The 1598 battle of Sacheon was a siege by Korean and Chinese forces against the Japanese fortification of Sacheon, during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea.

Background

Sacheon is a natural harbor located on the southern coast of Korea, in what was then called Jeolla province. Shimazu Yoshihiro and his son Tadatsune came to Sacheon in 1597 after aiding in the Japanese capture of the fortress of Namwon. There, they built a new Japanese-style castle directly on top of the old Silla fort, and shortly afterwards another, larger castle right at the port, about six kilometers to the south. By 1598, this new castle contained an inner wall around the keep, surrounded by a natural moat which filled with sea water during high tide only, allowing ships to enter the moat. The outer wall encompassed a much larger area with additional guntowers and several fortified gates.

As with many battles during the Imjin war, the 3 side account (Chinese / Korean / Japanese) vary wildly in the deciding factor for the outcome of the battle. and more importantly, headcount (both in men deployed and lost) Some Japanese sources claim that the Ming army had up to 200,000 soliders, which was nearly triple the number of the total men the Ming sources said they deployed in the entire Korean campaign. The Ming sources said they had a combine strength of 30,000 at the seige, yet the Japanese source most widly cited claimed of a 37,000 heads taken. Korean sources said the allies lost about 7 to 8 thousand men. the Chinese sources put the figure lower at around 3 to 4 thousand.

Siege

Koreans and their Ming Chinese allies began pushing south in 1598, reclaiming territory lost to the Japanese in the battles of the preceding years. By September, an army of 34,000 Chinese warriors under the command of Ton Yi Yuan, along with 2000 Korean warriors, was ready to lay siege to the newer, larger Sacheon castle. Murakami Tadazane, commander of the smaller garrison, brought his 300 men to the larger castle, joining up with Shimazu Yoshihiro's force of 8,000, before the Chinese/Korean force began their assault on October 1.

The old castle fell quickly, and the Japanese split their force in three, sallying forth from the new castle's three gates. The besiegers were pushed back, and suffered heavy casualties. According the chronicle of the Shimazu family, 37,000 heads were taken, and most bodies were left in the battle field. A hole was dug, twenty ken across (about 36 meters), to bury the bodies.

The cause of the defeat was a serious artillery implosion that triggered a massive chain explosion of the entire Ming army gunpowder cash, which send the army into complete dissarray, and the Japanese took advantage of the moment and sallied forth. the artillery division , some 3000 men from ZheJiang province, suffered the highestly casualty, only about 50 men reported back to the army after the dust had settled.

Related Topics

Siege of Pyongyang

Siege of Ulsan