A Dragon’s Head and a Serpent’s Tail

As the regular reader of the blog might have worked out after all this time, I do like to do the research as well as as I can. As you might also have noticed, if you have cared to look, it is rather hard to find much in English on the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. That said, there is quite a lot more than there used to be, which was practically nothing when I first stated looking.

What there was was a few scraps in some of Turnbull’s books on the Samurai and the odd mention in some of the books of wider scope, such as Parker’s The Military Revolution. But, really, there was very little indeed. Not that that stopped your correspondent, of course, but it did slow him down a little.

Still, things have improved rather for those interested. There are a number of Ospreys which deal with the subject – one, a Campaign series is specifically about the invasion, while there are also titles about the later Chinese Empire, including the Ming, and, of course, lots about the Samurai. I have not seen anything much about the Koreans, admittedly, except what is in the campaign Osprey. Still, it is an awful lot more than there used to be.

So far as I can see, the final word on the subject in English is this book, which I have just read:

Swope, K. M., A Dragon’s Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great Asian War 1592-1598, (2009, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman).

Swope, it would seem, is a scholar of Ming China and the book is something of a reworking of his research work as a graduate student on the three campaigns of the Ming in the 1590s. Two were against internal rebels, and the third campaign was the rescue of Korea from the barbarian pirates (such is how they were viewed by the Ming, anyway). The campaigns were all successful and Swope uses this fact to argue that the later Ming Empire was not so decadent and weak as previous historiography had suggested. After all, it did not really start to suffer until 1619.

Being modern military history we do not get a great deal about the actual battles and armies, certainly not blow-by-blow accounts of the actions or the weapons and deployment of the armies. There is considerable consideration of the strategies adopted by the sides and also of the logistical nightmare fighting in Korea turned into.

I suppose that the overall trajectory of the war is known to many if not most, wargamers. The Japanese landed near Pusan and ran through Korea like a hot knife through butter. Pusan fell on 14 April, Seoul on 5^th May and Pyongyang on 15 June. The defence was, sadly, marred by incompetence and cowardice by some commanders and huge bravery, death and defeat by others. But by their arrival at Pyongyang in June, the Japanese commanders were actually rather worried as they were already overstretched and their supply lines were tenuous.

The situation was made worse by the Korean navy which attacked the Japanese fleet, sinking loads of ships and winning victories, to which the Japanese did not have too much of an answer. The other problem was that the Korean navy also denied the Japanese access to the western coast of Korea, which they could have used to supply and reinforce their forces. The Japanese had to hold their ships back to keep supply lines to Japan open.

Korea was under the hegemony of China, and it was to the Ming court that they appealed for aid. It was a bit slow in getting going, because of the other campaigns mentioned above, and the Ming initially underestimated the problem. However, when they did get moving it was in large numbers and with a decent logistical provision, and rolled the Japanese quite quickly back to the environs of Pusan.

There then followed a period of negotiations. To be honest, this was a bit confusing as everyone in the negotiating teams, on all sides, seemed to have their own agendas. Various agreements were put forward and all were rejected by someone along the line. Eventually, the Ming offered to recognise Hideyoshi as king of Japan, which did not go down at all well and caused the war to resume. The Japanese tried to be a bit more careful this time but had not quite reached Seoul when the Ming hit back and pushed them back towards Pusan. The Japanese seem to have decided and begun to evacuate when Hideyoshi died, and that was pretty well the end of the matter, militarily at least.

The Japanese also had to deal with a mass revolt of the Koreans, led mainly by Buddhist monks, which caused no end of problems to their lines of communication, and I should mention that both sides carried out rather hideous atrocities against the civilian population, although the Japanese generally get the blame (probably correctly) for a good number of them.

It is a good book, a nice summary of the war and probably as good as we are going to get in English. If you read Japanese, Chinese or Korean the bibliography suggests that there is a feast of both primary and secondary literature to enjoy, however.

Swope finishes with a consideration of the impact of the war on relations in the Far East, observing that the Japanese occupied Korea between 1910 and 1945, which was regarded by some as the extension, or final victory, in the war. It still is an issue in the diplomacy of the region, as are, of course, more recent catastrophic wars.

The wargaming possibilities are rife, I feel. A Japanese army got as far as the Manchu lands north-west of Korea and skirmished with Jurchen tribes. Some captured or surrendered Japanese units served the Ming in south-west China. Hideyoshi, of course, aimed not just at capturing Korea, but invading China, overthrowing the Ming, becoming emperor and, it was reported, aiming at capturing India as well. Now that would be some campaign. I am considering it, but China had, apparently, 400 provinces, so he may have slightly underestimated the task.

Stomp!

As the long-term reader of the blog might recall, every once in a while I get what can only be termed a strange desire, and that is to get some elephants onto the wargame table. What you probably do not know, because I do not think I have ever mentioned it here, is that a long time ago I started a campaign based around the Burmese city-states (more or less) of the late Sixteenth Century. I had got as far as the first clash, between the cities of Toungoo and Sandowy, and there the matter rested, and I moved on to other projects.

Nevertheless the battle remained on my mind, even if the campaign turned out to be too complex and underdeveloped for me. I shall return to the idea some time, I hope. The original concept was all right, I think, along the lines of the Aztec campaign or, indeed, more recently, the Siena campaign. I particularly liked the system for drawing up the armies, which relied on drawing twelve cards and cross-referencing to a table. Given the motivation for the game was to get elephants onto the table, I was a bit worried that I would land up with two armies of 12 tribal foot bases each. The cards, however, were merciful.

The army of Toungoo, the one on the defensive, consisted of three bases of elephants, one of artillery, a cavalry base, a base of arquebus, and six tribal foot bases. The attacker, Sandowy, have two elephant bases, one artillery, one cavalry, one arquebus and seven tribal foot bases. Add to this the two generals, both mounted on elephants, obviously, and you have a fair number of nellies on the table. Hence the title.

The terrain rolled was a bit dis-concerting for an open battlefield, as it had a hill with rough ground on the top right in the middle. There were a few other features – some more hills, a stream, and some more rough ground, which you can see in the picture.

To the left is the army of Toungoo, with elephants to the rear and foot to the front. On the hill on their right the gun, covered by the cavalry, has deployed. However, due to the central hill the only Sandowy base it can actually see is their cavalry, who are at the far end of their army. To the right the Sandowy army, with a compact block of tribal foot, flanked to their left by the gun and the base of sot, while the elephants form the left wing, under the general.

The Toungoo plan was fairly simple and defensive. The shot was to advance into the rough ground and entertain the elephants, while the tribal foot pushed forward and angled themselves slightly to fill in the gap between the fat hill with the gun on it, and the rough ground. The elephants would stay in reserve, crushing any breakthroughs and hopefully counter-attacking when possible.

Sandowy had an attacking plan. The tribal foot would advance over the central hill, while the elephants would sweep forward, size the hill nearest to the camera (left front), and outflank the Toungoo foot with a trumpeting mass of dangerous wild beasts. The gun would advance to the central hill and deploy, to try to prevent, with the shot, any elephants running amok in the rear.

Under the rules, incidentally, elephants get a -1 if under fire from firearms. Apparently, historically, the use of elephants in battle declined once gunpowder appeared in large quantities on the battlefield, as they do not like the loud noises, and cannot be trained out of it. Very sensible your average elephant, it seems.

It all got rather interesting, shall we say. The Sandowy advance went to plan. The infantry crossed the hill and started to threaten the Toungoo defensive line while the artillery deployed and started shooting at whatever presented itself. On the other hand, the Toungoo plan was also executed, with the defensive line established, the arquebusiers in place, and the elephants looming ominously in the rear. The Toungoo artillery also hit the Sandowy cavalry hard, leading to their exclusion from the battle (they did eventually recover, but too late to intervene).

The picture shows the mess at the end of the game. On the left of the picture, the victorious Sandowy elephants have turned the Toungoo flank, destroying the shot in the rough ground and taking out some tribal foot along the way. The Sandowy general is slightly detached from them having been dealing with some pesky foot himself. On the other side, you can see that the Toungoo elephants have also charged (in the centre). The remnants of the Sandowy tribal infantry are fleeing back across the hill, apart from one or two bases on the far side who are counterattacking.

Losses on both sides were significant. The above picture was the end of the game when the army of Sanowy, poised, possibly, on the brink of victory, collapsed in rout. They had lost five bases of tribal foot and one of shot and rolled badly on the morale track. Toungoo was not unscathed, having lost three tribal foot bases and one of shot. Another move or two could have seen Toungoo collapse in the same way; you can see one of their tribal foot bases near the gun on the brink of rout, and another one about to be charged by the Sandowy general, in flank.

That was, as the bard says, a lot of fun as a battle. Elephants are fairly difficult to deal with on the battlefield, especially when, as here, there are plenty of them. In fact, I do not think they lost a combat all game. Neither side tried to get at the enemy elephants with their own – Sandowy because they were outnumbered and Toungoo because the plan was to counterattack in the centre with them.

In terms of planning, both side’s plans were successful. It all came down to the dice, in the end. Toungoo was just slightly luckier, that is all. That really was an enjoyable battle, and maybe I will revive the campaign if only to get the elephants out again.

The Korean Campaign Advances

After the debacle on the beaches, a second Japanese fleet was deployed on the map, and the two Japanese fleets transported an army each to Gyeonsung province left and Gyeonsung province right. Incidentally, in case you are wondering, the left and right designation are of the provinces as seen from Seoul, on on the map Gyeonsung Left is to the right. Confused?

The Korean army in Gyeonsung Left passed its initiative roll, but did not beat the incoming imitative of JA2, and so could not meet the Japanese on the beach. Therefore a battle inland between the slightly reduced KA1, which was a base of cavalry down, and the full strength JA2 was decided upon.

The Koreans are to the left above, with their infantry aiming to block the crossing of the stream and the cavalry to oppose the Japanese who were already across it. I confess I totally messed up the Japanese deployment. I meant to have the left as the Ashigaru yari-armed heavy infantry, but instead plonked down the missile (arquebus and bow) troops instead, leaving the Samurai and Ashigaru heavies on the far side of the stream. The plan had been to shoot a hole in the Koreans to get the Samurai heavies across the stream, while the Ashigaru heavies held off the Korean cavalry.

It got, shall we say, complicated. Above you can see the Japanese heavy troops approaching the stream, with Korean missile troops opposing them. In the foreground you can see that the Japanese shooters, plus one base of Ashigaru heavy troops, are causing the Korean cavalry some difficulty. They have struggled to charge because of the presence of the heavy blade troops, but are getting shot to bits by some lucky Japanese shooting. Some of the Korean cavalry did eventually manage to close in, but the charge was ill-coordinated and the remaining base found itself held and heavily outnumbered.

The Korean cavalry base in contact soon fled, but on the far side you can see the Korean infantry is having a successful time in delaying the Samurai heavy foot. The Ashigaru are closing in to cross the stream, something which they, in fact, struggled to do. It got a bit worse after they struggled to cross the stream, as well.

You might have noticed in the previous shot the Korean cavalry base under direct command of the general. This was withdrawn from the action on the Korean right (nearest the camera) and charged the Ashigaru heavy foot as they attempted, for the second time, to cross the stream. This was too much for the Ashigaru, who promptly fled, taking their supporting Samurai heavy foot with them. Pursued by the Korean cavalry, as you can see above.

On the Korean right flank a confusing infantry fight developed, with casualties on both sides. The Japanese had the advantage of their general in this action, as he could direct one of the bases at whim, to wit, in this case, onto the flank of Korean foot. Mind you, the Koreans also did the same to Japanese foot, resulting in losses, but the Japanese just about prevailed, and a poor morale roll saw the Korean army flee.

My notes for the battle declare this one to have been a tough fight. The Koreans lost a cavalry, two shot and a spear unit, while the Japanese lost a Samurai blade, and Ashigaru blade and an Ashigaru shot base. It was pretty close, and the Korean dice deserted them at a critical point.

The lesson so far from the campaign is that I probably need more Japanese cavalry. Korea was not, in fact, good cavalry country, being hilly, but the relatively low numbers of Korean cavalry present are causing the Japanese all sorts of problems, although their tactics in this game rather blunted the potency of the horse.

Strategically, of course, what has happened, due to the loss of KA1, is that the road to Seoul is open, and it is down to KA2 to stop the advance. However, JA2 is a bit low on strength for the moment, and I suppose I should reinforce it with the remains of JA1 defeated on the beaches last game. There is also the question of the Korean fleet to consider, and whether it will intervene.

So a good, tense, close game, and the campaign, after a stuttering start, is now well underway.

The Governor’s Treasure

‘Why don’t you have a bigger battle? I’ve not seen your sandy cloth out for a while?’

Wargame spouses, for the above quote was from the Estimable Mrs P., have a lot of responsibility for what happens on the table. After that, what could I do but think of some sort of scenario to put on the table, using the full length and my desert sand cloth.

For some reason, my thoughts turned to the British activity in Tangier in the later part of the 17^th Century. Now, from my days as a younger, more foolish (and, apparently, much richer) wargamer, I do have a bunch of North African troops from the period, craftily assembled from various ranges by Irregular. Of course, I do not have any suitable post-Restoration British (actually, that is not true. I do have a few, but insufficient), but I reckoned that I could assemble something from the ECW troops that would look the part, sort of, at least.

So, a scenario. Having just started the Japanese in Korea stuff, I was not really looking to a new campaign but needed something to get the armies moving with a purpose. By means that I cannot describe, a scenario was invented.

The British governor of Tangier (or somewhere close by) has been waiting supplies and some civilian guests arriving by sea on the frigate We Are Loyal to the King, Honest, recently renamed to that from Speaker. Unfortunately, the frigate has run aground half a day’s march from the port on an uncharted sand bar. In order to try to refloat the vessel, the cargo and passengers, as well as some guns, have been unloaded. This has aroused the interest of the locals, who are lurking to both defeat the British intruders and grab the loot. As the passengers include the governor’s ‘niece’, he has a very personal reason to rescue them.

The picture shows the set-up. In the far distance is the port, with fortifications, from where the governor and his men will sally forth. In the left foreground is the ship with a landing party, some naval guns, stores and the civilians offloaded,. The guns are behind some temporary fortifications. The playing cards you can see around are potential ambushes, in or behind woods, behind hills and rough going. The mosque in the middle distance is on a hill, and there is a hill in the far distance on the right.

This was a bigger scenario than I am used to. 25 British bases faced 26 Moorish. The former had 12 bases of foot, 8 of horse, two dragoons, 2 guns and the naval landing party. The Moors had 10 tribal foot, 7 cavalry, 3 Janissary shot and 7 light cavalry. On the table, the Hearts playing cards were keyed to the forces. These would be turned up either by the British gaining line of sight or getting within 3 base widths of the stack of cards, or could be revealed by the Moorish general if he wished, at the cost of a tempo point. Each side also had 2 generals, as previous experience with armies of 20+ bases suggests that the extra command is necessary.

This was quite a complex action, and I cannot do a blow by blow account of it. The British used a base of dragoons to ‘spring’ the first ambush at the hill, which was of light and heavy cavalry, and a complicated action ensued with some British horse and foot mixing it with the Moors there. Meanwhile the rest of the British emerged from the port and headed along the road, deploying as opposition mounted as more ambushes were revealed.

I thought I had learnt from the Spanish problems with the Romans a few games ago, in a similar situation. The tribal foot in the wood on the right of the picture are in trouble and I have tried to withdraw them. One base is getting away, the other in under heavy fire from the British foot there. Meanwhile the horse face each other off, while the British infantry advance astride to road. I had thought that if I were the Moorish general, I would defend the mosque complex the most strongly. That is, indeed, what the cards revealed.

However, it all went a bit pear-shaped for the Moors before the ambush at the mosque could be triggered. On the Moorish left the British infantry and cavalry combined to beat the tribal foot in the wood. The Moorish cavalry charged, broke through the British infantry but were stopped and routed by the cavalry. The Moorish light horse could only pick away at the advancing British, while the firefight between the Janissaries and British foot was indecisive. What was decisive was British cavalry, under the governor himself, infiltrating along the shore and then taking the Moorish infantry at the Mosque in flank and routing them. With that the Moorish army ran away, leaving the British in peace to collect their supplies, refloat the frigate and, of course, observe the joyful reunion between the governor and his niece.

The picture shows the final positions. To the top left you can see the governor and his victorious cavalry. Next to them, the Janissaries are coming under pressure, while in the foreground the Moorish light cavalry are forming a semblance of a wing against the advancing British.

That was quite a lot of fun. The card system for the ambush worked well, and the scenario seemed quite nicely balanced. The charge of the Moorish horse on their left was a bit desperate. I had made a mistake with the rest of their cavalry earlier, and they had wandered into the line of fire of the advancing British infantry and cavalry on the road, with disastrous consequences. The Moors were really on the back foot then.

The other thing I could have tried was revealing the ambushes nearer the ship sooner, and attacking the gun and landing party. These cards revealed 4 bases of tribal foot, so it might have worked against a gun and a tribal foot equivalent naval landing party, it might not. But the British could probably have got cavalry there if they had been desperate enough.

It was a nice game, played out over three sessions. The only problem is that now I am wondering about a ‘proper’ Restoration army.