Korean Army – Imjin War - Weapons and Warfare

The Imjin War and the rise of the Manchus were events of
monumental importance in East Asian history. First of all, these were of
immense continental scale. Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s (1536-1598) invasion of Korea,
sometimes referred to as the First Korean War or the Great East Asian War,
escalated into a six-year regional war in which the three East Asian countries,
Japan, Korea, and China, fought either as allies or as enemies, each state
directed by its head, with a commitment of large forces fighting on sea and
land using firearms. In fact, this conflict involving more than 500,000
combatants over a course of six years was by far the largest war known to the
world in the sixteenth century; in East Asian memory, it remained unequaled in
scale until the Second World War. The Manchu incursion into Korea, which Hong
Taiji (1592-1643) led with an army of 100,000, ended swiftly when the Korean
court surrendered after a forty-nine-day siege of Namhan Fort, to which the Joseon
[Chosŏn]
court had fled. This was but one in a succession of victories that the Manchus
achieved in the course of establishing their empire, which culminated with the
conquest of Ming China (1368-1644) in 1644.

Both the Imjin War and the Manchu conquest brought
fundamental domestic and regional impacts resulting in regime changes in Japan
and China, respectively. Hideyoshi had brought all the domains of the Japanese
archipelago under his control after a century and a half of fragmentation and “lawlessness.”
After his death in 1598, which was in part responsible for the swift withdrawal
of the Japanese troops from Korea, his successor was defeated by Tokugawa
Ieyasu (1542-1616), who established the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868) that
presided over a peaceful and unified Japan until the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
In China the Ming dynasty, an ethnic Han dynasty, was replaced by the Manchu
Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

The Imjin War and the rise of the Manchu empire implied much
more than the rise and fall of ruling houses; they also signaled realignments
of power in East Asia and augured a new mapping, both conceptual and
territorial, of the region. Hideyoshi invaded Korea as a first step toward
constructing a great Asian empire that would include China and beyond. Though
the Japanese Army never went beyond Korea, and Japan withdrew from Korea having
accomplished none of its stated aims, the invasion announced the emergence of a
new force and a new world vision manifest in Hideyoshi’s grandiose dream, short-lived
though it was. The Manchu conquest of China, on the other hand, can be seen as
the culmination of millennia of rivalry between “China” and a
“barbarian” other, especially those whom the Chinese categorized as
“northern” peoples, against whom the Great Wall had been repeatedly
constructed through history. Their relation can be seen as an endless
oscillation of aggression, retreat, conquest, and assimilation. That is,
Chinese history is punctuated by periods of disunion during which some portion
of China proper was occupied by some northern people or peoples, many of whom
seem to have been assimilated into the Chinese cultural and ethnic community
upon China’s reunification. The Mongol occupation of China appears to have
diverged from the usual pattern. Yuan China (1271-1368) was one of four
khanates with which Mongols ruled over half the world; after their hundred-year
occupation ended, many left for their homeland. For the Manchus, the conquest
of China was the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream, and by the time the
Qing ended in 1911, very few Manchus seem to have reclaimed their ancestral
ethnic origins. If the Qing conquest can be seen as the successful
establishment of a multiethnic empire, the repercussions of this
“barbarian” domination of China, the cultural heartland, reverberated
through the region.

Korean Army

Historically, the later(17~mid 19th century) Korean army
consisted of three main sectors; musket gunners or Po-su (literally means
‘gunner’), cavalries or Gi-byeong (literally means ‘cavalry’), and lastly
artillery or Po-byeong ( literally means ‘artillery’). After two Manchu invasions
of Joseon dynasty, the king and military generals needed a strong-new modeled
army to fight back the Manchus and eventually, to disassemble united Manchurian
tribes. Although the Manchurian Qing dynasty unified China and Korea remained
their tributary state, this led to a series of military reforms in Korea. The
old-fashioned melee spears and shield bearers, which they considered as great
anti-cav unit, were absorbed into new Korean-styled tercio formations. The
melee troops were placed in the front and flanks to protect the gunners, spears
and gunners, which are the main bulk of the formation, were placed in the
middle, and archers were placed in the rear to shoot down the enemy cavalries
while the muskets are reloading. Following is the main doctrine of later-Joseon
dynasty army. When the enemy formation approaches to engage in close combat,
the artillery would harass the enemy formation and force them to either rout or
break the formation and charge forward. The frontline of melee troops would absorb
the impact of the charge, then the gunners and spears would shoot and thrust
their weapons at enemies. When the enemies are finally repelled and are
routing, the cavalries would charge forward and pursuit them. But the lack of
professional melee infantries, obsolete artillery piece, corrupt government
bureaucrats and many other reasons made the Korean army very weak, which led to
Japanese occupation.

Joseon Korea also followed Confucian ideals and had a caste
system. The population was divided into the yangban (scholarly aristocrats),
sangmin (commoners) and cheonmin (lower class and slaves). The yangban held
most of the wealth and took on government and military posts. The sangmin were
labourers and were subject to conscription.

The Koreans had a long tradition of archery and made use of
powerful composite reflex bows. A majority of the population practiced archery,
especially the yangban and the sangmin who were aspiring to gain status. But a
long period of peace degraded the military’s efficiency and it was considered
as a mere rabble when the Japanese invaded in 1592. The best troops were the
Northern Cavalry (horse archers) which defended the borders against the
Jurchen. Much of the cavalry arm was destroyed by the Japanese during the
battles of Chungju and Imjin River. The Sogo system was introduced in 1593 so
that the Koreans could build a new professional standing army.

The Korean army was organized into battalions of mixed
ranged and melee weapons. The most prominent missile weapon was the gakgung (composite
reflex bow). Prior to the invasion, the
Koreans did not bother adopting firearms because of the accuracy and speed of
their bows. But bows proved to be inadequate against Japanese armour and
tactics. They soon learned that the matchlock, though individually slow and
inaccurate, could be quite devastating when fired en masse.

The Sogo reform recognised the importance of firearms. In
close combat, the Joseon used a variety of polearms in the form of spears and
tridents. These are classified as Heavy Weapon in the game.

Like the Chinese, the Koreans possessed several forms of
artillery including the famous Hwacha rocket arrow launcher. Artillery was an
important factor that contributed to the success of the Korean navy.

Korean soldiers were largely unarmoured except for the heavy
mounted troops and generals, who wore brigandine armour.

During the Imjin War, resistance fighters called the uibyeong (righteous army) performed guerrilla raids and provided support during battles. They wielded various ranged and close combat weaponry and were sometimes thought to be better than the regular Joseon troops. Buddhist monks called the sungbyeong also joined the fight against the Japanese and gained a reputation for ferocity and bravery on the battlefield.