Sent to North Korea, Mao Wenlong, Phi Island and Donggang Town

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-29

椵道 (Korean: 椵島), known as Dongjiang and Phi Island in ancient times, this island is only a short distance from the Korean Peninsula, about 2 kilometers, its island is located in the east of the Yalu River estuary, and Zhangzi Island, Ludao together form a three-legged pattern of the Yalu River estuary, and the geographical location is located between the Liaodong Peninsula, the Korean Peninsula and the Jiaodong Peninsula. Administratively, it is under the jurisdiction of Cheolsan-gun, North Pyongan Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The island is about 15 miles long from east to west and 10 miles wide from north to south. During the Qing Army's entry into the customs war, this island was called "Phi Dao" and became the garrison of Mao Wenlong's troops of the Ming Dynasty army.

Phi Island, with an area of about 192 square kilometers. The coastline is 4294 km. There are several hills on the island, the highest peak, Yantai Peak, is about 333 meters high, and the island is densely forested with pine forests. Spring and summer are a good fishing ground with large numbers of warm-water fish migrating to the coastal waters of the island. The majority of the inhabitants are farmers, and the local agricultural products are mainly soybeans, corn and rice.

When the Ming Dynasty was in Liaodong's military erosion, Mao Wenlong had only more than 100 people under his command, and it was difficult to support the army alone, so he had to retreat into North Korea with the army and civilians. Considering that the Later Jin army was not good at naval warfare, he chose Phi Dao as a suitable station. In 1622, King Gwanghae-kun of Joseon officially allowed Mao Wenlong to stay on Phi Island and set up a military camp there, naming it Donggang Town, which took in about 10,000 Ming troops and refugees, making it an important Ming rear stronghold. He received food support from Korea and ** support from the Ming Dynasty, and continued to disrupt the rear of the Later Jin. In the end, Mao Wenlong's continuous harassment of Houjin became the biggest direct cause of Ding Mao's chaos and Bingzi's disorder.

Based on Phi Dao, Tieshan and Kuanju Mountains, Mao Wenlong recruited refugees, planted the old and weak, and used the strong as soldiers, starting from scratch and gradually developing into an overseas powerhouse. After the establishment of Dongjiang Town, Mao Wenlong launched a series of actions: on the one hand, he accepted the people of Liaodong who were homeless due to the war, and provided them with shelter, assistance and resettlement, totaling hundreds of thousands. On the other hand, he sent his subordinates to carry out guerrilla raids, conduct exchanges with foreign tribes, and at the same time seek material assistance from North Korea, which has contributed about 260,000 stone of grain in total. As a result of these actions, Mao Wenlong gradually became a major threat and trouble for the Later Jin Dynasty.

In Phi Dao, far from the imperial court, Mao Wenlong freed himself from the supervision of Confucian bureaucrats who were extremely contemptuous of commerce, and sought to build Phi Dao as a commercial center. He levied high taxes on visiting merchants, but protected all visitors, including looters and smugglers, dominating much of the Yellow Sea between the Later Jin, Ming, and Korea**. Scholars estimate that he was able to collect tens of thousands of taels of silver each year, and he also sought to obtain copper and iron from North Korea to mint his own currency.

From the perspective of Chinese feng shui, Mao Wenlong changed the name of Chun Island, changing the name of Chun Island to Phi Island, and the other small island to Yuncong Island. Mo Wenlong thought that his surname "Mao" could not exist without "skin", and the so-called "skin does not exist, Mao will be attached", so he changed Jia Island to Phi Island. In addition, he has "dragon" in his name, and the legend says "Yuncong Dragon", so Mumi Island was changed to Yuncong Island.

On May 29, the second year of Chongzhen (1629), Yuan Chonghuan took a boat to Shuangdao in the name of a military parade, and landed on June 3, where he met the officers and soldiers of Phi Island led by Mao Wenlong to greet him. Yuan Chonghuan displayed Shang Fang's sword at that time, announced the twelve counts against Mao Wenlong, and intended to lynch him. Mao Wenlong also possessed a Shang Fang sword, but mistakenly thought that Yuan Chonghuan was representing Emperor Chongzhen and wanted to kill him, so he could only be bound and executed in tears. After that, the Qing Dynasty general Ao Bai conquered Mao Island, and Ao Bai was promoted and canonized. Not long after Yuan Chonghuan executed Mao Wenlong, the Houjin army, which had no threat from the rear, heard the news and smashed the Ming Dynasty's Jingshi, leading to the famous "Jisi Change" incident in history.

However, after the Jisi Change, the Ming Dynasty troops were still stationed on the island. In the twelfth lunar month of 1636 during the Bingzi War, Huang Taiji sent people to attack Phi Dao. Azig led the army, with the assistance of Kong Youde and other Dongjiang gold settlers, to break through Phi Dao, and Shen Shikui, an officer of the Ming army on the island, refused to surrender and was beheaded. There were about 10,000 Ming people**, and the number of survivors was very small, and Yang Sichang then withdrew the remaining Ming army to Denglai in northern Shandong.

In late October 1951, during the Korean War, the Chinese People's Volunteers launched an offensive against United ** on the islands near the mouth of the Yalu River, causing United ** to withdraw its troops. On the night of November 5, the Chinese People's Liberation Army attacked Phi Dao. On 14 November, Soviet Yak fighters strafed Phi Dao. Soon Phi Island was occupied by the Chinese People's Volunteers. Later, the Chinese People's Volunteers withdrew from Phi Dao.

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