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
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 succeeds.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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