As mentioned in the previous article, the Ming Dynasty army of more than 100,000 troops divided into four routes, respectively attacked the three strongholds of Ulsan, Sacheon, and Suncheon, which were entrenched by the invading Japanese army on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. Among them, Dong Yiyuan of the Zhonglu Army led 40,000 troops to attack Sacheon, where Shimazu Yoshihiro was stationed, but was defeated by Shimazu Yoshihiro with fewer victories and more.
Among the four-way army, the Middle Route Army had the largest number of troops and had the best chance of victory, but it was unexpectedly defeated, and the impact on the morale of the Ming army could be imagined. Then, what is the battle situation of the other three major armies of the Ming Army?
The Ming generals commanded the battle
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Among the four-way army, the most active in the battle was the Eastern Road Admiral Ma Gui. In the First Battle of Ulsan from December of the 25th year of the Wanli Dynasty (1597) to January of the 26th year of the Wanli Calendar (1598), Yang Ho was improperly commanded, and his achievements were defeated, and Ma Gui was also implicated and demoted to a crime. For Ma Gui, only by making new achievements can he offset the crime of defeat in the previous war, so he had to fight hard.
Ma Gui's deployment was spearheaded by his most elite Mongol cavalry, led by deputy general Xie Sheng, staff general Niu Boying, Yang Dengdeng, and Lan Fangwei, and Ma Gui himself and the guerrilla kingdom Dong and Po Gui were in the middle of the army, with the staff general Xue Huchen and the Korean general Jin Yingrui as the rear battalion, and the 30,000-strong army was huge and mighty, taking the old city of Ulsan.
On September 11, 1598, the 26th year of the Wanli Calendar (1598, the third year of Keicho, Japan), the first batch of yangdeng's vanguard cavalry took the lead in arriving at the old castle of Ulsan and engaged in an encounter with Kato Yasumasa and Kugi Hirotaka, who were guarding the old castle of Ulsan. When it was time (22:00 to 24:00 in the evening), in the dark night, neither side knew the other's details, and only fought for a moment, each of them had a gain, and then they collected their troops.
On September 18, a large number of vanguard cavalry led by Xie Sheng arrived and camped at Guhecheng Mountain, north of the old city of Ulsan. On September 20, the main force of the Chinese army led by Ma Gui also came to Ulsan and stationed at Fuping-eki in the north of the city.
In view of the defeat at the last Battle of Ulsan, Magui was quite jealous of Kato Kiyomasa, and he did not dare to be careless, and adopted a cautious and step-by-step method of warfare. He first sent his nephew and Qianzong Mayun to lead two hundred cavalry to the north gate of the old city of Ulsan to investigate the virtual reality. Kato Yasu masa, seeing that the Ming army was small and refused to show weakness, also sent more than two hundred people to meet the battle. While the attention of both armies was focused on the two small units at the forefront of the North Gate, Ma Gui had already asked Yang Deng and Po Gui to secretly chen cang and detour through the west gate of the old city of Ulsan to launch a siege. Kato Yasumasa was caught off guard and quickly ordered the troops to withdraw, and the Ming army took the opportunity to pursue, killing and wounding a lot.
Kiyomasa Kato
After the First World War, although Kato Yasumasa temporarily defended the old city of Ulsan, the granary in the city was shot by the Ming army's rockets, and most of the years of savings were reduced to ashes, and they have fallen into the predicament of food shortage, if the next step is besieged by the Ming army, it will become a dead city. At this time, Kato Kiyomasa, who was guarding Ulsan Castle (Ulsan Castle), also thought that the old castle of Ulsan was inconvenient to defend, and seeing that Kato Yasumasa was no longer able to defend it, he ordered Kato Anmasa to abandon the old castle of Ulsan and retreat to Shimasan Castle to concentrate his forces on defense.
Shimayama Castle is carefully designed and personally supervised by the famous city builder Kato Kiyomasa, surrounded by mountains and rivers, condescending, and the city has abundant material reserves, known as the Golden Castle Yuchi. At that time, Yang Hao's army was defeated here, which was not only his own level, but also a loss that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Ma Gui had also seen the power of Shimayama Castle, but with his current situation, he could not tolerate any hesitation and slackness, and could only grit his teeth and harden his scalp.
On September 23, Xue Huchen, Jin Yingrui and other generals who served as supporters also entered Ulsan after capturing Donglai and joined Ma Gui. At this point, the 30,000 troops of the Eastern Route Army had all been assembled, and Ma Gui ordered the whole army to surround the island mountain city on all sides, and ordered Xie Sheng, Niu Boying, Yang Dengdeng and other trusted generals to supervise the siege of the city. However, MaGui and others do not seem to have learned the lessons of the First Battle of Ulsan, and have not yet developed an effective tactic to attack the Japanese mountain castle, but only bombarded with cannons, but once the infantry and horses of the siege approached, they were counterattacked by the Japanese iron artillery, and the war fell into a stalemate.
After three days of fighting, the Ming army lost hundreds of infantry and horses, in exchange for only using artillery to collapse several walls of Shimayama Castle, MaGui still remembers the last defeat of Ulsan, afraid that the Japanese army still has backup to come, sent people to shout a truce, and negotiated peace with Kato Kiyomasa, thinking that it was a strategy to slow down the army. On September 27, while the two armies were negotiating an armistice, MaGui received information that a large japanese army in Busan was moving towards Ulsan. What Ma Gui was most worried about happened, and the false sum became the real sum. On October 5, the news of Dong Yiyuan's defeat in Sichuan reached Ulsan, and Ma Gui, seeing that the general trend had gone, lost more confidence and strengthened the pace of peace. On October 9, the Eastern Route Army took the lead and withdrew to Gyeongju, and on October 12, it withdrew to Yongcheon. At this point, the Second Battle of Ulsan ended without results.
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Leading the Western Route Army in attacking Suncheon was the viceroy Liu Ling. According to the Biography of Ming Shi Liu Ling:
"(Liu) Ling, will be a son of the family." Father (Liu) xianbu qu duo jian'er, lined up to self-prowess. ”
Liu Ling's father and son had been fighting in the counterinsurgency in Yunnan for a long time, and organized a "buqu" (private army), which was a great help for the imperial court to rely on. Liu Ling was transferred from the Sichuan general to Korea, and the main force he brought with him was this private unit. Therefore, when Liu Ling was fighting, he attached great importance to preserving his strength and was unwilling to lose too many troops due to all-out death.
The Ming army that attacked Shuntian, in addition to Liu Ling's Western Route Army, also Chen Xuan's water army. Chen Xuan originally had the same plan as Liu Ling to preserve his strength, but the Korean naval command made Li Shunchen strongly advocate the extermination of Wu Kou and could not be tolerated, and Chen Xuan was infected by Li Shunchen's red heart and made up his mind to destroy The Wokou with Li Shunchen.
Li Shunchen
The Japanese general Konishi, who was stationed in Suncheon, had no intention of fighting at this time. All he could think about now was how to safely withdraw his troops back home and how to deal with the complicated situation after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death. Moreover, the Ming army attacking Suncheon advanced simultaneously by land and water, and the number of troops was so large that Governor Konishi knew that it was difficult to resist, so he decided to take a peaceful move. His plan was to exchange Suncheon Castle and supplies in the city for the Ming army to send the Japanese army back to Busan by boat.
Governor Konishi had dealt with Liu Ling during the Battle of Wenlu, and Governor Konishi was so confident that he could reach an agreement with this "old friend", so he had long ago built an exquisite hut in a place called "Mianzhi Xue" outside Suncheon Castle as a place for the two sides to negotiate.
Suncheon City, North Korea
Governor Konishi had been in contact with the Ming generals many times before to negotiate peace, and had already familiarized himself with the psychology of the Ming generals. Indeed, if they could yield soldiers without fighting, and if they could also capture a large number of military supplies, it would be a matter of great pleasure for the generals of the Ming Army. Especially for Liu Ling, who attaches great importance to preserving strength, it is even more unavoidable.
However, Liu Ling had a lot of ideas, and his ambitions were not only the little grain and grass materials of Shuntian Yicheng and President Xiaoxi, he also wanted the head of Governor Xiaoxi, which was undoubtedly a greater credit. Therefore, Liu Ling made a plan, agreed to Governor Xiaoxi's request for peace, and proposed that the two lords would meet in person, without soldiers when they met, and the large army would be stationed five miles away to show sincerity, but in fact secretly arranged an ambush at Mianzhisu and prepared to hunt down Governor Xiaoxi.
Unexpectedly, Liu Ling agreed too quickly, but it aroused the vigilance of Governor Xiaoxi. On September 20, the 26th year of the Wanli Calendar (3rd year of the Japanese Keicho, 1598), Governor Konishi sent ninjas and spies to investigate all the way, and found that the Ming army had troops operating near Mianqi, and Liu Ling, a Ming army general who was going to Mianqi, was also disguised as a flag officer. Xiao Xixing reported that Liu Ling was deceitful, and quickly turned around and sneaked back to Shuntian City.
Liu Ling originally had high expectations for this plan to hunt down Governor Xiaoxi's "invite the king into the urn", but such a strange plan was discovered by Governor Xiaoxi, so that the success was successful, which made Liu Ling angry and ashamed, and ordered a strong attack on Shuntiancheng.
In addition to the private soldiers, Liu Ling's troops also included Yun Guichuan's "Guan Jian" (Han Bing), as well as "special forces" such as Guangxi Wolf Soldiers, Hunan Tusi Soldiers, "Niu Jie" (Miao people decorated with cow horns), and "Sea Ghosts" (black Africans), which were very mixed. Because it was not equipped with artillery, the siege was not his forte. Because of this, Xing Jie specially arranged for Chen Xuan's water army to cooperate with Liu Ling and use firearms on water army ships to make up for the lack of firepower of the land troops.
However, Liu Ling, in anger, did not wait for Chen Xuan's water army to arrive, and launched a siege on his own. In fact, Liu Ling's troops also had some siege equipment, such as iron shields, ladders, rushing cars, flying wheels, etc. On September 21, under the command of the guerrilla Wang Zhihan and Si Maoguan, the Ming army rushed forward, sacrificed their lives and fought, and broke through the outermost wooden fence of Suncheon Castle, but when approaching the city, they were sniped by Japanese iron artillery and could not reach the city. Some Ming soldiers who were not afraid of death had just arrived under the walls of Suncheon City under the cover of iron shields, and the Japanese army threw wooden rolling stones from the high city head, and the Ming soldiers under the iron shield were difficult to support and were smashed to the ground. Guangxi Wolf Soldiers and Hunan Toast Soldiers are good at using cloud ladders made of rattan, bamboo and wood to climb the wall to climb the city, in order to increase toughness, these vines, bamboo and wood are often soaked and dried with tung oil, the texture is incomparably tough, and they are not afraid of knives. But it was September, it was the season when the autumn tiger Yuwei still existed, the rattan, bamboo, and wooden ladders became extremely dry under the scorching sun, and the Japanese army saw this flaw, and set fire to the ladder in front of the city, roasting (a kind of clay pot containing gunpowder, similar to an incendiary bomb), and the wolf soldiers and native soldiers who had always been known for their bravery were buried in the sea of fire, which was a great blow to the morale of the Ming army. Liu Ling saw that the situation was not good, and thought about preserving his strength, so he quickly ordered the withdrawal of his troops back to the camp. The Ming army's first strong attack on Suncheon City ended in failure.
On September 23, Chen Xuan's naval forces appeared on the sea south of Suncheon. Chen Xuan's naval army was huge, counting more than 13,000 Korean soldiers and more than 500 warships. When he arrived in Suncheon, Chen Xuan ordered the soldiers to wave the flag and shout, the trumpets sounded in unison, the gongs and drums shook the sky, and the artillery was fired continuously, posing as if they were preparing to launch a general attack, which made governor Konishi and others in the city look terrified and terrified. Chen Xuan shook his mighty wind in front of the Japanese army, and his heart was very proud. However, he was always quite cautious, and sent people to contact Liu Ling, agreeing to attack by land and water and besiege Suncheon. Liu Ling had no reason to refuse, naturally he agreed.
After some preparations, on the night of October 2, Chen Xuan took advantage of the night to command the Ming and Chaoshui generals to land on the beach south of Suncheon Castle and launch an attack on Suncheon City. Li Shunchen, a veteran North Korean general, was very familiar with the hydrological geography here, and as soon as he saw the situation of the tide rising and falling, he hurriedly advised Chen Xuan: "The tide is about to recede here, and our army's warships should not advance lightly." Chen Xuan was half-convinced, unwilling to give up the opportunity to attack the city for many days, and decided to send twenty-four ships and nineteen sand ships to explore the way first.
In the early morning of October 3, these pathfinding boats sent by Chen Xuan had just landed on the coast, and the tide receded quickly, the pathfinders ran aground, and the soldiers on board were unable to retreat and were helpless. Due to the rapid ebb and flow of the tide, the large ship on which Chen Xuan was riding could only retreat to the deep sea, otherwise it would become a shallow water dragon like those pathfinding boats. For those stranded pathfinding vessels, Chen Xuan could only stare dryly from a distance, unable to help, in vain.
The defenders of the city soon found the stranded Ming warships, and Utsunomiya Kunigami sent his courtier Oyama Zuomasuke to lead a hundred archers and fire arrows at the Ming warships. Although the sailors on the Ming ships also shot back with arrows, after the warship caught fire, the battle was difficult to continue, and some sailors jumped off the warship and fell into the mud after the tide receded, and were killed by the Japanese fire arrows and iron cannons.
Chen Xuan watched as the sailors who took the lead were killed and wounded, and then he remembered that Liu Ling, who had agreed to attack the city together, did not move at all, and he was indignant and sent someone to attack Liu Ling, asking him why he did not come to besiege the city. Liu Ling knew that he was in a loss, but still replied cheekily: "The siege tool is seriously damaged, it is being rebuilt, and it is impossible to attack the city." ”
In fact, Liu Ling refused to cooperate with Chen Xuan in attacking the city, and he had his own idea, that is, not to let Chen Xuan grab the head. Liu Ling had just failed to attack the city a few days ago, and if Chen Xuan had taken Shuntian City this time, where would Liu Ling's face be? Therefore, Liu Ling certainly could not let Chen Xuan steal the limelight as soon as he came.
Ming Dynasty official
On October 5, just as the two commanders were falling for each other, the news came that Dong Yiyuan had defeated Sacheon. In fact, Liu Ling didn't want to fight this battle at the beginning, but he couldn't get over his face, and it was inconvenient to leave as soon as he came. Now there is news of Dong Yiyuan's defeat, which gives Liu Ling an excellent reason to retreat. On October 6, Liu Ling asked the elderly, the sick and disabled and the Korean soldiers to evacuate to Gwangju first. On October 7, Liu Ling suspected that his men were too slow to retreat, and simply ordered the burning of the accumulated grain, the discarding of cattle, sheep and livestock, and the retreat of light equipment.
At this point, the ming dynasty army attacked in four ways, the middle road was defeated, the east road and the west road retreated, only the water road was still insisting, but it was powerless to change the overall situation of the war. Xing Jie's strategic counter-offensive can be said to have failed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="95" > Yoshihiro Shimazu's decision</h1>
Although the strategic counter-offensive of the Ming Army failed, its strength still existed. In order to retreat safely, the Japanese army still had to negotiate peace with the Ming army. At this time, several general-level figures of the Japanese army, such as Hideaki Kohayakawa, Ukita Hideya, and Maori Hidemoto, had already returned to China first, and the Japanese army was leaderless in the DPRK, so they adopted the method of negotiating peace on three fronts separately.
Magui had long been frightened by Kato Kiyomasa, and Kato Kiyomasa was actually exhausted, and his heart was very weak, and he did not dare to fight again. As soon as the two sides hit it off, Kato Kiyomasa sneaked back to Busan and returned to Japan by boat, leaving a large number of grain and grass and Japanese corpses in Shimayama Castle for Magui to take back to repay the credit.
Dong Yiyuan's side, before he could begin to negotiate peace, Shimazu Yoshihiro sent an emissary to come first and take the initiative to ask for peace. This gave Dong Yiyuan a step down, barely maintaining Dong Yiyuan's last bit of face, and Dong Yiyuan was naturally busy with his mouth. Dong Yiyuan also sent staff officer Shi Longya (probably Shi Shiyong), Mao Guoqi's younger brother Mao Guoke, and general affairs Meng Youli and Zhang Ang to negotiate with the Shimazu army camp, serving as contacts, but actually acting as hostages.
On Liu Ling's side, because of the rapid retreat, Governor Xiaoxi could hardly believe that the Ming army had retreated, and thought that it was a strategy to lure the enemy, and after repeated confirmation, he knew that the Ming army was really gone. Governor Xiaoxi understood Liu Ling's thoughts, and all he wanted was a reason, so he asked for peace again, and Liu Ling naturally agreed. But the biggest problem facing Governor Konishi was the ming dynasty's water army. The water army is not under Liu Ling's control, the water army is war or peace, and Chen Xuan must speak to count. Governor Konishi did not seem to understand the organizational structure of the Ming army, and he thought that liu ling would be enough, so he boldly began to prepare for the retreat.
On November 12, the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar (the third year of the Japanese Keicho, 1598), Governor Konishi withdrew from Suncheon Castle, and the army of 10,000 people was crowded into more than one hundred and fifty ships, plus weapons and military food and materials, stuffed, the ship draft was very deep, the action was extremely slow, not to mention the war, it was said that whether all the one hundred and fifty ships could be safely returned to Japan, and Governor Konishi did not dare to pack tickets. Out of caution, Governor Konishi first sent four small boats with flexible movements to the sea to inquire whether the route was smooth. The four small boats had just sailed out of Suncheon Bay, and when they approached Cat Island, they encountered the Ming Dynasty water army, which found that the Japanese warships were going to sea, and immediately surrounded them, and a burst of artillery rockets bombarded head-on, scaring the four small boats into fleeing.
However, Chen Xuan is not invulnerable. According to the Biography of Ming Shi Chen Xuan:
"(Chen) Xuan has a strategy, is good at soldiers, but is greedy."
Governor Konishi seized on Chen Xuan's weakness of greed for money, and fiercely took out two hundred and two golds, two pairs of night pearls, and thirty famous knives, in order to ask Chen Xuan for peace:
"A soldier who surrenders without a fight is also valuable in the art of war." Now our army is willing to sacrifice the city to return to the country, and the general of the heavenly court will borrow the road. ”
Chen Xuan was moved to see cai, but it was only because Li Shunchen resolutely opposed it that he did not agree to it.
Just when the two sides were struggling to negotiate peace, a small Japanese boat took advantage of the lack of preparation of the Ming Dynasty's naval forces and sped out of Shuntian Bay to Sichuan via the South China Sea Island. It was a messenger ship sent by Governor Konishi to ask for help from Yoshihiro Shimazu of Sacheon.
On November 16, Yoshihiro Shimazu of Sagawa Shinzai received a distress letter from Governor Konishi. Whether to save Governor Konishi, Shimazu Yoshihiro is a bit troubled. Speaking of which, Governor Konishi and Shimazu Iesu have no friendship, although they are both daimyōs of Kyushu, but the territory of Governor Konishi was originally the territory of the Shimazu family, and the Shimazu family fought for more than ten years to take the entire Higo, but now it is divided between the Governor Konishi and Kato Kiyomasa families, and the Shimazu family is definitely not a taste in their hearts, and the reason why Konishi Governor and Kato Kiyomasa were enfeoffed was to monitor the Shimazu family at the behest of the Toyotomi regime, and the relationship between the two sides needless to say, is not much better.
However, these public and private grievances are not the main issues that Shimazu Yoshihiro considers. Yoshihiro Shimazu is actually very political and considerate of the overall situation, and does not particularly dwell on these grievances. What's more, in addition to Governor Konishi, there are four daimyōs who are waiting for rescue in Suncheon, including Ōmura Kizen, Arima Harunobu, Matsuura Jinnobu, and Uku Genya, who are old friends who are close to the Shimazu family. Therefore, what Shimazu Yoshihiro really cared about was actually the "envoy" Terasawa Masanari, who had been sent by Ishida Sansei and arrived the day before. Terasawa Masanari was the son of Hirotaka Terasawa, who was ordered to send an envoy to urge and supervise the withdrawal of Shimazu Yoshihiro and other generals in the dynasty. Originally, Ishida Sansei was worried that the generals would be killed and did not want to return to China, so he personally came to Nagoya Castle to "greet" the generals, in fact, urging the generals to return home as soon as possible. Ishida Sansei was still not at ease when he came to Nagoya Castle, and repeatedly sent people to send messages, asking the generals not to fall in love with the war and return to China immediately. Therefore, Shimazu Yoshihiro has already begun to prepare to cross the sea back to Kyushu, and if Governor Konishi's call for help is a day late, perhaps Shimazu Yoshihiro has already set sail.
Yoshihiro Shimazu
However, if you want to go to Suncheon to save Governor Konishi, you will inevitably fall into a bitter battle with the Ming and Korean water armies, and it is uncertain when you will be able to return to China. Shimazu Yoshihiro thought about this and decided to honestly explain the situation to the "superior envoy" Masanari Terasawa and ask Masanari Terasawa to make a decision.
Masanari Terasawa was cautious and asked Yoshihiro Shimazu:
"What does Hyogo-den mean (referring to Yoshihiro Shimazu, who was hyogo head at the time)?"
Yoshihiro Shimazu replied without thinking:
"He who has difficulties comes to ask for help, and he abandons them and does not save them, and he is not righteous."
Masanari Terasawa is also a somewhat courageous figure, and he admires Yoshihiro Shimazu's righteous reasoning, and happily agrees that Yoshihiro Shimazu will go to the rescue of Governor Konishi, and in the future, if Ishida Sansei blames it, he will be explained by Masanari Terasawa. Terasawa even said that he was willing to take his few ships and soldiers with him, and as a member of the army, he would follow Shimazu Yoshihiro to rescue Governor Konishi.
As an "envoy", Terasawa Masamune also called on Tachibana Muneshige and Takahashi Toki, who were stationed in Gu castle, and Muneyoshi Andaki Akizuki, who were stationed on The South Sea Island, to go with Shimazu Yoshihiro to suncheon to rescue Governor Konishi. Munakata had a good relationship with the Shimazu family and the Terasawa family, and naturally had no objections. However, Tachibana Muneshige was still a bit unable to let go of his father-killing vendetta against the Shimazu family, and did not want to listen to the command of Shimazu Yoshihiro. Instead, Takahashi Saw that Governor Konishi was an important figure in the Toyotomi regime and should not be offended, not to mention that people took the initiative to ask for help, and it was not righteous to see death and not save, he advised the eldest brother to put the overall situation first, first ensure the safety of the army, and survive the difficulties in front of him, and at the same time give Terasawa Masaaki the face of this "envoy". After some persuasion from Takahashi, Tachibana Muneshige finally made up his mind to join Shimazu Yoshihiro's rescue army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="85" >4. Battle of Luliang</h1>
On the night of November 19, 1598, in the third year of Keicho(1598), Shimazu Yoshihiro and others set out from Changsan Island (also known as Heungsan Island) with the intention of crossing the Luliang Strait (known in Korea as Luliangjin) into Suncheon Bay to meet Governor Konishi. The whole army was divided into three teams, the first was Tachibana Muneshige and Takahashi Tongzo, the second team was personally commanded by Shimazu Yoshihiro, under the command of Shimazu Toyohisa, Shimazu Tadanaga, Hirata Masamune, Shinna Tadashi, Kawakami Hisachichi and other generals Shimazu main team, the third team was Soyoshi, Akizuki Tanaga, Terasawa Masanari and other miscellaneous reserves as backup tasks. Shimazu Tadahashi occasionally felt cold and was inconvenient to go to sea to get cold, so he stayed in Sagawa Shinzai.
At about 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.), Tachibana's outpost entered the Luliang Strait and engaged in a fierce battle with the North Korean water army.
It turned out that Chen Xuan, Li Shunchen, and others had already detected that Governor Konishi had sent people to ask the Japanese army in Sacheon for help. If the Japanese army came to the aid from Sichuan, it would definitely pass through the Luliang Strait, so Chen Xuan and Li Shunchen decided to wait for the Work and set up an ambush in the Luliang Strait to wait for the Japanese army.
Battle of Luliang
However, the Ming and Korean water troops did not expect that the Japanese army would come in the middle of the night, and the Japanese army did not expect that the Ming and Korean water troops had already been ambushed here. Therefore, when the two armies encountered, both sides were surprised. Tachibana Muneshige was a very famous general, he was not alarmed, calm as usual, ordered the warships to quickly approach the enemy in order to carry out the Japanese army's good engagement battles, and told his men not to set fire to the ships, and to capture as many ships as possible for use when retreating back home.
At first, the Tachibana and Takahashi armies were mainly fought by the Korean water army, which was not good at receiving ships and was soon overwhelmed by the Tachibana army. Tachibana led the way for Tachibana Santao, Ono Kazumi, and Ikebehiko Soemon, and led their soldiers to jump on Korean warships. Ikebehiko was the first to board a Korean warship and received the honor of "a shot" in this battle, but he rushed too hard and was soon surrounded by the North Korean regiment and stabbed to death with a spear.
Next, the North Korean water army is not an opponent. Before long, several Korean warships were captured by Takahashi Ande and others, and the head of the Korean soldiers was hung on the side of the ship to show off their might. When Shimazu Yoshihiro's second team arrived, he saw the forward's great victory, was very appreciative, and ordered the whole army to hold a "victory breath" on the ship, and the cheers of "eh, eh, oh" shook the sea.
However, Yoshihiro Shimazu was happy early. This small North Korean water army was only an outpost, and seeing that the outpost was unfavorable, Chen Xuan commanded the main forces of the Ming and North Korean water troops to rush to the back. At dawn, the two main forces of the water army met head-on on the sea and launched a hard-hitting decisive battle. Most of the warships under the command of Chen Xuan were large ships, equipped with a large number of large firearms such as Flang machines and tiger squat cannons, with long range and sufficient firepower. Although the Shimazu Army was equipped with more iron cannons, its range was far inferior to that of the Ming Army. In the fire of the main forces of the two armies, the Japanese army suffered obvious losses. According to the Shimazu family's compilation of historical materials, the Shimazu family's generals Kawakami Gendai-Emon, Katsume and Left GuardMen, Kiba Toshibei, Sanghata GoroBei, Arimasan Left Guard, and Arimura Kihachi all died in the "Ishigaya" (a generic term for guns and firearms in the Kyushu dialect), which shows that the Shimazu family suffered heavy losses during this exchange of fire.
The Shimazu family is the source of Japan's "iron cannon transmission", and has always regarded iron cannon tactics as a "family art" as a self-esteem. Now in the face of the cannons of the Ming Dynasty's water army, the "family art" of the Shimazu family is inevitably dwarfed, which makes Shimazu Yoshihiro very upset. Tachibana Saw that the Shimazu family's iron cannon was not used, and decided to repeat the same technique, using the porting tactic again. However, I never expected that the Ming army was not a Korean army, and it was very good to deal with the succession battle. The Japanese troops who jumped on the Ming warships were knocked down in three strokes and two times, and most of them had no return. In addition, the Ming army also used a weapon that was called "bear-handed throwing scythe" by the Shimazu family's historical record "Records of the Korean Expedition", which in turn hooked the Japanese warships, counterattacked the Japanese ships, and burned several warships.
Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, the Japanese army did not know who first recognized Li Shunchen's ship, and a large number of Japanese warships immediately surrounded them, some of them set fire to arrows and iron cannons, some tried to get close to the side, and some lit up thick smoke to create chaos, and Li Shunchen immediately fell into a vicious battle. Chen Lu and Li Shunchen had a very strong personal relationship, Li Shunchen had difficulties, Chen Xuan could not sit idly by, he personally commanded the ship, with a large fleet of ships rushed into the Japanese fleet, disrupting the Formation of the Japanese Army. Chen Xuan's ship was unusually tall, standing out among the many ships, and the Japanese army knew at a glance that there must be senior generals of the Ming Army on the ship, so, without greeting, the Japanese warships were like swarms of ants gathering, and they surrounded Chen Xuan's ship. Chen Xuanyi was bold, he was not in a hurry, he simply anchored the ship, let the Ming army ship be guarded around, arranged into a circle of attack and defense, attracted the Japanese warships over, and then used the advantage of firepower to sink one by one.
The two armies fought at sea, and it was difficult to distinguish between victory and defeat for a while. At this time, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Deng Zilong led a fleet of ships to the battlefield of Lulianghai. Deng Zilong's ship is very magical, equipped with special new weapons such as "spray canisters" (flamethrowers) and "flying stones" (trebuchets). The Japanese army had never seen these artifacts, and they were stunned one by one.
Ming Dynasty flamethrowers
The Shimazu family's historical record " In the Imperial Genealogy of Yoshihiro " contains:
"Enemy ships throw large stones to break the ships of the generals, and throw pots of fire to burn the ships of warriors."
In the face of the new weapons of the Ming Army, the Japanese army could not resist. The Satsuma Hayato and Shimazu samurai, who had always refused to bow their heads easily, could only flee in the wilderness at this time.
The Japanese naval forces led by the Shimazu Army first fled to Kannonpo on the South China Sea Island, but Shimazu Yoshihiro carefully observed and found that the sea here was very shallow, which was not conducive to the mooring of a large number of warships, and quickly ordered another retreat. Deng Zilong of the Ming army behind him killed the red eye, chased after it, and quickly caught up. The Shimazu army had no choice but to return to the rudder and fight again. At this time, an accident occurred. The artillery on the Ming army's ship, because of the wrong head, actually hit Deng Zilong's ship, and the fire on the ship was suddenly raging. Tachibana Muneshige saw the opportunity, took advantage of the Japanese army's good at receiving battles, and boarded Deng Zilong's ship. Deng Zilong was old and weak, unable to engage with the Japanese army, and was beheaded by the samurai of the Tachibana family.
In the midst of the melee, the North Korean water army also had problems. Li Shunchen was shot in the chest by the iron cannon bullets of the Japanese army and died on the battlefield at sea. The North Korean army tried to keep the secret, but it seemed that it could not hide from everyone, and the North Korean water army, which had lost its main backbone, soon showed a rout.
The Korean water army was no longer able to do so, but the Ming water army was still fighting hard. The Shimazu family is actually not very good at water warfare, and their biggest advantage is that they have a large number of iron cannons, and they are skilled in combat and shoot accurately. But the succession was not the Shimazu family's strength. According to the "Records of the Conquest of Korea", Shimazu Yoshihiro's ship was once hooked by the "bear hand throwing sickle" of several Ming warships at the same time, facing a life and death line. Fortunately, there were Kawakami Hisatoshi, Shin na Tadashi, Tanegashima Hisashi and other courtiers who died to save them, especially Tanegashima Kushi, known as the "Iron Cannon Master", he commanded the iron artillery team, concentrated fire and at the same time fired intensively at the Ming army's "bear hand", and successfully prevented the Ming army from boarding Shimazu Yoshihiro's ship with one "barrage after another, and finally let Shimazu Yoshihiro escape. But even so, the "Ma yin" (the symbol of the Japanese general, Shimazu Yoshihiro's horse seal is "Ichibun") on the ship of Shimazu Yoshihiro was taken away by the Ming army. The capture of Ma Yin was a very humiliating thing for the Japanese samurai, and Shimazu Yoshihiro, a "imperial offering" called Kuroda Izakae Uemon, desperately jumped on the Ming warship and actually snatched Ma Yin back, which saved Shimazu Yoshihiro's face.
Tanegashima Kushi
The situation of the Shimazu army was difficult, and the losses of the Ming and North Korean forces were not small. Both sides realized that the battle would be unsustainable and began to collect their own troops. At the end of the day (10:00 to 11:00 a.m.), Shimazu Tadaharu, who was not relieved, despite the cold wind, led several warships to meet him, covering Shimazu Yoshihiro's withdrawal from the battlefield, and the Ming army no longer pursued. This earth-shattering naval battle on Lu Liangjin has come to an end. In fact, this was also the last battle of the Battle of Gyeongcheong, which japan invaded Korea, and it was also the end of the Battle of Gyeongchang.
Governor Konishi, on the other hand, had long ago taken advantage of the fierce battle between Chen Lu and Li Shunchen and other Ming and Chaoshui and Shimazu Yoshihiro, and without a word, smeared oil on the soles of his feet, escaped from Suncheon Bay, bypassed the southern part of Namhae Island, and fled to Busanpo.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="109" >5. Controversy over the Battle of Luliang</h1>
Miraculously, after the Battle of Luliang, both the Ming and Japanese sides thought they had won.
For example, the Biography of Ming Shi Chen Xuan contains:
"Huiping Hideyoshi died, the thief will run away, and (Chen) Xuan urgently dispatches (Deng) Zilong with the Joseon general Li Shunchen to invite him." Zilong was not fought, (Chen) Silkworm, (Ji) Jin and other troops arrived, invited to attack, Wu had no fighting spirit, and the officers and soldiers burned their boats. The thieves were defeated, and those who escaped from the shore were annihilated by the land soldiers, and thousands of people were burned and drowned. ”
Also contains:
"The soldiers will attack to the death, and the thieves will run away." (Chen) Xuan parted ways to pursue, and the thief had no escape. On merit, Xuan is the first, (Liu) Ling is second, and (Ma) Gui is second. ”
According to this statement, Chen Xuan defeated the Japanese army without the ability to fight back, and achieved a crushing, one-sided victory, and his battle achievements ranked first among the four general soldiers, overshadowing Liu Ling and Ma Gui (Dong Yiyuan could not hide his disastrous defeat and had no merit to speak of).
But the Shimazu family's account is completely different.
The History of Shimazu Kingdom contains:
The Ming Shui Army sent Chen Xuan's back to the covenant and sent deputy general Chen Shu, Deng Zilong, Ji Jin and other sentry ships to the port, and Xiao Xi and five others were not allowed to leave the city and asked for help from Yu Gong (referring to Shimazu Yoshihiro). Gong joined forces with Tachibana Muneshige, Takahashi Shosho, and Kohayakawa Hidebata to rescue him, and entered the boat to the South Strait. On the eighteenth, the sentry ship was repelled. Konishi and the others fled by boat from outside the South Strait. ”
The Records of the Conquest of Korea contains:
"On November 17, hundreds of ships were mobilized and lined up in the South China Sea. On the following eighteenth day, the cable was disbanded and engaged the Ming soldiers. Deng Zilong took the boat out of the boat, entered the front, broke his ship with stone fire arrows, and begged Zilong and other two hundred people. ”
Although The main army of Yihong was small, he was not afraid, boarded the enemy ship, and captured four Korean warships and two Daming warships. The above six ships were later returned to the country. ”
Yoshihiro Shimazu's memoir, Written by Yoshihiro Shimazu himself in his later years, "The Self-Chronicle of the New Emperor", states:
"In the middle of the night, the warships gathered to advance, and captured two or three enemy ships. The enemy's troops are fierce, and our side's few soldiers are weak, but it has become a situation of mutual defense. The enemy gathered large ships and rushed forward, and many of our ships were burned down. Everywhere you go by boat, it's dangerous. The rear enemy ships gradually retreated. ”
Although these records of the Shimazu family all acknowledge that the Ming army once had the advantage, the result was that the Japanese army led by the Shimazu family repelled the Ming army.
The reason for this is that the Battle of Luliang is actually a battle that has not yet been completely decided. At the end of the battle, both sides had their own favorable circumstances.
Among them, the favorable situation for Japan is:
First, if Shimazu Yoshihiro were to withdraw to Japan, he should have gone east to Busan and then returned to Nagoya Castle via Tsushima and Iki. But Shimazu Yoshihiro not only went east, but went west, with the aim of saving Governor Konishi. Regardless of the process, in the end, Governor Konishi did succeed in escaping, the Japanese army completed its strategic purpose, and the Ming army's intention to annihilate Suncheon Wokou was frustrated.
Second, many senior generals of the Ming and Korean armies were killed, but there were almost no similar high-level generals among the Japanese military. The most famous of the dead of the Ming and North Korean sides are Deng Zilong, deputy commander-in-chief of the Ming Army, and Li Shunchen, the commander of the Korean water army; in addition, the war dead who can be examined are Chen Shu, deputy general of the Ming Dynasty, Tao Mingzai, a staff general of the Chinese army, and Li Yingnan, the inspector of the North Korean side, Delong, the defender of Le'an County, and General Gao De of Xingyang County. The war dead of the Nakajimazu family of the Japanese army are tirelessly listed in the Records of the Conquest of Korea: Katsurabe Yoshitaka, Machida Genzoemon Hisaemon, Ijiin-in Osaemon Tadashi, Kashiwa-Ichi Nobu, Adogen Rokushiji, Kidain-in Heijiro, Iti Chiminbu Shigeken, Iti-Chi Shinsaburo, Indichi-chi and Hyebe Shigeyoshi, Itichi-Chiheijiro, Nijido and Right-Emon Shigeyuki, Kazunajibu Right-Emon, Kufugi Sakiyoshi, Okuminbe Left-Emonmon, Ogawa Heigen Taizoemon Grand, Ijiri Hachiro, Takeuchi Uchi-uchi Left-Emon Shigeyoshi, Yamaguchi Genroku-Rokuto sect There were 26 people, including Akatsukashi Shichieba, Sasukebu Saemon, Matsushita Shōemon Tadaji, Inguchi Kiyozo, Shikine Shiro Rai kiyoshi, Amashima Kozo Muneyoshi, Nagakura Kaga Right Gate, and Miryō Sangaibu Shigeshi. These twenty-six people have names and surnames, and it can be known that they all have the status of samurai, not light and miscellaneous soldiers. Looking closely at the identities of these people, the only one who can get on the table seems to be Machida Hisumasa. This man was the son of Hisashi Machida, the son of the Shimazu clan's Honjo clan, and served as the "Front Commander" (temporary acting front commander) of the Machida clan during the Battle of Keicho. The rest were only middle- and lower-ranking samurai, and they were not great figures in the Shimazu family, let alone compared with Deng Zilong and Li Shunchen.
Third, there are many records in the Japanese historical records that the warships of the Ming and Korean dynasties were captured. The Chronicle of The Conquest of Korea also places a special emphasis on Yoshihiro Shimazu driving six trophies back to his native Satsuma. Neither the Ming nor the Joseon Dynasty records that the Ming dynasty sailors captured Japanese warships at the Battle of Luliang. Of course, this can be understood as the Japanese warships are generally small, and the Ming Dynasty sailors can't see it, but none of them have been captured, and it seems that there is indeed some doubt.
On the other hand, there are also favorable situations for the Ming Dynasty:
First, the Losses of japanese forces were greater than those of the Ming Army. Looking at the historical records of the Ming, Dynasty, and Japan, the battle losses of all sides of the Luliang Naval Battle recorded that there was little difference in the loss of the Ming army's troops, all of which were "hundreds of people". For example, the Korean historical record "Miscellaneous Records in Chaos" records that North Korea "killed hundreds of soldiers." The Japanese Shimazu family's historical record of the Conquest of Korea records that "two hundred people such as (Deng) Zilong and his followers were captured." The Shimazu family's historical record, "In the Genealogy of the Iekuko Clan", it is recorded that "our soldiers took advantage of the victory to enter his boat and killed more than 200 of them." "However, regarding the loss of Japanese troops, different historical materials vary greatly. The Biography of Ming Shi Chen Xuan records that the Japanese army "burned and drowned tens of thousands of people". The memoir of The Shimazu samurai Makoto Fuchibe, "Goryeo Military Awakening", records that Shimazu, Tachibana, Takahashi and several others "died from the soldiers". According to the Shimazu family before the Battle of Luliang, the Shimazu family had nearly 10,000 soldiers, Tachibana Muneshige had 5,000 soldiers, plus Takahashi, Kohayakawa, Zong, Akizuki and other other families, the strength of the army was about 20,000, if it was really "half dead", there were about 10,000 dead, close to the record of the "History of Ming". The Genealogy of Iekuko records that "Tachibana Left Shogun and Takahashi Shōnō shōgun died in battle with hundreds of people. "But that doesn't include the number of Shimazu family kills. It is likely that the losses were too heavy, and the historian could not bear to write straight.
Second, from a strategic point of view, the Ming army was on the offensive, while the Japanese army was fleeing. No matter how well the Japanese fought, they could not change the outcome of the final run. For the Ming Army, this is a battle that is destined to be won, whether it is well fought or not, the difference is only in the size of the results. Of course, because the performance of the Ming army was not very good, it actually lost two major generals, Deng Zilong and Li Shunchen, under the dual advantage of strength and equipment, although it was still a victory in the end, it was a "Pyrrhus-style victory".
After the end of the Battle of Luliangjin, how did Yoshihiro Shimazu return to China? What will happen to Yoshihiro Shimazu after returning to Japan? Yoshihiro Shimazu did not follow Ishida Sansei's instructions to return to Japan immediately, but ran to save Governor Konishi and delayed his return to Japan, will he be reprimanded by Ishida Sansei?
For a series of questions, please continue to pay attention to the next article of "The Hundred Years of War of the Shimazu Family".