-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!
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
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!
-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!
Monday, May 1, 2017
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.
-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.
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