Li Rusong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Chinese: | 李如松 |
| Pinyin: | Lǐ Rúsòng |
| Courtesy Name: | 子茂 (Zǐ Mào) |
| Posthumous Name: | Lord of Fidelity 忠烈(Zhōng Liè) |
Li Ru-song (Chinese: 李如松; pinyin: Lǐ Rúsòng) (1549-1598) was the Commander-in-chief of the Chinese Ming Empire's salvage force to defend Korea at the Korean King Seonjo's request in Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea against the Japanese invasion masterminded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His father is Li Chengliang, a famed commander of the Ming army that is of Korean Descent.
Li Ru-song distinguished himself in series of battles by leading the defensive army comprised of both the Chinese and Korean troops against the Japanese invasive force led by Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga. He, together with another Chinese Ming General Song Ying-chang (宋應昌) and a Korean naval admiral Yi Sun-sin, suffering from several serious defeats such as the Battle of Byokchekwan, at last defeated the Japanese invaders through a series of victories in the Korean peninsula. Li Ru-song was a legendary figure who retrieved the Korean capital of Pyongyang (平壤) and the city of Hanyang (漢陽) from the Japanese and ordered both the Chinese and Korean troops to refrain from killing all Japanese soldiers but to grant them the right to retreat.
[edit] Death
In April 1598, the Tartars invaded the Ming province of Liaodong (遼東) from the north when Li Ru-song, at his age of 50, was leading a small scouting group around the forests. Surrounded by thousands of Tartar cavalry Li Ru-song could in no way escape and was captured and subsequently killed. He was posthumously given the title of Zhong Lie (忠烈) (Lord of Fidelity).
