This is the study on the naval forces’ reorganizing process of the Goryo on the basis of the political relationships with Ming dynasty. It was the times of being trampled by Japanese pirates’ invasion into Goryo’s territory in the middle and late 14C. The two countermeasures against Japanese pirates’ invasion during that time relied on ‘Su-Sung’ which is the defensive way of sustainment within a fortified castle and ‘Chung-Yha’ which means to remove all harvests or buildings from the field in order not to be used by invading enemy forces. It was necessary for Goryo dynasty to rebuild it’s naval forces for stopping Japanese pirates’ invasion. Since Yuan's interference in internal affairs started from 1270, the naval forces of Goryo dynasty had been so disintegrated and collapsed that it’s main body could not be found. Additionally, there had been not any public opinions on the need of reconstruction for the naval forces inside Goryo royal court.
Yi-saek, who was one of royal court high officers in the late of Goryo dynasty, insisted on the necessity of reinforcing the naval forces in the first year of king Kongmin, but it was not accepted. After that, the military policies against the Japanese invaders of the Goryo dynasty started to change in 1372. The historical military inspection led by King Kongmin provided the direct and decisive turning points to the rebuilding of Goryo dynasty’s navy. Since that point, Goryo dynasty started to reorganize it’s naval forces so that they were able to carry out an operation for themselves.
What was the most noticeable thing was why the rebuilding project took place in 1372. There had been some reasons such as the anti-Yuan policy and the weakened Goryo’s military power caused by the invasion of ‘Honggunjeok’ which was Chinese’s rebel forces wrapped their forehead with red band internally. But, above all else, the serious threats and great damages to the Goryo dynasty caused by Japanese pirates’ having invaded to the vicinity of the capital, Gaegyeong, and looted king Chungsun's portrait and plundered Goryo’s cargo vessels could not be overlooked when they started the rebuilding its naval forces.
As we considered on this study, the rebuilding of Goryo dynasty’s naval forces started in 1372 was resulted from the external situations, especially the relations with Ming dynasty rather than the internal circumstances Since the establishment of Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had implemented the ‘Haegeum policy’, which means to forbid any kinds of trade and exchange with the Japanese pirates, in oder to split the pirates and it’s own people, and also he required Goryo to reject the Japanese pirates.
But It is hard to believe that Ming's such requirements gave direct momentum to the reformation of Goryo’s naval forces. However, King Kongmin who had pursued the pro-Ming dynasty at thoses times, placed a high value on the relations with the country, so the rebuilding projects might be considered as the additional moves to some degree to defend against the Japanese pirates. As Ming dynasty put pressures Goryo to repel the Japanese pirates, then Goryo government(Royal court) took advantage of them in reverse. For an example, Goryo dynasty requested Ming to provide with some military items such as the spare parts of warship, gun powder, sulphur and niter which could be used to suppress the Japanese pirates.
Although Goryo dynasty had built several warships and raised naval forces on the bases of the rebuilding projects designed by Woo-hyunbo and Jeong-ji, Goryo’s fledgling navy could not be committed to the battle against the Japanese pirates because of the deteriorated the relations with Ming at that time. Specifically, the Yuan dynasty’s attack led by general ‘Naghachu’ to ‘Woogajang(a kind of government office to handle the military horses) located in the region of Liadong made worse the Goryo-Ming relations. Even though at those times, Ming demanded Goryo to provide with horses through the ‘Gongma’, which was the horse conscription system for the public purpose such as War and Government transportation, Goryo could not accept it because Jeju island, the main spot of ‘Gongma’, had been under the control of ‘Mokho’ (the Group of Yuan’s shepherd). For the recovering the relations with Ming, Goryo dynasty sent Gneral Choi-young with about 300 warships to the Jeju island so as to surpress ‘Mokho’.
It was considered that such a naval attack on a large scale to Jeju island was a prominent achievements from the Goryo navy’s reorganizing process started since 1372. And it was also regarded as the important process of suppressing the Japanese pirates in earnest since the reformation of navy’s commanding and control(C2) system started from the period of King Woo. Afterward, Ming dynasty had requested continually Goryo to take the defensive measure against Japanese’s pirates.
It is very important to study on the reorganizing process of naval forces and relations with Ming together in the late period of Goryo dynasty. We must also consider the relationships with Japan on this study. It is certain that an awareness of Japanese pirates has been changed during the process of the reorganizing naval forces of Goryo dynasty.
It means that Goryo’s awareness toward Japanese’s pirates was diverted from the entity suppressed by Japan into uncontrollable beings under the Japan authority. It is also needed to research how did the change of the awareness toward them influence on the reorganization of the Goryo dynasty’s navy.