-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!
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