In modern times, people often criticize the weakness of the Ming army, but this idea has proved to be actually wrong, and its strength cannot be underestimated by several wars against the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's War of Resistance against The Ming Dynasty and Aid Korea
The War of Resistance Against Wu and Aid Korea was at the end of the 16th century, the Wukou invaded Goryeo and broke out into a war, the Wukou called the Battle of Wenlu Gyeongchang, at the beginning of the war, Goryeo lost its territory, collapsed thousands of miles, facing the crisis of national subjugation, Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty in order to save the vassals, while stabilizing the frontier, carried out the War of Resistance against the Wu dynasty and aid Korea. The war lasted for seven years and was divided into two phases, the first from the beginning of the war to the ming army's reconquest of Wang Jing. In the second stage, Hideyoshi made a comeback from the Wokou Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the Victorious Class of the Ming Army. However, due to internal political problems, the Ming army did not pursue the enemy, and only conducted some small tug-of-war for several years, until the large-scale attack of the Ming army later in the war, and finally won the victory.
In this war, the Ming generals fought bravely, and after several major battles such as the Battle of Bihe and the Battle of Luliang, Li Rusong, Ma Gui, Deng Zilong and other anti-Wu heroes emerged, and this war was the last expedition of the ancient Chinese Han Dynasty to a foreign land. In the end, the Ming Dynasty won the war, saved Goryeo and defended Daming. The war had a profound impact on the Ming Dynasty, Goryeo and the Wokou.
Battle of Pyongyang during the Ming Dynasty
After the Ming army entered the Dynasty, there were two battles in Pyongyang, the first of which was commanded by Zu Chengxun, the deputy commander of the Liaodong Army, but due to the light enemy's adventurous advance and the lack of understanding of the enemy's situation, it led to defeat. The Battle of Pyongyang studied in this article is the second Battle of Pyongyang conducted after the Ming Army entered Korea. Under the command of Li Rusong, the admiral of the Liaodong Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, it won a great victory in Pyongyang, reversed the critical war situation at that time, dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army, gave the Japanese army its first major blow after entering the DPRK, and was an important turning point in the War to Resist And Aid Korea.
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and Aid to Korea during the Ming Dynasty has long been a major issue discussed by the academic community. In the famous "Three Great Marches of the Wanli Calendar", the War to Resist The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and Aid Korea was known for its largest scale, heaviest significance, and most far-reaching impact.
The Ming army compared the strength of the enemy
The gap in military equipment between the two armies is enormous. After Zu Chengxun's fiasco against the light enemy, the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to winning the war, and specially instructed the Dali Temple to allocate funds to build military equipment, so the Ming army's preparation for the weapons and equipment for this war in Korea was very sufficient. In ancient China, the Ming Dynasty was the golden age for the development of gunpowder weapons in China, and many advanced firearms that were ahead of the world were invented and created in the Ming Dynasty. According to the "Wu Bi Zhi", among the firearms used during the Ming Dynasty, there were more than twenty kinds of single musket weapons, and on the battlefield, these weapons played a huge role and gave the Japanese army great lethality.
In the Battle of Pyongyang, the Ming army shocked the Japanese army with the Furlong cannon, making the Japanese army panic and difficult to fight at the beginning of the war, and when the war was in a state of stalemate, the Ming army bombarded the city gate with a large general cannon, so that the Ming army could rush into the city, and in the process of charging, it fired three fire bolts in unison, shooting the Japanese army, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. These three weapons are the weapons used by the Ming army when attacking Pyongyang City recorded in historical records, and they played a crucial role in the siege. Moreover, in the subsequent wars, the Ming army also gave full play to the advantages of weapons and equipment to annihilate more of the living forces of the Japanese army. In contrast, the Japanese were equipped with muskets such as bird guns, which they considered advanced, and artillery was not widely used in the Wokou Warring States period. Before the war began, there was a lack of understanding of the weapons and equipment of the Ming army, so that there was no psychological preparation and the army was defeated in Pyongyang. The advanced weapons and equipment were a very important reason for the Ming army's victory in the fortified city of Pyongyang.
The resourcefulness and pioneering of the Ming generals, and the soldiers' fear of the enemy and the sacrifice of the soldiers, were the most important reasons for the great victory in the Battle of Pyongyang. Throughout the course of the campaign, the Ming army was full of ingenuity, first using Shen Weijing to lure the enemy, hoping to win the victory with the smallest casualties. In the process of siege, he also ordered the Ming army attacking the south gate to pretend to be Goryeo soldiers to mistake the enemy, delaying the Japanese army's resistance and capturing the city gate in the shortest time. When the west gate was in a situation where it could not be attacked for a long time, Li Rusong ordered his men to blast the city gate open with a large general's cannon to give full play to his own advantages and avoid more casualties caused by the continued siege. After the destruction of the city, he skillfully attacked with fire and killed the Japanese army that was stuck in the "three caves", and when Governor Konishi was doing the "battle of the trapped beasts", he pretended to negotiate and deliberately let him leave, and then set up an ambush from it, and the soldiers were not tired of deception, and once again killed many Japanese troops, eliminated more of their living forces, and the Japanese army was able to be completely driven out of Pyongyang City, which fully reflected the war wisdom of Li Rusong and many other Ming Dynasty generals.
In summary, it is enough to see that the Ming Dynasty army was a well-armed and properly commanded army. At that time, it was a powerful and heroic division.