Gen. Chöng came to the conclusion that the king was a hopeless case and so he banished him to Kö-je in Island, Kyŭng-sang Province, and the Crown Prince to the island of Chin-do, and made way with a large number of the king’s relatives and hangers-on. He then put the king’s younger brother Ho on the throne. His posthumous title is Myŭng-jong. This was in 1171.
Then all the offices were filled by military officials, Gen. Im Keuk-ch’ung becoming Prime Minister. Mun Keup-kyŭm was one of the civil officials who were spared, and he now feigned to be well content with the condition of things and gave his daughter to the son of one of the generals in marriage. An envoy was sent to the Kin court saying that as the king was old and sick his brother had been given the reins of power.
One of the generals, Yi Ko, desired to effect a revolution and, gathering his friends about him, promised them high honors in case the attempt should succeed. Thereupon he took with him to a feast a number of his followers with swords hidden in their sleeves. Gen. Ch’oa Wŭn, however, suspected something and communicated his suspicions to Gen. Yi Eui-bang who managed to get Gen. Yi Ko out into the anteroom and there felled him to the ground with an iron mace and dispatched him. His followers were also seized and killed.
The emperor suspected that the deposed king had been forcibly ejected and so sent a letter severely blaming his successor. An envoy was dispatched to the Kin court to explain matters. He talked well but the emperor still suspected something and refused to answer the king’s letter. The envoy thereupon sat down and deliberately began to starve himself to death. This secured the desired answer and the envoy returned to Song-do. The emperor sent a commission to enquire into the matter. The commissioner was feasted at the capital and told that the deposed king was old and sick and had gone away to a distant part of the country and could not be produced.
The ill-will between the military and the monks was well illustrated when the palace caught fire. General Chöng saw many monks running toward the burning buildings, but rather than have them enter he locked the gates and let the buildings burn to the ground.
The remnant of the civil officers were ever on the lookout for opportunities to get the upper hand again and drive out the military party. To this end Kim Po-dang sent letters to prefects far and wide and a time for a rising was agreed upon. The banished king was put in the van of the army thus improvised and they advanced as far as Kyöng-ju. But the plan miscarried and Kim, its originator, was seized by the people and sent to Song-do where he was put to death. Before dying he exclaimed “I was in league with all the civil nobles.” This was probably not true, but it caused a fresh outbreak of the military party upon the civil nobles, and scores of them were killed. At last a reaction set in and the military leaders, feeling that they had gone too far, tried to make amends by giving their daughters to the sons of the civil officials in marriage.
At this point occurred one of the most revolting events that blot the pages of Korean history. Gen. Chöng, hearing that the banished king had come as far as Kyöng-ju sent Gen. Yi Eui-mun to put him out of the way. After the leader and two hundred members of the ex-king’s guard had been treacherously killed the ex-king himself was spirited away to a neighboring monastery. He was taken out to the brink of a pond behind this monastery and there Gen. Yi, who was a man of immense stature, seized him in his arms and crushed his ribs, killing him instantly. The body was wrapped in blankets, placed in two kettles, which were placed mouth to mouth, and thrown into the pond. When this monster, Gen. Yi, returned to Song-do he was loaded with honors. Later a monk, who was a good swimmer, raised the body and gave it decent burial.
In spite of the overwhelming power exercised by the military party, the king was devoted to Buddhism. The monks were very anxious to kill Gen. Yi, who had taken such an active part in deposing the late king; so they massed in front of the palace and set fire to it by first firing the adjoining houses. Gen. Yi made a sudden sally with a strong guard and killed a hundred of the monks. He followed this up by demolishing five monasteries whose sacred vessels and other utensils he confiscated.
Chapter V.
Rebellion quelled … cannibalism … anarchy. … “faith cure” … reformation. … Ta-na well … the Queen restored … slaves revolt … the Mongols … envoy killed. … Kin weakens. … Kitan refugees … civil strife. … Kitan driven back. … Mongol allies. … Mongols drive Kitans into Koryŭ. … Mongol savages. … Kitan remnant surrenders. … Mongol envoy … jealousy. … Mongol demands … rebels’ heads sent to Song-do. … Mongol demands tribute … brutal envoy … a new wall. … Japanese pirates. … Mongol envoy killed. … Mongol allies … driven back … prime minister duped … pirates again … a Korean “Shogun”. … Mongols cross the Yalu … a Mongol letter … the Mongols reach Song-do … leave it untaken … the “Shogun” flees … a brave prefect. … Mongol terms. … King surrenders. … Mongol residency.
Cho Wi-jong was a P‘yŭng-yang man with a towering ambition, and he now deemed the time ripe to put the wheels in motion. He therefore drew about him a strong body of troops. All the districts about P‘yŭng-yang joined him excepting Yŭn-ju, which remained loyal to the king. The people of that place were afraid of the rebel but the loyal prefect Hyŭn Tŭk-su forged a letter purporting to be from the royal army en route for P‘yŭng-yang. This gave the people courage to hold out.
Cho and his troops marched toward Song-do and encamped not far to the west of the town. Gen. Yi Eui-bang, having first seized and killed all the P‘yŭng-an officials who happened to be in the capital, marched out against the rebels. At the first attack the seditious force broke and fled. Gen. Yi chased them as far as the Ta-dong River. He crossed that river and lay siege to P‘yŭng-yang; but winter was coming on and he was obliged to retire to Song-do. Cho then made two or three attempts to overthrow the loyal town of Yŭn-ju, but without success.
Gen. Yi was a ruthless man, who had no love of humanity in him, but would kill his best friend if it served his purpose. For this reason Gen. Chöng did not dare to associate with him, but threw up his commission and went into retirement. His son got a priest to dog the footsteps of Gen. Yi and wait for a chance to kill him. This he finally accomplished and Gen. Yi and many of his relatives were killed; and the queen, who was his daughter, was driven away.
As Cho Wi-jong, the P‘yŭng-yang traitor, was gradually losing power he desired to get help from the Kin emperor. For this purpose he sent two envoys, but one of them killed the other on the way and them fled to Song-do. Cho sent another, but him the Kin emperor seized and sent a prisoner to the Koryŭ capital. In the spring the royal forces besieged Cho in P‘yŭng-yang again and famine within the walls became so great that men ate each other. Many of the towns-people came out by stealth and as they were well received by the besieging force, well-nigh all the civilians in the city came over the walls by night. When the city fell, Cho was killed and his wife and children were sent to Song-do where they were hung in the center of the city.
The rebel forces were scattered but reunited in various places and terrorized the whole north, so that envoys to the Kin court had to go a round-about way to avoid them. The whole country in fact was in a state of anarchy. In the south whole sections of the country were disaffected toward the government and bands of men roamed the country.