that they had been taken under the protection
of China and could call upon her for aid. But China was distant and slow,
and Korea might be destroyed before her slumbering energies could be
aroused.

The preparations which Hideyoshi made, as was his custom, were thorough
and extensive. Each prince in Kyushu, as being nearest to the seat of war,
was required to furnish a quota of troops in proportion to his revenues.
Each prince in Shikoku and in the Main island, in like manner, was to
provide troops proportionate to his revenue and his proximity to the seat
of war. Princes whose territories bordered on the sea were to furnish
junks and boats, and men to handle them. The force which was thus
assembled at Nagoya, now called Karatsu, in Hizen was estimated at 300,000
men, of whom 130,000 were to be immediately despatched. Hideyoshi did not
personally lead this force. It was under the command of two generals who
were independent of each other, but were ordered to co-operate. One of
these generals was Konishi Yukinaga Settsu-no-kami, whom the Jesuit
fathers refer to under the name of Don Austin. From an humble position in
life he had risen to high and responsible rank in the army. Under the
influence of Takeyama, a Christian prince, whom the Jesuit fathers call
Justo Ucondono, he had been converted to Christianity. Hideyoshi, as has
been pointed out, was desirous of securing the help of the Christian
princes in Kyushu, and therefore appointed a Christian as one of the
generals-in-chief. Under him were sent the contingents from Bungo, Omura,
Arima, and other provinces where the Christian element was predominant.
This division of the invading army may therefore be looked upon as
representing the Christian population of the empire. The other
general-in-chief was Kato Kiyomasa,(180) who had been associated with
Hideyoshi ever since the times of Nobunaga. He was the son of a blacksmith
and in A.D. 1563 he became one of Hideyoshi's retainers. He was a man of
unusual size and of great personal bravery. He commanded an army collected
mainly from the northern and eastern provinces, which comprised the
experienced veterans of Hideyoshi's earlier campaigns. He is usually
spoken of as inimical to the Christians, but this enmity probably grew up
along with the ill-feeling between the two armies in Korea.

Konishi's division arrived in Korea April 13, A.D. 1592, and captured the
small town of Fusan, which had been the port at which the Ja