Chapter 109: Asiatic Northern War Part VIII - The Rise and Fall of Joseon’s War Efforts
The biggest battle of the Asiatic Northern War would take place just off the island of Yeondo between the chief admirals of the Japanese and Joseonite navies, Tagawa Seikou and Yi San-seon respectively. After Joseon’s victory at Imjinseong, Seikou decided to take a large fleet to the peninsula and challenge the main Joseon fleet in a pitched naval battle. While Kobayakawa Motokane oversaw the continuation of the naval blockade around Jeju Island, Seikou targeted the town of Yeosu in order to force San-seon’s hand. Yi San-seon, who was already gathering a naval armada to rescue Jeju, eagerly took the bait and sailed towards the island of Yeondo, which was directly to the south of Yeosu. They would clash on June 26th between Yeondo and the island of Ando. While the Japanese fleet numbered 84 ships, the Joseon fleet hovered around 100 ships with many of the latter’s vessels having recently been constructed. The core of the Japanese fleet were Seikou’s junks while the wings of the fleet were made up of heavy ships and commanded by Yamada Tadamasa (山田忠政) [1] and Kurushima Michikiyo (久留島通清) respectively. Meanwhile, Yi San-seon commanded the reserves with two front contingents led by Yun Si-min and Song Yeo-jong. Usually, the front line of the average Joseon navy was made up of the nimble panokseon vessels. In this instance, however, Yi San-seon mixed in heavier ships when forming his ranks. This change would influence the outcome and number of casualties in the battle.
Salmon = Japan, Blue = Joseon
The battle began in the morning. As usual, the panokseon ships maneuvered in between Japanese ships before either boarding enemy ships or firing upon them. In this case, the strategy was effective due to the narrowness of the waters and the support Joseon’s galleons and other heavy warships provided. As a result, in the first hour of the engagement the Japanese suffered heavier losses. However, as Seikou and his deputies on the wings began deploying hobayasens and other medium-sized vessels the Japanese brought Yi San-seon’s momentum to a grinding halt. These ships, although less maneuverable than the panokseons, could shell out more firepower and as a result balanced the flow of the battle. As the engagement continued, the Japanese fleet began to push back against Yi San-seon as the panokseons proved inferior and Seikou’s men were better trained melee fighters in the boarding actions that took place. Seeing this, Joseon’s chief admiral finally ordered his ship and the other reserve ships of primarily heavy warships forward and this began to reverse the flow of the battle once again. Ultimately, despite the Japanese technically inflicting more casualties and sinking more ships (mostly panokseons), this final push forced Seikou to order a retreat and sail away from the peninsula.
Although the Battle of Yeondo ended in a tactical victory for Yin San-seon, they were unable to immediately follow up on their win and sail straight towards Jeju due to the heavy losses his fleet had been inflicted. Nevertheless, Seikou was also forced back to the home islands to recuperate his losses, giving Joseon a small window to break the Japanese encirclement of Jeju. On the island itself, the guerilla tactics of the Joseonites had consistently kept them a few steps from a wipeout. Finally, though, the garrison would see their salvation two weeks after Yeondo when Yun Si-min led a transport fleet carrying 5,000 men landed on the northwestern coast of the island. The newly landed army immediately assaulted the main Japanese camp, burning it to the ground and scattering the enemy forces. The Japanese, already demoralized from the news of their loss at Yeondo and exhausted by the months-long fighting, retreated to Byeolbangjin Fortress as the evening progressed. After setting it aflame, they began evacuating Jeju Island at the crack of dawn and were completely gone by the end of that day. With the ultimate failure of Japan’s assault upon Jeju Island, Japan and Joseon were now in balance in the seas once again.
The present day ruins of Byeolbangjin Fortress
On the mainland, the combined forces of the Lesser Jin and Joseon were also holding back against further Amur-Japanese advances and gains. In the late spring of 1668, Bahai, Kaga Nagaaki, and senior officials of the Amur Khanate plotted to take Haishenwei and even the Jin capital of Hetu Ala in order to cut off Gutai’s horse archers occupying the northern steppes from the core of the khanate and force the enemy to the negotiating table. Because of the Joseon navy’s preoccupation with Japanese naval activities in the Tsushima Straits and the amphibious assault of Jeju Island, Haishenwei easily fell into Amur-Japanese hands once again. The nearby torched ruins of the occupied Amur capital of Nurgan were also retaken. However, plans on sieging and seizing Hetu Ala fell through when the main Amur Jurchen army was confronted by a mixed Jin-Joseon army led by Shin Ryu near the town of Girin in early July. Bahai, only possessing 4,000 Japanese infantry alongside his own cavalry and infantry, was no match for the Joseonite general and the former was soon forced to retreat back to the safe confines of Alchuka Hoton.
Amur-Japanese struggles on the mainland beckoned the necessity of further Japanese reinforcements. However, opinion in Azuchi was going sour over the continuation of the war as a realm still recovering from the Manji War was now suffering scores of casualties in an overseas conflict with little to no promise of direct territorial or economic gain. If anything, with the Ming embargo, they were beginning to experience economic losses. Nevertheless, the importance of the fur trade, Japanese diplomatic standing, and the prestige of both Sakuma Moritora and Kaga Nagaaki kept the government from pursuing peace negotiations for the time being, and a new army led by Tokugawa Noriyasu son Tomoyasu (徳川朝康) had been gathered, ready to embark to the steppe battlefield. Meanwhile, Seikou helped initiate the construction of new warships in Harima and Shima provinces.
By contrast, the backlash against the war and the expenses and manpower it necessitated hit harder in the court of Joseon king Gyeongseon. Critically, the blame fell much more squarely on the sovereign himself, who had largely initiated Joseon’s backing of the Lesser Jin in the first place. Successive victories did little to alleviate Gyeongseon’s unpopularity and as a result the war would cost him in an unprecedented fashion. On the morning of July 19th, 1668, a young Confucian zealot in the bureaucracy named Kim Seok snuck into the bedchambers of the king and his queen, Myeongseong, and began stabbing Gyeongseon. The queen screamed and attempted to stop the deranged assassin, but he managed to push her away and knock her unconscious. Right before Myeongseong blacked out, however, Kim Seok yelled,
“For peace and tradition I kill the unfilial, corrupted despot!!”
before ending Gyeongseon’s 29 year existence for good. Minutes later, guards would rush in, cornering the maniacal assassin and executing him on the spot. It was too late, however, and Joseon now stood leaderless. King Gyeongseon had a 9 year old son named Yi Hyeon who would subsequently succeed his father as King Sukjong but beyond this certainty, few could predict what would happen next as the assassination of Gyeongseon would completely disrupt the course of the conflict.
Portrait of King Gyeongseon of Joseon
[1]: The son of Yamada Nagamasa