The siege of Pyongyang was a military conflict fought between the allied
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
-
Joseon army and the Japanese First Division under
Konishi Yukinaga. The battle ended in victory for the allies but a successful retreat from
Pyeongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...
by the remaining Japanese in the night of 8 February 1593.
Background
A minor Ming force of 5,000 under
Wu Weizhong arrived at the
Yalu River
The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...
on 5 January.
The
Ming army
The military of the Ming dynasty was the military apparatus of Imperial China, China from 1368 to 1644. It was founded in 1368 during the Red Turban Rebellion by the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang. The military was initially organised along la ...
of 35,000 under
Li Rusong
Li Rusong (1549–1598) was a Ming dynasty general from Tieling, Liaodong. He was a Ming army commander in the first half of the Imjin War that took place in the Korean peninsula. Upon the request of the Korean King Seonjo of Joseon, the Ming Wa ...
arrived at the Yalu River on 26 January. They were then joined by the advance force and a bodyguard unit sent to protect
Seonjo of Joseon, raising their strength to 43,000, another 10,000
Koreans
Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula.
Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply re ...
at
Sunan under
Yi Il
Yi Il (; 1538 – 1601) was a Korean military official of the mid-Joseon Period. During the reign of Seonjo of Joseon, he made a great contribution to the conquest of the Jurchen people in the north. When Imjin War occurred, he was appointed Mob ...
, and finally 4,200 monks under
Hyujeong
Hyujeong (, 1520-1604), also called Seosan Daesa (서산대사, 西山大師) was a Korean Seon master. As was common for monks in this time, he travelled from place to place, living in a succession of monasteries. Buddhist monks had been forced t ...
.
Li Rusong sent ahead the envoy
Shen Weijing to negotiate with
Konishi Yukinaga, however this act was insincere. He had no intention of negotiating with the Japanese. Konishi sent 20 men to greet the Ming envoys, but most of them did not return. It's not certain what happened to them. One version of events state that they were killed during a banquet with Shen Weijing, another says they were simply ambushed on the way.
During the march to Pyeongyang they encountered a Japanese scout party, three of whom were captured, and five killed. The allied army arrived at Pyeongyang and set up camp north of the city on 5 February 1593.
Konishi offered to hold negotiations but was refused. That night some 800 Japanese sneaked out and attacked the Ming camp, however they were spotted by guards and driven back by fire arrows, suffering 30 casualties.
Battle
The battle began on 6 February 1593. Hyujeong's monks with support from Wu Weizhong attacked the large hill north of Pyeongyang where around 2,000 enemy troops were stationed under Konishi Yukinaga. Konishi was almost surrounded at one point until
Sō Yoshitoshi counterattacked and rescued him. The fighting lasted for two days before the last Japanese commander,
Matsuura Shigenobu, was forced to pull back to Pyeongyang. The monks suffered 600 casualties and Wu Weizhong was wounded in the chest by a bullet.
In the morning of 8 January, Li Rusong's army advanced on the city, their tightly packed ranks "looking like the scales on a fish." Yang Yuan and Zhang Shijue attacked from the north and west, Li Rubai from the southeast, and Yi Il and
Gim Eungso from the southwest. The east was covered by the
Daedong River and could not be attacked.
Once the signal cannon fired, they rushed the walls with ladders, shot
fire arrows
Fire arrows were one of the earliest forms of weaponized gunpowder, being used from the 9th century onward. Not to be confused with earlier incendiary arrow projectiles, the fire arrow was a gunpowder weapon which receives its name from the tra ...
, and threw bombs into the city, and started pounding the gates with cannons. The Japanese defense was almost too much. Li Rusong's own horse was shot out from under him and the assault began to show signs of faltering before Li went forward, cut off the head of a retreating soldier, and offered 5,000 taels to the first man over the wall. The allied troops renewed their assault until
Luo Shangzhi was able to clear the wall and Yang Yuan followed by breaking through the northern gate. In the west the surviving monks and troops from the earlier attack joined Zhang Shijue's push into the city once the gate had been destroyed by cannons.
The Japanese pulled back to their last line of defense, an earth and log fort in the northern corner of Pyeongyang. Li Rusong instructed his troops to set the building on fire using fire arrows, but even so the Japanese could not be dislodged. Instead the crush of allied soldiers and cavalry suffered horrendous casualties to Japanese gunfire. Unable to move forward, many retreated through the western gate. Seeing this, Konishi chose to go on the offensive and sortied out with his men, only to be driven back by cannon fire.
Unwilling to suffer any more casualties, Li Rusong called off the attack as night approached.
Although nominally successful in repelling the enemies, the Japanese were no longer capable of defending the city. All the gates had been breached, no food was left, and they had suffered horrible casualties. With this in mind Konishi led the entire garrison out into the night and snuck across the frozen
Daedong River back to
Hanseong. Many drowned during the crossing.
Aftermath
The Japanese retreat was hard. Aside from natural hardships, an ambush by Zha Dashou and Li Ning also claimed another 362 Japanese lives. Konishi's men reached Hanseong on 17 February.
After the Japanese loss at Pyeongyang,
Kuroda Yoshitaka
, also known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he succeeded Takenaka Hanbei as a chief strategist and adviser to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kuroda became a Christian ...
called for the removal of Konishi Yukinaga, saying that he was a poor leader and did not get along with his fellow commanders. Konishi, in turn, became the primary advocate for peace on the Japanese side, having suffered one of the heaviest losses during the campaign.
Song Yingchang invited
Seonjo of Joseon to return to Pyeongyang on 6 March.
See also
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Siege of Pyongyang (1592)
Citations
Bibliography
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* 桑田忠親
uwata, Tadachika ed., 舊參謀本部編纂,
yu Sanbo Honbu 朝鮮の役
housen no Eki��(日本の戰史
ihon no SenshiVol. 5), 1965.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Pyongyang (1593)
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
History of Pyongyang
1593 in Asia
1593 in Japan
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...