What is the detailed process of The Battle of Bitou Pavilion?

After the Japanese army was defeated in Pyongyang, there was a retreat debate among the "former" generals of the Japanese invaders. At the insistence of the old general Kobayakawa Takakage, they decided to retreat to Wang Jing and wait for a decisive battle with the Ming army.

/kloc-on 0/7, the defeated troops of Xiaoxi retreated to Wang Jing./kloc-on 0/8, the Japanese troops in Kaesong retreated and gathered in Wang Jing. At this time, the number of Japanese troops in Beijing exceeded 50,000, and some data said that it reached 70,000. Some data said that it was 6,543.8+0.2 million (the statement of 6,543.8+0.2 million is exaggerated and unreliable, and it is generally believed that the Japanese army is 50,000 to 70,000), while the total strength of the Ming army in North Korea is about 40,000. The Korean regular army claims that

Li recovered Pyongyang on the 9th, and the advance troops entered Kaesong on19th, and Li led his troops into Kaesong on the 24th. In Kaesong, Li called a meeting of generals from all walks of life to study the next battle plan.

Moderates, led by guerrilla general Qian Shizhen, believe that the Japanese army is heavily concentrated in Wang Jing, and they are outnumbered, so they can only outsmart them and cannot storm. Radicals, led by Cha Dazhao, the deputy general, believe that Pyongyang won a great victory in World War I and the Japanese army will be frightened. If they don't pursue in time, the enemy will definitely give up Wang Jingyuan's escape.

Because the generals disagreed and the information provided by North Korea was inaccurate, the Crusaders could not make clear their next battle plan. So Li sent Chada, Zu (the father of Zu Dashou) and other 3,000 Ming troops to search the direction of entering Beijing, and surveyed the terrain along the way to specify the military plan for attacking Beijing.

Activity flow:

The first stage-Chada was stopped by the army at Yingshu post in Levin on 27th. The two sides fought, and the Ming army beheaded more than 600 ranks (the history of Sino-Japanese relations), and the Japanese army was defeated. Chad, who misjudged the battlefield situation, went forward bravely and led this search force with only 3000 people to Wang Jing.

In fact, Kato Kota immediately reported to Wang Jing [Seoul]' s Japanese Army Headquarters after the defeat. The Japanese generals thought this was a precursor to the general attack of the Ming army, so according to the previous plan, they led some military forces to defend the city with Yu and many scholars, and he personally led the main force of 20 thousand people to fight.

When Chad was discovered, it was too late to dispose of it. So he retreated to Biti Pavilion (50 miles from Beijing) and was surrounded by Japanese troops such as Kuroda and Tachibana Muneshige. It should be said that the fighting capacity of this Ming army is extremely high, and it is extremely difficult to persist for a day and a night under the encirclement of the superior Japanese army.

Because Li lost contact with the search troops, he had a hunch that something was wrong with the war generals, so he led 1000 generals [private guards] and 1000 Ming troops to follow up. Arrived in Poland on the 26th.

On the morning of the 27th, he ordered Yang Yuan, the deputy commander-in-chief, to stay at Mashan Pavilion at 1000 (about 90 li from Beijing) and led the guards to Bitou Pavilion. Halfway through, Chad's people knew that Chad had been surrounded by Japanese troops. Li made an urgent order to enter Bihov Pavilion to rescue Chad, and sent someone to lead Yang Yuanjun to meet him.

The second stage-after Li entered the battlefield position, he first met this elite Japanese army and the two sides fought fiercely. Li Youyi, a guerrilla of Ming army, was killed. During the battle, Tachibana Muneshige specially built a golden helmet for the headquarters military commander who went to North Korea (that is, the golden helmet mentioned in Ming History). ) break out of the battle, enter Li, and be shot dead by general Ming, such as Mei Li, which shows that the battlefield was tragic at that time.

Cha Dashou and Xun's Ming army joined forces with Li's guard to launch a breakthrough operation. At the same time, Kobayakawa Takakage directed the Japanese ministries to attack the Ming army, trying to surround it and annihilate it.

Japanese general Hidebo Ogawa even lost his horse in a fierce battle, and then changed horses again under the cover of ministers. This was a false alarm.

When the two sides were deadlocked, Yang Yuan led 1 10,000 reinforcements to arrive in time. Because the Ming army is mainly cavalry, it is very difficult for the Japanese army, which is mainly infantry, to act quickly and have strong breakthrough ability.

In this chaotic battlefield situation, Kobayakawa Takakage couldn't figure out the number of reinforcements of the Qingming Army and mistook them for the main force (when reporting to Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the war, he claimed to beat back hundreds of "Ming Army fighters" attacks). Considering that the Ming army showed strong field ability in this campaign and might have backup, he led the Japanese army to withdraw from the battlefield first.

Casualties on both sides:

Song Yingchang, the commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, commented on this battle: "Although our army was also damaged in the Battle of Bitou, things were in a hurry. For example, Song led the army to fight bravely and shot and killed the Japanese general, and he really lost. " (Compilation of Strategic Rejuvenation)

According to the Japanese Biography of Lihua, in the Battle of Beatty, Lihua's retainers Xiao Ye Chengxing, Shililian Jiu, Huadao Yongsheng, An Dongxing Zhen, Nana Ogawa Chengzhong and An Dongchang Jiu were killed. One of Kuroda's twenty-four generals, Kuno Chongsheng, and the general of Maori Xiubao Department, Yokoyama Keiichi, were also killed in this battle.

According to the biography of Japanese military commanders, in the Battle of Bitou, your Buzaemon, Chengcheng, a ghost in the inland sea, Saemon, Yaxi, Shoudao Wolf, Tang Qianxin Saemon, Yoshida Saemon and other military commanders were all killed in this battle.

The approximate number of people lost by both sides in this battle:

Japanese army: According to what the Japanese said at that time, only more than 0/00 casualties were admitted/kloc, and more than 200 Ming troops were killed. This statement is not reliable, because according to the simple accumulation of casualties of Japanese legions after the war, the most conservative estimate of Japanese casualties is 2400. This figure is based on Japanese historical data, and I dare not say that it is completely correct. I just add up the figures mentioned in the materials. According to the death of Japanese war generals, the offensive tactics adopted and the duration of Bitiguan campaign, this number should only be much more. According to the records of cherry blossoms in unofficial history, Japan, after the Battle of Bitiguan, the Japanese army added a total of 6,286 recruits, so it is estimated that the Japanese casualties will not be less than this number of recruits, and may even exceed 8,000. Although 8000 people were said by the Japanese themselves, I guess this figure must be too exaggerated. Personally, I think the Japanese casualties should be between 2400 and 6286 (because the reason for recruiting new recruits is not necessarily based on the number of casualties).

Ming Army: The total casualties should be around 2000. Li Guard (Crusade) killed more than 260 people. The losses of Chada and Yang Yuan are unknown, but Chada was besieged overnight and the losses should be heavier. The Japanese once boasted that the casualties of the Ming army were "over 10,000", which was too exaggerated. About 5,000 troops participated in the war before and after the Ming army, with "10,000 casualties"? Unless every soldier of the Ming army dies twice! Moreover, according to the post-war Korean history, there were more than 3,000 people when the Ming army retreated back to Wang Jing, so it should be more reliable to say that there were about 2,000 casualties.

There is a headache: according to North Korea's records of the Li Dynasty, the battle of Bitou "damaged 300 soldiers in heaven and killed 300 soldiers in Japan."

Then we can't help but ask, is it possible that this battle, which lasted for one day and one night, ended with tens of thousands of people participating in the war and only 600 people on both sides died?

According to the history of Sino-Japanese relations, more than 600 Japanese soldiers were killed in the Battle of Sakura Post. According to the relevant records in Japanese Historical Records of Wu Jia, in the second stage of the Ming army's siege of Chada, 900 people in the last Yuankang Department were almost killed or injured.

To sum up, and with reference to the textual research of "The Classic Battle of Wanli Korean War: The Battle of Pyongyang", we have reason to believe that this record only describes a fragment of Bitiguan Battle, not the loss of both sides in the whole battle.

End of activity:

After repelling the Japanese army, the Ming army did not withdraw from Bitou Pavilion, but continued to attack and advance after the main force arrived, reaching the capital king. However, after World War I, the Japanese army lost the courage to fight with the Ming army in the wild and could not keep its retreat. This has formed a strange phenomenon. The strength of the besieged city is more than 30,000 Ming troops, while the Japanese garrison is at least 50,000.

The two sides confronted each other for three days at the gate of the city. Due to the bad weather, the Japanese army advanced against the city, far outnumbering the Ming army. When the enemy could not be induced to go out to fight in the city, the Ming army took the initiative to withdraw its troops and the war entered a stalemate stage.

Conclusion:

Now some people talk about the battle of Bitou Pavilion. Apart from "the defeat of Bitou Pavilion by Ziming Army", they think that Li is "aggressive".

The author wants to ask, what is defeat? What is aggression? Isn't it a victory that Li didn't save Chad and let 3 thousand Ming troops be wiped out? As for rash advance, that's a matter for Chad and Zu Chengxun. Li Qingqi's courage to go to the rescue proved his sense of responsibility as a commander-in-chief and his keen judgment on the military (at that time, the main force of the Ming army was too far away to urge the army to rush to the battlefield in a short time without knowing the actual situation).

Some modern papers believe that the Ming army suffered "heavy losses" in Bitou Pavilion. What data is this based on?

Since Pyongyang's joint operations, the Ming army has taken the lead step by step under the inferior forces. First, Bitou Pavilion defeated the Japanese army in World War I, and second, the main force of the Japanese army was besieged in Wang Jing and did not dare to fight. Then set fire to Longshan warehouse and cut off the enemy's food and grass. Only from the battlefield, the Ming army did not miscalculate, how could it fail?

To sum up, the Battle of Bitou was an encounter, and it was a classic battle in the Wanli Korean War in which the Ming army defeated many with fewer troops.

The Ming army achieved the goal of the campaign, that is, rescued Chad from the army and forced the Japanese army to retreat. The goal of this campaign was basically achieved, and there was another unexpected gain, that is, it completely destroyed the confidence of the Japanese army in the field battle with the Ming army, so that the Japanese army with a dominant number could only stick to the city and dare not go out to fight.

The purpose of the Japanese campaign was to annihilate Chad's army and fight against the Ming army under the capital of Wang, which basically failed.

As for the retreat of the Ming army from the capital of Wang, it was for other well-known reasons. Even without the battle of Bihufuting, the Ming army could not capture Wang Jing with its existing troops.

Soon after, the Ming army successfully burned down the Longshan warehouse, leaving the Japanese army in a desperate situation without food and finally giving up Wang Jing. This is another story.

Moreover, according to the post-war Korean history, there were more than 3,000 people when the Ming army retreated back to Wang Jing, so it should be more reliable to say that there were about 2,000 casualties.