learned much about seafaring as the island is located close to whirlpools which are notoriously dangerous for sailors. Toyotomi Hideyoshi never left Japan, remaining near Kyoto; however, the idea of conquering China was his obsession, and throughout the war, he refused to accept defeat, treating the war as simply a question of willpower, believing if only his samurai fought hard enough, he could take China. Turnbull writes: "In a tactical sense, therefore, Hideyoshi cannot be considered as one of the commanders, but, as his will drove the whole project along until he died, his political influence cannot be underestimated". Ming China The Ming Chinese army was the largest in Asia, with a total of around 845,000 troops. However, in 1592 the Imperial Army was engaged in wars with the Mongols and in crushing a rebellion in the northwest. The Ming army was capable of considerable feats of organization, for example bringing 400 artillery guns across 480 km of harsh landscape to provide firepower against the Mongols. The core of the Ming army was the infantry, divided into five sections; those armed with guns, swords, archers with fire arrows, archers with ordinary arrows, and spearmen, backed up by the cavalry and artillery. The basic weapons for the Chinese infantry were the crossbow and the arquebus, while the cavalry were usually mounted archers. Chinese infantry wore conical iron helmets and suits of armor made from leather or iron. According to Turnbull, "Chinese field artillery and siege cannon were the finest in the region". Chinese artillery was made from cast iron, and were divided into several types, the most important were the "great general gun" and the folang zhi (佛朗支), the latter being breech-loaded artillery guns. One of the Chinese commanders was Li Rusong, a man who has been traditionally disparaged in Japanese accounts. In Turnbull's estimate, he was "one of Ming China's most accomplished generals". Although Li was defeated at the Battle of Pyokjeyek, his defeat was temporary. He was an able strategist who achieved his goal of forcing the Japanese out of Korea, and Japanese accounts focusing on his defeat at Pyokjeyek served to distract from his achievements. Another Chinese naval commander was Chen Lin, a native of Guangdong who proved pivotal in defeating Japan and defending Korea. After helping win the war, Chen was celebrated as a hero in Korea and China. Chen subsequently became the founder of the Gwangdong