The History of Korea (vol. 1 of 2)Hulbert, Homer B. (Homer Bezaleel)
History
The History of Korea (vol. 1 of 2)
Hulbert, Homer B. (Homer Bezaleel)
Korea -- History
As things seemed quiet now, the king made a royal progress through the
north and west, helping the poor, inspecting fortresses, supplanting
unpopular prefects; but when he got back he found his old enemy still
active, and at Un-ju he had his last great fight with him. In this
struggle three thousand of the enemy were killed and thirty-two
fortresses were taken. The year 935 A.D. is another mile-stone in Korean
history. It marks the end of a dynasty which lacked but eight years of
completing a millennium. But we must relate the events of the year in
order. Kyŭn-whŭn had many concubines and more than ten sons. Of the
latter the fourth named Keum-gang, was the one he loved the best, a boy
of robust body and great intelligence. The old man passed by his other
sons and named this one as his successor. This of course made trouble at
once. The first son, Sin-geum, led a conspiracy and the old gentleman
was seized and imprisoned in Keum-san monastery, the young Keum-gang was
put to death and Sin-geum ascended the insecure throne of his father,
now doubly insecure, since it had lost the masterly genius which of late
years had been its only support. But old Kyŭn-whŭn had not played his
last card. After three months imprisonment he succeeded in getting his
guards drunk (jolly monks those) and escaped to Ka-ju from which point
he had the colossal impudence to send a letter to Wang-gön surrendering
and asking for asylum in Koryŭ against his own son. It was granted and
soon a ship of war arrived with a high official on board to escort the
grey old wolf of the south to the Koryŭ capital, where he was received
as a guest, given a comfortable house and plenty of servants and the
revenues of Yang-ju prefecture. From that point we may believe that he
waited patiently to see the overthrow of his sons.
But these are small events compared with what followed. The king of
Sil-la determined to abdicate and hand over the remnant of his kingdom
to Wang-gön. When he broached the matter to his officials no man raised
his voice. They could not assent and they knew there was no use in
demurring. The crown prince urged his father to submit the question to
the people and to abide by their decision, but the king was determined
and so sent a letter to Song-do offering to lay his scepter at the feet
of Wang-gön. The crown prince was in despair, refused to see his father,
retired to a mountain retreat and ate coarse food as a token of his
grief. He died there of chagrin and sorrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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