Battle of Imjin River

From Warpedia

Battle of Imjin River
Part of the Imjin War
Image 2022-09-26 201634306.png

BattleofImjin.jpg

ImjinLocation1.png
From top to bottom: in-game portrait for the battle; Artwork of Japanese gunpowder troops mowing down Joseon cavalry; location of the battle (represented by the red dot).

Date:

July 6–7 1592

Location:

Imjin River / South Korea / Kingdom of Joseon / Korea

Historical result:

Japanese victory

  • Joseon forces routed from the field
  • Path left open for Japanese advance into North Korea

Objectives:

Victory conditions:

  • The Japanese must kill or rout more than half the Korean units in order to win

Defeat conditions:

  • Half the Korean forces remain intact by the time the timer ends
  • Your army is destroyed or routed

Historical analogue:

Battle of Imjin River

Belligerents
RebelsandRoninSTW.gif
Toyotomi Japan
ShimazuSTW.gif
Kingdom of Joseon
Commanders
RebelsandRoninSTW.gif
Konishi Yukinaga
ShimazuSTW.gif
Gim Myeong-won
Strength

Historical: 20,000 troops


Historical: 10,000 troops

Casualties

Historical: Unknown, minimal

Historical: Nearly 10,000 troops

 

The Battle of Imjin River (presented as Imjin in-game) is an historical battle in Shogun: Total War added with the Mongol Invasion expansion. The battle is a re-enactment of a battle fought during the Imjin War between Toyotomi Japan and the Korean kingdom of Joseon at the Imjin River somewhere in modern South Korea. Having launched an invasion of Korea in 1592, Japan had engaged in several military engagements with the military forces of Joseon, winning battle after battle and achieving enormous strategic gains across the conflict. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the de facto leader of Japan, had made preparations for the invasion with the intention of kickstarting a new Japanese empire, although he had largely left the invasion to his generals, staying home in Japan to oversee the governance of the country. On 9 June 1592, the Joseon royal family evacuated Hanseong and made for Pyeongyang, just a few days before Japanese forces would arrive to capture the city on 12 June. Arriving to find the city destroyed and in total anarchy, the Japanese occupied the city and rested for two weeks in Hanseong, resuming their advance on 27 June. The Japanese army was divided into three divisions led by Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa and Kuroda Nagamasa respectively, and these three divisions, totalling 20,000 men, would continue to advance north towards the Imjin River after departing Hanseong. Meanwhile, Korean royal official Gim Myeong-won had managed to arrange an effective defense on the northern bank of the Imjin River, assembling a force of 10,000 men and were waiting for the advancing Japanese army, with the hopes of halting their advance entirely.

When the Japanese army arrived, it set up camp on the south side of the river and waited to see what the Joseon forces would do. Despite having an ideal defensive position, a lack of a clear chain-of-command in the Korean forces hampered their decision making, with many of the soldiers assembled not being under Gim's command, with 3,000 men being from northern Korea. After 10 days of the Joseon refusing to attack and the Japanese not wanting to go on the offensive themselves, they swiftly abandoned their camp and feigned a retreat, hoping to lure the Joseon into attacking and to catch them in an ambush: thankfully for the Japanese, the Koreans took the bait. Sin Hal, an inexperienced Korean commander, immediately ordered his men to cross the river and attack the retreating Japanese against the caution of Gim, who thought such a decision was foolish, and Yu Geuk-ryang, a more experienced commander, was unable to persuade Sin Hal otherwise, and even ended up leading the attack after being accused of cowardice. Some of Han Un-in's veterans, experienced in Jurchen tactics, were also reluctant to follow, suspecting it to be a ruse, but they were executed. A large portion of the Joseon army crossed the river and chased after the Japanese, rushing through their abandoned camp and straight into the awaiting Japanese ambush. The Japanese tore into the Joseon troops with muskets and chased them into the river, trapping and slaughtering them. Both Sin Hal and Yu Geuk-ryang were killed, and a civil official on the north bank fled: the surviving army thought this was Gim, resulting in a panic and rout of the rest of the army. The Japanese suffered minimal casualties and crossed the river by 7 July and captured Kaesong without a fight. With the battle won, the Japanese were free to advance into North Korea with little resistance to stop them.

The player assumes control of the Japanese. The map has a river (the Imjin River) running through the middle with a single bridge connecting both sides. On the Japanese side is a larger space with the Japanese forces deployed ontop of a hill, while the Joseon army is positioned ontop of a large hill directly overlooking the bridge, with some light forest on their flanks and just behind them. The player's objective is to destroy or rout more than half the Joseon forces within the 30 minute time limit. The player is defeated if less than half of the Joseon forces survive for 30 minutes, of if their army is destroyed or routed.

History[edit | edit source]