An unnecessary warning.... “Smoke-house Soldiers”.... Yi Whan-jo
dies.... Yi T‘ă-jo takes his place.... new invasion by “Red
Heads”.... Song-do evacuated.... the enemy revel in the capital....
cannibals.... plans for defense.... the “Red Heads.” badly
beaten.... Gen. Yi distinguishes himself.... the monster Kim
Yong.... Gen. Yi brings Nap-t‘ap-chul to terms.... Quelpart
revolts.... “tax without reason”.... the Mongols proclaim a new king
for Koryŭ.... a bold envoy.... a faithful eunuch.... Kim Yong
destroyed... Mongol invasion.... order restored.... Gen. Yi drives
back the Mongols.... Japanese advances.... a conscientious
official.... the Japanese creep nearer to Song-do.... king
inconsolable.... he meets Sin-don.... who becomes his favorite....
king’s oath to Sin-don.... disgraceful practices.... an heir to the
throne.... Sin-don’s policy.... Japanese swarm along the coast....
Sin-don the “Tiger”.... he chides the king.
With the opening of the year 1361 Yi Whan-jo was appointed general of
all the forces in the north and north-east. This was done against the
advice of one of the officials who told the King that as Gen. Yi was
from the north-east it was dangerous to appoint him general over the
forces there, for untoward events were likely to happen. The king turned
a deaf ear to this warning, which indeed was unnecessary, for the king
had no more loyal subject that Yi Whan-jo. The king, having feasted the
new appointee, sent him on his mission and himself returned to Song-do.
Ere long came reports of new and terrible ravages by the Japanese along
the southern coast, especially at Nam-hă, Ko-sŭng, Kö-je and Ul-ju,
while at Fusan they stole a large number of Korean boats. A garrison had
been stationed in the south to be used in just such emergencies, but it
had been used for so many different things that it could not be
concentrated upon any given point; so levies were made on the common
people. These levies went under the name of Yŭn-ho-gun, or “Smoke-house
Soldiers” because from every house where smoke was seen arising a man
was requisitioned. At the same time the governor of Chŭl-la Province
advised the establishment of a horse relay system, but the suggestion
was not acted upon.
At this time the king lost the services of Gen. Yi Whan-jo who died at
his post. His son, Yi Sŭng-gye, better known by his title Yi T‘ă-jo,
stepped into his father’s place. At the very beginning of his martial
career an opportunity presented itself for him to perform a signal
service for the king. A certain Pak Eui deemed that the time was ripe
for an insurrection and he began to take steps in that direction, but
the king sent the young general, Yi T‘ă-jo, against him and the little
blaze was promptly stamped out. As a consequence the young man was
confirmed in the position of military governor of the north and east,
and under his command was placed a large body of troops.
And now there burst upon the country another storm of fire and blood.
The “Red Heads” had been gaining ground rapidly and were now ready to
take their revenge for the terrible reverses they had suffered during
the previous invasion. They crossed the Yalu 200,000 strong under the
leadership of generals Pan-sŭng Sa-yu and Kwan Sŭng-săng. The king
promptly sent Gen. Yi Pang-sil against them and hastened to swell the
army to as high a point as possible, The officials and monks and other
people of means brought horses or provisions, while the walls of Song-do
were guarded with jealous care.
In the very first engagement the Koryŭ army was crumpled up like paper
and one of the leading generals was killed. The “Red Heads” sent a
letter to the king saying “We have ten million men and there is no
escape for you except in prompt surrender.” It seemed true, for the
invading army swept like a cyclone though the north, and in Song-do
panic reigned. Flight seemed imperative. The women and children
belonging to the royal household were sent away first and the king was
about to follow, when the defeated Gen. Yi Pang-sil came hurrying in and
implored the king not to run away but to rally the people about him and
stand the siege. The king went to the center of the city, “Big Bell
Street,” and submitted the question to the people, asking whether they
would rally round him. Just two men responded. This settled the matter
and the king and queen, each on horse-back, rode out the south gate,
while behind them came a weeping crowd of old men, women and children.
Such was the confusion that parents lost their children and families
were scattered. The king’s escort consisted of only ten men. When he
arrived at the Im-jin river he sent messengers in all directions
summoning all loyal soldiers to rally round him.
The northern savages swept down upon the devoted city, sat down in its
palaces and gave themselves up to every form of excess. They feasted
upon the cattle and horses, hanging their hides upon the city wall and
pouring water over them and letting it congeal, thus preventing the
citizens from making their escape from the city clandestinely.
The king in his flight carried terror with him, for the people thought
the enemy would be in hot pursuit; so they scattered in every direction.
This displeased the king so much that when he arrived at the capital of
Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng Province he imprisoned the governor. From that point he
hurried southward as far as Pak-ju, now An-dong, in Kyŭng-sang Province.
Day by day the horrible orgies of the savages in Song-do increased in
barbarity. It is said that they cooked and ate little children and that
they cut off the breasts of women and fed on them.
In the midst of these vicissitudes the king appointed Chöng Se-un as
general-in-chief of all the Koryŭ forces. He was a wise and loyal man
and was ever thinking of ways and means of checkmating the invaders. He
advised the king to send out a general letter encouraging the people and
calling all the soldiers to rally to the defense of the country. The
officials were also encouraged and made to feel that their utmost
endeavors must be put forth in the good cause. The generals were all
exhorted to do their best and were threatened with death in case they
proved unfaithful. So the campaign was opened. The savages had looted
all the towns about Song-do and had taken Wŭn-ju and killed its prefect.
They also went north to An-byŭn in Ham-gyŭng Province where the people
pretended to surrender, but, having gotten their conquerors intoxicated,
they fell upon and killed them. The same tactics were tried in Kang-wha
with equal success.
Gen. Chöng Se-un now appeared before Song-do with 200,000 troops. These
figures must surely be an exaggeration for we can hardly suppose Koryŭ
able at that time to put that number of men in the field. Snow and rain
added to the difficulties of the situation. A spy returned and said that
the troops of the enemy were massed inside the South Gate and that if a
picked body of men could gain entrance somewhere and attack them from
behind they could be easily overcome. At the dead of night a picked body
of horsemen gained admittance somewhere in the rear of the city and fell
with fury upon the garrison. At the same time the main body advanced to
attack the South Gate. The savages, not knowing the size of the
attacking force and being surprised from behind were thrown into
confusion and attempted to run away. Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo distinguished
himself by pursuing and capturing Kwan Sŭn-săng the leader of the
hostile force. In this stampede the routed savages trod on and killed
each other by hundreds. In the center of Song-do the dead were piled in
heaps. It is said, though it must be an exaggeration, that 100,000 men
perished miserably on that night. As a result of this battle several
Mongol seals which the savages had taken in previous fights with the
imperial armies, were recovered.
Some of the generals advised that a remnant of the enemy be spared; so
the Sung-in and T‘an-hyŭng gates were thrown open and Pa Tu-ban and his
remaining followers hastened out and made for the Yalu River.
It is related that during the fight on that eventful night a body of
Koryŭ troops collided with a company of the enemy and a melée ensued
near the East Gate, where the soldiers trod on each other. Gen. Yi
T‘ă-jo was there and was stabbed in the back with a spear. Finding
himself in extremely narrow quarters he drew his sword and, hewing a
path through the enemy, leaped the wall, horse and all, for he was in
the saddle. The spectators thought he was a spirit. A volume might be
filled with the stories of the wonderful achievements of this man, but
most of them are figments of the imagination, invented at a later period
to add lustre to the name of the founder of the dynasty.
The capable leader Gen. Chöng Se-un, met the fate which has been the
curse of Korean history from the beginning to the present time. Kim
Yong-an, a jealous official, forged a royal order for his execution and
sent it to Gen. An U who promptly carried it out. When the king learned
of this he thought it was an incipient revolution but soon the other
generals joined in a letter to His Majesty saying that it had been done
because the murdered man was a traitor. The king accepted this as true
and rewarded the murderers.
The fortress of Sang-sŭng near the Tu-man River had long been under
Mongol control and was governed by a Koryŭ renegade Cho Whi and
afterwards by his descendants as a hereditary fief. Now when Koryŭ once
more assumed control, Cho So-săng, the then chief of this anomalous
settlement, fled to Mukden where he joined the banners of a wild tribe
under the lead of Nap-t‘ap-chul, and proposed to them to make a raid
into Koryŭ. This they did, crossing the Yalu and ravaging as far as
Puk-ch‘ung and Hong-wŭn. This promised to become a serious matter, but
the difficulty of the situation for Koryŭ was increased tenfold by a
fresh invasion of the south by Japanese. The king was on his way back to
Song-do when news of these two disasters reached him. Things looked
desperate, but to add to the hopelessness of the situation the same Kim
Yong-an who had murdered Gen. Chöng now compelled the king to kill Gen.
An U on the ground that it was he who had killed Gen Chöng. The monster
then proceeded to killed his own brother, and induced the king to put to
death generals Yi Pang-sil and Kim Teuk-pă, two of the best surviving
generals. It is a wonder that Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo was spared. Song-do had
been so roughly handled that the king feared the historical records
would be lost or destroyed; so he now sent men to look them up and put
them in a place of safety.
The wild Nap-t‘ap-chul having been so successful in their first venture,
now once more entered Koryŭ territory and as the general sent against
them was not able to check their advance Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo was appointed to
this place. The enemy was encamped in Hong-wŭn in Ham-gyŭng Province.
Gen. Yi attacked them there and routed them with a loss of 1,000 men.
Near Ham-hung they made a stand and defended themselves desperately, but
he soon had them in full flight once more. Taking 600 picked cavalrymen
he pursued them to Ch‘a-ryăng Pass and secured another victory. Only one
of the enemy fought well. This man fought aways in front of Gen. Yi. The
latter feigned flight to draw him on and then suddenly turning attacked
his pursuer and laid him low with an arrow from his unerring bow. The
women who followed the camp of the invading army came out and taunted
the men saying “You have overcome everyone but these Koryŭ people; them
you cannot conquer. You had better retreat and make for home.” The enemy
called a truce and told Gen. Yi that they had come not to attack Koryŭ
but the “Red Heads.” This was a mere ruse to save time. Gen. Yi knew
this and drawing an arrow to the head shot one of the leaders of the
enemy through the body. At last he gave orders to his archers to shoot
the horses from under the enemy. This decided the battle and the
Nap-t‘al-chul sued for peace. In recognition of these services the king
appointed him general of all the forces in the north. The general then
proceeded to annihilate all the colonies and settlements of the
obnoxious Nap-t‘ap-chul throughout the entire north, and having placed
them where they belonged, showed them that their only hope was in making
a lasting treaty with Koryŭ. This they were quite willing to do.
As the king came slowly north toward the capital the officials urged
that Song-do was too small for the capital and too near the sea to be
well protected from the Japanese corsairs. They therefore urged him to
remain for a time at Ch‘ŭng-ju, and he gave consent.
And now, strange to relate, Quelpart, at the instigation and under the
leadership of Ho-dok-ko Pul-wha, who had been stationed there three
years before to take charge of the horse-breeding industry, revolted
from the sway of Koryŭ and became at least nominally a part of the Yuan
empire.
In order to reward the soldiers who had done such good work in the north
the king levied a special tax on the people which they gave with such
poor grace that they called it the “tax without reason.”
In 1362 the emperor of China, led to it by the empress, whose seditious
relatives had forfeited their lives in Koryŭ, proclaimed one Hye, called
Prince Tok-heung, a relative of the king, as king in his place. But
Koryŭ well knew that the old time power of the Mongols was gone and so
prepared to resist the order.
Early in 1363 the king at last re-entered his deserted capital. A strong
force was sent north to guard against the pretender and an envoy was
sent to Peking to ask why there were two kings for Koryŭ. The emperor
replied that the newly appointed one was the right one and that he must
be received in Koryŭ. To this the envoy replied “Though you kill me and
smear my blood upon my clothes I will not accompany the pretender back
to Koryŭ.” The emperor praised the envoy’s bravery and did not insist
upon the demand.
A Koryŭ official named Kim Yong-an, whose evil deeds we have already
related, now desired to kill the king and bring in the pretender. A
eunuch, An To-jok, knew of the plot and on the appointed night
personated the king and was killed by the assassin’s hand. The plotter
was forthwith seized, drawn and quartered and his limbs were sent
throughout the land as a warning to other malcontents. The emperor was
urged to send the pretender as a prisoner to Koryŭ but of course he
refused. Not only so, but he also ordered the king to send the royal
seals to Peking. The king refused and began preparations for defense
against a possible invasion.
He did not have to wait long, for with the opening of the year 1364 a
Mongol army 10,000 strong crossed the Yalu and besieged Eui-ju. In the
fight at that point the Koryŭ forces were completely routed, though not
till after great valor had been shown by Gen. An U-gyŭng against
overwhelming odds. The Koryŭ forces retreated in disorder to An-ju.
Panic prevailed among all the people of that section for they thought
the horrors of the former Mongol invasion were about to be repeated.
The king sent Gen. Ch‘oe Yŭng with a considerable force to An-ju where
he made all his generals swear to stand by the colors to the last. He
executed a number of fugitives as an example to the rest and soon
succeeded in restoring some semblance of order in the camp. Gen. Yi
T‘ă-jo was ordered with 1,000 soldiers from the northeast province to
An-ju. Also generals Yi Sun, U Che, and Pak Ch‘un were ordered to the
same point, and the army thus consolidated assumed large proportions,
but the men were miserably dressed and fed, and the death rate was high.
Desertions were of frequent occurence.
Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo’s influence in the northeast is proved by the commotion
that followed when he left. The remnant of the Yŭ-jin tribe, led by Sam
Seun and Sam Ka seized the whole of this northeast and the people were
longing for the return of Gen. Yi. These two Sams were cousins of Gen.
Yi and they had fled beyond the northern border and joined the wild
Yŭ-jin folk.
The combination of the generals gave great confidence to the troops and
when the battle was joined at Chöng-ju the Mongol forces were badly
defeated. A Mongol general’s body was taken and sent all about that
section to encourage the people and make them believe their troubles
were near an end. Gen. Yi blamed the other generals for not following up
their advantage and they became angry and said “If you are so brave, you
had better try it yourself.” So the very next day he led the army out
and surrounded the Mongol forces at Su-ju near the sea, where another
glorious victory was won. That night the remnant of the Mongols fled
back to the Yalu. Gen. Yi gave chase and it is said that only seventeen
of the Mongol army got back in safety across that Rubicon of Korea. This
done, Gen. Yi returned to his northeast province and drove back to their
haunts the wild tribe who had taken advantage of his absence.
Gen. Yi T’ă-jo was steadily rising in favor although like Wang-gön he
wisely stayed as far as possible from his royal master. The king now
conferred upon him the title of Mil-jik-sa which means “The Messenger
who Restores Confidence and Firmness.”
The Japanese had not ceased their incursions. Only a year had passed
since 200 boat loads had ravaged the southern coast and now a like
number swept the island of Kal-do in the south, so that from many a
district no revenue rice was forthcoming. It is to be feared that this
was the principal cause of uneasiness in Song-do—the loss of revenue.
Troops were sent and a fleet of eighty war boats to guard the coast and
to convoy the revenue junks, but these unexpectedly fell in with a
Japanese fleet and were all lost. This disaster caused a panic among the
people of Kang-wha and Kyo-dong Island. The governor of Chŭl-la Province
came northward with troops guarding the revenue but he too met Japanese
and lost all the rice and half his men.
This same year 1364 a Mongol official told the emperor that the king of
Koryŭ ought to be allowed to retain his position; and the emperor
listened to him. The renegade Ch‘oe Yu was sent back to Koryŭ where he
was imprisoned and executed. The Koryŭ envoy Yi Kong-su also returned
from Peking. A very neat story is told of him. As he was pursuing his
way across a wide plain which seemed to have no inhabitants he was
obliged to feed his animals with the standing grain. When he was
preparing to resume his way he took a bolt of linen and wrote upon it
“The price of grain,” and left it among the standing barley. His
attendants said, “But the owner of the grain will never get it. Someone
will steal it.” The envoy replied, “That is not my affair. I will have
done my duty.” The king wished the emperor to send the would-be king to
Koryŭ but to this consent was not given.
The Japanese crept nearer and nearer to Song-do with every new
expedition. They went into the temple to the dead and carried away a
picture of the king. It was with great difficulty that they were
dislodged and driven away.
In 1365 when the queen was confined the king ordered the monks to
worship on every mountain top and at every monastery to ensure a safe
delivery, but all to no avail. She died in giving birth to the child and
the king was inconsolable. Treasure was poured out like water to make
the funeral the most imposing that had ever been seen in Koryŭ. For
three years following the king ate no meat.
It was in this year that the king had that singular dream which led to
such disastrous results. He dreamed that someone attempted to stab him,
but a monk sprang forward and by intervening saved his life. The face of
this monk remained stamped on his memory. Soon after this he met a monk,
Sin-don, whose face was the same as that of the monk who had saved his
life in the dream. He was the son of a slave in Ok-ch‘ŭn Monastery and
he was looked down upon and despised by the other Monks. The king took
this Sin-don to himself, raised him to high position and lavished upon
him wealth and honors. As a fact this Sin-don was a most unprincipled,
licentious and crafty man, but always when in the presence of the king
he assumed the sedate demeanor of the philosopher and for many a year
completely hoodwinked his royal master. The other officials expostulated
in vain. In vain did they urge that this monk was a beast in human
shape. The king considered him well-nigh inspired. He believed that it
was jealousy that prompted their antagonism and rather enjoyed getting
an outsider in and showing them that office and honors did not always go
by inheritance. This new favorite soon began to urge the banishment of
this or that official and the king always complied. On this account the
feeling against him rose to such a pitch that the king was obliged to
send him away for a time lest he should be killed. He remained in this
retreat until the king had put to death some of his worst enemies. At
last the king sent and recalled him; but the crafty man answered “I
cannot go back. It is not right that I should hold office.” When the
king reiterated his pressing invitation the monk replied “I am afraid
that you will listen to my enemies.” To this the king made answer “I
swear by the sun, the moon, the stars, heaven and earth that I will
listen to no one but you.” So the wily man came back and from that day
completely dominated the king. He exaggerated the faults of his enemies
and so gradually supplanted them with his creatures. It is claimed of
him that he built a dark vaultlike room where he indulged in almost
incredible excesses. He gave out that he could cure barrenness, and by
his evil practices brought down upon himself the maledictions of the
whole people. The king alone would believe no ill of him. He said he was
the greatest prodigy in the world.
At this time the Mongol empire was on the verge of its fall and Koryŭ
envoys found it impossible to force their way through to Peking and so
were compelled to desist. It is a noteworthy fact that though Koryŭ
hated the Mongols she nevertheless held fast to them till the very last
moment.
At this time it happened that the king was without an heir and both he
and the court were anxious about the succession.
The records say that he was so anxious to have a son that he committed
an act almost if not quite unparalleled in the history of any land,
civilized or savage. Having become prematurely old by his terrible
excesses, he introduced a number of young men into the palace and gave
them the _entre_ into the queen’s apartments, hoping thereby that his
hopes might be realised. In this he was disappointed. One day while
passing an hour in the apartments of his favorite, Sin-don, he noticed
there a new-born babe, the son of one of Sin-don’s concubines. He seemed
pleased with the child and Sin-don asked him to adopt it as his own. The
king laughed but did not seem averse to the proposition. Returning to
the palace he summoned the officials and told them that for some time he
had been frequenting the apartments of Sin-don and that he had gotten a
son by one of the women there. He knew well enough that if he proposed
to adopt Sin-don’s son the opposition would be overwhelming, so he took
this means of carrying out the plan. Of course it is impossible to
verify the truth of this statement. It may have been a fabrication of
the historians of the following dynasty in order to justify the founder
of the new dynasty in overthrowing Koryŭ. The annals of the Ming dynasty
say that it was the king’s son and not Sin-don’s.
In 1366 the opposition to the favorite increased in intensity and the
king was almost buried beneath petitions for his banishment or death.
These the king answered by banishing or killing the senders and by this
means the open opposition was put an end to. The wily monk knew that he
needed more than the king’s favor in order to maintain his position of
honor, and so he began to take away the fields and other property of
high officials and distribute them among the people in order to curry
favor with them. This brought from the officials a new and fiercer
protest and they told the king that these acts would make his reign a
subject of ridicule to future generations. While this did not move the
king to active steps against Sin-don it caused a coolness to spring up
between them. The favorite saw that he had been going too far and he
tried to smooth the matter over by returning the property that had been
sequestered. At the same time he secured the liberation of many slaves.
Here, too, he was [...]
All this time the Japanese were busy at the work of pillage and
destruction. They took possession of an island near Kang-wha with the
intention of fortifying it and making of it a permanent rendezvous. They
landed wherever they pleased and committed the most horrible excesses
with impunity. The Koryŭ troops were in bad condition. They had no
uniforms and their arms were of the poorest kind and mostly out of
order. They dared not attack the Japanese even when there was good hope
of success. The generals showed the king the ways and means of holding
the freebooters in check but he would not follow their advice, probably
on account of the expense. He paid dearly for his economy in the end.
The mother of the king could not be brought to treat Sin-don with
respect. When the king expostulated with her and told her that the
favorite was the pillar of the state she declared that he was a low-born
adventurer and that she would not treat him as her equal. From that time
she incurred the deadly enmity of the favorite who used every means in
his power to influence the king against her. He became suspicious of
everyone who held any high position and caused many of the highest
officials to be put to death. He was commonly called “The Tiger.” The
depth of the king’s infatuation was shown when in this same year he went
to a monastery to give thanks to Buddha for the cessation of famine,
which he ascribed to his having taken Sin-don as counsellor. It is also
shown in the impunity with which Sin-don took the king to task in public
for certain things that displeased him. The favorite was playing with
fire. The people sent to the king repeatedly asking if the rumors of the
favorite’s drunkenness and debaucheries were correct. But the king’s
eyes had not yet been opened to the true state of affairs and these
petitioners were severely punished.