The Battle of Jinpo (鎭浦海戰) was a battle in which, in the late Goryeo period in the sixth year of King U (1380), a Goryeo naval force commanded by Na Se, Sim Deok-bu, Choe Mu-seon and others attacked Wokou pirate ships that had landed at Jinpo, at the mouth of the Geum River between South Chungcheong Province and North Jeolla Province in South Korea. The Goryeo fleet burned the ships with cannon fire and cut off the Wokou's line of retreat.
It is recorded as the first battle in which Gunpowder manufactured by Choe Mu-seon was used, and as the first use of gunpowder weapons at sea in Korean history (although the first use of naval gunpowder weapons in Asia was at the Battle of Dangdo in 1161, when Yi Bo, a general of the Southern Song, fought a Jin fleet, two hundred years before Choe Mu-seon).
Overview
The Wokou invasions, which continued from the 10th year of Gojong (1223) into the early Joseon period, grew in scale and sophistication during the roughly forty years of the late Goryeo period to the point that they threatened the survival of the Goryeo government itself. Already in the time of King Gongmin, the raids had spread over a hundred times from the east coast of the Korean Peninsula to the southwest coast and even inland. The Goryeo court was unable to respond adequately to Wokou attacks, which excelled in boarding tactics at sea and in close combat with swords and spears.
In the sixth year of King Gongmin (1357), the Wokou seized Gyodong and plundered tax-transport ships. They then appeared at Ganghwa, the Yesong River and the lower reaches of the Han River, and raided as close to the capital of Gaegyeong. The Goryeo court had nearly abandoned the coastal islands. In the 23rd year of King Gongmin (1374), Goryeo forces were heavily defeated by the Wokou at Hapo. In the time of King U, the mouths of the Yeongsan River and Nakdong River and the Han River waters near the Gyeonggi region fell within the Wokou sphere of control, so that it could be said that nearly the entire coastline of the Korean Peninsula was encircled by the Wokou.
To counter the Wokou, the Goryeo court strove to rebuild its naval strength. From the time the Wokou began to appear in earnest, it established fifty defensive posts or garrison outposts along the coast. In the time of King Gongmin, it classified coastal residents so that every three people in a household supplied one naval soldier. In the third year of King U (1377), when Wokou fleets threatened the capital and then raided Ulsan, Yangsan, Miryang and other areas, Choe Yeong, appointed Commander-General of Sea Islands (海島都統使), requisitioned two thousand monks and one hundred shipwrights from each province and carried out large-scale construction of warships. Accepting a proposal from Choe Mu-seon, in October the court established the Hwatongdogam (火筒都監) and set about improving gunpowder, various cannons, and the warships that would carry them. The development of cannons by Choe Mu-seon in particular was a turning point that allowed Goryeo to shift from a defensive to an offensive posture against the Wokou.
Progression
In August of the sixth year of King U (1380), some five hundred Wokou ships landed at Jinpo1 in Yanggwang-do on the western sea of Goryeo. At that time, the Wokou pirate ships were tied together with large ropes, and the Wokou who landed at Jinpo and moved up the Geum River scattered into nearby prefectures and counties, setting fires and plundering everywhere. The Goryeosa (高麗史) and Goryeosa jeoryo (高麗史節要) record the scene at that time as: "Corpses covered the mountains and fields, and rice grains dropped to the ground while being carried to the ships were as large as a foot."
The Goryeo court ordered Na Se, Commander-in-Chief of the Sea Islands (Senior Commander-in-Chief), Sim Deok-bu, Commander-in-Chief, and Choe Mu-seon, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, to pursue and capture the Wokou, giving them one hundred warships. Although the Goryeo warships were only one-fifth the size of the Wokou pirate fleet, the Goryeo forces that arrived at Jinpo used the cannons that Choe Mu-seon had developed to burn completely the five hundred Wokou ships that had been anchored at the mouth of the Geum River. It is said that the Wokou guarding the ships were mostly burned to death, and many others jumped into the sea and died. The Hwayak Gogi (火藥庫記) by Jeong I-o, included in the Sinjeung Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam, records that at this time the Goryeo forces deployed eighty warships carrying gunpowder containers and cannons, met the Wokou at Jinpo and attacked, burning thirty pirate ships and killing the Wokou leader Son Si-ral.
Aftermath
After the ships anchored at Jinpo were completely burned, the Wokou who had escaped to Gongju and Okju (沃州) moved deep into the Korean interior, passing through Yiksan County and Yeongdong County, and continued to plunder even more brutally across Jeolla and Gyeongsang Provinces. The Goryeosa jeoryo records the Wokou depredations of this time as: "The land of the coastal towns of the three provinces was emptied. There has never been such a devastating disaster as the Wokou invasion." Kim Sa-hyeok pursued the Wokou who had entered Gongju and beheaded four, and then beheaded forty-six at Imcheon (林川). However, the Wokou killed without exception the Goryeo commoners (mostly young children) they held as captives, and only 334 people barely survived by fleeing and were rescued by Kim Sa-hyeok, Goryeo Commander of Yanggwang-do (楊廣道元帥). Yet the Wokou, who had gathered at Unbong (雲峰) near Mount Jiri while plundering inland, were routed in battle with Goryeo forces led by Yi Seong-gye, Commander-in-Chief of Military Affairs (兵馬都元帥), in which their leader Ajabaldo was killed (Battle of Hwangsan). After this, Wokou invasions greatly decreased.
Meanwhile, King U, having learned of the victory at Jinpo from a Jinmu (振武) sent by the Goryeo forces, was delighted and gave fifty nyang of silver to each Jinmu who brought the news. When Na Se and the others returned in triumph, he held an extravagant entertainment to welcome them, giving fifty nyang of gold each to Na Se, Sim Deok-bu, Choe Mu-seon and others, and fifty nyang of silver each to the staff officers Jeong Ryong, Yun Song, Choe Chil-seok and others.
Related works
- KBS 1TV 《HD History Special》 Episode 43, "Choe Mu-seon's Jinpo Victory Was the World's First Naval Battle Using Cannons" – broadcast on April 24, 2006.
Notes