Chapter 100: Reactions to the Amur Intervention and the Beginning of the Asiatic Northern War
By the early 1660s, Emperor Yongwu of Ming China and King Gyeongseon of Joseon had assumed full responsibilities of their respective realms as they had both come of age. Thus, they would feel the impact of Japan’s Amur intervention firsthand and act accordingly in response. For the Chinese emperor, the unfolding events were a wake up call as to the new dangers and fluidity of the northern frontier not seen since the days of Nurhaci. Specifically, prospective Russian aggression coming from across the fringes of the Ming sphere of influence greatly alarmed Beijing. To that end, Yongwu sought to receive the tributary submission of Moscow and assurances of its ambitions not to step on Ming China’s toes. However, the tsar and his court quickly shot down the suggestion and so Yongwu moved to Plan B. In 1665, only a few years after the expulsion of the raiding Mongols under Abunai, Beijing initiated renewed hostilities against the Northern Yuan for the purpose of securing the Mongol horde as an effective buffer between itself and Russia. At the beginning of what would be a years-long military campaign, the emperor would successfully gain the submission and support of Tseten, the older half-brother of Sengge, the khan of the pro-Yuan Dzungar Khanate to the west of the Ming realm. This Ming-Mongol conflict would last for the rest of the decade.
One traditional Ming tributary that would not participate in this conflict was Joseon, whose young king Gyeongseon had taken away very different conclusions from Japan’s Amur intervention. To him, Japan, not Russia, was the real threat. Although Beijing had taken note of Japan’s expansion into mainland affairs, it did not consider the island nation a serious threat to its power. By contrast, Japan’s increasing influence among the Jurchens directly impacted Joseon’s own power and influence in the region. Gyeongseon would thus work towards further modernizing and professionalizing his kingdom’s military, particularly its infantry and navy. He would also strengthen his support for the pro-Hanseong Lesser Jin khanate against the pro-Azuchi Amur khanate. Beijing would quietly support Joseon in its endeavors as it also favored the Sinophile Lesser Jin over the more rustic Amur Jurchens.
Gyeongseon’s decision to harden his support for the Lesser Jin would prove to be fateful for the future of the far northern frontier. Its young khan, Gutai, was the great-grandson of the great Nurhaci who had united nearly all the Jurchen tribes against Ming China and Joseon and held grand ambitions. He had concluded that the increasing intervention of the Japanese and the Russians necessitated the future subjugation of the northern Amur khans, confident that the presence of outsiders could not expand beyond the banks of the Amur River. Gutai would decide to make his move in the spring of 1666 while the Japanese under Kuroryutsu magistrate Sato Hidekiyo (佐藤栄清) was preoccupied fighting off a renewed incursion of Russian Cossacks. He began gathering Jurchen warriors and levies for an invasion of the Amur khanate and requested military aid from Joseon. The ambitious Gyeongseon, determined to retake the gains and glory of his predecessors, enthusiastically obliged despite the protests of many Confucian scholar-advisors who preferred a less aggressive foreign policy. He would send a force of 10,000 Joseon troops to Hetu Alu under the command of veteran general Shin Ryu.
Portrait of Gutai, khan of the Lesser Jin
Sahaliyan, khan of the Amur realm, immediately prepared to confront Gutai and his army and dispatched messengers to the Japanese to ask for military aid. By the time they reached Azuchi, however, a pitched battle had already occurred between the two khanates on July 17th and the results were devastating. At Jixi, an army of 30,000 Amur Jurchen horsemen gathered before a coalition force of Lesser Jin cavalry and infantry and Joseonite reinforcements with both khans present. Despite the valor of Sahaliyan and his subject warriors, his army was outgunned and unable to deal with the greater flexibility and diversity of forces making up the Joseon-Jin army. Ultimately, the Amur Jurchen army was routed, its khan killed in battle after dueling with one of Gutai Khan’s bodyguards. In the immediate aftermath of the Amur defeat at the Battle of Harbin, the Amur khanate’s military was scattered and the Lesser Jin’s steppe horsemen scorched the countryside determined to hunt down the enemy one by one. Sahaliyan’s heir, Bahai, rallied the remnants and managed to return to his capital of Ningguta where he prepared for Gutai’s next onslaught.
Initially uninformed of the full scale of the disaster unfolding on the mainland, Sakuma Moritora would be ordered to once again dispatch along with an army of 9,000. This force was disproportionately made up of cavalry, both Ainu and samurai cavalry, to prepare for inevitable clashes on the steppe far from the waters of the Amur River. However, as new information flowed into Japan, the urgency of the situation increased. In response, a new order was issued by the government to organize an army of around 25,000 to be commanded by the 22 year old Kaga Nagaaki. Like Moritora’s vanguard, it had an unusually high percentage of cavalry for a standard Japanese army though it still consisted largely of musketeers and swordsmen. Accompanying Nagaaki as an advisor was Kikkawa Hiroyoshi, whose experience in the Luzon War and knowledge of the Joseonite military as a member of the Mōri clan would prove invaluable for the young Oda samurai lord. The Japanese navy would also be fully deployed to accommodate the transport of not only troops but also a huge amount of provisions, as the small Japanese presence and the frosty climate of the far northern mainland made injecting a large military force an inevitably arduous and challenging process.
Japan’s moves towards intervening on the side of the Amur Khanate, however, would not come fast enough to save the capital of Ningguta. Informed of Gutai’s impending approach upon the city, the new khan chose to burn down the city that his father had made into a regional economic center but denied the enemy much-needed supplies and provisions. Bahai and his entire accompanying army would escape, buying time as they set off from the flames engulfing Ningguta and living to fight another day. Nevertheless, his realm remained in bad shape, swaths of his lands pillaged and occupied by Gutai’s steppe warriors and allies from Joseon. This was the state of affairs Moritora stepped into when he and his force landed in Kuroryutsu. The “Tiger of the North” and the Amur khan would begin working together on repelling further attacks on Amur Jurchen positions and defeating the enemy for good.
Red = Japan, Blue = Joseon, Gold = Ming China, Green = Northern Yuan, Orange = Lesser Jin, Brown = Amur Khanate, Lavender = Russia
In response to Japan’s military support for the Amur Khanate, Gyeongseon’s ministers pressured the king to send diplomats to daijo-daijin Oda Nobuhiro and attempt a negotiated peace. Talks, however, went nowhere as Azuchi balked at Hanseong’s haughty demands. What would be known as the Asiatic Northern War would move forward and continue to embroil all the lands of the Jurchens and adjacent tribes. As it progressed, it would involve the entire region and witness the interests of every stakeholder clash with each other.