The Ming army defeated the Japanese army, or the Japanese army defeated the Ming army
The Battle of Bihuguan was a key battle during the Korean War in Wanli and had an important impact on the development of the war. What is thought-provoking is that after the end of the war, both China and Japan claimed that their armies had lost the battle.
The Chinese side believes that Li Rusong, the chief general of the Ming army, was disheartened after the war and had no intention of fighting again; The historical records of the Japanese side record that the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the battle, and the generals who participated in the battle blamed each other, and even became afraid of the Ming army, and the idea of withdrawing was born.
While both armies claim to be the victors in a war, it is extremely rare for both sides to consider themselves the losers. So, in this battle that gradually evolved from a small-scale encounter to a large-scale battle, was it the victory of the Ming army or the victory of the Japanese army?
We will combine the relevant historical materials of China, Japan and North Korea to conduct an in-depth **.
The Battle of Bihokan, also known as the Battle of Bihoguan, took place on the second day of the first month of the 22nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1594), and was an important battle between the Ming army and the Japanese Satsuma army.
In the battle, Li Rusong, the chief general of the Ming army aiding Korea, ordered the deputy commander-in-chief Zha Dashou to lead 500 elite cavalry to Wangjing (now Seoul) in North Korea to reconnoiter the Japanese army, and ordered Zu Chengxun, Li Ning, Sun Shoulian, Gao Sheng and other generals to lead 3,000 troops as the support of Cha Dashou's troops.
In the early morning of the next day, Cha Dashou, who arrived near Wangjing, encountered the Japanese army Tachibana Soshige. Zha Dashou joined forces with Zu Chengxun and others who arrived later to re-establish the Flower Army. At this time, the Japanese army, which was rumored by the defeat of Pyongyang, heard that the Ming army was coming, and thought that the Ming army was going to attack Wangjing, so the soldiers and horses who gathered to defend the city swarmed out.
Zha Dashou and others knew that they were invincible, and they fought and walked, and finally were surrounded by the Japanese army in the Biho Pavilion (a post house on a hill fifteen kilometers north of Wang Jing).
After Li Rusong learned that Zha Dashou had founded the Flower Army, he decided to personally lead 2,000 soldiers and horses to Wangjing to survey the terrain and answer Zha Dashou. On the way, however, they heard the news that Cha had been besieged.
Although Li Rusong did not know the specific strength and deployment of the Japanese army, he still decided to lead 1,000 men to the rescue, and at the same time ordered Yang Yuan to lead another 1,000 men to follow.
When Li Rusong went to the Bihu Pavilion to rescue Zha Dashou, they found that they could not break out of the encirclement of the Japanese army, and Li Rusong himself was surrounded by regiments. However, the Ming army worked together to fight to the death, which made it impossible for the Japanese army to eat the Ming army.
The battle between the two sides lasted all night, and both sides suffered a terrible **. The next day, when Yang Yuan's troops arrived, the Japanese were already exhausted from the long battle, and they were also intimidated by the bravery of the Ming army, realizing that they could not win.
Therefore, they could only withdraw their troops. As a result, Li Rusong and others were able to escape and return to Paju.
Above: The achievement of the battle goal of the Battle of BihokanWe know that the most important indicator to evaluate the victory or defeat of a battle is to see which side achieved the combat goal and which side did not.
In order to better analyze which side of the Ming and Japanese armies achieved the goal of the battle in the Battle of Bihokan, it is necessary to review the course of this battle in detail.
Judging from the review of the battle, the chief general of the Ming army, Zha Dashou and others, were ordered to go to Wang Jing to "reconnoiter Wang Jing's road in order to carry out an ambush attack" ("Jinglu Restoration of the Country").
However, during their mission, they encountered Tachibana Soshige, who was on guard near Wangjing, and the two sides met in a fierce battle, and their original mission had to be suspended in favor of the task of defeating their opponents.
As a result, the Japanese army "killed more than 100 people in a row at ten o'clock, and the army of Tachibana Soshige fell into a bitter battle" ("Japanese War History: Korean Campaign"), and the Koreans also recorded that "(Cha Dashou) waved his army to cover the attack, and the thieves were invincible and scattered" ("Punishment Record").
It can be seen from this that in the first round of the confrontation between the two sides, the Ming army won the victory.
Above: Schematic diagram of the Battle of Bihokan The Ming army and the Japanese army engaged in a fierce confrontation at Bihokan. Wang Jing's Japanese army swarmed out and besieged Zha Dashou and others. Li Rusong and other Ming troops rushed to hear the news and tried to break through the encirclement of the Japanese army.
The two sides launched a fierce encirclement and counter-encirclement contest, the Ming army wanted to break out of the encirclement, and the Japanese army wanted to encircle and annihilate the Ming army. In this round of confrontation, the Japanese army was never able to destroy the Ming army in the encirclement.
Although the Ming army failed to break out of the encirclement, it crushed the Japanese army's attempt with tenacious fighting, and finally held out until reinforcements arrived and the Japanese army retreated. In terms of the battle situation, after the Ming reinforcements led by Yang Yuan arrived, the Japanese army hurriedly withdrew from the siege without engaging Yang Yuan, which shows that it must be very passive on the scene, otherwise there is no need to see this 1,000 people and leave.
The Japanese army's attempt to encircle and annihilate was not achieved, but the Ming army's desire to break through was successfully realized, and this round was undoubtedly won by the Ming army. To sum up, the Ming army was victorious in both phases of the campaign, therefore, it can be concluded that the Ming army was victorious and the Japanese army was defeated.
In the Battle of Bihuguan, the Ming army's participation in the battle included reconnaissance troops, follow-up troops and reinforcements, with a total of about 5,500 people. However, the actual strength of the Japanese army in the battle is disputed.
According to some historical records, the total strength of Wang Jing's Japanese army was about 40,000 people, and about 10,000 people such as Konishi Yukinaga and others were unable to advance because they had suffered a heavy loss from the Ming army, so the actual strength of the Japanese army should be 30,000 people.
Considering that the 1,000 reinforcements led by Yang Yuan did not fight against the Japanese army, and the actual strength of the Ming army participating in the battle was only 4,500 people, then the Japanese army's strength advantage was even more significant, more than 6 times.
The above picture "Jingluo Restoration of the Country" mentions the ** situation of the Ming army in the battle of Bihuguan under the condition that the strength of the Ming and Japanese troops was 1:6. According to the "Essentials of the Restoration of the Kingdom", the Ming army lost 264 people killed and 49 wounded.
However, due to various reasons, the Ming army may shrink and conceal the battle losses. However, according to the official Korean historical document "Seonjo Chokyung King Records", the Ming army should have lost five or six hundred people.
In the "Tachibana Family Documents", which commemorates the life of Tachibana Soshige, it is mentioned that the Ming army lost hundreds of dollars at the Bihokan, which is similar to Korean documents. Considering that it was the Japanese army who controlled the battlefield after the war, its statistics on the number of Ming soldiers killed should be more credible.
Therefore, the actual number of Ming troops killed should be around 500, while the number of wounded is about 1,000, and the ratio is about 2:1.
Li Rusong, the word Zimao, the number Yangcheng. Japan's losses in the Battle of Bihokan have been widely discussed, and the relevant historical records are also confused. However, according to the official Japanese war history "Japanese War History Korean Campaign", only the two divisions of Tachibana Soshige and Takahashi Tongzeng reduced 1,800 people, and they did not dare to fight again after seeing Yang Yuan's reinforcements, which shows that the overall ** of the Japanese army must be not small.
Furthermore, it is mentioned in "Tsukushi" that after the Kobayakawa army succeeded the Tachibana army, it was crushed as soon as it fought with the Ming army, which shows that its ** is not inferior to the Tachibana army. Therefore, scholars generally believe that the Japanese army should have suffered 4,000-5,000 casualties in the Battle of Bihokan, of which 1,000-1,500 were killed.
With 6 times the strength of the Ming army, Japan surrounded the Ming army but failed to destroy it, and an originally planned war of annihilation was finally forced to take the initiative to withdraw from the siege, and it also paid at least 3 times the opponent's **.
It can be seen that even the Japanese army, which has been baptized in the Warring States Period, is still quite inferior in terms of technology and tactics.
Above: The Battle of Bihokan: An Unexpected Encounter From the above analysis, we can conclude that the Battle of Bihokan originated from an accidental encounter between Cha Daishou's reconnaissance troops and Tachibana Muneshige's Japanese spearhead.
After Zha Dashou and others defeated Tachibana Soshige, Wang Jing's Japanese troops were all dispatched out of fear and besieged Zha Dashou and others in the Biho Pavilion. When Li Rusong received the news that Cha Dashou was besieged, he immediately went to the rescue of the Bihu Pavilion, so the battle entered a climax: the siege of the Japanese army and the counter-siege of the Ming army.
Although the Japanese army attacked the Ming army of 4,500 people with an absolute advantage of 30,000 troops, most of the generals and troops of the Ming army, including Li Rusong and Zha Dashou, escaped, while the Japanese army paid three times the price of the Ming army.
After the war, the two armies returned to their pre-war posture and did not occupy an inch of each other's land. Taking into account the investment of troops, battle losses, operational objectives, and areas under control, the Ming army undoubtedly achieved victory, or at least it cannot be said that they failed.
After the war, Li Rusong abandoned Paju for logistical reasons, leaving only a small part of the army to garrison Kaesong, and the rest were all withdrawn to Pyongyang, completely losing the will to continue fighting.
This is not so much the psychological blow brought by the Battle of Bihokan, but rather because the peninsula was frantically looted by the Japanese army, and there was a lack of materials, so it was impossible to raise food on the spot, and all supplies could only be transferred from the country.
In addition, the peninsula was cold and frozen, and the mountains were covered by heavy snow, and in the era of agricultural society, the transportation mode relying solely on people and horses was extremely inefficient, and it was simply unable to meet the needs of the front. Therefore, in such a situation, it is very necessary for Li Rusong to give up his aggressive strategy and instead shrink his troops, stabilize the rear, and adopt a posture of sticking to and avoiding war.
The Battle of Bihokan: A Rehearsal of the Sino-Japanese Firearms Race The Battle of Bihokan was a famous battle between the Ming Dynasty and Japan. According to Japanese historical records, after this battle, the morale of the Japanese army in Wang Jing was low, and the soldiers even thought that their lives were in danger, which shows that the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army brought a huge shock to the Japanese army.
The Portuguese missionary Floys also wrote in his book History of Japan that the Japanese army began to be frightened by the Ming army and decided to conclude an armistice. The sophisticated equipment of the Ming Dynasty army also brought a huge impact to the Japanese army.
According to the Togawa Kiki, Ukita Hideya's subordinate general Kuniti Genemon slashed the armor of a Ming soldier with a knife three times during the war, but was bounced back three times. This shows that the armor of the Ming Dynasty army is of very high quality and can effectively protect the lives of the first soldiers.
It is mentioned in the Tachibana Family Document that Tachibana Soshige told his younger brother Takahashi Tomzensu more than once that he must try to get the tall horses of the Ming cavalry, which reflects that the cavalry equipment of the Ming Dynasty army has attracted widespread attention among the Japanese army.
In short, the Battle of Bihuguan was a rehearsal of a Sino-Japanese firearms race, and the Ming Dynasty's sophisticated equipment and strong combat effectiveness brought great deterrence to the Japanese army, and also made the Japanese army begin to realize its disadvantage in the arms race.
Based on historical evidence, we can assert that the result of the Battle of Bihuguan was that the Ming army won more with less, and the Japanese army was outnumbered. More importantly, the battle made both sides realize that there was no military end to the war in the short term, so they both hoped that a truce could be negotiated through negotiations.
From this point of view, the Battle of Bihoguan can be called an important turning point in the Wanli Korean War. Author: Lin Sen Correction Editor: Lilith References: "The Complete History of the Wanli Korean War" by Zhu Erdan, "The Past Deaths in the History of China and Japan" by Wang Hao, "History of the Ming Dynasty Biography of Li Rusong", "Ming History Manuscript Biography of Li Rusong", "Jinglu Restoration of the Country", "Ming History Chronicle, Volume 62 Aid to Korea", "Punishment Record", "Record of King Xuanzu Zhaojing", "Revised Record of King Xuanzu Zhaojing", "Rebuilding the Records of the Domain", "Miscellaneous Records in Chaos", "The Tale of Liyu Shao", "The Story of Tsukushi", "The Story of the Korean Army of Zongmao Gong", "Tachibana Family Documents" The History of the Japanese War, the Korean War, and the Diary of the Korean Sea Crossing were created by the team of the History University Hall, and the pictures came from the Internet, and the copyright belonged to the original author.