Episode 555: Blood River (1)
“We’ve finally arrived.”
Cho Byeong-deok, who climbed up a hill near the Yalu River, looked at the Joseonnd beyond the river and muttered.
Jo Byeong-deok, who was looking at thend of Joseon across the river, turned to look at his subordinate generals.
“It’s been a long road. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.”
“I didn’t expect the Hwaryongpo to take up so much time.”
“The Hwaryongpo is as picky as it is powerful.”
At Jo Byeong-deok’s words, the subordinate generals all mentioned the Hwaryongpo and shook their heads.
* * *
As his subordinate generals said, the Hwaryong gun was as difficult to operate as its performance.
First of all, the transportation process was a problem. Even though it was divided into two, the weight of Hwaryongpo was enormous. Therefore, we took this into consideration from the beginning when making ns and assigned arge number of people.
However, as the frozen ground thawed under the enormous weight of the Hwaryongpo, the ground became soft and had a greater-than-expected upward effect, making it very difficult for the Hwaryongpo to move.
As a result, close to 20,000 additional personnel had to be deployed in addition to the troops and manpower assigned to be in charge of movement. Only after they solidified the road and built a temporary bridge over the river that must be crossed, Hwaryongpo was able to move properly.
Only after going through such a vicious struggle was the Liaodong army able to reach the banks of the Yalu River. It was a whopping 10 dayste from the scheduled river crossing for the first five days of March.
* * *
“Anyway, we’ve arrived, so we should start the operation.”
Strengthening his will, Jo Byeong-deok took out the telescope from his pocket. Jo Byeong-deok, who was pulling the telescope’s tube, suddenly stopped and looked at the telescope in his hand.
Jo Byeong-deok, who was looking at the telescope for a moment, burst outughing and muttered.
“Using Joseon goods to attack Joseon… That’s ridiculous.”
Joseon-made telescopes were a necessity not only for Jo Byeong-deok but also for the Ming armymanders. Although the Ming Dynasty produced telescopes, it could not match the performance and quality of Joseon-made telescopes.
Jo Byeong-deok, sitting on a horse and holding a telescope to his eye, looked at the walls of the Insan camp across the river.
“Hoo~.”
Jo Byeong-deok, who was looking at the walls of the Insan camp and the iron railings stretched to the left and right, clicked his tongue.
“Tsk! I was preparing. “Well…”
Jo Byeong-deok paused for a moment and looked up at the sky.
Monks were floating high in the sky behind Insanjin.
“There’s no way you wouldn’t know since you were looking at it from such a high ce. And the officials would have been released.”
Liaodong was thend of Ming, but it was also thend of Joseon. Thanks to this, Ganja sent from Joseon and Jurchen tribes following Joseon were watching the Liaodong Army here and there.
Jo Byeong-deok, who was examining Insanjin through a telescope, came down from the hill with his subordinate generals.
Jo Byeong-deok entered the military camp erected at the bottom of the hill and checked the situation.
“When will the vanguard’s preparations for departure be finished?”
“Everything will be ready in two days.”
“Have you prepared a way to destroy the iron fence erected by the Koreans?”
One of his subordinate generals immediately answered Jo Byeong-deok’s question.
“yes. “I n to order the Jurchen tribe.”
“The Jurchen tribe? Hmm….”
Jo Byeong-deok, who pondered for a moment, nodded.
“I guess it’ll be okay.”
* * *
Building defense facilities using stone required a lot of wealth. Thanks to this, many of the defense facilities located on the border relied on wooden fences.
The Jurchen tribe’s method of destroying this was to use a rope with a hook. A rope with a hook was hung from a wooden fence, tied to the saddle, and then pulled. It may not have been possible with the strength of just one or two fences, but if 10 to 20 or more people put hooks in one ce and pulled, the fence would copse.
To prevent this, the defending side desperately cut off hooks and attacked the Jurchen cavalry. However, the moment he exposed himself for this purpose, he became the target of arrows from the Jurchen tribe behind him.
* * *
Although satisfied with his subordinates’ measures, Jo Byeong-deok added an order.
“If possible, provide ropes with hooks to the infantry as well. After all, cavalrymen are easy targets. “I think it would be a good idea to pay one per 10 units.”
“I will.”
“Have you checked the water depth and temperature?”
“yes. We asked nearby residents to find out. “The water has risen a bit since the thaw season has passed, but the dry season has not yet ended, so the deepest ce is only about waist level.”
“What is the flow rate?”
“They say it’s not that fast. They say that if you are a little careful, you can cross it on foot.”
“Good, good.”
Jo Byeong-deok could not hide his satisfied expression upon hearing the report from his subordinate general. Many of the losses suffered during river crossing operations urred during the river crossing process.
However, if the river could be crossed without using a boat, sacrifices could be minimized. And if the beachhead was properly secured, it could almost be considered a sess.
“When can I use the Hwaryong Cannon?”
“It’s in four days.”
“Hmm…” Jo Byeong
-deok confirmed the date when the Hwaryongpo, the most important offensive weapon, would be prepared, and set the attack start date.
“Five dayster, an unknown attack will begin. By then, the tension among the Koreans will have eased a bit. “Aim for that moment and attack.”
“ancient!”
“I wish you military honors.”
“Good luck!”
* * *
While the Liaodong Army was preparing for an offensive, the Joseon Army was also preparing to block it.
In the conference room of Insanjin, a meeting was going on under the chairmanship of Lee Jing-ok.
“ording to a report from the monks, arge earthen wall is being built about 3 ri (about 1.2 km) behind the Yalu River.”
“Earth wall?”
“yes. A total of three earthen walls are being built, and it is said that the concrete in question is located behind these earthen walls. ording to additional information, work is currently underway to connect two cannons into one.”
“Was it really three doors?”
“That’s right. “I’m sure there are three doors.”
In response to the subordinate officer’s report, Lee Jing-ok muttered with his arms crossed.
“Hmm… As expected, it was a veryrge siege gun.”
* * *
As the Liaodong army approached the Yalu River, intelligence about them was quickly received.
The ever-increasing amount of intelligence informationmonly contained information about ‘giant bronze artillery’.
Based on this intelligence, a small war of words broke out among the Joseon militarymanders.
-The total number of superrge bronze guns in question is 6.
“Couldn’t they be 6rge guns?”
“Could it be that arge siege gun was disassembled?”
“Assembling a heavy artillery gun at the front? Then you will only be a target! Shells and bullets will rain down from all directions! Gupo is for sure! A Jincheonroe fired from someone of that size must have tremendous power!”
“Are you saying that because you don’t know the Gupo intersection?”
As this war of words broke out between the rifle and cavalrymanders, Lee Jing-ok called the artillerymanders.
“What do you think?”
The artillerymanders who read the reports gave almost simr answers to Lee Jing-ok’s question.
“It is most likely a siege gun.”
“What is the possibility that it is a veryrge gupo?”
“Gupo has a short range. Of course, if it were arge Jincheonro fired from a gun like that, the power would certainly be enormous, but it would be over after one shot was fired. “This is because our army’s artillery will destroy it right away.”
* * *
“It is true that it is a siege gun, but why are these earthen walls built?”
The artillerymanders who were looking at the report immediately responded to Lee Jing-ok’s question.
“This is to protect against artillery fire aimed at that gun.”
“shelling?”
In response to the artillerymanders’ answers, Lee Jing-ok furiously traced his memory. Lee Jing-ok, who had been remembering for a while, nodded.
“A Byeongsik general fire box would be enough.”
“That’s right.”
As Hyang’s love of artillery ovepped with Joseon’s love for artillery, the artillery of the Joseon army continued to develop.
And the most recent work was a shotgun and a military gun barrel. The maximum range of the Byeongsik General Firearm was 2000 paces (about 2.4 km).
“Is it possible that information from the Byeongsik General Hwatong was included?”
“It must have been obtained through the Jurchen tribe who fought against us all this time.”
“I guess so… Then can we turn those copper chunks into scrap metal with the artillery we have?”
The artillerymanders answered Lee Jing-ok’s question with confident faces.
“Please just give me the order.”
“You’re trustworthy.”
* * *
Meanwhile, the Korean soldiers stationed at the trench line were digging hard.
“Ouch! “Wow!”
“Young car! Zero car!”
The bottom of the trench was dug a little deeper and the soil dug out was ced in bags to thicken the area around the gun pit. And many of the hard-working soldiers were worn-out soldiers.
“hey! “I need to do some more reinforcement here!”
“yes!”
“Put up scaffolding here! Are you going to stand on tiptoe and pull the trigger? Don’t just build on top, reinforce what’s around you!”
The military instructors and military officers looked dumbfounded at the sight of the old soldiers.
“What do you want? What’s going on? “What about the people who just a few days ago were just pulling out the dishes because they didn’t want to shovel?”
The old soldiers responded to the military training and the words of the military leaders by pointing across the river.
“Those guys weren’t around until the day before yesterday, right?”
“So you’re working hard now? You bastard! “That’s why you can’t get promoted!”
* * *
Five dayster,
when the eastern sky was getting brighter, movement slowly began to increase in the Liaodong army camp.
“Are you ready?”
“It’s done!”
“okay? “Shoot fire and darts!”
The soldier who was waiting for the officer’s order lit the wick and fired it into the air.
Sigh~. pop!
As the fireworks soared into the sky and sparked fire in the air, fireworks soon rose up here and there.
Soon after, small and heavy artillery pieces from the Liaodong Army batteries encamped a short distance from the riverside opened fire at the same time.
Kwakwakwak! Puff!
The artillery shells that flew across the Yalu River caused pirs of sand and earth along the riverside and the surrounding area.
Ugh! Floating!
As soon as the Liaodong army’s bombardment began, loud drums and trumpets sounded from the fortress of the Insan camp, and shouts were heard from all directions.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
“Battle deployment! Combat deployment!”
With shoutsing from all directions, the soldiers came out of their hiding ces and ran to their assigned positions.
“Take off the packaging!”
“Ready to load!”
The soldiers in charge of operating the boxcars and shotguns removed the packaging covering the wagons and shotguns and hurriedly began loading them.
“Loaded!”
“Ready!”
“atmosphere!”
The soldiers finished loading with quick movements and looked beyond the gun muzzle, waiting for the order to fire.
bang! bang! Quack!
“It’s artillery fire!”
“Get down!”
Instantly, a second wave of artillery fire followed, and the soldiersid the man down on the floor of the trench.
This was followed by a third wave of bombardment.
bang! Quack!
The Joseon soldiers, who were lying prone under the continuous bombardment, were all swearing.
“Damn it! Are our artillerymen still sleeping?”
While they were spitting out curses, the Joseon army’s artillery finally began to move.
“We’re in position! Here are the coordinates!”
Artillerymanders who received the coordinates from the messenger adjusted the aiming points of the guns theymanded.
After a while, the guns of the Joseon Army batteries opened fire all at once.
Kwakwakwak!
As the Joseon army’s counterfire continued, the Liaodong army’s artillery fire began to weaken.
“Stand up! “The enemies will soon cross the river!”
“Medic! Medic!”
As the artillery fire from the Liaodong Army subsided, the soldiers in the trench line took up positions in the firing line. And medics ran around carrying stretchers to pick up those who had been killed or injured by the Liaodong Army’s artillery fire.
Hee hee hee!
“Wow!”
While the Joseon army was busy moving, the loud sounds of horses and shouts of people erupted from the river.
The river crossing of the Liaodong Army had begun.