The History of Korea (Vol.1&2). Homer B. Hulbert
Păk-je is fallen,” and disappeared in the ground. Digging there the king found a tortoise on whose back were writtenwritten the words “Păk-je is at full moon; Sil-la is at half moon.” The diviners were called upon to interpret this. “It means that Sil-la is in the ascendant while Păk-je is full and about to wane.” The king ordered their heads off, and called in another company of diviners. These said that it meant that Sil-la was half waned while Păk-je was at her zenith. Somewhat mollifiedmollified by this, the king called a grand council of war. The advice given was of the most conflicting nature. Some said the Chinese must be attacked first; othersfirst; others said the Sil-la forces must be attended to first. A celebrated general who had been banished was sent for and his advice was the same as that of the famous statesman whom the king had starved in prison. “You must guard the ‘Charcoal Pass’ and the Pak River.” But the majority of the courtiers said that the Chinese had better be allowed to land before they were attacked and that the Sil-la army should be allowed to come in part through the pass before being opposed. This latter point was decided for them, for when the Păk-je troops approached the pass they found that the Sil-la army was already streaming through, and at its head was the famous Gen. Kim Yu-sin. When the battle was joined the Păk-je forces held their ground and fought manfully; but victory perched upon the banners of Sil-la and when the battle was done nothing lay between the Sil-la forces and the capital of Păk-je, the place of rendezvous. It is said that Gen. Ke-băk the leader of the Păk-je forces killed all his family before starting out on this expedition, fearing lest the thought of them might make him waver. He fell in the battle.
The capital of Păk-je was situated on the site of the present town of Sa-ch’ŭn. When the Sil-la warriors approached it the king fled to the town now known as Kong-ju. He left all the palace women behind and they, knowing what their fate would be at the hands of the Sil-la soldiery, went together to a beetling precipice which overhangs the harbor of Tă-wang and cast themselves from its summit into the water beneath. That precipice is famed in Korean song and story and is called by the exquisitely poetical name Nak-wha-am “Precipice of the Falling Flowers.” The victors forced the gates of the capital and seized the person of the Prince, the king’s second son, who had been left behind. A few days later the King and the Crown Prince came back from their place of hiding and voluntarily gave themselves up.
The allies had now met as they had agreedagreed and Păk-je was at their mercy. The Chinese general said that the Emperor had given him full authority to settle the matter and that China would take half the territory and Sil-la might have the other half. This was indeed a generous proposal on the part of China but the Sil-la commander replied that Sil-la wanted none of the Păk-je territory but only sought revenge for the wrongs that Păk-je had heaped upon her. At the feast that night the king of Păk-je was made to pour the wine for the victors and in this act of abject humiliation Sil-la had her desire for revenge fully satisfied. When the Chinese generals went back to China to announce these events they took with them the unthroned King of Păk-je together with his four sons, eighty-eight of the highest officials and 12,807 of the people.
It was in 660 that Păk-je fell. She survived for 678 years and during that time thirty kings had sat upon her throne. A singular discrepancy occurs here in the records. They affirm that the whole period of Păk-je rule covered a lapse ofof 678 years; but they also say that Păk-je was founded in the third year of Emperor Ch’eng-ti of China. That would have been in 29 B.C. making the whole dynastydynasty 689 years. The vast burden of proof favors the belief that Păk-je was founded in 16 B.C. and that her whole lease of life was 678 years.
As Sil-la had declined to share in the dismemberment of Păk-je, China proceeded to divide it into provinces for administrative purposes. There were five of these, Ung-jin, Tong-myŭng, Keum-ryŭn, Tŭk-an. The central government was at Sa-ja the former capital of Păk-je. The separate provinces were put under the control of prefects selected from among the people. The country was of course in a very unsettled state; disaffectiondisaffection showed itself on every side and disturbances were frequent. A remnant of the Păk-je army took its stand among the mountains, fortified its position and bid defiance to the new government. These malcontents found strong sympathisers at the capital and in the country towns far and wide. The Chinese governor, Yu In-wŭn, found the task of government no easy one. But still Sil-la stood ready to aid and soon a Sil-la army crossed the border and attacked the fortress of I-rye where the rebels were intrenched. Taking this by assault they advanced toward the mountain fortress already mentioned, crossed the “Chicken Ford,” crumpled up the line of rebel intrenchments and lifted a heavy load from the governor’s shoulders.
Ko-gu-ryŭ soon heard the ominous news and she took it as a presage of evil for herself. She immediatelyimmediately threw a powerful army across the Sil-la border and stormed the Ch’il-jung Fortress. The records naively remark that they filled the commander as full of arrows as a hedgehog is of quills.
Now that Păk-je had been overcome China took up with alacrity the plan of subduing Ko-gu-ryŭ. The great final struggle began, that was destined to close the career of the proudest, hardiest and bravest kingdom that the peninsula of Korea ever saw. The Păk-je king who had been carried to China died there in 661. In that same year Generals Kye-p’il, So Chŏng-bang and Ha Ryŭk, who had already received their orders to march on Ko-gu-ryŭ, rendezvoused with their forces at Ha-nam and the warriors of the Whe-bol together with many volunteers from other tribes joined the imperial standards. The plan was to proceed by land and sea. The Emperor desired to accompany the expedition, but the death of the empress made it impossible.
Meanwhile matters in Păk-je were becoming complicated again. A man named Pok Sin revolted against the government, proclaimed Pu-yŭ P‘ung, the son of a former king, monarch of the realm and planned a reëstablishment of the kingdom. This was pleasing to many of the people. So popular was the movement that the Emperor feared it would be successful. He therefore sent a summons to Sil-la to send troops and put it down. Operations began at once. Gen. Yu In-gwe besieged Ung-jin the stronghold of the pretender and chased him out, but a remnant of his forces intrenchedintrenched themselves and made a good fight. They were however routed by the combined Sil-la and Chinese forces. But in spite of this defeat the cause was so popular that the country was honeycombed with bands of its sympathisers who gained many lesser victories over the government troops and their Sil-la allies. The Sil-la general, Kim Yu-sin, was very active, passing rapidly from one part of the country to another, now driving back to the mountains some band of Păk-je rebels and now holding in check some marauding band from Ko-gu-ryŭ. He was always found where he was most needed and was never at a loss for expedients. It is said that at this time rice was so plentiful in Sil-la that it took thirty bags of it to buy a single bolt of grass cloth.
That same autumn the Chinese engaged the Ko-gu-ryŭ forces at the Yalu River and gained a decided victory. Then the fortress at Ma-eup San fell into their hands. This cleared the road to P‘yŭng-yang, and the Chinese boldly advanced and laid siege to that ancient stronghold. At the same time the Emperor ordered Sil-la to send troops to coöperate with the imperial army. She obeyed, but with great trepidation, for the fame of Ko-gu-ryŭ’s arms made this seem a matter of life and death. She was obliged to comply, however, or lose all the vantage ground she had gained in the Emperor’s favor. There were still some Ko-gu-ryŭ forces in the north and they were attempting to check the advance of a large body of Chinese reinforcements. It was late in the autumn and the Yalu was frozen. Taking advantage of this the Chinese crossed in the night and falling suddenly upon the unsuspecting army of Ko-gu-ryŭ inflicted a crushing defeat. It is said that 30,000 Ko-gu-ryŭ soldiers were killed in this engagement. The speedy downfall of Ko-gu-ryŭ seemed now inevitable, but a sudden timidity seized the Emperor, who feared perhaps to let his army winter on Korean soil. So he sent orders for an immediate retreat back to Chinese territory. The generals before P‘yŭng-yang were deeply chagrined and indeed found it impossible on account of lack of provisions to obey the command at once. Soon the Sil-la army arrived before P‘yŭng-yang with full supply of provisions. These the Chinese took and the greater part of them reluctantly broke camp and marched back to China, leaving Sil-la in a frame of mind better imagined than described.
While Ko-gu-ryŭ was staggering under the terrible reverses inflicted by the Chinese, events of interest were taking place in the south. The kingdom of T‘am-na on the island of Quelpart had always been a dependency of Păk-je,