The History of Korea (Vol.1&2). Homer B. Hulbert
As soon as the young king heard of this he promptly stripped them of their honors and banished them. This, however, did not mend matters with the outraged Yŭ-jin people, and they hastened to inform the Kitan emperor of the whole matter. Thereupon the proclamation went out from the Kitan capital, “Gen. Kang-cho has killed the king of Koryŭ. We will go and inquire into it.”
As a preliminary, a messenger was sent to Song-do to demand why the king had been put to death. The officials were thrown into a panic and hastened to send and envoy to Kitan to explain matters. He was held a prisoner by the emperor. The king sent again and again, ten envoys in all, but an ominous silence was the only answer. It appeared that something serious was about to happen, but just what it was could not be surmised. In order to be ready for any emergency, the king sent Generals Kang Cho and Yi Hyŭn-un to T‘ong-ju (now Sŭn-ch‘ŭn) in the north to guard against a sudden surprise.
Early in December the spell was broken and the watchers by the Yalu hurried in with the news that a cloud of Kitan warriors was already crossing the stream. The invading army 400,000 strong, so say the records, pushed forward and surrounded the Koryŭ forces at Heung-wha camp. When it was found, however, that they would stand their ground and fight, the invaders sent presents of silk and other valuables and advised them to surrender, and said “We liked the king whom Kang Cho killed, and we are determined to overthrow the murderer. You assist us in this. If not we will destroy you root and branch.” The reply was “We prefer to die rather than surrender.” Thereupon the enemy sent more costly presents still but the answer was the same. When it became plain that there was to be bloodshed before Koryŭ would come to terms, the Kitan emperor divided his immense army into two divisions, sending 200,000 men to the vicinity of Eui-ju and 200,000 to T‘ong-ju. Gen. Kang Cho cunningly disposed his little army between two creeks where he was protected on either flank. It is said that he had a species of battle chariot with swords attached to the axles of the wheels so that when they charged among the ranks of the enemy the latter were mown down. On this account the little Koryŭ army was at first successful. Then Gen. Kang Cho was seized by that common infatuation of fancied security and in the midst of the fighting he sat down in his pride and began playing a game of go-bang. A messenger hurried up with the news that the line of battle had been broken on the west and that the enemy were pouring in. Gen. Kang Cho laughed and said “Do not come to me with such an insignificant piece of news. Wait till they come in numbers worthy of my sword; then come and tell me.” Soon a messenger came saying that the Kitan forces were approaching in full column. Thereupon Gen. Kang arose and prepared for battle. While doing so the annals say that the spirit of the murdered king appeared before him and chided him for scorning the power of Kitan. He took off his helmet, and, bowing before the apparition, said “I have committed an offence worthy of death.” The Kitan soldiery rushed in and seized him. They bound him in a cart and took him away.
Nothing now lay between the invading army and universal rapine. The army penetrated far into the territory of Koryŭ, cut off 30,000 heads and ravaged right and left.
When Gen. Kang Cho and Gen. Yi Hyŭn-un were brought before the Kitan emperor the bonds of the former were cut and he was bidden to stand forth. “Will you become my subject?” “I am a Koryŭ man. How can I be your subject?” They cut his flesh with knives but he remained firm. When the same question was put to Gen. Yi Hyŭn-un he replied:he replied: “As I now look upon the sun and moon, how can I remember any lesser light?” Such were the words of his apostacy. Kang Cho cried out upon him as a traitor, and then bowed his head to the axe.
The Kitan army was now in full march on P‘yŭng-yang, but the broken remnants of the Koryŭ army united at “Long Neck Pass” and successfully opposed the progress of the invaders. A little diplomacy was now made use of by the Kitan general. He sent a letter to Heung-wha camp, purporting to be from Kang Cho, ordering them to surrender, but the commander, Yang Kyu, replied “I listen only to the king.”
Kwak-ju (now Kwak-san) and Suk-ju (now Suk ch‘ŭn) fell in quick succession and soon the victorious army of Kitan was thundering at the gates of P‘yŭng-yang. The general in command was Wŭn Chong-sŭk and his two lieutenants were Chi Ch‘oa-mun and Ch‘oé Ch‘ang. The commander was willing to surrender without a fight and went so far as to write out the surrender, but the other two prevented this by seizing the paper, tearing it up and putting the Kitan messenger to death. The camp of these generals was without the city, but the panic of the people inside increased to such an extent that all the forces entered the city to insure quiet.
The Kitan general-in-chief now received from the king an offer of surrender. It caused the greatest satisfaction in the Kitan camp and orders were given that the soldiers should cease ravaging the surrounding country. Ma Po-u was sent as Kitan commissioner in Song-do and was accompanied by an escort of a thousand men under the command of Gen. Eul Neum.
We can see how little connection there was between the capital and the army in the field by the fact that this submission on the part of the king did not lead to the surrender of P‘yŭng-yang nor to a cessation of hostilities by the generals who commanded the forces there. When a second messenger was sent into the city to ask why the former one did not return he too was put to death.
Gen. Eul Neum was ordered to reduce P‘yŭng-yang and he approached to attack it but was driven back with a loss of 3,000 men. This attempt failing, the conquerorsconquerors decided to lay siege to the town. When the inmates saw this they knew that the end was near. A plan was made whereby a part of the troops should make a sally from the West Gate and another part from the East Gate and together they hoped to dislodge the enemy. But one of the generals, instead of following out the plan, improved the opportunity to make good his escape. The other party was therefore in a trap and had to surrender. But still two generals held the city.
Meanwhile a band of 1,000 soldiers under Gen. Yang Kyu attacked Kwak-ju by night, and put the Kitan garrison to the sword, and took seven thousand people away to Tong-bu for safety.
When the Kitan forces found they were likely to have difficulty in bringing P‘yŭng-yang to terms they gave it up and marched away eastward. Thereupon the general Chi Ch‘oa-mun hastened to Song-do and announced that he had fled from P‘yŭng-yang. The “residency” of Ma Po-u seems to have been a short-lived one and terminated when it was found that the submission of the king amounted to little when the armies would not surrender. Courtiers urged an immediate surrender but Gen. Kang Kam-ch‘an said “If we could put them off a while and gain time they would be gradually worn out. The king should move south out of harm’s way for a time.” So that very night the king and queen and a large number of officials together with 5,000 troops moved southward to Chŭk-sŭng. The king’s southward flight was by no means an easy one. The very first night out from the capital the house where he slept was attacked by a band of traitors and malcontents. The king escaped to the mountains where he was attended by the faithful Gen. Chi. From this retreat he recalled the two generals who had been banished for attacking Yŭ-jin without orders, and restored them to their positions. Escorted by Generals Chi, Ch‘o and Chu, the king slowly retreated toward Wang-ju. All his numerous escort had left him excepting his two wives, two palace women and two intimate friends. Gen. Chi kept a sharp lookout for the bands of robbers who were roaming about the country. Once when hard pressed by these irresponsible gentry, Gen. Chi spirited the king away under cover of night and concealed him in To-bong monastery in Yang-ju a little to the northeast of the present Seoul, and the robbers were thrown completely off the scent.
Gen. Ha Kong-jin told the king that the Kitan forces had invaded Koryŭ for the purpose of punishing Gen. Kang Bho, and as this had been accomplished all difficulty between Koryŭ and Kitan could be easily settled by a letter from the king to his northern suzerain. The letter was written and sent by the hand of a trusty man. It said that the king had left Song-do for an expedition into the country to quell certain disturbances there. When the messenger was asked how far the king had gone he answered that he had gone several thousand li. This seemed plausible to the Kitan court and soon its army was working its way slowly back to the boundary, the first stop being made at Ch‘ang-wha.
This retreat was more with a view to obtaining a wintering place than with a desire to favor Koryŭ, for no sooner had the next season, 1011, come than the Kitan army marched straight down through the peninsula and entered the