Admiral YI Sun Shin

 

The European(largely Dutch) merchants were present in Japan during the time of Hideyoshi.  It was Ieyasu, who had taken the control of Japan after Hideyoshi's death, that banned the foreign merchants and persecuted the Christians.  In fact, prior to the war, Hideyoshi had attempted to purchase the Portugese battleships from the European merchants in Japan.

 

I doubt the Chinese merchants were TRYING to spy on Hideyoshi's health, but the health of such high ranking officer of the court was always an issue of interests for the merchants.  Especially back in the days, a life-threatening illness of the ruler of a nation was a huge economic issue.  Also, Hideyoshi was old enough to face death even in the age standard of the modern time.  So just the slightest hint of his illness would have, quietly but still widely, spread all over the nation.  The merchants, who would have had a keen interest in anything that might reasonably affect the national economy, would have never failed to pick up such information.

 

But then again, I am only suggesting this as a possibility.  There were other ways for the Ming court to get a hold of that information.

 

 

Originally posted by pekau Though Yi Sunshin did the wonders, we must not overestimate him as well. It is true that he blockaded the supply and communication line... but it did not affected too much to the overall of Imjin War. Japanese simply pillaged the Joseon citizens for food, though now I think about it... maybe their gunpowder advantage may have disappeared because making gunpowder is quite difficult for common soldiers, and the mass production of gunpowders must be supplied from Japan... maybe that was one of the reason why they lost war?

 

Actually, his success had a lot to do with the overall result.  The Japan's beginning tactic was to capture the King and declare Joseon theirs.  The Japanese land army, who had run quite a distance to capture the Joseon King and his court, could not gain further ground due to the limited supply thanks to Admiral Yi's blockade.  Their supply line was already being stretched due to rise of citizen militias, but it was Admiral Yi's blockade that reduced their supply at the doorstep.

 

Like you have mentioned, the regular soldiers could not make gunpowders.  The gundpowder production technique was a trade secret that was kept on tight watch on national scale back then, so the invasion force did not have a gunpowder maker on their staff.  Also, bullets, replacement armaments such as guns and cannons, and fresh troops had to be supplied from the Japanese mainland.  Well, Admiral Yi put a stop to that.  In the first winter of the Imjin War, many Japanese soldiers died of coldness because the majority of them was not given suitable winter clothes, again thanks to the blockade.

 

Admiral Yi's blockade limited the options for the Japanese generals on land, and also increased the fear among the Japanese soldiers that they might not make home, which would have depleted their morals significantly, since the most of them were not professional soldiers.  They were drafted citizens who eventually wanted to go home.  The blocked path to their way back would have made the troops' morals to dip to the bottom of the barrel, and the Japanese generals would have had difficulties fighting battles with such troops.  On top of that, the limited supply of bullets and gunpowders forced the generals to pick their battles, and by the end of the War, they were pretty much stuck inside Busan and neighboring regions in fear of them running out of resources.  Had Admiral Yi failed to block the supply line from the mainland, the Japanese army would have had more strategic options, some of which might have brought down the entire nation of Joseon.

 

Also, the Admiral Yi's reputation even reached the ears of Hideyoshi, who had prompty ordered to avoid Yi's fleet as much as possible.  In such case, Japan could not send, not only the resources, but also the new troops to strengthen their dominance over the conquered regions, which further isolated the Japanese troops in Joseon.  The Admiral Yi's blockade, coupled with Japan's haste in chasing the King, left many Japanese soldiers alone in the hostile land(which they made even more hostile by pillaging it).

 

There was a reason Xerxes abandoned his Greece campaign after loss at Salamis, even though he still had a massive land army.  Such a large oversea campaign cannot be maintained without a steady naval support.  Well, Admiral Yi took that away from Japanese.  Only reason the Japan could maintain their assault on Korea for so long is because their land assault in the beginning had successfully broke Joseon's land army into pieces.  But the Admiral Yi's success stopped Japan's advance, and bought Joseon long enough time to recover and strike back.  Once Joseon started to strike back, and after Ming joined the fight, the Japanese force could not keep on fighting with its full might again thanks to Admiral Yi.

 

So there is a reason why people think that the Admiral Yi basicall won the war for us.

 

I will let you know if I can think of the name...

 

By the way, why start Korean forum? Are you Korean as well or...?

 

Though Yi Sunshin did the wonders, we must not overestimate him as well. It is true that he blockaded the supply and communication line... but it did not affected too much to the overall of Imjin War. Japanese simply pillaged the Joseon citizens for food, though now I think about it... maybe their gunpowder advantage may have disappeared because making gunpowder is quite difficult for common soldiers, and the mass production of gunpowders must be supplied from Japan... maybe that was one of the reason why they lost war?

 

Japanese invaders fought quite effectively, but they were eventually pushed back by the Joseon resistance. Ming's influence was quite limited, though some say otherwise. We can all agree (I hope) that Ming's navy did very little to the Imjin War (If they did anything, that is). First invading force underestimated the Japanese army, which was destoryed on the first battle... and the second reinforcement did not do much either. I think the best think Ming did to Joseon in Imjin War is advance cannons. It is true that Japanese had cannons as well... but Mings had more, and with better quality and range. Furthermore, I have a feeling that their cannon and gundpowder supply was less frequent due to Yi Sunshin's naval blockade...

 

Sorry, I don't understand your first sentence. Elaborate, perhaps?

 

I meant to say that the Turtle ship's defense was weaker since Tekkosen could handle cannon attacks. Turtle ship's defense was soley to prevent enemy infantry to overboard. This usually did not happen, since Yi Sunshin made sure that Korean warships never got too close to Japanese ships. He could not afford to lose a single ship, considering Japan's numerical advantage.

 

Also, Tekkosen was designed as moving fortress, as I have mentioned before. Yi Sinshin's turtle ship was designed for speed and mobility rather than perfect defense. Yi Sunshin avoided close combats as much as possible, for Koreans were outnumbered and were inferior to well trained samurais... Its Attack was, ironically, superior than Tekkosen... since turtle ships' main cannons were adopted from Ming Dyansty. (Chinese still had best cannons at that time with better range.

It should be noted that they were meant for coastal or other relatively calm water, for the ships should really be called fortified ships (My opinion, nothing offensive, I hope). It was heavy and was slow, but its defense and attack was superb compared to normal Panokseon.