How many Japanese casualties were there in the Wanli Battle of Pyongyang?

How many casualties did the Japanese army suffer in the Wanli Battle of Pyongyang?

Want to know how many casualties the Japanese suffered in the Wanli Battle of Pyongyang? How powerful was the Ming army? It can be said that this war was a famous coordinated attack by infantry, artillery and cavalry in the history of Asian battles. In this battle, the Ming army showed strong combat effectiveness.

To be fair, by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the military system and training methods were already very backward, but the scale was too large, which inevitably resulted in the overall low quality of the soldiers. Unlike the Japanese army, which had fought hard for many years in the civil war, The soldiers will be strong. But on the other hand, Zhang Juzheng, a famous Chinese politician and economist at that time, had only died a few years ago, and some of the reform results he had made during his lifetime still remained. This gave the Ming Dynasty sufficient manpower and material resources to carry out reforms from all over the country. A group of border guards and senior generals who are good at fighting were selected within the scope to form the Eastern Expedition Army. Therefore, as far as the Korean battlefield is concerned, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army was not low during the Renchen Campaign.

First of all, the coach dares to fight and is good at fighting, and mobilizes troops to attack the fortified city using a combination of right and wrong. When the Japanese army tried its best to resist the main force of the Ming army from attacking the city, another Ming army was sent to pretend to be a North Korean army (the Japanese army despised the North Korean army) and suddenly launched a surprise attack from other directions, completely disrupting the Japanese city defense.

The Ming army invaded the city. When faced with the Japanese fortress, they did not fight to the death. Instead, they used tactics to lure the enemy to break out, and then set up ambushes on the way the Japanese army retreated to invite an attack. Another hit. This avoids possible protracted wars and wars of attrition.

Why was Li Rusong unwilling to fight a protracted war and a war of attrition despite his superior strength?

Because the Ming army seemed to have the advantage at that time, but in fact the situation was dangerous. Otomo Yoshi, the Japanese army stationed in Fengshan, The Tongbu may launch an attack on the Ming army from behind at any time, putting the Ming army into a situation where it is attacked from both sides. It is also very possible that about 10,000 Japanese troops from the Kuroda Nagasaki Department stationed in Kaesong rushed to Pyongyang to aid Pyongyang (Fengshan and Kaesong are about three hundred miles away from Pyongyang and can be reached within two days at the latest).

The facts are: when the Ming army attacked Pyongyang City, Otomo Yoshitsune wanted to lead the army to reinforce Konishi Governor, but was frightened by the earth-shattering sound of the Ming army's artillery and retreated without a fight. However, who knows after the fact? Everyone would do it. In that era when reconnaissance methods were backward, we could not force the Ming army generals at that time to anticipate this.

In this battle, it is recorded in the history of the Ming Dynasty that the Japanese army captured 1,646 heads of Japanese soldiers. Does that mean that the battle of Pyongyang only killed more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers? Of course not, according to the history of the Ming Dynasty. As I said, this is a statistic other than burning, killing and drowning.

According to the "Wanli Dichao" [Guisi Volume in the 21st year of Wanli] compiled by Qian Yiben, the Ming army killed more than 1,500 Japanese in the First World War in Pyongyang and burned more than 6,000 to death. More than five thousand people were drowned and killed.

"Wanli Di Chao" is a news bulletin passed among the Ming Dynasty officials. It belongs to the scope of official historical data, and its credibility is still very high.

The Battle of Pyongyang lasted one day and one night, and involved more than 50,000 people on both sides. In the Battle of Moran Peak alone, 2,000 Japanese troops were wiped out. During the siege, the six city gates were all knocked down after fierce fighting. There were street battles in the city, then sniper battles on the Datong River, and pursuit battles south of the Yangtze River. It can be said that there were countless battles.

Given the personality of the Japanese army, it is impossible to abandon an important city with only more than 1,000 casualties. As for those who were killed by cannons, burned in earthen forts, fell into the river and drowned, and were killed in the battle on the south bank, most of them could not find their heads.

According to Korean historical records, more than 10,000 Japanese troops were wiped out in this battle, countless prisoners were taken, and less than one-tenth of the total number of escapees were made. Let's take a look at the relevant Japanese records: Chapter 4, pages 97-98; Chapter 7, pages 251-252 of "Japanese War History: The Korean War" point out that after the Battle of Pyongyang, Konishi Yukinaga's department reduced its personnel by more than 11,300 people. When it was transferred to Wangjing, there were only 6,600 people left, a reduction of nearly two-thirds.

Comparative analysis of data from the three countries effectively illustrates the heavy losses suffered by the Japanese army in the Battle of Pyongyang.