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The war in which the Japanese really used a large number of firearms in history should be regarded as the Wanli Korean War. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In these two wars of aggression against Korea, the army formed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Japanese daimyo under his command was equipped with a considerable proportion of firearms in the war.

And this war can be said to be two formal wars between China and Japan, two major countries that used firearms in ancient times in the East.

......

After the Japanese Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi basically unified Japan in 1588, in order to appease the dissatisfaction of the samurai in the country with the uneven distribution of land, he decided to send troops abroad in May 1591 to obtain more land. In June of the 19th year of Wanli (1591), he sent an envoy Zong Yizhi to inform the Joseon king Seonjo Yi Hao that he intended to attack the Ming Dynasty in the spring of the following year (1592) by pretense of Korea, and asked for his assistance.

Toyojo Hideyoshi sent a letter to King Yun of Joseon:

"Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan, I respectfully reply to the King of Korea. The roads of our state have been separated for a long time, abolishing the discipline of chaos, and blocking the emperor's life. Hideyoshi was indignant, and he was stubborn and persistent, and he fought in the west and east, and in a few years, more than 60 countries were determined. Hideyoshi is also contemptible, but when he is in the womb, the mother's dream day into his arms, the occupant said: 'The sun is coming, it is not thorough, and the prime of life will show off the eight watches.' 'Therefore, the battle must be won, and the attack must be won. Today, the sea is governed, the people are rich and wealthy, and the prosperity of the imperial capital is incomparably ancient. I want to pretend to be your country, beyond the mountains and seas, and go straight to the Ming Dynasty, so that its four hundred states can be transformed into our customs, and the government of the king will be in the billions of years, which is Hideyoshi Sushi. All the overseas vassals, those who have served are not relieved. Your country first repairs the coin, and the emperor is very good. On the day Hideyoshi entered the Ming Dynasty, he led his soldiers and soldiers to the military camp, thinking that I was the leader. ”

But North Korea refused. At that time, the eight military armaments of the DPRK were lax, and Li Hao emphasized literature and light military force (the internal fighting between the parties in the Korean court was fierce), so that "people did not know the army for more than 200 years", and most of the more than 300 counties and counties in the country were not fortified.

In order to invade Korea, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began preparations as early as 1591 (the 19th year of Emperor Goyangsei of Japan, the 19th year ******of Myojinzong Wanli, and the 24th year of Seonjo of Joseon).

From Hitachi in the east, through the South China Sea to Shikoku and Kyushu, and from Akita and Sakata to China in the north, the daimyo territories of the coastal countries are prepared with two large ships per 100,000 koku.

Ten sailors from every 100 households in each seaport were sent on large ships built by the daimyo of each country, and if there was a surplus, they were concentrated in Osaka. The ships used by Hideyoshi's army were three large ships and five medium ships per 100,000 stone built by daimyo of various countries. The necessary construction costs were allocated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the daimyo of each country reported the necessary construction costs in a budget table, and half of them were allocated first, and then paid after the construction of the ship was completed.

The sailors were given two men of rice, and their wives were given food rations. and the wives of those employed in the army were also given food. In the spring of the 20th year of Tensho (1592), all the ships and sailors mentioned above were to concentrate at the ports of Settsu, Harima, and Izumi. In March of the same year, the ****** for the recruitment of army soldiers was also decided. The number of conscripts per 10,000 koku varies from country to country:

600 people in Shikoku and Kyushu. 500 people from Chugoku (a region of Japan) and Kishu. 400 people in Kinai. 300 people from Suruga, Enoe, Mikawa, and Izu, and 200 people from the east of here. 350 people from Owari, Mino, Ise and Omi. Wakasa, Echizen, Kaga, Noto 300 people. Echigo、200 people out of the war.

In addition, in order to replenish the supply of troops, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Uesugi Keikatsu, Gamo Clan, and Date Masamune gathered their troops in Hizen Nagoya (present-day Saga Prefecture) as a reserve, totaling 105,000 men. Strategically, Tokugawa Ieyasu's proposal was adopted to determine the tactics of "advancing by land and sea," "bullying the weak with the strong," and "fighting a quick battle." The army should ensure the supply of strategic materials for the army by naval forces, and the army would advance in three directions at the same time to occupy Korea in one fell swoop.

After everything was ready, Toyotomi Hideyoshi officially began the war against Korea in April, citing Korea's refusal to attack the Myeong. On April 12, 1592, 18,700 men of his First Army crossed the sea to Tsushima Island to stand by. On April 13, the Ninth Army arrived, and on April 14, the invading Japanese army first landed in Pusan, and 19 days later, on May 2, the king of Joseon, Gyeongseo, fell to Pyongyang on June 15, 1592.

In 1592, in the 20th year of Myeongjinjong Wanli, the 20th year of Emperor Goyoseong of Japan (the name was changed to Munroku in the same year), and in March of the 25th year of Seonjo of the Joseon Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi mobilized a total of 306,250 troops, divided into nine legions of 158,700 people, and crossed the sea to Korea to fight, with Ukita Hideya as the commander-in-chief.

In the face of the Japanese invasion, powerful villagers throughout Korea organized their own rebels, such as Kwak Jae-woo of Seongju in Gyeongsang-do, who organized volunteers on April 21, 1592, and repeatedly defeated Anguksa Hye-kyung to prevent him from entering Jeolla Province, and even defeated the armies of Hosokawa Tadaheung and Hasegawa Shuichi in the first Battle of Jinju Fortress on the 10th of January, known as the "Red Generals from Heaven", as well as Jeong In-hong, Son In-ga, and Kim Cha, which also prevented Mori Huiyuan from successfully occupying Gyeongsang-do.

On June 1, 1592, Kim Cheon-yi and Jeonju Ko Kyung-myeong of Gwangju, Jeolla Province, also organized volunteers, while Cho Heon, who was born in Gongju, Chungcheong-do, and Yeong-gyu, a monk, reorganized their forces on July 3, 1592, and united to resist the Japanese Sixth Army Corps, including Kobayakawa Takakei and Tachibana Soshige, which experienced the Battle of Cheongju Fortress, the Battle of Yangdan Mountain, and the two Battle of Geumsan. In addition, Lee Yeon-jeo of Haeju, Gyeonggi-do, confronted Kuroda Nagamasa, all of which hindered the advance of the Japanese army. However, the DPRK's armaments have reached an outrageous level, and in just one month, "the three capitals were lost, and the eight provinces collapsed."

On May 8, 1592, King Yi Hao of Joseon left Pyongyang in a hurry, but on May 27, 1592, the Japanese 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Army Corps pursued him, broke through the Imjin garrison and captured Kaesong, so Seonjo Yi Hao had to leave Pyongyang on June 11, 1592, and then continue to live in exile in Uiju on the border between China and Korea.

The court of the Ming Dynasty also believed that "the plan of the Japanese to fight Korea is really in China, and the rescue of Korea by our soldiers is really to protect China." Therefore, soon after, he promised Xuanzu Li Hao to cross the Yalu River and live in Kuandianbao on the Liaodong Peninsula of the Ming Dynasty, which was officially protected by the Ming court, and at the same time sent troops to aid Korea.

For the Ming Dynasty, the urgency of Korea was almost inconceivable, according to the "Records of Seonjo", the Ming Dynasty once sent an envoy to ask why your country was suddenly lost to the Japanese thieves as the strong man in the east?...... At the same time, some envoys also said, since your country asked for help, why did you not mention the fall of the road in the month and day, what battles took place, how many soldiers and horses were lost, who of the generals died in battle, and who of the courtiers died...... The king and ministers of Korea were terrified for a while, fearing that the Ming Dynasty suspected that Korea was complicit with Japan, and wanted to lure the Ming army into Korea to annihilate it under the pretext of asking the Ming Dynasty for help.

At that time, there were also Fujian maritime merchants, who reported to the imperial court that Korea was complicit in Japan, based on the news they heard when they went to Korea to do business. After learning of this news, in order to relieve the Ming Dynasty's suspicions, the king not only repeatedly sent envoys, but also forwarded the letter of Japanese threat to Korea to the Ming Dynasty, in order to show that Korea had no two hearts. At the same time, the military department Shangshu Shixing also secretly sent people who had visited Korea and seen the king of Korea to distinguish the authenticity of the king of Korea, and Liaodong also sent painters to secretly draw the king's appearance for identification.

At the time when the central government of the Ming Dynasty repeatedly collected intelligence information and discussed, Liaodong had already sent out the deputy commander-in-chief of Kuandianbao in June, and Tong Yangzheng led 8 flying horsemen to cross the river to the vicinity of Yizhou, North Korea, to prepare, divided into 5 groups, each of which had to gallop 100 miles, and quickly transmit the military information in case of emergency. It happened that the Japanese generals were stationed in Jiangsha and sent hundreds of cavalry to hold drills, and the Korean minister specially invited the Ming generals to investigate, saying: "If this is the case, as soon as the heavenly soldiers come, they can be exterminated." ”

In June, with the coming of the Ming army, the Ming Dynasty and North Korea repeatedly negotiated matters began to focus on basic affairs, the first thing that needs to be solved is the problem of military food, because North Korea has no salary, so the Ming Dynasty court has decided to directly allocate salary to the Ming army by the central government, and at the same time reward the Korean king with 20,000 taels of silver. It's just that the grain is inconvenient, so the position of the Ming army is to hope that North Korea can provide it. During this time, the Seonjo record was full of discussions between the king and his ministers about military rations, and it was estimated that there were more than 40,000 stone in Pyongyang and more than 200,000 stone in Anju, which could be used for Japanese consumption, but then Pyongyang fell, and all the food went to the Japanese army. Later, it was said that Jiashan had 5~6 hundred stone of grain, which could be used by 2,000 soldiers, but it was said that Anzhou did not even have 1 stone of grain. From these accounts, it can be seen that the North Korean government's control over the local area has completely lost control. Many local officials have fled without a trace because they have taken refuge, and the central government does not know the details of the localities.

Finally, on June 15, 1592, the general Dai Chaoben and the guerrilla Shi Ru began to lead the army to cross the river, according to the "Xuanzu Record", there were a total of 1,029 soldiers and 1,093 horses. Previously, because the Korean envoys had reported that the army was divided into two tiers, the first ladder was led by Shi Ru on the seventh day of the first month, and the second ladder was led by Wang Shouguan on the tenth day of the first month. After the first echelon crossed the river, the Korean government repeatedly urged the troops to go south, and for the command of the army, the Ming generals and the Korean ministers had a small quarrel, but the Ming generals insisted on waiting for the whole army to arrive before sending troops, it can be seen that the Ming generals were indeed old in the battle formation, and the Korean ministers lost their judgment because of their lack of military experience and repeated defeats. On the end of Ding, the former general Guo Mengzheng and the guerrilla Wang Shouguan led 500 army horses to cross the river and return to Liaodong, and on the 17th of the next day, the two led the army to cross the river back to North Korea again, leading a total of 506 soldiers and 779 horses, and the deputy chief soldier Zu Chengxun also led the army to arrive at the same time, with 1,319 troops and 1,529 horses. After adding it up, we can learn that when Liaodong sent troops for the first time, a total of 2,348 troops and 2,622 horses were dispatched, and the commander was Zu Chengxun, the deputy commander-in-chief, and the logistics dispatch was handled by Yang Shaoxun, the chief soldier of Liaodong stationed in Jiulian City.

In June, the Korean envoy Li Dexin repeatedly wrote to Hao Jie, the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, and wept bitterly day and night under the governor's tent.

At dawn on July 17, 1592, Zu's deputy general army ran a long distance to guerrilla Shi Ru, Wang Shouguan and others as the vanguard of the army to enter Pyongyang City, Shi Ru led the thousand general Ma Shilong, Zhang Guozhong two officials into the city first, beheaded the enemy 10 levels, due to the heavy rain overnight caused the Liaodong military weapons to fail, and Zu Chengxun was not familiar with the Japanese army's tactics led to the army rout and was killed by the iron cannon. The army was dispersed, Zu Deputy General Soldier was only spared, and retreated across the Dading River within one day, and the DPRK urgently sent troops Cao Shenzhi Shen Xishou to Jiulian City, hoping that Yang Shaoxun General Soldier could order Zu Chengxun Deputy General Soldier to stay in North Korea temporarily, but Zu Deputy General Army retreated too quickly and had crossed the Yalu River.

In the report that Deputy General Soldier Zu Chengxun later presented to General Yang Shaoxun, he mentioned several issues:

1: Grain and grass are scarce, and North Korea cannot provide enough grain and grass for the army to eat.

2: The military situation is not true, North Korean intelligence points out that there are only more than 1,000 Japanese troops in Pyongyang, and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of Japanese troops after the actual battle.

3: The command is not autocratic, and the Korean ministers have always hoped that the Ming army can be commanded by the Korean generals, and pressure the Ming army to send troops under unfavorable circumstances. The Ming army lacked trust in the Korean army, and Deputy General Commander Zu Chengxun pointed out that there were also 500 North Korean troops who went to Pyongyang at the same time, and as a result, when the battle was approaching, 400 North Korean troops broke and fled first, and the remaining 100 talked to the other side.

At the same time, many of the Ming troops were wounded and killed by bows and arrows, and according to Korean intelligence, the Japanese army only had iron cannons and long swords, so it was suspected that the Koreans shot the arrows. After repeated arguments by the Korean envoys, General Yang Shaoxun later accepted the North Korean explanation, that is, the military information was provided by the Korean Jiedu envoys, and there may have been a mistake in the investigation, and the archery may have been because the Korean weapons fell into the hands of the Japanese army, or because some Koreans were captured, so they were instructed by the Japanese army.

After the second wave of reinforcements of the Ming army and since the defeat of Pyongyang, the Liaodong Army has transferred the leading power of the war to the hands of the Central Military Department. However, the Ming Dynasty already had another strategic plan, and here are excerpts from a few passages in the "Xuanzu Shilu": "...... This thief cannot be controlled unless the southern gunners, and if he wants to transfer the gunners and all kinds of equipment, he will arrive here first, and wait for the southern soldiers to advance for a while......"...... Today, the rain is frequent, the roads are muddy... After the autumn is cool, the army can be sent to advance and exterminate... The great army of Liuuiju and your country... Then your country's food is insufficient, and your country has saved food to keep it for the army... There is a clear purpose to send troops to rescue, and there is no difference between inside and outside our Heavenly Empire, and it is better to have the difference between the end and the beginning...".

It can be seen that later the Ming court and the Liaodong Army knew that the Wu army was by no means the thousands of soldiers and horses that North Korea thought, and they had already planned to use logistics supplies from Chinese mainland to support the operation, and hoped to defeat the Wu army as soon as possible with superior forces. As for why it later became an echelon increase, it was still due to the lack of supply and lack of intelligence.

Since July, the Ming army has repeatedly sent guerrilla Shen Weijing to Korea, and even as far as Pyongyang to negotiate with the Japanese army, with the aim of delaying time and waiting for the army to assemble.

At the same time, the vanguard was sent first, but because of the lack of military rations in North Korea, the troops were temporarily stationed in Liaodong, according to the record of "Xuanzu Shilu", the number of pioneers sent was 6,000 people, including 2,400 Jizhou town soldiers trained by the deputy chief soldier Zu Chengxun, and 600 gunners of the Southern Army who were supposed to be sent to Jianzhou Wei, and 3,000 people under the guerrilla Zhang Qigong. As for the total number of troops, it is claimed to be 100,000 people, and the actual distribution is 70,000. In September, the envoy Xue Pan crossed the river to Korea to meet the king of Korea to make the final coordination, "... Said: The heavenly soldiers arrived in ten thousand directions, and thousands of miles of feeding, it is not easy, pre-silver to exchange for rice, how to ?...", this paragraph is to say that thousands of miles of grain is not very simple, the Celestial Empire wants to bring silver two here, and then buy military food on the spot, is it okay?

The king replied: "... The land of the small state is small, the people are barren, and the national customs do not know the benefits of silver, although there are silver taels, they cannot be exchanged for rice for military rations...", a passage is equivalent to telling the Ming Dynasty that the army must bring its own grain, and the agriculture of North Korea has basically gone bankrupt. On the Xinyou Day of the same month, there is also the following record, the Liaodong Patrol ordered Lin Shilu to ask Li Youcheng, the director of the Korean Imperial Academy, "... How many months can your country's grain be supported? Answer: It can support 10,000 soldiers for one month. He also asked: What are the plans to do outside of January? Answer: If the thieves in Pyongyang are removed, then Chungcheong and Jeolla can also be used...", from which it can be seen that Pyongyang is the primary strategic target in order to support the army.

In later generations, there was a discussion about the number of Japanese troops and the number of Ming troops: in Jiazi, Joseon Seonjo summoned Yoon Geunsu to discuss with Han Ying-in, Shen Weijing only saw that the enemy troops in Pyongyang were few, and the enemy troops in Hamgyong Province were several times larger than Pyongyang, Yoon Geun-shou relayed that Shen Guerrilla said that Pyongyang had 1,000 enemy troops just by seeing them, and there should be more people stationed in other separate areas, Yoon Geun-su said that the detective reported that the Pyongyang army was only 900 people, and Shen Weijing said that what the detective said was untrue and should be beheaded, and it was estimated that it would take 70,000 people to capture Pyongyang.... In hindsight, 70,000 men were indeed the estimated number of troops sent for the first time. As for the discussion of the number of Japanese troops in the whole of Korea, you can see the actual record in October Gengin, Seonjo summoned a number of officials of the Bibian Division to discuss, and one of them asked, "... How many thieves are there? Yin Doushou said: "... The thief said that he had 320,000 clouds...", at this time, Yoon Geunsu continued, the thief himself said that if there were 80,000 people, he could quickly capture Korea, but because there were only 50,000 people, he could not defeat it quickly. Li Hengfu replied, "Our army killed almost 100,000 Japanese troops, if there are only 400,000 Japanese troops left, why are there Japanese troops everywhere?..." Therefore, although more than 4 months have passed, North Korea is still unable to determine how many Japanese troops have landed, which also adds a lot of trouble to the estimation of the strength that the Ming army needs to send.

In September, after the trade of the Jurchens of Jianzhou Wei to the Ming Dynasty, Nurhachi, the Jurchen of Jianzhou Wei, heard about the Japanese army's invasion of Korea, and sent an envoy Ma Sanfei to Korea to say: He said that there were 30,000 or 40,000 horse troops and 40,000 or 50,000 infantry troops under the Jianzhou Wei Army, all of whom were brave and accustomed to fighting. After the Joseon king Seonjo discussed with the minister, he politely refused (in fact, the DPRK found out that Nurhachi's support for the DPRK was fake, and it was true that he would use the route to ally the Japanese army and destroy the Hercynian Jurchens. At this time, the Japanese army had more than 20 Jurchen battalions in the north, and the rest of the Jurchen tribes were scattered. ）。

The military strategy of the Ming army. In October Gengchen, Yin Genshou, the judge of Joseon Licao, and others met with the Ming Dynasty's Ge General Soldiers, and Ge General Soldiers privately told them: "This time, 100,000 town soldiers and 70,000 southern soldiers were mobilized in Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong, and 600,000 town soldiers in Guangning, Liaodong and other places, a total of 700,000 people,...... The holy decree thought that if the Japanese army was allowed to escape this year, it would invade again next year, and the Japanese army would not return the armor. ”

This was the Ming army's initial plan for using troops, hoping to assemble a large army to annihilate the invading Japanese army at one time, but it was only later that it was discovered that the plan was different from the reality. The DPRK minister asked about the grain again, and Ge Zongbing said: "The transportation by car to the west of the Yalu River and the transportation by horse to the east does not need to use your country's money and grain. The envoy also asked, "What about Shen's guerrilla peace talks?" If there are really peace talks, there will be no way to justify the pain of the small state. Ge Zongbing replied: If the Japanese army is tied up and begging for surrender, then we can only accept it silently. If they resist stubbornly, they will kill all the Japanese army at once. ”

The official record of the Ming army in the first wave of the number of people crossing the river to help the North Koreans, in October, the North Korean Bibian Division Qi said: "There are a total of 48,005 heavenly soldiers, and the generals have not counted the thousands of Chinese soldiers, each of whom has a daily ration of 1 liter and 5 he, 26,700 horses, and the horses of generals and other officials are not counted, and each horse is given 3 liters of beans per day." Based on this calculation, the grain of 48,585 people is 720 stone a day, and 843,730 stone of rice is needed for two months, and the beans for horses are 801 stone a day, and more than 48,060 stone of beans are needed for two months. ...... At present, it is estimated that from Euiju to Pyongyang, the number of Liugu is about 51,488 stones, and the number of beans is 33,127 stones...... , pumping the west to supplement the eastern army can support more than 50 days, and Ma Dou seems to be insufficient ....... ”

......

Judging from these records, it is also true that North Korea's misinformation led to the Ming army paying a heavy price in the previous aid operation.

And there is one point, that is, there are many "puppet troops" that the Koreans have taken refuge in or have been supported by the Japanese to use in the war. (To be continued.) )

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