Early in 1363 the king at last re-entered his deserted capital. A strong force was sent north to guard against the pretender and an envoy was sent to Peking to ask why there were two kings for Koryŭ. The emperor replied that the newly appointed one was the right one and that he must be received in Koryŭ. To this the envoy replied “Though you kill me and smear my blood upon my clothes I will not accompany the pretender back to Koryŭ.” The emperor praised the envoy’s bravery and did not insist upon the demand. A Koryŭ official named Kim Yong-an, whose evil deeds we have already related, now desired to kill the king and bring in the pretender. A eunuch, An To-jok, knew of the plot and on the appointed night personated the king and was killed by the assassin’s hand. The plotter was forthwith seized, drawn and quartered and his limbs were sent throughout the land as a warning to other malcontents. The emperor was urged to send the pretender as a prisoner to Koryŭ but of course he refused. Not only so, but he also ordered the king to send the royal seals to Peking. The king refused and began preparations for defense against a possible invasion. He did not have to wait long, for with the opening of the year 1364 a Mongol army 10,000 strong crossed the Yalu and besieged Eui-ju. In the fight at that point the Koryŭ forces were completely routed, though not till after great valor had been shown by Gen. An U-gyŭng against overwhelming odds. The Koryŭ forces retreated in disorder to An-ju. Panic prevailed among all the people of that section for they thought the horrors of the former Mongol invasion were about to be repeated. The king sent Gen. Ch‘oe Yŭng with a considerable force to An-ju where he made all his generals swear to stand by the colors to the last. He executed a number of fugitives as an example to the rest and soon succeeded in restoring some semblance of order in the camp. Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo was ordered with 1,000 soldiers from the northeast province to An-ju. Also generals Yi Sun, U Che, and Pak Ch‘un were ordered to the same point, and the army thus consolidated assumed large proportions, but the men were miserably dressed and fed, and the death rate was high. Desertions were of frequent occurence. Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo’s influence in the northeast is proved by the commotion that followed when he left. The remnant of the Yŭ-jin tribe, led by Sam Seun and Sam Ka seized the whole of this northeast and the people were longing for the return of Gen. Yi. These two Sams were cousins of Gen. Yi and they had fled beyond the northern border and joined the wild Yŭ-jin folk.