Reforms.... eclipses.... Kitan declares war.... Koryŭ on guard.... Kitan
troops cross the Yalu.... diplomacy.... Gen. Kang Cho taken....
before the emperor.... P‘yŭng-yang besieged.... the king submits....
siege of P‘yŭng-yang raised.... king moves south.... Kitan
deceived.... Song-do taken.... a rebel governor.... Koryŭ’s
victories.... Kitan forces retreat across the Yalu.... king returns
to Song-do.... Gen. Ha Kong-jin executed.... reconstruction....
military and civil factions.... king overthrows the military
faction.... Kitan invasion.... overwhelming defeat.... envoys....
Buddhism versus Confucianism.... Koryŭ on the increase.... the
“Great Wall” of Koryŭ.... Buddhism flourishes.... primogeniture....
the disputed bridge.... Japanese envoys.... Buddhism rampant.... new
laws.... progress of Buddhism.
The first act of king Hyön-jong after announcing to Kitan his accession
to the throne was to raze to the ground the palace of the queen dowager
who had dragged the fair fame of Koryŭ in the mire. His next move was to
build a double wall about his capital. Evidently coming events were
casting ominous shadows before, and he saw the storm brewing.
We should say at this point that during all these reigns the annals make
careful note of every eclipse. This is brought prominently to our notice
by the statement in the annals that in the sixteenth year of this reign
there should have been an eclipse but that it did not take place. This
throws some light upon the science of astronomy as practiced in those
dark days. The common people looked upon an eclipse as an omen of evil,
but this would indicate that among the educated people, then as to-day,
they were understood to be mere natural phenomena. In 1010 the storm,
which had already given sharp premonitions of its coming, broke in all
its fury. It must have come sooner or later in any event, but the
immediate pretext for it was as follows: Two Koryŭ generals, Ha Kong-jin
and Yu Chŭng, who had been placed in charge of the forces in the north,
when Gen. Kang-cho was recalled to the capital, took matters into their
own hands and looked for no orders from headquarters. The desperate
state of things at the capital partly warranted them in this, but they
carried it too far. Of their own accord they attacked the eastern Yŭ-jin
tribe and though they did not succeed in the attempt they impressed
those people so strongly that an embassy came bringing the submission of
that tribe. The two generals who seem to have partially lost their
balance with the increase of their importance, wantonly killed every
member of this embassy. As soon as the young king heard of this he
promptly stripped them of their honors and banished them. This, however,
did not mend matters with the outraged Yŭ-jin people, and they hastened
to inform the Kitan emperor of the whole matter. Thereupon the
proclamation went out from the Kitan capital, “Gen. Kang-cho has killed
the king of Koryŭ. We will go and inquire into it.”
As a preliminary, a messenger was sent to Song-do to demand why the king
had been put to death. The officials were thrown into a panic and
hastened to send and envoy to Kitan to explain matters. He was held a
prisoner by the emperor. The king sent again and again, ten envoys in
all, but an ominous silence was the only answer. It appeared that
something serious was about to happen, but just what it was could not be
surmised. In order to be ready for any emergency, the king sent Generals
Kang Cho and Yi Hyŭn-un to T‘ong-ju (now Sŭn-ch‘ŭn) in the north to
guard against a sudden surprise.
Early in December the spell was broken and the watchers by the Yalu
hurried in with the news that a cloud of Kitan warriors was already
crossing the stream. The invading army 400,000 strong, so say the
records, pushed forward and surrounded the Koryŭ forces at Heung-wha
camp. When it was found, however, that they would stand their ground and
fight, the invaders sent presents of silk and other valuables and
advised them to surrender, and said “We liked the king whom Kang Cho
killed, and we are determined to overthrow the murderer. You assist us
in this. If not we will destroy you root and branch.” The reply was “We
prefer to die rather than surrender.” Thereupon the enemy sent more
costly presents still but the answer was the same. When it became plain
that there was to be bloodshed before Koryŭ would come to terms, the
Kitan emperor divided his immense army into two divisions, sending
200,000 men to the vicinity of Eui-ju and 200,000 to T‘ong-ju. Gen. Kang
Cho cunningly disposed his little army between two creeks where he was
protected on either flank. It is said that he had a species of battle
chariot with swords attached to the axles of the wheels so that when
they charged among the ranks of the enemy the latter were mown down. On
this account the little Koryŭ army was at first successful. Then Gen.
Kang Cho was seized by that common infatuation of fancied security and
in the midst of the fighting he sat down in his pride and began playing
a game of go-bang. A messenger hurried up with the news that the line of
battle had been broken on the west and that the enemy were pouring in.
Gen. Kang Cho laughed and said “Do not come to me with such an
insignificant piece of news. Wait till they come in numbers worthy of my
sword; then come and tell me.” Soon a messenger came saying that the
Kitan forces were approaching in full column. Thereupon Gen. Kang arose
and prepared for battle. While doing so the annals say that the spirit
of the murdered king appeared before him and chided him for scorning the
power of Kitan. He took off his helmet, and, bowing before the
apparition, said “I have committed an offence worthy of death.” The
Kitan soldiery rushed in and seized him. They bound him in a cart and
took him away.
Nothing now lay between the invading army and universal rapine. The army
penetrated far into the territory of Koryŭ, cut off 30,000 heads and
ravaged right and left.
When Gen. Kang Cho and Gen. Yi Hyŭn-un were brought before the Kitan
emperor the bonds of the former were cut and he was bidden to stand
forth. “Will you become my subject?” “I am a Koryŭ man. How can I be
your subject?” They cut his flesh with knives but he remained firm. When
the same question was put to Gen. Yi Hyŭn-un he replied: “As I now look
upon the sun and moon, how can I remember any lesser light?” Such were
the words of his apostacy. Kang Cho cried out upon him as a traitor, and
then bowed his head to the axe.
The Kitan army was now in full march on P‘yŭng-yang, but the broken
remnants of the Koryŭ army united at “Long Neck Pass” and successfully
opposed the progress of the invaders. A little diplomacy was now made
use of by the Kitan general. He sent a letter to Heung-wha camp,
purporting to be from Kang Cho, ordering them to surrender, but the
commander, Yang Kyu, replied “I listen only to the king.”
Kwak-ju (now Kwak-san) and Suk-ju (now Suk ch‘ŭn) fell in quick
succession and soon the victorious army of Kitan was thundering at the
gates of P‘yŭng-yang. The general in command was Wŭn Chong-sŭk and his
two lieutenants were Chi Ch‘oa-mun and Ch‘oé Ch‘ang. The commander was
willing to surrender without a fight and went so far as to write out the
surrender, but the other two prevented this by seizing the paper,
tearing it up and putting the Kitan messenger to death. The camp of
these generals was without the city, but the panic of the people inside
increased to such an extent that all the forces entered the city to
insure quiet.
The Kitan general-in-chief now received from the king an offer of
surrender. It caused the greatest satisfaction in the Kitan camp and
orders were given that the soldiers should cease ravaging the
surrounding country. Ma Po-u was sent as Kitan commissioner in Song-do
and was accompanied by an escort of a thousand men under the command of
Gen. Eul Neum.
We can see how little connection there was between the capital and the
army in the field by the fact that this submission on the part of the
king did not lead to the surrender of P‘yŭng-yang nor to a cessation of
hostilities by the generals who commanded the forces there. When a
second messenger was sent into the city to ask why the former one did
not return he too was put to death.
Gen. Eul Neum was ordered to reduce P‘yŭng-yang and he approached to
attack it but was driven back with a loss of 3,000 men. This attempt
failing, the conquerors decided to lay siege to the town. When the
inmates saw this they knew that the end was near. A plan was made
whereby a part of the troops should make a sally from the West Gate and
another part from the East Gate and together they hoped to dislodge the
enemy. But one of the generals, instead of following out the plan,
improved the opportunity to make good his escape. The other party was
therefore in a trap and had to surrender. But still two generals held
the city.
Meanwhile a band of 1,000 soldiers under Gen. Yang Kyu attacked Kwak-ju
by night, and put the Kitan garrison to the sword, and took seven
thousand people away to Tong-bu for safety.
When the Kitan forces found they were likely to have difficulty in
bringing P‘yŭng-yang to terms they gave it up and marched away eastward.
Thereupon the general Chi Ch‘oa-mun hastened to Song-do and announced
that he had fled from P‘yŭng-yang. The “residency” of Ma Po-u seems to
have been a short-lived one and terminated when it was found that the
submission of the king amounted to little when the armies would not
surrender. Courtiers urged an immediate surrender but Gen. Kang
Kam-ch‘an said “If we could put them off a while and gain time they
would be gradually worn out. The king should move south out of harm’s
way for a time.” So that very night the king and queen and a large
number of officials together with 5,000 troops moved southward to
Chŭk-sŭng. The king’s southward flight was by no means an easy one. The
very first night out from the capital the house where he slept was
attacked by a band of traitors and malcontents. The king escaped to the
mountains where he was attended by the faithful Gen. Chi. From this
retreat he recalled the two generals who had been banished for attacking
Yŭ-jin without orders, and restored them to their positions. Escorted by
Generals Chi, Ch‘o and Chu, the king slowly retreated toward Wang-ju.
All his numerous escort had left him excepting his two wives, two palace
women and two intimate friends. Gen. Chi kept a sharp lookout for the
bands of robbers who were roaming about the country. Once when hard
pressed by these irresponsible gentry, Gen. Chi spirited the king away
under cover of night and concealed him in To-bong monastery in Yang-ju a
little to the northeast of the present Seoul, and the robbers were
thrown completely off the scent.
Gen. Ha Kong-jin told the king that the Kitan forces had invaded Koryŭ
for the purpose of punishing Gen. Kang Bho, and as this had been
accomplished all difficulty between Koryŭ and Kitan could be easily
settled by a letter from the king to his northern suzerain. The letter
was written and sent by the hand of a trusty man. It said that the king
had left Song-do for an expedition into the country to quell certain
disturbances there. When the messenger was asked how far the king had
gone he answered that he had gone several thousand _li_. This seemed
plausible to the Kitan court and soon its army was working its way
slowly back to the boundary, the first stop being made at Ch‘ang-wha.
This retreat was more with a view to obtaining a wintering place than
with a desire to favor Koryŭ, for no sooner had the next season, 1011,
come than the Kitan army marched straight down through the peninsula and
entered the capital and burned the palaces and most of the common
houses. The king was in Kwang-ju but, learning of this disaster, he
hurried still further south with his two wives to Ch‘ŭn-an in the
present Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng Province. From there he continued south to Chŭn-ju
where he was treated very cavalierly by the governor who met him in
common clothes and without the ceremony befitting a royal visitor. In
fact this governor had determined to put the king out of the way. To
this end he hired three men to go by night and assassinate him. But the
door was guarded by Gen. Chi who bolted it firmly and then mounted the
roof and cried loudly to all who were loyal to the king to rally round
him. The next day the governor was summoned before the king. Some of the
generals were clamorous for his death but Gen. Chi who was as wise as he
was faithful vetoed this, for the king was not in a position to face the
opposition that the execution of the governor would arouse in the
province. It will be remembered that Wang-gön had left command that as
the south was disaffected none of his descendants should marry among its
people. This shows that the king when he went south found it unwise to
exercise all the prerogatives of royalty. So the governor was left
intact and the king moved further south to Na-ju.
Meanwhile the Kitan forces were not having it all their own way in the
north. Gen. Kim Suk-heung of Kwi-ju attacked a powerful force of the
enemy and secured a signal victory. It is said that he put 10,000 men to
death. Then Gen. Yang Kyu made a dash at the enemy at Mu-ro-da near
Eui-ju and killed 2,000 and recovered 3,000 prisoners. Also at Yi-su
there was a battle in which 2,500 Kitan men were killed and 1,000
captives rescued. At Yo-ri-ch‘ŭn also 1,000 more were killed. These
three desperate engagements occurred on the same day.
Gen. Ha Kong-jin was at this time a hostage in the Kitan capital, and he
managed to send a letter to the King informing him that the forces of
Kitan were slowly retreating. This made it possible for the king to
start on his way back to the capital. The first stage was to Chŭn-ju.
The retreating forces of Kitan were again engaged at A-jin but as heavy
reinforcements arrived at the moment, the Koryŭ generals, Yang Kyu and
Kim Suk-heng, lost the day and fell upon the field of battle. This
victory, however, did not stop the retreat of the invading army. There
had been very heavy rains, and many horses had perished and many
soldiers were practically without arms. Gen. Chon Song, who assumed
command after the death of the two generals at K-jŭn, hung on the flanks
of the retreating enemy and when half of them had crossed the Yalu he
fell upon the remainder and many of them were cut down and many more
were drowned in mid-stream. When it became known that all the Kitan
forces were across the border it took but a few days to re-man the
fortresses which had been deserted.
The king now hastened northward stopping for a time at Kong-ju where the
governor gave him his three daughters to wife. By the first he begat two
sons both of whom became kings of Koryŭ, and by the second he begat
another who also became king. He was soon on the road again, and ere
long he reentered the gates of his capital which had undergone much
hardship during his absence. His first act was to give presents to all
the generals and to order that all the bones of the soldiers who had
fallen be interred. He followed this up by dispatching an envoy to the
Kitan thanking them for recalling their troops. He banished the governor
of Chŭn-ju who had attempted his life. He repaired the wall of the
capital and rebuilt the palace.
Gen. Ha was still in the hands of the Kitan but he was extremely anxious
to return to Koryŭ. He therefore feigned to be quite satisfied there and
gradually gained the entire confidence of his captors. When he deemed
that it was safe he proposed that he be sent back to Koryŭ to spy out
the condition of the land and report on the number of soldiers. The
emperor consented but changed his mind when he heard that the king had
returned to Song-do. Instead of sending Gen. Ha back to Koryŭ he sent
him to Yun-gyŭng to live and gave him a woman of high position as his
wife. Even then the general did not give up hope of escaping and was
soon busy on a new plan. He purchased fleet horses and had them placed
at stated intervals along the road toward Koryŭ with trusty grooms in
charge of each. Someone, however, told the emperor of this and, calling
the exile, he questioned him about it. Gen. Ha confessed that his life
in exile was intolerable. When the emperor had offered him every
inducement to transfer his allegience and all to no avail, he commanded
the executioner to put an end to the interview. When news reached
Song-do that Gen. Ha had preferred death to disloyalty, the king
hastened to give office to the patriot’s son.
[Illustration: _A BUDDHIST MONUMENT (EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OLD)._]
The work of reconstruction was now commenced, in 1012. Kyöng-ju was no
longer called the eastern capital but was changed back to a mere
prefecture. The twelve
The twelve provinces were reconstructed into five and there were
seventy-five prefectures in all. This plan however was abandoned two
years later. Now that Koryŭ had regained control of her own territory,
the Yŭ-jin tribe thought best to cultivate her good will and so sent
frequent envoys with gifts of horses and other valuables. But when the
Emperor of Kitan, angry because the King refused on the plea of ill
health to go to Kitan and do obeisance, sent an army and seized six of
the northern districts this side the Yalu, the Yŭ-jin turned about and
ravaged the northeast boundary. The next year the Yŭ-jin joined Kitan
and crossed the Yalu but were speedily driven back by Gen. Kim Sang-wi.
In 1014 the King came to the conclusion that he had made a mistake in
casting off the friendship of China and sent an envoy to make
explanations; but the Emperor Chin-jong (Sang dynasty) was angry because
he had been so long neglected and would have nothing to do with the
repentant Koryŭ.
In the autumn the Kitan army was again forced back across the border.
The Koryŭ army had now grown to such proportions that the question of
revenue became a very serious one and the officials found it necessary
to suggest a change. They had been accustomed to “squeeze” a good
proportion of the soldiers’ pay and now that there was danger of further
change which would be only in the officials’ favor, the soldiers raised
a disturbance, forced the palace gates, killed two of the leading
officials and compelled the King to banish others. They saw to it that
the military officials took precedence of civil officials. From that
time on there was great friction between the military and civil
factions, each trying to drive the other to the wall.
The next year, 1015, the Kitan people bridged the Yalu, built a wall at
each end and successfully defended it from capture; but when they
attempted to harry the adjoining country they were speedily driven back.
The military faction had now obtained complete control at the capital.
Swarms of incompetent men were foisted into office and things were going
from bad to worse. The King was much dissatisfied at this condition of
affairs and at some-one’s advice decided to sever the knot which he
could not untie. He summoned all the leaders of the military faction to
a great feast, and, when he had gotten them all intoxicated, had them
cut down by men who had lain concealed in an adjoining chamber. In this
way nineteen men were put out of the way and the military faction was
driven to the wall.
Year by year the northern people tried to make headway against Koryŭ.
The Sung dynasty was again and again appealed to but without success.
Koryŭ was advised to make peace with Kitan on the best terms possible.
The Kitan generals, Yu Pyul, Hăng Byŭn and Ya-yul Se-chang made raid
after raid into Koryŭ territory with varying success. In 1016 Kitan
scored a decisive victory at Kwak-ju where the Koryŭ forces were cut to
pieces. Winter however sent them back to their northern haunts. The next
year they came again and in the following year, 1018, Gen. So Son-ryŭng
came with 100,000 men. The Koryŭ army was by this time in good order
again and showed an aggregate of 200,000 men. They were led by General
Kang Kam-ch‘an. When the battle was fought the latter used a new form of
strategem. He caused a heavy dam to be constructed across a wooded
valley and when a considerable body of water had accumulated behind it
he drew the enemy into the valley below and then had the dam torn up;
the escaping water rushed down the valley and swept away hundreds of the
enemy and threw the rest into such a panic that they fell an easy prey
to the superior numbers of the Koryŭ army. This was followed by two more
victories for the Koryŭ arms.
The next year, again, the infatuated north-men flung themselves against
the Koryŭ rock. Under Gen. So Son-ryŭng they advanced upon Song-do. The
Koryŭ generals went out thirty miles and brought into the capital the
people in the suburbs. Gen. So tried a ruse to throw the Koryŭ generals
off their guard. He sent a letter saying that he had decided not to
continue the march but to retire to Kitan; but he secretly threw out a
strong force toward Song-do. They found every point disputed and were
obliged to withdraw to Yŭng-byŭn. Like most soldiers the Koryŭ forces
fought best when on the offensive and the moment the enemy took this
backward step Gen. Kang Kam-ch‘an was upon them, flank and rear. The
invaders were driven out of Yŭng-byŭn but made a stand at Kwi-ju. At
first the fight was an even one but when a south wind sprang up which
lent force to the Koryŭ arrows and drove dust into the eyes of the enemy
the latter turned and fled, with the exulting Koryŭ troops in full
pursuit. Across the Sŭk-ch‘ŭn brook they floundered and across the
fields which they left carpeted with Kitan dead. All their plunder, arms
and camp equipage fell into Koryŭ hands and Gen. So Son-ryŭng with a few
thousand weary followers finally succeeded in getting across the Yalu.
This was the greatest disaster that Kitan suffered at any time from her
southern neighbor. Gen. So received a cool welcome from his master,
while Gen. Kang, returning in triumph to Song-do with Kitan heads and
limitless plunder, was met by the King in person and given a flattering
ovation. His Majesty with his own hands presented him with eight golden
flowers. The name of the meeting place was changed to Heung-eui-yŭk,
“Place of Lofty Righteousness.” When Gen. Kang retired the following
year he received six honorary titles and the revenue from three hundred
houses. He was a man of small stature and ill-favored and did not dress
in a manner befitting his position, but he was called the “Pillar of
Koryŭ.” Many towns in the north had been laid waste during the war and
so the people were moved and given houses and land. The records say that
an envoy came with greetings from the kingdom of Ch‘ŭl-ri. One also came
from Tă-sik in western China and another from the kingdom of Pul-lă.
Several of the Mal-gal tribes also sent envoys; the kingdom of T‘am-na
was again heard from and the Kol-bu tribe in the north sent envoys. In
1020 Koryŭ sent an envoy to make friends again with her old time enemy
Kitan and was successful. The ambition of the then Emperor of Kitan had
apparently sought some new channel. Buddhism, too, came in for its share
of attention. We read that the King sent to Kyöng-ju, the ancient
capital of Sil-la, to procure a bone of Buddha which was preserved there
as a relic. Every important matter was referred in prayer to the
Buddhistic deities. As yet Confucianism had succeeded in keeping pace
with Buddhism. In 1024 the King decreed that the candidates in the
national examinations should come according to population; three men
from a thousand-house town, two from a five hundred-house town and one
each from smaller places. Several examinations were held in succession
and only those who excelled in them all received promotion. The great
struggle between Buddhism and Confucianism, which now began, arrayed the
great class of monks on the side of the former and the whole official
class on the side of the latter. The former worked upon the
superstitions of the King and had continual access to him while the
latter could appeal to him only on the side of general common sense and
reason. Moreover Buddhism had this in its favor that as a rule each man
worked for the system rather than for himself, always presenting a solid
front to the opposition. The other party was itself a conglomerate of
interests, each man working mainly for himself and joining with others
only when his own interests demanded. This marked division of parties
was strikingly illustrated when, in 1026, in the face of vehement
expostulations on the part of the officials, the King spent a large
amount of treasure in the repairing of monasteries. The kingdom of Kitan
received a heavy blow when in 1029 one of her generals, Tă Yŭn-im,
revolted and formed the sporadic kingdom of Heung-yo. Having
accomplished this he sent to the King of Koryŭ saying “We have founded a
new kingdom and you must send troops to aid us.” The Koryŭ officials
advised that advantage be taken of this schism in Kitan to recover the
territory beyond the Yalu which originally belonged to Ko-gu-ryŭ and to
which Koryŭ therefore had some remote title. Neither plan was adopted.
It seemed good to keep friendly with Kitan until such time as her power
for taking revenge should be past, so envoys were sent as usual, but
were intercepted and held by the new King of Heung-yo. This policy
turned out to be a wise one, for soon the news came that Kitan had
destroyed the parvenu.
Now that the fortunes of Koryŭ were manifestly in the ascendant, many
people in the north sent and swore allegiance to her, thus following the
example of a certain Kitan envoy who at this time transferred his
citizenship voluntarily from Kitan to Koryŭ.
The King died and his son Heum, posthumous title Tŭk-jong, came to the
throne in 1032. He married his own sister. All friendly relations with
Kitan were broken off, because the bridge across the Yalu was not
destroyed. It did not seem a friendly act to leave this standing menace
to the peace of Koryŭ. In view of this the King ordered a wall to be
built across the entire peninsula from the Yalu River to the Japan Sea.
It was nearly a thousand _li_ long. This would seem almost incredible
were it not that the facts are given in such detail. The wall was
twenty-five _cha_ high and the same in breadth and stretched from
Ko-gung-nă Fortress, near Eui-ju on the Yalu, to Yöng-heung near the
Japan Sea. The Kitan people tried to hinder this work but without avail.
This period marks the acme of Koryŭ’s power and wealth. She had reached
her zenith within a century and a quarter of her birth and now for three
centuries she was destined to decline.
The younger brother, Hyöng, of this King Tŭk-jong, succeeded him in
1035, after a short reign of three years. He continued the work of
making impregnable the defenses of the north. He built a wall from
Song-ryŭng Pass in the west to the borders of the Yŭ-jin tribe in the
north-east. He also built a Fortress Chă-jŭn, now Ch‘ang-sŭng. His reign
beheld the riveting of Buddhistic chains upon the kingdom. Those who
could read the signs of the times surmised this when, in 1036, the King
decreed that, if a man had four sons, one of them must become a monk.
Because of the Buddhistic canon against the spilling of blood the death
penalty was commuted to banishment. Another Buddhistic anniversary was
instituted. The King also inaugurated the custom of having boys go about
the streets bearing Buddhistic books upon their backs from which the
monks read aloud as they passed along. This was for the purpose of
securing blessings for the people.
In order to counteract the tendency toward luxury, the King forbade the
use of silk and gold and went so far as to burn up the whole stock of
silk held by the merchants. He made a new law of primogeniture. The
first son is to succeed. If he dies, the son of the first son succeeds.
If there is no grandson the second son succeeds. If there is no son by
the wife the son by a concubine succeeds. If there is none then a
daughter succeeds. The Yŭ-jin tribe came with rich gifts and promised
faithfully to refrain from raiding the frontier again. In 1047 the King
was succeeded by his younger brother, Whi, posthumous title Mun-jong,
who was destined to sit upon the throne for thirty-seven years. After
announcing to his suzerain his accession, he followed the custom of his
house and married his sister.
This monarch at first showed a blending of Buddhistic and Confucian
influences, for the annals state that in his second year he fed ten
thousand monks in the palace and gave them lodging there, and that
shortly after this he built a Temple to Heaven before the palace. The
Yŭ-jin tribe broke their promise and made a descent upon the border
fortresses but were driven back; and not only so, but the Koryŭ forces
followed them to their haunts and burned their villages to the ground.
In 1053 the system of taxation was overhauled and a new schedule of
weights was made. The King sent a letter to Kitan complaining that the
bridge across the Yalu still stood, that a wall had been built to secure
it and that a horse relay system had been established, with this bridge
as one of its termini. It seemed, in the words of the letter, that
“Kitan was the silk-worm and Koryŭ was the mulberry leaf.” The King was
anxious to attempt an embassy to China and for that purpose suggested
that a boat be built on the island of Quelpart but the officials
dissuaded him from the attempt.
The year 1056 was signalised by the arrival of an envoy from Japan. It
is probable that the strong Buddhistic tendency which had developed in
Japan had tempted the Japanese to send and secure further instruction in
that cult and to secure relics and paraphernalia. The envoy may have
asked that Buddhist teachers be sent, but the records say nothing to
this effect.
Buddhism was making steady advances. A large quantity of metal intended
for the manufacture of arms was taken by order of the King and made into
nails for use in building monasteries. He took away houses from many
wealthy people, among them some of his own relatives, and gave them to
the monks. The law requiring that of four sons one must become a monk
was now revised so as to read that one of every three should don the
cowl. Nearly every house furnished its monk. The King said “From the
very first our Kings have encouraged Buddhism and each generation has
paid attention to the building of monasteries. By so doing many
blessings have been received. Now that I have become King I find that
many evils are oppressing the state because of the neglect of the
important precept. I will now mend this breach in our conduct and
restore to the country her former prosperity.” So he built monasteries
in various places. The officials all used their influence against this
but the monks carried the day. A Buddhist book called Tal-jang-gyŭng was
sent by Kitan as a gift to Koryŭ.
This period was not without some hopeful signs. A law was passed that no
man should be punished before being tried before three judges. The
government built a fleet of a hundred and six sailing vessels to carry
the government rice from one port to another. The boats made six trips a
year.
But the advances, or rather retrogressions, in a Buddhistic line were
still more marked. In 1065 the King’s son Ku cut his hair and became a
monk. A law was promulgated that no beast should be killed in the land
for three years. A monastery was being built in Song-do containing 2,800
_kan_, each _kan_ being eight feet square. It took twelve years to
complete it. When it became ready for occupancy there was a magnificent
festival at which all monks within a radius of many miles were present.
The feasting lasted five days. There was an awning of silk, covering a
passage-way from the palace to this monastery. Mountains and trees were
represented by lanterns massed together. The King dressed in the robes
of a high priest. In this monastery was a pagoda on which 140 pounds of
gold and 427 pounds of silver were lavished.