Admiral YI Sun Shin

 

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...?

 

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.

 

 

This is a Japanese source. Whether or not the turtle Boats were Iron-Covered no one knows. As it is The Japanese Tekkosen as I understand it were upgraded Japanese ships of an already exsisting class and were seen as floating fortresses rather then an sea-worthy vessel. [ from whative read on several sources at least]

 

Also The Turtleships were extremely overated it was the Panokseon that were in every battle. Also Didn't Korea develop its own cannons during late Koryo and under Sejong im sure Ming were basic models for several types but still.

EasternKnight, where did you get that Japanese quote? Is it actually in Japanese or is it an english translation of a quote?

 

Pekau, I don't think that the Joseon Navy would be much use in the 19th century. Even if the Joseon Nobility had wanted to modernize, the Yangban would not want to move to industrialization because they were too set on agriculture because they owned all the land.