Читать книгу The History of Korea (Vol.1&2) - Homer B. Hulbert - Страница 15

Table of Contents

Rise of Yŭn … rebellion against China … siege of Keuk Fortress raised. … Ko-gu-ryŭ surrenders to Yŭn. … Ko-gu-ryŭ disarmed. … Japanese attack Sil-la. … Păk-je’s victory over Ko-gu-ryŭ … moves her capital across the Han. … Păk-je people in Sil-la. … Yŭn is punished. … Buddhism introduced into Ko-gu-ryŭ … and into Păk-je … amnesty between Ko-gu-ryŭ and Păk-je … but Ko-gu-ryŭ continues the war. … Păk-je in danger … envoy to Japan. … Ch’ŭm-nye usurps the throne of Păk-je … and is killed. … Sil-la princes rescued. … Ko-gu-ryŭ and Păk-je receive investiture from China. … China’s policy. … Nul-ji’s reign. … Ko-gu-ryŭ and Păk-je transfer their allegience. … Yŭn extinct … beginning of triangular war … diplomatic relations. … Ko-gu-ryŭ falls from grace … first war vessel … diplomatic complications. … Păk-je humiliated … her capital moved.

We have now come to the events which marked the rise of the great Yŭn power in Liao-tung. They are so intimately connected with the history of Ko-gu-ryŭ that we must give them in detail. For many years there had been a Yŭn tribe in the north but up to the year 320 it had not come into prominence. It was a dependency of the Tsin dynasty of China. Its chiefs were known by the general name Mo Yong. In 320 Mo Yong-we was the acting chief of the tribe. He conceived the ambitious design of overcoming China and founding a new dynasty. The Emperor immediately despatched an army under Gen. Ch’oe-bi to put down the incipient rebellion. Ko-gu-ryŭ and the U-mun and Tan tribes were called upon to render assistance against the rebels. All complied and soon the recalcitrant chieftain found himself besieged in Keuk Fortress and was on the point of surrendering at discretion when an event occurred which, fortunately for him, broke up the combination and raised the siege. It was customary before surrendering to send a present of food to the one who receives the overtures of surrender. Mo Yong-we, in pursuance of this custom, sent out the present, but for some reason it found its way only into the camp of the U-mun forces while the others received none. When this became known the forces of Ko-gu-ryŭ, believing that Mo Yong-we had won over the U-mun people to his side, retired in disgust and the Chinese forces, fearing perhaps a hostile combination, likewise withdrew. The U-mun chiefs resented this suspicion of treachery and vowed they would take Mo Yong-we single-handed. But this they could not do, for the latter poured out upon them with all his force and scattered them right and left. From this point dates the rise of Yŭn. Gen. Ch’oe-bi fearing the wrath of the Emperor fled to Ko-gu-ryŭ where he found asylum. Here the affair rested for a time. The kingdom of Yŭn forebore to attack Ko-gu-ryŭ and she in turn was busy strengthening her own position in view of future contingencies. Ten years passed during which no events of importance transpired. In 331 Eul-bul the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ died and his son Soé began his reign by adopting an active policy of defense. He heightened the walls of P’yŭng-yang and built a strong fortress in the north, called Sin-sŭng. He followed this up by strengthening his friendly relations with the court of China. These facts did not escape the notice of the rising Yŭn power. Mo Yong-whang, who had succeeded Mo Yong-weYong-we, hurled an expedition against the new Sin-sŭng Fortress and wrested it from Ko-gu-ryŭ. The king was compelled, much against his will, to go to Liao-tung and swear fealty to the Yŭn power. Two years laterlater the capital was moved northward to Wan-do, in the vicinity of the Eui-ju of today. This was done probably at the command of Yŭn who desired to have the capital of Ko-gu-ryŭ within easy reach in case any complications might arise.

Mo Yong-whang desired to invade China without delay but one of his relatives, Mo Yong-han, advised him to disarm Ko-gu-ryŭ and the U-mun tribe so that no possible enemy should be left in his rear when he marched into China. It was decided to attack Ko-gu-ryŭ from the north and west, but the latter route was to be the main one, for Ko-gu-ryŭ would be expecting the attack from the north. The strategem worked like a charm. Mo Yong-han and Mo Yong-p’ă led a powerful army by way of the sea road while General Wang-u led a decoy force by the northern route. The flower of the Ko-gu-ryŭ army, 50,000 strong, marched northward under the king’s brother Mu to meet an imaginary foe while the king with a few undisciplined troops held the other approach. As may be supposed, the capital fell speedily into the enemy’s hands but the king escaped. The Ko-gu-ryŭ forces had been successful in the north and might return any day, so the Yun forces were forbidden to go in pursuit of the king. To insure the good behavior of the king, however, they burned the palace, looted the treasure, exhumed the body of the king’s father and took it, together with the queen and her mother, back to the capital of Yŭn. With such hostages as these Yŭn was safe from that quarter. The next year the king offered his humble apologies and made a complete surrender, in view of which his father’s body and his queen were returned to him but his mother-in-law was still held. The same year Ko-gu-ryŭ moved her capital back to P’yŭng-yang. A few years laterlater by sending his son as substitute he got his mother-in-law out of pawn.

In 344 new complications grew up betweenbetween Sil-la and Japan. The Japanese having already obtained one Sil-la maiden for a queen made bold to ask for a royal princess to be sent to wed their king. This was peremptorily refused and of course war was the result. A Japanese force attacked the Sil-la coastguard but being driven back they harried the island of P‘ung-do and finally worked around until they were able to approach the capital. Finding the gates fast shut they laid siege to the city. But their provisions were soon exhausted and they were compelled to retire. Then the Sil-la forces swarmed out and attacked them in the rear and put them to an ignominious flight. Some years later the Japanese made a similar attempt but were outwitted by the Sil-la soldiers who made manikins of grass to represent soldiers, and the Japanese, seeing these, supposed that Sil-la had been reinforced and so retired from the contest.

Ko-gu-ryŭ had been so severely handled by her northern neighbor that she gave up for the time being her plans of conquest in that direction. Instead of this she turned her attention toward her southern neighbor Păk-je whose territory was a morsel not to be despised. About the year 360 she erected a fort at Ch’i-yang not far from the Păk-je capital which was thenthen at Nam-han. Into this she threw a large force consisting of 20,000 infantry and cavalry. They began a systematic plundering of Păk-je. The army of the latter, under the leadership of the Crown Prince, fell suddenly upon this fort and gained a victory, for, when the Ko-gu-ryŭ forces retired, they left 5,000 dead upon the field. Păk-je followed up this victory by throwing up a line of breastworks along the southern bank of the Han river to insure against a future surprise on the part of her unscrupulous northern neighbor. But Păk-je’s victories had shown her the weakness of Ko-gu-ryŭ and reprisals were therefore in order. She equipped an army of 30,000 men and penetrated the country of the enemy. She met no resistance until her army stood beneath the walls of P‘yŭng-yang. An attempt was made to storm the town, during which the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ was mortally wounded by an arrowarrow, but the assault failed and the Păk-je army withdrew in good order. The king of Păk-je, elated over so many evidences of his growing power, promptly moved his capital across the Han River into Ko-gu-ryŭ territory. Some say he settled at Puk-han the great mountain fortress back of Seoul while others say he settled at Nam P’yŭng-yang or “South P’yŭng-yang,” by which is meant the present city of Seoul. Others still say it was at a point a short distance outside the east gate of Seoul. But in spite of the apparent successes of Păk-je it appears that the people were not satisfied. It may be that military exactions had alienated their good will, or it may be that they saw in these ambitious advances the sure presage of speedy punishment at the hands of Ko-gu-ryŭ; but whatever the cause may have been over a thousand people fled from Păk-je and found asylum in Sil-la. The king set aside six villages as their place of residence, and when Păk-je demanded to have them sent back answer was returned that Sil-la could not drive from her borders those who had sought asylum from the ill-treatment of Păk-je.

Three years before this, inin 372, the Chinese had gained a signal victory over the Yŭn kingdom and its king, Mo Yong-p’ung, had fled for safety to Ko-gu-ryŭ. It must have been his last resource, for he was likely to find little sympathy there. And so it proved for the king immediately seized him and sent him a captive to China.

The year 372 beheld an event of prime importance in the history of Ko-gu-ryŭ and of the whole peninsula. It was the introduction of Buddhism. It is probable that before this time some knowledge of Buddhism was current in Korea, but as it is eminently a sacerdotal institution but little more than indefinite reports could have been circulated previous to the coming of the monks. We are not told whether this was done at the request of Ko-gu-ryŭ or whether it was at the advice of Pu-gyŭn, one of the petty kings who then divided between them the north of China. Be that as it may, in 372 A.D. images of Buddha were brought by a monk, Sun-do, and also a Buddhist book called Pul-gyŭng. For this the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ returned hearty thanks and forthwith set his son and heir to learning the new doctrine. At the same time he gave an impetus to the study of the Confucian code. It is quite probable that to this new departure is due the fact that the next year the laws of the country were overhauled and put in proper shape for use. In 375 two great monasteries were built in the capital of Ko-gu-ryŭ. They were called Cho-mun and I-bul-lan. It should be noticed that the introduction of Buddhism into Korea was a government affair. There had been no propagation of the tenets of this cult through emmisariesemmisaries sent for the purpose, there was no call for it from the people. In all probability the king and his court were pleased at the idea of introducing the stately ceremonial of the new faith. In fact it was a social event rather than a religious one and from that date to this there has not been a time when the people of Korea have entered heartily into the spirit of Buddhism, nor have her most distinguished representatives understood more than the mere forms and trappings of that religion which among all pagan cults is the most mystical.

Păk-je was not long in following the example of her powerful neighbor. In the year 384 a new king ascended the throne of Păk-je. His name was Ch’im-yu. One of his first acts was to send an envoy to China asking that a noted monk named Mararanta be sent to Păk-je to introduce the Buddhist ritual. We notice that this request was sent to the Emperor Hyo-mu (Hsia-wu), the proper head of the Eastern Tsin dynasty, while Ko-gu-ryŭ had received hers at the hands of one of those petty kings who hung upon the skirts of the weakening dynasty and waited patiently for its dissolution. Each of these petty states, as well as the central government of the Tsin, was on the lookout for promising allies and such a request as this of Păk-je could scarcely be refused. Mararanta, whose name smacks of the south and who certainly cannot have been a Chinaman, was sent to the Păk-je capital. He was received with open arms. His apartments were in the palace where he soon erected a Buddhist shrine. Ten more monks followed him and Buddhism was firmly established in this second of the three Korean states. The greatest deference was paid to these monks and they were addressed by the honorific title To-seung. Sil-la received Buddhism some fifty years later.

All this time fighting was almost continuous along the Ko-gu-ryŭ-Păk-je border. The latter stood on the defensive and found it necessary in 386 to build a line of breastworks along the border, extending from Ch’ŭng-mok-yŭng northward to P’al-gon-sung and thence westward to the sea. An amnesty was brought about through a happy accident. A groom who had accidentally broken the leg of a Păk-je prince’s horse had fled to Ko-gu-ryŭ to escape punishment. Returning now to Păk-je, he purchased pardon by informing the king that if, in battle, the Păk-je forces should direct their whole force against that part of the enemy’s line where they should see a red flag flying they would surely be successful. This turned out to be true and Păk-je was once more successful, but followed up her success only to the extent of securing a definite cessation of hostilities and the erection of a boundary stone at Su-gok-sŭng to witness forever against him who should dispute the point. But when King Ch’im-yu of Ko-gu-ryŭ died in 392 and his son Tam-dok came into power all previous obligations were swept away and he proceeded to reopen the wound. He attacked Păk-je fiercely and took ten of her towns. Then he turned northward and chastised the Kŭ-ran tribe. When this was done he came back to the charge again and seized Kwang-nu Fortress. This was an almost inaccessible position on a high rock surrounded by the sea, but the hardy soldiers of Ko-gu-ryŭ after twenty days of siege found seven paths by which the wall could be reached, and they finally took the place by a simultaneous assault at these various points. When the court of Păk-je heard of this well-nigh impossible feat, all hope of victory in the field was taken away, and they could only bar the gates of the capital and await the turn of events. This king, Tam-dok, was as enthusiastically Buddhistic as his father. He made a decree that all the people of Ko-gu-ryŭ should adopt the Buddhistic faith and a few years later built nine more monasteries in P’yŭng-yang.

A year later King A-sin of Păk-je sent his son, Chön-ji, to Japan as an envoy. It is likely, but not certain, that it was a last resource of Păk-je to secure help against Ko-gu-ryŭ. This is the more likely from the fact that he went not only as an envoy but also as a hostage, or a guarantee of good faith. If this was the hope of Păk-je it failed, for no Japanese army was forthcoming. As another means of self-preservation King A-sin formed a great school of archery, but the people did not like it; for exercise in it was compulsory, and many of the people ran away.

In 399 Ko-gu-ryŭ sent an envoy to the Yŭn capital to pay her respects, but the king of that country charged Ko-gu-ryŭ with ambitious designs and sent an army of 30,000 men to seize the fortresses of Sin-sŭng and Nam-so, thus delimiting the frontier of Ko-gu-ryŭ to the extent of 700 li. They carried back with them 5,000 “houses,” which means approximately 25,000 people, as captives. It is difficult to believe this enumeration unless we conclude that it means that the people living within the limit of the 700 li were taken to be citizens of Yŭn.

The fifth century of our era dawned upon a troubled Korea. The tension between the three rival powers was severe, and every nerve was strained in the struggle for preeminence. In 402 Nă-mul, the king of Sil-la, died and Sil-sŭng came to the throne. He sent out feelers in two directions, one toward Ko-gu-ryŭ in the shape of a hostage, called by euphemism an envoy, and another of the same sort to Japan; which would indicate that Sil-la was still suffering from the depredations of the Japanese corsairs. The envoy to Ko-gu-ryŭ was the king’s brother, Pok-ho, and the one to Japan was also his brother, Mi-sa-heun. We remember that Păk-je already had an envoy in Japan in the person of the king’s eldest son Chön-ji. Now in 405 the king of Păk-je died. Chön-ji was the rightful heir but as he was in Japan the second son should have assumed the reins of government. As a fact the third son Chŭng-nye killed his brother and seized the scepter. Hearing of his father’s death, Chön-ji returned from Japan with an escort of a hundred Japanese, but learning of his brother’s murder he feared treachery against himself and so landed on an island off the coast where he remained until the people, with a fine sense of justice, drove Ch’ăm-nyeCh’ăm-nye from the throne and welcomed back the rightful heir.

Meanwhile interesting events were transpiring in Sil-la. In 403 Sil-sung, King of that land, fearing lest harm overtake his two brothers whom he had sent the year before to Ko-gu-ryŭ and Japan, was seeking for some means of getting them back. This might not be an easy thing to do, for to ask their return so soon would perhaps arouse the suspicion of these neighbors, and precipitate a war. Ko-gu-ryŭ had often taken up arms for a less affront than this. An official, Pak Che-san, volunteered to undertake this delicate mission even though it cost him his life. He went first to Ko-gu-ryŭ and there proved so skillful a diplomatdiplomat that he soon brought Prince Pok-ho back to Sil-la. The mission to Japan was a different matter, but he was equal to the occasion. Before starting out he said to the king: “I will bring the Prince back though it cost my life; only, before I go, I must ask you to imprison my family; otherwise I cannot succeed.” The king acceded to this strange request and Pak Che-san, starting immediately as if in flight, without even changing his garments, fled until he came to the Yul Harbor. Even his wife he repulsed, exclaiming “I have determined to die.” He apparently feared that the sight of her might shake his loyal purpose. He arrived in Japan as a political fugitive, but the king suspected him until news came that his family had been imprisoned. This seemed to prove his statement and he was received graciously. He pretended that he wished to lead a Japanese force against Sil-la. Mi-sa-heun, the Prince whom he had come to rescue, was in the secret and heartily seconded the plan. The king made them joint leaders of an expedition. The fleet arrived at a certain island and there Pak succeeded in spiriting Mi-sa-heun away by night in a little boat while he himself remained behind, to delay the inevitable pursuit. Mi-sa-heun begged him with tears to accompany him but he refused to jeopardise Mi-sa-heun’s chances of escape by so doing. In the morning he pretended to sleep very late and no one suspected the flight of the Prince until late in the day when concealment was no longer possible. When the Japanese found that they had been duped they were in a terrible rage. They bound Pak and went in pursuit of the run-away. But a heavy fog settled upon the sea and frustrated their plan. Then they torturedtortured their remaining victim and to their inquiries he replied that he was a loyal subject of Kye-rim (the name of Sil-la at that time) and that he would rather be a Kye-rim pig than a subject of Japan; that he would rather be whipped like a school-boy in Kye-rim than receive office in Japan. By these taunts he escaped a lingering death byby torture. They burned him alive there on the island of Mok-do. When the king of Sil-la heard of his brave end he mourned for him and heaped upon him posthumous honors, and Mi-sa-heun married his preserver’s daughter. The wife of the devoted Pak ascended the pass of Ap-sul-yŭng whence she could obtain a distant view of the islands of Japan. There she gave herself up to grief until death put an end to her misery.

In 413 a new king came to the throne of Ko-gu-ryŭ. called Kö-ryŭn. As China and Ko-gu-ryŭ had been kept apart by the intervening Yun, and had acquired some power of sympathy through mutual fear of that power, we are not surprised that the new king of Ko-gu-ryŭ condescended to receive investiture from the Emperor, nornor that the latter condescended in turn to grant it. It was formally done, and the act of Ko-gu-ryŭ proclaimed her vassalage to China. From that time on excepting when war existed between them, the kings of Ko-gu-ryŭ were invested by the Emperor with the insignia of royalty. Two years later the Emperor conferred the same honor upon the king of Păk-je. It was always China’s policy to keep the kingdoms at peace with each other so long as they all wore the yoke of vassalage; but so soon as one or the other cast it off it was her policy to keep them at war.

In 417 Nul-ji came to the throne of Sil-la and began a reign that was to last well on toward half a century. He was a regicide. He had been treated very harshly by the king and had more than once narrowly escaped with his life. It is therefore the less surprising, though none the less reprehensible, that when the opportunity presented of paying off old scores he succumbed to the temptation. He ascended the throne not with the title of I-sa-geum, which had been the royal title for centuries, but with the new title of Ma-rip-kan. However doubtful may have been his title to the crown his reign was a strong one. Among the far-reaching effects of his reign the introduction of carts to be drawn by oxen was the most important.

The friendly relations of Ko-gu-ryŭ with the Tsin dynasty were cut short by the extinction of that dynasty in 419 but in 435 Ko-gu-ryŭ made friendly advances toward the Northern Wei dynasty and, finding sufficient encouragement, she transferred her allegience to that power. Meantime Păk-je had transferred hers to the Sung dynasty which arose in 420.

It was in 436 that P’ung-hong, the “Emperor” of Yun, found himself so weak that he could not withstand the pressure from the Chinese side and asked the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ to grant him asylum. Consent was given and an escort was sent to conduct him to the Ko-gu-ryŭ capital. He found that this sort of life had its drawbacks; for, to begin with, the king did not address him as emperor but simply as king. This was a great affront to his dignity and, though he was treated very handsomely, he assumed such a supercillious bearing that the king had to curtail his retinue and his income. He had been given quarters in Puk-p’ung and from there the mendicant emperor applied to the Sung Emperor for asylum. It was granted, and seven thousand soldiers came to escort him; but ere they arrived the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ sent two generals, Son-su and Ko-gu, who killed the imperial refugee and nine of his attendants. The Sung troops, arriving on the instant, discovered the crime and caught and executed the two generals who had perpetrated it.

In 449 a Ko-gu-ryŭ general was out on a hunting expedition and the chase brought him into Sil-la territory near the present town of Kang-neung. The prefect of the district, in an excess of patriotic enthusiasm, seized him and put him to death. An envoy came in haste to the Sil-la capital demanding why this outrage had been committed. War would have been declared on the spot had not Sil-la been profuse in apologies. She might have spared herself this humiliation for war was sure to break out soon in any case. When ngng came to the throne of Păk-je in 455, Ko-gu-ryŭ took advantage of the confusion, consequent upon the change, to attack her. Sil-la, who, though ordinarily a peaceful power, had been perforce drawn into war-like operations and had acquired some military skill, now sided with Păk-je. Sending a considerable number of troops she reinforced Păk-je to the extent of warding off the threatened invasion. But Păk-je, though glad to find herself extricated from her position of danger, would allow no feelings of gratitude to stand in the way of her ancient feud against Sil-la; so this act of friendship not only did not help toward peace but on the contrary, by showing Sil-la the fickleness of Păk-je, made peace all the more impossible. The middle of the fifth century marks the point when all friendly relations between the three Korean states were broken off and an actual state of war existed between them from this time on, though active military operations were not constant. This we may call the Triangular War.

The key to this great struggle, which resulted in the advancement of Sil-la to the control of the whole peninsula, lay not so much in the relative military strength of the three rival kingdoms as in the skill which each developed in diplomacy. Each was trying to gain the active support of China, knowing very well that if China should once become thoroughly interested in favor of any one of the three powers the other two would be doomed.

We will remember that Ko-gu-ryŭ had cultivated friendlyKo-gu-ryŭ had cultivated friendly relations with the Sung dynasty while Păk-je had made herself agreeable to the Wei dynasty. In this Păk-je chose the wiser part for the Wei power was nearer and more powerful. In 466 Ko-gu-ryŭ lost a splendid opportunity to establish herself in the good graces of the Wei Emperor, and so insure her preeminence in the peninsula. The Emperor Hsien-wen made friendly advances and requested the daughter of the king of Ko-gu-ryŭ for his wife. With a short-sightedness that is quite inexplicable this request was put off by the lame excuse that his daughter was dead. This being easily proved a falsehood, Ko-gu-ryŭ fell from the good graces of the very power whose friendship she should have cultivated.

The year 467 witnessed an important innovation in Korea. Sil-la took the lead in the construction of war vessels. The one made at that time was doubtless intended for use against the Japanese corsairs. That Sil-la had been gaining along military lines is shown by her successful repulse of a Ko-gu-ryŭ invasion in this year, in which the wild people of some of the Mal-gal tribes assisted Ko-gu-ryŭ. After the latter had been driven back, Sil-la built a fortress at Po-eun on her northern border to guard against a repetition of this invasion.

Ko-gu-ryŭ and Păk-je were now exerting themselves to the utmost to make capital out of their Chinese alliances. Ko-gu-ryŭ sent rich presents and richer words to the Sung capital and so won the confidence of that power. Păk-je, on the other hand, sent word to the Wei Emperor that Ko-gu-ryŭ was coquetting with the Sung court and with the wild Mal-gal tribes, insinuating that this was all detrimental to the interests of Păk-je’s patron.

As this was without result, she sent and asked openly that the Wei Emperor send anan army and chastise Ko-gu-ryŭ. The Emperor replied that until Ko-gu-ryŭ committed some overt act of more hostile import than the mere cementing of peaceful alliances no notice could be taken of her. In other words the Wei power refused to be the aggressor, much to Păk-je’s chagrinchagrin. The Wei Emperor sent this answer by way of Ko-gu-ryŭ and the king of that country was ordered to grant the messenger a safe conduct through his territory. But Ko-gu-ryŭ, as though bent on self-destruction, refused to let him pass, and so the great northern kingdom approached one step nearer the precipice which was to prove her destruction. Upon learning the news of this affront the Emperor was highly incensed and tried to send the messenger by way of a southern port; but stress of weather rendered this impossible and Păk-je, receiving no answer to her missive, took offense and would have nothing more to do with China, for a time. By the time she had recovered her temper, Ko-gu-ryŭ had in some way patched up her difficulty with the Wei court and so scored a point against Păk-je. And for a time she was on friendly terms with both the Wei and Sung dynasties.

At this point Ko-gu-ryŭ decided upon a bold attempt to swallow Păk-je bodily. It was to be done partly by strategem and partly by force. A monk of Ko-gu-ryŭ named To-rim, a fellow of excellent craft, arrived at the Păk-je capital as if seeking refuge. The king received him with open arms and, finding him an excellent chess player, made him his trusty councilor. This monk told the king that the palaces, walls, tombs and public buildings ought to be thoroughly repaired, and so induced him to drain the public treasury in this work, and also in bringing a huge monolith from Uk-nyi to the capital. This done the monk fled back to Ko-gu-ryŭ and announced that the treasury of Păk-je was empty and it was a good time to attack her. A large army was put in the field, guided by one Kŭl-lu, a Păk-je fugitive from justice. Almost before Păk-je was aware, her capital was surrounded. She had applied to Sil-la for help, but too late. First the suburbs were laid in ashes, and then access being gained, the palace was fired. The king fled with ten attendants out the west gate, but Kŭl-lu the renegade followed and overtook him. The king begged for mercy upon his knees but Kŭl-lu spit thrice in his face, bound him and sent him to the fortress of A-han where lie was killed. Then the Ko-gu-ryŭ army went back north carrying with them 8,000 captives, men and women.

Meanwhile Prince Mun-ju had obtained help from Sil-la and with 10,000 troops was hastening homewards. He found the city in ashes, his father dead, the people mourning their lost, who had been dragged away captive. He promptly assumed control of affairs, moved the capital southward to Ung-jin the present Kong-ju, took all the Păk-je people away from Han-yang (Seoul) and moved them back across the Han River and abandoned all the territory beyond that natural barrier to Ko-gu-ryŭ to whom it had originally belonged. The following year he tried to send a message to the Sung Emperor by way of Ko-gu-ryŭ but the messenger was intercepted and the message stopped.