⑦ Comrades Who Nursed Each Other in Sickness: Bae Heung-rip

Who Was Bae Heung-rip?

Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) belonged to the Seongju Bae clan (also written Seongsan, 星山), and his courtesy name was Baekgi (伯起). His posthumous title is Hyosuk (孝肅).

He was born in 1546, one year apart from Admiral Yi Sun-sin — the commander who saved Joseon at sea during the Imjin War — who was born in 1545; they were practically the same age. His father was Bae In-beom (裵仁範), a former magistrate of Yeongsan. He passed the military examination in 1572, the 5th year of King Seonjo's reign.

When the war began, he was magistrate of Heungyang (興陽縣監, today's Goheung in South Jeolla Province). Heungyang was one of the five counties under the Left Jeolla Naval Command (at Yeosu), a strategic point with several garrisons, including Sado, Yeodo, Nokdo, and Balpo.

The Magistrate of Heungyang and the Magistrate of Suncheon, Side by Side

Bae Heung-rip first appears in the Nanjung Ilgi, the Admiral's war diary, on the 26th day of the 1st month of 1592, three months before the war broke out.

"After going out to the government hall and attending to official business, the magistrate of Heungyang (Bae Heung-rip) and the magistrate of Suncheon (Kwon Jun) came and talked." (Nanjung Ilgi, 26th day of the 1st month, 1592)

He first appears on exactly the same day, in exactly the same place, as Kwon Jun, whom I introduced in an earlier post of "The People of Admiral Yi." After that, the two are shown again and again coming and going together to the camp as magistrates of neighboring counties. Even before the war broke out, the magistrates of Heungyang and Suncheon were already familiar faces to Admiral Yi.

Commander of the Forward Division

When the war broke out, Admiral Yi, as he organized the fleet's formation, gave Bae Heung-rip the post of Forward Division Commander (前部將). This is the record of the 27th day of the 4th month of 1592:

"As Center Guard Commander, Bangdap Garrison Commander Yi Sun-sin (李純信); as Left Division Commander, Nagan Magistrate Sin Ho (申浩); as Forward Division Commander, Heungyang Magistrate Bae Heung-rip (裵興立); as Center Division Commander, Gwangyang Magistrate Eo Yeong-dam (魚泳潭)... as Rear Division Commander, Nokdo Garrison Commander Jeong Un (鄭運)..." (Nanjung Ilgi, 27th day of the 4th month, 1592)

The Forward Division Commander stands at the very front when the fleet advances. From the start of the war, Bae Heung-rip was one of the commanders given the most dangerous post.

The Battle of Hansan Island: An Enemy Ship Taken Whole

On the 8th day of the 7th month of 1592, at the Battle of Hansan Island, Bae Heung-rip won his own share of the victory.

"Heungyang Magistrate Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) struck one large Japanese ship, captured it whole in mid-sea, took eight heads, and drowned many more." (Report on the victory at Hansan Island, 8th day of the 7th month, 1592)

Alongside Kwon Jun and Yi Sun-sin (李純信), Bae Heung-rip was one of the commanders who clearly won merit in this battle.

The Five Commanders "Who Vowed to Die Together"

After the Battle of Busanpo on the 1st day of the 9th month of the same year, Admiral Yi sent a report to the court on the 11th day of the 9th month. This report contains the famous sentence I have already introduced several times in "The People of Admiral Yi."

"Among the commanders, Kwon Jun (權俊), Yi Sun-sin (李純信), Eo Yeong-dam (魚泳潭), Bae Heung-rip (裵興立), and Jeong Un (鄭運), each having something to rely on, vowed to die together, and discussed and planned everything together..." (Report to the throne, 11th day of the 9th month, 1592)

Bae Heung-rip is one of the five whom Admiral Yi declared had "vowed to die together." Of these, Jeong Un was killed at that Battle of Busanpo (see the post on Jeong Un, Admiral Yi's jieum), and the stories of Kwon Jun and Yi Sun-sin (李純信) were told in the two previous posts. Bae Heung-rip is the only one of these five who would remain closest to Admiral Yi until the end of the war.

Tending the Military Farmland at Doyang

Bae Heung-rip was not a commander who was good only at fighting. On the 6th day of the 6th month of 1595, Admiral Yi heard this news:

"I am very unwell. Song Hui-rip (宋希立) came in. Through him I heard about the farming at Doyang: because the magistrate of Heungyang had worked so very hard, the harvest would be good." (Nanjung Ilgi, 6th day of the 6th month, 1595)

Doyang was a dunjeon (屯田) in the Heungyang area — state-owned farmland worked to supply military grain. In wartime, securing grain was as important as fighting, and Bae Heung-rip took faithful care of this work too.

Taken to the Uigeumbu

But in the winter of that same year, 1595, a trial came upon Bae Heung-rip. Over three days, these records follow one another:

"The scout boat came in. They say the officer who has come to arrest the magistrate of Heungyang (Bae Heung-rip) has arrived." (Nanjung Ilgi, 26th day of the 1st month, 1595)

"An officer of the Uigeumbu came and delivered the order to arrest the magistrate of Heungyang." (Nanjung Ilgi, 1st day of the 2nd month, 1595)

"The magistrate of Heungyang (Bae Heung-rip) was taken away." (Nanjung Ilgi, 2nd day of the 2nd month, 1595)

What the charge was is not recorded in the Nanjung Ilgi. But this did not cut off his path entirely. Before long, Bae Heung-rip came back to Admiral Yi's side.

At this point I find myself puzzled. Kwon Jun, Muuigong Yi Sun-sin (李純信), and now Bae Heung-rip were, around the same time, dismissed or arrested... and then came back. I will need to take time to look into this later, but I wonder whether the faction at court that slandered Admiral Yi was trying to deal first with his closest associates.

As a Disgraced Soldier: By His Side on the Hardest Days

In 1597, slandered by Won Gyun, Admiral Yi was imprisoned, then released to serve as a common soldier in disgrace. During this time, when he wandered the land of Jinju in the south as a condemned man, Bae Heung-rip came to him again and again.

On the 22nd day of the 5th month of 1597, Admiral Yi wrote:

"Sitting alone, the grief is very hard to bear. At dusk, Dongji Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) and Gurye Magistrate Yi Won-chun (李元春) came to see me." (Nanjung Ilgi, 22nd day of the 5th month, 1597)

On the evening of his most sorrowful day, among those who came without minding the long road was Bae Heung-rip. The next day, the 23rd day of the 5th month, he went back to Hansan Island, where his duty lay.

"In the late afternoon, Dongji Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) went back to Hansan Island." (Nanjung Ilgi, 23rd day of the 5th month, 1597)

To the End, Though Sick Himself

After that, too, Bae Heung-rip appeared again and again on Admiral Yi's journey as a disgraced soldier. But around this time he seems to have been in very poor health.

"I arrived at the place in Guldong, Jinju, where I had stayed before, and slept there. Baekgi Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) also came and slept there." (Nanjung Ilgi, 23rd day of the 7th month, 1597)

Two days later, Admiral Yi went himself to see him in his sickness.

"In the evening I went to see Baekgi Bae Heung-rip's (裵興立) illness; his suffering was extreme. I am worried." (Nanjung Ilgi, 25th day of the 7th month, 1597)

Even so, Bae Heung-rip did not leave. On the 10th day of the 8th month, when Admiral Yi was unwell and stayed at Kim An-do's house, he stayed by his side.

"I was very unwell, so I stayed on at Kim An-do's (金安道) house. Dongji Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) stayed with me." (Nanjung Ilgi, 10th day of the 8th month, 1597)

It was a time when, both in poor health, they still did not leave each other's side. But with this 10th day of the 8th month, Bae Heung-rip's name abruptly disappears from the Nanjung Ilgi. About a month later, on the 16th day of the 9th month, Admiral Yi drove off 133 Japanese ships with thirteen at the Battle of Myeongnyang. That day's diary, recording the battle, names specifically only An Wi, Kim Eung-ham, Song Yeo-jong, Jeong Eung-du, and Right Naval Commander Kim Eok-chu; Bae Heung-rip's name is not there. Since they had nursed each other in sickness, it is easy to assume he took part, but judging by the Nanjung Ilgi alone, it is likely he was not at Myeongnyang.

After Myeongnyang: Assistant Commander Again

About a month after the Battle of Myeongnyang, on the 13th day of the 10th month of 1597, Bae Heung-rip appears again in the Nanjung Ilgi under a new title, "Assistant Commander Bae Heung-rip." The place is not the Myeongnyang Strait, where the battle was fought, but near Anpyeondo, on the route by which the fleet was moving north along the west coast.

"In the morning, Assistant Commander Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) and the Gyeongsang deputy commander (Yi Ui-deuk) came to see me." (Nanjung Ilgi, 13th day of the 10th month, 1597)

After that, too, he appeared steadily at Admiral Yi's side as assistant commander.

"In the late afternoon, the Gyeongsang Naval Commander (Yi Sun-sin) and Assistant Commander Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) came to see me." (Nanjung Ilgi, 26th day of the 12th month, 1597)

"The Gyeongsang Naval Commander and Assistant Commander Bae Heung-rip (裵興立) came to see me." (Nanjung Ilgi, 28th day of the 12th month, 1597)

The "Gyeongsang Naval Commander" here is Yi Sun-sin (李純信), Admiral Yi's namesake, whom I introduced in the previous post of "The People of Admiral Yi." The sight of the two Yi Sun-sins and Bae Heung-rip together continues into the 1st month of 1598, after the year turned.

"In the late afternoon it rained briefly. The Gyeongsang Naval Commander, the assistant commander, and the other commanders all came and gathered." (Nanjung Ilgi, 1st day of the 1st month, 1598)

The Nanjung Ilgi ends with the entry for the 7th day of the 10th month of 1598. Since Admiral Yi was killed at the Battle of Noryang on the 19th day of the 11th month, more than a month later, I have not been able to confirm in this research what part Bae Heung-rip played in that last battle.

After the War

What is clear is that Bae Heung-rip survived the war. Unlike comrades such as Jeong Un, Yi Eok-gi, and Eo Yeong-dam, who died during the war, he went on serving the nation for a long time after it ended.

He served as magistrate of Jangheung in 1596, and later as Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander and Left Jeolla Naval Commander; in 1604 as Vice Minister of Works, and in the same year as Chungcheong Naval Commander; and in 1605 as Chungcheong Army Commander. In 1607 he went out as governor of Yeongheung, and the following year, 1608, he laid down his office because of illness and returned home. That year he died at the age of sixty-two. His posthumous title is Hyosuk (孝肅).

Closing

First appearing three months before the war, fighting together at the Battles of Hansan Island and Busanpo, faithfully tending even the military farmland at Doyang, unjustly dragged to the Uigeumbu and coming back, and, in the bleakest days of the Admiral's service as a disgraced soldier, dragging his own sick body to nurse Admiral Yi as they nursed each other — that was Bae Heung-rip.

👉 Next post: ⑧ Admiral Yi's Operations Adviser and Pilot: Eo Yeong-dam

— Momcheolhak