言官 徐觀瀾의 임진전쟁

Abstract

This paper aims to unearth the facts surrounding the end of the Imjin War by reexamining the activities of Xu Quanlan (徐觀瀾), the first Supervising Secretary (給事中) to be sent to Joseon. Emperor Wanli (萬曆帝) ordered Xu Quanlan to investigate the results in the battle of Ulsan (蔚山) and the forging of the reports by the Ming generals. Accompanied by Censor Chen Xiao (陳效) and Ding Yingtai (丁應泰), who initially impeached the Ming generals, Xu Quanlan started the investigation in Joseon. Ding Yingtai also accused Joseon of betraying the Ming by secretly siding with Japan. Xu’s first work was to clear the false accusation towards Joseon. Doing so, he earned favorable public opinion of the Joseon society. In the middle of their inspection, the Japanese forces suddenly retreated to Japan and the war ended. The investigators, having witnessed the situation, testified that the Ming generals’ claim of victory was completely fabricated. Not only had the Ming army lost the engagement with the enemy, the generals secretly negotiated for the termination of the war. The commands of the Ming army provided hostages and supplies for the bloodless retreat of the Japanese troops and further promised to aid the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ming and Japan. In an attempt to cover up the investigators’ claims, the supreme commander Xing Jie (邢玠) impeached the inspectors for slandering the Ming army. Censor Chen Xiao suddenly passed away just prior to submitting the reports. Despite all the questionable circumstances, the emperor declared victory in the Imjin war without further investigation. In contrast to the official stance, various history records of the contemporary time testify the validity of Xu Quanlan’s reports. Mingshi (明史), the official history of Ming, also disputes the victory of the Ming army. It could be said that the words of the speaking officials served as the last line of defense against the distortion of facts.