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 wild Nap-t‘ap-chul having been so successful in their first venture,
now once more entered Koryŭ territory and as the general sent against
them was not able to check their advance Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo was appointed to
this place. The enemy was encamped in Hong-wŭn in Ham-gyŭng Province.
Gen. Yi attacked them there and routed them with a loss of 1,000 men.
Near Ham-hung they made a stand and defended themselves desperately, but
he soon had them in full flight once more. Taking 600 picked cavalrymen
he pursued them to Ch‘a-ryăng Pass and secured another victory. Only one
of the enemy fought well. This man fought aways in front of Gen. Yi. The
latter feigned flight to draw him on and then suddenly turning attacked
his pursuer and laid him low with an arrow from his unerring bow. The
women who followed the camp of the invading army came out and taunted
the men saying “You have overcome everyone but these Koryŭ people; them
you cannot conquer. You had better retreat and make for home.” The enemy
called a truce and told Gen. Yi that they had come not to attack Koryŭ
but the “Red Heads.” This was a mere ruse to save time. Gen. Yi knew
this and drawing an arrow to the head shot one of the leaders of the
enemy through the body. At last he gave orders to his archers to shoot
the horses from under the enemy. This decided the battle and the
Nap-t‘al-chul sued for peace. In recognition of these services the king
appointed him general of all the forces in the north. The general then
proceeded to annihilate all the colonies and settlements of the
obnoxious Nap-t‘ap-chul throughout the entire north, and having placed
them where they belonged, showed them that their only hope was in making
a lasting treaty with Koryŭ. This they were quite willing to do.
As the king came slowly north toward the capital the officials urged
that Song-do was too small for the capital and too near the sea to be
well protected from the Japanese corsairs. They therefore urged him to
remain for a time at Ch‘ŭng-ju, and he gave consent.
And now, strange to relate, Quelpart, at the instigation and under the
leadership of Ho-dok-ko Pul-wha, who had been stationed there three
years before to take charge of the horse-breeding industry, revolted
from the sway of Koryŭ and became at least nominally a part of the Yuan
empire.
In order to reward the soldiers who had done such good work in the north
the king levied a special tax on the people which they gave with such
poor grace that they called it the “tax without reason.”
In 1362 the emperor of China, led to it by the empress, whose seditious
relatives had forfeited their lives in Koryŭ, proclaimed one Hye, called
Prince Tok-heung, a relative of the king, as king in his place. But
Koryŭ well knew that the old time power of the Mongols was gone and so
prepared to resist the order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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