⑩ Reborn as a Brave Commander After Meeting Admiral Yi: Kim Wan

Who Was Kim Wan?

Kim Wan (金浣) belonged to the Gyeongju Kim clan; his courtesy name was Eonsu (彦粹) and his pen name Saseongdang (思誠堂).

He was born in 1546 in Nohang village, Jayang-hyeon, Yeongcheon County, Gyeongsang Province (today Nohang-ri, Jayang-myeon, Yeongcheon City, North Gyeongsang Province). His father, Kim Eung-saeng (金應生), was a disciple of the Confucian scholar Toegye Yi Hwang and founded the Jayang Seodang, a village school, in his hometown. Kim Wan was his third son. He was one year younger than Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the commander who saved Joseon at sea during the Imjin War.

Admiral Yi Sun-sin and General Kim Wan, enshrined together at Chungui-sa

In 1577, the 10th year of King Seonjo's reign, he passed a special military examination. He was then appointed cheomjeoljesa — garrison commander — of Sadojin (蛇渡鎭, today Yeodo in Yeosu City), and served under the Left Jeolla Naval Command. Sources differ slightly on the exact year of his appointment: some say 1589, others 1591. In any case, when Admiral Yi made his first inspection tour in the 2nd month of 1592, he was already serving as garrison commander of Sado.

A Bad First Meeting

The two men's first meeting did not go well. On the 24th day of the 2nd month of 1592, while inspecting the naval garrisons under his command, Admiral Yi arrived at Sado (蛇渡, today Jeomam-myeon, Goheung County). After inspecting the warships and staying the night, he wrote in his diary the next day:

"There are many faults in the various war preparations. I punished the officers and clerks. I had the garrison commander arrested and sent out the instructor. The defenses here are the worst of the five harbors, yet because the provincial inspector had sent a report recommending a reward, I could not even investigate the faults. Laughable." (Nanjung Ilgi, 25th day of the 2nd month, 1592)

No name appears in this passage — only "the garrison commander" — but since the garrison commander of Sado at the time was Kim Wan, it was in effect said of him. Less than a month after being told his defenses were the worst of the five harbors, a false report was added to it. On the 20th day of the 3rd month, Admiral Yi, rebuking several commanders for delays in searching their areas, also sent an official letter to Kim Wan, garrison commander of Sado. But the answer that came back was the problem. The Nanjung Ilgi records:

"I also sent an official letter to the garrison commander of Sado (Kim Wan) about the matter, and he said he had searched alone." "He also said that in half a day he had searched all of Inner and Outer Naro Islands (Bongnae-myeon, Goheung County) and the islands of Daepyeongdu and Sopyeongdu and returned the same day — this is utterly absurd and false." (Nanjung Ilgi, 20th day of the 3rd month, 1592)

He had reported that he had searched, alone, a distance that could not be covered in half a day even by boat, and come back the same day. Among the many commanders Admiral Yi led, it is rare for anyone to make his entrance being called, so bluntly, "utterly absurd and false." This is how the bond between Admiral Yi and Kim Wan began — with a first meeting that was not good at all.

From Okpo to Hansan Island

But once the war began, things changed. On the 29th day of the 4th month of that year, as he organized the fleet to sail to Gyeongsang Province, Admiral Yi appointed Kim Wan Right Scout Commander (右斥候將) — the post that watches the enemy's movements first.

On the 7th day of the 6th month, there was a battle chasing fleeing enemy ships off Yeongdeungpo.

"Sado Garrison Commander Kim Wan captured one ship whole, the deputy commander also captured one whole, and Nokdo Garrison Commander Jeong Un also captured one whole; altogether, thirty-six Japanese heads." (Nanjung Ilgi, 7th day of the 6th month, 1592)

And on the 8th day of the 7th month, at the Battle of Hansan Island, it was recorded like this:

"Sado Garrison Commander Kim Wan struck one large Japanese ship, captured it whole in mid-sea, and took sixteen heads, including the Japanese commander's." (Report on the victory at Hansan Island, 8th day of the 7th month, 1592)

The commander who had angered Admiral Yi with a false report had, within only three or four months, become a commander fighting at the very front of the Joseon navy. After that, Kim Wan won merit after merit at the Battles of Dangpo, Busanpo, and Danghangpo, and rose to the rank of Jeolchung Janggun.

It is hard at first to understand how Kim Wan, who before meeting Admiral Yi was neglecting his duties and even making false reports, changed in just three or four months into a brave commander ranging over the battlefield. But under Admiral Yi, Kim Wan had been reborn as a brave commander, and Admiral Yi put him in the right places so that he could shine.

Kim Wan, Ambush Commander

In the 7th month of 1593, Kim Wan, as ambush commander, met with another affair. The bokbyeongjang (伏兵將) commanded an ambush unit, hiding troops at points the enemy was likely to pass and springing on enemies lured there by other ships. While carrying out an ambush mission, he caught ten pojak — common people who made their living from the sea — disguised in Japanese clothes. At first they were suspected of being spies, but the interrogation turned up something unexpected.

"The ten pojak caught by the garrison commander of Sado (Kim Wan) during an ambush had disguised themselves in Japanese clothes and behaved very meticulously, so they were brought in and questioned, and they said, 'It was the Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander (Won Gyun) who made us do it.'" (Nanjung Ilgi, 28th day of the 7th month, 1593)

It was none other than Won Gyun, the Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander, who had ordered the pojak disguised as Japanese to carry out spying. Kim Wan had handled this simply as one more ambush mission, but it came to light that Won Gyun was behind it.

It is a passage in which I cannot help suspecting that Won Gyun was spying on Admiral Yi's Left Jeolla Naval Command in this despicable way.

Dismissal and Reappointment in the Same Pattern

Trials came even to Kim Wan's post, which had gone smoothly. On the 6th day of the 2nd month of 1596, the Nanjung Ilgi reports:

"Word came again that Sado Garrison Commander Kim Wan had been dismissed on the report of the inspector of provisions. I sent him out to his original harbor (Golsado)." (Nanjung Ilgi, 6th day of the 2nd month, 1596)

The jodo eosa (調度御史), or inspector of provisions, was a royal inspector sent by the court to check the supply of military goods such as grain, with the authority to uncover negligence or wrongdoing by local officials and report it to the court. The Nanjung Ilgi does not say why he was dismissed. But remarkably, only a month and a half later, in the record of the 23rd day of the 3rd month, Kim Wan appears again.

"Assistant Commander Kim Wan and eight ships of the Chungcheong navy came in, and the deputy commander came too." (Nanjung Ilgi, 23rd day of the 3rd month, 1596)

The man dismissed as garrison commander of Sado had come back to Admiral Yi's side, this time under the title of assistant commander (助防將). From then on, the Nanjung Ilgi calls Kim Wan only "Assistant Commander."

As we have already seen in earlier posts, Admiral Yi's brave and loyal commanders suffered dismissal and trials in a similar pattern and came back a while later: Eo Yeong-dam, Kwon Jun, Yi Sun-sin (李純信), Bae Heung-rip — and now we see the same pattern in Kim Wan. It is a truly strange phenomenon, and I plan to look into it further and write about it.

Chilcheollyang, and Captivity

On the 12th day of the 6th month of 1597, the name "Assistant Commander Kim Wan" appears in the record of Admiral Yi, then serving as a common soldier in disgrace, sending letters to several commanders. It is the last passage in the Nanjung Ilgi in which Kim Wan appears.

A little over a month later, on the 16th day of the 7th month, the Joseon navy was destroyed at the Battle of Chilcheollyang. As the fleet under Won Gyun, Supreme Naval Commander of the Three Provinces, collapsed, the Commissioner-General Yi Won-ik later reported to the court:

"Both the survivors and the dead were people busy running away. Considering the general opinion, the only one who fought with all his strength and died in the middle of the sea was Assistant Commander Kim Wan." (Annals of King Seonjo, 5th day of the 8th month, year 30)

Kim Wan's own Yongsa Illok (龍蛇日錄) records that night's situation in more detail. As the garrison commanders around him all fled to the open sea following Won Gyun, he writes, he alone stayed behind, beating the drum and waving the flag, and fought on.

"I alone, with my officers, archers, and servants, fired the cannons all at once, shooting and killing, and fought with all our strength, ready to die (…) I too was hit in the left leg by a bullet, and it was a perilous and frightening moment. I called out loudly and urgently, 'Commander! Commander! Why do you not come out and save us!' The commander Won Gyun, drunk, lay high up only shouting orders, and only his officer Kim Dae-bok shot some ten pyeonjeon arrows." (Yongsa Illok)

Kim Wan, who fell into the sea with a bullet wound in his left leg, drifted for several days. It is said that when his strength ran out, he thought he would rather die than be taken prisoner. But in the end he did not lose his life; he was seized by the Japanese and became a prisoner.

This is the very man whom the Commissioner-General Yi Won-ik had reported to the court as "the only one who died." At a time when there was no way to confirm the fate of a man who had drifted off and vanished, he was taken to be dead.

Kim Wan is almost the only one who survived the Battle of Chilcheollyang and left a record of that day as it was. His Yongsa Illok is regarded as calmly written, without exaggerating his own merits or the situation. And in that record, Won Gyun, at the very hour the battle was being fought, was "drunk, lying high up, only shouting orders."

What clearer testimony about Won Gyun could there be? I have nothing to say to those who argue that Won Gyun should be reevaluated, or who think of him as a meritorious subject, a loyal subject, or a brave commander. I have said only one thing about Won Gyun, in an earlier post.

👉 My one word on Won Gyun, and on those who argue that he should be reevaluated

Haedong Somu: Su Wu of the East

As a prisoner, Kim Wan was moved from place to place — Tsushima, Iki, Nagoya, and finally Kokura — and held in confinement. Then in the 1st month of 1598, taking advantage of a lapse in the guard, he stole a boat and escaped. On the 18th day of the 4th month of that year he reached Dadaepo in Busan, and on the 29th day of the 4th month his identity was confirmed at Yangsan. It was about nine months after he had been taken prisoner at Chilcheollyang.

After returning, he reported to the court on conditions inside Japan that he had learned during his captivity. King Seonjo compared his integrity to that of Su Wu (蘇武), who in the Han dynasty was held captive by the Xiongnu yet never bent his loyalty, and bestowed on him a royal inscription: "Haedong Somu (海東蘇武)," the Su Wu of the East.

He was then appointed magistrate of Haman and enrolled as a First-Class Meritorious Subject of the war (Seonmu Wonjong Gongsin). And in 1607, in his hometown of Yeongcheon, he ended a life of sixty-two years. His descendants built the Dongringak (東麟閣) in Imgo-myeon, Yeongcheon, in his honor, and there the portraits of Admiral Yi and Kim Wan are still enshrined together.

Closing

Kim Wan made his entrance angering Admiral Yi with a false report, but he won the Admiral's trust with merit after merit at Okpo, Dangpo, Hansan Island, and Busanpo. Even after being dismissed for a time, he was called back as an assistant commander; at Chilcheollyang, while other commanders fled, he stayed alone and fought until he was taken prisoner. And nine months later, risking death, he returned to his homeland. Kim Wan was a man reborn as a brave commander after meeting Admiral Yi.

👉 Next post: ⑪ Won Gyun's Subordinate Who Truly Followed Admiral Yi: Yi Yeong-nam

— Momcheolhak