Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Chapter 10 - Japan's Relationships with Joseon and Ming Around 1552

This will be the beginning of a new chapter.

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10-1

First of all, the relationship between Japan and Joseon around 1552 (in this world) was far from cool. To put it bluntly, Japan-Joseon relations were in a state of full-blown hostility, and although neither side had officially mobilized its military in a major way, it was safe to say that both sides were engaged in irregular combat.

Why they were in this situation?

"We demand a full apology and compensation from Joseon to Japan for the Disturbance of the Three Ports (which occurred in 1510). And Japan demands the full opening of at least three of Joseon's ports, two of them being Incheon and Busan, to Japanese merchant ships. These are the minimum conditions we are willing to concede."

"This is absurd! Joseon rejects those conditions completely! Especially with regard to the Disturbance of the Three Ports, which I understand has already been settled."

"There is no sanction from the Emperor on that matter, so we consider it still unresolved. If you insist so much, Japan refused to crack down on the so-called wokou pirates."

"That logic does not hold water. The wokou are criminals, and as criminals, they must be hunted down."

After the Tenbun Restoration Japanese and Joseon envoys had heated debates.

(The fact that the Tsushima's Sō clan had dispatched a false government envoy to the Joseon government by obtaining the Muromachi Shogunate's gafu on their own prior to the arrival of the Imperial forces was completely exposed to the public, resulting in the Sō clan being chased from Tsushima and fell into ruin. Also, the case of gafu would be used as a pretext for the Ashikaga clan's exile.)

(A few additional explanations: at this era, there was a system called "gafu" between Japan and Joseon, which was similar to the kangōfu between Japan and Ming Dynasty. Imperial forces' officials saw this as a problem. They saw this as taking away the diplomatic rights of the Imperial Court and conducting their own diplomacy. In the case of the Sō clan, they were doing it on their own initiative, which was regarded as an even more serious offense.)

"You are the ones who are mistaken in your response to the slaughter of those who simply want free trade. You call them wokou, 'Japanese pirates,' and condemn them, but from our point of view, they are nothing more than people who want to trade freely. Why are you demanding we crack down on them? This demand is nothing but an insult and interference in Japan's internal affairs."

"Then Joseon will have no choice but to go to war with Japan."

"Very well. Japan had been so far flattered and wanted peace. As long as Joseon actively wants war, Japan will accept it."

"What did you say!? Wasn't it Japan that provoked Joseon and actively declared war on us!?"

Like that, Joseon broke off diplomatic negotiations with Japan and conducted a foreign campaign against Tsushima.

This was in 1546, and Joseon hosted an army consisting of about 20.000 land troops and 250 warships. What was a great miscalculation on Joseon's part at that time was the naïve expectation that Japan would change its stout diplomatic attitude and apologize to Joseon if it attacked Tsushima, as it had done with the Ōei Invasion some 130 years earlier.

Furthermore, there were certain domestic circumstances that led Joseon to adopt such a diplomatic attitude.

In fact, Joseon was in a delicate state of unrest at the time. In 1544, King Jungjong of Joseon died, and his son Injong immediately ascended to the throne as King of Joseon. Injong was a distant relative of Queen Munjeong, King Jungjong's wife at the time of his death, but he was not her biological son, and Queen Munjeong was eagerly awaiting the accession of her biological son (who would have been Injong's half-brother), Myeongjong. According to the official history of the Joseon dynasty, Injong died of illness, and according to many other accounts, he was poisoned by Queen Munjeong, and Myeongjong ascended to the throne after less than a year.