On July 7, the 1st Cavalry Division of the Japanese Expedition Army crossed the Yalu River, and China officially sent troops to Korea!

The two sides soon engaged in battle, and both were startled by the other. According to the memoirs of Zu Chengxun, the commander of the First Regiment, "the Japanese often used animal skins and chicken tails as clothing, and used gold and silver to make puppets with human and horse faces, which were extremely shocking."

It was normal to be frightened when seeing the enemy dressed as monsters for the first time. Many cavalrymen could not help but want to turn around and run away. Fortunately, the military officers tried their best to stop them and told them that there were no ghosts in the world. If you don’t believe it, just follow me!

Fortunately, the Japanese invaders on the other side were also frightened. They didn't expect the Chinese to be so big and ride such tall horses. Compared with them, I was like a primary school student riding a donkey, and a lower grade one... How could I not be scared?

Seeing the Chinese army rushing towards them, they were so scared that they fled. However, because their legs were short, they were caught up and dozens of them were killed.

When cleaning up the battlefield, the cavalry found that, just as the military officer said, those were not monsters at all, but just dwarfs wearing masks, strange helmets, and fancy armor...

He couldn't help feeling ashamed and angry, so he bravely took the lead and looked for trouble with the Japanese pirates everywhere to save his face.

The news that the Japanese pirates who were plundering everywhere were attacked by the Ming army soon spread back to Pyongyang. Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa discussed and decided to withdraw their troops and defend the solid Pyongyang City... At least in their eyes, it was very solid.

Therefore, the vanguard troops that landed at the mouth of the Yalu River - the 1st Division, the 2nd Division and the Independent Regiment - advanced to the vicinity of Pyongyang almost unhindered.

Then the First Division and the Independent Regiment monitored the Japanese pirates in the city, while the Second Division went around to the pine forest south of Pyongyang, cut down trees and set up a simple dock.

On July 13, the 3rd Division landed in Anzhou and moved eastward to monitor the three Japanese corps in Hamgyong Province.

On July 17, the Chinese shipping fleet went upstream from the mouth of the Taedong River and anchored at the right side of the Songlin River to unload the 4th Division, the 5th Division and the Artillery Division.

On July 20th, the main forces of the expeditionary army, except for the Third Division, gathered outside Pyongyang!

Of course, the Japanese pirates did not just sit there and watch. On the night of the 14th, Konishi Yukinaga sent 3,000 elite soldiers out of the west gate to attack the Chinese army's camp at night!

This was a trick that the wise generals of the Warring States period had used time and again, and their monstrous appearance often caused a stir. Konishi Yukinaga believed that taking advantage of the Chinese's lack of foothold would be effective.

As a result, before these 3,000 people could even enter the camp, they were discovered by the patrolling soldiers of the Independent Regiment. At this time, the Japanese pirates were no longer scary, and the Qi family army was fighting against the Japanese devils because of the incompatibility of the two arms. After a brutal beating, the Japanese invaders fled back to the city, leaving behind more than 200 corpses.

After that, Konishi Yukinaga became obedient...

But he was not really honest. As a victor in the Warring States Period, Xiao Xisang had experienced many battles, was well versed in military tactics, and was as cunning as a fox. He was definitely not someone who could be easily defeated. Otherwise, the monkey would not have let him be the vanguard.

He had been carefully observing the movements of the Chinese army. Years of war experience told him that the decisive battle was approaching and that he did not have much time left.

He summoned all the generals again to make final adjustments based on the enemy's latest deployment.

"It can be asserted that the Ming army will launch an attack on the city tomorrow!" Konishi Yukinaga, who was leading the group with the moon in his hand, gently waved the small folding fan in his hand, trying his best to imitate his idol Zhuge Liang and said:

"From the movements and deployment of the Ming army, the east is empty, and the south must be a feint, so the main attack direction must be the two cities in the northwest! Therefore, the main force of the First Army is stationed at the Qixing Gate, Xiaoxi Gate, and Daxi Gate in the west!"

Konishi Yukinaga sighed secretly as he spoke, there is actually a 'Xiao Ximen' in Pyongyang City, it is destined that I will attain godhood here!

He also assigned the Second Army the task of guarding the north. In addition, the southern city gate was handed over to 5,000 traitorous troops... King Yi Sun and his ministers were so outrageous that many Koreans volunteered to be puppet soldiers.

Adding up to almost 40,000 soldiers and horses, Konishi Yukinaga had completed his defense and still had a strong reserve force, which could be said to be quite sufficient.

Moreover, as the direct descendants of the Toyotomi family, the First and Second Armies are equipped with a large number of "iron cannons", and the soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and they are all good guys who are ready to die!

So Konishi Yukinaga gave another impassioned speech:

"So the rule of using troops is to surround them if there are ten of them. The Ming army's strength is not as large as ours, so they can only attack the city but not besiege it. This allows us to deploy troops calmly. Moreover, they have come from afar and are attacking the city. They have fought for other countries and have not been on the battlefield for a long time..."

After throwing out the 'Ten Sure Things That the Enemy Will Defeat' that he had racked his brains to come up with, he came up with 'Ten Sure Things That Our Army Will Win'

"We are well-rested, our morale is high, we have experienced many battles, we have the advantage of firearms, we have high walls and strong fortifications, and we have plenty of food and grass. All we need to do is hold our ground and wait for help..."

In short, victory will definitely belong to Japan and to Your Excellency!

Finally, the meeting ended with a chorus of "onboard".

~~

The next day, the Japanese expeditionary army began to attack the city.

And the direction of attack was exactly the same as what Konishi Yukinaga said, it was west and north...

According to the experience of the Warring States Period, whoever can anticipate the enemy's moves first will be invincible!

If you can always anticipate the enemy's moves, you can be called a military god!

Therefore, the morale of the Japanese army reached its peak, and Konishi Yukinaga was also extremely arrogant. He had already put the military god crown of defeating the first person in the Celestial Empire on his head.

However, Xiaoxi Zhuge couldn't understand the next scene.

The Chinese army did not launch an attack on the city, and there were no siege equipment such as ladders, towers, and battering rams...

They just kept pushing one thick and long iron cylinder after another to the front of the formation on a wooden cart.

Konishi Yukinaga was not completely ignorant. He knew that this was a large firearm similar to the "big gun".

Although Japan has never had this thing, there are some in Busan, Seoul, and Pyongyang. He and Kato-san's evaluation of it is that it makes a lot of noise, but its power is average... not as good as the big gun.

Oh, by the way, the Ming people called it cannon.

Soon, the artillery division of the First Army of the Expeditionary Force against Japanese Aggression outside the city, the artillery regiments of each division, and the artillery battalions of each regiment opened fire together!

Please let Xiao Xisang taste this power. It is not as powerful as a thousand cannons firing at the same time!

The tops of the city walls were shaking amid the earth-shaking cannon fire.

Konishi Yukinaga and others fell to the ground, their heads buzzing, staring blankly at the countless shells falling like raindrops.

The Japanese had never fired artillery before and had no idea how to defend themselves. They just stood there stupidly and were killed on the spot!

And because they had no artillery, the artillery division's artillery boldly approached within 300 meters, so that they could fire grenades and shrapnel shells...

Although the explosion rate of the grenades was impressive, the quantity was huge! Hundreds or even thousands of shells fell, and half of them exploded. The explosions on the city walls were connected, and the powerful shock waves and broken pieces flew across the sky, blowing the Japanese soldiers into pieces...

Even if the shells didn't explode, they would bounce around on the top of the city walls like solid bullets, and anyone who got in contact with them would either die or be injured...

After several rounds of bombardment, the city was filled with black smoke, fires were everywhere, and the ground was littered with broken limbs and bodies. The Japanese invaders were dead and wounded. Even Konishi Yukinaga was injured by shrapnel.

Before being helped down to get bandaged, Xiao Xisang, who had been misled by the inferior imitations of the Li Dynasty, shouted angrily: "Fakes and inferior products kill people!"

Although the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, they did not lose their resistance.

To be honest, they did have a high tolerance for death. Led by the samurai, the Japanese soldiers quickly reorganized themselves at the foot of the city wall, preparing to climb the city walls after the massive bombardment stopped.

Although they had never fired a cannon before, these battle-hardened guys were already acutely aware that cannonballs have no eyes! They were the same for both the enemy and us—

So you can hide when the artillery fires, and it won’t be too late to climb up to the top of the city wall until the Ming army stops firing.

In a word, the shells can’t be used, but people can’t come up.

Their idea was not wrong. If they were facing the Ming army, this tactic should work.

But the one attacking the city now is not the Ming army! Instead, it is the Chinese Japanese army that is powerful enough to crush all armies of this era!

Of course, the Ming army was also included.

The Japanese invaders were crushed by the Ming army, so when they encountered the Japanese expeditionary army that was able to crush the Ming army, there was only one result - it was not that the Japanese army did not try hard, but that the opponent had Gundam!

Yes, Gundam and his brother-in-law have already been honorably enlisted as loaders in the First Army Artillery Division...

The Ming army had never thought of using manpower to attack the city. Since the wall was in the way, they just blew it down.

The city walls of Pyongyang are very low and thin, not even as good as some county towns in the Ming Dynasty.

It was not just to avoid exceeding the regulations, but because North Korea's brick-making technology was extremely poor, so it could only continue the tradition of building cities with stones during the Goguryeo and Baekje eras, but this was too costly. In the absence of urgent military needs, it was just a token of appreciation, so why take it so seriously?

Moreover, as an old capital, Pyongyang inevitably fell into disrepair...

What’s even more outrageous is that the artillery division is also equipped with the latest Chenghua cannon!

This is a muzzle-loading rifled cannon that fires a steel conical bullet. It is three times more powerful than a smoothbore cannon, but its disadvantage is that its range is too far, and the bullet is too powerful, so it is difficult to form a jumping egg, and its lethality is not as good as a smoothbore spherical bullet...

But it is perfect for siege.

With just one shot, a big hole was opened on the wall of Pyongyang!

After three rounds of artillery fire, a section of the city wall collapsed, crushing many Japanese soldiers hiding under the wall.

Not to mention Xiao Xisang, even Li Ning and others from the Cavalry Division were terrified. With such a huge gap, how could it be called a war? It was simply a massacre...

"We will remain loyal to the death and never betray..." The Liaodong generals silently chanted in unison.

They never imagined that just by watching others fire a cannon, they would be transformed into loyal people's fighters.

The gunners also realized that from now on, they would become the protagonists of the war. They became more and more excited, and they fired at their best. With a burst of fierce bombardment, they destroyed the two walls on the northwest side, each of which was more than a mile long!

The sound of cannons finally stopped, and the ticking charge horn sounded!

The independent regiment that had taken on the vanguard mission rushed forward with a roar!

The Japanese warriors wielding Japanese swords tried desperately to drive the enemy back to block the gap, but were sniped and killed one after another by the snipers from the distance.

How could the Japanese troops at the gap now stop the Qi family army that was like a tiger coming down the mountain?

After just a few rounds, they were defeated and their entire team collapsed...