Ch 3 - Paekche and Silla

Guardian Protector of Silla

Kim Yu-sin, known as the "Guardian Protector of Silla," left an indelible mark on Korean history. He died at age seventy-nine, one of the most powerful men in Korea and was buried with the honor and respect given a king.

Born in 595 AD, Kim Yu-sin joined a hwarang group at the age of fifteen. At the age of eighteen, he became a Master of the Sword and a Kukson (general), the leader of a group known as Yonghwa-Hyangdo, the "Band of the Dragon Flower Tree." Kim Yu-sin left an indelible mark on Korean history. When he died, he was one of the most powerful men in Korea and was buried with the honor and respect given a king.

In 611 AD, during the reign of Silla's King Chinp'yong, an enraged and deeply shaken seventeen-year-old Kim Yu-sin witnessed troops from Koguryo and Paekche accompanied by Malgal nomad warriors close in on Silla's frontier. Determined to put an end to the disorder and driven by a burning ambition to free Silla from these invaders, he spent nearly all his free time laying plans to defeat both Koguryo and Paekche. The following year, a Koguryo spy who had infiltrated the hwarang years earlier lured Kim into a trap by suggesting the two men set out together from Kyongju to spy on the enemy. Before they had journeyed very far, Kim discovered his companion was actually a Koguryo agent. He convinced the spy they had to return to Kyongju to pick up a forgotten item before continuing on their trek. Once the two men arrived in the Silla capital, Kim immediately had the spy arrested. Bound hand and foot, the spy eventually confessed and was executed.

The following year, Sui Emperor Yang marshaled an army said to number over one million men, a force of immense proportions even for that time. The marching columns reportedly stretched for nearly 240 miles as they headed for the anchor point in Koguryo's first line of defense:  the Liaodong Fortress near modern Liaoyang. Well-trained and fully prepared for a fight, the men behind the fortress walls defended the Liaodong Fortress in strength for several months, effectively stopping further Chinese advances in the region. Impatient with the delay, in the spring of that year Yang Di ordered some 300,000 troops, nearly one third of his entire force, to break off their engagement and strike directly at Koguryo's capital in Pyongyang. China soon discovered it faced a far stronger kingdom than the ancient kingdom of Choson overrun by the Han emperor Wu Di in 108 BC.

The massive Chinese army advanced rapidly, moving southeast across the Yalu River and halting beneath the walls of Pyongyang. Koguryo's General Ulchi Mundok, a skilled military tactician, accurately foresaw the possibility of an attack against Pyongyang. Confident of his soldier's ability to defend the capital city, he carefully made plans to deal with an eventual Chinese retreat. He marshaled his troops in the area north of Pyongyang along the Chongchon River to await the Sui army. Unable to take the city from its fierce defenders, the frustrated Chinese withdrew. On their fateful march northwest back to Liaodong, the entire Sui army walked headlong into a carefully laid and deadly ambush. In the calamitous battle that followed, General Ulchi's warriors mauled the Chinese with such sustained savagery that, according to Chinese annals, only 2,700 of the original force of 300,000 soldiers survived to make their way back to China. News of the disaster at the Chongchon River compelled Yang Di to lift the siege of the Liaodong Fortress and withdraw his entire force back into China proper. Between 612 and 614 AD, Emperor Yang sent a number of smaller armies against Koguryo, but Koguryo's battle prowess ended each expedition in the same disastrous manner.

The expense of these ruinous and bloody military campaigns against Koguryo seriously tarnished the prestige of the Sui Dynasty. Beginning in 613 AD, serious revolts broke out in China that not only handicapped Yang Di's Korean campaigns, but threatened the very survival of the Sui Dynasty itself. The endless wars and the tremendous demands for labor to construct canals, defensive walls, and palaces alienated many of the Chinese people. The Eastern Tujue, who had earlier acknowledged China's suzerainty, took advantage of the disarray in China.

Li Shimin, a general of mixed Chinese-nomad blood from northern Shanxi Province, led his armies in a wild free-for-all battle against Yang Di in 615 AD, for the dominance of China. Emperor Yang fled to his summer palace in Jiangdu the following year. Sui army general Li Yuan, who had been slowly gaining power through his military operations under the Sui Dynasty, captured the capital city of Daxingcheng in the summer of 617 AD. The following spring, as the war-weakened Sui Dynasty crumbled around him, Yang Di was assassinated in his summer palace by one of his own aides. Less than two months after Yang Di's murder, Li Shimin inaugurated the new Tang Dynasty and placed his father, Li Yuan, on the Celestial Throne in Changan.

The second of the emperor's three sons, Li Shimin's ambitions were not satisfied by the creation of a new dynasty. Eight years into his father's reign, he cleared the path to the throne by eliminating other possible heirs. In 626 AD, he brazenly ambushed his two brothers, Li Yuanji and Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, at the Xuanwu Gate to the palace and murdered both men. Just two months later he forced his father to abdicate the throne. With the reigns of power firmly in his grasp, Li Shimin ruled the Tang Dynasty in his own name for the next twenty-three years as Emperor Tai Zong, the "Great Ancestor." He further expanded the Chinese empire along its western front by defeating the Turks, introduced a more-balanced court system to equalize the powers of the different Tang regions, and adopted the Sui examination system of testing knowledge in literature and culture when acquiring new government officials. His reign marked the first great high point of the Tang Dynasty, a golden age of the Chinese Empire that lasted nearly three centuries.

King Yongnyu of Koguryo opened his early relations with the new Tang Dynasty on a friendly note by ordering the repatriation of thousands of Chinese soldiers taken prisoner during campaigns against the Sui Dynasty. In addition, he accepted investiture from Emperor Tai Zong and accepted the Tang calendar as a symbol of Koguryo's tributary status. Yongnyu even sent his son, the crown prince, to enter the Confucian academy in the Tang capital. Despite his friendly relations with Tang China however, King Yongnyu had no illusions about the potential for a future disaster emerging beyond his northern frontier. He soon embarked on a ten year program to strengthen his defenses centered on the construction of a massive and elaborately fortified defensive wall that stretched for nearly 250 miles along the Liao River.

Kim Yu-sin advanced in stature as a member of the Silla military. He was a garrison commander in 629 AD, serving under his father, General Sohyun, Commander of the Silla Army, when Silla battled Koguryo for control of the Nangbi Castle. Silla troops suffered one defeat after another in the battle, taking such heavy casualties they soon lost their will to continue the fight. Kim went before General Sohyun with his helmet in his arms and said, "They've defeated us. But throughout my life I have been guided by loyalty and filial piety. In the face of battle one must be courageous." Mounting his horse and drawing his double-edged sword, Kim leapt across a ditch and rode headlong into the fight. After battling his way deep into enemy ranks, he succeeded in beheading the Koguryo general. Kim returned to his father's camp with the general's head held high as a proud trophy. Silla troops were shocked into action and immediately took advantage of Kim's stunning victory. They ravaged Koguryo's warriors, taking over five thousand heads and over one thousand prisoners. The terrified occupants of the besieged Nangbi Castle and the nearby city came out and surrendered.

The outcome of any battle for ruling power in an authoritarian government produces but one winner - everyone else loses. Perhaps the most significant among the many social and political changes that occurred in Korea during the seventh century occurred with the growth of the king's authority in Silla. The increased dominance of the Silla throne came at the expense of the king's key rivals for power, the aristocratic families. Throughout Silla's early history, the throne had been occupied by rulers chosen from the Kim clan, a "hallowed-bone" lineage considered the highest social rank in the kingdom and from which all kings were chosen. That particular lineage ended however, with the passing of King Chinp'yong, who died without leaving a male heir. He chose his daughter to rule as Sondok Yowang, Queen Sondok, an act that marked a major departure from the practice of China's male-dominated hierarchy. Since males had dominated Korean monarchies for centuries, the selection of a woman to rule the kingdom would seem quite out of place, but women held a relatively high status in Silla and already had a certain degree of political influence as advisers, queen dowagers, and regents.

Queen Sondok displayed an unusually quick mind early in life and her intelligence greatly enhanced her ability to rule. The young woman took the throne in 632 as Silla's twenty-seventh monarch, the first of only three women to rule the Kingdom of Silla. Although her fifteen year reign was marked by violent, almost continuous rebellions and fighting with the neighboring kingdoms of Koguryo and Paekche, she used her intelligence and wit to advantage and kept the kingdom together. She quickly established good relations with Tang China and introduced many Chinese customs in her court, including new fashions and dress styles, cultural innovations currently popular in China, and improvements in technology. Queen Sondok had a passionate interest in astronomy and presided over the construction of the Ch'omsongdae, the "Tower of the Moon and Stars." Built in the capital city of Kyongju in 634, it is considered the first astronomical observatory in East Asia and one of the oldest structures left from the Silla period.

Drawn to Buddhism at an early age, Queen Sondok not only patroned Confucianism and shamanism, she astutely supported the state religion of Buddhism. She sent students and scholars to Chinese universities to study the religion, which not only helped extend Silla's ties with Tang China, but led to a resurgence of Buddhism in Silla. Monks returning to Silla from China encouraged the study of Buddhism at home. Queen Sondok supported their efforts by building new schools and ordering the completion of the Buddhist temples at Punhwangsa and Yongmyosa. The famous nine-tiered pagoda of Hwanguyongsa was built in her reign. She also personally sponsored and supported Hwarang-do, the "way of flowering youth," and sent many of the Hwarang warriors on expeditions to China to learn Chinese war tactics. Had it not been for the remarkable achievements of these young men, Tang China might have succeeded in conquering Silla in later years.

Protected from external threats, Koguryo began to suffer the chronic bane of all Asian monarchies, the internal threat from friction within the ruling class. As the frontier wall neared completion, an internal split developed within the Koguryo aristocracy that prompted a coup d'état in 642. Yon Kaesomun, a domineering military officer in charge of constructing fortifications along the Liao River, emerged victorious in the bloody grab for power that resulted in the wholesale slaughter of all opposition, including King Yongnyu. Assuming the position of a military dictator, Yon Kaesomun soon dominated the Koguryo government. His absolute political control of the kingdom and his aggressive foreign relations policies had the immediate effect of setting Koguryo on a collision course with both Tang China and Silla.

The predominant history of relations among Korea's Three Kingdoms and China reflects a state of almost constant conflict and warfare. While Koguryo was immersed in bloody skirmishes with Tang China, King Uija of Paekche took the opportunity to mount an offensive of his own. Early in 642, Paekche warriors captured some forty major strongholds in the continually contested fortified region along the Silla-Paekche frontier, including the Taeya Fortress near modern Hapch'on. They mounted such strong pressure against Silla that Queen Sondok abandoned the area and pulled Silla's defensive line further east across the Naktong River.

The mounting pressure from Paekche infuriated Kim Ch'un-ch'u, a Superior Minister of the Silla government. Faced with few alternatives, Kim Ch'un-ch'u readied a special diplomatic mission to travel to Pyongyang to request troops from Silla's northern enemy, Koguryo. Before he left, Kim spoke with his close friend, Kim Yu-sin. After the two men swore a blood-brother oath to each other, Kim Yu-sin said, "If you go, but do not return, then the hoofs of my horse will surely trot on the courts of Koguryo and Paekche." Kim Ch'un-ch'u let his friend know that if he did not return within sixty days they would never see each other again.

Kim Ch'un-ch'u was a handsome man with the agreeable smile and manner of a seasoned diplomat. It gave him little advantage however, in his first and only meeting with Koguryo's ruler, Yon Kaesomun. After listening to Kim make his case for Koguryo assistance against Paekche, Yon Kaesomun boldly demanded that Silla give up its dominion over the Han River basin as the price to be paid for his help. Kim had no authority to even consider such a request and the meeting ended with Yon Kaesomun rejecting Silla's request out of hand. Kim Ch'un-ch'u was then jailed for later execution.

Sixty days passed and Kim Ch'un-ch'u had still not returned to Kyongju. True to his word, Kim Yu-sin chose and trained an expeditionary force of 3,000 Silla warriors, ready and eager to march on Pyongyang. Before Queen Sondok could decide on a date for Kim Yu-sin to leave, Yon Kaesomun learned through a spy just who it was he had in his jail and what Silla was planning to do about it and released Kim Ch'un-ch'u from prison. Not long after his release, Kim Ch'un-ch'u traveled to the Tang court in Changan to seek Chinese military assistance. Emperor Tai Zong responded favorably to the request for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was Koguryo's newly finished defensive wall along the Liao River and its blockade of the overland routes traveled by tribute missions from Paekche and Silla. The resulting Tang-Silla alliance meant that Queen Sondok now had an ally at Paekche's back.

In an effort to help mediate a negotiated end to the continuing disputes among Koguryo, Silla, and Paekche, the Tang court sent its envoys to Pyongyang as part of their regular tributary exchange of relations with Koguryo. Yon Kaesomun defiantly rejected the Tang envoys' assistance. His aggressive temperament not only fanned a rising anger in China, it opened the possibility of a second front against Koguryo. That possibility became reality in 645, when Emperor Tai Zong dispatched a massive army in a large-scale invasion that swept across the Liao River into Koguryo. Five hundred ships sailed from the port of Donglai on the Shandong Peninsula carrying a nearly equal-sized force. Chinese troops eventually overran numerous towns in Koguryo and laid siege to the mighty Liaodong Fortress, which they promptly reduced to rubble along with a number of other fortresses in the area.

The An-shih Fortress, a minor link in Koguryo's line of defensive strongholds stood defiantly in the hills overlooking the Yinma River near the modern city of Jiutai, Manchuria. Under the inspired command of Yang Man-ch'un, An-shih held firm despite repeated attempts to breach the fortress walls. For over sixty days, the stubborn defenders at An-shih withstood a fierce siege by the Tang army, fighting off as many as six or seven assaults by the entire Chinese force in a single day. As fall turned to winter and with icy winds sweeping out of northern Manchuria, the Chinese finally withdrew from the battlefield taking thousands of prisoners with them back to China proper. The battle for An-shih represented a massive defeat for Emperor Tai Zong.

Koguryo's victories over the invading armies of the Sui and Tang dynasties hold a special place in Korea's history because they highlight the peninsula's resistance to foreign aggression. Had the Tang army defeated Koguryo, it would have been but a small part of China's grand imperial design to dominate all of East Asia. Had Korea been less mountainous it might have suffered Manchuria's fate and been absorbed into the expanding Chinese empire. Such a conquest would have opened the floodgates onto the peninsula and led to Chinese subjugation of both Paekche and Silla. That never happened. Instead, the Liao River valley frontier defense line held firm and Koguryo held on to its independence.

Ever the devoted military man, Kim Yu-sin was promoted to general and made commander of the Silla army in 645. After winning a major battle with Paekche and while on his way home, General Kim received information that another large Paekche army was ready to attack. Without even visiting his wife and children, he mounted his horse, turned his army around and marched against the Paekche army and sent it running. Returning to the palace in Kyongju, he reported his successes to Queen Sondok, but before he had time to go home, he received an urgent message that Paekche troops were crossing the Silla frontier. Once again, Kim Yu-sin did not go home, but spent his time training his troops, improving their weapons and marching out to meet the enemy. When General Kim's army reached the frontier, the Paekche force halted its advance and withdrew. Queen Sondok rejoiced at the news and granted Kim Yu-sin a title and a large reward .

Like her father, Queen Sondok died without leaving an heir. She was immediately succeeded on the Silla throne in 647, by her cousin who ruled as Queen Chindok. Silla's new queen carried on the alliance with China, emphasizing the organization, literary culture and dress of the Tang Dynasty. She even adopted the use of a Chinese calendar. Silla's close ties with China did not sit well with everyone in the kingdom and Queen Chindok dealt with a number of local rebellions against her pro-Chinese policy. It is arguable that Silla's relationship with China actually provided the growing kingdom with enough breathing room to strengthen itself in the face of its enemies. Still, without regard to the sophistication of the court or the strength of its military, Silla remained a land of small villages where farmers went into the fields every day to tend their crops. Silla's economic foundation rested upon agriculture, just as it would be for all Korea well into the twentieth century.

Queen Chindok reigned less than seven years, passing in 654 without an heir to the throne. There would be no smooth transition this time. A long-standing battle between the aristocracy and royalty over the matter of ruling power erupted within Silla's Council of Nobles. Silla's famed general Kim Yu-sin brought his own power to bear in helping to suppress a pair of open rebellions in the court. The uprising in Silla's Council of Nobles finally ended with the selection of the noted diplomatic envoy (and Kim Yu-sin's blood-brother and closest friend) Kim Ch'un-ch'u as Silla's next ruler, King Muyol.

For nearly seven hundred years, Silla tradition required that both the king's mother and his queen come from the former royal house of Pak. Kim Ch'un-ch'u's mother, although the daughter of a former king, descended from the royal house of Kim. Furthermore, Kim Ch'un-ch'u already had a wife and children before he took the throne. General Kim Yu-sin knew this, yet he also knew that a family tie to the crown would greatly improve his own status.

The general arranged a private liaison between his younger sister Munhi and Kim Ch'un-ch'u, the soon to be king and quickly exploited the situation to force a marriage, thereby making his sister the new queen of Silla . To cement his tie to the throne, after Kim Yu-sin's wife died he married Kim Ch'un-ch'u's sister, tying the two families even closer. From then on, General Kim's Kaya royal lineage was called the "new house of Kim." Kim Ch'un-ch'u's rise to power changed Silla's age-old tradition of selecting a successor to the throne so that only one royal lineage would be the source of ruling power in the country.

Tang China's failed military campaign against Koguryo in 645 did not diminish its interest in the Korean kingdom, and the Chinese launched three more unsuccessful assaults against Koguryo in 647, 648, and 655. China's military commanders decided to change tactics and flank Koguryo by first conquering Paekche, then attacking the kingdom in a north-south pincer movement. By the time Chinese troops landed at the mouth of the Kum River, General Kim Yu-sin, the Guardian Protector of Silla, had already marched his troops through T'anhyon Pass east of Taejon, driving eastward in a coordinated assault against Paekche.