Ch 3 - Paekche and Silla

Ride the Whirlwind

In 600 AD, the allied forces of Tang China and the Kingdom of Silla launched military campaigns against the kingdoms of Paekche and Koguryo. After the fall of Koguryo in 668 AD, Silla discovered that Tang China was treating it no differently than it had been treated by Paekche and Koguryo and defeated its former ally to assume dominance over the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Emperor Gao Zong, the "High Ancestor," concluded an alliance with Silla not to assist Silla in its conflict with Paekche and Koguryo, but to bring the entire peninsula under imperial control of the Tang Dynasty. The alliance merely provided a convenient method for China to get its foot on the peninsula without having to fight everyone in sight. The Tang emperor ordered a force of thirty-five armies into Korea in the spring of 660 AD, intending to first defeat the Kingdom of Paekche in alliance with Silla, then turn north against the Kingdom of Koguryo. The large invasion fleet that crossed the Yellow Sea from China carried nearly 123,000 crack Chinese troops under the command of Left Tiger Guard General Su Dingfang, fresh from his victory over the Tujue three years earlier, and General Liu Boying. The Chinese sailed toward a rendezvous with Silla's large army, which had already established a major encampment at Namch'on.

The Chinese fleet dropped anchor near the mouth of the Kum River, and sent a messenger to the Silla camp to announce their arrival. King Muyol ordered Crown Prince Pommin and his senior officers, including General Kim Yu-sin, to meet with the Chinese to coordinate the impending assault on Paekche. General Su Dingfang told Crown Prince Pommin that Chinese forces would move into Paekche by the lower reaches of the Kum River while Silla moved in from the east, and "We will meet at the walls of Sabi, Paekche's capital, on the tenth of the seventh month." The Chinese force landed near Ibolp'o, laying willow rush matting across the wide expanse of thick coastal mud that blocked their approach. In the east, King Muyol and Crown Prince Pommin moved their army to a forward encampment at Sara.

Paekche's King Uija had long ignored his senior officials' advice regarding matters of defense. Now under severe pressure from a two-pronged assault against his kingdom, King Uija moved too little and too late. In sheer desperation, he ordered a small detachment of warriors to block Silla's advance from the east while he and his retinue fled north to Ungjin near modern Kongju to seek refuge.

Three large armies pushed eastward into the area around Hwangsan near modern Yonsan led by General P'umil, General Kim Humch'un and General Kim Yu-sin. General P'umil's son, Kwanch'ang, was a handsome sixteen year old whose horsemanship and archery skills brought him to the attention of King Muyol. Appointed an adjunct general under his father's command, Kwanch'ang rode into battle against General Kyebaek's troops on the plain at Hwangsan. Carrying his lance, the young warrior galloped into the Paekche lines and killed a number of men before he was outnumbered and captured. His captors, recognizing the high-ranking battle crest on Kwanch'ang's helmet, took him before General Kyebaek. After removing the young warrior's helmet, General Kyebaek was stunned that such a valorous fighter was so young and, reminded of his own son, could not bring himself to kill him, the usual fate of captured officers. He released Kwanch'ang, who quickly returned to Silla's battle line.

Returning to his father, Kwanch'ang urgently asked to be sent back into battle at the head of his men. General P'umil agreed. Kwanch'ang remounted his horse and rushed into the Paekche lines for a second time. Near the end of the day-long battle, Kwanch'ang was again captured alive and disarmed. He broke loose, killed his two guards by hand, then attacked General Kyebaek's second in command. With a leaping, spinning heel kick, Kwanch'ang killed the officer as he sat on his horse. Finally subdued, the young warrior was again taken before General Kyebaek. Greatly distressed over the loss of his chief commander, the general was no longer in a forgiving mood and ordered Kwanch'ang beheaded. He sent the young boy's head back to the Silla lines tied to the saddle of his war horse.

General P'umil, taking his son's head in his hands, wiped off the blood with his sleeve. "My son's face is as when he was alive," he shouted to his men. "He was able to die in the service of the king. There is nothing to regret." The battle had not gone well for Silla during the early fighting, but General P'umil's actions deeply strengthened their resolve to win. Under the hot summer sun of early July 660 AD, three Silla armies beat their drums, shouted war cries, and charged headlong into the enemy lines. In a brief but violent engagement at Hwangsan near modern Yonsan, Silla warriors mauled the badly outnumbered Paekche soldiers. King Muyol conferred a posthumous social rank on Kwanch'ang, buried him with full rites, and sent thirty rolls each of Chinese silk and cotton and one hundred sacks of grain for his funeral expenses. Many of Silla's legendary hwarang warriors earned their reputations during the Tang-Silla campaign against Paekche.

The fighting had gone on several days longer than expected, and one of Silla's commanders arrived late for a meeting with the Chinese general. General Su Dingfang angrily wanted to punish the commander for his late arrival and disobedience and ordered the man's execution. General Kim Yu-sin learned of the execution order when he met with General Su to report the news of his victories. Suspicious that China's real intentions were to first take Paekche and then attack Silla, in a sudden burst of anger, General Kim ripped his sword from its scabbard and threatened to fight the Tang army first then defeat Paekche. The sudden outburst stunned the Chinese commander, who quickly apologized to General Kim and rescinded his execution order.

The Silla and Tang armies linked up shortly afterwards and swept unimpeded toward the capital at Sabi. Paekche forces made their last stand at the Pusosansong Fortress, located on a steep hill near Sabi. According to legend, some 3,000 women of the Paekche court committed mass suicide by leaping from Nak'waam Rock, the "Rock of Falling Flowers," into the Paengma River below rather than allowing themselves to be captured.

The uneasy alliance between Tang China and Silla held firm during the conquest of Paekche, but Silla spies among the Tang armies encamped on the hills surrounding Sabi soon learned of Chinese plans to invade Silla. King Muyol gathered his generals and ministers to develop a strategy for dealing with this potential disaster. Lord Tami suggested that Silla men dress as Paekche warriors and act as if they are going to rebel. The Tang army would certainly strike out at such a development and give Silla an excuse to attack the Chinese. General Kim Yu-sin agreed with the proposal and asked the king for approval to proceed. Chinese spies soon learned of the plan, however. General Su Dingfang offered all the conquered Paekche territory as maintenance lands to General Kim Yu-sin and two other high ranking Silla officers "as reward for your merit." General Kim refused the offer.

In early September, General Su Dingfang took King Uija, ninety-three ministers, and twenty thousand soldiers as prisoners, and set sail for China, leaving General Liu Renyuan in Paekche to command an occupation army. After presenting his prisoners, General Su received words of commendation and indebtedness from Emperor Gao Zong, who also asked why he had not followed through with an attack on Silla. The general replied that, although Silla was indeed a small kingdom, its king was a very wise man and its generals were fierce and loyal fighters. He repeated the incident with General Kim Yu-sin and told the emperor that China could not successfully plot against them.

In Silla, King Munmu addressed his ministers in praise of General Kim Yu-sin's exploits on the battlefield leading to the destruction of Paekche. Noting that General Kim's grandfather was the Minister-President Murouk, he praised Kim for leading the successful counterattack against Paekche, capturing King Uija, four of his ministers and numerous soldiers. After recognizing that Kim's father, General Sohyon, chief commander of Silla's army, had successfully fought Paekche many times, King Munmu praised General Kim as a great servant of the state - "a general on the outside, a statesman on the inside." He awarded Kim the prestigious title to the highest office in Silla, that of Great Minister-President, Sink'ú-ibulch'ihan, along with a fief of some five hundred families and the right to enter the palace at any time. Each of Kim's subordinate officers also received a title.

The following year, in 661 AD, General Su Dingfang withdrew the main body of his land army from the mouth of the Kum River and sailed his fleet north to the Taedong River to launch a frontal attack against Koguryo's capital in Pyongyang. Koguryo armies under Yon Kaesomun stiffly resisted the Chinese and, with a bit of help from a fierce winter blizzard, forced them to withdraw.

Despite the surrender of its throne, Paekche died neither quietly nor willingly. A small defiant group led by King Uija's nephew, Poksin, and a Buddhist monk named Toch'im devised plans to restore the Paekche throne. They recruited an armed force from Churyu-song near modern Hansan and led their small band of rebels in numerous attacks against Silla and Tang troops in the Kum River basin. They even brought Paekche's Prince P'ung back from Japan and placed him on the "restored throne." Paekche rebels continually harassed Tang military garrisons in the area, successfully laid siege to the cities of Sabi and Ungjin, and recaptured over two hundred strongholds in furious battles throughout the region. They and occasionally defeated the Tang and Silla armies sent to suppress them.

The Paekche restoration movement had strong popular support, but it lacked cohesive leadership at the top and internal dissension soon tore it apart. Poksin cruelly murdered Toch'im and Prince P'ung ordered Poksin's execution. Desperate for help, Prince P'ung sent envoys to both Koguryo and Japan to get troops to fight the Tang-Silla invaders. One of his brothers, Prince Yung, who had earlier been taken to the Tang capital at Changan as a prisoner, returned to Paekche as a guide for a fleet of Chinese warships and supply ships.

The Chinese sailed south from the Ungjin River to link up with Silla forces camped near the mouth of the Kum River. As they arrived, the Chinese unexpectedly encountered a vast number of Japanese ships anchored near the river mouth. In the surprise naval battle that followed, the Tang-Silla force won a great victory, claiming to have sunk or destroyed some 400 Japanese ships. The disastrous loss of Japanese reinforcements broke the Paekche restoration movement. The combined armies of Silla and China took quick advantage of Paekche's internal conflict and seized the rebel stronghold at Hansan. With its leadership gone and no possibility of outside help, remnants of rebel units surrendered one after another. The three-year struggle to restore Paekche ended with the capture of the last rebel fortress at Imjon-song near modern Taehung.

Throughout its seven hundred year existence, Koguryo fought the Chinese Han, Sui and Tang dynasties all along its western and northern frontiers. Koguryo's population of 3.5 million people and its 176 walled cities sustained massive invasions and fought off the best the Chinese could offer for nearly 70 years, a feat unmatched by any other Korean state. Chinese legions assailed Koguryo four times during his twelve year campaign against the peninsula, all to no avail. Along its southern frontier, Koguryo battled the two rival kingdoms of Silla and Paekche. Now, with a family feud tearing it apart from the inside, Koguryo plunged headlong toward impending doom. Neither Tang China nor Silla, each for its own reasons, was willing to let such a golden opportunity slip through its hands.

Years of almost continuous warfare and the disaffection created by Yon Kaesomun's dictatorial rule generated deeply felt internal dissention in Koguryo. A serious alienation of loyalties developed within Koguryo's ruling elite that weakened the kingdom's power to resist external aggression. The festering turmoil erupted into open conflict during the summer of 666 AD, following Yon Kaesomun's death. The contentious beliefs held by Yon's two sons, Namgon and Namsaeng, and his younger brother Yon Chongt'o quickly developed into a major power struggle within the aristocracy. Namgon gained the upper hand and forced his older brother to flee the city. Namsaeng, still hopeful of one day returning to power, fled to the old capital at Kungnae-song and surrendered to the Tang armies garrisoned there. Yon Chongt'o defected to Silla.

In 667 AD, Tang Emperor Gao Zong appointed General Li Ji, the Duke of Ying, to marshal an army to attack Koguryo and sent a request to Silla for military assistance. King Munmu appointed Humsun, Kim Yu-sin's younger brother, and Kim Inmun, the son of Kim Yu-sin's sister, as generals to command the army against Koguryo. General Humsun was reluctant to fight without his famous older brother on the battlefield, but the king reminded him that keeping General Kim Yu-sin in reserve to defend against a possible Chinese attack would be "as if there is a great hidden wall" to protect the country. Silla launched its major offensive against Koguryo from the south under the command of General Kim Inmun. Although severely weakened by internal factionalism, Koguryo still managed to hold out for another year. In late autumn of 668 AD however, the Tang-Silla forces settled down for a month-long siege against the capital at Pyongyang. Trapped between two powerful allied armies that practically destroyed the city, Koguryo finally succumbed that winter. In light of its many past failures trying to conquer Koguryo, the fall of Koguryo was seen as an epic Chinese victory.

Nearly simultaneous with the collapse of Koguryo, Tang China moved to establish administrative control over the entire Korean peninsula. Emperor Gao Zong created the "Protectorate-General to Pacify the East" within the ruins of Pyongyang and established nine additional commanderies to govern Koguryo's former domain. It extended its jurisdiction over Paekche by establishing commanderies in each of Paekche's five provinces and creating the Great Commandery of Kyerim as a mechanism to control the Kingdom of Silla. King Munmu and the Silla court came to stark realization that Tang China was treating it no differently than it had been treated by Paekche and Koguryo.

The Chinese did not want to appear offensive to local residents, so they disguised the reality of their actions by appointing local rulers as governors in each of the commandery districts. They installed Prince Yung in Ungjin as territorial administrator of the former Kingdom of Paekche and appointed King Munmu as Governor-General of Kyerim to administer his own kingdom from Kumsong (modern Kyongju). Real control however, rested in the hands of General Liu Renyuan and the Tang Chinese army. Emperor Gao Zong never intended to win over the people of Korea, he real intent was to bring the entire Korean Peninsula under Chinese imperial control.

Unwilling to accept Chinese dominance, Silla launched a fresh campaign to assert its own dominance over the former Koguryo domain. Proving to be Koreans above all else, scattered remnants of Koguryo soldiers joined forces with Silla warriors to attack and destroy the token Chinese commandery garrisons. Silla sent its armies into the former kingdom of Paekche and defeated General Liu Renyuan's occupation armies in numerous battles. During one such engagement, General Kim Yu-sin ordered one of his generals to command what would certainly be a suicide attack against a large Chinese force. The officer accepted the order as a great honor and requested that General Kim watch over his only son to prevent him from following his father into battle. General Kim assured him that he would do so. The general rode into the fight and was quickly killed. Having witnessed his father's death at the hands of the Chinese, the young man broke free, mounted his horse and rode into battle. He too, died fighting. Almost immediately the slain general's house manager and personal servant mounted up and rode into battle, only to be killed. The entire Silla army witnessed this incredible act of loyalty. Swept with a wave of sympathy for this act of sacrifice, General Kim's army charged into battle to avenge the death of a general's entire family.

Silla retook the Pusosansong Fortress at Sabi in 671 AD, and regained control over the entire former territory of Paekche. China retaliated by sending a fresh army to punish the upstart kingdom, but after five years of raging combat Silla badly mauled the Chinese and succeeded in pushing them north of the Taedong River. Faced with stiff resistance in Korea, China relocated its office of the Protectorate-General to Pacify the East from Pyongyang to the city of Liaodongcheng near modern Liaoyang just south of Mukden, Manchuria, in effect recognizing Silla's hegemony over the Korean Peninsula. China gave up its drive for outright military subjugation of Korea and negotiated a truce line with Silla that extended roughly along the Taedong River across the peninsula to the Bay of Wonsan on the east coast. Whether intended or not, the truce line effectively recognized Silla's claim to political dominance over the entire peninsula.

General Kim Yu-sin, the Guardian Protector of Silla, died quietly in bed in the main room of his own home in the summer of 673 AD. The seventy-nine year old warrior was given a royal funeral, paid for by the king at a cost of one thousand rolls of colored silk and two thousand sacks of rice. King Munmu ordered guards to watch over his tomb at Kumsanwon. Years later, during the reign of King Hungdok (826-836), Kim Yu-sin was awarded the posthumous title of Great King Hungmu, Hungmu Taewang, Great King promoting the warlike.

Beginning in 681, King Sinmun took firm control of the Silla throne and brought the process of strengthening the power of the crown to a decisive stage. In the very first year of his reign, Sinmun took advantage of an abortive coup led by his first queen's father and, in an act of extraordinary boldness, ordered a purge of virtually everyone implicated, including a number of members of the Council of Nobles. After eliminating the potential threat to his rule, Sinmun set out to secure his crown by accelerating the restructuring the military and political institutions he depended upon for the exercise of royal power.

The most significant military units operating in Silla before unification were the "six garrisons," yukchong, commanded by the aristocracy in a manner reflective of earlier tribal traditions. These were gradually replaced after unification with a new national army stationed in Kumsong comprised of nine "oath bannermen" divisions, sodang. Silla's new army, believed to have been all-volunteer, drew recruits from the native Silla population, the former residents of Koguryo and Paekche, and from Malgal tribesmen. Each man took an oath of personal loyalty to the king and wore a tunic bearing the distinctive color of his division;  yellow, red, scarlet, purple, cobalt, blue, green, black, or white.

Complementing the nine divisions based in Kumsong, Unified Silla maintained an army garrison in each of its ten administrative districts. The "ten garrisons," sip chong, were uniformly distributed throughout the domain to not only defend the kingdom, but to deal with matters of internal security. the two most important garrisons defended Hanju Province from fortresses located at modern Ich'on and Yoju in west-central Korea, the key frontier region of the kingdom. The other eight garrisons were located at modern Sangju, Ch'ongyang, Namwon, Talsong, Haman, Naju, Hongch'on, and Ch'ongsong. Unified Silla's military organization reflected not only Unified Silla's centralized government, but the dominance of the throne.

Although Silla unified the peninsula only as far north as the Taedong River, there is great historical importance to what happened here. China's ambition to conquer not only Koguryo, but Paekche and Silla, threatened Korea no less severely than had the creation of the Four Han Chinese Commanderies nearly seven hundred years earlier. Silla's warriors preserved Korean independence by repulsing the Tang emperor's aggression with armed force. Silla not only resisted the Tang Chinese militarily, but actually held on to its independence from China. While Koreans may admire Koguryo for its strength and Paekche for its refinement, Silla alone seems to have been truly Korean. It was this territory, these people, and the society and the culture they fashioned for themselves in Unified Silla that became the foundation for the future independent development of society and culture in a unified nation.