Samguk Yusa

by Ilyon

  On both sides of this river along the sandy beaches stand rocky crests like wind-screens. This area was called Taewang-p'o, the Great King's Port, where the Paekje Kings used to enjoy banquets with music and dancing.

  Onjo, the founder of Paekje and the third son of King Tongmyong (Koguryo founder) had a powerful physique and noble qualities worthy of a prince. He loved horseback riding and archery. King Taru (Onjo's successor, 28-77) was a generous prince who won a glorious name. King Sabul (otherwise called Saban or Sai, 234) ascended the throne as a boy after the death of King Kusu (214-234) but was soon deposed in favor of King Koi (234-286). Some historians say that King Sabul died before King Koi succeeded him.

  56. King Mu (600-641)

  The thirtieth sovereign of Paekje was King Mu, whose personal name was Chang. His mother was a young widow who lived in a cottage beside a large pond. A dragon fell in love with her, and she conceived and bore a son. The boy grew up strong in physique and majestic in manner, worthy to be the son of a dragon. But he was so poor that he had to dig wild potatoes from the fields to feed his mother and himself, so his neighbors called him Sodong, Potato Boy.

  Sodong heard that Sonhwa, the third daughter of King Chin-p'yong of Silla (579-632) was very beautiful. So he shaved his head and visited Kyongju, the capital of Silla, with a large sack of potatoes slung over his back. He made friends with the children by giving them his sweet potatoes to eat, and at the same time taught them a song which he had composed:

  Princess Sonhwa likes sweet potatoes gray—

  She married the Potato Boy while we looked the other way;

  Every night she comes to meet her swain

  And sleeps in his arms with kisses sweet.

  Soon this song was heard in every quarter of the city and even in the palace. The courtiers who were received in royal audience persuaded the king to send the princess into exile in order to quiet the scandal. The Queen gave her daughter a bushel of pure gold to pay her expenses with and bid her a tearful farewell.

  When she had set out on her lonely journey, the Potato Boy appeared and offered to be her bodyguard and guide. She did not know who he was or where he came from, but in her extremity she was glad of anyone's companionship. And as they traveled through the wild forests she fell in love with him, and at length slept in his arms.

  The lovers traveled happily together for many days, climbing hills and crossing streams, until they arrived in Paekje. Then Sonhwa said, “My husband, here is a sack of shining gold. With it we can make a comfortable home.”

  “What is this?” asked Sodong, laughing.

  “Don't you know gold?” Sonhwa said. “It will make us rich for a hundred years.”

  “Since my childhood,” Sodong told her, “I have buried gold in the holes from which I dug the wild potatoes.”

  Sonhwa was amazed. “If that is so,” she said, “you have a large quantity of the most precious treasure under heaven. If you remember where you buried it, why don't you dig it up and send it to the palace of my father and mother?”

  Sodong agreed. He dug up all the gold nuggets from the hundreds of holes he had made, and piled them mountain high. Then he went to the famous monk Chimyong Popsa at Saja Temple on Mt. Yonghwa and sought his advice on how to transport his treasure to Kyongju.

  “Bring the gold to me,” the monk said. “I will send it on the wings of a spirit by my magic word.”

  When Sonhwa heard this she danced for joy and wrote a letter to her royal parents informing them of her happy marriage to the Potato Boy and of the shipment of gold as a present to them. The mountain of gold was moved into the courtyard of Saja Temple with the letter at sunset, and sure enough, it rose into the air and was transported to the Silla palace that very night.

  When he received this gift and read his daughter's letter King Chinp'yong wondered at the magic power of the Paekje monk and expressed his joy by sending a reply to Princess Sonhwa, with whom he frequently corresponded thereafter. Sodong was so much loved by the people of Paekje for his princely deeds, loving and giving, that in due course he was raised to the throne amidst the acclamations of the whole nation.

  One day as the new King and Queen were returning from a visit to Saja temple, followed by a long train of servants, three images of Maitreya (the Buddha of the future) rose above the surface of a pond. They immediately halted their procession and worshipped the mysterious images, and the Queen said, “My husband, I wish to have a beautiful temple built on this pond, where these three Maitreyas arose to meet us.”

  “Very well, it shall be done,” the King replied. He again sought the help of the monk Chimyong, asking him to fill in the pond and prepare it for a building.

  Obedient to the royal command, the old monk performed the task in one night by moving a distant mountain and dropping it upside down into the pond. Soon a magnificent temple called Miruk-sa had been erected. (“Miruk” is the Korean pronunciation of “Maitreya.”) In the main hall stood the three Maitreya images and in the courtyard was a pagoda built with the assistance of hundreds of architects and sculptors sent by King Chinp'yong. This great edifice, weather-beaten and moss-covered, is still standing. (Ilyon notes that the Samguk Sagi designates this temple Wanghung-sa.)

  (This traditional tale obviously has nothing to do with King Mu, who was probably the son of his predecessor King Pop, who ruled briefly in 599. Indeed, this is the account given by the Samguk Sagi. The tale belongs properly to the reign of Paekje King Tongsong (479-501), who, it is recorded, asked to marry a Silla princess in 493 and had his request granted. Our story is a bit of romantic embroidery on this event. Why it was attributed to King Mu is a mystery, but the details have been worked out with some care, King Chinp'yong was a contemporary of King Mu and Wanghung Temple was built during King Mu's reign. The temple in the story is a much older one.)

  57. Chin Hwon of Later Paekje

  The Samguk Sagi states that Chin Hwon was born in Kaun-hyon, Sangju in 867, His family name was Yi, but he changed it to Chin.

  According to the Yi family chronicle the Queen of King Chinhung (540-576) had a son named Kuryun-kong who was the father of P'a-jinkan Sonp'um, who was the father of Kakkan-Chakjin, who was the father of Ajak'ae (by marriage with Wanggyo-Pari). A jak'ae worked on a farm, but subsequently became a general and occupied Sabulsong (Sangju, North Kyongsang Province). He became a Silla noble with the title of Kakkan. He was twice married, to the Lady Sangwon and Lady Namwon, and had five sons and one daughter—Sangpu-Hwon, General Nung-ae, General Yongkae, General Po-kae and General So-kae, and Lady Taechu-Togum. The first son, Hwon, possessed heroic qualities and strategic talent.

  There is a legend about Chin Hwon's birth. In the northern village of Kwangju there lived a rich man who had a pretty, modest daughter. One day she said to her father, “A handsome and noble young man has entered my bedroom and made love to me the whole night for the past several nights. He did not tell me who he was or where he came from, and I was too ashamed to tell you until now. He is coming again tonight, if I am not mistaken.”

  “Thread a needle,” her father told her, “and pin it to his robe.”

  That night the passionate lover came again. Just before daybreak, as he embraced her for a farewell kiss, she reached behind him and pinned a threaded needle to the back of his robe. When she followed the thread trailing after him, it led her to the garden wall, where she found her needle stuck in the back of a large purple earthworm with a yellow band around its waist, just like the purple robe and golden belt of her lover. Eventually she gave birth to a son who at the age of fifteen called himself Chin Hwon.

  People laughed and said that Chin Hwon was a corruption of “Chirong-i,” which means earthworm, because he was the love-child of an earthworm. (This tale is probably derived from the pronunciation of the man's name, as seen above.)

  When Chin Hwon was an infant his mother carried him on her back while taking food to his father, who was plowing a field. She laid the baby among the bushes and forgot about him for a
while, and as he lay there unnoticed a tigress came and suckled him, and petted him lovingly as if he were her own cub. (Another folktale, this one to explain Chin Hwon's later ferocity.)

  The baby grew up to be a strong man with a tiger's face and a tiger's spirit, and became a Silla general. He was assigned to defend the southwest coast. He was always ready for battle, and slept with his lance beneath his head. Soon he was promoted to adjutant in the Queen's royal guard. (Queen Chinsong, 888-898).

  During her reign the Queen had many lovers and favorites who usurped and misused her authority, amassing fortunes for themselves and oppressing the people. Thousands of farmers left their homes and wandered about the country, and highway robbers struck in broad daylight. The nation was in utter confusion as a result of the Queen's immorality and misrule.

  The tiger-spirited general rose in revolt, and followers rallied to him by the thousands. He occupied the southwestern area (the old Paekje territory) and established his headquarters at Mujinju (modern Kwangju) and assumed the title, “Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Southwest Silla and Founding Prince of Hannam (south of the Han River).” Later he was crowned King of Later Paekje at his new fortress of Wansan (modern Chonju).

  At this time Yang-gil, a fierce captain of war-dogs also rose in revolt against Queen Chinsong at Pukwon, and the Silla prince Kung-ye surrendered to him and became his lieutenant. Chin Hwon praised Yang-gil for his valor and made him a field general.

  Chin Hwon rode in triumph into Wansanju amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the citizens. In order to gain popular support, he made the following speech: “Our noble King Onjo established the Kingdom of Paekje and he and his descendants ruled over the people in peace and happiness generation after generation for more than six hundred years. Unfortunately the T'ang Emperor Kao-tsung, at the request of Silla, dispatched 130,000 troops from across the sea under the command of Su Ting-fang to attack Paekje by sea, and Kim Yu-sin of Silla drove his soldiers into our country after a fierce battle at Hwangsan. Finally the allied forces vanquished our loyal defenders and destroyed Paekje. I have made up my mind to reestablish Paekje and build a new capital in order to avenge our slaughtered patriotic heroes and vindicate our national honor.” In this way he assumed the title of King of Later Paekje and organized a government (in 902).

  But then a sudden coup in Ch'orwon-gyong deposed Kung-ye and brought Wang Kon to power. Chin Hwon sent a congratulatory message to him, with peacock fans and bamboo arrows made on Mt. Chiri as gifts. (Wang Kon had taken power in the north, so that the Korean peninsula was now again divided in roughly the same way it had been during the Three Kingdoms period.)

  Chin Hwon pretended to maintain friendly relations with Wang Kon, sending him a present of a blue-speckled white horse, but he looked upon him with jealous eyes. In October of the third year after his coronation he led 3,000 horsemen in battle array to Chomul-song (near modern Andong). Accepting this challenge, Wang Kon led a strong force to meet the attack. However, finding it impossible to inflict a final defeat on Chin Hwon's swiftly moving cavalry, he offered to make peace and sent his cousin Wang Sin as a hostage. Chin Hwon accepted the truce and sent his son-in-law Chin Ho in exchange.

  In December Chin Hwon took twenty-odd towns to the west of Silla, and sent an envoy to the court of Later T'ang (one of the evanescent states that appeared at the breakup of the T'ang dynasty), calling himself “vassal to the Celestial Emperor.” The Emperor was highly pleased, and conferred upon Chin Hwon the title, “Inspector of State and Supreme Commanding General of the Paekje Army,” in addition to the reconfirmation of his former office “General Governor, Magistrate of Chonju, Four Direction Supreme Military Commander in the Eastern Seas and King of Paekje” with 2,500 households as his fief. (The said Emperor thus put in a claim to be the legitimate successor of the T'ang emperors and maintained the legal fiction that China was the real ruler of Korea, while Chin Hwon for his part obtained an ally and to some extent legitimized his rule.)

  In the next year Chin Ho suddenly died. Suspecting that he had been murdered, Chin Hwon imprisoned Wang Sin and demanded that Wang Kon return his blue-speckled white horse. This Wang Kon laughingly did.

  Chin Hwon next took Kunp'um-song (now Sanyang-hyon), burning and plundering the city (probably in 925 or 926). Taken by surprise, the King of Silla asked Wang Kon for help, but before the troops could arrive Chin Hwon took Koul-pu (now Ulju) and dashed into Sirim (i.e. Kerim, in the Western outskirts of Kyongju) in a shock attack while the king and Queen of Silla were enjoying a picnic at the Pavilion of the Stone Abalone. Chin Hwon forced the King to fall on his own sword, violated the Queen and raised to the throne a distant cousin of the King named Kim Pu. He took the King's younger brother Hyoryom and the Prime Minister Yong-kyong prisoner and evacuated Kyongju, taking with him precious jewels, lovely women and the best artisans.

  Wang Kon led five thousand cavalrymen to Kongsan (near Taegu) to fight Chin Hwon, but in a fierce battle his generals Kim Nak and Sin Sung-kyom were killed and the army routed. Wang Kon himself narrowly escaped, leaving the tiger-spirited Chin Hwon to perpetrate outrages as he pleased.

  Chin Hwon plundered Taemok-song (now Yakmok), Kyongsan-pu (now Songju), and Kangju (now Chinju), and attacked Pugok-song, where Hong Sul, the magistrate of Uisong-pu, died in the fighting.

  In the forty-second year after his uprising Chin Hwon took up a position at Soksan in order to attack Koch'ang-gun (now Andong) and Wang Kon faced him at Pyongsan, only about a hundred paces away. After a fierce battle Chin Hwon's forces were driven off, but the next day they counterattacked and occupied Sun-song, whose magistrate Won Pong fled in the night to save his life. In a great rage Wang Kon lowered the status of this city, calling it Haji-hyon (now P'ung-san-hyon).

  By this time the King and court of Silla, realizing the national decadence and the impossibility of restoring the kingdom's former greatness, relied increasingly on Wang Kon's new Koryo kingdom for protection, especially against Chin Hwon. The latter was planning a fresh raid on Kyongju to repeat his former outrages. Fearing that Wang Kon might forestall him, he sent the following letter.

  “A few days ago Prime Minister Kim Ung-nyom called you to the King's palace in Kyongju to hold a secret military conference. This is like a large turtle responding to the call of a small turtle, or two partridges pecking at the wings of a hawk. (Two proverbial expressions. The small, female turtle calls the large male secretly—implying a conspiracy. The two partridges are Silla and Koryo attacking the hawk, Later Paekje.) Your ill-advised act will only cause misery to the people and make the fair land a ruin.

  “In order to forestall your action I purged the filthy court of pomp and luxury and pleasure in idleness by holding the whip of Tsu-sheng and wielding the battle-axe of Han Ch'in-hu.(Two Chinese historical precedents for Chin Hwon's first raid on Kyongju are cited here.) I punished the collaborating officials, civil and military, and instructed the people in the six departments to uphold my righteousness and follow my path.

  “Nonetheless the flattering courtiers fled from my sight and the King died, so I chose the maternal cousin of King Kyongmyong and the maternal grandson of King Hongang (King Kyongsun) and lifted him to the throne in order to rebuild the nation on its ruins and to preserve the royal lineage of the King who is no more.

  “But you did not heed my advice. You lent your ears to groundless rumors and you sought the throne for yourself, invading Silla from the four directions. But your efforts have come to naught. Even you were not brave enough to look straight at the head of my steed, nor were you strong enough to pull a calf from my cow.

  “Early last winter your field marshal Saeksang was bound hand and foot at the battle of Songsan, and within the same month your Left General Kim Nak exposed his skull on the field in front of Miri Temple and your soldiers were killed and taken prisoner in countless numbers. The stronger having thus been clearly differentiated from the weaker, it is clear as firelight who will be victor and who vanquished. It will be my ple
asure to hang my bow from the tower of Pyongyang and water my horses in the Pai River. (These places were both in Wang Kon's kingdom.)

  “On the seventh of last month Pan Shang-shu, the envoy from Wu-Yueh (another successor-state of the T'ang dynasty) presented to me a message from the Emperor which reads thus: 'You have long maintained peace and amity with Koryo, but recently because of the death of your son-in-law who was held hostage you have broken the ties of good neighborliness and invaded each other's borders with armed clashes incessantly. I have therefore sent my ambassador to your headquarters in the south and to Koryo in the north to convey to you my personal wishes. You are to live henceforth in peace and amity, obeying my command. Thus you will show respect for the Emperor and honor the power of the high dragon throne in the celestial palace.'

  “In vain you wish to beat me when you are already beaten. You come forward to fight me but you are always hurled back. I send you herewith a copy of the Emperor's letter and urge you to heed his advice. It is ridiculous to imagine that a hare and a dog will fight until both fall dead from exhaustion, or that a clam and a stork can hold each other's beak and heart in a cold embrace until both fall prey to a fisherman. Do not again thoughtlessly war against me, lest one day you sorely repent it. From the King of Later Paekje.”

  Wang Kon wrote a reply to this message as follows.

  “Esteemed enemy: I have received a copy of the Emperor's decree from Pan Shang-shu, the envoy of Wu-yueh-kuo, together with a long letter from you. This was good news which has sweetened my blood, and I thank you for instructing me. However my interpretation of the Emperor's message is somewhat different from yours, so I shall ask the returning envoy to convey to the Emperor my feelings on the matter.