Chapter 7 Battle of Pyongyang (I)

There are many rules for the New Year. Even ordinary people have this kind of family, let alone the royal family. There are more complicated rules. Fortunately, I have had such an experience and then I dealt with it in a daze.

However, good news came from the harem one after another. Ye Lianyi and Tian Shuying gave birth to a man and a woman for Zhu Yinglong. In this way, Zhu Yinglong had three sons and three daughters, and was also happy, but he didn't have the special feeling of being a father for the first time.

After the abolition of the system of "tip plan", Zhu Yinglong greatly delegated power to the cabinet. For any budget of less than one million taels, four of the seven ministers in the cabinet signed and agreed to, and just reported it to himself. If more than one million taels are approved, the cabinet must report to the emperor and put a jade seal before it can take effect. Similarly, at this stage, 30% of the national fiscal revenue is directly assigned to the military cabin and unified allocation by the military cabin. This is also impossible. The proportion is a little higher, and the current domestic situation can only do this.

Yuan Chonghuan's secret letter arrived at Zhu Yinglong one day later than Xue Cong's information. In comparison, the situation written in Yuan Chonghuan's memorial was more detailed than Xue Cong's information. Huang Taiji sent his eldest son Haoge as the pioneer, and within three days he conquered several prefectures and counties. The front of the army had arrived at the city of Pyongyang. Yuan Chonghuan was shocked when he received this news. He himself did not believe that the news was true, but such a big thing happened, and the truth and falsehood of the news were second. Huang Taiji suddenly sent troops to North Korea and would no longer force North Korea to sign a brotherly alliance agreement like before the New Year. The plan was very small, so how could he dare to delay it. He wrote the secret letter overnight and ordered people to rush to be sent to Beijing in a hurry. The time was only one day apart.

The victory of the war is given to those who are prepared. At this moment, the city of Pyongyang is in a panic. From noble officials to civilians, no one would have thought that the war would come suddenly on their heads one day.

They shouted, cried, cursed, and did not use any use to the Later Jin cavalry who had already arrived at the city. Their purpose was to occupy this beautiful city and turn the people inside into slaves they could use casually.

The defenders in Pyongyang City also have more than 20,000, which is comparable to those under Haoge's troops, and even slightly more. However, the combat effectiveness of the two armies is not on the same line. The equipment is inferior to the throne. Compared with the elite soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty, which are well-equipped and have a lot of battles, they may not even have the courage to fight.

The defender in Pyongyang City was named Cui Puyuan. He relied on Zu Yin to obtain this position. Although it was not too idiotic, his ability was very mediocre. As the Later Jin army arrived at the city, the first thing he thought of was not how to defend the city, but how to escape. As the main general, he should be on the wall of the city commanding the defense and combat, but at this moment he was using his military talent to command how his family members could withdraw from Pyongyang City, and he would also disappear from the retreating crowd with whom he himself would.

Of course, not everyone thinks of retreat when facing war, and there are also tough guys who fight for fate. This is indispensable to every nation and a nation without it has been destroyed.

Choi Puyuan's deputy general Zhang Zhongchang should be said to be a very outstanding commander. He made many military achievements when the Later Jin sent troops to Korea last year. Unfortunately, his strength was too small at that time to change the outcome of his defeat. Although after the war, he relied on military achievements and the gathering of remaining troops on the battlefield, the royal family had no choice but to promote him to his official position in order to be talented and for the power he had mastered, becoming a miracle in the Korean army.

Choi Puyuan advocated resistance for a while, then abandoned Pyongyang and led the Pyongyang defenders to withdraw to Kaesong. The defenders in Hekaesong rely on Kaesong to resist strong enemies. Such a countermeasure was simply unattainable to Zhang Zhongchang. Although Kaesong is one of the "Three Capitals", its defense is far less solid than Pyongyang after continuous repairs. The Kaesong defender is a more idiotic general than Choi Puyuan. Choi Puyuan clearly wanted to escape. If Kaesong can't defend Kaesong, he would be completely pushed for Pyongyang's loss. Although they worked together for less than half a year, Choi Puyuan knew exactly what he thought.

This time is different from the last time. Although the Later Jin army advanced very quickly, its fundamental purpose changed and it was not declared. What does this mean? North Korea has signed an alliance with the Jin people, and the tribute last year was a lot. Why did they suddenly send troops? It is absolutely not simple. The Jin people should not make enemies at this time. What made the Jin people do this with fearlessness? Although these are not something that a small deputy general needs to consider, he considered it, so he had an argument with the main general Choi Puyuan on the issue of the strategy of defending the city.

The result of the quarrel was still useless. Choi Park-won was the main general, and Zhang Zhongchang was only one of his two deputy generals. The other deputy general was Choi Park-won's confidant. It was impossible to support him. The ending was naturally to resist first and then withdraw from Pyongyang City according to Choi Park-won's strength. Considering that the Jin people's troops were only less than 20,000, it was not easy to siege the city. North Korea is mountainous and the Jin people's mobile cavalry was difficult to deploy. This was originally a disadvantage of the opponent, but now it has become his biggest advantage in withdrawing troops. Zhang Zhongchang turned against Choi Park-won on the spot and decided to lead the three thousand people under his command to defend Pyongyang.

In Cui Puyuan's opinion, Zhang Zhongchang's actions were only a dead end. He showed great pride to a person who was seeking death with him. He did not blame Zhang Zhongchang for offending the authority of the main general. Instead, he left some arrows and supplies for him. After all, some people were willing to hold back the Jin people's army and let him withdraw easily. Why not do such a thing? It also saved himself from ordering which general was in a difficult situation.

Zhang Zhongchang naturally knew the little bit of the ghost thoughts of the Lord General Choi Park-won. One more equipment would allow him to last for a while. Choi Park-won could ignore Pyongyang's life and death, but the king could not abandon his people. As long as he could persist until the arrival of reinforcements sent by Seoul, this was Pyongyang's victory and North Korea's victory. After all, there were more than 200,000 Korean people in Pyongyang that had no time to escape. He knew the cruelty of the Jin people, killing, rape, and massacre of the city. On the day the city was destroyed, it was the day when Pyongyang's city sink. He didn't want to see North Korea defeated again and sign a humiliating treaty again. From the time he fell with the Lord General, Zhang Zhongchang made up his mind to live and die with Pyongyang.

Haoge overestimated his ability and underestimated the Koreans' determination to resist. Unexpectedly, when the main general led a large army to abandon the city and fled, a small deputy general led only 3,000 troops and tens of thousands of civilians to resist his ten-day fierce attack. It was not until Dorgon led the army to arrive and jointly captured Pyongyang.

On the day the city was broken, Zhang Zhongchang was knocked out by his subordinates and fled. Haoge was angry that he had not captured Zhang Zhongchang, who was defending the city, and jealous that he had originally all the credit for the capture of Pyongyang, but now he was robbed half of it by Dorgon. He accumulated more than ten days of anger and issued an order not to seal the sword within three days. In a short period of time, the entire Pyongyang was like a blood-baked purgatory. In just three days, there were no less than 100,000 Koreans slaughtered, countless Korean women were raped, and the burned houses were even more difficult to count. The gold, silver and jewelry collected were piled up into a small hill. Although Dorgon was the elder of Haoge, the command of the army was in Haoge's hands. Even if he reported Huang Taiji, the matter was over when the order came down. Especially Haoge did not deal with him and wanted to dissuade him by himself, it would be like adding fuel to the fire, so he simply didn't ask anything and let Haoge slaughter the city for three days.
Chapter completed!