Korean History Time: The Imjin War (part 2)
Last time we left off, the Japanese have been preparing for their invasion of the Korean peninsula, and Joseon is is no way prepared for war. How will this conflict play out? Will Korea’s 200 year era of peace ultimately end in its demise? Let’s dive into part 2!
The year is 1592. Joseon is defenseless, as no preparations have been made for the past year. On April 13, 1592, Japanese forces landed at the southern coast city of Busan. The entire Korean army was sent by the government to push back the Japanese invasion. In what became known as the Battle of Chungju, the 10,000-strong Korean force was annihilated.
The whole country was now in panic. King Seonjo demanded that a new army be created immediately. However, fearing that they’d be drafted into the army, the scholars of Joseon gathered and pleaded before the government.
“We’ve stayed inside all of our life,” they protested. “We haven’t touched a sword once! How can we go and fight the Japanese?”
Government officials desperately trying to find reinforcements, scholars protesting army conscription, and all while the Japanese were marching to the capital…
Joseon was not in a good spot.
From Chungju, the Japanese had no resistance as they marched to Hanyang (present day Seoul). It only took them 20 days to reach the capital. The Korean palace was captured by the Japanese on May 3rd, 1592.
It looked like Joseon’s era was finally over…
But this is where things change. Though Japan had prepared this invasion for seven years, they didn’t account for three things. It is because of these three things that the Imjin War turned in Joseon’s favor.
Can you guess what these three things are?
Beep! Time’s up! Let’s look at the answers.
The incredible speed at which King Seonjo fled the country.
If the Japanese wanted to do a complete conquest of the Korean peninsula, they would have attacked Jeolla-do, the breadbasket (or ricebasket) of Joseon for supplies. The reason the Japanese marched directly to the capital Hanyang was to capture King Seonjo and end the war as quickly as possible, then use Korean resources to invade China. Makes sense right?
Problem was, King Seonjo was nowhere to be found when the Japanese searched the Korean palace. Where’d he go? Scared out of his mind, the Korean king had fled to Pyongyang!
Set on capturing the king, the Japanese followed him to Pyongyang. Surely he wouldn’t flee again, right? Nope! When the Japanese arrived in Pyongyang, Seonjo reached Uiju, a border town between Korea and Ming China. If pursued further, Seonjo would have definitely fled into China.
The Japanese were dumbfounded. How could a leader desert his own people and palace? It didn’t make sense to the Japanese, whose code of honor obligated warlords to fight to the death and never retreat. They had never experienced this kind of situation before. Talk about culture shock!
Ryu Seong-ryong’s genius move: Grand Admiral Yi Sun-shin.
In every war, the most important thing is the delivery of supplies to the troops. Because of Japan’s staggering progress up the Korean Peninsula, Japanese supply trains were struggling to keep up. In fact, to move supplies from Busan to Hanyang, it took around 500 horses. Not only that, Korea was very mountainous, which slowed down the supply trains even further.
However, to move the same amount of supplies by sea, the Japanese only needed a single ship. Obviously, moving supplies by sea was the better option. Soon, Japanese ships were crossing the Korean Strait and moving through the Yellow Sea to deliver supplies to Korea’s west coast.
This is where Ryu Seong-ryong’s genius move comes into play. He appointed Yi Sun-shin, a man of integrity and effort, as the Grand Admiral of the Joseon Navy. Whereas other commanders had relaxed in the face of a period of peace, Yi Sun-shin had seen the signs of war coming over the horizon and had prepared for it. He trained his men in naval maneuvers and tactics, so that when the Imjin War began, his men were ready.
Yi Sun-shin and his prepared forces cut off Japan’s sea supply route, preventing the Japanese from chasing after King Seonjo in Uiju. Without any supplies, the Japanese were stuck in Pyongyang, and winter was fast approaching…
The Korean militias.
Remember how the Japanese spies had reported that half of Joseon was made up of the nobi class, the slaves? The Japanese spies had reported that if their forces just pushed Joseon slightly, all resistance would disintegrate. They were mistaken.
The common people that had seemed so fragile gathered their farm tools and formed militias all over the Korean peninsula. At night, they would sneak into Japanese camps, set everything on fire, and disappear into the darkness. Sabotage, stealing, spoiling food and drinking water—these were all things that the Korean people did to inconvenience the Japanese invaders.
It certainly was effective. Now, by the sea, the Japanese supply route had been cut off by Yi Sun-shin, and by land, Korean peasants were draining the strength of their armies.
From its foundation, Joseon Dynasty had been a tributary state under China, most notably the Ming Dynasty. So when Joseon was invaded by Japan, it should have definently drawn the attention of Ming China. However, Ming China assumed Joseon could handle it by itself and ignored the invasion. That is, until King Seonjo appeared at the border and pleaded with the Chinese emperor for help.
The Korean peninsula had long been a tributary state under China. A painting of Korean envoys to Tang China, circa 645 AD
7 months into the Imjin War, Chinese reinforcements crossed into the Korean peninsula. Not only that, the ferocious Korean winter had set in. The Japanese, still trapped in Pyongyang, were brutally hit by the freezing temperatures of the north. But the Chinese and the Koreans, accustomed to the cold weather, continued to advance towards Pyongyang. The Japanese realized that a full confrontation was impossible and began retreating back to Hanyang.
Full victory for Joseon seemed in sight, but the Chinese made a mistake. A Chinese commander, in his haste, chased after the Japanese forces and walked into a trap. When the Chinese forces suffered a loss, Ming China initiated a truce between the Japanese and the Koreans.
With their retreat secured during peace talks, the Japanese headed towards Hanyang comfortably. This frustrated the Korean forces, who wanted to continue chasing the Japanese invaders and annihilate them. But because of Joseon’s position as a protectorate under China, they were forced to accept Chinese orders. The Koreans could only watch as their vulnerable enemies pranced back to Hanyang.
In Jingbirok, Ryu Seong-ryong recalls his frustration with the state of events and his powerlessness to change them.
As peace talks continued, Toyotomi Hideyoshi demanded that the Chinese emperor send his daughter to become his concubine. That pissed off the Chinese emperor, so the truce ended.
The Imjin War resumed in 1597. The Japanese, hoping to draw Admiral Yi Sun-shin away from key supply routes, leaked false intel of a Japanese invasion force landing at Busan. King Seonjo, panicking at the thought, ordered Yi Sun-shin to position his navy in front of the city of Busan. But Yi Sun-shin disagreed.
“First of all, this ‘intel’ we got is from the Japanese,” Yi Sun-shin argued, “and second, the waters of the Korean strait are rough.”
Yi Sun-shin explained to the king that a naval battle in the Korean strait would be difficult and disadventageous due to its rough waters, meaning that the sailors would need more supplies such as drinking water to sustain their rowing (Korean battleships were propelled by oars).
However, King Seonjo was a very insecure man. At this time, the Korean people, instead of following the king as he fled from Hanyang to Pyongyang to Uiju, had flocked to coastal cities, knowing that the coasts of Korea were protected by the Grand Admiral’s forces. Jealous, King Seonjo used Yi Sun-shin’s reluctance as an excuse to imprison him under the charge of insubordination.
“The West Party, jealous of my political power, attacked Yi Sun-shin,” Ryu Seong-ryong writes in Jingbirok. “This is because I was the one who appointed him, and they believed that defaming him would also bring down my political power.”
Painting of Ryu Seong-ryong, Chief State Councillor of Joseon
Even in a national crisis, politicians were still thinking about their own interests. Searching for an excuse to politically undermine the East Party, the West Party pounced on the opportunity when Yi Sun-shin refused to follow King Seonjo’s orders. They arrested Yi Sun-shin and brought him to Hanyang, where they convinced the king to sentence Yi Sun-shin to death after torture.
But Ryu Seong-ryong knew that Joseon’s only hopes of winning a war against Japan relied on Yi Sun-shin. He pleaded with the king to show mercy to a war hero, reminding King Seonjo that it was all thanks to Yi Sun-shin’s efforts that the Japanese advance was halted.
King Seonjo lets Yi Sun-shin go, but not before demoting him to the lowest rank in the military. Though Yi Sun-shin suffered horrible torture during his imprisonment, the emotional and mental pain was far worse. The humiliation that Yi Sun-shin endured under selfish politicians, and the accusations of treason, were more painful than torture could ever be. He sacrificed so much for Joseon, and Joseon repaid by calling him a traitor.
That same year, Yi Sun-shin’s mother had been traveling to Hanyang to see him while he was imprisoned, but she passed away on the trip to the capital. His son, who was also in the Korean military, died in a battle against the Japanese. Yi Sun-shin had lost his pride, his mother, and his son, all in the same year.
On July 15th, 1597, the Korean navy was demolished by the Japanese in the Korean Strait, lost due to the incompetence of an amateur commander appointed during Yi Sun-shin’s absence. The government officials, realizing what a decrepit navy might mean for Korean security, begged King Seonjo to reinstate Yi Sun-shin as the Grand Admiral of the Joseon Navy.
King Seongjo relented, and when Admiral Yi Sun-shin returned, he only had 12 ships remaining. Yet, he saw these 12 ships as an opportunity, rather than a loss. With just 12 ships, Admiral Yi Sun-shin annihilated the 300-strong Japanese navy at the famous Battle of Myeongnyang.
The year is now 1598. Toyotomi Hideyoshi passes away, leaving only his five-year-old son. With Toyotomi Hideyoshi gone, nobody else has the motivation to keep trying against the Koreans, who have been fierce in resistance. Who else would want to fight? There’s one man who wants to keep fighting.
That’s right. It’s Yi Sun-shin. Admiral Yi believed that the military’s duty is not only to defend the country, but also to prevent future invasions. He thought that if Joseon just allowed Japanese soldiers to peacefully return home, the Japanese government would think that Joseon was just a pushover and attempt an invasion at a later time.
In order to send the Japanese the message that invading Korea was a fatal mistake, Yi Sun-shin ordered his navy to attack fleeing Japanese vessels.
In the final battle of the Imjin War, the Battle of Noryang, Yi Sun-shin’s combined naval force of Korean and Chinese warships attacked the remnants of the Japanese navy. Since Korean cannons were far superior to Japanese firearms, Admiral Yi Sun-shin ordered his forces to attack from a distance. This proved very effective, and the Japanese fleet was significantly damaged.
The Chinese admiral, who had little experience fighting the Japanese, thought it safe enough to engage them in hand-to-hand combat. The Chinese admiral ordered his fleet to engage. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, as the Japanese’s melee combat skills far surpassed those of the Koreans and Chinese.
Yi Sun-shin, seeing that the Chinese admiral was in trouble, ordered his navy to engage in hand-to-hand combat as well and rescue him. On one of the Japanese ships attacking the Chinese flagship, Admiral Yi spotted three Japanese admirals. He drew back his bow and let the arrow fly. The Japanese admiral fell to the deck, dead. The other Japanese admirals, realizing where the arrow had come from, ordered all Japanese vessels to attack Yi Sun-shin’s flagship.
Once the Japanese vessels turned from the Chinese fleet and began attacking the Korean forces, the Chinese admiral ordered all Chinese cannons to fire upon the Japanese. The Japanese ships were torn apart, and soon they began to retreat.
But Yi Sun-shin would have none of it. No way would he let the soldiers that terrorized his homeland go away scot-free. Yi Sun-shin took the mallet from his war drummer and began to beat the war drum himself, motivating his Korean forces to pursue the Japanese with all they had.
However, in the midst of battle, the war drum stopped…
Yi Sun-shin was shot by a stray Japanese bullet. Knowing that he wouldn’t survive, Admiral Yi told the only witnesses—his son, his nephew, and his closest officer: “We are about to win the war—keep beating the war drums. Do not let anyone know of my death.”
With those final words, the great admiral passed away. For the rest of the battle, Yi’s nephew wore his armor and continued to beat the war drum to let the allied navy know that the Grand Admiral was still fighting. Together, Yi’s son and nephew ordered the Korean fleet just as Yi would have done, and destroyed the remnants of the Japanese navy.
When the battle came to a close, the Chinese admiral sailed to Admiral Yi’s flagship and invited him to celebrate the glorious victory with drinks and a feast. However, when Yi’s nephew met the Chinese admiral instead, the Chinese admiral knew instantly what had happened, and it is said that he fell to the ground three times, beating his chest and crying for the man who had saved his life.
After the Battle of Noryang, the rest of Japan’s forces were captured by joint Joseon and Ming forces. The Imjin War was finally over.
At Yi Sun-shin’s funeral, the Chinese admiral gave a eulogy, and the Joseon court gave him the posthumous rank of “Minister of the Right” and the title “Martial Lord of Loyalty.”
In Jingbirok, Ryu Seong-ryong laments the death of Yi Sun-shin, who he said had so many talents but died before they could blossom.
Thank you for reading this blog about the Imjin War! I hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you next time!
