Black Water Dragon VI

-The Ming army sent to Joseon was mostly heavily armored cavalry, but there were also gunmen/spearmen, Shaolin monks, Vietnamese tribal natives ("wolf men"), and even African mercenaries ("sea ghosts").
-The Ming generals and other commanders:
   -Li Rusong- ethnic Korean from the Liaodong Peninsula.  Father was a Ming general.  He led about 36,000 Ming troops.  He had gained prestige for leading Ming troops against a rebellion in Ningxia, China.  He did this by diverting the Yellow River so that it flooded the city!  He was quite brave in addition to being a master tactician.
   -Song Yingchang- Ming Vice Minster of Defense.  Boss of Li Rusong, but the two didn't get along.  However, he was a logistical wizard, and was great at planning and managing supply routes.
   -Shen Weijin- Ming negotiator who could also speak Japanese.  Despised by Li Rusong and Song Yingchang.  His goal was to negotiate peace as quickly as possible and under basically any terms that would get the job done.  He didn't really care what happened so long as he secured peace and would thus get paid by the Ming government, even if the deal was shit.  However, he quickly realized that Li Rusong was onto him, so he met with the Japanese and changed his terms so that the Japanese would have to abandon their claim to Joseon.
      -The Japanese countered by saying that they would leave Pyongyang, but in exchange they would be allowed to have free trade with China (a highly-coveted privilege).
-Chinese armor- typical armor during this time was "mountain armor", made of many small pieces of of iron or steel shaped like the Chinese word for mountain (山).
-Also, a note about Chinese vs. Koreans- similar style for basic troops, but overall the Koreans were not "strong".  Most of their manual labor was performed by slaves, and the yangban spent all of their time studying and trying to raise their social status, so they weren't exactly the toughest people on the block.
   -The Ming, having learned about what happened when the Mongols went soft, decided the best way to keep strong was to draw their troops from tough places like the frontier, Tibet, or Vietnam.
-What was going on during this time in the lands of the Jurchen?
   -There was a dude named Nurhaci, a unifier of all the different tribes together into a powerful horde!  This began in 1586, and around 1635 they would become known as the Manchus ("Jurchen" had a negative connotation since they were considered to be barbarians by the Ming Chinese).
   -During the Japanese invasions of Korea the Jurchen had offered to join the Ming army in driving off the Japanese, but both the Ming and Joseon didn't want this to happen because letting the Jurchen into Joseon would just result in chaos.
      -It's possible, however, that a small number of Jurchen warriors were allowed to join the Ming army, but definitely not a vast horde.
-Meanwhile in Kyushu, Hideyoshi commanded the Japanese to fortify their holdings in Joseon and abandon the northeast of the peninsula.
   -Katō Kiyomasa was ordered to return to Seoul with his army to defend it.  All Japanese warships were ordered to go to Busan to protect the supply routes that led to and from Japan.
-During this time, resistance was still building against the Japanese.
   -2000 monks managed to overtake a Japanese garrison at Seoraksan!
-Another important Joseon general to know about is Kwon Yul, a magistrate of Gwangju and leader of about 1000 troops he raised himself.
   -He gathered about 10,000-20,000 more peasant troops to join him to link up with the Ming army near Seoul at Doksan Fortress.
      -It was at this fortress that they were attacked by a Japanese force led by the General Ukita Hideie, and were besieged for one month.
         -According to legend, Kwon Yul ordered his horses to be bathed in rice in sight of the Japanese, so that the Japanese would mistake the rice for water and think that troops had plenty of supplies (like water).
            -This demoralized the Japanese troops, and they decided to abandon the siege.  Kwon Yul then chased them back to Seoul, killing about 3000 Japanese troops in the process.
-Meanwhile, Li Rusong was meeting with Ryu Seong-ryong and King Seonjo at Uiju Fortress.
   -Li Rusong argued that they should strike at Seoul ASAP.  Although he only currently had an army of 44,000, he stressed that like 60,000 more Ming troops were on the way and would soon arrive.
      -However, Ryu Seong-ryong was suspicious, as the actions of Shen Weijin had made him question the true motives of the Wan Li Emperor.
         -Li Rusong assured Ryu Seong-ryong that the Ming were liberators, nothing more...
   -Next, the Ming discussed their plan of action.  A quick survey of the situation:
      -They knew that Sō Yoshitoshi and Konishi Yukinaga had around 10,000 troops garrisoned at Pyongyang, and that these troops were under-supplied due to guerrilla fighters fucking up their supply lines.  They were in pretty bad shape.
   -Katō Kiyomasa was out on the east coast with 20,000 men, but were under constant guerrilla attack and pretty much stuck.  However, he still had the 2 captured Korean princes in his clutches, and, besides, he still hadn't yet received word to come to reinforce Seoul.
   -Kuroda Nagamsa was in Hwangha Province in the northwest with about 10,000 men.
   -Ukita Hideiee was in Seoul with about 20,000 men.
   -All of the Japanese troops were in Gyeongsang Province, hunting guerrillas and trying to secure supply routes.
-1593- because of disease, hunger, and guerrilla attacks, at this point about 30% of all the Japanese troops that had invaded Korea were now dead!
   -Hideyoshi still had about 100,000 troops back in Japan, but was too scared to deploy them for fear of Ming invasion.
      -Also, there wasn't enough food in Joseon to sustain the troops that were already there anyway.
-Li Rusong then intercepted Shen Weijin on the way back to Beijing.
   -He briefly considered executing the diplomat.  The only reason he kept him alive was so that the Japanese would still think that their negotiations were on the table.
-Li Rusong then continued south from Uiju Fortress to Anju, about 30 km north of Pyongyang.
   -There he linked up with 10,000 Joseon troops, led by General Yi Il, the same dude who was defeated at Sangju (see Black Water Dragon - Part 2).
-So, by January 1593 Li Rusong was leading the Ming army (about 45,000) along with 10,000 Joseon troops and 4,000 Buddhist monks, led by the venerable Master Hyujeong (even tho Joseon had been suppressing Seon (Zen) Buddhism for like 200 years at this point).
   -The monks were badasses, possessing little to no armor, had sticks for weapons, and only their religion as fuel for their fighting spirit.
   -Defending Pyongyang were the pathetic remains of Konishi Yukinaga's forces (about 10,000), who were in horrible shape.
      -A band of soldiers were sent north to meet with the Ming envoy, Shen Weijin.
         -The Ming army then ambushed the meeting to kill the Japanese, but one Japanese soldier managed to escape, fleeing back to Pyongyang to tell them that the Ming were coming and that the meeting had been a setup!
      -The Ming finally set up camp outside of Pyongyang.
         -There was some concern about the Joseon citizens still trapped int he city, and they set up a huge banner announcing that any citizen who didn't leave was a traitor, but it's not like Konishi Yukinaga would have let them leave anyway.
   -The Taedong River made it almost impossible to attack the city from the west.
   -Konishi dispatched about 2000 men each for each of Pyongyang's four gates.  2000 were kept as reserves in the middle of the city under the command of Sō Yoshitoshi.
      -Because the walls built by the Koreans were kind of shitty by contemporary standards, the Japanese instead focused on building a powerful inner citadel at Moronbong in central Pyongyang.
   -At one point the Japanese even sent out assassins (possibly ninjas) to try and assassinate Li Rubai, the Ming general who would be attacking the city from the south (also Li Rusong's younger brother).
   -The attack on Moranbong- the north attack was led by General Wu Weizhong, who led the Ming troops and the Korean monks in an effort take the hill (in which Konishi Yukinaga was located).
      -Wu Weizhong was actually injured in this battle to take the hill, but continued to fight on.
   -Meanwhile, Sō Yoshitoshi was attempting to rush the reserves up the mountain to reinforce the Japanese fighting there and to defend the citadel.
      -Finally, Sō was able to get Konishi out of the citadel and back into Pyongyang.
-Early February, the omens for an attack on Pyongyang were good, so Li Rusong gave the order to attack!
   -The cannons were shot, archers let loose arrows, and the soldiers began scaling the walls.
      -The Ming/Joseon army had like 200 different artillery cannons, a massive arsenal!
      -The Ming used "cloud ladders", which were like vehicles that had ladders you could fold on top and pull out.  The top of the ladder had hooks that could dig into the wall.  Thus, the base of the ladder was away from the bottom of the wall.
         -Still, the "cloud ladder" was obviously dangerous, as the defenders still had musketeers, long spears, huge rocks, boiling water, etc.
-Realizing the situation was hopeless, Konishi and Sō quickly prepared to flee the city.
   -Historical records are contradictory as how exactly they were able to escape, whether it was through bribery or incompetence on the part of the Ming/Joseon army, but the Japanese leadership at Pyongyang did indeed manage to abandon the city.
      -6000-8000 Japanese troops remained in the city to defend it even though they probably knew they were doomed, many of whom were already freezing to death or starving.
-Eventually, Sō and Konishi reached a nearby fort, occupied by Kuroda Nagamasa's army.
   -The Japanese were unsure of what to do next.  Should they regroup or should they try to take on the Ming/Joseon army head-on?
      -Ukita Hideie made the decision to make the stand at Seoul, as it was closer to Busan and better fortified than Pyongyang.
-Meanwhile, Pyongyang was absolutely devastated from the Ming/Joseon attack, and many of the Japanese defenders were slaughtered.
   -The Ming also got the heads of slain Pyongyang citizens and deformed them to look more Japanese so that they could claim they were slain Japanese soldiers in order to bigger rewards.
-King Sonjo then declared that the Joseon capital was to be restored at Pyongyang.
   -Li Rusong then sent an envoy east to meet with Katō Kiyomasa.
      -The Ming demanded the return of the Joseon princes and the surrender of Katō's unit.
         -In response, Katō had a beautiful Joseon female prisoner executed in front of the messengers.  Of course, the messengers fled back to Li Rusong.
-February 17, 1593- Ming/Joseon forces retake Gaeseong.
-The Japanese 1st Division returns to Seoul in a completely miserable, pathetic shape, apparently resembling corpses!

Black Water Dragon V

-January 1593- Ming forces arrive in Pyongyang, only to find it seemingly undefended...
   -However, it WAS actually occupied by Konishi Yukinaga and 10,000 Japanese troops garrisoned there, who I guess weren't paying attention and were caught with their pants down!
      -The Ming, led by General Li Rusong, had badass cavalry, including horse archers.  They quickly made short work of the Japanese army and then entered the city to mop up.
         -However, the Japanese soon realized that the Chinese force wasn't that big, and that the muddy streets were bogging down their horses...  so, they quickly rallied and began ambushing and sniping at the Ming, ultimately killing about 3000 of them and driving them out of the city.
   -This battle was important because it proved to the Ming that the Japanese weren't just some backwater pirates fucking around.
-Other problems for the Ming and Joseon forces- there wasn't enough food!
   -Also, the Ming court didn't see the point in trying to save Joseon, as it seemed like a hopeless situation.  So, instead of sending a bunch of resources to help fight off the Japanese on the Korean peninsula, instead they began to fortify China's east coast in preparation for a Japanese naval attack, and fortifying the Yalu River and Liaoning Province defenses.
   -Therefore, the Chinese generals believed that if they could take Pyongyang, it would allow them to get more resources and thus more prestige instead of just sitting around and doing nothing.  That's why they had decided to take Pyongyang, but also failed miserably.
-The Ming had tried to make the retreat seem like it was intentional because of bad weather, but this was proven wrong when Konishi Yukinaga sent a letter to the Ming, taunting them and mocking their attack.
-Meanwhile, the arguments continued in Beijing about whether to battle the Japanese or not.
   -Some compared it to a quagmire and warned that it would be just like the Ming invasion of Vietnam, while others said that if they didn't attack the Japanese would have territory too close to the Chinese capital.
      -They also feared the Japanese stirring up the Jurchen, which was bad for everyone.
   -The Wan Li Emperor was personally in favor of intervention, as he was a hardcore Neo-Confucian and believed it was China's duty to protect their "little brother", Joseon.
      -Therefore, he finally decreed that China was to help Joseon, and that Thailand, the Ryukyu Islands, and other tribute states were to raise troops in a full counterattack against Japan.
      -He also appointed a Chinese minister, Song Yingchang, to oversee the Ming campaign in Joseon.       -In addition, he issued handsome rewards for the heads of Hideyoshi and the other Japanese generals.  Even the translator monk, Genso, was named!
      -Also appointed was an elderly negotiator who could speak Japanese named Shen Weijin, who was sent to meet with King Seonjo at Uiju Fortress.  After that, he traveled south to meet with Konishi Yukinaga regarding post-war Joseon.
         -For Joseon, they wanted their kingdom to be completely restored and autonomous (of course).  However, the Ming didn't care that much about Joseon and were actually more interested in having Japan be a tributary state, like Joseon, and perhaps this would be possible even if the Japanese didn't leave Korea!  Instead, there was talk of splitting the peninsula in half between Ming China and Japan.
-Meanwhile, Hideyoshi had hoped to travel to Joseon and lead the conquest into China, but instead his mom had gotten sick so he stayed in Japan and began to construct a retirement palace instead...
-After the initial battle in Pyongyang between the Ming/Joseon and Japanese forces, Yukinaga was shaken so he traveled south to Seoul figure out what to do about the incoming Ming army.
   -In Seoul, Konishi Yukinaga met with Ukita Hideie, chief commander of the Japanese forces.  General Kuroda Nagamasa was also present, as was General Kobayaka Takakage.  Meanwhile, Katō Kiyomasa remained camped on the east coast.
      -Hideie informed Yukinaga that due to Yi Sun-shin's epic defense, reinforcements could not be delivered to Pyongyang.  As a result, also, Hideyoshi had ordered for the Japanese navy to back off, and instead focus on supplying the mainland from Japan instead (via the south).  Also, the Japanese reserve forces were weak to remain in Japan in case of Ming invasion.
   -Konishi Yukinaga didd not want to retreat, however.  If he did that, he would lose face AND lose his lands in northern Joseon, which had been promised to him (by Hideyoshi I guess?) after the war was over.
      -Therefore, the commanders decided to dig in, using peasants as slave labor to make fortifications between Pyongyang and Seoul.  This would also allow for supplies to easily flow from the 2 cities without much interference from guerrilla fighters.
-Finally, Shen Weijin met with the Japanese.  Yukinaga said that the Japanese merely wanted to establish relations with Ming China, and that they invaded Joseon because Joseon had refused to participate in allowing for Japan to pass through with trade.
-Meanwhile in the south, Yi Sun-shin spent September rebuilding and re-arming his ships.
   -He now had about 160 ships, mostly panokseons.  He had at this point fought in 8 battles, sank over 200 ships, and lost ZERO of his own!  Now he believed he was ready to launch an attack on the grand prize- Busan!
      -At Busan, the Japanese had 500 ships!  This wasn't going to be easy!
         -On the way they encountered a few scouting vessels (and destroyed them) before finally entering the harbor.  Shit just got real!
            -Yi Sun-shin began firing with his fleet.  The Battle of Busan had begun!
-September 1- 1592- The Battle of Busan!
   -The Japanese immediately began jumping off their boats and fleeing inland away from the harbor.
   -The Koreans had developed some new canons based off Ming technology, but the Japanese now had cannons as well...
   -The Japanese had also been building waejeong, which were fortresses made out of mud and stones.  They build them because a lot of the Joseon fortresses sucked ass and had been built by unhappy peasants slaving away for corrupt officials.  These waejeong looked pretty cool and could withstand heavy damage.  According to Yi Sun-shin they looked like "mud-walled beehives".
      -This is probably because some of the forts weren't quite finished, as the Japanese were busy constructing and renovating forts all over the peninsula.
   -The Japanese immediately began firing the cannons, and while they inflicted many casualties they didn't end up sinking any Joseon ships.
   -Yi Sun-shin decided to pull back in the morning.  He knew that many were expecting him to strike again and sink all the Japanese ships in Busan's harbor, but he also knew that that would temporarily strand the Japanese forces in Korea, and that it would be unwise to corner them like that because he feared that it would make them fight more fiercely.
   -The Battle of Busan was the last major naval battle of the year, before the Japanese fleets returned home for the winter.
-As an aside, it's worth noting that the warrior monks played an important role during the Imjin War (besides the regular "righteous army" soldiers).
   -Organized by the Korean Zen (Seon) master Hyujeong, 5000-8000 warrior monks fought alongside the Korean righteous armies against the Japanese.
-One important battle involving the monks was the Battle of Cheongju in September 1592.
   -Cheongju was important because it was a middle point for supplies traveling to the north.  For the Koreans, striking at Cheongju would cause the Japanese supply lines to split in half.
      -Cheongju of course was also on the highway to Seoul.
   -The leader of the Korean guerrilla forces in the area was a dude named Jo Heon, an aristocrat who had gathered a militia of about 1000 dudes over the summer to fight.
      -Another important leader of the army Yoon Son-gak, the provincial governor and city administrator.
      -A third leader was a monk named Yeong-gyu, who led about 1000 other warrior monks.
   -There was initially some drama because Jo Heon and Yeong-gyu didn't want their army to be led by Yoon Son-gak, so they made their own battle plans.
      -Yoon Son-gak finally relented a bit and sent 500 Joseon soldiers to fight with the righteous army and the monks.
   -The Koreans were still a disorganized, ill-equipped army, and didn't really have much of a plan when they finally attacked.
      -The Japanese, seeing that they were noobs, rushed out of the city to attack.  The Koreans quickly retreated into the nearby forest, but surprisingly the Japanese were ill-equipped to fight in the forest and hadn't donned their armor properly due to the hot summer (and overconfidence), so they actually got fucked up in there by the Korean forces.
         -Fleeing back to the city and fearing more attacks, they surprisingly decided to abandon the city!  This was also due to some trickery on the part of Jo Heon, as he had set fires at night that made it look like the Korean army was bigger than it was.
            -As a result, Cheongju was back into Joseon hands!
   -Unfortunately, the boost in morale from the victory was short-lived.  The Korean leaders immediately began to argue about who deserved credit for the victory and what to do next.
      -This was a disaster for the Koreans because they really needed to get their shit together, as the Japanese were massing their forces at Geumsan, near Cheongju, to invade Jeolla Province, Joseon's major source of food.  Also, capturing Jeolla would allow for the Japanese to have ports on the Yellow Sea.
-Hearing this news about the Japanese army at Geumsan, King Seonjo ordered for Joseon forces to launch an attack!
   -Jo Heon refused to cooperate with the government and decided to go it alone with his ragtag army.
      -However, a lot of his army left him because they had just signed up to defend their home villages, not launch a full-scale assault on the Japanese army.  So, Jo Heon was left with only 700 warriors.
         -Obviously, when they attacked they were immediately slaughtered by the Japanese.
            -There is still a monument today in Geumsan dedicated to these 700 martyrs.
   -Yeong-gyu also tried to lead an attack on the Japanese forces at Geumsan as well, but they, too, were slaughtered.
      -The attacks by Jo Heon and Yeong-gyu didn't really do much in terms of bringing down the numbers of the Japanese army, but it DID delay their invasion of Jeolla Province.
-On October 3, 1592, Kuroda Nagamasa led Japanese forces against the coastal town of Yeonan (near Incheon).  It had been bypassed earlier by Kuroda Nagamasa during his initial charge, and thus been neglected during the invasion so far.
   -At this time Yeonan only had about 800 defenders, led by a dude name Lee Jeong-am, an aristocrat and former magistrate of the town.
      -He had been fortifying Yeonan for months.
   -The initial attack by Kuroda Nagamasa had some blunders due to weather and bad luck.  They tried again, but were repelled a second time by the defenders (who had poured boiling water on the attackers).  This caused Kuroda Nagamasa to finally retreat.
   -On October 6, however, Kuroda returned with 3000 troops.
      -It seemed like a hopeless situation, and the citizens of Yeonan fought desperately, including women and children!  Somehow, their defense was so fierce that Kuroda Nagamasa decided that it just wasn't worth it, and he finally decided to ultimately withdraw.
-Meanwhile, the Red General Gwak Jae-u was still leading attacks around the Nakdong River.
   -Also, in northern Gyeongsang Province, a new Gyeongsang Left Army commander had been appointed- Park Jin.
      -During this time, he had gathered an army of about 5000 warriors outside of Gyeongju.
         -Within the city the Japanese had already looted many sacred and historical sites and stolen many treasures and relics :(
      -Park Jin then led a siege against Gyeongju.
         -Park Jin had a secret weapon though- a brand-new mortar that had been developed by King Seonjo's military scientists, and it fucked up the Japanese not in terms of casualties, but psychologically because it was so scary-sounding and powerful.
            -The Japanese soon evacuated the city, not being able to withstand the brutal rockets.
-There were also victories by righteous army militias in Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, along with victories by Crown Prince Gwanghae and righteous army victories in Gangwon-do.
-The final battle of 1592 took place in Jinju, which was the "eastern gate" into Jeolla Province.
   -Jinju had a powerful citadel fortress located next to the Nam River.  This made it very difficult to besiege unless the attackers had river access.  However, it had kind of fallen into disrepair over time, and now only had about 3,800 defenders.
   -The general in charge of Jinju's defense was a dude named Kim Si-min.
   -It's also important remember that the Koreans had seen what the Japanese muskets could do, and so they immediately began to study it and copy its design to try and improve it.  So, by this time, Kim Si-min had a bunch of muskets to defend the fortress!  They also had a powerful mortar as well.
  -The Japanese arrived in early November.  It seems like they were following a small band of government soldiers who had been defeated.
      -Kim Si-min refused to let these soldiers in, however, as he didn't have the supplies to support them and also didn't trust them.
   -Anyway, the Japanese began to attack.  However, the Jinju defenders were able to withstand the attack, and Kim Si-min even sent a flute player onto the walls to show the Japanese that they weren't scared.
   -The Jinju defenders also developed a defensive trap called the "wolf's tooth", a board with spikes on it that would impale attackers climbing the walls.
   -However, by November 11, Jinju was running out of supplies and ammunition.
      -The defenders knew that the city would fall soon.
      -However, in the middle of the night, the Red General arrived!  Unfortunately, he had too few men with him to drive off the Japanese, so he worked hard to try and frighten the Japanese into thinking that a big force had arrived with him by blowing horns and lighting fires.
         -The peasants nearby also heard that the Red General had arrived, and rushed out to join his army.
   -However, the Japanese made one final push, but the Red General began attacking the troops from the rear.
      -Finally, the Japanese troops were driven off!
         -This battle kind of vindicated Kim Seong-il, who had participated in defending Jinju, as he had previously stated before the Japanese invasions that the Japanese would never dare invade Joseon.
-The aftermath of the siege proved to be bad for the Japanese.
   -The Japanese army that had attacked Jinju had been in charge of the defense of Seoul (7th Division), so taking them away from Seoul and squandering them on Jinju meant that Seoul was increasingly vulnerable to guerrilla attacks.
      -Japan was quickly losing momentum!  

Black Water Dragon IV

-June 1592- near Daegu (Uiryeong County), we're backtracking a bit but it's important to talk about Gwak Jae-u, "The Red Robe General".
   -When he learned that the Joseon official troops had abandoned its people, he formed a militia to fight off the Japanese.
   -Tried to figure out how to stop the dangerous mobs of Japanese musketeers.  He quickly noticed that the Japanese muskets took a long time to reload.
      -However, the Japanese had thought of this already by having heavily armored melee soldiers guarding the musketeers to protect them as they reloaded.
         -So, why didn't the Koreans just use their badass longbows?  All the trained longbow archerse had either belonged to the army or had fled to the north, and there was no time to train their new archers.
            -The solution?  Crossbows!
               -In order to acquire crossbows, Gwak Jae-u sold his aristocratic family title for quick cash and then got some militiamen to raid local armories that had been abandoned.
                  -With the new crossbows, his militia then took to the mountains, where they began ambushing Japanese forces on patrol.  They would provoke an attack by the Japanese while under cover, and then rush forward firing their crossbows before retreating again.  This was surprisingly effective, and Gwak Jae-u quickly began to amass lots of followers!
   -According to one story, they tricked the Japanese into bringing a box of explosives into their camp, and then the Japanese, thinking it was either bees (based on earlier experiences with the rascally Gwak Jae-u) or gold, threw it in the fire and 100 people were killed instantly!
   -Fun fact: he would smear his armor with the menstrual blood of virgins.  Fucking weird.
   -Anyway, as were saying, at Uiryeong the Japanese were nearby and wanted to capture the city, but they had to cross the Nam River.  They decided to chill and cross it in the morning.
      -Gwak Jae-u, meanwhile, was watching and plotting.  As the Japanese slept, his men moved the Japanese markers they had planted to mark the shallow parts of the river, so in the morning the river seemed deeper!
         -However, the Japanese, certain they had marked the river correctly, began fording the river.
            -Gwak Jae-u then decided to strike!  The trap worked, the Japanese panicked, and many Japanese forces were slain.  After this, his reputation grew, and soon he had 1000 men in his army.
-All of this news in the south with Gwak Jae-u fucking up the supply lines really pissed off Konishi Yukinaga, who was heavily dependent on the lines to continue functioning correctly since he was all the way up in Pyongyang.
   -They had some food supplies, but were running low on gunpowder, firearm supplies, shoes, medicine, and reinforcements.
      -His original army had about 18,700 men, but now he was down to only 2/3 or 1/2 that number.
         -This wasn't necessarily because they had been killed, but rather because they had to be left behind in garrisons or patrols.
            -Also, the news he received about the south was always bad, with the guerrilla warfare problem and also Yi Sun-shin fucking up the Japanese navy in trying to clear a path and bring in reinforcements from Japan to Seoul and Pyongyang.
   -Konishi began to have serious doubts about invading Ming China...Joseon was proving to be too difficult to maintain!  Other officers felt the same as well.
      -However, Katō Kiyomasa was still down for invading the Chinese.  It's likely that he underestimated how difficult it would be to pacify the Hamgyeong Province in the northeast.
         -The people of Hamgyeong Province may have been living as Joseon subjects, but they were old-school, rugged, and tough.  They were mountain people, and badass warriors.  They also disliked the Joseon government, as they were taxed heavily and probably just wanted to be left alone.
-Anyway, Katō was able to acquire an interpreter and a guide began to march into Hamgyeong Province with 20,000 men.
   -The commander of Hamgyeong's southern forces, I Hoon, fled north.  Katō reached the east coast before heading north and sacking coastal villages, including the provincial capital of Hamhung.
-The Japanese finally encountered resistance at Seongjin, where the northeast Hamgyeung Province army commander Han Gug-ham had gathered an opposition force from the garrisoned troops on the frontier, some of the fiercest Joseon troops.
   -They actually managed to fuck up the Japanese to the point that the Japanese had to retreat into the city of Seongjin itself.  The Koreans tried to mount a cavalry rush and take the city, but this proved to be a dumb move.
      -The Joseon army retreated to a nearby mountain, where Katō then sent his troops to mount a counterattack.
         -Unfortunately for the Koreans, they were caught off guard and were slaughtered, and commander Han Gug-ham was eventually captured.
   -The Japanese then set up a new provincial capital at Gil-joo (Kilju).  He garrisoned half his troops there, then pushed north.
-Meanwhile, the Joseon princes Imhae and Sunhwa, who had fled to the countryside, ended up in the backwater, sketchy-as-fuck town of Hoiryeong (on the Tumen River, nowadays one of the borders between North Korea and China).
   -The town had actually recently had a revolt and thrown out the Joseon officials, raised a militia of over 500 men, and were friendly towards the Japanese due to an intense hatred of the Joseon government.
      -They were more than happy to capture and imprison the princes when they arrived.
         -When Katō arrived in the town, the people turned over the princes to him.
-At this point, Katō realized that he had an opportunity for glory should he successfully invade into Manchuria.  He decided to take it, with 3000 new warriors from Hoiryeong at his side (11,000 in total now).
   -Katō then began to go forth, and it was there that they crossed the Tumen River into Manchuria and encountered a Jurchen fortress!  Uh-oh.  Katō was now fucking around with the powerful Jurchen hordes.  Needless to say, the Jurchen were a formidable fighting force, and with 10,000 warriors were able to repel Katō's forces in a brutal battle.
   -After this, Katō didn't bother venturing back into Manchuria, and instead just spent his time hunting tigers :(
      -At this point bro had marched like 1500 km!
   -On his way back to the south, he left control of the conquered towns in the north with the Joseon elites who were in his pocket.
      -However, the people of Hamgyeong Province were pretty hardcore in their disdain for authority, so once Katō left they immediately began to rebel!
-Meanwhile, back on the Yalu River, Ming General Zu Chengxun (and others) were crossing the river and coming to Joseon's rescue.
   -July 26- Ming forces link up with King Seonjo, and then they headed to Uiju (in North Pyongan Province), on the border with Manchuria.
      -This was the last refuge of the Joseon government.  From here, King Seonjo spammed messengers to the Ming asking for aid.  However, the Ming had their own issues, so they couldn't send more help immediately.
         -All Joseon had were the Ming reinforcements (~6000 soldiers) led by Generals Shi Ru and Zu Chengxun, and their own troops (number is unclear) led by General Ryu Song-ryong, but the Chinese were confident that they could drive out the Japanese.
-Meanwhile in Japan, Hideyoshi began to learn about the brutal losses the Japanese naval forces were experiencing due to the fierce ingenuity of Yi Sun-shin.
   -Deciding enough was enough, he issued a command to his top naval commanders, Wakisaka Yasuharu, Kuki Yoshitaka, and Katō Yoshiaki to link up in Busan and form a joint naval force to crush the Joseon navy.
      -They were supposed to be in Busan to begin with, but because they had believed that they had already crushed the Joseon navy, these dudes were all in Seoul!
-Meanwhile, Yi Sun-shin knew that something was up.  He sent for Yi Eok-gi and Won Gyun to join him, and they joined up and began practicing the new "crane's wing" battle formation, in which they would surround a charging offense with a curve of defending ships.
   -Actually, this may have been borrowed from a Japanese samurai tactic on land that had been in practice for a long time already.
   -Embarrassingly, Won Gyun only brought 7 ships with him, even though he had over a month to prepare!  This obviously pissed off Yi Sun-shin to no end, as they only had like 54 panokseons and a few gobukseons.
-Eager to get glory for himself, Wakizaka Yasuharu headed out to take on the Joseon navy by himself, with 73 ships (36 atakebune, 24 sekibune, and 13 scout kobaya ships).
   -When they finally clashed, it was the Battle of Hansan Island (July 8, 1592).
      -Difficult place to do the crane formation due ot it being too small of an area, but Yi Sun-shin realized that if he could lure them into a more open area, they could do it.
         -The plan worked, and the Japanese took the bait!  They were able to surround the Japanese ships with the crane's wing formation.
            -However, the crane's wing was not entirely successful, and the Japanese were able to drive forward and enter into close-range combat, a nightmare scenario for Yi Sun-shin!
               -What ultimately saved the day were the gobukseon ships (of course), which really fucked up the Japanese ships and proved to be impossible to catch on fire on invade.
      -The aftermath: Wakisaka Yasuharu was forced to flee, and only a few of his ships made it back to Busan!  Also, although many Joseon soldiers had been killed, they lost zero ships!  Additionally, many Joseon prisoners who were being held captive on the Japanese ships were freed.
-Yi Sun-shin then mounted a counterattack on Angolpo, but the Japanese naval commanders had wised up to Yi Sun-shin's strategy so it proved to be a more difficult challenge for him.  However, due to their superior firepower, they were able to to trap the Japanese ships under fire in the harbor.  They even almost destroyed Hideyoshi's flagship Nippon Maru, which was docked in the harbor.
   -This was also a big deal because it meant that the Japanese couldn't establish a supply link to their forces in the north.
-By August 1592, about 22,000 Joseon guerrilla fighters had sprung up across the peninsula, fighting the Japanese.
   -Called "righteous armies" (의병), they were mobilized by the yangban to fight.
   -They continued to attack supply lines and invade small towns and cities occupied by the Japanese.  Even monks were fighting to defend the land!
    -In return, the Japanese brutalized the countryside by raping, torturing, and executing everyone, and putting entire villages to the torch.

Black Water Dragon III

-June 9, 1952- the court is evacuating Seoul, and heading to Pyongyang.
   -However, it started to rain, so the royalty had to get out of their litters and ride on horses, including the women!  Probably the most physical exertion they'd ever experienced in their lives up to that point.
      -Also, due to the rain, muck, and panic, the royalty got separated from supplies and went to bed hungry for the first time probably in the history of Korean royalty.
         -Finally arrived at Gaeseong, the old capital of Goryeo.
   -Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi both continued on towards Seoul, as did Katō Kiyomasa.
      -Both arrived on June 11.
-In Seoul, King Seonjo had left behind Kim Myeongwon, the commander-in-chief of all of Joseon's armed forces, to defend the city.
   -Joseon had the advantage of being able to hide behind the Han River and attack the Japanese as they forded across the river, but Kim Myeongwon only had 1000 troops at his disposal!  Way too small!
      -However, the Japanese began chopping down trees to make lumber for rafts, and soon they were crossing over the Han with them.
         -Kim Myeongwon finally realized that he was fucked, and fled the capital along with many of his troops.
-Konishi Yukinaga was the first to arrive, once again beating Katō Kiyomasa to the punch.  They had found the city deserted and looted, with many of its palaces and buildings having been burned by its own citizens in the chaos.
   -Kuroda Nagamasa soon arrived too with his army, along with the 8th Division commander (and overall commander-in-chief) Ukita Hideie.
      -Hideyoshi had adopted this dude after his infant son died, and had named him to oversee the operation until he could arrive and take over overseeing the operation himself.
         -The reason Hideyoshi wasn't there now was because of health problems- he was losing his eyesight and also was having severe stomach problems.
            -Also, his court urged him to stay in the country, fearing that if he left, Japan would just collapse back into a civil war again.
               -At this point, about 150,000 Japanese troops had landed in Joseon.
                  -Divisions 1-3 and 8 were in Seoul, and 4, 7, and 9 occupied the countryside.
      -Hideyoshi then began to prepare to move west with his navy, as it was critical that his ships had a suplly line via the Yellow Sea into China.
         -Because there had been little naval resistance by Joseon, Hideyoshi believed that they didn't have any navy at all to defend the sea.
-Meanwhile, Yi Sun-shin was still biding his time and waiting for reinforcements from the countryside, and the Jeolla Right navy (under the command of Yi Eok-gi).
   -He finally was forced to make a move when the court ordered him to move and reinforce the Gyeongsang Right navy, but it was obvious based on the info in the letter that the court didn't know that Won Gyun had destroyed nearly his entire fleet.  Clearly, Won Gyun hadn't told the court what he had done in order to save face.
      -June 16- the Battle of Okpo Harbor!  The Jeolla navy snuck up to the harbor while Japanese forces were plundering inland and set fire to the port!  Trapping the Japanese ships in the harbor, they fired off their heaven cannons from their panokseons and obliterated the Japanese ships.
         -The Koreans wanted to pursue the Japanese inland as they fled the onslaught, but Yi Sun-shin stopped them.  He knew that this would be dumb because his troops were poorly armed to fight on land, and the Japanese would gain the upper hand.
            -By the end of the battle, 26 Japanese ships were destroyed and thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed.  0 Joseon ships were sunk, and only 3 Joseon soldiers were wounded due to idiotic friendly fire by Won Gyun's troops.  This royally pissed off Yi Sun-shin.
         -Yi Sun-shin immediately sent a report to the court, along with a Japanese ear and a musket, a curious thing to him.
-June 17- Yi Sun-shin's navy came upon 16 Japanese ships and destroyed them, but still didn't pursue them when they fled inland.
   -By then they also found out that the Japanese had captured Seoul, and the court had fled to Pyeongyang.
   -Yi Sun-shin decided to retreat back to a port near Yeosu to regroup and make a new plan.
      -We actually have Yi Sun-shin's own records still, and are one of the best primary sources during this time.
         -According to Japanese records, it's most likely that Joseon hadn't yet fought a naval battle with any legit Japanese warships yet, as they were using most of the ships docked at these harbors as transports, and were probably lightly armored and kind of shitty anyway.
   -Meanwhile, the Japanese who marched on Seoul from Busan were still fucking exhausted, so they hadn't moved on yet.
   -On their way to Pyeongyang, King Seonjo decided to hold court at Gaeseong and take inventory of what the common folk had going on there.
      -The people, naturally, were pissed off at the incompetence of the government.  So, King Seonjo decided to hold court in Gaeseong and take inventory to see what the common folk had going on there.
         -The people, naturally, were pissed off at the incompetence of the government.  So, King Seonjo decided to try and shake things up and move positions around, but this just seemed kind of cosmetic ultimately.
   -The court finally arrived at Pyeongyang on June 16 with 3000 troops.  They decided to make a plan:
      -They knew that the Japanese had already controlled all of the southern peninsula except for the southwest.
      -General Kim Myeongwon was sent to (or maybe he was already there?) the Imjin River to defend the crossing with 10,000 soldiers.
         -Most of the Joseon forces were still garrisoned in the north to guard against the Jurchen.
      -Desperate for defense, the Joseon court began to consider calling to the Ming Chinese for help.
         -Some advisers believed that the Chinese would drive off the Japanese and restore the status quo, but others believed that the Ming would just send barbarian mercenaries and then occupy Korea for itself.
            -Nevertheless, they sent to the Ming for help.  Apparently, the Ming didn't believe the messengers.  How could the Japanese cross the peninsula so fast?  Were these just pirates, or was this a legit invasion?
               -However, the Ming had its own wars and shit to deal with, so the Wan Li Emperor sent 1000 cavalry to go fight the Japanese.
-Meanwhile in Seoul, the news was that many people had moved back into the city for work, and that they were actually living relatively peacefully under the Japanese occupation.
   -Apparently, Hideyoshi had ordered his forces to treat the Koreans well and to not harm those who kept the peace and didn't resist, and also to pay fair prices for shit.
      -Koreans were also appointed to positions of authority, and this was especially appealing to those who were negatively affected by the hierarchical system of Korean Neo-Confucianism.
         -Some Koreans even offered their own daughters to Japanese officers for marriage to ensure the benefits of Japanese rule.  Joseon women began to be shipped off to Japan, as having a Joseon wife was apparently all the rage over there.
            -Of course, rape was also very typical as well :(
-At the Imjin River, General Kim Myeongwon began to make plans for the defense of the river, but had a disagreement with one of his co-generals, Shim Gak, who instead relocated his own troops away from the Imjin River to Yangju, just north of Seoul.
   -Shim Gak's troops ended up ambushing a small group of Japanese forces on their way to Yangju, but the royal court found out about this too late and after they had already sent the order for him to be killed for disobeying Kim Myeongwon, and so Shim Gak was executed before they oculd send a counter message to stop it from happening.
-At the Imjin River, some Japanese forces arrived but were quickly defeated and turned back to Seoul.  Some noob Joseon commanders ordered their troops to chase them, but this was a trap!
   -Obviously the Joseon forces who chased the retreating Japanese walked into an ambush and were slaughtered.
      -However, Kim Myeongwon had known better and had held his troops back, but with their morale broken and rumors circulating about General Kim himself fleeing, the army itself broke down and fled.
         -Because of this, the Japanese pushed on and conquered Gaeseong without much resistance.
-The Japanese then tried to make plans on how to move forward.
   -Kuroda Nagamasa was to go west and attack the towns on the west coast before heading north to Pyeongyang.
   -Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi were to lead the main force northwest to Pyeongyang.
   -Katō Kiyomasa was to lead his forces up into the mountains of the northeast and to attack the towns up in there, as well as to secure it so that the Jurchen didn't just come in during the chaos and start attacking the Japanese.
-Japanese morale, however, was starting to drop.  Yeah, they had conquered a lot of territory, but they had moved too quickly and were tired, knowing that they still had to fight the Ming Chinese.  They were also constantly being harassed by guerilla fighters, and their supply lines were stretched too thin.  They needed naval reinforcements!
   -The Japanese probably didn't even realize that Joseon still had a navy, so they began to sail along to the west coast along the south to link up with their forces at Gaeseong and Seoul.
      -Yi Sun-sin summoned the Jeolla Right naval commander, Yi Eok-gi, to join with him, and they sailed east to attack the Japanese.
         -They planned on first attacking some of the ships who were docked at Sacheon, but they were spotted by a Japanese scouting ship.  Luckily, they caught this scouting ship before it could sail back and sound the alarm.
-July 8- Yi Sun-sin and co. arrived near Sacheon, but found it was heavily fortified and contained about 12 battleships and other smaller boats.
   -Yi Sun-sin only had like 30 battleships total, pretty puny when compared with the numbers of the entire Japanese invading fleet.
   -So, Yi Sun-sin was able to lure the Japanese out of the harbor, and then immediately began firing!
      -Japanese battleships were called "atakebune" (安宅船), and were actually quite similar to the Joseon panokseon in their build, but weren't as good because they weren't as sturdy and were set up for more for getting in close and grappling, which was a shitty strategy if you were going up against the cannon-filled panokseons.
         -Also, the atakebunes were made with iron nails that rusted easily and low-quality wood.  They also have less cannons, and these cannons were smaller than the Joseon ones.  Finally, although they were faster than the panokseons, they turned more slowly.
      -As the Japanese ships got closer and closer, Yi Sun-sin gave the signal to unleash his secret weapon- the powerful "turtle ship" (gobukseon)!!
         -The gobukseon had a super-strong wooden frame, like the panokseon.
         -Also had a powerful ramming speed.
         -Had newer, smaller, more powerful cannons.
         -Its spiked roof to make enemy boarding difficult, but it's unclear as to if the gobukseon was actually ironclad.  This point is quite controversial, especially because Korean nationalists are super-serious about it.\
         -Its dragon head was scary and could shoot out smoke or act as an additional cannon.
         -The gobukseon really fucked up the Japanese ships, which could take their puny cannons and bullets and then dish out incredible firepower.
   -Yi Sun-sin was actually wounded by a Japanese sniper, but he survived (obviously).  Fun fact: during this time, muskets only had a range of about 300 feet or so in terms of accuracy.
      -Surprisingly, Japanese muskets were quite advanced for their time, maybe a century ahead of China and Joseon, but unfortunately for them their cannons were kind of old and shitty.
         -Why didn't the Japanese just use Chinese/Korean or European cannons on their ships?
            -One theory is that the Japanese ships weren't strong enough to even handle the recoil of a "modern" cannon!
         -This is also makes sense for why the gobukseon wasn't ironclad, because it wouldn't even need iron armor due to the shitty quality of the Japanese cannons.  The wood was strong enough!
-Anyway, with the battle won, I'm assuming that the Japanese forces on land ran away, and so even though he was kind-of wounded, Yi Sun-sin allowed the men to celebrate- booze, women, who knows?  But they did indeed party!
-July 10- Yi Sun-shin and his men press onto the village of Dangeo (near Geoje Island, west of Busan), where they had heard that the Japanese were raiding.
   -They arrived to find Japanese warships and 12 smaller battleships in the harbor.
      -Yi Sun-shin immediately attacked!  Using the brutal firepower of their gobukseon and panokseons, they also used fire arrows and man-to-man combat (via a giant hook that sounds similar to the Roman "raven") to quickly fuck up the Japanese ships, and the remaining Japanese forces were forced to flee inland.
         -21 Japanese ships were destroyed, and there were ZERO Joseon casualties.  They also rescued numerous Joseon women that had been forced into sex slavery :(
-After the battle, Yi Sun-shin learned some new info- it was thought the Japanese were planning on a mass invasion of Jeolla Province.  They also found out that a top Japanese commander had been killed in the recent battle they had just fought at Geoje Island.  Finally, many local Koreans had begun fighting the Japanese army, probably out of desperation and/or anger towards the corrupt Joseon crown.
   -At this point also, Yi Eok-gi and his fleet had joined up with Yi Sun-shin fleet.  Combined, they now had roughly 50 panokseons.
-The Jeolla fleet then pressed on to Danghang Port, where they had intel that some Japanese forces were trapped in the village by a guerrilla army that had been raised by peasants, somehow.
   -There they found 9 large warships, 4 medium warships, and 13 smaller warships.
      -The Koreans immediately attacked, and while they did some damage, Yi Sun-shin felt that the Japanese were just going to flee inland as usual, so he ordered a retreat.  However, the Japanese felt that the Koreans were legit retreating (as a sign of weakness) and tried to escape with their ships from the bay.
         -Obviously, the Japanese ships were trashed.
         -Yi Sun-shin also avoided burning the remaining enemy ships, so that later when the Japanese forces trapped in the town tried to escape, they were destroyed on these ships as they tried to leave the bay.
-July 15- patrolling the remainder of the area, 5 more ships were sunk.
-July 16- Meanwhile, Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi had arrived at the Taedong River, just outside of Pyeongyang.
   -However, they had no boats to cross, so they decided to just set up camp and see how Pyongyang would react.
      -The people of Pyongyang of course immediately began to panic, and the king even sent his familyh (and their sacred ancestors' tablets) north.  Even the king began to make preparations to leave as well, much to the chagrin of the people, who began to form into angry mobs.
-July 17- as usual, the Japanese made an effort to get Joseon to surrender, sending the same Japanese monk, Genso, as they always did.
   -Of course, Joseon refused, saying that they would never betray the Ming Chinese, even if it meant the destruction of Joseon.
   -The Japanese then began to fire on Pyongyang with their muskets, and this frightened King Seonjo so much that on July 19 he fled the city.
      -Kim Myongweon was given the task of defending Pyongyang and the river.  However, he had only about 10,000 soldiers!  Everyone else had fled the city when they heard that the king left.
-July 18- Yi Sun-shin's fleet was finally running out of supplies, so they returned back to their home territory to re-supply.
   -At this point, roughly 70 Japanese ships had been sunk, with Joseon losing ZERO.
   -Less than 100 Koreans had died, but Japanese casualties must have been in the thousands.
-Meanwhile back in Pyongyang, the Koreans learned that because the Japanese had encountered such little resistance, they had grown complacent and overconfident.  So, they decided to mount an attack on the Japanese while they were sleeping and not expecting a direct assault.
   -This was actually a success, and the Joseon warriors managed to slay several hundred Japanese soldiers.
   -However, Kuroda Nagamasa soon arrived to save the day for the Japanese, which resulted in the Joseon forces retreating.  Unfortunately, as they fled back into the city, the Japanese decided to launch a full assault by crossing the Taedong River at the same shallow points that had been revealed by the Joseon troops.
      -Thus, Pyongyang finally fell on July 22.
-Kunishi Yukinaga had now conquered all 3 of Joseons "capital" cities (Gyeongju, Seoul, and Pyongyang), and had marched more than 600 km in 2 months!
-July 23- Ming General Zu Chengxun, along with his subcommander Shi Ru, crossed the Yalu River with 1000-5000 troops!  The Ming Chinese were about to enter the fight!

Black Water Dragon II

-Busan and Dongnae Fortress were crushed, and almost all of the Korean captives who weren't killed in combat were decapitated :(
-Yi Sun-sin gathered the remains of his 24 panokseon fleet and formed a defense at Yeosu Harbor.
   -During this time, the Japanese began to move out from Busan to march on Seoul.
      -Hideyoshi's pan was to have one army lead the charge on Seoul alone while the main army followed in a 3-pronged assault so that they wouldn't starve on the way.
         -Meant to be a targeted strike on Seoul, not a genocide of Koreans- Japan wanted to prove that they were better rulers than the Joseon rulers.  This, of course, was the plan on paper, because obviously the Japanese soldiers raped women, slaughtered civilians and animals, etc.
-The Japanese experienced little resistance as they began to move up the peninsula, since the local governor had ordered an evacuation of the common folk.
   -May 28- the Japanese take Daegu with very little resistance.
      -Yi Sun-sin found out about how the noob Joseon naval commanders of Gyeongsang Right and Left Navies fucked up, and began to freak out.
      -King Seonjo finally received news of the Japanese invasion during this time, and immediately began to finally make military preparations.
         -Kim Myong-won was appointed as military commander over all the Joseon armed forces, but he didn't have any military experience and was just some random Confucian official.
            -Below him was Sin Ip, a sub-commander with experience fighting the Jurchen, but was also overconfident.
               -Below HIM was Yi Il, another sub-commander.
            -Also, the court was STILL being plagued by infighting and petty bickering (instead of getting shit done).
-Sin Ip and Yi Il were then sent south to fight the Japanese while Kim Myong-won stayed in Seoul to manage the city.
   -Yi Il was promised 300 elite warriors for the defense of the south, and expected to lead this band of warriors south and amass a peasant army along the way.
      -However, he came to find that the troops given to him were scholars- not soldiers!
         -The Neo-Confucian philosophy was that education and knowledge were the ultimate source of power, so these men were "elites" in that sense, but not soldiers.
         -Yi Il dismissed them and angrily road south with 60 of the best archers he could find.  However, in every district he went to he had trouble raising troops because the army reserve lists were kept by the local government bureaucrats who didn't really give a shit, so they were old and outdated, and the people who were on the lists were able to get out of duty through loopholes, excuses, etc.
-Meanwhile, later that day, the 2nd Division Japanese troops (led by Katō Kiyomasa) landed in Busan.  These troops were comprised entirely of Nichiren Buddhists.
   -Hideyoshi now had 40,000 Japanese troops in Joseon, with 100,000 more on their way.
   -Kiyomasa, not to be outdone by the initial attack into Joseon led by Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi, immediately thrust north, taking Ulsan with very little resistance.  He then marched onto Gyeongju, where he made the really dickhead move of putting the entire city to the torch, burning a shitload of temples, books, treasures, etc., and decapitated more than 3000 citizens.  Then he marched on to conquer Yongcheon and Andong.  Really fucked up dude.
-At this same time, Kuroda Nagamasa landed with Hideyoshi's third division, near Busan.  Nagamasa was young, only 23, and wasn't really interested in competing for glory like all the other commanders were.
   -He eventually moved into the countryside and captured Gimhae.
-May 30- Yi Sunshin received word from Gyeongsang Province that they were in desperate need of troops for defense, but Yi Sunshin refused and instead continued to bide his time, studying nautical maps and building morale among his own troops.  He also executed any deserters who fled from his camp, passing around the head among the troops to set an example.
-Yi Il arrived at Sangju in order to fortify the city and make a stand against the Japanese, but found the town mysteriously deserted... everyone had evacuated!
   -A scout came back to report that the Japanese were nearby, in a small village a few km away.  Yi Il couldn't believe it, and had the scout decapitated (!) for spreading nonsense.  However, other scouts soon confirmed that this was true :(
   -Yi Il realized that he either had to fight with his band of archers, or retreat.
      -Konishi Yukinaga had split his army by sending off Sō Yoshitoshi with 6000 men to scout, and now they were near Yi Il's position.
         -The Koreans tried to make a stand, but were obviously easily overpowered immediately by the Japanese, and Yi Il quickly retreated to Chunju, where he regrouped with Shin Ip's army.
-By now, Shin Ip had like 8000 men in his army, mostly warriors who had retreated north as well reinforcements from Seoul.
   -Shin Ip felt that it was best to fight with the Japanese in a rice field near Chungju with his cavalry, but Yi Ip warned him that it made more sense to retreat to the mountains and force the Japanese to attack them at a disadvantaged lower position.  But Shin Ip was a cavalry general, and DGAF and wanted to shit done his way.  He believed that his cavalry was far superior to the Japanese forces.
      -Shin Ip felt that Yi Il was a coward and embarrassed that he had been defeated by the Japanese.
-Meanwhile, Konishi Yukinaga and Sō Yoshitoshi arrived at Bird Pass, and soon also met with Kato Kiyomasa, who was pissed off that they had forged ahead so quickly without sticking to the invasion plan.  Combined, they now had about 40,000 troops.
-June 6- Marching first, Konishi's forces then split off again on to go attack Chungju, defended by Shin Ip.
   -Shin Ip stupidly chose a position where his army was trapped, with the Han River behind him and a big hill to his right, leaving no convenient way to retreat.
      -However, this may not have been a total blunder.  Shin Ip was an experienced, educated general, and perhaps he felt like his cavalry was all that stood in protecting Seoul from the Japanese- his real mistake, however, was underestimating the Japanese.
         -Also, it was a classic Chinese strategy to fight with your back against the wall.  However, this was an obsolete strategy in the 16th century...
   -Konishi had about 10,000 men, and Sō Yoshitoshi had about 5,000 men.  Basic organization was musketeers in the front and swordsmen in the back.
      -The Japanese forces quickly attacked the Korean army's wings, and they fell so quickly that Shin Ip sent his cavalry to charge on the Japanese gunners, where they were quickly shot down before they could do any real damage.  The Japanese also tied burning reeds to draft animals and sent them into the Korean defensive lines, which caused confusion and more panic.
         -Shin Ip's forces began to flee, and many were run down or found and killed by the advancing Japanese.
            -Shin Ip drowned himself in the river in disgrace.
            -Yi Il survived, and hastily retreated back to Seoul.
   -A group of ninjas then were sent to infiltrate Chungju, and they were successful.  They set fires and soon opened the gates.
   -After the battle, Konishi and Kato got into a fight since Konishi was hogging all the action and glory.
      -They finally agreed on a plan to move forward after calming down, but when Kato went back to his camp he ordered his army to immediately pack up and move out.  Konishi then did the same.
         -After leaving Chungju, Kato's forces soon met with Kuroda Nagamasa's forces, and they marched on Seoul together.
-June 7- news of the battle at Chungju arrived at Seoul via a half-dead survivor who came to the gates announcing that Seoul needed to be evacuated immediately.
   -Seoul began to panic.
   -That night, the Joseon court had a meeting- Prime Minister Yi Sanhae argued that Seoul should be evacuated.  Yi Il agreed.
      -However, most argued that this was dumb because King Seonjo would lose popular support, and that also how could the court abandon their family's ancestral tombs and burial sites?
         -Realistically, it was clear that Seoul should be evacuated.  They only had only raised a pitiful army of 7,000 men, and Seoul had 27 km of walls that needed defending!
            -Many of these troops were rapidly deserting as well.
   -Finally, King Seonjo realized that it was extremely fucking obvious that defending Seoul was a ludicrous proposition, so he agreed to flee with the court north to Pyeongyang, which hadn't been a Korean capital since Gogoryeo.
      -King Seonjo also named his son, Gwanghae, as heir, and sent him to Jeolla Province to rally troops.  Another son, Imhae, was sent to Gangwon-do to do the same.
-June 8- the court packed as much of their shit as they could and evacuated the city.  Left behind were books, paintings, treasure, etc.
   -As they left the capital, many peasants hurled garbage and insults at them for being such shitty rulers.
      -Rioters immediately began looting and trashing the city.  Many buildings were ransacked, including the offices which contained all the slave records...

Black Water Dragon I

-1592- Joseon is invaded by the Japanese!
   -This war goes by many names: "The Seven Years War", "The Imjin War", "The Japanese Invasion of Korea", or even "The Japanese Calamity of the Year 'Imjin'".
      -"Imjin" means "Black Water Dragon", which refers to the year 1592 in the lunar calendar.
   -This was the first great war of Asia, fought between the 2 most powerful Asian nations- Japan and Ming China.

-Prologue:
   -In 1543, Portuguese missionaries are attacked by waegu and decide to flee to Okinawa (instead of trying to make it back to Malacca (Portuguese colony in Malaysia)).  However, there was a storm, and their boat ended up landing in Tanegashima, an island south of Kyushu (but still a part of Japan).
      -The Japanese there had probably never seen white people before, but they were able to communicate by drawing Chinese characters on the beach with a stick (the boat captain was Chinese).
         -The Portuguese also had some firearms, 2 of which the Japanese bought out of curiosity.
            -These firearms were arquebuses (precursor to the musket).
         -This wasn't actually the first time the Japanese had encountered gunpowder, as they had seen it before when the Mongols had attempted to invade (bringing with them Chinese-style cannons).  However, the Japanese at the time believed that these cannons were unreliable, heavy, and a pain in the ass to lug around (especially in the Japanese mountainous countryside).  Therefore, the Japanese hadn't bothered to copy or modify this technology.
         -The Japanese ended up being interested in the arquebus enough to try and create some for themselves, but had too much trouble getting it exactly right, so eventually they just hired a Portuguese blacksmith to show them how to do it properly.  Soon, all the Japanese warlords were frantically trying to manufacture these weapons for themselves, believing that this technology held the key to the domination of Japan.
   -Eventually, the daimyō Noba Nobunaga realized that it was dumb to try and equip his samurai warriors with arquebuses because they were much better with their longbows.  However, peasants armed with these weapons was a different matter...
   -The Battle of Nagashino was a watershed moment for Japan, in which Nobunaga's strategy of peasants armed with arquebuses as an addition to his army really made it obvious that warfare in Japan was changing.
      -Oda Nobunaga died in 1582 and was replaced by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a loyal supporter and eventual unifier of all of Japan!
         -However, he did not receive the title of "shogun" by the Japanese Emperor because he didn't come from a noble family.  Thus, Hideyoshi was always insecure about this, which maybe played a role in his lust for constantly expanding his power and attaining respect.
            -Also, Hideyoshi knew that he had to keep all of the warlords under him busy, otherwise they could turn on him.
               -He soon realized that Ming China was just a shell of its former self, and that it was only a few days away by ship from Japan...

-1580s
   -At this point, the Ming dynasty was like 300 years old and had been in bad shape for awhile, but things were actually improving during this time and they weren't actually doing THAT badly.
   -The Ming also had firearms too, but they were inferior to the Portuguese/Japanese arquebuses.
      -However, one of the biggest problems in the Ming dynasty during this time was that its military generals were ruling over their respective provinces as if they were lords themselves, and the state was rife with corruption.
         -These generals also inflated their troop numbers in order to get more funding from the Ming government.
            -It was reported that overall, the Ming had a standing army of 3 million soldiers, but really it was probably more like roughly 900,000 (or less).  The corruption went all the way up to the Wanli Emperor himself, who would use the army for extortion.
               -It was obvious that this was a huge problem when, at one point, a Mongol warlord was able to lead an army almost to Beijing before meeting any resistance.
   -The Ming also tried to alleviate their military problem by having barbarians on the borders fight for them and act as buffers against other barbarians.
      -They finally seemed to get it together, however, and things began to slowly improve internally.
   -During this time also the ruler of China was the Wanli Emperor, who had been enthroned as a boy in 1572 and would rule until 1620, the longest of any Ming dynasty ruler.
      -Early on, he was a seemingly good ruler who was energetic and active.

-Joseon
   -Meanwhile, the Joseon dynasty was experiencing a lot of the same corruption as the Ming.
      -Due to the nature of Joseon taking Confucianism even more seriously than the Chinese, corruption was widespread and there was a strong opposition to any attempt at change or reform.
         -Also, in order to prevent generals from amassing too much power away from Seoul, they were all kept close to the capital, which meant that the army was poorly maintained since the higher-ups didn't really know what was going on with their men out in the provinces.
         -The quality of regular officers was low as well, due to the military exam being very easy and the general requirements being only to be physically able to fight and be brave.  However, this was really outdated in terms of how you would go about looking for whoever is qualified to lead as an officer.
            -Also, in the Confucian hierarchy, being in the military wasn't very prestigious, and was usually a back-up plan for those who failed the Civil Service Exam.
            -The government bureaucrats also had more power than the military officers.  Bureaucrats were allowed to change military commands and take over as commanders themselves if they wanted to.  The only prestigious military positions were generals, who were usually just civilian bureaucrats anyway.
               -It was believed that a great scholar would also make a great military leader, which is obviously bullshit.
   -The Joseon dynasty also for whatever reason failed to keep up their system of fire beacons built around the peninsula (which included 700 mountaintop stations!), which would belch forth smoke during the day and fire at night.
      -Civilians didn't want to do it, and it was usually left up to political exiles to operate the beacons...which was obviously a terrible idea.
   -During this time the Joseon dynasty army wasn't completely inactive with their army.
      -There were constant skirmishes with Jurchen hordes and/or other barbarian hordes of the north, plus constant waegu raids in the south.
   -Army recruitment was difficult since so many citizens were exempt from duty, plus 30% of the Joseon population were actually slaves (and thus unable to serve in the army)!
      -The actual warriors of the army were good fighters, but poorly led.
         -The Joseon cavalry was pretty badass though, and great in hand-to-hand combat (although they still weren't as good as the Jurchen in this respect).
            -Joseon cavalry's favored weapon was the pyeongon, a kind of wooden flail inspired by the tool used by farmers to thresh rice.
         -Joseon infantry were set up mostly as anti-cavalry troops with polearms, spears, and tridents, and usually only wore padded armor and a felt cap.  They also occasionally had bamboo shields.
         -Joseon archers were some of the best in the world during this time, with the powerful gakgung (composite bow), which could fire up to 450 meters!  In comparison, samurai bows could only shoot up to 300.
            -During this time Joseon archers also used flaming and explosive arrows.
         -Joseon also had the mighty hwacha rocket launcher, capable of firing up to 200 singijeon (fire arrows) in a volley at once!
         -Joseon also created a new kind of boat that had a bunch of cannons and was covered so that it was more difficult to capture by pirates- the panokseon ("board-roofed ship").  Joseon loved loading these up with hwachas as well.
            -It also had a giant-ass cannon called "heaven cannon" (cheonja-chongtong) weighing 300 kg and had a huge 1.3 long barrel with a caliber of 12cm.
            -The heaven cannon usually fired an iron-tipped wooden bolt that also had gunpowder inside sometimes.  It also had iron fins which made it heavier, but also more aerodynamic.  Really brutal stuff.  Sometimes also fired small stones or lead, like a grapeshot.
            -Also, Joseon warships were made of really tough pine wood.
            -To attack coastal fortifications, the Joseon navy would usually use a primitive, inaccurate, 300kg bronze mortar that could fire a heavy stone at about 400 meters.  The name of the projectile roughly translates as "Flying Striking Earthquake Heaven Thunder", and was a hollow iron ball packed with gunpowder and a timed fuse.
-During this time, King Seonjo was the ruler of Joseon.
   -Started out as a capable ruler, and quickly worked to try and put an end to the pesky raiding of the northern barbarian hordes, but found that the political Neo-Confucian system was too fucked up to get anything done.
      -The court was split between the "East" and "West" factions, and was stuck in a brutal deadlock and completely paralyzed.
         -Because of this, Joseon faced an existential threat when Japan threatened to invade, but couldn't do anything about it due to this paralysis.

-Diplomacy
   -Diplomacy between the Ming dynasty, Joseon, and Japan during this time was complex.
   -Usually the Japanese wanted Ming luxury goods and would obtain them through Joseon because Joseon had a bunch of Ming stuff.
   -During the early days of the Ming dynasty, the Japanese had actually sent tribute to the Ming and in return had been acknowledged as a tributary state (really a bunch of states, but was technically considered one I guess due to being "unified" under the Japanese emperor).
      -The Ming in return offered gifts for their submissions.
      -However, relations had soured due to Japanese piracy, a riot by Japanese traders in a Chinese port city, and the collapse of centralized power in Japan during the warring states period.
   -Although the Japanese still continued to trade with Joseon, they were still butthurt that Joseon had participated in Kublai Khan's invasion of Japan.
      -Joseon always viewed Japan as a backwards, superstitious barbarians.  This was probably due to so many Japanese resorting to piracy over the years.
   -Joseon viewed China as the pinnacle of civilization, and always tried to emulate their style and culture, seeing them as like an older brother.
   -There were religious components to this too:
      -Joseon wanted to be SO Confucian (like the Chinese) that they ended up being more Confucian than the Chinese actually were.
      -Meanwhile, Buddhism continued to spread to Japan from the Korean peninsula, so the Japanese ended up being more hardcore about Buddhism than anyone else (like how Joseon became more Confucian than China).
         -Joseon would have perhaps been a similar case to Japan regarding Buddhism, but during this time Joseon's hardcore Neo-Confucian philosophical elite suppressed the practice of Buddhism in the kingdom.
   -The waegu were also becoming a problem again, especially from Tsushima Island where the lord there had lost control of the island during Japan's Warring States period, so during the chaos there the waegu were thriving.
   -Because China was the center of the Asian world and the Ming dynasty its rulers, the power-hungry Hideyoshi felt that it should belong to him.

-Mounting Tensions
   -Tensions rose between Joseon and Hideyoshi when Hideyoshi sent emissaries all over Asia, but Joseon didn't even know who Hideyoshi was and probably thought he was just some noob.
      -After meeting his emissaries Joseon believed that Hideyoshi wasn't actually a real shogun that should be shown respect a legitimate representative of Japan (a fellow tributary state of the Ming dynasty).  In their eyes, Hideyoshi was just some upstart rebel.
   -1586- Hideyoshi commanded Lord Sō Yoshitoshi of Tsushima Island to go to Joseon and demand submission to Japan, and also for Joseon to begin preparations for the invasion of Ming China.
      -Yoshitoshi was screwed either way because if Joseon said yes, then he would lose his trade monopoly with Joseon, but if they said no then they would then see him as their enemy and close their ports to him.
   -Yoshitoshi decided to take a risk, and altered the message, saying that Joseon was to send an ambassador to Hideyoshi with a message of goodwill instead of submission.
      -In order to have a degree of deniability, Yoshitoshi sent a messenger instead of himself so that he could blame the messenger in case the shit hit the fan.
         -However, the messenger was a noob who acted like an asshole when he arrived in Joseon, so this naturally probably pissed off the Joseon court.  Embarrassed, Yoshitoshi had the noob messenger executed when he returned to Tsushima Island.
-The Joseon court reaction about Hideyoshi was split, but to bide their time they sent a message to Yoshitoshi saying that they couldn't send a diplomatic mission to Japan because Japan was too far away and also that they were poor sailors (haha).
   -Many Joseon courtiers felt that Hideyoshi was bluffing- he was still fighting resistance forces in Japan (they believed)!  How could he possibly have enough power to conquer the Ming dynasty?
-Hideyoshi decided to test the Joseon defenses, and sent scouts to make light attacks against Joseon ships.  The scouts reported that the Joseon ships were timid and weak.
   -The Joseon response?  Jack shit.  Some courtiers wanted to conscript peasants to guard the coast, but there was still the threat of the Jurchen hordes in the north, and so the Joseon decided it was best to make sure that the defense of the north was their main priority.
-1588- Hideyoshi sends a new envoy to Joseon, this time Yoshitoshi himself.  However, King Seonjo still refused to send a friendly envoy to Japan.
   -In 1589, Yoshitoshi tried once more to persuade King Seonjo to get in bed with Japan.
      -The Joseon government finally said that they would consider sending an envoy to Japan, but only if they could first receive some Korean criminals who had fled the kingdom and become waegu.  Yoshitoshi arranged for some random Koreans living in Japan to be brought back (who knows if they were actually criminals),  The "criminals" were then executed at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul.
         -At the event, King Seonjo was given a gift from the Japanese- an arquebus.  In return, King Seonjo selected a beautiful warhorse from his personal stable.
      -Oddly enough, the Joseon government didn't really bother to check out the arquebus with much interest, seeing it as a barbarian toy more than anything else.  Big mistake!
-Meanwhile, Joseon spies began reporting back that the Japanese threat was legit- Hideyoshi was building hundreds of warships, raising a huge army!
   -The Joseon court was completely paralyzed with so many options, but most of the court seemed to believe that the Japanese didn't pose a significant threat to Joseon.
      -Another problem was that there was too much petty Neo-Confucian bickering and shit that obstructed any realistic, effective legislation.
         -Finally, in 1590 King Seonjo agreed to send a diplomatic envoy of friendship and goodwill to Japan.  Hwang Yun-gil (leader of the Western faction) and Kim Seong-il (leader of the Eastern faction) were sent from Busan to Japan.  They first arrived, however, at Tsushima Island, where they stayed for a month.  While they were there, there was some drama with the seating arrangements not being correct or something, and Kim Seong-il had a meltdown!
            -In order to calm things down, Yoshitoshi had some servants executed, which I guess smoothed things over.
         -They finally arrived in Kyoto in August, but Hideyoshi was gone, putting down some rebels.  They had to wait for another few months (until December!), and during that time were forced to stay in a boring temple and eat boring food.
            -Finally, they met with Hideyoshi and gave him his gifts and shit.  Because of the misunderstanding due to Yoshitoshi, Hideyoshi didn't feel the need to see the envoys again due to them being there to give him tribute, and gave them a letter instead for King Seonjo warning that Joseon was to aid him in conquering Ming China, or else face obliteration!!
               -Kim Seong-il felt that this wasn't serious, and that Hideyoshi was just being a moron.  However, Hwang Yun-gil knew that war was imminent, and immediately sent messengers to Seoul to warn the king.
-King Seonjo finally made a decision- there was no way he could betray the Ming dynasty!  They were like an older brother/father to Joseon!
   -Joseon began to make preparations for war in the south, especially in Gyeongsang Province near Daegu, Dongnae, Busan, and Jinju, with earthen walls, fortifications, etc.
-One official who oversaw these preparations was one of the greatest naval commanders / Korean heroes of all time- Yi Sun-sin!!
   -Born to an upper-middle class family in Seoul.  Had served the government since the Goryeo dynasty until his grandfather had been purged from service in 1519, and afterwards the family had declined a bit.
      -Yi Sun-sin went into the military because he had older brothers who were prepping for the civil service exam, and his family couldn't support all of them doing so.
         -In the military he became renowned as a skilled swordsman and archer.
   -Established himself early as a capable military officer when he was stationed in Hamgyong Province (in modern-day North Korea) fighting the Jurchen.
-1580- Became a naval officer and was stuck in Jeolla Province.
   -Although he was obviously a badass, his stubbornness and unwavering ethics/morals caused the higher-ups to dislike him since he was not susceptible to corruption.
      -1583- Sent back to the north to fight the Jurchen again.
         -Actually managed to capture a Jurchen chief- Mu Pai Nai.
         -Had to leave the army for 3 years (because his father died), but he returned in 1586.
   -He had further success against the Jurchen and was noted for his bravery, but the other officers were jealous assholes and so they lied and had claimed that Yi Sun-sin had deserted a battle, so he was demoted, imprisoned, and tortured.  He continued to serve after this, however, as a normal soldier.
      -However, Yi Sun-sin's luck changed when his old childhood friend, Ryu Seong-ryong, had become a high-ranking minister who decided to help him out.
-1590- Yi Sun-shin was appointed as a military commander in Jeolla Province, stationed at a garrison on Wan Island.
   -Before that he had also been appointed as a garrison commander at several other places too, but this was his first big position before finally hitting it big as an admiral.
-1591- Yi Sun-sin was appointed as naval commander of the "Left Jeolla" (eastern half of Jeolla Province) thanks to Ryu Seong-ryong's favor with King Seonjo.
   -This was considered a cushy job since the Left Jeolla navy was kind of a joke and poorly managed.
      -However, Yi Sun-sin immediately began to turn things around by running it pretty tightly, with harsh punishments, executions (for major defenses), but also rewards as well.
         -Also began to repair badly maintained ships, construct new ships, and build fortifications and defensive stations and weapons.
         -Soon, Yi Sun-sin had transformed the navy under his command into the best in the kingdom, and also had a strength of 24 panokseon ships.
-Why didn't the Ming dynasty combine forces with Joseon to fight Japan?
   -Because the Ming found out about what was going on via messengers from the Ryukyu Islands, who had heard from the Japanese messengers that Joseon had allegedly agreed to attack the Ming along with Hideyoshi.
      -This was because Hideyoshi had believed Joseon had sent him tribute, not a "good will" mission like Joseon had thought they were doing.
         -The Ming, naturally, were really pissed off!  Joseon hadn't mentioned anything to them about this, so they felt betrayed!
      -Finally, soon after the Ming found out about what was going on from the Ryukyu messengers, the Joseon messengers arrived.  Japan was about to attack Joseon!
         -Joseon had many allies in the Ming court, but the Wanli Emperor was still very suspicious.
            -1591- Ming sent diplomats twice to Joseon to see when the deal was.
-Fall of 1591- Hideyoshi had finally had enough of Joseon, and soon Japanese merchants and travelers began to be mysteriously absent from Busan...
-Hideyoshi's plan:
   -Initially wanted to invade the Ryukyu Islands before hitting Taiwan and then southern China, which at the same time another force would travel through Joseon (assuming they were friendly) and attack Beijing.
   -Finalized plan:  the above was too complicated.  Just go straight through Joseon, full-strength!
      -After taking Joseon and the Ming, Hideyoshi had his sights set on conquering Vietnam, Thailand, and even India!
-Hideyoshi then changed his HQ from Kyoto to Karatsu, Kyushu, and constructed Karatsu Castle as his center of power.
   -He raised a massive army of 335,000 men.  100,000 were to  remain in Japan as a defensive force should the Ming decide to launch a counterattack.
   -3 divisions leading the attack:
      -First division:
         -Led by Konishi Yukinaga (AKA Agostinho (converted to Catholicism), from Osaka, Kansai region) and Sō Yoshitoshi (AKA Dario (converted to Catholicism under the influence of Konishi Yukinaga), from Tsushima Island), and some other minor generals.
      -Second Division:
         -Led by Katō Kiyomasa (from Nagoya, Chūbu region), Nabeshima Naoshige (from Hizen, Kyushu). and other minor generals.
      -Third Division:
         -Led by Kuroda Nagamasa (from Himeji, Kansai region), and some dude named Otomo Yoshimada.
   -During this time, some of the commanders were Christians (see above), and many of the Japanese soldiers actually were as well.  These were not the samurai of the Japanese old days- this was the NEW Japanese army, made up of both samurai and peasants, some of whom were Christian.
      -Hideyoshi actually hated Christianity himself, but saw Christians as important in his success.  However, some speculate that Hideyoshi sent many of these Christian commanders and troops as the first in line during the invasion (shock troops, kind of) so that they'd die before the non-Christian troops.
-Before the arrival of the Japanese troops, the Joseon court was still discussing the potential threat.  General Sin Rip believed that the Japanese were short, weak, and bad fighters.  Also, he believed that their guns were lousy and inferior to Korean bows.
-The main problem and reason for why the Japanese were so dangerous to Joseon was because of incompetence.
   -Too many government officials stupidly believed that Hideyoshi was an idiot and didn't have the strength or intelligence to pull off an invasion.
      -Also, the generals or officials in charge of preparations were incompetent, or didn't believe the Japanese were a threat.
-Meanwhile, Yi Sun-sin had been developing an experimental new ship, which was to be revealed very soon...
-April 13, 1592- Hideyoshi launches his attack from Tsushima Island!
   -Due to bad tower upkeep and management, the tower beacon warning system wasn't able to carry the message to Seoul and was only confined to Gyeongsang Province.
   -The Japense ships (about 90) began to group at Busan Harbor.
      -By evening, around 300 had arrived.  By night, 400!
   -Both Gyeongsang navies (right and left) didn't attack and just watched, unable to believe the size.
      -They believed that maybe it was a huge tribute mission from Japan as an apology (yeah fucking right!).
      -They had 150 panokseon ships that could have easily taken on the shitty Japanese ships (which didn't even have cannons).
   -That night, the Japanese met with the commander of the forces of Busan one last time to demand that Joseon allow the Japanese passage into Ming China.  Joseon officials refused, so the Japanese decided that time was up and war had begun!
      -The Japanese troops began to disembark and lay siege to Busan.
         -While Sō Yoshitoshi laid siege to Busan, Konishi Yukinaga laid siege to Dadaejin Fortress.
   -At Busan, Sō Yoshitoshi asked the Busan commander (Jeong Bal) one last, final time to surrendur to the Japanese, but Jeong Bal refused.  So, the Japanese attacked!
      -Joseon quickly realized that their poorly-trained conscripts, armed with bows and spears, were no match for the Japanese arquebus firepower.
         -By the next morning, Busan had fallen and Jeong Bal was dead, and the Japanese had really fucked up the city, killing men, women, and even dogs and cats!
-During this time, the Japanese ships remained unprotected in the harbor, but the cowardly Park Hong was not too scared to strike and fled north with his fleet.
   -There was also a sea battle fought against Won Gyun of the Gyeongsang Right Navy, but he was defeated due to the aggressive Japanese tactics of assaulting the ships and drawing them into hand-to-hand combat.
      -40 panokseon were destroyed.
      -Won Gyun led the retreat to Geoje Island, and then Hansan Island.  As boats loomed closer, Won Gyun believed they were Japanese, so he began sinking the panokseons...but stopped when he found out that they were just Joseon fishing boats.
         -Only 4 panokseons remained lol.
-Only the Jeolla commanders remained now, and they only had 100 panokseons between them.
   -Also, even though Busan had fallen, Dongnae Fortress nearby remained as a rallying point for Joseon forces.
      -However, once the poorly-trained conscript peasant forces realized that Busan had been crushed, the army began to dissolve as people panicked and fled.
         -The governor of the area even declared Dongnae as officially fucked, and fled to Seoul.
            -Forces remained at Dongnae Fortress, however, but refused to submit to the Japanese and were quickly annihilated :(