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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 26, 2018 2:40:28 GMT
The Battle of Noryang was the last battle of the entire Imjin War, and it was at this battle that Yi Sun Shin, the famous Korean naval admiral, was shot by a lucky Japanese rifleman. Although the Sino-Korean fleet had won, it was a costly one as it resulted in the death of this famous legend.
How would post-Imjin Korea be affected by the survival of Yi Sun Shin? Would a surviving Admiral Yi play any role in the later Jurchen/Manchu invasions of Joseon in the 1600s?
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 26, 2018 3:08:52 GMT
The Battle of Noryang was the last battle of the entire Imjin War, and it was at this battle that Yi Sun Shin, the famous Korean naval admiral, was shot by a lucky Japanese rifleman. Although the Sino-Korean fleet had won, it was a costly one as it resulted in the death of this famous legend. How would post-Imjin Korea be affected by the survival of Yi Sun Shin? Would a surviving Admiral Yi play any role in the later Jurchen/Manchu invasions of Joseon in the 1600s? According to what i read on his Wikipedia article: Yi Sun-sin, his successes often were ignored by the Korean royal court, wonder if that still be the case with this victory. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 26, 2018 5:08:06 GMT
If Yi doesn't die, it would be hard for the Korean court to ignore his achievements, although he could have died through some of his old wounds he sustained through the torture and imprisonment.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Jun 26, 2018 10:02:03 GMT
Reading the Wiki article Yi had been arrested and tortured twice by the Korean authorities as well as having been wounded in an least one battle before his fatal shooting so not sure what his health was like. Also it sounds like the king and many of those in the government feared his abilities and popularity. Therefore I suspect that once the threat from Japan was over they would have found excuses to remove him from power and possibly even seek to kill him in some way. Its one thing to have a dead hero who can be honoured as a great man and bring reflective prestige on the regime but a living one who is very popular and has reasons to distrust the weak monarchy and regime would be seen as very dangerous. From what it says Yi reminds me a lot of Belisarius, a military genius who was often mistrusted and treated abominably by his ruler but who displayed great honour to the end.
If he lived Yi might well be recalled when the Jurchen invasion occurred, although I can see some arguing that since he was a 'naval' commander he wouldn't be that relevant in a land war. A lot might depend on who was in power and whether supporters such as Ryu Seong-ryong, who was PM during the Imjin were still about. Quick check and he died in 1607 so might not be about to help his friend. The following year the wartime king Seonjo died 'abruptly' and the most talented of his son's Gwang-hae became king but seems to have struggled to maintain power given internal rivalries.
Checking it was some time before the Jurchen invaded Korea and the 1st conflict was in 1619 when Gwang-hae was pressurised into breaking his attempts to stay neutral and sent an army to support the Mings against the Jurchen. The Jurchen won a clear victory at Sarhu and Korea was forced to make peace. I wonder if Yi would have still been alive by this time as he was born in 1545 so he would be 74-75 by 1619. Gwang-hae seems to have been a wise monarch and wished to stay neutral, despite the help the Ming had given against the Japanese because he realised that Korea, devastated by the Japanese invasion and split by competing factions wasn't strong enough and needed a period of peace and stability to recover.
Possibly if Yi had lived and Seonjo died as OTL you might have seen Gwang-hae turn towards Yi, because of his military expertise and reputation to help defeat the 'Great Northern faction' and restore royal power and stable government. I doubt if Yi would have lived to be an effective commander in 1619 but you might have seen a stronger and more stable Korea which possibly could have played a significant role in political development in the area. Whether it would have been enough to have stopped the Jurchen/Mancu conquest of China and then Korea I don't know but there could be some significant butterlflies.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 26, 2018 21:50:47 GMT
I almost forgot to mention: before the Imjin War, Yi and Won Gyun (the worst admiral Korea ever had) fought in the conflict between Joseon and the Jurchens. A good majority of the Korean military commanders in the Imjin War had experience fighting the Jurchens as well. So it is likely that Yo would be employed to help fight the Jurchens post-Imjin conflict, but only in an advisory role.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 27, 2018 14:17:29 GMT
Won Gyun (the worst admiral Korea ever had) fought in the conflict between Joseon and the You mean excessive alcohol consumption and attempts at adultery, looking at his Wiki article i also read that Won Gyun may have been excessively vilified during the Park Chung-Hee administration to elevate Yi Sun-sin by juxtaposition. In particular, Won Gyun's earlier successes against the Jurchens have been buried and there is an interest in providing a more objective view of Won Gyun's military career. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 27, 2018 14:49:08 GMT
Those two vices are well known, but he is also known for scuttling 100 ships during the beginning of the Imjin War, and the disaster of Chilcheonryang.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jun 27, 2018 14:54:40 GMT
Those two vices are well known, but he is also known for scuttling 100 ships during the beginning of the Imjin War, and the disaster of Chilcheonryang. What is Yi Sun-sin going to do when the war is over, he is kinda famous, would that be something he can use to his advantages. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 1, 2018 7:31:02 GMT
Most likely, he's going to enjoy a quiet retirement after the Imjin War ends.
However, the results of the war between the Ming and the Jurchens might be a bit different with some changes. For instance, Chen Lin's family had moved to Korea and founded the Guangdong Jin clan (of which the founder was Chen Lin himself, who was the Ming admiral that helped Yi with the Japanese)
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