I spent some time on vacation translated a small part of this book to Share stories with everyone who is interested.
PrefaceOn June 21, 1582 Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga(织田信长 1534.6.23 -1582.6.21) was murdered by a mutineer his samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide.(明智光秀1528—1582.7.2) This occurred in Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, ending Nobunaga's quest to consolidate centralized power in Japan under his authority.
Hashiba Hideyoshi took office “关白”in July 1585.
Surname Toyotomi was given by the Mikado in August 1586, Hashiba Hideyoshi renamed Toyotomi Hideyoshi
September 24th, 1591, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave the order to invade Korea and attack Ming dynasty. On January 5, 1592, after a pre-war mobilization, Hideyoshi gathered most of his forces at 名护屋【Place name】and began to deploy his army.
Whichever records were closest to the truth, we can clearly know that Hideyoshi planned to leave 100,000 troops in Japan, and the expedition troops was about 200,000, with a total force of more than 300,000. Such scale was unprecedented in the Sengoku period of Japan.
At eight a.m. in the morning on April 13, the first group, 18,700 warriors left Tsushima island to Korea. About 5 p.m., more than 700 Japanese ships covered the sea, the invasion of Korea began.
(Passages of the engagement storys were omitted, including the first attack on Pyongyang by the Ming army)Brief introduction of the Ming Army's participation in the war before battle of ByeokjegwanThe Japanese invasion broke out, morning of April 30, the King of Joseon Li Yan(李昖 1552.11.26-1608.3.16) escaped capital, at night of May 2, the capital (Now Seoul)was fallen, , June 14 Pyongyang was deserted and fallen. June 21 King of Joseon Li Yan took refuge in Uiju, the whole Korea was almost lost. Joseon repeatedly appealed to the Ming dynasty for help, the emperor promised to send troops to rescue Joseon, but the first attack on Pyongyang failed ,then hold off for a long time, none crossed the Yalu River. Only the Ministry of War sent counselor Shen Weijing(沈惟敬1537-1599) into Korea pretend to negotiate peace to contain Japanese. The reason why troops delayed was that in the same year when Japanese invaded Korea, in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, there was a rebellion led by Ba Bai(哱拜1526—1592) in Ningxia. For this reason, the Ming Dynasty mobilized its army to wipe out the rebels in Ningxia, there were no more troops to send to Korea at the same time. On Sept 17, 1592, the rebellion in Ningxia ended, led by Ba bai, a Mongolian chief who had once seek refuge and served as a military officer.
To be continued