Sin-don’s pride.... Mongol Emperor’s plan of escape to Koryŭ.... Mongol
Empire falls.... Japanese envoy snubbed.... an imperial letter from
the Ming court.... ill treatment of Japanese envoy bears fruit....
more trouble in Quelpart.... census and revenue.... Gen. Yi
promoted.... Koryŭ adopts Ming dress and coiffure.... Gen. Yi makes
a campaign across the Yalu.... the Japanese come north of the
capital.... Sin-don is overthrown.... popular belief regarding
him.... trouble from three sources at the same time.... a Mongol
messenger.... the Japanese burn Han-yang.... a new favorite.... a
laughing-stock.... Chöng Mong-ju an envoy to Nanking.... plans for a
navy.... useless army.... Ming Emperor demands horses.... Quelpart
rebels defeated.... king assassinated.... Ming Emperor refuses to
ratify the succession.... Mongols favored at the Koryŭ court.... a
supernatural proof.... Japanese repulsed.... Japanese deny their
responsibility for the action of corsairs.
The year 1367 saw no diminution of the symptoms that proclaimed the
deep-seated disease that was eating at the vitals of Koryŭ. Sin-don even
dared to flout the emperor by scornfully casting aside an imperial
missive containing a notification of his elevation to an honorary
position. The king continued to abase himself by performing menial
duties in Buddhistic ceremonies at his favorite monastery. Sin-don added
to his other claims the power of geomancy and said the king must move
the capital to P‘yŭng-yang. He was sent to look over the site with a
view to a removal thither, but a storm of hail frightened him out of the
project. Returning to Song-do he refused to see the king for four days,
urging as his excuse the fatigue of the journey. His encroachments
continued to such a point that at last he took no care to appear before
the king in the proper court dress but came in the ordinary dress of the
Koryŭ gentleman, and he ordered the historians not to mention the fact
in the annals.
The Mongol horse-breeders still ruffled it in high style on the island
of Quelpart where they even saw fit to drive out the prefect sent by the
king. For this reason an expedition was fitted out against them and they
were soon brought to terms. They however appealed to the emperor. As it
happened the Mongol emperor was at this time in desperate straits and
foresaw the impossibility of long holding Peking against the Ming
forces. He therefore formed the plan of escaping to the island of
Quelpart and there finding asylum. For this purpose he sent large store
of treasure and of other necessaries to this place. At the same time he
sent an envoy to the court at Song-do relinquishing all claim to the
island. In this way he apparently hoped to gain the good will of Koryŭ,
of which he feared he would soon stand in need. The king, not knowing
the emperor’s design, feared that this was a device by which to raise
trouble and he hastened to send an envoy declaring that the expeditions
to Quelpart were not in reference to the Mongols there but in order to
dislodge a band of Japanese freebooters. The former prefects had always
treated the people of Quelpart harshly and had exacted large sums from
them on any and every pretext; but the prefect now sent was determined
to show the people a different kind of rule. He even carried jars of
water from the mainland rather than drink the water of Quelpart. So at
least the records affirm. Naturally the people idolized him.
The year 1368 opened, the year which beheld the demolition of the Mongol
empire. It had risen less than a century before and had increased with
marvelous rapidity until it threatened the whole eastern hemisphere. Its
decadence had been as rapid and as terrible as its rise. The Mongols
were peculiarly unfit to resist the seductions of the more refined
civilizations which they encountered. The Ming forces drove the Mongol
court from Peking and the dethroned emperor betook himself northward
into the desert to the town of Sa-mak.
This year also witnessed the arrival of a friendly embassy from Japan
bearing gifts to the king. Here was Koryŭ’s great opportunity to secure
the coöperation of the Japanese government in the work of putting down
the pirates who were harrying the shores of the peninsula. Proper
treatment of this envoy and a little diplomacy would have saved Koryŭ
untold suffering, but the low-born but all-powerful favorite, Sin-don,
took advantage of the occasion to make an exhibition of his own
importance and he snubbed the envoy so effectually that the latter
immediately returned to Japan. The foolish favorite went so far as to
withhold proper food from him and his suite, and addressed them in low
forms of speech. The same year, at his instigation, the whole system of
national examinations was done away with.
[Illustration: _A FORM OF SEPULTURE._]
Early in 1369 the first envoy, Sŭl Sa, from the Ming court arrived in
Song-do. He was the bearer of an imperial letter which read as follows:-
“After the Sung dynasty lost its power, a hundred years passed by
without its recovering from the blow, but heaven hated the drunkenness
and licentiousness of the Mongols and now after eighteen years of war
the fruition of our labors has been reached. At first we entered the
Mongol army and there beheld the evils of the Mongol reign. Then with
heaven’s help we went to the west, to Han-ju and overcame its king Chin
U-ryang. Then we raised the standard of revolt against the Mongols. In
the east we overcame the rebel Chang Sa-sŭng and in the south the
Min-wŏl kingdom. In the north the Ho-in fell before us and now all the
people of China call us emperor. The name of our dynasty is Ming and the
name of this auspicious year is Hong-mu. We call upon you now as in duty
bound to render allegiance to us. In times past you were very intimate
with us for it was your desire to better the condition of your people
thereby.”
Such was the importance of this embassy that the king went out in person
to meet it. Splendid gifts were offered which, however, the envoy
declined.
In accordance with the summons contained in this letter the king
formally put away the Mongol calendar and assumed that of the Mings
instead. An envoy was immediately sent to the Ming court to offer
congratulations and perform the duties of a vassal. The emperor
responded graciously by sending back to Koryŭ all citizens of that
kingdom who had been held in semi-durance by the Mongols.
The criminal neglect of opportunity in driving away the friendly
Japanese envoy now began to bear its bitter fruit. Many Japanese had
from time to time settled peacefully in southern Koryŭ and the king had
given them a place to live at Nam-hă in Kyŭng-sang Province. They now
broke their oath of fealty to the government, rose in open revolt and
began ravaging the country right and left.
As the emperor of the Mongols had fled away north and his scheme for
taking refuge in Quelpart had come to naught we would suppose the Mongol
horse-breeders in that island would act with considerable
circumspection; but on the other hand they kept up a continual
disturbance, revolting and surrendering again in quick succession much
to the annoyance of the central government.
In the latter part of the year 1369 the government again took a census
of the arable land of the peninsula in order to make a re-estimate of
the revenue to be received. This indicates that there had been a certain
degree of prosperity in spite of all untoward circumstances and that the
margin of cultivation had moved at least a little way up the hill-sides,
and that waste land had been reclaimed. It is only by inferences from
chance statements like this that we get an occasional imperfect glimpse
of the condition of the common people. Oriental histories have not been
written with reference to the common people.
The king had now handed over to Sin-don the whole care of public
business and he was virtually the ruler of the land. Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo had
shown his wisdom in staying as far as possible from the capital and in
not crossing the path of the dangerous favorite. He was now appointed
general-in-chief of all the north-eastern territory and at the same time
Gen. Yi Im-in was appointed to a similar position in the north-west.
There was some fear lest fugitive Mongols might cross the border and
seek refuge in Koryŭ territory. The chief business of the army there was
to guard all the approaches and see to it that such fugitives were
strictly excluded. In the following year, 1370, Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo even
crossed the Yalu, probably in the vicinity of the present Sam-su, into
what was then Yŭ-jin territory, and took 2000 bullocks and 100 horses,
but gave them all to the people to be used in cultivating the fields.
Now that the Ming dynasty was firmly established the emperor turned his
attention to Korea. He began by investing the king anew with the
insignia of royalty and presenting him with a complete outfit of clothes
of the style of the Ming dynasty. He also gave musical instruments and
the Ming calendar. The important law was promulgated that after a man
had passed the civil examinations in Koryŭ he should go to Nanking and
there undergo further examination. The king received all the emperor’s
gifts and commands with complacency and soon the Ming dress was adopted
throughout by the official class and more gradually by the common
people. It is the style of dress in vogue in Korea today, whereas the
Chinese themselves adopted later the dress of their Manchu conquerors.
In this respect the Koreans today are really more Chinese than the
Chinese themselves.
With the opening of 1371 Gen. Yi led an army across the Yalu and
attacked Ol-ja Fortress. The whole territory between the Yalu and the
Great Wall was at this time held by the Yŭ-jin people or by offshoots of
the Mongol power. The Ming emperor had as yet made no attempt to take it
and therefore this expedition of Koryŭ’s was not looked upon as an act
of bad faith by China. Just before the attack on Ol-ja began, there came
over to the Koryŭ forces a general who, formerly a Koryŭ citizen, had
long been in the Mongol service. His name was Yi In-bok. Gen. Yi sent
him to Song-do where the king elevated him to a high position. A bridge
had been thrown across the Yalu and the army had crossed in safety, but
a tremendous thunder storm threw the army into confusion, for they
feared it was a warning voice from a deity who was angered by this
invasion of trans-Yalu territory. With great presence of mind one of the
leaders shouted that it was a good sign for it meant that the heavenly
dragon was shaking things up a bit as a presage of their victory. Their
fears were thus allayed and the attack upon the fortress was successful.
Gen. Yi then led his forces toward the Liao Fortress but cautiously left
all the camp baggage three days in the rear and advanced, with seven
days rations in hand. The advance guard of 3000 reached the fortress and
began the assault before the main body came up. When the garrison saw
the full army approach they were in despair but their commander was
determined to make a fight. As he stood on the wall and in person
refused Gen. Yi’s terms it is said that the latter drew his bow and let
fly an arrow which sped so true that it struck off the commander’s
helmet, whereupon Gen. Yi shouted, “If you do not surrender I will hit
your face next time.” The commander thereupon surrendered. So Gen. Yi
took the place and having dismantled it and burned all the supplies,
started on the return march. Provisions ran low, and it was found
necessary to kill the beasts of burden. They were in some danger from
the detachments of the enemy who hung upon their rear but they were kept
at a respectful distance by an ingenious strategem of Gen. Yi’s, for
wherever he made a camp he compelled the soldiers to make elaborate
preparations even to the extent of erecting separate cattle sheds and
water closets. The enemy finding these in the deserted camps deemed that
the army must be in fine condition and so dared not attack them. Thus
the whole army got safely back to An-ju.
As the Japanese pirates, emboldened by the impunity with which they
could ravage Korea, now came even north of the capital and attacked
Hă-ju the capital of Whang-hă Province, and also burned forty Koryŭ
boats, Gen. Yi was detailed to go and drive them away, which he speedily
did.
The royal favorite was now nearing the catastrophe toward which his
criminally corrupt course inevitably led. He was well known to all but
the king whom he had infatuated. But now he began to see that the end
was not far off. He knew that soon the king too would discover his
knavery. For this cause he determined to use the little power he had
left in an attempt to overthrow the government. What the plan was we are
not told but it was nipped in the bud, for the king discovered it and
arrested some of his accomplices and by means of torture learned the
whole truth about the man whom he had before considered too good for
this world. The revulsion of feeling was complete. He first banished
Sin-don to Su-wŭn and then at the urgent advice of the whole court sent
an executioner to make way with him. The messenger of death bore a
letter with him in which the king said, “I promised never to move
against you but I never anticipated such actions as those of which you
have been guilty. You have (1) rebelled, (2) you have numerous children,
though a monk and unmarried, (3) you have built yourself a palace in my
capital. These things I did not agree to.” So Sin-don and his two sons
perished.
It is said of Sin-don that he was mortally afraid of hunting-dogs and
that in his feasts he insisted upon having the flesh of black fowls and
white horses to eat. For these reasons the people said that he was not a
man but a fox in disguise; for Korean lore affirms that if any animal
drinks of water that has lain for twenty years in a human skull it will
have the power to assume at will any form of man or beast. But the
peculiar condition is added that if a hunting-dog looks such a man in
the face he will be compelled to resume his original shape.
With the opening of 1372 troubles multiplied. Nap T‘ap-chul, a Mongol
chieftain at large, together with Ko-gan, led a mixed army of Mongol and
Yŭ-jin adventurers across the Yalu and began to harry the northern
border. Gen. Chi Yun was sent to put down the presumptuous robbers. At
the same time the Quelpart horse-breeders again revolted and when the
king, at the command of the emperor, sent a man to bring horses as
tribute to China the insurrectionists put him to death. But the common
people of Quelpart formed a sort of militia and put down the
insurrection themselves. The Japanese also made trouble, for they now
began again to ravage the eastern coast, and struck as high north as
An-byŭn, and Ham-ju, now Ham-heung. They also carried on operations at
Nam-han near Seoul, but in both instances were driven off.
It is said that at this time the king was given over to sodomy and that
he had a “school” of boys at the palace to cater to his unnatural
passions. The people were deeply indignant and talk ran very high, but
the person of the king was sacred, and his acts were not to be accounted
for; so he went his evil way unchecked, each step bringing him nearer
the overthrow of the dynasty which was now not far away.
Late in the year the king sent a present of fifty horses to the Ming
emperor.
No sooner had the spring of 1373 opened than the remnant of the Mongols
in the north sent to the king and said “We are about to raise a mighty
force to overthrow the Ming empire, and you must cooperate with us in
this work.” The messenger who brought this unwelcome summons was
promptly clapped into prison, but later at the advice of the courtiers
he was liberated and sent back home.
It would be well-nigh impossible to describe each successive expedition
of the Japanese to the shores of Koryŭ, but at this time one of unusual
importance occurred. The marauders ascended the Han River in their small
boats and made a swift attack on Han-yang the site of the present
capital of Korea. Before leaving they burned it to the ground. The
slaughter was terrific and the whole country and especially the capital
was thrown into a state of unusual solicitude. The Japanese, loaded down
with booty, made their way to the island of Kyo-dong just outside the
island of Kang-wha, and proceeded to kill and plunder there.
The boy whom the king had called his son but who was in reality an
illegitimate son of Sin-don, was named Mo-ri-no, but now as he had
gained his majority he was given the name of U and the rank of
Kang-neung-gun, or “Prince who is near to the king.” As Sin-don was dead
the king made Kim Heung-gyŭng his favorite and pander. Gen. Kŭl Săng was
put in charge of the defensive operations against the Japanese but as he
failed to cashier one of his lieutenants who had suffered defeat at the
hands of the Japanese the testy king took off his unoffending head. Gen.
Ch‘oe Yŭng was then put in charge and ordered to fit out a fleet to
oppose the marauders. He was at the same time made criminal judge, but
he committed so many ludicrous mistakes and made such a travesty of
justice that he became a general laughing stock.
As the Ming capital was at Nanking the sending of envoys was a difficult
matter, for they were obliged to go by boat, and in those days, and with
the craft at their command, anything but coastwise sailing was
exceedingly dangerous. So when the Koryŭ envoy Chöng Mong-ju, one of the
few great men of the Koryŭ dynasty, arrived at the emperor’s court, the
latter ordered that thereafter envoys should come but once in three
years. In reply to this the king said that if desired the envoy could be
sent overland; but this the emperor forbade because of the danger from
the remnants of the Mongol power.
The eventful year 1374 now came in. Gen. Yi Hyŭn told the king that
without a navy Koryŭ would never be able to cope with Japanese pirates.
He showed the king a plan for a navy which he had drawn up. His majesty
was pleased with it and ordered it carried out, but the general affirmed
that a navy never could be made out of landsmen and that a certain
number of islanders should be selected and taught naval tactics for five
years. In order to do this he urged that a large part of the useless
army be disbanded. To all of this the royal assent was given. The
quality of the army may be judged from the action of the troops sent
south to Kyŭng-sang Province to oppose a band of Japanese. They ravaged
and looted as badly as the Japanese themselves. And when at last the two
forces did meet the Koryŭ troops were routed with a loss of 5,000 men.
Meanwhile the Japanese were working their will in Whang-hă Province,
north and west of the capital, and as to the details of it even the
annals give up in despair and say the details were so harrowing that it
was impossible to describe them.
The emperor of China was determined to obtain 2,000 of the celebrated
horses bred on the island of Quelpart and after repeated demands the
king sent to that island to procure them. The Mongol horse-breeders
still had the business in hand and were led by four men who said, “We
are Mongols, why should we furnish the Ming emperor with horses?” So
they gave only 300 animals. The emperor insisted upon having the full
2,000 and the king reluctantly proceeded to extremities. A fleet of 300
boats was fitted out and 25,000 men were carried across the straits. On
the way a gale of wind was encountered and many of the boats were
swamped, but the following morning the survivors, still a large number,
arrived at Myŭng-wŭl, or “Bright Moon,” Harbor where they found 3,000
men drawn up to oppose their landing. When the battle was joined the
enemy was defeated and chased thirty _li_ but they again rallied in the
southern part of the island at Ho-do where they made a stand. There they
were surrounded and compelled to surrender. The leader, T‘ap-chi was cut
in two at the waist and many others committed suicide. Several hundreds
others who refused to surrender were cut down. To the credit of the
officers who led the expedition be it said that wherever they went the
people were protected and lawless acts were strictly forbidden.
The king had now reached the moment of his fate. The blood of many
innocent men was on his hands and he was destined to a violent death
himself. He was stabbed by one of his most trusted eunuchs while in a
drunken sleep. The king’s mother was the first to discover the crime and
with great presence of mind she concealed the fact and hastily summoning
two of the courtiers consulted with them as to the best means of
discovering the murderer. As it happened the eunuch was detected by the
blood with which his clothes were stained. Put to the torture he
confessed the crime and indicated his accomplice. The cause of his act
was as follows. One of the king’s concubines was with child. When the
eunuch informed the king the latter was very glad and asked who the
father might be. The eunuch replied that one Hong Mun, one of the king’s
favorites, was the father. The king said that he would bring about the
death of this Hong so that no one should ever know that the child was
not a genuine prince. The eunuch knew that this meant his own death too,
for he also was privy to the fact. So he hastened to Hung Mun and they
together matured the plan for the assassination.
U, the supposed son of the king, now ascended the throne. His posthumous
title is Sin-u. An envoy was sent to Nanking to announce the fact, but
the emperor refused to ratify his accession to the throne. The reason
may have been because he was not satisfied as to the manner of the late
king’s demise, or it may be that someone had intimated to him that the
successor was of doubtful legitimacy; and now to add to the difficulties
of the situation the Ming envoy on his way home with 200 tribute horses
was waylaid by Korean renegades who stole the horses and escaped to the
far north. When news of this reached Nanking the Korean envoy there
hastened to make good his escape.
A conference was now held at the Koryŭ capital and as the breach with
the Ming power seemed beyond remedy it was decided to make advances to
the Mongols who still lingered in the north; but at the earnest desire
of Chöng Mong-ju this decision was reversed and an envoy was sent to
Nanking to explain matters as best he could. The eunuch and his
accomplice who had killed the king were now executed and notice of the
fact was sent to the Chinese court.
There was great dissatisfaction among the Koryŭ officials for they all
knew that the king was a mere usurper and it was again suggested that
approaches be made to the Mongols. About this time also a Mongol envoy
came demanding to know whose son the present king was. They wanted to
put the king of Mukden on the throne, as he was of course favorable to
the Mongols. A great and acrimonious dispute now arose between the
Mongol and Ming factions in the Koryŭ court. But the Mongol sympathizers
carried the day. This, however, came to nothing for when news came that
the king of Mukden and many Koryŭ renegades were advancing in force on
the Koryŭ frontier to take by force what the officials had decided to
give unasked, there was a great revulsion of feeling and troops were
sent to hold them in check. This was in 1376, and while this was in
progress the Japanese were carrying fire and sword through the south
without let or hindrance.
Pan-ya the real mother of the king came forward and claimed her position
as such, but another of the former king’s concubines, Han, had always
passed as the boy’s mother and she was now loath to give up the
advantages which the position afforded. For this reason she secured the
arrest and imprisonment of Pan-yu. It was decided that she must die and
she was carried to the water’s edge and was about to be thrown in when
she exclaimed, “When I die one of the palace gates will fall as a sign
of my innocence and the truth of my claim.” The story runs that when she
sank beneath the water this came true and all knew, too late, that she
was indeed the mother of the king.
The Japanese now made their appearance again in Ch‘ung-Ch‘ŭng Province
and took the town of Kong-ju. The Korean forces under Gen. Pak In-gye
were there routed but not till their leader had been thrown from his
horse and killed. Then an army under Gen. Ch‘oé Yŭng met them at
Hong-san. The general rushed forward ahead of his men to attack the
marauders and was wounded by an arrow in the mouth but he did not retire
from the fight. The result was a glorious victory for the Koryŭ forces.
The Japanese were almost annihilated.
Some time before this the king had sent an envoy Na Heung-yu to Japan to
ask the interference of the Japanese Government against the pirates, and
the reply was now brought by the hand of a Japanese monk Yang Yu. It
said. “The pirates all live in western Japan in a place called Ku-ju and
they are rebels against us and have been for twenty years. So we are not
at fault because of the harm they have done you. We are about to send an
expedition against them and if we take Ku-ju we swear that we will put
an end to the piracy.” But the pirates in the meantime ravaged Kang-wha
and large portions of Chŭl-la Province.