What did Toyotomi Hideyoshi launch the war of aggression against Korea for?

After nearly half of the world's separatist wars, the country's political reunification was first achieved by Oda Shintai, and then by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the 18th year of Tianzheng (AD 1590), after Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the whole country, he knew that Tokugawa Ieyasu and other big lords were not firm in their obedience to him. Warriors who are brave and good at fighting in the long-term separatist environment all have insatiable territorial desires. Moreover, in the process of territorial redistribution in the process of reunifying the whole country, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's directly administered territory does not have absolute superiority, so long as some great warriors such as Tokugawa Ieyasu unite, he will be at a disadvantage. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi does not want to see these big lords in a state of peace. He hoped to lead the manpower and material resources accumulated by the big lords in the process of reunification to a war that could consume their strength. In this way, these lords can not only put their desire for territory into this war, but also consume their own strength in the war to benefit their own rule. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took North Korea as the target of this war.

Besides, there are other reasons why Toyotomi Hideyoshi chose North Korea as the target of waging war. After Japanese unification, the rapidly developing commercial capital was closely combined with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's capital mainly depended on businessmen. Therefore, commercial capital needs to develop outward, especially businessmen from Kyushu, Hakata, Yamaguchi and Jiejie, who have the experience of Japanese pirates. When they asked for the development of trade with the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave them support. To this end, a large number of "Zhu" were issued and handed over to businessmen from all over the world, Hakata and Kyoto, allowing them to sail to the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang countries for trade. However, the Ming government is not interested in the development of trade tomorrow, because Japanese pirates will soon be wiped out, and Japanese merchant ships with bamboo seals are still unable to enter the Ming port. Toyotomi Hideyoshi knew very well that it was impossible for the Japanese navy to force the Ming government to agree to develop trade relations between the two sides. So he tried to cross Korea with the army, thus opening the door to the Ming Dynasty.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempt was brewing as early as Nobunaga's national reunification war. It was five years (A.D. 1577), when he was also called Yuchai Hideyoshi. He once said to Nobunaga:

I quickly pacified China with the help of Your Majesty. However, there are many old ministers in your family, and there is no territory, so I will give China to them. He even prayed to conquer Kyushu, pacify the region, lead troops into Korea, and swept over more than 400 States in the Ming Dynasty, thinking that it was the territory of an imperial country.

Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ambition to invade North Korea and China did not suddenly appear, but accumulated for a long time. In the fifteenth year of Tianzheng (AD 1587), he once expressed this ambition when he personally traveled to Kyushu. In a letter to Princess Asano Shi on May 29th, he said:

Korean king should be urged to enter the DPRK and send an emergency envoy to Malaysia. During my lifetime, I vowed to incorporate the territory of the Tang Dynasty (referring to China) into my territory.

After Shimadzu surrendered in Kyushu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi put its intention of conquering Korea into practice in June. He ordered Zong Yi, the Lord of Ma Fan, to be transferred to North Korea, and invited his king to send envoys to Japan, so that he could be a minister and show good luck. The arrogant Toyotomi relief thought that as soon as the Japanese envoy arrived, the king of South Korea sent an envoy to Japan to be a vassal. In order to complete the task entrusted by the disaster relief, the Zongs and their sons made a lot of efforts before inviting the North Korean envoys to Japan in the name of "applying". In the 18th year of Tianzheng (A.D. 1509), in March, North Korean envoys went to Beijing, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't summon them until November. North Korean envoys presented credentials to congratulate Toyotomi Hideyoshi on reunifying the whole territory of Japan, and hoped that the two countries would reconcile in the future. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attitude is the opposite. It seems that he has ruled the production county. In his letter to North Korea, he proudly said: I will lead my army "straight into the kingdom of Daming, and I will follow the customs of my dynasty in more than 400 States." Your Vanguard Entering Korea is a far-sighted move. "On the day of entering Daming, we will send our soldiers to the barracks", at the disposal of Hou. There is no original work, only the good name of the Three Kingdoms. When korean king saw Toyotomi Hideyoshi's credentials, he felt that the situation was serious. On the one hand, he reported to the Ming government, on the other hand, he wrote a book and asked Toyotomi Hideyoshi, "I don't know what this is about. I want to surpass the country and hope that our country will be the party."

Korean king Li Rigong refused Toyotomi Hideyoshi's request and attacked the Citrus Dynasty via North Korea. However, the North Korean government and its military and political officials were not alert to such a major incident, and only three managers were sent to patrol Nansan Road as a preparation for the Japanese invasion. The monarch and his subjects sang and danced, indulged in pleasure and were unprepared. Three people, including Jin Zu, who was sent to the three southern islands to prepare for the Japanese invasion, took the opportunity to repair the city and looted it, causing strong dissatisfaction and complaints from the people. At that time, North Korean famous soldiers Shen Li and Li Yi visited various places to inspect weapons, only paying attention to bows and arrows and swords, but contemptuously saying to new weapons such as shotgun: "Can you do it all?" The assessment of military commanders is also a general routine and is not taken seriously.

In the Ming Dynasty, the monarch and his subjects did not notice the signal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea. As early as the spring of the 19th year of Wanli (A.D. 159 1), before the report of korean king Li Rigong was issued, the Ming government had learned this important news from the report of Shang Ning, the king of sulfur balls, and Chen Jia, a businessman who went to sulfur balls. At the same time, Xu Yi, a native of Ji 'an, Jiangxi who was captured by Japanese invaders, has been practicing medicine in Samo for more than 20 years. When he learned that he wanted to send troops to invade Korea and cut Ming, he immediately sent his disciple Zhu to try to send a letter to Zhao, the governor of Fujian, informing him that he was preparing for war and planned to send troops to Korea and cut Ming next spring. In response to the news of North Korea, Japan and Sulphur Ball, the Ming government ordered the Ministry of War to move to North Korea for inquiries, and only issued an order to pay attention to coastal defense without making any military preparations.

In sharp contrast to Ming and North Korea, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is seriously preparing for war. First, expand the army. He ordered the vassals to expand their forces according to a certain proportion of mangoku, and * * * won 200,000 warriors, 100,000 troops stationed in Nagoya, 30,000 troops stationed in Kyoto, 330,000 military stores and 480,000 military stores. Second, prepare the ship. The major coastal governors were ordered to transport two ships for every 100,000 stones to requisition the corresponding sailors and rice, and the time limit was Osaka. Third, Nagoya and Songpu County were the base camps, and Hidetsugu, the adopted son, took over the work of Guan Bai, claiming to be the only leader of Taige, preparing for the invasion of the DPRK. At the same time, Ma Fan's master, Zong Yizhi, was ordered to organize personnel to act as invasion guides and recruited 40 people who knew Korean to act as invasion translators. The map of North Korea is drawn in five colors: white, red, blue, yellow and green, which is convenient for calling and commanding.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi divided the soldiers into sixteen combat teams, sailors, base guards and other parts, and set out to invade Nagoya, the stronghold of North Korea. As the commander-in-chief of the invasion of Korea, he was in Nagoya, and Yu Xiucai was the commander-in-chief of the front line, governing the first nine combat teams in the first department. That is, the first Konishi Yukinaga led18,700 troops; The second array, Katou Kiyomasa, led an army of 22,800 people; In the third array, Kuroda led an army of eleven thousand people; The fourth array Shimazu Yoshihiro led an army of fourteen thousand people; The fifth array Fukushima masanari, led the army of twenty-five thousand people; The sixth array, Kobayakawa Takakage, led the troops fifteen thousand seven hundred people; The seventh array, m not ri terumoto, led 30 thousand troops; In the eighth array, Yu led an army of 10 thousand people to seize the military; In the ninth array, Yu Chai Xiuqiu led 11,500 troops, totaling 158,700. The water army, led by drunkards Jialong, Kato Jiaming and Noban Anzhi, is responsible for traffic and maritime security.

In March of the first year of Leuven (A.D. 1592), Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an order to go to war, and at the same time ordered the generals to send their wives to Osaka as hostages. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi went from Kyoto to Nagoya, the base camp of the invasion of North Korea, his entourage advised him to bring more translators who knew Chinese. Toyotomi Hideyoshi sneered: "Can that country use Chinese characters and foreign languages?" Arrogance is beyond measure. However, a sober fan is pessimistic about sending troops to North Korea, thinking that this will not only lead to losses, but also lead to "chaos" in case of war with the Ming Dynasty, and he regrets it. Tokugawa Ieyasu holds this view. Although he has abundant manpower and material resources, he only sent 5000 troops symbolically in this war of aggression against Korea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is extremely dissatisfied with this.