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
Păk-je was not long in following the example of her powerful neighbor.
In the year 384 a new king ascended the throne of Păk-je. His name was
Ch’im-yu. One of his first acts was to send an envoy to China asking
that a noted monk named Mararanta be sent to Păk-je to introduce the
Buddhist ritual. We notice that this request was sent to the Emperor
Hyo-mu (Hsia-wu), the proper head of the Eastern Tsin dynasty, while
Ko-gu-ryŭ had received hers at the hands of one of those petty kings who
hung upon the skirts of the weakening dynasty and waited patiently for
its dissolution. Each of these petty states, as well as the central
government of the Tsin, was on the lookout for promising allies and such
a request as this of Păk-je could scarcely be refused. Mararanta, whose
name smacks of the south and who certainly cannot have been a Chinaman,
was sent to the Păk-je capital. He was received with open arms. His
apartments were in the palace where he soon erected a Buddhist shrine.
Ten more monks followed him and Buddhism was firmly established in this
second of the three Korean states. The greatest deference was paid to
these monks and they were addressed by the honorific title To-seung.
Sil-la received Buddhism some fifty years later.
All this time fighting was almost continuous along the Ko-gu-ryŭ-Păk-je
border. The latter stood on the defensive and found it necessary in 386
to build a line of breastworks along the border, extending from
Ch’ŭng-mok-yŭng northward to P’al-gon-sung and thence westward to the
sea. An amnesty was brought about through a happy accident. A groom who
had accidentally broken the leg of a Păk-je prince’s horse had fled to
Ko-gu-ryŭ to escape punishment. Returning now to Păk-je, he purchased
pardon by informing the king that if, in battle, the Păk-je forces
should direct their whole force against that part of the enemy’s line
where they should see a red flag flying they would surely be successful.
This turned out to be true and Păk-je was once more successful, but
followed up her success only to the extent of securing a definite
cessation of hostilities and the erection of a boundary stone at
Su-gok-sŭng to witness forever against him who should dispute the point.
But when King Ch’im-yu of Ko-gu-ryŭ died in 392 and his son Tam-dok came
into power all previous obligations were swept away and he proceeded to
reopen the wound. He attacked Păk-je fiercely and took ten of her towns.
Then he turned northward and chastised the Kŭ-ran tribe. When this was
done he came back to the charge again and seized Kwang-nu Fortress. This
was an almost inaccessible position on a high rock surrounded by the
sea, but the hardy soldiers of Ko-gu-ryŭ after twenty days of siege
found seven paths by which the wall could be reached, and they finally
took the place by a simultaneous assault at these various points. When
the court of Păk-je heard of this well-nigh impossible feat, all hope of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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