Chapter 163: Armistice, negotiation, return to China

Back in Kaicheng, news of the Ming army's victory in Bidiguan spread, and there was another jubilation in all parts of North Korea.

Nearly 10,000 Japanese troops were beheaded and more than ten Japanese generals were killed. This was a rare victory. Not to mention the Korean monarch and ministers in Pyongyang City cheered and the Korean people burned incense and prayed. Even if they were in charge of Song Yingchang, they were extremely happy. They also urgently reported to Emperor Wanli and said that the victory in Bitiguan was great.

The Ming army won so much that all parties asked Li Rusong to take advantage of the victory and quickly take over the capital. However, Li Rusong was in trouble at this time.

On the one hand, after the generals who participated in the Battle of Bitiguan came back, they fought for the credit of the heads of the 10,000 Japanese troops. On the other hand, through the Battle of Bitiguan, Li Rusong believed that the Japanese army was tenacious and should not be underestimated. In addition, Wang Jing had many enemies, and if they wanted to attack hard, they would not be able to attack but not be able to attack. This was a problem.

After careful consideration, Li Rusong made the following arrangements: more than 30,000 Ming troops under his command, Li Rubai led his army to guard Baoshan, Yang Yuan led his army to guard Pyongyang, Cha Dashou guarded Linjin, Li Ning and Huang Laifu guarded Kaicheng.

Except for Huang Laifu, everyone else was inexplicably arranged by Li Rusong. Just as the Korean monarch and ministers wrote a letter to Emperor Wanli, asking the heavenly soldiers to continue to march. The censors of the Ming Dynasty rushed to play Li Rusong fearlessness, and the time came to the beginning of March of the 21st year of Wanli.

On this day, Li Rusong secretly ordered Cha Dashou and Li Rumei to lead a Ming army suicide squad to attack Longshan Okang. Longshan Okang was originally a Korean national warehouse and stored North Korea's grain for decades. After Wang Jing was occupied by the Japanese army, Longshan Okang became the military ration depot of many Japanese troops in Wang Jing. Later, the grain transported by the Japanese army was stored here.

That night, the Ming army's suicide squad arrived in Longshan. They shot rockets at the granary, thirteen large warehouses, hundreds of thousands of stones of grain, and were burned overnight. In addition to the food being burned, that night, the Japanese army in Longshan Warehouse was killed by the Ming army and the warehouse commander Ben Duojukui committed suicide. The Ming army suffered about 50 casualties.

The reason why it went so smoothly was that after the Battle of Bitiguan, the Japanese army did not dare to fight the Ming army in field, so the Ming army's suicide squad with only a hundred men could penetrate deep into the Japanese army's hinterland and burn down the Longshan Warehouse.

The Longshan Warehouse was burned, shocking all parties. After a moment of collective aphasia, the Korean monarchs and ministers and Ming officials first reacted that they were praised by Li Rusong and praised his plans as gods.

While the Longshan Warehouse was burned down, the Japanese army of Korea fell into an unprecedented dilemma. Due to shortage of food, on April 18, the 21st year of Wanli, the entire Japanese army withdrew from Wangjing and retreated to Busan. On the 19th, Li Rusong entered the city and Wangjing was restored. In late April, the Japanese army continued to retreat to the North Korean waters such as Ulsan and Donglai. More than 80,000 people crossed the seas and returned to the country, leaving only 40,000 people to defend.

At this point, the first phase of the Japanese invasion of Korea was a crushing defeat.

In April of the 20th year of Wanli, the Japanese army invaded Korea, and were invincible and arrogant. Unexpectedly, since the Ming army entered the court in December of the 20th year of Wanli, the Japanese army was defeated in just half a year, with countless casualties and wounded. The first legion of Xiaoxi Governor was almost destroyed. After repeated attacks by the Ming army, the Japanese army had no fighting spirit.

When the Japanese army suffered repeated defeats against the Ming army on land, the Japanese army also suffered continuous defeats when they faced the Korean navy at sea. During the Battle of Yupu, the Battle of Sichuan, and the Battle of Xianshan Island, the Japanese navy defeated the Korean navy led by Lee Sun-sen, and suffered heavy losses.

Especially after the Battle of Xianshan Island, the Japanese navy completely lost the power to control the sea and was unable to transport military rations. In addition, North Korea's excessive destruction caused the epidemic, and it was difficult to collect food locally. Therefore, it was imperative for Japan to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the Ming army was unable to capture the Ming army due to insufficient military strength. Especially in the past six months of the expedition, the Ming court had already spent millions of taels of silver, and the treasury was at its bottom. For Emperor Wanli, he had no money to continue to fight. Therefore, negotiations with the Japanese side were also imperative.

The candidate for the negotiation was Chen Weijing. Huang Laifu originally wanted to volunteer, but he thought about his identity and let it go. Moreover, the battle between the Ming Dynasty and Japan in Korea had not yet been decided, and the negotiation would not have any good results.

To be honest, the Ming side did not have any sincerity in this negotiation. Song Yingchang once submitted a memorial to Emperor Wanli, saying: "Although the Japanese chiefs were called for tribute before and after, I actually pretended to be tribute, but I had no intention of making any promises." The Japanese side was also talking nonsense, and the result of the matter still depends on the next war.

In May of the 21st year of Wanli, Governor Konishi took Chen Weijing to Japan to meet Toyotomi Hideyoshi and discuss peace talks. On the 8th, Toyotomi Hideyoshi met with Chen Weijing and other Ming missions in Nagoya, and proposed seven items: "The conditions for peace in Ming and Japan":

1. Welcome Princess Daming to be the Japanese Empress.

2. Quotation was granted to Japan (the Ming Dynasty was allowed to trade with Japan, and the Ming Dynasty and the surrounding countries were a tribute system at that time).

3. The military officers of the two countries will swear a good alliance tomorrow.

4. The King of Korea and four deeds returned to Korea, and the other four deeds were ceded to Japan.

5. North Korea sends a prince as hostage on the solstice.

6. Return the captured two princes of the North Korean Kingdom and other Korean officials.

7. The Korean minister will never rebel against Japan.

Chen Weijing agreed to these seven points at once, but to Xie Yongxin and others who were traveling with him, he pretended to say that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had agreed to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, requested tribute, and was willing to withdraw from the invading Japanese army.

In Japan, Governor Konishi lied to Toyotomi Hideyoshi that the Ming envoy had agreed to seven suggestions, and he only needed to send Japanese envoys to Beijing with the Ming envoys and request the Ming emperor's final approval.

In this way, with the mediation of Shen Weijing and Governor Konishi's deceiving superiors and subordinates, the two sides reached the most ridiculous "chicken and duck talk" agreement in the history of Chinese and foreign diplomacy. Poor Toyotomi Hideyoshi's generation of heroes was in danger of their later years.

In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli was half-believing and half-doubted, but the Minister of War Shi Xing insisted that there was no problem. In addition, the national treasury was empty, so Emperor Wanli agreed to Japan's peace talks. In the end, the two sides finally ceased to fight in North Korea.

In May, Sichuan general Liu Jing had already led 5,000 troops to aid Korea and was appointed as deputy general. So in July of the 21st year of Wanli, after most of the Japanese army withdrew from Korea, the Ming Dynasty court also issued an edict to withdraw troops to carry out Japanese tribute enfeoffment, leaving only Liu Jing and others to lead more than 7,000 troops to stay in Korea, helping the Korean soldiers to guard all key entrusted ports, and the rest returned to their country.

On July 15, 21st year of Wanli, Li Rusong, Huang Laifu and others led their troops to leave North Korea.

On July 25, Liaoyang City.

This place was originally an important logistics base for the Ming army's Eastern Expedition, with food, supplies, military supplies, and materials, and busy civilians from all sides. However, after the North Korean truce, the place returned to its former peace.

Of course, as the town of Liaodong Town, Liaoyang City has always been prosperous, with many merchants and neighbors from all sides, especially here, you can see some Jurchens with rat-tailed braids coming to the city to trade from time to time, and their eyes flashed with greedy eyes.

"Jurchen!" A cold light flashed in Huang Laifu's eyes. Forget it, I can't take care of this matter now, so I'll talk about it if I have the chance in the future.

Outside Liaoyang City, you can see the officials and people coming to welcome from time to time, especially the Ming people, who cheered Li Rusong and Huang Laifu, who defeated the Japanese and rescued the Korean vassal states, from time to time, making the generals of the army proud.

The same is true for the Wuzhai Fort army, each of them held their heads and chests. This time they went to fight, and they killed a lot in the battle at Bitiguan. I believe that after they returned, Deputy General Huang, would give them generous rewards.

In addition to these generals, not far from the Wuzhai Fort army, the Wuzhai Fort caravans were all smiling. This time they came with the army, and the demand for food and supplies of the Wuzhai Fort army alone made them profit a lot, not to mention that when they were in North Korea, the various demands of the Ming army also made them profit a lot of money.

In addition, the various commodities they brought from Wuzhai Fort were also in short supply. They felt that every time they went to war with General Huang, it was a good opportunity.

Of course, these people had a smile on their faces, but Huang Laifu's troops spent a lot of money to send troops this time. Since the Battle of Bitiguan, Huang Laifu's army has not experienced any wars and has remained in North Korea until July.

Over the past few months, he has been looking for things he can earn back his expenses. Unfortunately, North Korea has poor mountains and bad waters, and there is nothing but ginseng. But even if the soldiers dig on a large scale, they cannot dig back their travel expenses, so they have to forget.

At this time, the person next to Huang Laifu was Li Rusong. This time, as the admiral of the Eastern Expedition, he led two thousand servants to fight. During the war in Korea, hundreds of people stayed in a foreign land and could only bring some remains of bones and clothes back. These people were Li Rusong's servants who had been with him since childhood. It was impossible for Li Rusong to not be sad about these people.

However, at this time Li Rusong had a smile on his face, because Huang Laifu presented him with a musket from Wuzhai Fort. The Ming army in the eastern expedition to Korea saw it all, so many people asked Huang Laifu for a reference, and hoped that his own army could be built in the future.

For Huang Laifu, there was no secret of his Wuzhai Fort musket and no high-tech component. He was just carefully made by the military craftsmen. Therefore, everyone asked for it, and he gave one to only every deputy general level.

This made all the generals smile, especially those generals from Liaodong Town.

The army returned from North Korea and arrived at Liaoyang City. After Li Rusong wanted to pay homage to his father Li Chengliang and stayed in Liaoyang City for a few days. However, Huang Laifu had no intention of staying in Liaoyang City and continued to move forward from the city.

When parting, Li Rusong smiled and said to Huang Laifu: "General Huang, take care of it!"

Li Rubai, Li Rumei, Cha Dashou, Zu Chengxun and others were also riding on horseback, opening their mouths and smiling at Huang Laifu. Beside them, there were dense soldiers of general flags from Liaodong Town.

Huang Laifu looked at Li Rusong. This was a domineering and unruly soldier, but his loyalty to the country came from the heart. Perhaps this was the last time he saw him. Huang Laifu said solemnly: "Sir, take care of it!"

He hesitated for a while, looked around, and then said softly to Li Rusong: "Please be careful of the Liaodong Tuman in the future!"

Li Rusong was stunned and couldn't help laughing.

Looking at Huang Laifu's back as he led the army of Wuzhai Fort away, Li Rusong thought to himself: "Strange, why did Huang Laifu say that just now?"

After the Battle of North Korea, Li Rusong was awarded the title of Prince Taibao.

Three years later, Liaodong General Dong Yiyuan resigned, and Emperor Wanli disagreed with all opinions and appointed Li Rusong as the general officer of Liaodong.

In April of the 26th year of Wanli, the Tuman barbarians invaded Liaodong. Li Rusong led the light cavalry to go out to rush the nest, led the army, and died in battle!
Chapter completed!