Innovation and Revolution (19)
Having thoroughly reviewed all the documents concerning the conquest of Japan, Yi Yeon tilted his head in confusion.
“It won’t be easy.”
The Hwaryeokgun forces that had landed on the islands pushed forward exactly as they had prepared.
Yet the response from the Japanese daimyos was far different from what he had expected.
“Where did all those tiger and dragon war gods go? The mighty warriors who boasted about their bravery and martial prowess — they’ve all vanished!”
These men, who called themselves brave generals, acted like thugs who fled the moment a war against crime began — tails tucked between their legs, disappearing into thin air.
He had heard that Japan’s central government had collapsed after the Onin War.
Still, he could not understand it.
Japan — the land where the sun rises — had its own national name, the Emperor, a Shogun who held real power, and grand commanders who led the east, west, and north.
Yet they were treated as nothing but scarecrows.
That was why Yi Yeon refused to call Japan Japan. He called it Why Country because its shape was that pathetic.
The Sengoku era, defined by betrayal and coup d’etats.
Still, he had assumed they would unite and charge like a horde.
But that was not the case at all.
Instead, they had paused the wars they fought among themselves and began watching the Koreans’ every move.
It seemed due to news of the battles in Kyushu.
After that day, countless daimyos sent envoys to the Korean side, begging to submit.
Yi Yeon had intended to conquer Japan and turn the islands into a supply base for Joseon.
Reclaiming the area around Tokyo Bay would allow them to obtain a plain larger than Gangwon Province (16,830.1 km²). And with only the plain, they would never again need to worry about rice production.
Therefore, he planned to eliminate the Emperor, the Shogun, the daimyos, and every samurai who followed them.
These were men whose livelihood was murder. They could not simply be told to farm. And he could not risk them becoming seeds of future rebellion.
Once, he had even considered using them.
Like the Mori family.
But because they betrayed so easily, he had decided against it.
The Age of Firepower had arrived. There was no need for them anymore.
The reason he was not employing the generals from this war was the same.
Wars using cold weapons were completely different from wars using firepower.
So he had appointed graduates of the Hwaryeok Military Academy — those who had studied firepower tactics — as regiment commanders and sent them into battle.
The results were staggering.
Yi Yeon did not know much about Japanese history.
It was too complicated, and he had no interest in it, so he had never bothered to research.
Therefore, he was confused.
Concepts he had long held were being utterly shattered.
Could there truly be no such thing as a nation?
No matter how he thought about it, that seemed to be the case.
After the Imjin War in 1592, when Japan invaded, Joseon had united and fought.
This was completely different from that situation.
When the Mori family submitted to Joseon,
when Oda Nobunaga, who had seized Kyoto and aimed to advance into Kansai, returned to his base in Owari (Nagoya),
even the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen, who had targeted him, did not move from his own territory.
Takeda Shingen had been preparing to attack Oda Nobunaga after the latter reached Kyoto.
If he did nothing, Oda Nobunaga would become the ruler of the land.
So, after the battle of Anegawa, the Asakura-Azai alliance that had allied with the Oda-Tokugawa coalition first joined forces with the Takeda-Shingen alliance.
They then aimed to strike first at Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had followed Oda Nobunaga.
Takeda Shingen had allied with Oda Nobunaga, but he did not care about such things.
It was the era of coup d’etats where the strong dominated the world.
Yet he could not do it.
Because Oda Nobunaga, terrified by the Korean army’s performance, had returned to his own domain.
He was forced to suppress his desire to become ruler of the land.
There was no way to defeat Oda Nobunaga, who possessed the fertile Nōbi Plain.
Uesugi Kenshin, the Dragon of Echigo, had also held back.
He had intended only to protect his own territory in the Niigata Plain.
Kyushu and the Kansai region, which the Korean army had occupied, were too far from his lands.
If he intervened, he would only face a sorry end.
In this situation, Yi Yeon had to completely change his plan.
He had wanted to gather everyone and wipe them out in one blow, but that was impossible.
His original plan had been to launch a decisive battle in Kyoto.
He would connect Incheon — Tsushima — Iki — Shimonoseki — Kanmon — Usijima — Muratsu — Osaka — Sakai ports with steamship-modified panokseons to create a supply line.
Then he would gather all the Hwaryeokgun and seize Kyoto.
He had expected that, if any of them still had a shred of national pride, they would charge to defend Kyoto.
But they showed not even a trace of such resolve.
Despite Kyushu and the Kansai region being occupied by Joseon, they had tucked their tails and hidden away.
All of this was thanks to the Hwaryeok 1st Marine Division led by Yi Sun-sin.
*
The moment the Joseon army occupied Iki Island,
the families ruling Kyushu — the Ryuzoji, Ouchi, and Shimazu — had allied.
As long as the Korean army protected Iki Island and Tsushima,
they could not even engage in Japanese piracy, let alone trade with the Ming Dynasty.
They could not sail south either.
Though they were confident in crossing rough oceans, typhoons struck frequently, making it far too dangerous.
After careful thought, they rallied every soul in Kyushu and mustered a massive army to invade Iki Island.
But the result was a total disaster.
They had built five enormous Atakebune warships that resembled houses.
Yet even one turtle-shaped Hyeongmyeongjeon was enough to break them.
Upon receiving the urgent report that the enemy had landed on Iki Island, Yi Sun-sin boarded the Hyeongmyeongjeon that had been docked and went out to meet them.
He then leaped straight into the enemy lines and destroyed countless enemy ships.
Without firing a single cannon, he shot only arrows equipped with pole bombs.
Yet the enemy could offer no resistance at all.
They collapsed helplessly.
He even tried shooting jeonjo (matchlocks), but the bullets were simply deflected by the iron armor.
Clang! Clang!
Only then did they realize.
All of the Korean warships rumored to be so powerful were made entirely of iron.
Unlike the Heoxinjeon, whose hull was 60 meters long, the Hyeongmyeongjeon was only 50 meters.
The armor plates were 5 mm thick, not 3 mm.
Because it was shaped like a turtle, that was how it had turned out.
But since it had been designed to ram into the enemy lines and sweep them away, they had shortened the hull length and reinforced the iron frame and plates instead.
For that reason, the Hyeongmyeongjeon bore not a single scratch from any attack.
That Hyeongmyeongjeon chased down the fleeing enemy ships and crushed them all.
Japanese warships built of wood were crushed to pieces the moment they touched the iron Hyeongmyeongjeon.
None of them managed even one decent fight before being sunk.
Yet Yi Sun-sin did not stop.
Following the panokseons taught at the Hwaryeok Military Academy, he swept through the major ports of the Ouchi, Ryuzoji, and Shimazu families like a traveling show, burning everything to the ground.
The weapons used at this time were also arrows with pole bombs attached.
Unlike the arrows used at sea, which had arrowheads, the ones aimed at harbors had no arrowheads.
There was no need for them.
Because the target was too vast; simply launching them into the air was enough.
Yi Yeon had ordered Kim Ji to attach pole bombs to the Hyuksinjeon and create rockets of three different types.
He had done it to conserve expensive cannonballs, which were difficult to manufacture.
But in this war, they had proved incredibly effective.
The Hyuksinjeon had three pole bombs attached to the arrowhead.
The Hyukmyeongjeon had no arrowhead but six pole bombs instead.
They then mixed saltpeter and sugar into the rockets to create rocket candy.
If he could have, he would have wanted to create Aladdin’s magic lamp.
But the technology was not ready yet.
Still, the effect was overwhelming.
When the rockets were inserted into a brass cylinder, the fins were lit, and the rockets were aimed at the enemy ships, they flew in nearly straight lines for hundreds of meters, embedded themselves, and exploded.
Like the first-ever two-stage missile rocket in the world — the Seonghyeoksinjeon.
Because of this, the enemy ships could not even approach the Hyeongmyeongjeon and were destroyed in pieces.
The Hyukmyeongjeon was used for indiscriminate attacks.
At that time, they were fired in an arcing trajectory.
Because range mattered more than accuracy.
The Hyukmyeongjeon, which traveled more than 1 km, descended while exploding repeatedly with loud pung! sounds.
When the pole bombs connected to the rocket candy and fuses ignited, they exploded with a boom that shook heaven and earth no matter where they fell.
The daimyos and samurai were all terrified and fled.
While the Korean army, they said, was trying to destroy them all with the wrath of heaven.
By contrast, the Japanese common people watched the fireworks with amusement.
Even when their own villages were burning.
That was why.
The reason the Hyukmyeongjeon did not contain iron balls, unlike the Hyuksinjeon, was because the Japanese commoners, when war broke out, would pack simple food and go watch.
They knew that even in a war where they killed each other, they would not harm workers like themselves.
Yi Yeon understood the same.
He had instructed that no iron balls be placed in the pole bombs used for the Hyukmyeongjeon.
There was no need to kill those who thought war had nothing to do with them.
But that was not the end of it.
The Hwaryeok 2nd Infantry Division led by Yun Hong-sin and the Hwaryeok 2nd Cavalry Division led by Hwang Jin had landed in Fukuoka.
They advanced southward in close coordination.
Along the way, they eliminated the fleeing daimyos and samurai.
“Drop your weapons or we’ll sell you!”
Those conscripted into the Hwaryeokgun had shouted this countless times while brandishing spears.
But the enemy charged in brutally.
They were reduced to honeycomb by iron bullets,
their skulls shattered by lead bullets,
even while their armor was pierced by single-shot bullets.
Later, they learned that the power of the multibore gun was similar to that of matchlocks.
That was why they had done it.
Armor could not be pierced by matchlock bullets at close range.
But the power of the multibore gun bullets, which had been replaced with cordite, shattered their hopes.
At that point, they decided there was no way to win and fled into the castles.
The Dae-hyuksinjeon, which had appeared at this moment, was the answer.
This massive 2-meter rocket carried eighteen pole bombs — six each in three stages.
Each fin was also equipped with six rocket candies.
The flaming Dae-hyuksinjeon shot forward madly toward its target.
It pierced the wooden castle gates without a scratch.
Then, upon exploding, it completely flattened the surrounding area.
Even stone walls could not withstand it.
They crumbled instantly the moment the blast hit.
In the end, the daimyos committed suicide, and all the samurai surrendered, discarding their weapons.
The number exceeded 20,000.
This news spread across the entire archipelago at once.
Along with rumors that even the divine wind that had protected them during the Mongol invasions could not stop the Korean ships — which had neither sails nor oars.
*
Because of all this, the Japanese daimyos had gone completely silent, only watching the Korean army’s every move.
“As expected, General Yi Sun-sin is the natural enemy of the Japanese.”
Though Yun Hong-sin and Hwang Jin had performed admirably, they were still a step behind Yi Sun-sin, who had completely annihilated Kyushu while leading the 1st Marine Division.
Yet the situation was extremely favorable.
Still, Yi Yeon could not help but worry.
Unlike Kyushu, Honshu was larger than Joseon itself.
So these tactics would not work there.
Hmm. If I occupy this place, then that place becomes the problem. If I deal with that place, this place becomes the problem again.
He had been advancing eastward along the southern coast, but they seemed likely to hide inland or flee north.
But they could not be chased inland either.
The mountainous terrain was even more severe than Joseon’s.
If any ambush were to occur, even with overwhelming firepower, they could be defeated.
With only the Hwaryeokgun I currently have, there’s no way.
He had recruited an additional 30,000 men for the Hwaryeokgun this year.
That would only bring the total to just over 60,000.
Moreover, he could not send them directly to the front.
While they could learn how to fire multibore guns perfectly in ten days, courage was what mattered most in war.
So he had sent them to hunt tigers in the wild.
Because villages were suddenly losing people left and right, and because there were still enormous numbers of tigers and leopards roaming everywhere — so many that people were still calling them “tigers and leopards” interchangeably.
Well… it may take some time…
Yi Yeon believed he could conquer Japan in a year or so.
He had powerful firepower weapons and had prepared enough in advance.
But that plan seemed impossible to achieve.
Kyushu, already conquered, was being neglected and left unmanaged.
Then there is no choice but to use them.
After thinking it through, Yi Yeon summoned all the daimyos who wanted to submit to Joseon.
He had intended to eliminate them all, but without using them, he would never know when he could conquer the archipelago.
* * *