Magistrate of Nagan in the Imjin War; killed at the Battle of Noryang in Yi Sun-sin's vanguard
| Life | 1561 ~ 1598 |
| Era | 조선 중기(임진왜란) |
| Clan | 온양 방씨 |
Bang Deok-ryong (方德龍, 1561-1598) was a military official of the Imjin War period of the Onyang Bang clan. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture gives his courtesy name as Nakcheon, while Wikipedia gives his courtesy name as Unbo and pen name as Nakcheon. His grandfather was the army commander Bang Ho-ui and his great-grandfather Bang Yun, Lord Gyerim. Sources differ on his parents: the encyclopedia names his father Bang Won-bok and his mother a woman of the Anak Yi, while Wikipedia names his father Bang Heon-chim and his mother the third daughter of Jeong Eon-gak, governor of Gyeonggi.
He passed the military examination in 1588. According to the encyclopedia, he chose the military path because his great-grandfather Bang Yun, dying in office as army commander of the northeast, handed down a spear and told his descendants to defend the country in times of trouble. His grandfather Bang Ho-ui, though a civil official, was also a gifted soldier who served as navy and army commander in several provinces and worked to defend against Japanese pirates.
When the Imjin War broke out in 1592, he raised about a hundred volunteers and joined Won Gyun's command. During the second invasion in 1597, as magistrate of Nagan, he lay in ambush at Jeori Island with Magistrate Yi Yeong-nam and Commander Song Yeo-jong and won a great victory by attacking the enemy from two sides. In 1598 he fought in the vanguard of Naval Commander Yi Sun-sin at the Battle of Noryang and was killed. He was posthumously made vice minister of punishments and enrolled as a second-class Seonmu merit subject.
Several members of the Onyang Bang fought alongside Yi Sun-sin. The Encyclopedia of Asan Culture names Bang Su-gyeong, commander of Mokpo, Bang Seung-gyeong, commander of Okpo, and Yi's officer Bang Eung-won, and a 2016 study by Bang Seong-seok on the clan's role in the Imjin War calls Bang Deok-ryong and Bang Eung-won heroes of the Joseon navy who died at Noryang. Yi's father-in-law Bang Jin was also an Onyang Bang, and clan sources describe Bang Deok-ryong as a relative of Yi's wife's family.
He is recorded in the Onyang Bang genealogy as a descendant of a military family that included his grandfather Bang Ho-ui and great-grandfather Bang Yun.