Chapter 50 : The North
Chapter 50: The North
In 576, Goguryeo had its fair share of good fortune.
This was because the neighboring states, especially Silla, went into chaos.
Around last year, King Jinheung of Silla, Kim Sammaekjong, created the first girl group in Korean history, ‘Wonhwa,’ centered around Silla’s most beautiful women, Nammo and Wonjeong, but it ended in a miserable failure due to discord among the members (not a rumor, but real discord).
However, Kim Sammaekjong did not give up, and this year, he launched the Korean Peninsula’s first boy group, Silla Boys, that is, the ‘Hwarang.’
In truth, young men wandering the mountains and rivers training as Hwarang already existed before, but King Jinheung seized this opportunity to institutionalize them and make them into a public boy group.
Thus, under the producing of Ach’an Kim Geochilbu, who excelled in both Buddhism and martial arts, the Hwarang soon became a collective that led hundreds of followers.
They roamed the mountains and rivers, studied Buddhism and Confucianism, and sometimes even went as far as Ulsan to scribble graffiti on the Whale Rock.
It felt like idols dragging their fan club around to study.
King Jinheung found this very satisfying.
However, that joy did not last long.
‘What did the Crown Prince… say?’
‘C-Crown Prince Dongryun passed away yesterday!’
‘W-What…!’
Crown Prince Dongryun, the eldest son of Kim Sammaekjong, died young in his early twenties.
Thus, Kim Sammaekjong fell into decline, but a king could not freely grieve.
The former king, King Beopheung, had transferred all power of Silla to the royal family of true-bones through the bone-rank system.
Through this, the leadership of Silla was composed entirely of royals, achieving a level of centralization worthy of being called the greatest of the Three Kingdoms… but this had a fatal flaw.
Each and every true-bone was a competitor for the throne.
Therefore, King Beopheung and his successor, King Jinheung, sought to strengthen the royal line through Buddhism.
By borrowing Buddhism’s sanctity, they aimed to elevate their own bloodline as the sacred bone among the true-bones.
It was in this context that the Crown Prince’s name was taken from Buddhism, ‘Dongryun,’ and that the grandson, born between Dongryun and the king’s younger sister, was given the name Baekjeong (白淨 = Suddhodana, meaning pure and clear).
But now that Crown Prince Dongryun had died, King Jinheung’s sacred bone plan was thoroughly disrupted.
Even in the pain of losing his child, King Jinheung continued to visit temples to gain the Buddhist community’s support, constantly promoting Buddhism in order to secure their aid.
In the midst of this quiet turmoil, King Jinheung’s body grew weaker day by day, and Buyeo Chang of Baekje did not miss this disorder in the Silla royal house.
“Twenty years have passed since we lost at the Battle of Gwansanseong. Now that Kim Sammaekjong is gravely ill, this is the perfect time to take revenge!”
Prince Buyeo Chang had once been very prominent.
At the Battle of Baekhapya, he even defeated a Goguryeo general in single combat and drove Goguryeo away.
But despite all Buyeo Chang’s efforts, it was not Baekje but Silla that seized the Han River, and at that time, Buyeo Chang was enraged.
“Does this make sense? We must go to war!”
“War? That’s absurd! Silla is at its peak right now, is this the time to fight? We haven’t even recovered from our war with Goguryeo!”
“Then will we just leave our old capital Wiryeseong in Silla’s hands?”
“I’m telling you, we have no chance of winning!”
“No chance? There is nothing weaker than enemies who have grown careless. I will send my younger sister into Silla to spy, lull them into complacency, and then we shall strike.”
Thus, Buyeo Chang, ignoring the opposition of his nobles, sent his younger sister into Silla and launched a surprise attack at the Battle of Gwansanseong…
As you know, the result was a disastrous defeat.
Thirty thousand soldiers were killed, four of the six highest ministers of Baekje, the 6 Dutaepyeong, were slain, and his father, King Seong, was beheaded.
Buyeo Chang, barely escaping with his life thanks to Yamato’s aid, had no effective royal authority left after leading such a ruinous war.
So much so that Buyeo Chang even had to stage a shaved-head performance before his ministers, declaring, “I won’t be king anymore! I’ll shave my head and become a monk!”—an act so desperate that even King Yeongjo of the future would have said, “That’s a bit much…”
But Silla’s tyranny did not stop there.
Barely three months after the Battle of Gwansanseong, Silla secretly thought, “Shall we destroy Baekje completely while we’re at it?” and allied with Goguryeo to attack Baekje’s Ungcheon Fortress.
Fortunately, Goguryeo’s army was not in its right mind at the time either, and when both sides are not in their right mind, the one with home advantage prevails.
Buyeo Chang managed to repel Goguryeo’s army at Ungcheon Fortress.
Gaining confidence from this victory, Buyeo Chang next rallied Banna (Daegaya) and Wa to attack Silla, but the nearly dying old man Isabu suddenly reappeared and completely smashed them all.
At this point, one might think Buyeo Chang would acknowledge he could not match Kim Sammaekjong, but he could not.
‘Even King Asin once suffered defeat after defeat against Go Damdeok, but in the end he prevailed. Why should I not be able to do the same?’
Endlessly charging forward despite repeated defeats was the very identity of the Baekje people.
One should not forget that the Buyeo clan itself originated from Goguryeo.
And now, with Kim Sammaekjong sick, it was the perfect time.
“Heaven is not without feeling, for it has taken away the dreadful Kim Sammaekjong’s heir and laid him low with illness.
But if he dies of sickness, his corpse will remain whole.
My father was beheaded, his burial unknown—how can I allow that man such a death?
Now that he is ill is the time to raise an army, cut off his head, and comfort the spirit of King Seong while reclaiming our lost lands!”
Even the nobles who always hounded Buyeo Chang with, “What are you trying to do again? Wasn’t the disaster of Gwansanseong enough?” could not oppose him when he invoked the cause of avenging King Seong.
No matter how weak Buyeo Chang’s royal authority was, Baekje was still an East Asian kingdom.
He had the power to execute any subject who dared to defy filial piety.
Thus, Buyeo Chang prepared for war with fervor, and it goes without saying that he recruited slaves skilled with the sword along the way.
So the clouds of war gathered once more between Silla and Baekje.
Thanks to this, Goguryeo could breathe easier and focus all its strength on defending against northern refugees.
Not only the situation of the Three Kingdoms, but also the current state of Western Lands was somewhat stable.
Just one year ago, in 575.
Northern Zhou, while attacking Northern Qi, reached its limits, and with the declining health of Emperor Yuwen Yong on top of that, they retreated for the time being.
But this was closer to a truce than to peace.
If my memory served me right, Northern Zhou’s renewed assault would come in 577, that is, next year, when Northern Qi would collapse.
Of course, Northern Qi had its own ideas, and it asked its ally Goguryeo for grain and military aid… but Goguryeo flatly rejected the request.
“Look at the high official, will you; how can an emperor’s hobby be ‘stripping the maids and throwing them into a scorpion pit.’”
“I’ll concede a hundred times that his hobby was bizarre, and it would be tolerable if he were competent politically, but the high official wasn’t even that.
Two years ago he had ten fortresses taken by the Southern Jin, a year ago the Northern Zhou took thirty fortresses, and he was still drinking himself silly and composing poems, wasn’t he?”
“No matter how threatening Yuwen Yong’s power might be, we cannot bury our precious soldiers far from home to help an animal like that.
If there were troops to spare to aid Northern Qi, strengthen the Goryeo border with them, and if there were grain to spare for Northern Qi, use it to absorb refugees instead.”
Yeon Jayu’s remark in particular was excellent.
“If this were the era of King Gwanggaeto, we would have struck Northern Qi before Northern Zhou, seized Upyeong and Jinyang, and taken control; what a shame.”
Others said, ‘We can’t help such a country,’ but Yeon Jayu’s tone was the opposite — he said it was a pity they couldn’t swallow such a ruined state whole, as only Yeon Jayu could.
Of course, Goguryeo was a nation that knew dignity, so they did not reply that way.
Goguryeo’s answer was roughly, ‘We would like to help, but our country is struggling a lot; instead we sent ten roots of ginseng, so at least take these and stay strong!’
“Now, Northern Qi’s life is at most about two years left; when that ends, it will come into Goguryeo.”
So, in the meantime we had to settle the northern refugee problem and finish preparations for war.
I watched the long line of carts pass by.
The headcount of this procession was roughly three thousand.
A notable point was that everyone wore hats.
‘The alssangtu outfit looks rather shabby.’
In Goguryeo, lacking simple items like shoes marked you as odd if you did not wear them, and at the same time hats doubled as rank insignia.
Commoners wore undecorated geon hats, and nobles like me wore feather-decorated jougwan.
The Head of the Nobility Council, Go San, wore a purple jougwan decorated with copper and silver instead of real feathers, a splendid shape more like a bird’s wing than a feather.
And my hat was red.
In my days as a seonin I had worn a yellow hat, but having been promoted to sohyung, I could wear a red bira cap.
And a hat indicated one’s post.
Nobles in silk hats were commanders, lower nobles in jougwan were cavalry, and commoners wearing geon or jomigwan were the foot soldiers.
Among them were soldiers armed with swords and bows, and men holding spears, but most carried axes.
They were light infantry called buwolsu (斧銊手), specialized in engineer tasks such as constructing positions rather than fighting in pitched battle, and since this operation focused more on logistics than combat, we brought the buwolsu ahead of the spear and sword units.
They drew a long string of carts requisitioned from Pyeongyang.
Inside were grains, salted dried fish, liquor, and war materials like timber and stone stacked high.
Of course my cart was mixed in.
My cart was pulled by the seeds Hosan and Ungbeom whom Yeombu had procured, and the two kept chattering away.
“Hosan, how long did you say it took to the west?”
“How many times do you ask? It’ll take at least two months.”
“Damn, so I heard correctly.”
As Ungbeom grumbled, Hosan laughed.
“Two months will pass in no time. Won’t countless gisaeng welcome us when we arrive? I’ve often dallied with women from Pyeongyang, but I’ve never had much with northern women!”
Upon hearing that, Ungbeom looked at Hosan as if he were pathetic.
“Hosan, after using the Pyeongyang gisaeng like that, are you going to waste more here? Is there any gisaeng in Pyeongyang who doesn’t know your name? Save your money.”
“I work to do that, don’t I? Ungbeom, are you missing money like a ghost? Are you going to stuff what you earn into a coffin and take it with you?”
“There are countless ghosts who died without earning money. At least there are more ghosts who died without seeing women than without money.”
“If a man meets many women, he has no regrets and won’t become a ghost.”
I roughly got a sense of their dispositions.
Hosan was a woman-chaser and Ungbeom a money-chaser.
That was not a bad thing; having a clear goal meant clear motivation.
Besides, both were excellent seeds.
According to Yeombu, they had worked in the stables when he was in office, so they too were in their way royalist-origin and had naturally been trained tougher than others.
As I watched the procession, Go San, who led it, quietly came up beside me.
“This line is long, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Really, the officials all clung on and tore their hair out. At least your charts, the cheonjuksu, and the abacus made it easier. Without those it would have taken longer.”
Go San said that with a friendly smile, which put me under some pressure.
Go San had recently appeared at the national academy and delivered an uppercut to me in person.
But at the same time he was the benefactor who had gifted me a cart and appointed me.
Politics was difficult for this reason.
The saying that there were no eternal friends or enemies meant one could be both enemy and friend.
To summarize Go San, he was a man who wanted to grip me like a sword and wield me.
Therefore he sharpened and raised me, but always wanted me to remain merely a sword.
‘…a person hard to handle.’
The one saving grace was Boknyeo’s presence.
Before coming here, Boknyeo had daily taught me all sorts of handy tips for someone like me who lacked political skill.
I did not know how helpful those tips would be, but they were better than nothing.
‘Ah, I wanted to see Boknyeo…’
She had tried to appear bright outwardly, but sometimes she woke up at night and sighed alone.
The north was a dangerous place, and I had war in mind.
I feigned ignorance of that posture and pretended to sleep.
If she wanted to appear cheerful, it was right that I let myself be deceived; the name Foolish Ondal suited me.
“Did you bring the armor and horse armor?”
“They are loaded on the cart.”
Typically Goguryeo nobles occupied heavy cavalry positions represented by the Gaema Musha.
Commanders who had graduated from the national academy usually led while wearing heavy armor, and retainers and lower nobles served as Gaema Musha on the front lines.
But now there were no heavy-armored men because the armor was too heavy to wear all the time; living permanently in heavy armor would exhaust one before battle and kill one.
Armor was something to be put on right before combat.
So what I wore then was a nubi-gabok, a quilted armor.
It was like a padded jacket between a modern puffer and a thick undershirt, stuffed not with down but with straw or hemp fiber.
Its defensive power was not bad.
It could not reliably stop a deliberately aimed thrust, but it could easily stop a blind slash or a grazing arrow.
At first glance it might feel like something that merely prevents minor injuries, but on the battlefield, minor injuries so easily turn into far greater threats.
Anyone who knows how many wounds a thin neck guard can prevent would understand what I meant.
Moreover, quilted armor could block something far harsher than arrows.
“Uuugh, it’s cold.”
I meant the cold.
The weapons that killed the most people on battlefields were not guns but plague, cold, and hunger.
In this season, if I had to discard either iron armor or quilted armor, I would throw away the iron without hesitation.
Seeing me like that, Go San laughed.
“If you call this cold, what will you do? This is like warm spring weather. I could walk around without clothes.”
Indeed, Go San wore no quilted armor, only a thick overcoat.
If I wore a padded jacket, he wore a mere coat.
But the cold tolerance of Go San, who had lived all his life in the north, and of me, who had lived in the warmer Pyeongyang, could not be the same.
I tightened my quilted armor and asked Go San.
“…By the way, won’t there be fighting?”
“Fighting?”
“Wang Jun had many soldiers yet was attacked by the Malgal.
Compared to that, we have fewer troops, and most are buwolsu, lightly armed engineers.”
Buwolsu usually wore no armor.
If ordered to do construction while wearing armor, the buwolsu would in no time turn into Hua Tuo.
Meaning they would be ready to split their officer’s skull with an axe, convinced his head was full of wind.
“…The loads we carry are heavy. If the Malgal strike now, won’t it be difficult?”
“Probably, that won’t happen.”
Go San laughed as if brushing off needless worry.
“That’s because Wang Jun didn’t know the Malgal.
Even now he probably doesn’t know who targeted him, which is why he couldn’t avenge himself.
But I at least know the village elders of the nearby Malgal.”
So then…
If the enemy did not know who I was, it would be easy to wreak havoc.
But Go San could identify the opponent.
In other words, he knew who would target us and could later send soldiers to retaliate.
“Look over there, see that Sokmal Malgal village?
It is the settlement of the Geolsa clan.
It is also where we will rest today.”
Geolsa… Could it be related to Geolsa Biu of the Sokmal Malgal who later founded Balhae with Dae Jo-young?
If I had to bet, I would say yes.
As we neared the village, countless corpses came into view.
Looking at them, Go San said,
“From their clothes, they must be people from the Western Land.
It is quite a distance from the West Division to here, and yet they have already come this far?”
The region we were in was the threshold of the northern frontier.
And yet refugees already appeared here?
The meaning was clear.
It meant there were more refugees, penetrating deeper than we expected.
Go San judged quickly.
“This has already exceeded the number of refugees that would arise naturally.
It seems that Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou deliberately drove them out.”
At his words, everyone’s expression hardened.
The Ulsan Whale Rock is a petroglyph from the Neolithic age.
It seems even the people of Silla found the carvings of Neolithic people curious, for it was treated as quite a tourist attraction.
Especially the Hwarang youths left much graffiti there.
The content ranges from mundane phrases like “So-and-so was here” to “Achieved today’s goal” or “So-and-so cooked today’s meal.”
It became a valuable source to confirm the names of Hwarang of the time.
Not only Hwarang left graffiti, but even high nobles like Galmunwang.
Most were upper class, which was natural, since traveling at that time was largely their privilege.
Recently, a middle school student carved graffiti on Whale Rock.
Though it was grave cultural property damage, it also felt oddly strange to think that Neolithic, Silla, and modern Korean graffiti all existed in one place.
Crown Prince Dongryun married his aunt, Lady Manho.
Dongryun was in his early teens, while Lady Manho was in her mid-twenties, about ten years older.
King Asin, who ascended the throne in 392, liked war but was not skilled at it.
And unfortunately, his opponent was King Gwanggaeto.
In 393, 394, and 395 he attacked Goguryeo three times and lost all three.
In 398, he canceled a war against Goguryeo because the omens were inauspicious.
In 400, he attacked Silla but was crushed again by King Gwanggaeto who came to Silla’s aid.
In 403, he attacked Silla again and lost, but in 404 he attacked Goguryeo and won for the first time.
Still, it was less conquest than regaining parts of the central region lost in earlier wars.
Overall he lost more than he gained.
Moreover, military service in Baekje grew so heavy that many fled not only to Silla, Goguryeo, and Wa, but even as far as Malgal and Eastern Jin, sharply reducing the population.
His end was unclear.
The chronicles say, “A white aura rose in the west of the palace—King Asin died.”
Afterward, succession disputes arose between the king’s brothers and the crown prince.
Thus, some believe King Asin was dethroned or assassinated.
Three months after the Battle of Gwansanseong, Goguryeo troops marched as far as the Geum River.
As Silla held the Han River then, it is a question how they came.
It is usually thought Silla and Goguryeo had a temporary alliance at this time.
Some say Goguryeo and Silla joined hands to destroy Baekje, or that Goguryeo congratulated Silla for taking the Han River.
Others argue it was a surprise Goguryeo attack despite Silla’s hold on the Han, but this raises the question of why Goguryeo would bypass Silla to strike Baekje, and whether they could return at all, making it a minority view.
From the Three Kingdoms to Joseon, the hanbok passed down without great missing links.
Compared to China’s hanfu, the greatest difference was tucked-in versus untucked.
Hanfu usually had the top tucked into the bottom, but hanbok was worn untucked.
During the Yuan and Ming, China called these untucked garments “Goryeo style,” and banned them in the Hongzhi era as corrupting Han culture.
Until late Goryeo, hanbok for both men and women was generally a long loose overcoat.
Men usually wore pants, women skirts.
Women’s fronts shortened over time, and by Joseon, became the jeogori form we know.
The Joseon scholar Lee Deokmu lamented, “Short and narrow jeogori and skirts emphasizing the hips are fashions of gisaeng, yet worldly men urge their wives to wear them; how deplorable.”
Some even joke that the origin of the underboob was Joseon.