At the end of the sixteenth century, the famous naval battle in human history broke out on the Atlantic Ocean, the Battle of Gravolliner. In this naval battle, the invincible Spanish Armada was crushed by the British fleet and almost completely destroyed. Coincidentally, ten years later, a famous naval battle broke out in the East: the Battle of Luliang.
When it comes to the naval battle in the Renchen Rebellion, many people may first think of li Shunchen and the Mingliang naval battle he commanded. However, whether in terms of scale or results, the Battle of Luliang was much larger than the Battle of Mingliang. This naval battle can be described as the strongest showdown between the Ming Imperial Navy, the Korean Navy and the Japanese Navy.
After the outbreak of the Nongchen Rebellion, the Japanese army was so strong that it occupied all the three capitals and eight provinces of Korea, and the Korean Xuanzu Li Fu rushed out to ask for help from the suzerainty of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was controversial about whether to aid Korea against the Wo, but the Wanli Emperor believed that "the intention of the Wokou to Korea is really China, and the salvation of Korea by our soldiers is really to protect China", so he sent troops to aid Korea.
Li Rusong, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, led 40,000 Ming troops, with the support of a small number of Korean troops, and fought a bloody battle against 140,000 Japanese troops. After a bitter battle, the Japanese suffered heavy losses, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to make peace with China and Korea. However, due to many factors, this negotiation ended in failure, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi once again sent troops to invade Korea.
At this time, Li Rusong had already been killed in northern Xinjiang, and Li Shunchen was also falsely accused of being imprisoned, losing his military power, and serving in white. Without Li Rusong and Li Shunchen, who were familiar with the Korean battlefield, the combat effectiveness of the Sino-Korean coalition army was greatly weakened, the Ming Army suffered heavy losses, and the Korean Marine Division was almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Qichuanliang.
In desperation, North Korea once again activated Lee Shun-chan. After Li Shunchen's arrival, he took great pains to reorganize the Korean naval division and defeat the Japanese navy in the Battle of Mingliang with fewer victories. After the end of the Battle of Mingliang, the Chinese and Korean armies fought with the Japanese army, and the two sides won and lost each other.
In August 1598, the Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, and two months later, the news reached the Korean battlefield, and the morale of the Japanese army was greatly frustrated, and the army was discouraged and lost its heart to fight. The daimyōs on the front line were pregnant with ghosts and were ready to lead their men to retreat. However, the legion led by Governor Konishi was unable to retreat and was intercepted by the Ming dynasty coalition forces. Governor Konishi asked Yoshihiro Shimazu and other daimyo for help, and the Japanese side gathered its navy to try to rescue Governor Konishi.
The Ming Admiral Chen Xuan and Li Shunchen agreed that if the Japanese army wanted to rescue Governor Konishi, they would definitely pass through Lu Lianghai. Therefore, the Ming allied forces decided to intercept the Japanese reinforcements Tachibana Muneshige, Shimazu Yoshihiro, Hideo Hayakawa, Takahashi Tsōsō, Munakata, Munakata, Munakata, and Hiroshi Terasawa at the Luliang Sea.
Both sides invested a lot of troops in this naval battle, and the Japanese naval force had more than 500 ships and more than 10,000 troops, most of which were the elite of the Shimazu family. After Chen Xuan and Li Shunchen learned of the Intelligence of the Japanese Army, they formulated a battle plan. Due to the different combat methods of the Ming And Korean sailors, Chen Xuan and Li Shunchen each led their own armies and ambushed on both sides of the Luliang Sea.
After the battle of Luliang broke out, the two sides immediately engaged in fierce naval battles. "The moon hangs on the western mountain, the shadow of the mountain falls on the sea, half of the side is slightly bright, my ship is innumerable, coming from the shadows, approaching the thief's ship, the forward sets off artillery, and shouts straight to the thief, and all the ships should respond." The thief knew that I was coming, and for a moment the birds were firing in unison, and the sound shook the sea, and the flying pills fell into the water like rain. ("Liu Chenglong's Punishment Record")
The Japanese sailors knew that the Ming Dynasty sailors might set up an ambush in the Luliang Sea, so they chose to cross the sea at night, just to use the night to make it difficult for the ming dynasty's artillery to play a role. However, Chen Xuan had already prepared, he prepared many items containing flammable materials such as straw in advance, and as soon as he approached the Japanese warship, he immediately threw the incendiary materials on the ship. When the Ming dynasty allies found the fire, they would concentrate their fire and attack the Japanese ships.
However, the Japanese sailors were also the elite of the Shimazu family, and their combat effectiveness was very strong, and they quickly organized a counterattack to surround the vanguard Deng Zilong. Over seventy years old, Deng Zilong led three hundred soldiers to fight bravely and kill countless Japanese troops. However, "he accidentally threw a firearm into the dragon boat." The boat is on fire, the thief takes advantage of it, and the dragon is killed. (The Biography of Ming Shi Deng Zilong)
Seeing that Deng Zilong was killed in battle, Chen Xuan was deeply saddened, and Li Shunchen also ordered his men to attack the Japanese army. "The two armies burst into flames, attacking left and right, cannons and drums firing in unison, arrows and stones falling, firewood thrown indiscriminately, the sound of killing shouts, and the mountains and seas shook together. Many of the ships, most of which burned, the thieves fought a bloody battle, and they could not support it, but they entered Guanyinpu, and the day was already clear. (Narration of the Joseon Lee Chung-mok Gong)
The Japanese suffered heavy losses, most of the warships were burned and could only dive to land, but they were intercepted and killed by the Ming army on land, and most of them were killed or wounded. Seeing that the defeat was decided, Shimazu led hundreds of warships to flee.
Seeing Shimazu Yoshihiro running away, the commander of the Korean Marine Division, Lee Sun-chan, was furious, and as a Korean general, he hated the Japanese army to the bone, and naturally did not want to let go of Shimazu Yoshihiro. Li Shunchen led the Korean marine division in pursuit, entered Guanyinpu, and once again fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army. Chen Xuan admired Li Shunchen very much, and when he saw that Li Shunchen's army was going deep alone, he immediately led the Ming army's water division to rush to support.
Under the blows of artillery fire, the Japanese suffered heavy losses, but this also aroused their will to resist. During the melee, Li Shunchen was shot in the chest by the Japanese arquebusier and unfortunately died. Before his death, Li Shunchen ordered his generals to continue to pursue the Japanese army without mourning. In the end, Shimazu Yoshihiro was left with only 50 ships to flee, and the rest of the ships were burned by the coalition forces, and the Japanese army was completely destroyed. At this point, the Battle of Luliang ended with a great victory for the Sino-Korean coalition forces.
The Battle of Luliang was a great naval battle in which the General Daming and the Korean naval army fought bloodily and cooperated sincerely to crush the Japanese naval army. This campaign was a great victory for the Sino-DPRK coalition forces, which inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army and played an important role in the formation of the 200 years of peace in Korea after the war.
Resources:
History of the Ming Dynasty
"Liu Chenglong's Punishment Record"
Narration of the Duke of Lee Chung-moo of Joseon