Admiral Yi, who had been hastily reinstated…
October 1597 CE
Admiral Yi, who had been hastily reinstated as Supreme Commander of the Regional Navies after Won Gyun was killed at the Battle of Chilchonryang, has only twelve panokseon ships at his disposal, which had been saved by Bae Seol, a Korean officer who escaped early in the Battle of Chilchonryang.
Although Yi had found only one hundred sailors initially, some of the survivors of Chilchonryang have flocked to him.
Reorganizing the navy’s dozen ships and two hundred men saved from the previous battle, Yi leads the Korean fleet against a Japanese fleet of one hundred and thirty-three war vessels in the Myeongnyang Strait on October 26, 1597, resulting in a spectacular Korean victory with at least one hundred and twenty-three Japanese vessels sunk and the Japanese forced to return to Busan under the orders of Mori Hidemoto.
The immediate results of the battle are a terrible shock to the entire Japanese command.
Without being resupplied or relieved with fresh troops, the morale of the Japanese soldiers declines.
After the destruction of most of the Korean fleet at Chilchonryang, the Ming had kept their navy stationed at important port cities to guard against possible Japanese naval attacks.
The victory at Myeongnyang persuades the Ming government that they can ease security at their major ports and mobilize a fleet to Korea's aid.