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
Im Yun, whom the king had used as an instrument for the removal of the
obnoxious Kim Chun, did not intend to go without his reward. He began to
plan how he might become a king-maker himself. He desired to depose the
king and put another in his place who would be quite subservient to
himself. To this end he began to banish those who might oppose him in
this scheme, and at last when he had cleared the way and deemed the time
ripe, he surrounded himself with a powerful guard and called all the
officials to a council. He told them that the king desired to kill him,
but rather than die tamely he was resolved to do something desperate. He
asked them if they agreed, but no man dared to open his mouth. Then
putting on his armor he led the way to the palace and proclaimed Chang
as king. This Chang was a distant relative of the king. He also made all
the officials bow to him. The records say that this deed was accompanied
by a tremendous storm of rain in which the deposed king was driven forth
on foot. Im Yun and his lewd followers then proceeded to loot the
palace.
The parvenu Chang, at the instance of Im Yun sent an envoy to the Mongol
court saying that the king had handed over the reins of government to
him. The king’s son, who had gone but lately to the Chinese court, was
now on his way home. He arrived at night on the farther bank of the Yalu
River and was there met by a secret messenger who had crossed in the
dark to tell him that Chang had usurped the throne and that soldiers had
been stationed at Eui-ju to kill him when he arrived. So the Prince
turned and hastened back to the emperor and a letter was immediately
dispatched demanding the reinstatement of the rightful sovereign. After
two such appeals had remained unanswered the emperor threatened to send
an army to enforce the demand. The officials thereupon became afraid and
reluctantly put the rightful king back upon his throne. The emperor then
ordered both the king and the man who had deposed him to go to China in
order that the matter might be investigated. The king went but Im Yun
refused and sent his son instead. The emperor ordered the king to write
out the cause of the trouble but the latter feared that if he did so it
would make trouble for him when he went back, for Im Yun was a powerful
and unscrupulous man. He therefore told the emperor that he was troubled
with a lame hand that prevented his writing. Later however, in private,
he made the matter bare before the emperor and as a consequence Im Yun’s
son was thrown into prison. Before returning to Koryŭ the king asked the
emperor to bestow upon his son, the crown prince, the hand of one of the
Mongol princesses, to give him a Mongol escort back to Koryŭ, to place a
Mongol governor at P‘yŭng-yang and to return to the control of Koryŭ the
northern districts of the peninsula. The emperor consented to all but
the last of these requests. When the king came back to Song-do, Im Yun
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