Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 270
Episode 270: Battle of the Songhua River. (9)
While the rifle corps was preparing for close combat, the spear corps maintained its line and advanced step by step to deal with the Huligai infantry.
As Joseon’s spear and sword unit began to move, the cavalry of the Huligai tribe, which had retreated to the left and right, began to turn their horses’ heads to intercept the spear and sword unit.
This was because as the spear sword corps advanced, the gap with the rifle corps behind them began to widen. And although Joseon’s spear swords tried their best to maintain their formation, they were gradually dispersing.
Only by digging through that gap could the Huligai infantry strike properly.
“Hey!”
“ha!”
The Huligai cavalrymen drew their curved swords and moved towards the spear and sword stand. The Joseon Army cavalry, which was shooting from the hill, also responded.
The cavalryman put the smoking rifle back in the saddle, pulled out the cavalry long spear hanging from the saddle, and pointed it forward.
“charge!”
“Wow!”
As soon as the commander’s order was given, the Joseon army cavalry drove down the hill, holding their long spears.
Their target was the horsemen of the Huligai tribe, who were beginning to turn against them right before their eyes.
The primary purpose of the cavalry was to prevent those cavalry from attacking the friendly spear and sword corps.
No matter how thick the iron armor is, it cannot withstand even a horse’s hoof.
Those spearmen were as expensive as the cavalry. These were not simple consumables.
In the Joseon army, excluding commanders, there were only three categories of people wearing full-body plate armor.
They were Naegeumwi, cavalry, and spearmen who guarded the king in the palace.
These people, relying on iron armor covering their entire bodies and fighting against enemies with only spears and long swords without shields, could not be mere expendable items.
The defense of the Joseon army was trained with great care, starting with swordsmanship using long swords, by selecting the warriors selected by the military, and wearing iron armor that could not penetrate arrows or blades even in the teeth.
They were those spearmen.
Because they were chosen so carefully, there were not many of them.
The spearmen of the Hamgil Island Army, who were advancing in front, and the spearmen of the Pyeongan Province Army, who were coming from behind, were the majority of the spearmen of the Joseon Army.
* * *
After the class of spearmen was created by the local government, commanders who confirmed its value through various trainings and mock battles insisted on making spearmen on a large scale – tens of thousands of units.
“These people!”
Even before Kim Jeom exploded in response to the opinions raised by the military, he took notice and opposed the military’s differing opinions.
“There are many problems, so large-scale programming is problematic.”
“Why?”
“Okay, why?”
When not only the military but also King Sejong expressed doubt, Hyang explained the reason.
“First of all, it is a matter of cost. It is true that Anju Steel Mill supplied steel in large quantities and used presses to reduce labor costs, thereby reducing costs. But it’s still expensive.”
When I pointed out the cost issue, Kim nodded loudly.
But the military did not back down easily.
“According to the current military methods, all soldiers wear armor. In particular, Pengbaesu and Changsoo swordsmen in charge of defense must wear chain armor at the very least. The plan is to integrate those classes and change them into spearmen. “If the cost has decreased, I think it will have decreased but not increased to the point where it becomes a problem.”
“Of course you can see it that way. However, considering the longevity of the spearman class, it costs too much.”
“The lifespan of the class? Does the Crown Prince believe that spearmen will soon become useless?”
“Yes Abama.”
“why?”
“It’s because of the Fuhrer.”
Hyang took a moment to catch his breath and continued his explanation.
“In the case of Gapsikjangchongtong, it can penetrate plate armor even from 100 paces (approximately 120m) away. To borrow a vulgar expression from the author, the plate armor is pierced in front of the President, ‘like the weather strip of a new room where the first night of the night is held.’”
“greatness! “Keuhum!”
“Come!”
King Sejong and the ministers all cleared their throats at the expression of incense.
“The officer…”
Seeing that the officer was already writing down with excitement, King Sejong sighed softly and offered a rebuttal.
“Isn’t that because the Gap-Sik-Jang Chong-Tong you made is excellent?”
“When President Kapsikjang appears on the battlefield, the Ming Dynasty will immediately follow suit. Although it may not immediately match the performance of the Gapsikjang Chongtong, its performance will be greatly improved compared to the guns currently in use. If such Fuhrers were deployed in large numbers, the spearmen would become useless. “My prediction is that it will be 30 years at the most and 10 years at the shortest.”
Kim Jeom intervened in Hyang’s words.
“Then there is no need for cavalry armor?”
“Don’t cavalrymen have horses? Of course, cavalrymen will take off their armor someday.”
“Hmm…”
King Sejong, the ministers, and the military commanders looked thoughtful with serious faces at Hyang’s explanation.
Hyang’s explanation was too realistic to be considered excessive speculation. Even in their opinion, if they knew about the existence of President Gap-sik-jang, they would certainly make it according to his name.
If there were any good weapons used by the Ming Dynasty in Joseon, they were secretly imported or copied.
While everyone was worried, one of the young military commanders asked Hyang.
“Then why did the Crown Prince create spearmen?”
“Because it will definitely pay for itself over those 10 to 30 years. “If we deal with Yeojin and Japanese pirates right now, we will show our greatest power.”
“Ah…”
* * *
The number of spearmen organized in that way did not exceed 5,000. Among them, 4,000 were divided into two and placed in Hamgil Island and Pyeongan Island.
And through this battle, the spearmen were clearly proving their worth.
So the cavalry came forward to prevent their senseless losses.
* * *
The Joseon cavalry increased its speed by taking advantage of the acceleration it gained while going down the hill and attacked the Huligai cavalry, aiming its cavalry forward.
“this!”
“It’s the Joseon Army!”
As the Joseon cavalry attacked, the Huligai cavalry fell into confusion and panicked.
It was a clear mistake to forget the Joseon cavalry in the hills.
But now, the Huligai cavalrymen, from the commander to the lowest cavalrymen, were out of their senses.
Normally, the commander of the Huligai cavalry would have deployed his troops to check the Joseon cavalry on the hill.
However, the bombardment using bigyeokjincheonroe and the shooting of musketeers and cavalry wreaked havoc on their minds.
This was compounded by the urgency of breaking through the Joseon army and moving up to the north. In the end, the commanders lost their senses and gave up their backs and sides to the Joseon cavalry.
* * *
The Joseon cavalrymen galloped at full speed and hurled their spears in unison.
Experienced cavalrymen targeted the Jurchen cavalry on horseback, but what many cavalrymen targeted was the horse the Jurchen cavalry was riding.
Hee hee hee!
The horse of the Jurchen cavalry, mortally wounded by the spears of the Joseon cavalry, let out a pitiful scream and fell to the ground.
The Yeojin cavalrymen, who quickly got out of their saddles, had to desperately roll on the ground.
If they were even a little late, they would be killed by being hit or trampled by the horses’ hooves of the Joseon cavalry that came running behind them.
Some of the brave Jurchen cavalrymen who lost their horses tried to grab the nearby Joseon cavalry and pull it down, but they were stabbed by the spears of the Joseon cavalry that ran after them and had to be skewered.
Because of this, the Jurchen cavalrymen, who lost their horses, had to desperately roll to survive.
This was because they were at a numerical disadvantage to undertake such an adventure, and the Joseon army cavalry was not an easy opponent.
The Joseon cavalry ignored the Jurchen cavalry and charged towards the Jurchen cavalry who were still on horseback with their flesh-and-blood horseback rifles and cavalry swords drawn.
The threat to the Joseon cavalry was the Jurchen cavalry on horseback.
The Jurchen people and horses were inseparable. However, saddles were expensive items, and most Jurchen people became accustomed to riding horses without a saddle from a young age.
The problem was that to ride a horse without a saddle, you had to tighten your legs around the horse’s body.
Living like that during the height of growth, most Jurjin men’s leg skeletons became deformed.
Therefore, the horseless Jurchen people had to be considered as having almost no mobility, and the Joseon cavalry ignored the Jurchen cavalry who lost their horses.
Dealing with the fallen cavalrymen could be done later or left to the infantry.
The ones that had to be dealt with first were the Jurchen cavalrymen who were still on horseback.
* * *
While the Joseon army cavalry and Huligai cavalry were engaged in close combat, the spearmen were also facing the infantry of the Huligai tribe.
“This is crazy…”
“You guys are crazy…”
The spearmen who were advancing at the forefront, holding their long spears in their hands, were all swearing.
The eyes of the Jurchen tribe running toward them were filled with madness.
What was even more surprising was that most of the Yeojin people running like that were topless.
Shirtless Jurchen people with madness in their eyes were running toward them, holding curved swords or axes in their hands.
* * *
It was Singijeon and Bigyeokjincheonroe, no, Bigyeokjincheonroe that put the foot soldiers of the Huligai tribe into such a state of confusion.
They were infantrymen of the Huligai tribe who had managed to survive until the battle using armor and shields.
However, neither shield nor armor were of any use in front of Bigyeokjincheonroe.
Every time there was a burst of drinking in the air, many brothers fell to the ground, covered in blood, dead or seriously injured.
Seeing such a tragedy, the Huligai infantry looked forward.
Where the cavalry was in front, there was no damn fire attack.
“Then…”
Running at full speed, the Huligai infantrymen threw down their shields and took off their armor.
In a situation where you had to run as fast as possible, useless armor and shields were cumbersome items.
What I really needed now was a weapon that would kill the Joseon bastards blocking my way.
If we break through those Joseon bastards, everything will be solved!
This was the only thought that remained in the minds of the running Huligai infantry.
There was nothing about what happened next.
* * *
“You damn bastards are begging for death! “Grant their wishes!”
At the shouts of the commanders, the spearmen at the forefront gripped their long spears even harder.
“Row 1! “Stab!”
“yap!”
“Tea!”
As soon as the commander’s order was given, the spearmen of the first line raised their spirits and stabbed the long spears they were holding into the chests of the Jurchen men and immediately recovered them.
The simple awl-shaped spear blade aided quick retrieval.
“Tsk!”
“Ugh!”
Those who were stabbed in the vital area fell to the ground with a single scream. However, the Jurchen people who missed the critical point grabbed the spear.
At that very moment, the commander of the spear sword unit shouted.
“2nd and 3rd row transcendence!”
“Wow!”
Through the space created between the first row of spearmen, the second and third rows of spearmen came forward holding their long swords high.
The spearmen who came out like that cut off the necks of the Jurchen people who were holding on to their long spears in one go, and then swung their swords at the Jurchen people running behind them.
visor! visor!
Soon, a brutal hand-to-hand combat broke out, with the loud sound of swords clashing from all directions.
During the assault, they suffered heavy losses due to artillery fire from Singijeon and Bigyeokjincheonroe, but the number of Huligai infantry was about 5,000 and the opposing Joseon army’s spearmen were 2,000.
However, the situation on the battlefield was boiling, with the Joseon army gradually gaining the upper hand.
The biggest reason was that the spirit of the Huligai infantry was greatly weakened by Singijeon and Bigyeokjincheonroe.
And by taking off their armor, the Huligai infantry had no defense whatsoever.
However, when the momentum was lost, madness took over and the Huligai infantrymen rushed at them like crazy.
Those who found themselves in a difficult situation in this melee were those who had just become spearmen.
It was a swordsmanship that he had become accustomed to through rigorous training and intense sparring, but in actual combat, as he encountered overflowing lethality, he was continually pushed into danger.
In the end, in order to win and survive, they took out other weapons they had prepared in advance.
The weapons they took out were sickles and axes.