Li Chengliang had just arrived at Xingqing City when Pyongyang City's battle report was sent to him.
North Korea's North Hamgyong Province was divided into North and South Hamgyong Province. Xingqing City was the most important city in South Hamgyong Province. Naturally, Li Chengliang set his sights on this city.
Li Chengliang sat on his horse and looked at Xingqing City expressionlessly.
In Li Chengliang's opinion, this small run-down city did not have much value in capturing it.
Beside Li Chengliang, a middle-aged man in casual clothes smiled and said, "General Li, the Japanese pirates that attacked North Korea's North Korean Hamgyong Province are the Japanese pirates' 2nd Legion led by Kato Seimasa."
"The total number of pirates is around 13,000. Currently, 6,000 of them are in Xingqing City."
"After Kato Seimasa's 2nd Legion entered North Hamgyong Province, they defeated the resistance of North Korea's Soldier Han Kecheng. Then, they captured the North Korean Princes Lin Hae Jun and Sun Ha Jun."
"After capturing the two princes, Kato Seimasa handed over the North Hamgyong Province's Military Strategy to Wakashima Naomo. Then, he led 5,000 Japanese pirates to North Daming. They arrived at Tumen River two days ago."
Li Chengliang listened to the report from Dongchang. At first, he didn't think much of it. But when he heard that Kato Seimasa had arrived at Tumen River and was going to invade Daming, he couldn't bear it.
At this moment, Li Chengliang's face had turned black. Damn it, if this Kato Kiyomasa guy was allowed to wreak havoc in the Great Ming Dynasty, or even in Shenyang, he would be punished.
"Zu Dashou!" Li Chengliang didn't hesitate at all as he shouted loudly.
Behind Li Chengliang, a burly general rode up. This person was Zu Dashou, the deputy chief of Liaodong Province in Daming Province.
When he came to Li Chengliang's side, Zu Dashou cupped his fist and said, "General!"
"Zu Dashou, the Japanese pirates have sent a group of men under the command of their commander, Kato Kiyomasa, to cross the Tumen River and head to Daming."
"You take the Jurchen Ye He Four Tribes. At the same time, I will give you a part of the troops. I will make it clear, annihilate them, and bring that Kato Kiyomasa back to me."
"If we let them disturb your majesty, both of our heads will be removed."
When Zu Dashou heard this, he was shocked. These Japanese pirates were really looking for trouble!
"As you wish!"
Zu Dashou hurriedly agreed and then went to count the troops. It didn't take long for the Ming army to set off.
Compared with the Ming Army, the Ye He Four Tribes were more anxious.
Bu Zai wished he could strangle these Japanese pirates to death. Can't you guys just fight properly?
Why did you come to my hometown for no reason?
Compared with Li Chengliang who was worried that the Japanese pirates would disturb his majesty, Bu Zai was more worried that these Japanese pirates would sneak into the Ye He Four Tribes. If that was the case, then it would be really bad. His home would be confiscated.
In fact, with the ability of the Japanese pirates, it was impossible for them to reach Shenyang in the mountains of Liaodong.
If they went ashore from the Yalu River and walked through the Liaodong Plain, it might be possible. If they ran to the Tumen River, as long as they went in, it would not be so easy to get out.
However, it was better to be safe than sorry. No one dared to delay this matter. They all angrily prepared to go and kill Kato Kiyomasa.
"Come on, send the artillery. The army is short of one person. Enter the Palace Xingqing Mansion!"
Li Chengliang gave the order directly, and then Li Chengliang said to Nurhachi, "Take your cavalry to the East Gate."
"Once the Japanese pirates abandon the city and run away, you rush up and kill them. Don't let them escape!"
In Xingqing Mansion, there were only about six thousand Japanese pirates. The garrison general, Naomo Wakashima's face darkened.
The Ming Army came too quickly. The key was, why did they come here?
Shouldn't they go to Pyongyang?
Did they need to send so many people to attack Xingqing Mansion?
Naomo Wakashima knew that the best thing to do now was to retreat.
But Naomo Wakashima did not dare to leave, because once he left, what would happen to Kato Kiyomasa?
As the commander of the army, Kato Kiyomasa was trapped in the North Xianjing Province. He was in a dilemma, so Naomo Wakashima could only stay here until Kato Kiyomasa came back.
The Ming Army moved quickly. Although the Liaodong Army's equipment was not as good as the Jingdong Army's, they had a lot of cannons.
In addition to the new cannons, there were also a lot of old cannons. There were hundreds of cannons, Crouching Tiger Cannons, Destroyer Cannons, and so on. Including the new cannons, Li Chengliang's cannons reached an astonishing 1,500.
Of course, this time, Li Chengliang did not bring all of them, but he brought out more than 800 cannons.
This time, Li Chengliang was determined to make a big contribution. He could not make any mistakes. Li Chengliang also did his best. The cannons were arranged in three directions, and he even gave Nurhachi and the others dozens of cannons.
As the Ming Army slowly spread out, Naomo Wakashima's heart fell to the bottom.
Although he was equipped with a lot of iron cannons, which were matchlocks, he did not have many cannons!
Looking at the cannons pushed by the Ming Army, one could tell how powerful they were just by looking at their size.
Li Chengliang was too lazy to care about what Naomo Wakashima thought. What was the use of more than 6,000 Japanese pirates guarding a small town like Xingqing?
Li Chengliang did not put them in his eyes.
Soon, the cannons were set up, and under Li Chengliang's order, the cannons burned the city.
Compared to Pyongyang, Xingqing was even worse. After a round of cannons, more than half of Xingqing's walls collapsed. Then, the Ming Army swarmed in and directly rushed into Xingqing Province.
More than 30,000 people rushed in to fight against 6,000 Japanese pirates. Moreover, they completely crushed them in terms of equipment and quality. This time, there was no suspense at all, and the battle was over in one go.
Naomo Wakashima took the remaining 2,000 people and rushed out of the east gate. Then, he was trampled into meat paste by Nurhachi's cavalry. Naomo Wakashima died in the chaos. No one knew who shot him to death.
Li Chengliang glanced at the messenger beside him and said: "Send a report back to the capital. Our army has arrived at Xingqing City in South Hamgyong Province at dawn, and immediately started the siege."
"In one fell swoop, the Japanese pirates in Xingqing City were wiped out. More than 5,000 were killed, and more than 2,000 were captured."
"There is another group of Japanese pirates going north to Tumen River. I have already sent people to chase after them. I believe there will be good news in a few days."
Although Li Chengliang looked down on Buzai and his men, judging from the combat strength of the Japanese pirates, it wouldn't be too difficult to defeat Kato Seimasa with Zu Dashou's 5,000 cavalrymen and Buzai's 4,000 men.
If they couldn't defeat him, Zu Dashou's head would be useless.
Shenyang City, Wanhe Palace.
Zhu Yijun was playing chess with North Korea's King, Li Xun. After a few days of interaction, Zhu Yijun found that Li Xun was really a talented emperor.
He was well-versed in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Although he had restrained himself a lot, he was much better at playing chess than Zhu Yijun.
"You, you are going easy on me again. This is not good!" Zhu Yijun said to Li Xun with a smile.
At this time, there was a sudden noise outside, and then Zhang Jing ran in and said loudly: "Your Majesty, great victory, great victory in North Korea!"