. We are not familiar with the hydrology, so we can't get in at all!"
"General, I don't mean to go upstream to Seoul, but to land at the mouth of the Han River. This place is not frozen.
In my early years, I followed Marshal Ma to fight in Korea. At that time, I knew that there were many reefs at the mouth of the Han River. I also knew that there was a group of fishermen here who, through several generations and hundreds of lives, were very familiar with the distribution of all the reefs in the area of the mouth of the sea. The Japanese pirates wanted them to lead the way, but they refused to obey. "
"Oh? Are they a group of heroes?"
"No, Commander, these are a group of businessmen. Businessmen who will do anything for profit. They control the water conditions here, and can monopolize the channels for all materials in the Han River Basin to go out to sea, and make huge profits. But now, if we pass on the news that the Joseon royal family is almost completely wiped out to this group of people, then I think their attitude may change."
"Well, Admiral Ma's suggestion is good. General Cao, General Li, what do you think?"
"Commander-in-chief, we can land behind Incheon along the mouth of the Han River, but only a small force. After all, the waterway there is narrower and the ships that can go up are smaller, so there won't be too many troops that can be put up there. Their role is to split into two groups after landing. One group will organize defense on the spot to block the Japanese pirate reinforcements coming from Seoul, buying time for our subsequent landing in Incheon. The other group will attack from behind the enemy in Incheon to help our frontal landing troops capture the defenders as soon as possible."
"Yes, Commander." After Cao Wenzhao finished speaking, Li Guozhu also stepped forward and said, "Commander, although there are many reefs near Incheon, we can land large troop transport ships in the early stage. As the tide begins to recede, we can also land with small sampans. You know, we have thousands of small sampans!"
"That makes sense. So let's do this, Admiral Ma, go contact the fishermen at the mouth of the Han River. We must start landing before the 20th!"
