Battle of Byeokjegwan: The Japanese Victory over the Ming Army near Goyang in the Bunroku Campaign

On the 26th day of the 1st month of Bunroku 2 (27 February 1593 in the Gregorian calendar; the date given is the old calendar), Japanese forces stationed at Hanseong (present-day Seoul) fought the Ming army under Li Rusong around Goyang in Gyeonggi Province, Korea, near Byeokjegwan. The Japanese won; Li Rusong lost his will to fight and fell back to Kaesong and then Pyongyang. The Ming gave up on driving the Japanese out by force and leaned from then on toward peace negotiations.

The council at Hanseong and the decision to meet the enemy

After the fall of Pyongyang the Japanese army gathered at Hanseong, where opinion was divided over whether to meet the enemy outside or to hold the city. Ishida Mitsunari and Otani Yoshitsugu argued for holding the city, while Kobayakawa Takakage, Tachibana Muneshige and others argued for going out to meet the enemy. The decision was to meet them.

On the 24th a skirmish took place in which a Ming scouting party beat a Japanese one. On the 25th Li Rusong left Kaesong with 5,000 men.

The Japanese commander-in-chief was Ukita Hideie, and the vanguard was made up of Kobayakawa Takakage, Tachibana Muneshige and Takahashi Munemasu (Tachibana Naotsugu). Estimates of the vanguard range from 3,000 (some accounts say 1,500) to 20,000, depending on the source. The main body is given as 21,000, but most of it did not take part in the fighting. The Ming numbers also vary, from 5,000 to 20,000, and cannot be fixed.

A narrow valley and mud: the ground at Byeokjegwan

Byeokjegwan lies in a narrow valley. Rain since the previous night had turned the ground to mud, and the Ming army, built around cavalry, could make little use of its mobility.

The course of the fighting

The fighting began with contact between vanguards. The vanguard of Tachibana Muneshige and Takahashi Munemasu sent Totoki Koremichi and others forward to draw out the Ming vanguard. In response, Zha Dashou's main force of about 3,000 surrounded Totoki's men, who broke through the center of the encirclement.

At about ten in the morning the Ming army came pouring onto the Goyang plain in three columns. The unit of Awaya Kagekatsu, in Kobayakawa Takakage's lead force, fell back to draw the enemy in, and the unit of Inoue Kagesada struck the flank and rear. Tachibana Muneshige is said to have raised many banners to make his force look larger, fired his guns, and then charged from the side.

During this Li Rusong fell from his horse for a time and was rescued by Li Yousheng and others. At about one in the afternoon the Ming army broke and fled. Kobayakawa Takakage and others stopped their pursuit between two and four, but the forces of Tachibana Muneshige and Ukita Hideie chased as far as Yongmi-ri and were back at Hanseong by five.

Result and losses

The result was a Japanese victory. Li Rusong lost his will to fight and withdrew to Kaesong, and then as far as Pyongyang.

The sources disagree widely on losses. The Nihon Senshi gives more than 6,000 Ming dead. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty give 1,500 Ming killed and wounded and some 120 Japanese dead. Another account puts the casualties on each side at 500 to 600. The Tachibana force is said to have lost nearly 500 men, including Totoki Koremichi.

What followed

Though victorious, the Japanese army was not in an easy position. In the 3rd month its grain stores at Yongsan were burned, making it hard to procure food. Against this background Ishida Mitsunari, Konishi Yukinaga and others began peace negotiations.

The Ming side, too, changed course after the defeat at Byeokjegwan, abandoning the aim of driving the Japanese out by force and turning to negotiation. The battle was both a field victory by the Japanese over the Ming army and one of the turning points at which the Bunroku campaign shifted from fighting to talks.