Rebellion quelled.... cannibalism.... anarchy....“faith cure”....
reformation.... Ta-na well.... the Queen restored.... slaves
revolt.... the Mongols.... envoy killed.... Kin weakens.... Kitan
refugees.... civil strife.... Kitan driven back.... Mongol
allies.... Mongols drive Kitans into Koryŭ.... Mongol savages....
Kitan remnant surrenders.... Mongol envoy.... jealousy.... Mongol
demands.... rebels’ heads sent to Song-do.... Mongol demands
tribute.... brutal envoy.... a new wall.... Japanese pirates....
Mongol envoy killed.... Mongol allies.... driven back.... prime
minister duped.... pirates again.... a Korean “Shogun”.... Mongols
cross the Yalu.... a Mongol letter.... the Mongols reach Song-do....
leave it untaken.... the “Shogun” flees.... a brave prefect....
Mongol terms.... King surrenders.... Mongol residency.
Cho Wi-jong was a P‘yŭng-yang man with a towering ambition, and he now
deemed the time ripe to put the wheels in motion. He therefore drew
about him a strong body of troops. All the districts about P‘yŭng-yang
joined him excepting Yŭn-ju, which remained loyal to the king. The
people of that place were afraid of the rebel but the loyal prefect Hyŭn
Tŭk-su forged a letter purporting to be from the royal army _en route_
for P‘yŭng-yang. This gave the people courage to hold out.
Cho and his troops marched toward Song-do and encamped not far to the
west of the town. Gen. Yi Eui-bang, having first seized and killed all
the P‘yŭng-an officials who happened to be in the capital, marched out
against the rebels. At the first attack the seditious force broke and
fled. Gen. Yi chased them as far as the Ta-dong River. He crossed that
river and lay siege to P‘yŭng-yang; but winter was coming on and he was
obliged to retire to Song-do. Cho then made two or three attempts to
overthrow the loyal town of Yŭn-ju, but without success.
Gen. Yi was a ruthless man, who had no love of humanity in him, but
would kill his best friend if it served his purpose. For this reason
Gen. Chöng did not dare to associate with him, but threw up his
commission and went into retirement. His son got a priest to dog the
footsteps of Gen. Yi and wait for a chance to kill him. This he finally
accomplished and Gen. Yi and many of his relatives were killed; and the
queen, who was his daughter, was driven away.
As Cho Wi-jong, the P‘yŭng-yang traitor, was gradually losing power he
desired to get help from the Kin emperor. For this purpose he sent two
envoys, but one of them killed the other on the way and them fled to
Song-do. Cho sent another, but him the Kin emperor seized and sent a
prisoner to the Koryŭ capital. In the spring the royal forces besieged
Cho in P‘yŭng-yang again and famine within the walls became so great
that men ate each other. Many of the towns-people came out by stealth
and as they were well received by the besieging force, well-nigh all the
civilians in the city came over the walls by night. When the city fell,
Cho was killed and his wife and children were sent to Song-do where they
were hung in the center of the city.
The rebel forces were scattered but reunited in various places and
terrorized the whole north, so that envoys to the Kin court had to go a
round-about way to avoid them. The whole country in fact was in a state
of anarchy. In the south whole sections of the country were disaffected
toward the government and bands of men roamed the country. There was a
rising also in Whang-hă Province. In P‘yŭng-yang the people rose and
drove out the governor. The king was forced to begin the correction of
abuses. He sent all about gathering information as to how the people
were governed and as a consequence eight hundred officials were
cashiered. But the attempt at renovation came too late. In the west the
bands of robbers looted right and left and could not be apprehended. The
capital itself swarmed with thieves. The ancestral temple itself was
robbed of its utensils. But all this time the king kept up a round of
carousals and debaucheries at which he himself played the buffoon, and
danced for the delectation of his guests, and that too at a monastery. A
sacred place truly!
In the twelfth year of the reign, 1182, we find an interesting
application of what goes in these days under the name of “faith cure.” A
priest claimed to be able to cure any disease. Being called before the
king he said, “If anyone drinks water in which I have washed my hands he
will be immediately cured.” He further explained “After drinking the
water, pray earnestly to Buddha. Then rise and say ‘I am cured’, and if
you really believe you are cured, you will be so.” Crowds of people
applied to him for treatment. He seduced many of the women who came to
him.
Gen. Yi Eui-mun was now court favorite and he usurped all the leading
offices and acted as pander-in-general to the King by seeking out and
forcibly carrying to the palace young and handsome girls. This seemed
intolerable to such loyal men as Gen. Ch‘oe Chung-heun, and he, in
company with his brother, surrounded the palace, killed Yi Eui-mun and
many others of his ilk, chased away many illegitimate sons of the king,
who had become monks, and would not let them enter the palace again.
This all happened in 1196, and two years later the reformer continued
the good work by deposing the old and indolent king, banishing the crown
prince to Kang-wha and putting the king’s brother Mun on the throne. His
posthumous title is Sin-jong. The banishing of the crown prince and his
wife was effected in a very heartless manner. They were ordered out of
the palace at a moment’s notice and, coming forth entirely unprepared
for the journey, were mounted on horses in a cold rain and hurried away
to Kang-wha. A terrible storm raged the day the King was deposed, as if
in sympathy with the throes through the country was passing.
There was a saying current among the people which shows at once how
superstitious they were and to what an extent the eunuchs were wont to
abuse their power. They said “If the King uses water from the Ta-nă Wall
many eunuchs will arise and will cause the government to be administered
badly;” so the well was filled up. Another instance shows what a
terrible temptation there was for the people to abuse their power. This
same reformer Ch’oe Chung-heun, though himself a man of perfect
uprightness, had a brother who now took advantage of his position to
force the king to take his daughter as queen. To do this the real queen
had to be banished. As it happened, the king was deeply attached to her,
but he was in no position to refuse to do the bidding of the powerful
courtier. After a tearful parting she went into exile. This was as yet
unknown to the reformer, but when he learned of it his indignation was
deep and fierce. Cloaking his feelings, he called his brother to a feast
and there reminded him that they were not of a high enough family to
furnish a queen, and he charged him to give up the attempt. The next
day, the villain changed his mind again. His mother expostulated with
him and he felled her to the floor. Gen. Ch‘oe was told of this and,
surrounding himself with a strong body-guard, he proceeded to the palace
gate. When his niece was brought in her chair and was about to enter to
become queen, the faithful old general disputed the passage and a fight
ensued between his men and his brother’s. The former were successful and
the wretch betook himself to flight, but was pursued, taken and killed
by the general himself. The rightful queen was restored to her station.
The six years of this king’s reign were one long scene of turmoil and
strife. In the first place the slaves revolted. They said “The high men
are not made so by the decree of heaven. Great men are those who do
well. Let us fight for our rights; Gen. Ch‘oe is from as low a grade as
ourselves. Let us become high men too.” They rendezvoused at Heung-guk
monastery and decided as a preliminary measure to demand from their
masters the deeds of themselves (for slaves as well as houses were
deeded property) and to burn them. They were betrayed to Gen. Ch‘oe who
trapped a hundred of them, tied stones about their necks and drowned
them in the river. The south was overrun by marauding parties whom the
king bought off by gifts of food, clothes and land. In Chin-ju the
governor’s servants locked him in his private dungeon, gathered a band
of men and put to death all who would not join their standard. It is
said that 6,400 men were killed because of refusal to join them. The
same scenes were enacted in various places, notably in Quelpart and
Kong-ju.
In the midst of these scenes the king died and was succeeded in 1205 by
his son Tok, posthumous title Heui-jong.
We have now arrived at the threshold of events which were destined to
make Asia one great battle-field and to cause the sovereigns of Europe
to tremble on their thrones.
The Mongols lived north of Yŭ-jin and were in a sense connected with
them. Their first great chief was Ya-sok-hă (Yusuka) who first led the
revolt which separated the Mongol power from the Yŭ-jin. He together
with Keui-ak-on conquered forty of the northern tribes in quick
succession and brought them all under his flag. His son’s name was
Chŭl-mok-jin, the great Genghis Khan. It was now in the second year of
Heui-jong, in 1206, that the great Genghis proclaimed himself emperor
and named his empire Mong.
Meanwhile Ch‘oe Chung-heun was not proof against the seductions of
ambition and power, and we next find him seizing the people’s houses and
building himself a magnificent residence adjoining the palace. People
said of him that he buried a boy or a girl under each corner post.
When the spring of 1212 opened, an envoy was sent to the Kin court but
was intercepted by Mongol videttes who had by this time worked their way
southward to a point that commanded the road between Koryŭ and Kin. The
Kin people recovered the body and sent it back to Koryŭ.
Gen. Ch‘oe had acquired so much power that he was in reality the ruler
of the land, holding much the same position that the Shogun of Japan is
said to have occupied. He may not inappropriately be styled the Shogun
of Koryŭ. For this reason the king desired to get him out of the way. To
this end he put upon his track a number of monks, but as they began by
attacking his servant he quietly slipped into a chest and they could not
find him. His body-guard became aware of his predicament and forced the
palace gates, killing right left; and they would have killed the king
had not the wily old general stepped out of his hiding place and
prevented it. The latter banished the king to Kang-wha and the crown
prince to Chemulpo and set upon the throne one Chong, whose posthumous
title is Kang-jong.
The only event recorded of this reign is the arrival of an envoy from
the Kin court, who wanted to enter the palace by the central or royal
gate. He insisted upon it until he was asked the question “If you enter
by the royal gate, by what gate would your master enter should he come
here?” This silenced him.
Kang-jong was succeeded in 1214 by his son Chin, posthumous title
Kang-jang. This was destined to be the longest and by far the most
eventful reign of the dynasty for it lasted forty-five years and
witnessed the great Mongol invasion.
The Kin power was now trembling under the Mongol onslaught and envoys
came demanding aid from Koryŭ in the shape of rice and horses. The king
ostensibly refused but allowed the envoys to purchase rice and carry it
away with them.
Again a dark cloud hung over Koryŭ’s northern border. It was not the
Mongols as yet, but the remnant of the Kitan forces who were unable to
withstand the Mongols and so had fled south into Koryŭ territory. At
first the Koryŭ forces were able to keep them in check but as they came
in ever increasing numbers they broke down all opposition and were soon
ravaging Whang-hă Province, making P‘yŭng-yang their headquarters. The
lack of Koryŭ soldiers was so evident that men of all classes, even the
monks, became soldiers. It was of no avail. They were cut down like
stubble and Whang-ju fell into Kitan hands. The enemy was soon only
eighty _li_ from the capital. Consternation reigned in the city and the
people all procured swords or other weapons and manned the walls.
To this outward danger was added the terror of civil strife for the
priests took this inopportune moment to attack the old general, Ch‘oe,
who still ruled with a high hand. He turned on them however and cut down
three hundred. He then instituted an inquisition and as a result 800
more were killed.
Such then was the desperate position of Koryŭ; a powerful enemy at her
door, the south rife with rebellion, and in the capital itself
“mountains of dead and rivers of blood.” Victorious Kitan came sweeping
down on Song-do, but for some reason, perhaps because they had heard
that the town was well defended, they made a detour, appearing next on
the banks of the Im-jin River half way between Song-do and the present
capital. There they suffered defeat at the hands of the Koryŭ forces as
they did also later at the site of the present capital. In view of these
defeats the Kitan army retired to Tă-băk San. Now another cause of
anxiety appeared in the shape of the Yŭ-jin allies of the Mongols who
crossed the Yalu and took Eui-ju. But Koryŭ, wide awake to the danger,
threw upon them a well equipped force which destroyed 500 of them,
captured many more and drove the remaining 300 across the river. The
king now built a royal residence at Pă-gak San to the east of Song-do,
for he had been told that by so doing he would be able to hold the north
in check.
Myŭn Ku-ha of east Yŭ-jin, being defeated by the Mongols, came in his
flight towards the Yalu, but the Koryŭ general, Chŭng Kong-su, caught
him and sent him safely to the Mongol headquarters. This pleased the
Mongols hugely and they said “We must make a treaty of friendship.” We
must remember that the Mongols were at war with Kitan and had driven her
army across into Koryŭ, but at first did not pursue them. Now, however,
an army of 10,000 men under Generals T‘ap Chin and Ch‘al Cha, were sent
to complete the destruction of the Kitan power. They were joined by
Yŭ-jin allies to the number of 20,000 men under Gen. Wan-an Cha-yŭn. As
these allies were advancing against the doomed army of Kitan, the
remnant of which, 50,000 strong, was massed at Kang-dong, a great
snowstorm came on and provisions ran low. Koryŭ was asked to supply the
deficiency which she did to the extent of 1,000 bags of rice. This still
more helped her into the good graces of the Mongols. But the records
state that the Mongols were so little beyond the condition of the savage
that there could be little real friendship between them and the people
of Koryŭ. The latter showed it too plainly and the Mongols of course
resented it.
In this army that was marching to the annihilation of Kitan there was a
contingent of Koryŭ forces under Gen. Kim Ch‘ui-ryo who is described as
being a giant in size with a beard that reached his knees. He was a
favorite with the Mongol generals and was treated handsomely by them.
The siege of Kang-dong was prosecuted vigorously and soon the greatest
distress prevailed within the walls. The leader finally gave up hope and
hanged himself, and the 50,000 men came out and surrendered. Gen. T‘ap
reviewed them, took off the heads of a hundred of the leaders and
released the remainder. The Mongol leader wished to make a visit to
Song-do to see the king but he could not leave his army, so he sent an
envoy instead. He gave the Koryŭ generals rich presents and released 700
Koryŭ captives that had been previously taken. Many Kitan captives were
put into the hands of the Koryŭ generals as a result of the decisive
termination of the war against Kitan and many of the heretofore
inaccessible parts of the north were opened up, and they were called the
“Kitan District.”
Ere long the Mongol envoy approached Song-do and the king sent out a
messenger to meet him, but this did not satisfy him, for he exclaimed
“Why did not the king come out to meet me?” It took some persuasion to
induce him not to turn back. When he had audience with the king he wore
the heavy fur clothing of his native country with a fur head-dress, and
carried a sword and a bow. Approaching the king he seized his hand and
showed him the letter from the Mongol emperor, Genghis Khan. The king
turned pale and was exceedingly embarrassed at this familiarity, and the
officials asked each other how the presence of this barbarian could be
endured. They induced him to retire and assume Koryŭ garments, after
which he reappeared and the king presented him with gifts of gold,
silver, silk and linen.
Gen. Cho Ch‘ung accompanied the retiring Mongol and Yŭ-jin allies as far
as the Yalu where they bade him an affectionate adieu and declared that
he was a man of whom Koryŭ should be proud. The Mongol general, Hap
Chin, left forty men at Eui-ju to learn the Koryŭ language and told them
to stay there till he returned. Gen. Cho then returned to P‘yŭng-yang
where he was lionized and fêted. The old man Ch‘oe Chung-heun feared
that Gen. Cho would attempt to throw him down from his high position and
thought it would be better to have him near by, where he could watch
him; so he forged a letter purporting to be from the king, ordering him
to come down to the capital. He obeyed.
It seemed at this time that the relations of Koryŭ and the Mongols would
remain friendly, but if Koryŭ thought this she was destined to be rudely
awakened. The Mongol and Yŭ-jin allies sent to Myŭng-sŭng and said
“Koryŭ must send an envoy and do obeisance each year.” This was said in
so offensive a way that it seemed to be an attempt to provoke war. We
are not told what answer was given but it sufficed for the time to
secure peace.
The great Ch‘oe Chung-heun who had carried things with such a high hand
now fell ill and died. This caused more commotion than the death of
several kings. He was buried with royal honors. He left many sons, of
whom U and Hyang were first and second. Hyang was a bold and powerful
man, and before the father died he warned U against him. U succeeded to
his father’s position which, as we have seen, corresponded closely with
that of the Shogun of Japan.
A serious rebellion broke out in the north under two leaders, Han Sun
and Ta Chi, the cause being the illegal exactions of the prefects. When
the king found that it could not be put down by peaceful means he sent
Gen. Kim Ch‘ui-ro to put it down by force. The east Yŭ-jin leader, Myŭn
Ku-ha, at first sided with the rebels but later changed his mind,
invited Han Sun and Ta Chi to a feast, got them intoxicated,
assassinated them, put their heads in a box and sent it to the king,
thereby earning the good will of the latter. The king then reformed the
abuses in the rebellious section and peace was at last secured.
The Mongols were not to be content with an empty friendship, and in 1221
they sent a demand for revenue, consisting of 10,000 pounds of cotton,
3,000 rolls of fine silk, 2,000 pieces of gauze, 100,000 sheets of paper
of the largest size. The envoy who brought this extraordinary letter was
provided commodious quarters and excellent food but he expressed his
dissatisfaction at everything by shooting arrows into the house posts,
and by acting in a very boorish manner generally. The only man who could
do anything with him was Kim Heui-jo who charged him with killing a man
in Eui-ji, and threatened to have him imprisoned. Thus meeting bluster
with bluster he made the brutal northerner listen to reason. When the
envoy was about to go to an audience with his weapons in hand, this same
Kim made him lay them aside. Other Mongol and Yo-jin messengers came and
Kim managed them all so well that no trouble arose.
It was becoming apparent that the Mongols were likely at any time to
make a descent upon Koryŭ; so, in the following year, 1222, a wall was
built near the Yalu river, extending from Eui-ju to Wha-ju. It is said
that this was completed in the marvelously short space of forty days, a
feat which shows not only how great a power Koryŭ could exert when
necessary but how important she deemed it that this wall should be
built.
1223 A.D. marks the beginning of that long series of depredations which
Japanese freebooters inflicted upon Koryŭ between 1200 and 1400. In this
year they landed on the coast of Kyŭng-sang Province and ravaged the
district of Keum-ju. With the opening of the next year, a Mongol envoy
came modifying the demand for tribute to sea otter skins only. The Kin
dynasty was now tottering to its fall but was destined to cling to life
for another ten years. This year saw it nearly fall before the Mongol
power. Koryŭ therefore discarded the Kin calendar. The friendship
between the Mongols and Koryŭ was destined to be rudely broken in the
year 1225, and through no fault of the latter except the inability to
keep order in her own territory. The Mongol envoy, returning to the
north, was set upon by a Koryŭ highwayman and was robbed of the gifts
which he was carrying home. Thus all friendly relations were ruptured
and another step was taken toward the final catastrophe. This year also
witnessed another Japanese raid in the south.
[Illustration: _FERRY ACROSS THE HAN._]
The Yŭ-jin who had now assumed the Mongol clothes, and were in reality
an integral part of the Mongol power, made a descent upon Koryŭ in 1226
in the vicinity of Eui-ju. The prefect deemed it too pressing a matter
to wait till word could be received from Song-do, so he sent a thousand
men immediately against the raiders and drove them back. The king
forgave the irregularity but refused to reward him.
Ch‘oé U who, as we know, was the prime minister, was duped by a diviner
into believing that he was to become king some day, and he foolishly
divulged the secret to a certain Kim, and soon it became common
property. As punishment for this, as well as to get himself out of
trouble, Ch‘oe U had both Kim and the diviner drowned.
The depredations of the Japanese were without the cognizance of the
Japanese government and were against its wish. This appears from the
fact that when in 1227 an envoy, Pak In, was sent to Japan to
remonstrate against them, the government of that country acquiesced and
arrested and killed a number of the corsairs.
Both this year and the next Yŭ-jin bands ravaged the northern part of
Koryŭ, but at the same time asked that a treaty be concluded. The ink
was hardly dry on this before it was broken by the very ones who
advocated it.
Ch‘oe U followed in his father’s steps and having established himself in
the viceroyship began to abuse the people, stealing houses and lands
from them wherewith to build himself a princely mansion, two hundred
paces long. In the court of it he had mock battles and the soldiers
played at ball. The expense of this was borne by the people, whose faces
were already being ground to furnish the regular revenue. His younger
brother, Hyang, who long since been had banished, attempted to raise an
insurrection in favor of the exiled king; but Ch‘oe U sent a strong
force and chased his brother until he was run to earth in a cave among
the mountains where he was killed.
It was now the year 1231, the year which saw the outbreak which had been
threatening ever since Genghis Khan came to the chieftainship of the
Mongol armies. As the spring opened a powerful Mongol army moved
southward across the Yalu under the leadership of Sal Ye-t‘ap and took
the fortress of Ham-sin near Eui-ju. They followed this up by storming
Ch‘ŭl-ju which ended only after the prefect had set fire to his house
and destroyed his whole family and he and his associates had cut their
own throats.
The king did not intend to submit without a struggle. He sent Generals
Pak Sö and Kim Kyöng-sol at the head of a large army to operate against
the invaders. They rendezvoused with all their forces at Ku-ju, the four
gates of which were strongly barricaded. The Mongols commenced the
attack at the south gate. The Koryŭ soldiers made five brilliant sallies
and forced the enemy to retire. The honors of this victory fell to Gen.
Kim who pursued the enemy some distance and then returned to the town in
triumph. The Mongols, who seem to have been independent of any base of
supplies and made the country through which they passed supply them, now
left this town untaken and the Koryŭ army undefeated in their rear, and
marched boldly southward, taking Kwak-ju and Sŭn-ju. From this point the
Mongol general Sal Ye-t‘ap sent a letter to the king saying “Let us make
peace. We have now taken your country as far as Han-sin and if you do
not come to terms with us we will draw reinforcements from Yŭ-jin and
crush you.” The messenger who conveyed this very candid letter got only
as far as P‘yŭng-ju where he was seized by the people and imprisoned.
While waiting for an answer, the invaders tried another attack on Ku-ju
but with no better success. Not only so, but they were badly defeated at
Au-puk fortress.
The king now reinforced the army in the north and at the same time
feasted 30,000 monks at the capital in order to influence the celestial
powers to bring about a cessation of war. But at the same time the
Mongol forces were reinforced by Yŭ-jin troops and with high spirits
crossed the Ta-dong river and swept down to P‘yŭng-ju to wreak their
vengeance on that place where even yet the Mongol messenger with the
letter for the king was languishing in durance vile. By a night attack
they took the place, burned it to the ground, killed the prefect and
even destroyed every dog and other domestic animal in the place. Then
they advanced toward Song-do and soon appeared beneath its walls. There
the Mongol generals P‘o-do, Chŭk-kŭ and Tang-go went into camp. They
supplied their army by foraging all through the surrounding country, in
which operation thousands of people were killed, their houses destroyed
and their goods confiscated, especially all kinds of food. The people in
the capital were in the greatest distress. Ch‘oe U, the viceroy,
stationed all the best troops about his own house and left the inferior
troops to guard the palace.
The Mongol general Sal Ye-t‘ap was now in the north. The king had
already sent one messenger to ask for terms of peace and had received
the following answer; “I am emperor. If you wish to fight it out then
come on and fight. If not then surrender, and be quick about it, too.”
The king now sent another messenger on a similar errand. He returned
with two Mongol commissioners and three more soon followed. They were
immediately admitted to an audience and a conference followed, after
which the king sent rich presents to Gen. Sal Ye-t‘ap who seems now to
have joined the main army before Song-do, and also to the other
generals. What the result of the conference was is, for some reason, not
stated in the records, but that it was not entirely satisfactory to the
Mongols, or if satisfactory not sufficiently so to make them forego the
pleasure of plundering, is seen from their next move, for they left
Song-do and went southward to the center of the peninsula, the rich
province of Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng.
The cowardly prime minister showed his colors by sending a man to find a
retreat for him on the island of Kang-wha, but the messenger fell into
the hands of Mongol foragers.
Gen. Sal Ye-t‘ap had gone north and joined another division of the
Mongol army and again he attacked Ku-ju. He made engines of war called
_ta-p‘o-ch‘a_, a sort of catapult, with which to reduce this town, but
the magistrate, Pak Sö also made similar instruments which hurled huge
stones, and the besiegers were compelled to retire to a distance and
take refuge behind various kinds of defenses. The Mongols made three
attempts to deceive the prefect by forged letters purporting to be from
the king and saying “I have surrendered and therefore you must submit,”
but Pak Sö was not to be caught by so simple a trick. The besiegers then
tried huge scaling ladders, but these were cut down by the defenders as
fast as they were put in place. An aged Mongol general, who made a
circuit of the town and marked the splendid state of defense into which
the place had been put, declared that he had never seen a place so well
defended.
So the little town stood and the great Mongol general was forced to seek
other fields for the display of his prowess. He sent a letter to the
king finding fault because of the death of the first Mongol messenger
and modestly suggesting that peace could be secured if he would
surrender and give 20,000 horse-loads of clothing, 10,000 pieces of
purple silk, 20,000 sea-otter skins, 20,000 horses, 1,000 boys, 1,000
girls and 1,000,000 soldiers, with food, to help conquer Japan. In
addition to this the king must go to the Mongol court and do obeisance.
These were the terms upon which Koryŭ could secure peace.
With the beginning of the next year, 1232, the king sent two generals
bearing a letter of surrender. With it he sent seventy pounds of gold,
thirteen pounds of silver, 1,000 coats and a hundred and seventy horses.
He moreover stated that the killing of the Mongol messenger was not the
work of the Koryŭ government but of a band of insurgents and robbers.
The officials had to give their garments in order to make up the number
that was sent. Each prefect along the route was charged with the duty of
seeing that the Mongols were in no way molested.
But Pak Sö the prefect of Ku-Ju was an obstinate man and would not give
up his fortress even when he knew the king had surrendered. It was only
after a great deal of argument and expostulation that he at last
capitulated. The Koryŭ people wanted to kill him for his obstinacy but
the Mongols said “He is your greatest man and you should prize him
highly.”
So ended the first act of the tragedy, but it was not to be the last. A
Mongol residency was established at Song-do and Mongol governors were
stationed at important centers throughout the country. The Mongol
resident insisted upon entering the palace by the middle gate which the
king alone used, but it was shut and barred and he was not able to carry
his point. When the tribute above mentioned reached Gen. Sal Ye-t‘ap he
expressed the greatest dissatisfaction with it because it fell so far
short of what was demanded and he imprisoned the messenger who brought
it. The king sent an envoy to the Mongol capital saluting the emperor as
suzerain for the first time.