A Study On The Choson Dynasty Abandonment In Early Imjin War

After the outbreak of the Imjin War(1592-1598),the Choson Dynasty moved all the way north and west,and successively abandoned two important cities guarding Seoul and Pyongyang in April and June.Seoul is the capital of the Choson Dynasty.Pyongyang is known as the strategic city of North Choson and it is known as the"Major Western Towns".In front of Seoul,the Han River is used as a defensive point,and in front of Pyongyang City,there is also the Datong River for arch defense.In the defense of Seoul and Pyongyang,both Seonjo and the Choson Dynasty courtiers abandoned the city before engaging in the war with the Japanese.That is,the central decision-making body of the the Choson Dynasty was transferred in advance,leaving only weak troops to guard Seoul and Pyongyang.As a result,the Han River and the Datong River did not play a role in defending Seoul and Pyongyang in the previous battle.Choson Dynasty’s decision to abandon the city twice was short and the action was fast,which had a far-reaching impact on the social order,the defense of the Choson Dynasty army,the aid diplomacy in the early stage of the war,as well as the supply of food and wages after the aid of the Ming army in the first stage of the war,and the military cooperation between the Ming army and the Choson army.The study of this issue will inevitably involve the military defense capabilities of the Choson Dynasty,the military capabilities of the army,and its ability to organize the crisis.It can also directly reflect the Seonjo(宣祖)and Choson’s courtiers of the society and the choice of interests in the war.Although the behavior of the two abandonment decisions was the same,but due to different situations,different understanding and evaluation should be given.Judging from the reasons,the Choson Dynasty’s two abandoned cities were unable to withstand the strong military pressure of the Japanese army.In the early days of the war,Choson had insuficient combat readiness,weak military capabilities,backward weapons,and loopholes in its military system,and was unable to withstand the Japanese lightning attack.From the perspective of process and impact,the situation and situation faced by the Choson Dynasty’s two decisions on abandoning the city were completely different.The decision to retreat from the capital was the Choson Dynasty’s choice that cannot choose but to do so.That made the capital fall quickly and cause bad influence,but from the perspective of long-term combat,it was justifiable.The strategic city of Pyongyang,which has been in combat readiness for more than a month,was abandoned again under the conditions of holding out,which is a decision mistake of the Choson.The retreat from Pyongyang not only made the strategic materials such as food and weapons collected in the city to be owned by the Japanese army,alleviated the urgent needs of the Japanese army,but also made the information work in the northwestern area of Choson from Sinuiju(义州)to Pyongyang on the verge of paralysis.What’s more.Seonjo(宣祖)retreated all the way,which also made Japan and Choson colluding with "false roads into the Ming Dynasty" and other rumors,increasing the diplomatic cost between the Ming Dynasty and the Choson Dynasty.Analysis of the decision of the Choson Dynasty to abandon Seoul and Pyongyang shows that Seonjo(宣袓)and the courtiers of Choson Dynasty were in continuous panic at the beginning of the war.The repeated defeats of the Choson army made their courage and perseverance in the Japanese war diminish.More importantly,the Choson Dynasty princes regarded the royal family’s safety as more important than the people of their homeland,prompting the decision to abandon Pyongyang to preserve the royal family’s safety.On the whole,in the early days of the the Imjin War,the Choson Dynasty was "neither right nor wrong" in defending Seoul,but "regardless of whether it was right or not" in defending Pyongyang.