The king was apparently trying to steer a middle course between Buddhism and Confucianism, for the pen of the annalist records that no animals were to be killed on the king’s birthday, and in the next stroke that wives were to be rewarded for unusual virtue, and again that the king went out of the city to meet an envoy bringing the great Buddhistic work, Tă-jang-gyŭng, from China, and still again that the first ancestral temple was erected. Well would it have been could this equilibrium have been maintained. One of the sons of Wang-gön was still living. His name was Uk. He was the author of a court scandal which illustrates the lax morals of the time. He formed a liaison with the widow of his younger brother. The king learned of it and visited his anger upon the offender by banishing him. The woman bore a son and then went forth and hanged herself on a willow tree. The nurse brought up the child and taught it the word father. One day the child was brought into the presence of the king, when it rushed forward, caught the king by the garments and cried father. The king was deeply moved and sent the child to its father in banishment. When Uk died the boy was brought back to the capital and given office. He eventually became king. In 993 the cloud in the north began to assume a threatening aspect. A feeble attempt was made to stem the march of the now powerful Kitan tribe, but without avail. The Kitan general, So Son-ryŭng, made this a _casus belli_, and, mustering a strong force, pushed down into Koryŭ territory. The king put Gen. Păk Yang-yu at the head of the Koryŭ forces and himself went with the army as far as P‘yŭng-yang. At that point news came that the enemy was going around the flank and had already taken one important fortress there. The king hurried back to Song-do. Gen. So Son-ryŭng sent a curt message saying “Ko-gu-ryŭ once belonged to Kitan. We have come to claim only our own. It remains therefore only for you to surrender and become our vassals.” In answer the king sent Yi Mong-jun to negotiate a peace on the best possible terms. Arriving at the camp of Gen. So he boldly demanded why the northern tribe had presumed to break across the boundary. Gen. So replied that the land was the property of his master and the sooner the king acknowledged it and accepted Kitan as his suzerain the better for all parties. The envoy returned to the capital and a great council of war was held. Some advised to surrender, but some said “Offer them all the territory north of the Tă-dong River as a compromise measure.” The king chose the latter alternative and began by having the people there throw into the river all grain that they could not carry away, so that it might not fall into the hands of the enemy. The Kitan general was highly pleased with this concession but his pride had a fall when, a few days later, he was defeated by the Koryŭ forces under Gen. Yu Bang. Thereupon he modified his demands to