임진왜란용이 되어버린 율곡의 십만양병설

Abstract

It is Yulgok’s proposal to draft 100,000 men into armed forces that defined the Imjin War (1592-1598: Japanese Invasion of the Imjin Year) as an expected invasion. Because it is said that Yulgok raised a proposal to have a standing army of 100,000 soldiers in preparation of the large scale intrusion by Japanese regular armed forces as he forecasted the battle 10 years before its outbreak. Yet, there is a fundamental problem in this proposal. That is the definition that the Joseon Dynasty was enjoying peaceful times 10 years before the Imjin War. In other words, the reasons for the opposition by almost everyone against Yulgok as he stressed his proposal to draft 100,000 soldiers, and particularly even by Ryu Seong-ryong was that it was a peaceful time in Joseon. That such peaceful time went on right before the Japanese invasion and Yulgok’s proposal was finally appreciated thereafter are the idea behind the proposal to draft 100,000 men into armed forces. It was, however, never peaceful in the Joseon Dynasty a decade before the Japanese intrusion. The Nitangeu’s rebellion broke out in the northeast areas in January 1583 and continued until June. When the Jurchen forces were thriving, the number of their cavalry unit was as many as 30,000. It can be learned that how much sense of urgency then-government of Joseon had with the order of the King Seonjo to requisition every bell of the temples in the three southern provinces (Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang) to melt them into weapon. Yulgok was the Minister of Defense at that moment. In 1587, the Jurchen forces attacked the Six Fort Area(六鎭) again and abducted many people from Nokdundo Island. In the next year, 1588, Joseun retaliated against the Jurchens with thousands of armed forces to kill or capture hundreds of the Jurchens. Then why the Yulgok’s proposal set the period 10 years before the Japanese invasion as a peaceful time? That must have been to use the proposal for the Imjin War. The ruling classes would have recalled Yulgok as they overcome the invasion since his reform was effectively used as measures to overcome the war. His proposal was, in fact, intended to overcome the Nitangeu’s rebellion as a policy to increase military forces and provisions by allowing people out of wedlock to become public officers, enabling the lowest classes to become the higher in return of grain and buying the government positions for grains. Therefore, those who persecuted then-Defense Minister Yulgok by opposing and impeaching his reform in 1583 and left him eventually die alone from disease in early 1584 had the sense of responsibility for him and renewed awareness and recreated memories about him. That is the proposal to draft 100,000 men into armed forces that Yulgok reportedly emphasized in anticipation of the Japanese invasion in the peaceful time of the Joseon dynasty. The historical fact was forgotten here that he made a great effort to contain the Nitangeu’s rebellion as a Defense Minister. If the proposal of drafting 100,000 men into army was made after the battle to be used for the Japanese invasion, what was Yulgok’s understanding on Japan? It is hard to find any specific threatening perspectives on Japan in his government reform, in particular, military reform. He only emphasized an overall lack of government administration and argued for military reform to prepare for foreign invasions. He considered Japan as nothing more than a Japanese raider. In reality, it really was not a threat, given the situation in Japan. After the sudden death of Oda Nobunaga betrayed by his subordinate in 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was nearly starting to control the left subordinate forces of Nobunaga. Even in 1586 when Hideyoshi brought his archenemy Tokugawa Ieyasu to his knee, the Shimazu clan was still thriving in Kyushu. Under the circumstances it should be after 1587 to be able to anticipate such Japanese invasions as the Imjin War, when Hideyoshi made the Shimazu clan surrender and dominated Kyushu.