The History of Korea (Vol.1&2). Homer B. Hulbert
business. He bought the broken-down palace ponies and by careful treatment made them sound and fleet again. In the chase he always led the rout and when the King asked who he might be the answer was “Only an ondali.” From this the youth advanced until he became a famous general and had the honor of defeating a Chinese army in Liao-tung. He was killed during an invasion of Sil-la but no one was able to lift his dead body till his wife came and knelt beside it saying “The dead and living are separated.” Then it was lifted and carried back to Ko-gu-ryŭ.
Chapter XI.
Ko-gu-ryŭ relations with the Sui court. … Ko-gu-ryŭ suspected … takes the offensive … submits … the Emperor suspicious … the great Chinese invasion. … Chinese allies. … Ko-gu-ryŭ’s allies. … Chinese cross the Liao … go into camp … naval expedition … defeated at P‘yŭng-yang … routes of the Chinese army. … Ko-gu-ryŭ spy. … Ko-gu-ryŭ lures the Chinese on … pretense of surrender. … Chinese retreat … terrible slaughter. … Păk-je neutral … second invasion … siege of Liao-tung fortress. … Chinese retire … and give up the contest … treaty with the T’ang Emperor … triangular war renewed. … China neutral … guerilla warfare … first woman sovereign. … Păk-je retrogrades … attacks Sil-la. … Păk-je’s terrible mistake. … Chinese spy … rise of Hap So-mun … the tortoise and the rabbit. … Taoism introduced. … China finally sides with Sil-la … and announces her program … preparations for war … the invasion … siege of Liao-tung Fortress … siege of An-si Fortress. … Chinese retire.
We have seen that Ko-gu-ryŭ did not respond freely to the friendly advances of the Sui power in China. Although a Sui envoy came and conferred investiture upon the king in 590, yet the relations were not cordial. Something was lacking. A mutual suspicion existed which kept them both on the watch for signs of treachery. But two years later the king did obeisance to the Emperor and was apparently taken into his good graces. And now the net began to be drawn about Ko-gu-ryŭ. Her position had always been precarious. She was the largest of the peninsular kingdoms and the nearest to China. She was also nearest to the wild tribes who periodically joined in an attempt to overthrow the Chinese ruling dynasty. So Ko-gu-ryŭ was always more or less suspected of ulterior designs and she seems to have realised it, for she always sedulously cultivated the good-will of the Emperors. She knew very well that with Sil-la and Păk-je, hereditary enemies, at her back, the day when she fell under the serious suspicion of any strong dynasty in China would be her day of doom. And so it proved in the end. She had now thoroughly alienated the good-will and aroused the suspicions of the Sui Emperor; Sil-la and Păk-je were in his good graces, and stirring times were at hand. These two rival powers sent envoys to China urging the Emperor to unite with them in invading Ko-gu-ryŭ and putting an end to her once for all. To this the Emperor assented. Ko-gu-ryŭ knew that the fight was on and, being the warlike power that she was, she boldly determined to take the offensive. Drawing on her faithful allies the Mal-gal for 10,000 troops she despatched these, together with her own army, to western Liao-tung and across the river Liao, where the town of Yŭng-ju was attacked and taken. This was her declaration of war. The Emperor in 598 proclaimed the royal title withdrawn from the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ and an army of 300,000 men was put in motion toward the frontier. At the same time a naval expedition was fitted out. But reverses occurred; storms by sea and bad management of the commissariat by land rendered the expedition a failure. It opened the eyes of the Ko-gu-ryŭ king however and he saw that the Emperor was fully determined upon his destruction. He saw but one way to make himself safe and that was by abject submission. He therefore hastened to tell the Emperor, “I am a base and worthless subject, vile as ordure,” which was received by the Emperor with considerable complaisancy, and a show of pardon was made; but it was probably done only to keep Ko-gu-ryŭ from active preparations until China could equip a much larger army and put it in the field. Păk-je, who did not like to see affairs brought to a halt at this interesting juncture, sent an envoy to China offering to act as guide, to lead a Chinese army against the foe. When Ko-gu-ryŭ learned of this her anger knew no bounds and she began to make reprisals upon Păk-je territory.
About this time the Sui Emperor had business in the north. The Tol-gwŭl tribe needed chastisement. When the Chinese forces entered the chief town of the humbled tribe they found a Ko-gu-ryŭ emissary there. This fed the Emperor’s suspicions for it looked as if Ko-gu-ryŭ were preparing a league of the wild tribes for the purpose of conquest. He therefore sent to Ko-gu-ryŭ saying “The king should not be afraid of me. Let him come himself and do obeisance. If not, I shall send and destroy him.” We may well imagine that this pressing invitation was declined by the king.
The last year of the sixth century witnessed the compilation of the first great history of Ko-gu-ryŭ, in 100 volumes. It was named the Yu-geui or “Record of Remembrance.”
It took China some years to get ready for the carrying out of her plan, but at last in 612 began one of the mightiest military movements in history. China massed upon the western bank of the Liao River an army of 1,130,000 men. There were forty regiments of cavalry and eighty of infantry. The army was divided into twenty-four battalions, marching with an interval of forty li between each, so that the entire army stretched for 960 li or 320 miles along the road. Eighty li in the rear came the Emperor with his body-guard.
When this enormous army reached the banks of the Liao they beheld on the farther bank the soldiers of Ko-gu-ryŭ. Nothing can better prove the hardihoodhardihood of the Ko-gu-ryŭ soldiery than that, when they saw this well-nigh innumerable host approach, they dared to dispute the crossing of the river.
The Chinese army was composed of Chinese regulars and of allies from twenty-four of their dependencies whose names are given as follows. Nu-bang, Chang-jam, Myŭng-hă, Kă-ma, Kön-an, Nam-so, Yo-dong, Hyŭn-do, Pu-yŭ, Nang-nang, Ok-jŭ, Chŭm-sŭn, Ham-ja, Hon-mi, Im-dun, Hu-sŭng, Che-hă, Tap-don, Suk-sin, Kal-sŭk, Tong-i, Tă-bang and Yang-p’yŭng. One would suppose from this long list that there could be few left to act as allies to Ko-gu-ryŭ, but when we remember that the Mal-gal group of tribes was by far the most powerful and warlike of all the northern hordes we will see that Ko-gu-ryŭ was not without allies. In addition to this, Ko-gu-ryŭ had two important factors in her favor; in summer the rains made the greater part of Liao-tung impassable either for advance or retreat, and in winter the severity of the weather rendered military operations next to impossible. Only two courses were therefore open to antherefore open to an invading army; either it must make a quick dash into Ko-gu-ryŭ in the spring or autumn and retire before the summer rains or winter storms, or else it must be prepared to go into camp and spend the inclement season in an enemy’s country, cut off from its base of supplies. It was in the spring that this invasion took place and the Emperor was determined to carry it through to a finish in spite of summer rains or winter storms.
No sooner had the Chinese army reached the Liao River than the engineers set to work bridging the stream. So energetically was the work done that in two days a double span was thrown across. There had been a miscalculation however, for it fell six feet short of reaching the eastern bank, and the Ko-gu-ryŭ soldiers were there to give them a warm welcome. The Chinese troops leaped from the unfinished end of the bridge and tried to climb up the steep bank, but were again and again driven back. The eastern bank was not gained until Gen Măk Chŭl-jang leaped to the shore and mowed a path for his followers with his sword. At this point the Ko-gu-ryŭ generals Chön Sa-ung and Măng Keum-ch’a were killed.
When the whole army had effected a crossing the Emperor sent 1200 troops to occupy the fortified town of Liao-tung but the Ko-gu-ryŭ general, Eul-ji Mun-dŭk, hastened thither and drove back this detachment of Chinese in confusion. The Emperor learned of the retreat and proceeded toward the scene of action. When he came up with the flying detachments of his defeated force he severely reprimanded the generals in charge and chided them for being lazy and afraid of death. But it was now late in June and the rainy season was at hand, so the Emperor with his whole army went into camp at Yuk-hap Fortress a little to the west of the town of Liao-tung, to await the end of the wet season.
He was unwilling