(Redirected from Hideyoshi\'s invasions of Korea)
Two 'Japanese invasions of Korea' and subsequent land battles on the
Korean peninsula took place during the years 1592–1598.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the newly unified Japan into these invasions with the professed goal of conquering
Ming Dynasty China. The invasions are variously known as 'Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea', the 'Seven Year War' (in reference to its span), and the 'Imjin War' (in reference to the "Imjin" year of the
sexagenary cycle in
Korean).
[1] The Korean name for the war means "the Japanese-started Invasion of the Year of the Dragon"; the Japanese, "Joseon Campaign"; and the Chinese, "the Eastern Pacification".
[2]
The first invasion (1592–1593) is literally called the "Japanese (
= å€ |wae|) War () of Imjin" (1592 being an ''imjin'' [= water — dragon] year in the
sexagenary cycle) in
Korean and ''
Bunroku no eki'' in
Japanese (''Bunroku'' referring to the
Japanese era under the
Emperor Go-YÅzei, spanning the period from 1592 to 1596). The second invasion (1597–1598) is called the "Second War of Jeong-yu" and "
KeichÅ no eki", respectively. In
Chinese, the wars are referred to as the "Renchen (the information about the ''Imjin'' year also applies here) War to Defend the Nation" or the "
Wanli Korean Campaign", after then reigning
Chinese emperor.
Initially, the Japanese forces saw successes on land, but consistent failures at sea. However, the Japanese forces came to suffer heavily as their communication and supply lines were thinned. The Korean navy starved the Japanese forces by successfully intercepting the Japanese supply fleets on the western waters of the peninsula, to which most major rivers of the Korean peninsula flow. Ming China under
Emperor Wanli brought about a military and diplomatic intervention to the conflict, which China understood as a challenge to its tributary system.
[3] The war stalled for five years during which the three countries tried to negotiate a peaceful compromise; however, Japan invaded Korea a second time in 1597. The war concluded with the naval
battle at Noryang. All of the Japanese forces in Korea had retreated by the 12th lunar month of 1598, and returned to Japan after the devastating defeat against the Korean navy.
In addition to the human losses, Korea suffered tremendous cultural, economic, and infrastructural damage, including a large reduction in the amount of arable land,
1 destruction and confiscation of significant artworks, artifacts, and historical documents, and abductions of artisans and technicians.
[4] The heavy financial burden placed on
China by the war adversely affected its military capabilities and contributed to the fall of the
Ming Dynasty and the rise of the
Qing Dynasty.
[5] However, the
sinocentric tributary system that Ming had defended was restored by Qing, and the normal trade relations between Korea and Japan continued.
[6]
Background
Main articles: Joseon Dynasty,
History of Korea
Main articles: Azuchi-Momoyama period,
History of Japan
Main articles: Ming Dynasty,
History of China
The East Asia and the Chinese tributary system
In 1392, the Korean General
Yi Seong-gye led a successful coup against
King U of the
Goryeo Dynasty, and founded
Joseon.
[7] In search of a justification for its rule given the lack of a royal bloodline, the new regime received recognition from
China and integration into its tributary system within the context of the
Mandate of Heaven.
[8] Under
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's reign during the late 15th century, Japan, too, gained a seat in the
tributary system (lost by 1547, see ''
hai jin'').
[9][10] Within this
tributary system,
China assumed the role of a big brother,
Korea the middle brother, and
Japan the younger brother.
[11] Unlike the situation over a thousand years earlier where Chinese dynasties had an antagonistic relations with the largest of the Korean polities (see
List of Chinese invasions of Goguryeo), the Joseon Dynasty had a close trading and diplomatic relations with
Ming China, and also a continuous trade relations with Japan.
[12] The two dynasties, Ming and Joseon, shared much in common: both emerged during the fourteenth century at the fall of the Mongolian rule, embraced the
Confucian ideals in society and centered the academia on the Chinese classics, and faced very similar external threats (the
Jurchen raiders and the Japanese
WakÅ pirates).
[13] As for the internal, both China and Korea were troubled with fights among the competing political factions, which would significantly influence the decisions made by the Koreans prior to the war, and those made during the war by the Chinese.
[14][15]
Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his preparations
By the last decade of the 16th century,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a
daimyÅ had unified all of
Japan in a brief period of peace. Since Hideyoshi came to hold power in presence of a legitimate
Japanese imperial line, Hideyoshi sought for military power to legitimize his rule and to decrease his dependence on the imperial authority.
18 It is said that Hideyoshi planned for an invasion of China to fulfill which his late leader
Oda Nobunaga dreamed of,
[16] and to mitigate the possible threat of civil disorder or rebellion posed by the excess number of
samurais and soldiers.
[17] But it is quite possible that Hideyoshi might have set a more realistic goal of subjugating other and smaller neighboring states (i.e.
Ryukyus,
Luzon,
Taiwan, and Korea), and treat the large or too distant countries as trading partners
[18]: all throughout the invasion of Korea, Hideyoshi sought for legal tally trade with China
18 (see above). Hideyoshi's need for military supremacy as a justification to his rule that lacked royal background could, on an international level, translate into a Japanocentric order with Japan's neighboring countries below Japan.
18 Historian Kenneth M. Swope identifies a rumor relevant to the time that Hideyoshi could have been a Chinese who fled to Japan from the law, and therefore sought revenge against China.
[19]
The defeat of the
Odawara-based
HÅjÅ clan in 1590
[20] finally brought about the second unification of Japan,
[21] and Hideyoshi began preparing for the next war. Beginning in March 1591, Kyūshū daimyŠand their labor forces constructed a castle at Nagoya (in modern-day Karatsu) as the center for the mobilization of the invasion forces.
[22]
Hideyoshi planned for a possible war with Korea long before the completing the unification of Japan, and made preparations on many fronts. As early as in 1578, Hideyoshi then battling under Nobunaga against
MÅri Terumoto for control of the
Chūgoku region of Japan, informed Terumoto of Nobunaga's plan to conquer China.
[23] In 1592 Hideyoshi sent a letter to Philippines threatening the governor general for tribute and stating that Japan had already received tribute from Korea (which was a misunderstanding, as explained below) and the
Ryukyus.
[24] As for the military preparations, it is possible that construction of as many as 2,000 ships may have begun as early as 1586.
[25] To estimate the strength of the Korean military, Hideyoshi in 1587 sent an assault of 26 ships to the southern coast of Korea, and concluded that the Koreans were incompetent.
[26] On the diplomatic front, Hideyoshi began to establish a friendly relations with China long before completing the unification of Japan, and helped to police the trade routes against the ''wakÅ.''
[27]
Diplomatic dealings between Japan and Korea
In 1587, Hideyoshi sent his first envoy Tachibana Yasuhiro
[28] to Korea then under
King Seonjo[29] to re-establish diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan (broken since a devastating pirate raid in 1555)
[30], which Hideyoshi hoped to use as a foundation to induce the Yi Court to join Japan on war against China.
[31] Yasuhiro, with his warrior background, and an attitude disdainful of the Korean officials in their customs he considered as effeminate, failed to receive the promise of future ambassadorial missions from Korea.
[32] Around May 1589, Hideyoshi's second ambassadors consisting of SÅ Yoshitoshi (or Yoshitomo)
[33], Gensho, and Tsuginobu reached Korea, and secured the promise of a Korean embassy to Japan in exchange of the Korean rebels having taken refuge in Japan.
32 In fact, in 1587, Hideyoshi had ordered SÅ Yoshinori, the father of Yoshitoshi and the daimyÅ of Tsushima, to offer Joseon the ultimatum to submit to Japan and participate in the conquest of China, or war with Japan.
[34] However, as Tsushima enjoyed a special trading position as the single checkpoint to Korea for all Japanese ships, and permission from Korea to trade with as many as 50 of its own vessels,
[35] the SÅ family delayed the talks for nearly two years.
33Even when Hideyoshi renewed his order, SÅ Yoshitoshi reduced the visit to the Yi Court down to a campaign to better relations between the two countries.
33 Near the end of the ambassadorial mission, Yoshitoshi presented King Seonjo a brace of peafowl and matchlock guns - the first fire-arms in Korea based on which all later fire-arms were manufactured.
[36]
On April 1590, the Korean ambassadors including Hwang Yun-gil, Kim Saung-il, and others
[37] left for Kyoto, where they waited for two months while Hideyoshi was finishing his campaign against the Odawara and the HÅjÅ clans.
[38] Upon his return, they exchanged ceremonial gifts with and delivered King Seonjo's letter to Hideyoshi.
38 As Hideyoshi assumed that the Koreans had come to pay homage as a tributary to Japan, the ambassadors were neglected formality due in handling diplomatic matters; at last, the Korean ambassadors asked that Hideyoshi write a reply to the Korean king, for which they waited 20 days at the port of Sakai.
[39] The letter, redrafted as requested by the ambassadors on the ground that it was too discourteous,
39 invited Korea to submit to Japan and join the war against China.
36 Upon the ambassadors' return, the Yi Court held serious discussions concerning Japan's invitation;
[40] the ambassadors reported to the Yi Court conflicting estimates of Japan's military strength and intention, all of which were lost in the quarrels of competing political factions and ranks.
30 Some, including King Seonjo, argued that Ming should be informed about the dealings with Japan, as failure to do so could make Ming suspect Korea's allegiance,
[41] but the Yi Court finally concluded to wait further until the appropriate course of action became definite.
40 It is important to note that Hideyoshi initiated his diplomacy with Korea under the impression that Korea was a
vassal of the
Tsushima Island, which the Koreans considered theirs; the Yi Court approached Japan as a country inferior to Korea accordingly within the Chinese tributary system, and expected Hideyoshi's invasions to be no better than the common
Wako pirate raids.
[42] The Yi Court handed to Gensho and Tairano, Hideyoshi's third embassy, King Seonjo's letter rebuking Hideyoshi for challenging the Chinese tributary system; Hideyoshi replied with a disrespectful letter, but, since it was not presented in person as expected in custom, the Yi Court ignored it.
[43] After the denial of his second request, Hideyoshi launched his armies against Korea in 1592. There were internal oppositions to the invasion within Japan's government; among them,
Tokugawa Ieyasu,
Konishi Yukinaga, and
SÅ Yoshitoshi tried to arbitrate between Hideyoshi and the Joseon court.
Military Capabilities
Main articles: Military history of Korea,
Military history of Japan,
Military history of China
Multiple missile launching vehicle called
Hwacha in Korean, with Chinese origin.
The two major security threats to Korea and China at the time were the
Jurchens, who raided along the northern borders, and the ''
wakÅ'' (Japanese pirates), who pillaged the coastal villages and trade ships.
[44][45] In response to the Jurchens, the Koreans constructed a thorough defense line of fortresses along the
Tumen River; in response to the Japanese, the Koreans developed a very poweful navy, and even
took the island of Tsushima.
[46] This defensive environment of relative peace pushed the Koreans to depend on the heavy artillery of fortresses and war ships. China bore a much larger responsibility than Korea as the head of its tributary system, and had to make adjustments to all sorts of environments.
48 China was the main source of the military technologies in Asia, and excelled in both cannon manufacturing
48 and shipbuilding.
[47] Japan, on the other hand, had been in a
state of civil war for over a century, so the military had come to favor the muskets adopted from
Portugal over such other weapons. This strategic difference in weapons development and implementation contributed to the in-war Japanese dominance on land, and the Sino-Korean dominance at sea.
[48]
Since the mid-15th century, Japan had been at war. Japan's very chaotic and disunited state left the Koreans with a very low estimate of Japan as a military threat;
[49] however, the civil war allows Hideyoshi half a million soldiers
[50] to form the most professional army in Asia,
[51] and Hideyoshi had achieved a new unity for Japan.
49 Furthermore, Hideyoshi had conducted his "Sword Hunt" in 1588, which confiscated all weapons from the peasants and reduced the risk of rebellions.
[52] Along with the hunt came “The Separation Edict†in 1591, which effectively put to end all Japanese
wakÅ piracy by prohibiting the
daimyÅs from supporting the pirates within their fiefs.
52 Ironically enough, the Koreans believed that the Hideyoshi’s invasion would be just an extension of the previous pirate raids that had been repelled before.
[53] As for the military situation in Joseon, the Korean scholar official
Yu Seong-ryong observed, "not one in a hundred [Korean generals] knew the methods of drilling soldiers":
[54] rise in ranks depended far more on social connections than military knowledge.
[55] Korean soldiers were disorganized, ill-trained, and ill-equipped,
[55] and they were used mostly in construction projects such as building castle walls.
[57]
Troops size
Hideyoshi mobilized his army at the
Nagoya castle on
Kyūshū, newly built just for the purpose of housing the invasion forces and the reserves.
[58] The first invasion consisted of 9 divisions totalling 158,800 men, among which the last two of 21,500 were stationed as reserves in
Tsushima and
Iki respectively.
[59] On the other hand, Joseon maintained only a few military units and no field army, and its defense depended heavily on the mobilization of the citizen soldiers in case of emergency.
57 During the first invasion, Joseon deployed a total of 84,500 regular troops throughout, assisted by 22,000 irregular volunteers.
[60] The Chinese aid during the war could not have made up for the difference in numbers since they maintained never more than 80,000 troops in Korea at any point of the war
166 while the Japanese used a total of 500,000 troops throughout the entire war.
As early as the 1582, a Korean scholar official Yulgok recommended the Yi Court to implement a nationwide expansion of troops up to 100,000, with slaves and sons of concubines, when the defense failed against a
Jurchen attack.
54 However, as Yulgok was of the Western Faction, the dominant and the competing Eastern Faction (led by Yu Seong-ryong) rejected the proposal.
54 The same result applied to a
1588 proposal from a provincial governor to arm the twenty islands of the southern coast of the peninsula, and 1590 proposal to fortify the islands around the port city of
Busan.
54 Even when the Japanese invasion seemed probable and the scholar official Yu Seong-ryong switched side on this issue, counter arguments brought purely out of political competition neutralized any gains for those advocating for the expansion of the military.
54
The problems with the Korean military and defense
Japanese arquebuses of the Edo era. These types of
firearms were used by Japanese soldiers during Hideyoshi's invasions.
There were several defects with the organization of the Korean military, which deprived the local officers of individual response in case of an attack until a higher ranking general, appointed by the king's court, would arrive with a newly mobilized army: first, the inefficency caused by the inactivity of the nearby forces during the time it takes for the mobile border commander; second, the unfamiliarity of the natural environment, the available technologies, and manpower in the invaded region, for the appointed general; and third and the foremost, ill-trained soldiers.
[61] The Yi Court managed to carry out some reforms however, but even they had problems; for example, the military training center established in 1589 in the
Gyeongsang province recruited mostly the too young or old soldiers (as the targeted able men were busy with farming), augmented by some adventure-seeking aristocrats, and slaves buying their freedom.
61
The dominant form of the Korean fortresses was the "Sanseong", or the mountain fortress,
[62] which consisted of a stone wall that continued around a mountain in a serpentine fashion.
51 These walls were poorly designed with little use of towers and cross fires (usually seen in European fortifications), and were mostly low in heights.
51 A wartime policy associated with the fortresses was that everyone had to evacuate to one nearby and those who failed to would be assumed to be collaborators with the enemy; however, the policy never gained any effect because the fortresses were out of reach for most refugees.
51
Weapons, and ships
Joseon soldier in full armor.
Since its introduction by the Portuguese traders on the island of
Tanegashima in 1543,
[63] the
muskets fell into widespread use in Japan.
[64] Both Korea and China had already been using firearms similar to the Portuguese
arquebus, but the weapon fell into disuse in Korea
26 and the focus for the
gunpowder weapons in both countries rested primarily on the artillery.
[65] When the Japanese diplomats presented the Yi Court arquebuses as gifts, the Korean scholar official Yu Seong-ryong advocated for the integration of the new weapon, but was met with failure.
38
The Japanese saw a very infrequent use of their
katana (curved long sword), which were sharper and longer than the Korean and Chinese counterparts,
[66] and relied mostly on the muskets (in combination with their bows
[67]) instead.
[68] The Korean infantry was equipped with one or more of the following personal weapons:
swords, spears, tridents, and
bow-and-arrows.
47 The Koreans used one of the most advanced bows in Asia
48 - the
composite reflex bow that had different materials laminated together (composite, application of different characteristics of the materials for specific designs) with an inward curve (reflex) for maximum effectiveness; its maximum range was 500 yards, compared to the 350 yards for the Japanese bows.
[69] The Chinese infantry used a variety of weapons, as they had to deal with many different environments throughout their empire, including bows (mainly
crossbows),
69 swords (also for its cavalry)
[70],
[71] muskets,
smoke bombs, and
hand grenades.
48 In the early part of the war, the Japanese gained a significant advantage with its monopoly on guns, which had a greater range of 600 yards
66 and penetrating power than the arrows,
[72] and which could be fired in concentrated volleys to make up for its lack of accuracy (at both close and long ranges; the bow and arrow, at long range). However, later into the war, the Koreans and Chinese adopted and increased the use of the Japanese muskets (the Chinese design was then outdated)
38.
[73] It is also said that the Chinese developed
bullet-proof suits for use during the second invasion.
[74]
Both Korea and China deployed their cavalry divisions in action, however with much negative results. The mountainous terrain, lack of grass to feed the horses, and the Japanese use of muskets at long range and the katana swords (longer than the Chinese short swords) in melee combat put the Chinese cavalry division at disadvantage.
71 Korean cavalrymen were equipped with
flails and spears (longer than the Japanese swords) for melee combat, and bows and arrows.
[75] However, the most of the cavalry action for the Koreans took place in the
Battle of Chungju in the early part of the war where the they were outnumbered and wiped out by the Japanese infantry.
75 The Japanese divisions included cavalry as well, sometimes equipped with guns designed smaller specifically for use on horseback.
66 The Japanese use of cavalry was reduced by their previous civil war experiences with the use of guns in concentrated volleys.
[76]
Japanese army finally sacks the city of Busan.
While personal firearms saw use mostly to Japan's advantage with the some allied use in the latter part of the war,
[77] the opposite applied to the artillery. Korea and China maintained superiority in technology and number of the artillery all throughout the war, although the Japanese sought to increase the strength of their artillery in response.
65 Korean and especially the Chinese superior artillery technology helped to counter the Japanese edge in smaller firearms
65 and turn the tide of the war.
[78] For example, a Japanese raid into a Chinese encampment outside of
Pyongyang on
February 6,
1593, was effectively repulsed by the Chinese cannons and
fire arrows.
[79] [80]
The allies' lead in the artillery technology also gave their navies a tremendous advantage. Initially, the Japanese ships completely lacked cannons,
[81] their lightweight ship design prevented them from placing as many cannons on board as the allies.
[82] There were more fundamental design flaws with the Japanese ships: first of all, most of the Japanese ships were merchant ships modified for the transportation of troops
47 (it should be also noted that fishing vessels made up for much of the Korean navy)
[83]; second, the Japanese ships each contained a single square sail (effective only in favorable winds) instead of the
fore and aft sails used by the allies;
47 third, the Japanese ships had V-shaped bottoms (also the Chinese ships as well) that were ideal for speed but were less maneuverable than the flat-bottomed Korean ships; and fourth, the Japanese ships relied on nails to hold its wood together while the Korean ships used wooden pegs, and this difference added onto the Korean advantage because, in water, nails corroded and loosened while wooden pegs expanded and strengthened the joints.
It should be noted that Hideyoshi tried but failed to hire two Portuguese galleons to join the invasion.
[84]
The first invasion (1592–1593)
A map of the first invasion in 1592. Click on this image for details and captions.
| First wave of the Japanese invasion[85] |
|---|
| 1st div. | Konishi Yukinaga | 7,000 | |
| SÅ Yoshitoshi | 5,000 | |
| Matsuura Shigenobu | 3,000 | |
| Arima Harunobu | 2,000 | |
| ÅŒmura Yoshiaki | 2,000 | |
| GotÅ Sumiharu | 700 | 18,700 |
| 2nd div. | KatÅ Kiyomasa | 10,000 | |
| Nabeshima Naoshige | 12,000 | |
| Sagara Yorifusa | 800 | 22,800 |
| 3rd div. | Kuroda Nagamasa | 5,000 | |
| ÅŒtomo Yoshimasa | 6,000 | 11,000 |
| 4th div. | Shimazu Yoshihiro | 10,000 | |
| MÅri Yoshimasa | 2,000 | |
| Takahashi Mototane , Akizuki Tanenaga, ItÅ Suketaka , Shimazu Tadatoyo[86] | 2,000 | 14,000 |
| 5th div. | Fukushima Masanori | 4,800 | |
| Toda Katsutaka | 3,900 | |
| ChÅsokabe Motochika | 3,000 | |
| Ikoma Chikamasa | 5,500 | |
| Ikushima (Kurushima Michifusa)? | 700 | |
| Hachisuka Iemasa | 7,200 | 25,000 (sic) |
| 6th div. | Kobayakawa Takakage | 10,000 | |
| Kobayakawa Hidekane, Tachibana Muneshige, Tachibana Naotsugu , Tsukushi Hirokado, Ankokuji Ekei | 5,700 | 15,700 |
| 7th div. | MÅri Terumoto | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| Subtotal | | | 137,200 |
| Reservers (8th div.) | Ukita Hideie (Tsushima Island) | 10,000 | |
| (9th div.) | Toyotomi Hidekatsu and Hosokawa Tadaoki (Iki Island) | 11,500 | 22,500 |
| Subtotal | | | 158,700 |
| Naval force | Kuki Yoshitaka, Wakisaka Yasuharu, KatÅ Yoshiaki, Otani Yoshitsugu | | 9,000 |
| Subtotal | | | 167,700 |
| Stationed force at Nagoya | Ieyasu, Uesugi, GamÅ, and others | 75,000 | |
| Total | | | 234,700 |
The initial attacks
Busan and Tadaejin
Main articles: Siege of Busan,
Battle of Tadaejin
On
May 23,
1592, the First Division of 7,000 men led by
Konishi Yukinaga[87] left Tsushima in the morning, and arrived at the port city of
Busan in the evening.
[88] The Korean naval intelligence had already detected the Japanese fleet, but
Won Gyun, the Right Naval Commander of Gyeongsang, mistook the fleet to consist of trading vessels on a mission.
[89] A later report of an arrival of additional 100 Japanese vessels raised his suspicions, but the general did nothing about it.
SÅ Yoshitoshi landed alone on the Busan shore to ask the Koreans for a safe passage to China for the last time; the Koreans refused, and SÅ Yoshitoshi
hit the city while Konishi Yukinaga
attacked nearby fort of Tadaejin the next morning.
[88] Japanese accounts claim that the battles provided the Koreans a complete annihilation (one claims 8,500 deaths, and another, 30,000 heads), while a Korean account claims that the Japanese themselves took significant losses before sacking the city.
[91]
Dongnae
Main articles: Battle of Dongnae
On the morning of
May 25,
1592, the First Division arrived at the mountain fortress (sanseong) of
Dongnae.
91 The fight lasted twelve hours, killed 3,000, and resulted in a Japanese victory.
[92] A popular legend describes the governor in charge of the fortress,
Song Sang-hyeon. When Konishi Yukinaga again demanded, before the battle, that the Koreans allow the Japanese to travel through the peninsula, the governor replied, "It is easy for me to die, but difficult to let you pass."
92 Even when the Japanese troops during the battle neared his commanding post, Song remained seated with cool dignity.
92 And when a Japanese cut off Song's right arm holding his staff of command, Song picked up the staff with his left arm, which was then cut off; again Song picked it up, this time with his mouth, but was killed by a third blow.
92 The Japanese, impressed by Song's defiance, treated his body with proper burial.
92
The occupation of the Gyeongsang Province
KatÅ Kiyomasa's Second Division landed in Busan on
May 27, and Kuroda Nagamasa's Third Division, west of Nakdong, on
May 28.
[93] The Second Division took the abandoned city of
Tongdo on
May 28, and captured
Kyongju on
May 30.
93 The Third Division, upon landing, captured the nearby
Kimhae castle by keeping the defenders under pressure with the guns while building ramps onto the walls with bundles of crops.
[94] By
June 3, the Third Division captured Unsan, Changnyong, Hyonpung, and Songju.
94 Meanwhile, Konishi Yukinaga's First Division passed the Yangsan mountain fortress (captured on the night of the Battle of Dongnae, when its defenders fled at the Japanese scout party's fire of their arquebuses), and captured the Miryang castle on the afternoon of
May 26.
96 The First Division secured the Chongdo fortress in the next few days, and destroyed the city of Daegu.
96 By
June 3, the First Division crossed the
Nakdong River, and stopped at the Sonsan mountain.
96
Joseon response
Upon receiving the news of the Japanese attacks, the Joseon government appointed General
Yi Il as the mobile border commander, as was the established policy.
[95] General Yi headed to Myongyong near the beginning of the strategically important Choryong pass to gather troops, but he had to travel further south to meet the troops assembled at the city of
Daegu.
[96] There, General Yi moved all troops back to Sangju, except for the survivors of the Battle of Dongnae who were to be stationed as a rearguard at the Choryong pass.
96
Battle of Sangju
Main articles: Battle of Sangju
On
April 25,
[97] General Yi deployed a force of less than 1,000 men on two small hills to face the nearing First Division.
[98] Assuming that a smoke rising was from the burning of buildings by a very nearby Japanese force, General Yi sent sent an officer to scout on a horse; however, when he neared a bridge, the officer was ambushed by a Japanese musket fire from below the bridge, and beheaded.
98 The Korean troops watching him fall were greatly demoralized.
98 Soon the Japanese began
the battle with their arquebus; the Koreans replied with their arrows, which fell short of their targets.
98 The Japanese forces, having been divided into three, attacked the Korean lines from both the front and the two flanks; the battle was over with General Yi Il’s retreat and 300 casualties.
98
Battle of Chungju
Main articles: Battle of Chungju
General Yi Il then planned to use the Choryong pass, the only path through the western end of the
Sobaek mountain range, to check the Japanese advance.
98 However, another commander,
Sin Rip, appointed by the Joseon government had arrived to the area with a cavalry division, and moved the total sum of 8,000 combined troops to the Chungju fortress, located above the Choryong pass.
[99] General Sin Rip then decided to fight a battle on an open field ideal for the deployment of his cavalry unit, and placed his units on the open fields of
Tangeumdae.
Furthermore, the general feared that, since the cavalry consisted mostly of new recruits, his troops would flee in battle easily,
[100], and felt the need to trap his forces in the triangular area formed by the convergence of the
Talchon and
Han rivers in shape of a “Yâ€.
However, the field was dotted with flooded rice paddied, and was not suitable for cavalry action.
On
June 5,
1592 the First Division of 18,000 men
led by Konishi Yukinaga left Sangju, and reached an abandoned fortress at Mungyong by night.
[101] The next day, the First Division arrived at Tangumdae in the early afternoon, where
they faced the Korean cavalry unit. Konishi divided his forces into three, and attacked with arquebuses from both flanks and the front.
The Korean arrows missed the Japanese troops, outside their range, and General Sin led two charges that failed against the Japanese lines. General Sin then killed himself in the river, and the Koreans that tried to escape by the river either drowned in the river, or were decapitated by the pursuing Japanese.
Capture of the capital city
The Second Division led by KatÅ Kiyomasa arrived at Chungju, with the Third Division not so far behind.
[102] There KatÅ expressed his anger against Konishi for not waiting at Busan as planned, and attempting to take all of the glory for himself; then Nabeshima Naoshige proposed a compromise of dividing the Japanese troops into two separate routes to
Hanseong (the capital and the present-day
Seoul), and allowing KatÅ Kiyomasa to choose the route that the Second Division would take to reach Seoul.
The two divisions began the race to capture Hanseong on
June 8, and KatÅ took the shorter route across the
Han River while Konishi went further upstream without any waters posing as large barriers.
Konishi arrived at Hanseong first on
June 10 while the Second Division was halted the river with no boats to cross.
The First Division found the castle undefended but its gates tightly locked, as King Seonjo had fled the day before.
[103] The Japanese broke into a small floodgate, located in the castle wall, and opened the door capital city gate from the behind.
KatÅ’s Second Division arrived at the capital the next day (by taking the same route as the First Division), and Third and Fourth Divisions the day after.
Meanwhile, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions had landed on Busan, with the Ningth Division reserved on the island of
Iki.
Parts of Hanseong had already been looted, burnt (i.e. bureaus holding the slave records and the weapons), and abandoned by its inhabitants.
General Kim Myong-won in charge of the defenses along the Han River had retreated.
[104] The King’s subjects stole the animals in the royal stables and fled before he, leaving the King to rely farm animals.
In every village, the King’s party was met by its inhabitants, lined up by the road, grieving that their King was abandoning them, and neglecting their duty of paying homage.
Parts of the southern shore of the
Imjin River was burnt to deprive the Japanese troops of materials to arrange their crossing with, and General Kim Myong-won deployed 12,000 troops at five points along the river.
Japanese campaigns in the north
The crossing of the Imjin River
While the First Division rested in Hanseong, the Second Division began north, only to be hampered by the Imjin River for two weeks.
The Japanese sent a message to the Koreans on the other shore requesting them to open the road to China, but it was rejected.
Then the Japanese retreated its main forces to the safety of the Paju fortress; the Koreans saw this as a retreat, and launched an attack at dawn against the remaining Japanese troops on the southern shore of the Imjin River.
The main Japanese body retaliated against the isolated Korean troops, and acquired their boats; at this, the Korean General Kim Myong-won retreated with his forces to the
Kaesong fortress.
[105]
The distribution of the Japanese forces in 1592
With the Kaesong castle having been sacked shortly after (General Kim Myong-won retreated to Pyeongyang),
the Japanese troops divided their objectives as thus: the First Division would pursue the Korean king in the
Pyongan Province in the north (where
Pyongyang is located); the Second Division would attack the
Hamgyong Province in the northeastern end of Korea; the Sixth Division would attack the
Cholla Province at the southwestern tip of the peninsula; the Fourth Division would secure the
Gangwon Province on the midwestern part of the peninsula; and the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions would stabilize the following provinces respectively: the
Hwanghae Province (below the Pyongan Province),
Chungchon Province (below the Kyonggi Province where the capital city is located);
Gyeongsang Province (southeastern part where the Japanese first landed); and the
Gyeonggi Province (where the capital city is located).
[106]
Capture of Pyeongyang
The First Division under Konishi Yukinaga progressed up north, and sacked Pyongsan, Sohung, Pungsan, Hwangju, and Chunghwa on the way.
[107] At Chunghwa, the Third Division under Kuroda Nagamasa joined the First, and continued to the city of
Pyeongyang located behind the
Taedong River.
10,000 troops guarded the city against the 30,000 Japanese troops
[108] under the various commands including the General Yi Il and Kim Myong-won, and their defense preparations made sure that no boats were available for Japanese use.
On the night of
July 22,
1592, the Koreans silently crossed the river and launched a successful surprise attack against the Japanese encampment.
However, this stirred up the rest of the Japanese army, which took the rear of the Korean positions and destroyed the reinforcements crossing the river.
[109] Then the rest of the Korean troops retreated back to Pyeongyang, and the Japanese troops gave up their pursuit against the Koreans to observe the way the Koreans crossed the river.
The next day, the Japanese began sending troops to the other shore over the shallow points in the river, in a systematical manner, and at this the Koreans abandoned the city over the night.
[110] On
July 24, the First and Third Divisions entered the deserted city of Pyeongyang.
Campaigns in the Gangwon Province
The Fourth Division under the command of MÅri Yoshinari set out eastward from the capital city of Hanseong in July, and captured the fortresses down the eastern coast from
Anbyon to
Samchok.
The division then turned inward to capture
Chongson,
Yongwol, and
Pyongchang, and settled down at the provincial capital of
Wonju.
There MÅri Yoshinari established a civil administration, systematized social ranks according to the Japanese model, and conducted land surveys.
Shimazu Yoshihiro, one of the generals in the Fourth Division, arrived to Gangwon lately due to the
Umekita Rebellion, and finished the campagin by securing
Chunchon.
[111]
Campaigns in the Hamgyong Province and Manchuria
KatÅ Kiyomasa led the Second Division of more than 20,000 men went across the peninsula to
Anbyon within ten days' march, and swept north along the eastern coast.
Among the castles captured was
Hamhung, the provincial capital of the Hamgyong Province, and here a part of the Second Division was allocated for defense and civil administration.
[112]
The rest of the division at 10,000 men
continued north, and fought a battle on
August 23 against the southern and northern Hamgyong armies under the commands of Yi Yong and Han Kuk-ham at Songjin (present-day
Kimchaek).
A Korean cavalry division took advantage of the open field at Songjin, and pushed the Japanese forces into a grain storehouse.
There the Japanese barricaded themselves with bales of rice, and successfully repelled off a formation charge from the Korean forces with their arquebuses.
While the Koreans planned to renew the battle in the morning, the KatÅ Kiyomasa ambushed them at night; the Second Division completely surrounded the Koreans forces with the exception of an opening leading to a swamp.
Here, those that fled were trapped and slaughtered.
Koreans who fled gave alarms to the other garrisons, allowing the Japanese troops to easily capture
Kilchu,
Myongchon, and
Kyongson.
The Second Division then turned inland through
Puryong toward
Hoeryong where two Korean princes had taken refuge.
And on
August 30,
1592, the Second Division entered into Hoeryong where KatÅ Kiyomasa received the Korean princes and the provincial governor Yu Yong-rip, having already been captured by the local inhabitants.
Shortly afterward, a Korean warrior band handed over the head of an anonymous Korean general, and the General Han Kuk-ham tied up in ropes.
KatÅ Kiyomasa then decided to attack a nearby
Jurchen castle across the
Tumen River in
Manchuria to test his troops against the “barbariansâ€, as the Koreans called the Jurchens (“
oranke†in Korean and “
orangai†in Japanese – the Japanese derived both the word and the concept of the Jurchens as barbarians from the Koreans).
[113] The Koreans with 3,000 men at Hamgyong joined in (with Kato’s army of 8,000), as the Jurchens periodically raided them across the border.
Soon the combined force sacked the castle, and camped near the border; after the Koreans left home, the Japanese troops received a retaliatory assault from the Jurchens.
Despite having the advantage, KatÅ Kiyomasa retreated with his forces to avoid heavy losses.
A
Panokseon. These made up the majority of Yi's naval fleet.
The Second Division continued east, capturing the fortresses of
Chongsong,
Onsong,
Kyongwon, and
Kyonghung, and finally arrived at
Sosupo on the estuary of the Tumen River.
There the Japanese rested on the beach, and watched a nearby volcanic island rising on the horizon that they mistook as
Mount Fuji.
After the tour, the Japanese continued their previous efforts to bureaucratize and administrate the province, and allowed several garrisons to be handled by the Koreans themselves.
[114]
The naval battles of the Admiral Yi Sun-sin
Main articles: Joseon naval campaigns of 1592
Having secured Pyeongyang, the Japanese planned to cross the
Yalu River into China, and use the waters west of the Korean peninsula to supply the invasion.
[115] However, Yi Sun-sin (often mentioned with the title “Admiralâ€), who held the post of the Left Naval Commander of the
Cholla Province (which covers the western waters of Korea), successfully destroyed the Japanese ships transporting troops and supplies.
Thus the Japanese lacked enough arms and troops to carry on an invasion into China, and changed the mission of the war to the occupation of Korea.
When the Japanese troops hit the port of Busan, Bak (also spelled
Park) Hong, the Left Naval Commander of the Gyeongsang Province, destroyed his entire fleet, his base, and all armaments and provisions, and fled.
, the Right Naval Commander, also destroyed and abandoned his own base, and fled to Konyang with only four ships.
Therefore, there was no Korean navy active around the Gyeongsang Province, and the surviving two, out of the total four, navies were active only on the other side of the peninsula.
Admiral Won later sent a message to Admiral Yi that he had fled to Konyang after being overwhelmed by the Japanese in a fight.
[116] A messenger was sent by Admiral Yi to the nearby island of
Namhae to give Yi’s order for war preparations, only to find it pillaged and abandoned by its own inhabitants.
[116] As soldiers began to flee secretly, Admiral Yi ordered “to arrest the escapees and had two of the fugitives brought back, beheaded them and had their heads exposedâ€.
[116]
Battle of Okpo
Main articles: Battle of Okpo
Admiral Yi relied on a network of local fishermen and scouting boats to receive intelligence of the enemy movements.
[119] On the dawn of
June 13,
1592, Admiral Yi and Admiral Yi Ok-gi set sail with 24
Panokseons, 15 small warships, and 46 boats (i.e. fishing boats), and arrived the waters of the
Gyeongsang Province by sunset.
Next day, the Cholla fleet sailed to the arranged location where Admiral Won was supposed to meet them, and met the admiral on
June 15. The augmented flotilla of 91 ships
[120] then began circumnavigating the
Gojae Island for the island of
Gadok, but scouting vessels detected 50 Japanese vessels at the
Okpo harbor.
Upon sighting the approaching Korean fleet, some of the Japanese who had been busying themselves with plundering got back to their ships, and began to flee.
At this, the Korean fleet encircled the Japanese ships and finished them with its artillery bombardments.
[121] The Koreans spotted 5 more Japanese vessels by the night, and managed to destroy four.
The next day, the Koreans approached 13 Japanese ships at
Chokjinpo as reported by the intelligence.
In the same manner as the previous success at Okpo, the Korean fleet destroyed 11 Japanese ships – completing the Battle of Okpo without a loss of a single ship.
A turtle ship
replica at the military museum in Seoul.
Battle of Sachon and the Turtle Ship
Main articles: Battle of Sachon
About three weeks after the Battle of Okpo,
[122] Admirals Yi and Won sailed with a total of 26 ships (23 under Admiral Yi) toward the Bay of
Sachon upon receiving an intelligence report of the Japanese presence.
[123] Admiral Yi had left behind his fishing vessels that used to make up for most of his fleet in favor of his newly completed
Turtle ship.
The Turtle Ship (called “Gaubooksaun†in Korean) was a vessel of a
Panokseon design with the removal of the elevated command post, the modification of the gunwales into curved walls, and the addition of a roof covered in iron spikes (and hexagonal iron plates, which is disputed).
[124] Its walls contained a total of 36 cannon ports, and also openings, above the cannons, through which the ship’s crew members could look out and fire their personal arms.
[123] This design also prevented the outsiders from boarding the ship and aiming at the personnel inside.
The ship was the fastest existing warship in the East Asian theater, as it was powered by two sails and 80 oarsmen taking turns to handle the ship’s 16 oars.
No more than 6 Turtle Ships served throughout the entire war, and their primary role was to cut deep into the enemy lines, cause havoc with its cannons, and destroy the enemy flag ship.
On
July 8,
1592, the fleet arrived at the Bay of
Sachon, where the outgoing tide prevented the Korean fleet from entering.
Therefore, Admiral Yi ordered for the fleet to fake withdrawal, which the Japanese commander observed from his tent on a rock.
Then the Japanese hurriedly embarked their 12 ships and pursued the Korean fleet.
The Korean navy counterattacked, with the Turtle Ship in the front, and successfully destroyed all 12 ships.
Admiral Yi was shot by a bullet on his left shoulder, but survived.
Battle of Dangpo
On
July 10,
1592, the Korean fleet again found and destroyed an enemy fleet, at a total of 21 ships, anchored while the Japanese were raiding a coastal town.
[126]
Battle of Danghangpo
Admiral Yi Ok-gi with his fleet joined Admirals Yi Sun-sin and Won Gyun, and participated in a search for enemy vessels in the Gyonsang waters.
On
July 13, the generals received an intelligence from the local boatmen that a group of Japanese ships including those that escaped from the Battle of Dangpo was resting in the Bay of
Danghangpo.
Having traveled through a narrow gulf, the Koreans sighted a total of 26 enemy vessels in the bay.
The Turtle Ship penetrated into the enemy formation and rammed the flagship, while the rest of the Korean fleet held back.
[127] Then Admiral Yi ordered for a fake retreat, as the Japanese could escape to land while in the bay.
When the Japanese pursued the Koreans far enough, the Korean fleet turned and surrounded the Japanese fleet, with the Turtle Ship again ramming against the enemy flag ship.
Only 1 Japanese ship managed to escape from the defeat, and that too was caught and destroyed by a Korean ship the next morning.
Admiral Yi's crane wing formation.
Battle of Yulpo
On
July 15, the Korean fleet was sailing east to return to the island of Gadok, and successfully intercepted 7 Japanese ships coming out from the Yulpo harbor and escaping to the city of Busan.
Battle of Hansando
Main articles: Battle of Hansando
In response to the Korean navy’s success, Toyotomi Hideyoshi recalled from land-based activities his three admirals: Wakizaka Yasuharu, Kato Yoshiaki, and Kuki Yoshitaka.
They were the only ones with naval responsibilities in the entirety of the Japanese invasion forces.
However, the admirals arrived in Busan 9 days before Hideyoshi’s order was actually issued, and assembled a squadron to counter the Korean navy.
Eventually Admiral Wakizaka completed his preparations, and his eagerness to win military honor pushed him to launch an attack against the Koreans without waiting for the other admirals.
The combined Korean navy of 70 ships
[128] under the commands of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Yi Ok-gi, and Won Gyun was carrying out a search-and-destroy operation because the Japanese troops on land were advancing into the
Cholla Province.
The Cholla Province was the only Korean territory to be untouched by a major military action, and served as home for the three admirals and the only active Korean naval force.
The admirals perceived it best to destroy the naval support for the Japanese to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy ground troops.
On
August 13,
1592, the Korean fleet sailing from the
Miruk Island at
Tangpo received a local intelligence that a large Japanese fleet was nearby.
The following morning, the Korean fleet spotted the Japanese fleet of 82 vessels anchored in the straits of
Gyeonnaeryang.
Because of the narrowness of the strait and the hazard posed by the underwater rocks, Admiral Yi sent 6 ships to lure out 63 Japanese vessels into the wider sea,
and the Japanese fleet followed.
There the Japanese fleet was surrounded by the Korean fleet in a semicircular formation called “crane wing†by Admiral Yi.
With at least 3 Turtle Ships (of which 2 were just built) spearheading the clash against the Japanese fleet, the Korean vessels fired volleys of cannonballs into the Japanese formation.
Then the Korean ships engaged in a free-for-all battle with the Japanese ships, maintaining enough distance to prevent the Japanese from boarding; Admiral Yi permitted melee combats only against severely damaged Japanese ships.
The battle ended in Korean victory, with Japanese losses of 59 ships – 47 destroyed and 12 captured.
[129] Several Korean prisoners of war were rescued by the Korean soldiers throughout the fight. Admiral Wakisaka escaped due to the speed of his flag ship.
When the news of the defeat at the Battle of Hansando reached Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he ordered that the Japanese invasion forces should cease all naval operations.
Battle of Angolpo
On
August 16,
1592, Yi Sun-sin and Won Gyun led their fleet to the harbor of Angolpo where 42 Japanese vessels were docked.
When Admiral Yi tried to fake a retreat, the Japanese ships did not follow; in response, Admiral Yi ordered for the Korean ships to take turn bombarding the Japanese vessels.
In fear that the Japanese troops would take revenge for their losses against the local inhabitants, Admiral Yi ordered the Korean ships to cease fire against the few remaining enemy vessels.
The Korean Militias
Main articles: Righteous army
During the first invasion, the
Cholla Province remained the only untouched area on the Korean peninsula.
[130] In addition to the successful patrols of the sea by Admiral Yi, volunteer activism pressured the Japanese troops from avoiding the province for other priorities.
There were three main types of Korean militias during the war: first, the surviving and leaderless Korean regular soldiers; second, the “Righteous Armies†(Uibyong in Korean) consisting of patriotic
yangbans (aristocrats) and commoners; and third, the Buddhist monks.
These fighting bands spurred throughout the country, and participated in battles, guerilla raids, sieges, and transportation and construction of the wartime necessities.
General Gwak Jae-u’s actions along the Nakdong River
Gwak Jae-u was a famous general in the Korean militia movement, and it is widely accepted that he was the first to form a resistance group against the Japanese invaders.
He was a land-owner in the town of Uiryong situated by the
Nam River in the
Gyeongsang Province.
As the Korean regulars abandoned the town
and an attack seemed imminent, Gwak organized fifty townsmen; however the Third Division went from
Changwon straight toward
Songju.
[131] When Gwak used abandoned government storages to supply his army, the Gyeongsang Province Governor
Kim Su branded Gwak’s group as rebels, and mandated that it be disbanded.
When the general asked for help from other landowners, and sent a direct appeal to the King, the governor sent troops against Gwak, in spite of having enough troubles already with the Japanese.
However, an official from the capital city then arrived to raise troops in the province, and, since the official lived nearby and actually knew Gwak, saved him from troubles with the governor.
Gwak Jae-u deployed his troops in guerilla warfare under the cover of the tall reeds on the union of the
Nakdong and the Nam Rivers.
This program prevented easy access for the Japanese troops to the Cholla Province where Admiral Yi and his fleet were stationed.
Battle of Uiryong/Chongjin
The Sixth Division under the command of Kobayakawa Takakage was in charge of conquering the Cholla Province.
The Sixth Division marched to Songju through the established Japanese route (i.e. the Third Division, above), and cut left to
Kumsan in
Chungchong, which Kobayakawa secured as his starting base for his invasion into the province.
Ankokuji Ekei, a former Buddhist monk made into a general due to his role in the negotiations between MÅri Terumoto and Toyotomi hideyoshi, led the units of the Sixth Division assigned with the invasion of the Cholla Province. The units began their march to Uiryong at
Changwon, and arrived at the
Narm River.
Ankokuji’s scouts planted meters measuring the river’s depths so that the entire squadron could cross the river; over the night, the Korean militiamen moved the meters into the deeper parts of the river.
As the Japanese troops began to cross, Gwak’s militia ambushed them, and caused heavy losses for the Japanese.
In the end, to advance into the Cholla Province, Ankokuji’s men had to try going north around the insecure grounds and within the security of the Japanese-garrisoned fortresses.
At Kaenyong, Ankokuji’s target was changed to
Gochang, to be taken with the aid of Kobayakawa Takakage.
However, the entire Cholla campaign was then abandoned when
Kim Myon and his guerillas successfully ambushed Ankokuji’s troops by firing arrows from hidden positions within the mountains.
The Cholla coalition & the Battle of Yong-in
When the Japanese troops were advancing to Hanseong (present-day
Seoul), the Yi Kwang, the governor of the Cholla Province, attempted to check the Japanese progress by launching his army toward the capital city.
[132] Upon hearing the news that the capital had already been sacked, the governor retreated his army.
However, as the army grew in size to 50,000 men with its accumulation of several volunteer forces, Yi Kwang and the irregular commanders reconsidered their aim to reclaim Hanseong, and led the combined forces north to
Suwon, 26 miles (42 km) south of Hanseong.
[133] On
June 4, an advance guard of 1,900 men attempted to take the nearby fortress at Yong-in, but the 600 Japanese defenders under Admiral Wakizaka Yasuharu avoided engagement with the Koreans until
June 5, when the main troops came to rescue the fortress.
[134] The Japanese troops counterattacked successfully against the Cholla coalition, forcing the Koreans to abandon arms and retreat.
The First Keumsan Campaign
Battle of Haengju
Main articles: Battle of Haengju
The Japanese invasion into Jeolla province was broken down and pushed back by General
Gwon Yul at the hills of Ichiryeong, where outnumbered Koreans fought overwhelming Japanese troops and gained victory. Gwon Yul quickly advanced northwards, re-taking Suwon and then swung south toward Haengju where he would wait for the Chinese reinforcements. After he got the message that the Koreans were annihilated at Byeokje, Gwon Yul decided to fortify Haengju.
Bolstered by the victory at Byeokje, KatÅ and his army of 30,000 men advanced to the south of Hanseong to attack Haengju Fortress, an impressive mountain fortress that overlooked the surrounding area. An army of a few thousand led by Gwon Yul was garrisoned at the fortress waiting for the Japanese. KatÅ believed his overwhelming army would destroy the Koreans and therefore ordered the Japanese soldiers to simply advance upon the steep slopes of Haengju with little planning. Gwon Yul answered the Japanese with fierce fire from the fortification using
Hwachas, rocks, handguns, and bows. After nine massive assaults and 10,000 casualties, KatÅ burned his dead and finally pulled his troops back.
The
Battle of Haengju was an important victory for the Koreans, as it greatly improved the morale of the Korean army. The battle is celebrated today as one of the three most decisive Korean victories;
Battle of Haengju,
Siege of Jinju (1592), and
Battle of Hansando.
Today, the site of Haengju fortress has a memorial built to honor
Gwon Yul.
Siege of Jinju
Main articles: Siege of Jinju (1592)
Jinju (진주) was a large castle that defended
Jeolla Province. The Japanese commanders knew that control of Jinju would mean the fall of Jeolla. Therefore, a large army under
Hosokawa Tadaoki gleefully approached Jinju. Jinju was defended by
Kim Si-min (김시민), one of the better generals in Korea, commanding a Korean garrison of 3,000 men. Kim had recently acquired about 200 new arquebuses that were equal in strength to the Japanese guns. With the help of arquebuses, cannon, and mortars, Kim and the Koreans were able to drive back the Japanese from Jeolla Province. Hosokawa lost over 30,000 men. The battle at Jinju is considered one of the greatest victories of Korea because it prevented the Japanese from entering Jeolla.
In 1593, Jinju would fall to the Japanese.
[135]
Intervention of Ming China
China sent land and naval forces to Korea in both the first and second invasions to assist in defeating the Japanese.
After the fall of Pyongyang, King Seonjo retreated to Uiju, a small city near the border of China. With the First and Second Divisions rapidly approaching, King Seonjo made another desperate retreat into China. At the Chinese court, King Seonjo informed of the Japanese invasion.
The
Ming Dynasty Emperor
Wanli and his advisers responded to
King Seonjo's request for aid by sending an inadequately small force of 5,000 soldiers.
[136] These troops provided almost no help however.
As a result, the Ming Emperor sent a large force in January 1593 under two generals,
Song Yingchang and
Li Rusong. The salvage army had a prescribed strength of 100,000, made up of 42,000 from five northern military districts and a contingent of 3,000 soldiers proficient in the use of firearms from South China. The Ming army was also well armed with artillery pieces.
In February 1593, a large force of Chinese soldiers meet up outside of
Pyongyang with a group of Korean militas. By King Seonjo's decree, Ming general Li Rusong was appointed the supreme commander of armies in Korea. Li then led the allied troops to victory in the bloody
siege of Pyongyang and drove the Japanese into eastward retreat. Overconfident of his recent sucess, Li Rusong personally led a pursuit with over 20,000 strong mounted troops, along with a small force of Koreans, but was ambushed near Pyokje by a large Japanese formation. Only the timely appearance of Li's brother and the relief force he commanded saved the allied cavalry from total destruction.
In late February, Li ordered a raid into the Japanese rear and burned several hundred thousand
koku of military rice supply, forcing the Japanese invading army to retreat from Seoul due to the prospect of food shortage.
These engagements ended the first phase of the war, and peace negotiations followed. Some Japanese soldiers abandoned the army and settled down in Korea. The Japanese evacuated Hanseong in May and retreated to fortifications around Busan. An uneasy truce was to last for close to four years.
Negotiations and truce between China and Japan (1594–1596)
Under pressure from the
Chinese army and local guerrillas, with food supplies cut off and his forces now reduced by nearly one third from desertion, disease and death, Konishi was compelled to sue for peace. General Li Rusong offered General Konishi a chance to negotiate an end to the hostilities. When negotiations got underway in the spring of 1593, China and Korea agreed to cease hostilities if the Japanese would withdraw from Korea altogether. General Konishi had no option but to accept the terms, but he would have a hard time convincing Hideyoshi that he had no other choice.
Hideyoshi proposed to China the division of Korea: the north as a self-governing Chinese satellite, and the south to remain in Japanese hands. The peace talks were mostly carried out by Konishi Yukinaga, who did most of the fighting against the Chinese. The offer was taken into consideration until Hideyoshi also demanded one of Chinese princesses to be sent as his concubine. Then the offer was promptly rejected. These negotiations were kept secret from the Korean Royal Court, which had no say in the negotiations.
By
May 18,
1593, all the Japanese soldiers had retreated back to Japan. In the summer of 1593, a Chinese delegation visited Japan and stayed at the court of Hideyoshi for more than a month. The Ming government withdrew most of its expeditionary force, but kept 16,000 men on the Korean peninsula to guard the truce.
An envoy from Hideyoshi reached
Beijing in 1594. Most of the Japanese army had left Korea by the autumn of 1596; a small garrison nevertheless remained in Busan. Satisfied with the Japanese overtures, the imperial court in Beijing dispatched an embassy to allow Hideyoshi to have the title of "King of Japan" on condition of complete withdrawal of Japanese forces from Korea.
The Ming ambassador met Hideyoshi in October 1596 but there was a great deal of misunderstanding about the context of the meeting. Hideyoshi was enraged to learn that China insulted the
Emperor of Japan by presuming to cancel the Emperor's divine right to the throne, offering to recognize Hideyoshi instead. To insult the Chinese, he demanded among other things, a royal marriage with the Wanli Emperor's daughter, the delivery of a Korean prince as hostage, and four of Korea's southern provinces.
Peace negotiations soon broke down and the war entered its second phase when Hideyoshi sent another invasion force. Early in 1597, both sides resumed hostilities.
Korean military reorganization
Proposal for military reforms
During the period between the First and Second invasions, the Korean government had a chance to examine the reasons why they had been easily overrun by the Japanese. Yu Seong-ryong, the Prime Minister, spoke out about the Korean disadvantage.
Yu pointed out that Korean castle defences were extremely weak, a fact which he had already pointed out before the war. He noted how Korean castles had incomplete fortifications and walls that were too easy to scale. He also wanted cannons set up in the walls. Yu proposed building strong towers with gun turrets for cannons. Besides castles, Yu wanted to form a line of defences in Korea. He proposed to create a series of walls and forts, all enveloping Seoul in the center.
Yu also pointed out how efficient the Japanese army was, in that it took them only one month to reach Seoul, and how well trained they were. The organized military units the Japanese generals deployed were a large part of the Japanese success. Yu noted how the Japanese moved their units in complex maneuvers, often weakening the enemy with arquebuses, then attacking with melee weapons. Korean armies often moved forward as one body without any organization.
Military Training Agency
King Seonjo and the Korean court finally began to reform the military. In September 1593, the Military Training Agency was established. The agency carefully divided the army into units and companies. Within the companies were squads of archers, arquebusers, and edged-weapon users. The agency set up divisional units in each region of Korea and garrisoned battalions at castles. The agency, which originally had less than 80 members, soon grew to about 10,000.
One of the most important changes was that both upper class citizens and slaves were subject to the draft. All males had to enter military service to be trained and familiarized with weapons.
The creation of the Military Training Agency was halfhearted and under-developed. In addition, nearly all the reforms Yu had called for were again ignored. The lack of manpower and a devastated economy put Korea in nearly the same position as in the first invasion. Although the second invasion was quickly repelled with the help of China, Korea ultimately failed to reform the military.
Second invasion (1597–1598)
| Japanese second invasion wave[85] |
|---|
| Army of the Right | |||
| Mori Hidemoto | 30,000 | |
| KatÅ Kiyomasa | 10,000 | |
| Kuroda Nagamasa | 5,000 | |
| Nabeshima Naoshige | 12,000 | |
| Ikeda Hideuji | 2,800 | |
| Chosokabe Motochika | 3,000 | |
| Nakagawa Hidenari | 2,500 | |
| Total | | '65,300' | | |
| Army of the Left | |||
| Ukita Hideie | 10,000 | |
| Konishi Yukinaga | 7,000 | |
| SÅ Yoshitoshi | 1,000 | |
| Matsuura Shigenobu | 3,000 | |
| Arima Harunobu | 2,000 | |
| Omura Yoshiaki | 1,000 | |
| Goto Sumiharu | 700 | |
| Hachisuka Iemasa | 7,200 | |
| MÅri Yoshinari | 2,000 | |
| Ikoma Kazumasa | 2,700 | |
| Shimazu Yoshihiro | 10,000 | |
| Shimazu Tadatsune | 800 | |
| Akizuki Tanenaga | 300 | |
| Takahashi Mototane | 600 | |
| Ito Suketaka | 500</ | |
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