Samguk Yusa

by Ilyon

  “By the favor of Heaven and with the support of the people I ascended the throne as a soldier king. Because of wars and natural calamities the nine provinces of Silla were devastated, the majority of the people had become 'Yellow Turbans' or highway robbers and the fertile fields had become wasteland. (The Yellow Turbans were a secret society which caused much trouble in the closing years of the Later Han dynasty.)

  “When I entered into friendly relations with you and Silla as a good neighbor in order to calm the clamorous disturbances and rescue the nation from further catastrophe, the farmers returned to agriculture over a thousand li and the soldiers slept in peace for seven or eight years. But in October of the year of the cock a grave situation suddenly arose which obliged us to meet on the field of battle.

  “At first you made light of your strong enemy, like a mantis that raises its nippers against a cartwheel, and in this manner provoked me to single combat. Finally you realized the impossible and beat a hasty retreat, but you are still a mosquito with a mountain on its back. Together with you I wish to bow reverently before heaven and swear never to fight again, on penalty of death if the vow is broken.

  “I wished to lay down shield and spear, to cease killing innocent people, so I lifted the siege and gave my soldiers a good rest. I even sent a hostage to your camp that the people of the south might live in peace. Nevertheless, before the blood of the sacrificial oath was dry upon our lips you loosed your war-dogs once again to run amuck with their cruel fangs. Thus poison like that of bees and scorpions inflicted further damage on living creatures. Finally your tigerish outrages reached their zenith at the King's palace in the Golden Castle till the Yellow Roofs were shaken and fallen to the ground.

  “In respecting the authority of the Chou household with loyalty and upholding the kingly way, who resembles Ch'i Hsuan-kung or Tsin Wen-kung, who contested for supremacy? These were villains who, like Wang Mang and Tung Cho, awaited only the opportunity to seize control of the state.

  “Boorish upstart that you are, you have violated decorum and ignored the courtesy due to a prince, forcing the King to kowtow to you like a commoner. This violation of the proper relation between higher and lower was an unpardonable sin against heaven and against man. Only a man of loyal heart like Won Po can bring peace back to the state.

  “I have neither ambition nor wicked designs; I seek only to rescue the royal court and the nation from danger. But you have broken the laws of Heaven and earth for material gain and carnal pleasure. You murdered the King, burned the palaces, massacred the ministers, plundered the royal treasures, violated the Queen and the court ladies and rode off with the choicest beauties and the most precious jewels loaded on your carriages as spoils of war. Your wickedness is comparable only to that of Chieh and Chou and you have outdone owls and eagles in inhuman cruelty.

  “I am faithful to my lord, like a hawk that hunts only small birds. I play but the part of a dog or a horse for the King my master. With deep resentment and in response to public indignation I rose up again. During the past two years my soldiers have roared like thunder and moved like lightning over the land, leaped like tigers and flown like dragons over the sea, winning every battle. When Yun-kyong was routed on the seacoast his army's abandoned armor was piled mountain-high; when Ch'u-cho was routed under the walls of his city the corpses covered the field and blood flowed in streams. In Yonsan our men cut off the head of Kil-hwan before our camp and in Mari-song they killed Su-o under our battle standard. In Imjon-song Hyong-chok and hundreds of his subordinates had their heads cut off and in Ch'ongch'on-hyon Chik-sim and four or five of his subordinates laid their heads upon the block. Your defeated soldiers at Tongsu, Kyongsan, Kangju and Naju surrendered to our war-camp. (The persons mentioned in this paragraph were all Later Paekje commanders.)

  “Since our attacks are so swift and our victories so sure, the restoration of the lost territory under your occupation is only a matter of time. As Chang-erh did at his camp at Ch'i-sui, we shall before long remove a source of lasting regret; we shall win a victory like that of Han-wang over Hsiang Yu at Wu-kiang (rather pointed references to the conflicts that led up to the foundation of the Han dynasty in China). Finally the thunders of conflict will cease and bright sunlight will shine over heaven and earth. Since Providence is on our side, who will dare to stand in our way or try to rob us of this blessing?

  “Much more, his highness the King of Wu-yueh has graciously advised us in a royal message to make peace in Ch'ong-gu (land of blue, the color of the east, i.e. Korea) so we must obey him. If you lay down your arms you will not only respond to his wish but will also contribute to the reunion of this divided land in the east. Should you continue fighting me you will bring about your own destruction and will repent when it is too late. From the King of Koryo.” (Ilyon notes that this letter was drafted by Ch'oe Ch'i-won, a famous Silla scholar who had studied in China and attained high rank. He resigned in disgust during Queen Chinsong's reign when his proposals for reform were rejected and lived thereafter in retirement.)

  In the year 933 Kong-chik, one of the bravest and most intelligent of Chin Hwon's vassals, surrendered voluntarily to Wang Kon. Enraged, Chin Hwon had Kong-chik's two sons and daughter arrested and their thighs burned and the sinews cut with a red-hot iron.

  In September of the same year Chin Hwon dispatched a large naval force to attack Koryo. The ships sailed up the Yesong River and stayed three days while the sailors set fire to a hundred boats plying among the river ports of Yom, Paek and Chin.

  In 935 Chin Hwon, hearing of Wang Kon's arrival at Unju, sent his warriors there to fight. But while they were setting up defense lines the Koryo general Yu Kom-p'il sent his cavalry charging in among them, and they whipped off 3,000 heads. Soon more than thirty cities north of Ungjin had opened their gates to the Koryo troops. Hearing this news Chin Hwon's chief of staff Chong-hun, his medical officer Chi-kyom and several generals including Sang-pong and Chak-p'il surrendered to Koryo.

  At last Chin Hwon said to his sons, “Many years have passed since I arose in the closing years of Silla and became King of Later Paekje, and the number of my soldiers grew to be twice as great as that of the northern army. But now many a battle has been lost to them and it seems that Koryo enjoys the favor of Heaven. I see that I must surrender to the northern king in order to save my life.” But his three sons Sin-gom, Yong-gom and Yang-gom objected to their father's defeatism.

  According to the Yi Family Chronicle Chin Hwon had nine children: 1) Sin-gom, otherwise called Chin-song, 2) Kyom-noe, 3) Yong-sul, 4) Ch'ong-chi, 5) Chong-u, 6) (name unknown), 7) Wi-hung, 8) Ch'ong-gu and 9) Lady Kuk Tae. These were all children of his first wife, the Lady Sangwon. In addition he had a dozen children by concubines. Among these the fourth son, Kum-gang, was tall, handsome and intelligent. Chin Hwon loved him best, and planned to make him the Crown Prince, much to the mortification of his elder brothers Sin-gom, Yong-gom and Yang-gom.

  By this time Yang-gom had been made governor of Kangju and Yong-gom was governor of Muju, leaving Sin-gom at home to attend his aged father. Ich'an Nung-hwan sent messengers to Kangju and Muju proposing to Yang-gom and Yong-gom that they conspire to depose the “Old Tiger.” Nung-hwan together with Yong-sun then persuaded Sin-gom to detain Chin Hwon at Kumsan Temple and sent men to kill Kum-gang. Sing-gom accordingly assumed the title of “Great King” and granted a general amnesty to all the prisoners in the realm.

  Chin Hwon had gone to bed all unsuspecting. He was awakened by a great noise in the courtyard and asked Sin-gom what it was. His son replied, “The King is old, and he is weak in administration, so his eldest son has succeeded to the throne. The generals and admirals are merry with wine in a banquet to celebrate the new king's accession.” So saying, Sin-gom conducted his father to a cell in the precincts of Kumsan Temple and confined him there under the strong guard of general P'adal and thirty men.

  From that time the children of Later Paekje began singing a ballad:

  O pitiful child of Wansa
n,

  Thou hast lost thy father;

  Tears flow down thy cheeks

  Like rain falling from heaven.

  Chin Hwon was kept at the temple with his concubines, a court lady named Nungpunam, a maidservant named Kobinyo and a lad and a lass as companions. One night in April he entertained his guards with strong wine, and when they were drunk and had fallen asleep he fled to Koryo by sea, accompanied by his own bodyguards Sowonpo Hyang-pu, O Tam and Ch'ung-chil. The King of Koryo received him with due ceremony, addressing him as Sangpu (high father) as befitted his greater age and according him more respectful treatment than any of his courtiers or even of his own children. Chin Hwon was given the South Palace (in Kaesong) as his residence together with a fief and a farm in Yangju, forty slaves male and female and nine horses. In addition the King assigned Sin-gang, a surrendered Later Paekje general, to attend the “Old Tiger” as his bodyguard, that he might live in comfort and dignity.

  After Chin Hwon's flight his son-in-law general Yong-kyu said to his wife, “Forty years' labor by our King is lost on the eve of great success because of a quarrel within the royal family which has obliged him to surrender to Koryo. A virtuous widow may never take another man and a loyal minister may never serve another dynasty. If we betray our King and serve his traitorous son we shall lose face before the righteous patriots of this country. Now Wang Kon of Koryo, a magnanimous general and a benevolent King, has won the love and respect of the people. Perhaps with the help of Providence he will become master of the Three-Han nation (i.e. all of Korea). I suggest that we write to the King of Koryo in order to comfort our father, who is now under his protection, Perhaps if we approach him with civility we will win his favor in the future.”

  His wife gladly agreed to this proposal. Accordingly Yong-kyu sent a messenger to Wang Kon with a letter which contained the following significant words: “If you undertake a punitive expedition, I will communicate secretly with you and the Koryo army.”

  King T'aejo (Wang Kon's posthumous title, which we may now appropriately give him) was highly pleased. He gave a rich gift to the returning messenger and sent this reply to Yong-kyu: “If you open the road for our troops to pass without hindrance I will first shake hands with you and then bow to your wife. I will treat you and your wife as my own brother and sister-in-law in return for your kindness. Heaven and earth, gods and goddesses are witnesses.”

  In June Chin Hwon addressed King T'aejo: “Your old vassal surrendered to Your Majesty in order to cut off the head of his traitorous son by means of your military might. If you kill the thief who has usurped my throne and destroy the conspirators who have joined him in high treason, I will not repent even though I should instantly die.”

  “Yes, I understand,” the King replied. “I was only waiting for an opportune moment.”

  When all was in readiness for a general attack on Later Paekje, the King first sent Crown Prince Mu and General Sul-hui at the head of 100,000 cavalry and infantry to march toward Ch'onan-pu. Then in September the King in person led three further army units to join the vanguard.

  When the Koryo army had advanced as far as Ilson, Sin-gom sent troops to stop it. Attackers and defenders took up positions at Ich'on, facing each other northeast and southwest. Then as King T'aejo, accompanied by Chin Hwon, was reviewing the troops, suddenly white clouds appeared in the sky above his head shaped like swords and spears, and sailed swiftly toward the enemy position.

  “Charge!” shouted the King, and his soldiers leaped forward like angry waves. Frightened at this formidable display of Koryo power, generals Hyo-pong, Tok-sul, Ae-sul and Myong-gil, commanders on the right and left wings of the later Paekje force, whipped off their armor and surrendered before the Koryo camp.

  King T'aejo treated them kindly and enquired after the whereabouts of the usurper Sin-gom. Learning that he was with the central body of his army, the King ordered general Kong-hwon to launch an attack on both flanks. This Kong-hwon did, and the enemy soldiers scattered and fled in all directions. Hotly pursued and unable to escape, Sin-gom and his two brothers, accompanied by generals Pudal and Nung-hwan and forty soldiers, appeared before the Koryo camp and prostrated himself in surrender.

  King T'aejo treated them kindly and permitted them to come and live with their families at his capital, except for Nung-hwan. To him he said sternly, “You have conspired with Yang-gom to detain your King and to lift his son Sin-gom to the throne. This is high treason and a breach of the ethical conduct incumbent upon a subject toward his king. Your sin is unpardonable, and you shall die!” And he ordered his soldiers to cut off Nung-hwan's head.

  King T'aejo spared Sin-gom's life, considering his surrender and repentance and the fact that he had not usurped the throne voluntarily but had been cajoled and forced into it by his villainous companions. But when Sin-gom escaped death the seventy-two-year-old Tiger King of Later Paekje died of rage, an ulcer bursting on his back, at a temple in Hwangsan.

  King T'aejo had his troops observed the strictest military discipline and committed no crimes against civilians, so peace reigned everywhere and the people in all the provinces prayed with heart and voice for his long life.

  The King said to Chin Hwon's son-in-law Yong-kyu, “When the ex-King lost his throne not even the poorest of his subjects spoke in sympathy, but you and your wife from a thousand li away expressed your love and respect to him in your letters, and did virtuous deeds for me. I can never forget your sincerity,” Forthwith, Yong-kyu was promoted to the office of Left Minister and given a large rice-field as a reward, in addition to thirty-five coaches to carry his family and movable property to the capital (Kaesong). Yong-kyu's two sons were also given important official positions.

  Chin Hwon rose to power in the year 892 and fell to destruction in 936.

  In the book Saron (Review of Koryo History) it is written, “In the closing days of Silla the national fortune fell because of moral degradation. She was forsaken by Heaven and alienated from the people. Highway robbers were rampant and ambitious heroes rose like the spines of a porcupine. Among them Kungye and Chin Hwon were prominent. Kungye was a Silla prince, yet he made an enemy of his native land and even cut the portraits of his royal ancestors to pieces with his sword. His mad and cruel temperament brought about his destruction.

  “Chin Hwon, a farmer's son in Silla, rose from the ranks. He fattened his belly with the King and Queen's food, yet he conceived evil in his heart. Availing himself of the national crisis he raided the capital and murdered the King and his subjects like beasts. For their sins Kungye was forsaken by his vassals and Chin Hwon was betrayed by his own sons. Even Hsiang Yu and Li Mi were unable to thwart the rise of Han and Tang. Much less could the two murderers Ye and Hwon withstand the august power of our great King T'aejo!”

  58. Karak-kuk

  (Ilyon says that this is a sketchy description taken from Karak-kuk-ki, a narrative by Munin, magistrate of Kumgwan County during the reign of the Koryo King Munjong (1046-1083). It consists mostly of the usual legends, but some of it is based on fact. There was indeed an area called Karak on Korea's southern coast in ancient times, and tribes known as Kaya.)

  Since the creation of heaven and earth there had been no national name and no king of the people of the Kimhae region (north of the Naktong River delta). The nine chiefs Ado-Kan, Yodo-Kan, P'ido-Kan, Odo-Kan, Yusu-Kan, Yuch'on-Kan, Sinch'on-Kan, Och'on-Kan and Sinkwi-Kan ruled over the 75,000 natives, who plowed their fields and sank wells to support their simple lives.

  In the eighteenth year of the Kien-wu era of Emperor Kuang Wu of the Later Han in the year of the tiger (42 A.D.) on the day of the spring festival in Bathing Valley the villagers heard a strange voice calling from Kuji (Turtle's Back), the summit of North Mountain, saying, “Does anyone live here?”

  “Yes,” the chief replied.

  “What is this place?”

  “This is Kuji, the Turtle's Back, the highest peak of our North Mountain.”

  “A heavenly god has commanded me to
descend to earth, establish a kingdom, and become its king, and therefore I am here. You people must dig in the earth on the peak, while you dance and sing, 'Kuha! Kuha! (Turtle, turtle)7 Push out your head! If you don't, we'll burn and eat you.' Then you will meet a great king.”

  The nine chiefs and all the people danced and sang for joy and looked up into the sky. Lo! The heavens opened and a purple rope descended to the earth, with a golden bowl wrapped in a red cloth tied to the end of it. When the cloth was removed the bowl was found to contain six golden eggs, round like the sun. The people worshipped the eggs, and, having replaced the cloth, took the heavenly gifts to the house of Ado, the paramount chief, where they laid them on a table and went home to rest. When they returned at sunrise and removed the cloth they found that the eggs had hatched into six boys of noble and handsome appearance. All the people bowed low and offered congratulations

  The boys grew rapidly day by day, and after ten days the height of the boy who had hatched first had reached nine feet. His face was like that of a dragon, his eyebrows were like two eight-colored rainbows (like those of Yao, the sage-king of ancient China) and his eyes sparkled with double pupils (like those of Shun, Yao's son-in-law). On the fifteenth of the same month he was crowned king with the title “Suro.”8 He named his kingdom Karak-kuk (or Kayaguk) and the other five men became the rulers of the five neighboring Kaya tribes.

  The kingdom of Karak-kuk was bounded on the east by the Hwangsan River, on the southwest by Ch'anghae (the Blue Sea), on the northwest by Mt. Chiri, on the northeast by Mt. Kaya, and on the south by the sea.

  The King lived at first in a temporary residence built over an earthen platform three feet high and roofed with uncut reeds. In January in the year after his coronation the King declared, “I wish to establish the capital of my kingdom.” He proceeded south to a valley and gazed at the surrounding hills, which rose like embroidered windscreens as far as the eye could reach.