Читать книгу The History of Korea (Vol.1&2) - Homer B. Hulbert - Страница 26
ОглавлениеThe 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 capital and burned the palaces and most of the common houses. The king was in Kwang-ju but, learning of this disaster, he hurried still further south with his two wives to Ch‘ŭn-an in the present Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng Province. From there he continued south to Chŭn-ju where he was treated very cavalierly by the governor who met him in common clothes and without the ceremony befitting a royal visitor. In fact this governor had determined to put the king out of the way. To this end he hired three men to go by night and assassinate him. But the door was guarded by Gen. Chi who bolted it firmly and then mounted the roof and cried loudly to all who were loyal to the king to rally round him. The next day the governor was summoned before the king. Some of the generals were clamorous for his death but Gen. Chi who was as wise as he was faithful vetoed this, for the king was not in a position to face the opposition that the execution of the governor would arouse in the province. It will be remembered that Wang-gön had left command that as the south was disaffected none of his descendants should marry among its people. This shows that the king when he went south found it unwise to exercise all the prerogatives of royalty. So the governor was left intact and the king moved further south to Na-ju.
Meanwhile the Kitan forces were not having it all their own way in the north. Gen. Kim Suk-heung of Kwi-ju attacked a powerful force of the enemy and secured a signal victory. It is said that he put 10,000 men to death. Then Gen. Yang Kyu made a dash at the enemy at Mu-ro-da near Eui-ju and killed 2,000 and recovered 3,000 prisoners. Also at Yi-su there was a battle in which 2,500 Kitan men were killed and 1,000 captives rescued. At Yo-ri-ch‘ŭn also 1,000 more were killed. These three desperate engagements occurred on the same day.
Gen. Ha Kong-jin was at this time a hostage in the Kitan capital, and he managed to send a letter to the King informing him that the forces of Kitan were slowly retreating. This made it possible for the king to start on his way back to the capital. The first stage was to Chŭn-ju.
The retreating forces of Kitan were again engaged at A-jin but as heavy reinforcements arrived at the moment, the Koryŭ generals, Yang Kyu and Kim Suk-heng, lost the day and fell upon the field of battle. This victory, however, did not stop the retreat of the invading army. There had been very heavy rains, and many horses had perished and many soldiers were practically without arms. Gen. Chon Song, who assumed command after the death of the two generals at K-jŭn, hung on the flanks of the retreating enemy and when half of them had crossed the Yalu he fell upon the remainder and many of them were cut down and many more were drowned in mid-stream. When it became known that all the Kitan forces were across the border it took but a few days to re-man the fortresses which had been deserted.
The king now hastened northward stopping for a time at Kong-ju where the governor gave him his three daughters to wife. By the first he begat two sons both of whom became kings of Koryŭ, and by the second he begat another who also became king. He was soon on the road again, and ere long he reentered the gates of his capital which had undergone much hardship during his absence. His first act was to give presents to all the generals and to order that all the bones of the soldiers who had fallen be interred. He followed this up by dispatching an envoy to the Kitan thanking them for recalling their troops. He banished the governor of Chŭn-ju who had attempted his life. He repaired the wall of the capital and rebuilt the palace.
Gen. Ha was still in the hands of the Kitan but he was extremely anxious to return to Koryŭ. He therefore feigned to be quite satisfied there and gradually gained the entire confidence of his captors. When he deemed that it was safe he proposed that he be sent back to Koryŭ to spy out the condition of the land and report on the number of soldiers. The emperor consented but changed his mind when he heard that the king had returned to Song-do. Instead of sending Gen. Ha back to Koryŭ he sent him to Yun-gyŭng to live and gave him a woman of high position as his wife. Even then the general did not give up hope of escaping and was soon busy on a new plan. He purchased fleet horses and had them placed at stated intervals along the road toward Koryŭ with trusty grooms in charge of each. Someone, however, told the emperor of this and, calling the exile, he questioned him about it. Gen. Ha confessed that his life in exile was intolerable. When the emperor had offered him every inducement to transfer his allegience and all to no avail, he commandedto no avail, he commanded the executioner to put an end to the interview. When news reached Song-do that Gen. Ha had preferred death to disloyalty, the king hastened to give office to the patriot’s son.
A BUDDHIST MONUMENT (EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OLD).
The work of reconstruction was now commenced, in 1012. Kyöng-ju was no longer called the eastern capital but was changed back to a mere prefecture. The twelve
The twelve provinces were reconstructed into five and there were seventy-five prefectures in all. This plan however was abandoned two years later. Now that Koryŭ had regained control of her own territory, the Yŭ-jin tribe thought best to cultivate her good will and so sent frequent envoys with gifts of horses and other valuables. But when the Emperor of Kitan, angry because the King refused on the plea of ill health to go to Kitan and do obeisance, sent an army and seized six of the northern districts this side the Yalu, the Yŭ-jin turned about and ravaged the northeast boundary. The next year the Yŭ-jin joined Kitan and crossed the Yalu but were speedily driven back by Gen. Kim Sang-wi.
In 1014 the King came to the conclusion that he had made a mistake in casting off the friendship of China and sent an envoy to make explanations; but the Emperor Chin-jong (Sang dynasty) was angry because he had been so long neglected and would have nothing to do with the repentant Koryŭ.
In the autumn the Kitan army was again forced back across the border. The Koryŭ army had now grown to such proportions that the question of revenue became a very serious one and the officials found it necessary to suggest a change. They had been accustomed to “squeeze” a good proportion of the soldiers’ pay and now that there was danger of further change which would be only in the officials’ favor, the soldiers raised a disturbance, forced the palace gates, killed two of the leading officials and compelled the King to banish others. They saw to it that the military officials took precedence of civil officials. From that time on there was great friction between the military and civil factions, each trying to drive the other to the wall.
The next year, 1015, the Kitan people bridged the Yalu, built a wall at each end and successfully defended it from capture; but when they attempted to harry the adjoining country they were speedily driven back. The military faction had now obtained complete control at the capital. Swarms of incompetent men were foisted into office and things were going from bad to worse. The King was much dissatisfied at this condition of affairs and at some-one’s advice decided to sever the knot which he could not untie. He summoned all the leaders of the military faction to a great feast, and, when he had gotten them all intoxicated, had them cut down by men who had lain concealed in an adjoining chamber. In this way nineteen men were put out of the way and the military faction was driven to the wall.
Year by year the northern people tried to make headway against Koryŭ. The Sung dynasty was again and again appealed to but without success. Koryŭ was advised to make peace with Kitan on the best terms possible. The Kitan generals, Yu Pyul, Hăng Byŭn and Ya-yul Se-chang made raid after raid into Koryŭ territory with varying success. In 1016 Kitan scored a decisive victory at Kwak-ju where the Koryŭ forces were cut to pieces. Winter however sent them back to their northern haunts. The next year they came again and in the following year, 1018, Gen. So Son-ryŭng came with 100,000 men. The Koryŭ army was by this time in good order again and showed an aggregate of 200,000 men. They were led by General Kang Kam-ch‘an. When the battle was fought the latter used a new form of strategem. He caused a heavy dam to be constructed across a wooded valley and when a considerable body of water had accumulated behind it he drew the enemy into the valley below and then had the dam torn up; the escaping water rushed down the valley and swept away hundreds of the enemy and threw the rest into such a panic that they fell an easy prey to the superior numbers of the Koryŭ army. This was followed by two more victories for the Koryŭ arms.
The next year, again, the infatuated north-men flung themselves against the Koryŭ rock. Under Gen. So Son-ryŭng they advanced upon Song-do. The Koryŭ generals went out thirty miles and brought into the capital the people in the suburbs. Gen. So tried a ruse to throw the Koryŭ generals off their guard. He sent a letter saying that he had decided not to continue the march but to retire to Kitan; but he secretly threw out a strong force toward Song-do. They found every point disputed and were obliged to withdraw to Yŭng-byŭn. Like most soldiers the Koryŭ forces fought best when on the offensive and the moment the enemy took this backward step Gen. Kang Kam-ch‘an was upon them, flank and rear. The invaders were driven out of Yŭng-byŭn but made a stand at Kwi-ju. At first the fight was an even one but when a south wind sprang up which lent force to the Koryŭ arrows and drove dust into the eyes of the enemy the latter turned and fled, with the exulting Koryŭ troops in full pursuit. Across the Sŭk-ch‘ŭn brook they floundered and across the fields which they left carpeted with Kitan dead. All their plunder, arms and camp equipage fell into Koryŭ hands and Gen. So Son-ryŭng with a few thousand weary followers finally succeeded in getting across the Yalu. This was the greatest disaster that Kitan suffered at any time from her southern neighbor. Gen. So received a cool welcome from his master, while Gen. Kang, returning in triumph to Song-do with Kitan heads and limitless plunder, was met by the King in person and given a flattering ovation. His Majesty with his own hands presented him with eight golden flowers. The name of the meeting place was changed to Heung-eui-yŭk, “Place of Lofty Righteousness.” When Gen. Kang retired the following year he received six honorary titles and the revenue from three hundred houses. He was a man of small stature and ill-favored and did not dress in a manner befitting his position, but he was called the “Pillar of Koryŭ.” Many towns in the north had been laid waste during the war and so the people were moved and given houses and land. The records say that an envoy came with greetings from the kingdom of Ch‘ŭl-ri. One also came from Tă-sik in western China and another from the kingdom of Pul-lă. Several of the Mal-gal tribes also sent envoys; the kingdom of T‘am-na was again heard from and the Kol-bu tribe in the north sent envoys. In 1020 Koryŭ sent an envoy to make friends again with her old time enemy Kitan and was successful. The ambition of the then Emperor of Kitan had apparently sought some new channel. Buddhism, too, came in for its share of attention. We read that the King sent to Kyöng-ju, the ancient capital of Sil-la, to procure a bone of Buddha which was preserved there as a relic. Every important matter was referred in prayer to the Buddhistic deities. As yet Confucianism had succeeded in keeping pace with BuddhismBuddhism. In 1024 the King decreed that the candidates in the national examinations should come according to population; three men from a thousand-house town, two from a five hundredhundred-house town and one each from smaller places. Several examinations were held in succession and only those who excelled in them all received promotion. The great struggle between Buddhism and Confucianism, which now began, arrayed the great class of monks on the side of the former and the whole official class on the side of the latter. The former worked upon the superstitions of the King and had continual access to him while the latter could appeal to him only on the side of general common sense and reason. Moreover Buddhism had this in its favor that as a rule each man worked for the system rather than for himself, always presenting a solid front to the opposition. The other party was itself a conglomerate of interests, each man working mainly for himself and joining with others only when his own interests demanded. This marked division of parties was strikingly illustrated when, in 1026, in the face of vehement expostulations on the part of the officials, the King spent a large amount of treasure in the repairing of monasteries. The kingdom of Kitan received a heavy blow when in 1029 one of her generals, Tă Yŭn-im, revolted and formed the sporadic kingdom of Heung-yo. Having accomplished this he sent to the King of Koryŭ saying “We have founded a new kingdom and you must send troops to aid us.” The Koryŭ officials advised that advantage be taken of this schism in Kitan to recover the territory beyond the Yalu which originally belonged to Ko-gu-ryŭ and to which Koryŭ therefore had some remote title. Neither plan was adopted. It seemed good to keep friendly with Kitan until such time as her power for taking revenge should be past, so envoys were sent as usual, but were intercepted and held by the new King of Heung-yo. This policy turned out to be a wise one, for soon the news came that Kitan had destroyed the parvenu.
Now that the fortunes of Koryŭ were manifestly in the ascendant, many people in the north sent and swore allegiance to her, thus following the example of a certain Kitan envoy who at this time transferred his citizenship voluntarily from Kitan to Koryŭ.
The King died and his son Heum, posthumous title Tŭk-jong, came to the throne in 1032. He married his own sister. All friendly relations with Kitan were broken off, because the bridge across the Yalu was not destroyed. It did not seem a friendly act to leave this standing menace to the peace of Koryŭ. In view of this the King ordered a wall to be built across the entire peninsula from the Yalu River to the Japan Sea. It was nearly a thousand li long. This would seem almost incredible were it not that the facts are given in such detail. The wall was twenty-five cha high and the same in breadth and stretched from Ko-gung-nă Fortress, near Eui-ju on the Yalu, to Yöng-heung near the Japan Sea. The Kitan people tried to hinder this work but without avail. This period marks the acme of Koryŭ’s power and wealth. She had reached her zenith within a century and a quarter of her birth and now for three centuries she was destined to decline.
The younger brother, Hyöng, of this King Tŭk-jong, succeeded him in 1035, after a short reign of three years. He continued the work of making impregnable the defenses of the north. He built a wall from Song-ryŭng Pass in the west to the borders of the Yŭ-jin tribe in the north-east. He also built a Fortress Chă-jŭn, now Ch‘ang-sŭng. His reign beheld the riveting of Buddhistic chains upon the kingdom. Those who could read the signs of the times surmised this when, in 1036, the King decreed that, if a man had four sons, one of them must become a monk. Because of the Buddhistic canon against the spilling of blood the death penalty was commuted to banishment. Another Buddhistic anniversary was instituted. The King also inaugurated the custom of having boys go about the streets bearing Buddhistic books upon their backs from which the monks read aloud as they passed along. This was for the purpose of securing blessings for the people.
In order to counteract the tendency toward luxury, the King forbade the use of silk and gold and went so far as to burn up the whole stock of silk held by the merchants. He made a new law of primogeniture. The first son is to succeed. If he dies, the son of the first son succeedssucceeds. If there is no grandson the second son succeeds. If there is no son by the wife the son by a concubine succeeds. If there is none then a daughter succeeds. The Yŭ-jin tribe came with rich gifts and promised faithfully to refrain from raiding the frontier again. In 1047 the King was succeeded by his younger brother, Whi, posthumous title Mun-jong, who was destined to sit upon the throne for thirty-seven years. After announcing to his suzerain his accession, he followed the custom of his house and married his sister.
This monarch at first showed a blending of Buddhistic and Confucian influences, for the annals state that in his second year he fed ten thousand monks in the palace and gave them lodging there, and that shortly after this he built a Temple to Heaven before the palace. The Yŭ-jin tribe broke their promise and made a descent upon the border fortresses but were driven back; and not only so, but the Koryŭ forces followed them to their haunts and burned their villages to the ground.
In 1053 the system of taxation was overhauled and a new schedule of weights was made. The King sent a letter to Kitan complaining that the bridge across the Yalu still stood, that a wall had been built to secure it and that a horse relay system had been established, with this bridge as one of its termini. It seemed, in the words of the letter, that “Kitan was the silk-worm and Koryŭ was the mulberry leaf.” The King was anxious to attempt an embassy to China and for that purpose suggested that a boat be built on the island of Quelpart but the officials dissuaded him from the attempt.
The year 1056 was signalised by the arrival of an envoy from Japan. It is probable that the strong Buddhistic tendency which had developed in Japan had tempted the Japanese to send and secure further instruction in that cult and to secure relics and paraphernalia. The envoy may have asked that Buddhist teachers be sent, but the records say nothing to this effect.
Buddhism was making steady advances. A large quantity of metal intended for the manufacture of arms was taken by order of the King and made into nails for use in building monasteries. He took away houses from many wealthy people, among them some of his own relatives, and gave them to the monks. The law requiring that of four sons one must become a monk was now revised so as to read that one of every three should don the cowl. Nearly every house furnished its monk. The King said “From the very first our Kings have encouraged Buddhism and each generation has paid attention to the building of monasteries. By so doing many blessings have been received. Now that I have become King I find that many evils are oppressing the state because of the neglect of the important precept. I will now mend this breach in our conduct and restore to the country her former prosperity.” So he built monasteries in various places. The officials all used their influence against this but the monks carried the day. A Buddhist book called Tal-jang-gyŭng was sent by Kitan as a gift to Koryŭ.
This period was not without some hopeful signs. A law was passed that no man should be punished before being tried before three judges. The government built a fleet of a hundred and six sailing vessels to carry the government rice from one port to another. The boats made six trips a year.
But the advances, or rather retrogressions, in a Buddhistic line were still more marked. In 1065 the King’s son Ku cut his hair and became a monk. A law was promulgated that no beast should be killed in the land for three years. A monastery was being built in Song-do containing 2,800 kan, each kan being eight feet square. It took twelve years to complete it. When it became ready for occupancy there was a magnificent festival at which all monks within a radius of many miles were present. The feasting lasted five days. There was an awning of silk, covering a passage-way from the palace to this monastery. Mountains and trees were represented by lanterns massed together. The King dressed in the robes of a high priest. In this monastery was a pagoda on which 140 pounds of gold and 427 pounds of silver were lavished.
