The king came to the decision that there was no possibility of ridding himself of this incubus but by sending the crown prince to China. When Gen. Cha Ra-dă heard of this he was highly pleased. Of course it would appear that he had brought about this happy result. This was in the third moon and Gen. Cha expected the arrival of the prince the following month. When he heard that he was not to start till the fourth moon he was angry; the king therefore hurried the preparations and sent the prince off in the third moon. The escort consisted of forty men, and there were three hundred horse-loads of gifts. In good time all arrived at the court of the Mongol emperor. Gen. Cha however did not enjoy his triumph, for at this very time he sickened and died. When the prince arrived at the Chinese court the emperor was away on a campaign against the Sung Empire in the south; so he announced himself to the official in charge at the capital, Song Kil. The latter asked if the king had as yet gone back to Song-do, to which the prince replied in the negative, but added that the king would go as soon as possible if the emperor demanded it. Song Kil rejoined “How can we recall the soldiers so long as the king does not leave Kang-wha?” The Prince replied “Gen. Cha said that if I came the troops would be recalled. If they are not recalled the people will have no hope except in flight.” When Song Kil heard this he countermanded an order which had been given for additional troops to be sent into the peninsula. Word was sent, instead, ordering the destruction of the palaces on Kang-wha. The order was obeyed and it is said that the fall of the buildings sounded like distant thunder. But the aged king who had suffered so many vicissitudes of fortune was not to survive this great shame, and in the summer of 1259 he passed away. Koryŭ was now without a king and the crown prince was far away in China. It was decided to form a regency to act until the return of the prince. At first it was conferred upon the second son of the deceased king but the officials, remembering that the dying king had said “Put my grandson in as regent until the prince returns”, made the change, and the crown prince’s son, Sun, became regent pending his father’s return. As the Mongol troops continued their depredations in the north an envoy was again dispatched to the emperor’s court. As the latter was still away campaigning in the south the envoy made bold to follow him up. He passed Chŭk-san and finally found the emperor at Hyŭp-ju and delivered his message. The emperor said “If you profess to be friendly with me why are you always talking about my troops being in the way? Yet since the crown prince has come to China I am willing to show you this favor”. He thereupon sent an order for the retirement of all Mongol troops from Korea.