Japan's Tsushima Island is close to North Korea, located in the middle of the Korean Strait between North Korea and Japan, and has a lot of trade with North Korea. The relationship between Tsushima and North Korea is delicate: North Korea views Tsushima as if it were its own vassal state; Tsushima owners often refer to themselves as "vassals" in their diplomatic dealings with North Korea.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi looked at North Korea in the same way, and in his view, North Korea was nothing more than a vassal state of the Tsushima Islands. Based on this erroneous perception, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered Tsushima's Zongyi and Zongyizhi fathers and sons to negotiate with Korea, asking the Korean king to cross the sea to Japan and go to Kyoto (known in Japan as "Shangluo") to submit to Japan; if he did not comply, he would cross the sea to attack Korea and "attack" Korea. (Zongjia Documents)
On the one hand, the Jong clan had to obey the orders of Hideyoshi Sekibai Toyotomi, and on the other hand, they also knew that Korea could not easily submit to Japan. They do not want to use tough diplomacy to undermine economic and trade relations with North Korea, because it is an important source of economic resources for them and it is a matter of life and death. Therefore, the Jong clan wanted to play tricks to convey false news to Korea, misinterpreting Toyotomi Hideyoshi's request that the King of Korea cross the sea to submit to Japan, as the new king of Japan, who wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Korea, hoping that Korea would send a messenger to Japan. When the North Korean messengers crossed the sea to Japan, they sent false news to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, reporting that the north sent a vassal emissary had arrived, trying to fool through the border.
In September of the fifteenth year of the Wanli Calendar, the Zong family sent their vassal Tachibana Yasuhiro to Korea with a forged letter of state to negotiate with the DPRK. In this "letter of state," the Jong clan, under the pretext of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's tone, claimed to the DPRK that "the whole world is in a position of collapse" and demanded that the DPRK send a messenger to Japan. North Korea also misunderstood Japan's national conditions, and the reigning King of Korea at the time was Lee Yán, the king of Seonjo Chogyeon, who thought that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had become king of Japan after killing his monarch. Based on this misunderstanding, Li Fu was only willing to receive envoys from Japan, rather than establish diplomatic relations with them. After deliberation, the Korean monarchs said that the waterways were illegible and refused to send messengers to Japan. Tachibana Yasuhiro, who failed to negotiate, returned to Tsushima and reported the situation to the Jong clan fathers and sons. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who received the news, was furious and ordered Tachibana Yasuhiro to be executed, and all his people to be killed. ("Punishment Record")
Later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's eagerness to bring Korea to submission suddenly came to a halt. It was not until March 28, the seventeenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1589, 1589), that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in a letter to Munyoshi, once again expressed strong dissatisfaction with the diplomatic achievements of the Jong clan and demanded that the King of Joseon rush to Kyoto, Japan, in the summer of that year, to meet him, or he would have the army of the Chikushi Kingdom led by the governor Konishi (who was also The father-in-law of Soyoshi Chi) and Kiyomasa Kato. Zong Yizhi was worried that once the army was sent to conquer Korea, it would affect the economic and trade exchanges between Tsushima and Korea, so he asked Toyotomi Hideyoshi for instructions, and he first crossed the sea to Korea to persuade the King of Korea to cross the sea to Japan, so that Kato Kiyomasa and Governor Konishi would temporarily postpone the dispatch of troops. Toyotomi Hideyoshi agreed to Munakata's request, so Munakata summoned 25 merchants, including the monk Gyeongju Gensuke of Hakata Shofuku-ji Temple, the old Yanagawa messenger of the Munakata clan, and the Shimai Clan of Hakata, to form a diplomatic team on the island of Tsushima and cross the sea to Korea to negotiate. (The Chronicle of the Korean Front)
In June, Zong Yizhi and his party arrived in Korea, and the King of Joseon arranged for the official Cho Jeong-rok Lee Deok-hsin to be the envoy to greet them and take them to the capital of Korea, Wangjing (present-day Seoul, South Korea). Zong Yizhi once again asked the DPRK to send a messenger to Japan, and after deliberation, the Korean monarch decided to first look at Japan's sincerity. A few years earlier, wokou, led by North Korean traitors such as shā , invaded Takeshima in Jeolla Province , Korea , killing the border general Lee Dae-won. These Korean traitors went into exile in Japan and were not captured by the Korean court, which the Korean court deeply resented. When Zong Yizhi made a request to send a messenger to Japan, the Korean court demanded that Japan return the Korean traitors and release the captured Korean population, in order to test Japan's sincerity.
In order to prompt the messenger to come to Japan, Zong Yizhi agreed to the request of the Korean court, and he sent Yanagawa to send a messenger back to Tsushima Island to capture more than a dozen Korean traitors living in Japan and send them back to Korea. In addition, the Zong clan also arrested the leaders of the Wokou who had previously invaded Korea, "Urgent Time Luo", "Sanfu Qiuluo", and "Wanggu Shiluo", and sent them to Korea for disposal; they also returned 116 Koreans who had previously been captured by the Wokou and sent to Japan to show their sincerity. King Lee Of Joseon felt very face-saving, and he first ordered the execution of the Korean traitors, then gave Zong Yizhi a good horse with an inner stable, and personally hosted a banquet in the other hall to entertain Zong Yizhi and his party. In November of the same year, Li Fu believed that Japan had shown sincerity, so he decided to send three emissaries across the sea to Japan, namely Huang Yunji, the deputy envoy, Jin Chengyi, and the scrivener Xu Xiao. ("Punishment Record", "Han Yin Manuscript", "Chaos In Miscellaneous Records", "Korean Formation Record") After the matter was finalized, the mission of Zong Yizhi and others was finally completed, but when they reported to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, they falsely claimed that Korea would send envoys across the sea to show submission to Japan.
On March 6, 1590, in the eighteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (the eighteenth year of Tenshō, 1590), Zong Yizhi led a Korean messenger to cross the sea to Japan. At that time, the traffic conditions were not convenient, and after a four-month arduous trek, it was not until July 21 that the group arrived in Kyoto, Japan, waiting to meet Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the group arrived in Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent more than 200,000 troops to defeat the Hojo clan, the daimyō who had divided the Kanto. Daimyo such as the Date clan in the northeast also submitted to Hideyoshi in line with the times. At this point, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Eastern Expedition to the West, the Sengoku Period of Japan finally ended and the three islands of Japan were unified.
On September 1, 1818, Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned from the Kanto region and returned to Kyoto. Two months later, on November 7, the North Korean messenger and his party met with Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Jurakudi in Kyoto to present the Korean National Letter. Toyotomi Hideyoshi believed that the Korean emissaries had come to show their submission, so they were very arrogant, and the ceremony of receiving the Korean emissaries was very sloppy, and even the special utensils for the feast were not prepared, and only the other party was served with turbid wine and large cakes.
After the banquet, the Korean emissaries retreated, and the group arrived at Sakai Harbor in Watazumi, waiting for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to reply to the Korean king's letter of state. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, because of the false report of the Jong clan, believed that the DPRK had come to Kyoto this time to bow down to Japan, and he could naturally order the DPRK. Therefore, in his reply to Korea's letter of state, Toyotomi Hideyoshi emphasized that he was the son of the sun and had the destiny to unify the world, and at the same time expressed his intention to conquer Daming, leaving a name in Japan, Korea, and Daming, and asking Korea to be the vanguard of Japan's conquest of Daming. In mid-November, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's letter of state was delivered to a North Korean emissary on standby in Sakai Port.
In his reply, Toyotomi Hideyoshi explicitly wrote "Yiwu Dynasty Customs in (Daming) Four Hundred Prefectures", and his ambition to embezzle Daming was clearly revealed.
On January 28, 1591, under the escort of Kyeong-joo Hyun-su and Yanagawa, the Korean messenger crossed the sea from Tsushima Island back to Busanpo, Korea. However, after the Return of the Korean Messenger, the Jong clan no longer concealed toyoting Toyotomi Hideyoshi's intentions. Zong sent a letter to Korea, proposing that Japan invade Daming through the south of Korea, and asked Korea to act with the Japanese army as a guide for the Japanese army. At that time, Daming was the suzerainty of Korea. Because of this layer of relations, in the face of Japan's demands, the DPRK refused, believing that although Japan was a "friendly country," Daming was the "father of the emperor" and that it was absolutely impossible for the DPRK, as a "state of honor and righteousness," to do such disloyalty and injustice. (The Great Chronicle of Communications between Korea and Korea)
On August 5, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's beloved son Tsurumatsu died prematurely, which brought a great psychological blow to Hideyoshi. In order to get rid of the feeling of loss and let himself get out of his sadness as soon as possible, Toyotomi Hideyoshi accelerated the pace of aggression against the outside world. The next day, he summoned the monk Xi Xiao of Xiangguo Temple, who expressed his will to conquer Daming and planned to send troops in March of the following year. (Deer Park Journal)
At the same time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked Nishiko and another monk, Hikari Nagatoshi, to draft a document, asking the Ming Dynasty to be clearly informed that Japan was going to use troops against them. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subordinates persuaded Toyotomi Hideyoshi to write good words on paper in order to paralyze the Ming Dynasty and achieve the effect of attacking him unexpectedly. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought that this method was very inferior, no different from cutting off the head of the sleeping person, and he insisted on writing down the intention of sending troops to Daming, so that the Ming Dynasty could be prepared in advance and fight with it in a dignified manner. ("Watching the Sheep")
On September 24, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a military order to attack Daming by sending troops to Korea: "If The Dprk has sent envoys to submit, the division will arrive, and do not plunder." If you change the map, how dare you resist moving forward? As for the Han Dynasty, the weak culture has become a habit, and it cannot be a martial artist. Kiyomasa Kato, Governor Konishi, and Kuroda Nagamasa were spearheaded by the Kyushu soldiers, with Mori Keigen and his fellow clan and Shikoku soldiers as the second team, and the rest sailing one after another. Honshu made Owari Nakanaga and Major General Aizu stay behind to protect the imperial capital and build Garan. The general of the dragon and the tiger, the soldier of the bear, the march of the blow, the electric switch, the victory and the attack, the song and the dance, more than four hundred states, can be taken care of. However, there was an order of order, first from Korea to enter the army, and the construction of the Bank battalion at Nagoya. Wouldn't it be nice for Da Xue to come and command the military and achieve great feats in the world with unparalleled achievements? (Miscellaneous Miscellaneous Records of the Old Chronicles)"
This military order shows that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's main goal was to conquer Daimyō, and did not give a death order to attack Korea, but only let the Japanese invade Daming through Korea, and asked the Japanese army not to carry out captivity after landing in Korea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi did this because he was somewhat confused by the diplomatic falsifications previously made by the Tsushima clan, believing that North Korea had sent envoys to show submission, so he still left some leeway for North Korea. But at the same time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi also took a flexible approach to the unexpected situation, saying that if Korea did not change to the position of subordinate to Japan, it would first fight Korea, and then attack Daming from Korea.
On January 5, 1592, after a general mobilization before the war, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered most of his forces at Nagoya in Hizen and began to deploy the Japanese army.
This article is excerpted from the Complete History of the Korean War
