A Preliminary Study On Wan Shide And His Historical Writing In The Dingyou War

Among all the figures depicted in historical writing about Renchen War,Wan Shide is the one that few scholars paid attention to.Born in a family holding high military positions for generations in Pianguan County,Shanxi Province,Wan Shide participated in pacifying the Qinghai rebellion and accumulated rich military experience before fighting in the Renchen War.In the 25th year of the Wanli era(1597),he served as a governor of Tianjin to strengthen coastal defense in the north.The following year,he was appointed as the manager of Choson Dynasty and went to the frontline to aid the country.On the battlefield,he closely cooperated with Jinglve Xingjie,during which they leveraged military strategies flexibly.With the sophisticated insight of the war and the ability to seize the golden opportunity,they succeeded in leading the Sino-Korean army to win in the Renchen War.After the war,Wan Shide stayed in Choson Dynasty for two more years,by which the security of Choson Dynasty was secured.Until the 29th year of the Wanli era(1601),he returned to China.Given his tremendous contributions to the Renchen War,both the Ming dynasty and Choson Dynasty gave him high credit and commemorated him.This paper sorted out the trajectories of Wan Shide during his fight in the Renchen War,studied how Wan Shide behaved during the Renchen War,identified his contribution to the Renchen War,and the evaluation of him by the Ming Dynasty and Choson Dynasty,with a view to revealing matters related to politics and changes in Sino-Korean relations after the war.This paper is divided into the following three chapters:The first chapter expounded on the background when Wan Shide served as the governor of Tianjin and what he did at that period.After the outbreak of the Dingyou War,there was a grim threat in northern coastal defense.In order to fortify coastal defense and avoid territorial destruction,Ming China quickly decided to add a Tianjin governor general to coordinate the defense of the entire northern coast.Wan Shide was elected as the first governor of Tianjin because of his military prowess pacifying the Qinghai rebellion and underpinning the war preparation in Huailong.In his tenure,he took the initiative in reclaiming land and raising provisions and funds for troops and trained the army successfully.Theses series of acts not only strengthened the coastal defense of the northern coast centered on Tianjin but also played a significant role as a home front to support and protect the front-line army.The second chapter elaborated on how Wan Shide took over the manager position of North Korean.As Yang Gao was dismissed due to Ding Yingtai's impeachment after the Siege of Ulsan,Wan Shide was recommended as the manager of Choson Dynasty to lead the army.He boosted the morale of the Ming army on the battlefield and sent an envoy to collect information about the Japanese in the name of seeking peace.In the decisive battle of Luliang,the army led by Wan defeated the Japanese army,gaining the final victory of the War of Anti-Japanese and Aid-Choson Dynasty.After the war,he took various aftermath measures to elevate Choson Dynasty's defensive capabilities,preventing the Japanese from invading again.He also negotiated with Choson Dynasty king on the number of soldiers retained to ensure North Korea's post-war security.The third chapter probed into problems entrenched the internal political system of the Ming Dynasty by examining how Ming and Choson Dynasty assessed the Eastern Expeditionary Force led by Wan Shide and the changes in Sino-Korea relations after the War of Anti-Japanese and Aid-Choson Dynasty during the Wanli era.After winning the war,the split-into the pro-and anti-war factions had caused fierce political struggles as they held different opinions on judging whether the Ming army had made peace "secretly" with the Japanese army.Eventually,the anti-war faction won the trust of the Wanli Emperor who asserted emphatically that the Ming army won because of its persistence in entering the arena.Although Choson Dynasty had friction with Wan during the war due to the unexplained national contradictions,the later generations of Choson Dynasty were still grateful for Shide,especially manifested by the alters and temples in the name of Wan Shide constructed by the successive embassies in Donglai Prefecture to commemorate his contribution.