As Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo mounted his white steed and with his red bow and white arrows stood motionless upon a mound of earth watching his soldiers recross the Yalu to the Koryŭ side against the mandate of their king and his, we see a new Caesar watching his army cross the Rubicon, an army as passionately devoted to their leader as the Roman legions ever were to Caesar. And Caesar suffers in the comparison, for he went back not to restore the integrity of the state and prevent the waste of human life, but rather to carry out to its tragic end a personal ambition. We have seen how once and again Yi T‘ă-jo had plead with the king and had risked even his life to prevent this monumental folly; and we shall see how he used his power not for personal ends but with loyalty to his king, until circumstances thrust him upon the throne.
The records say that no sooner had Gen. Yi followed his army across the stream than a mighty wave, fed by mountain streams, came rolling down the valley and swept clean over the island he had just left. The people looked upon this as an omen and a sign of heaven’s favor, and they made a song whose refrain runs “The son of wood will become king.” This refers to the Chinese character for Gen. Yi’s name. It is the union of the two characters “wood” and “son.” The whole army then took up its march toward Song-do. A magistrate in the north sent a hasty message to the king saying that the army was in full march back toward the capital. The king was at this time in Song-ch‘ŭn, north of P‘yŭng-yang. He knew many of the generals were opposed to the war and thought that they would obey him better if he were near by, and so had come thus far[far] north.
Hearing this startling news he immediately dispatched Gen. Ch‘oe Yu-gyŭng with whatever force he had, to oppose the march of the rebellious[rebellious] Gen. Yi. The associate of the latter urged him to push forward with all speed and seize the person of the king, but he was no traitor, and he replied “If we hurry forward and encounter our countrymen[countrymen] many will fall. If anyone lays a finger on the king I will have no mercy on him. If a single citizen of Koryŭ is injured in any way I will never forgive the culprit.” So Gen. Yi came southward slowly, hunting along the way in order to give the king time to get back to Song-do in a leisurely manner as becomes a king. At last the king arrived at his capital and the recalcitrant army came following slowly. The people along the way hailed them as the saviors of the nation and gave them all manner of provisions and supplies, so that they lacked for nothing.
When Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo reached the neighborhood of Song-do he sent a letter to the king saying, “As General-in-chief Ch‘oe-yŭng does not care for the welfare of the people he must die. Send him to me for execution.” But Gen. Ch‘oe did not intend to give up without a struggle, however hopeless his case might be; so he took what troops were left and manned the walls of Song-do. It was a desperate move, for all saw what the end must be. Hundreds of soldiers who had deserted now flocked again to the standards of Gen. Yi.
When the attack came off, Gen. Yi stormed the South Gate and Gen. Yu Man-su the West Gate, and soon an entrance was effected. It is said that after entering the city the first attack upon the royal forces was made by Gen. Yu alone and that he was driven back. When this was told Gen. Yi he seemed not to care but sat on his horse and let it crop the grass along the path. After a time he partook of some food and then[then] leisurely arose, drew up his forces and in full view of them all took a shot at a small pine that stood a hundred paces away. The arrow cut it sheer off and the soldiers hailed it as a sign of victory, for was not the pine the symbol of Koryŭ? So they marched on the palace. The old men and boys mounted the city walls and cheered the attacking forces. Gen. Yi did not lead the attack in person and his lieutenant was beaten back by the royal forces under Gen. Ch‘oe. Gen. Yi thereupon took in his hand a yellow flag, crossed the Sön-juk bridge and ascended South Mountain from which point he obtained a full view of the interior of the palace. He saw that Gen. Ch‘oe and the king, with a band of soldiers, had taken refuge in the palace garden. Descending the mountain he led his troops straight through every obstacle, entered the palace and surrounded the royal party. Gen. Ch‘oe was ordered to come out and surrender but as there was no response the garden gate was burst open and the king was discovered holding the hand of Gen. Ch‘oe. As there was no longer hope of rescue the king, weeping, handed over the loyal general to the soldiers of Gen. Yi. He stepped forward and said “I had no intention of proceeding to these extremes, but to fight the Ming power is out of the question. It is not only useless but suicidal to attempt such a thing. I have come back to the capital in this manner because there was no other way open to me, because it was a traitorous act to attack our suzerain, and because the people of Koryŭ were suffering in consequence of the withdrawal of protection.” Gen. Ch‘oe was then banished to Ko-yang and Gen. Yi, as he sent him away, wept and said “Go in peace.”
The records say that long before this the evil-minded Yi In-im had foretold to Gen. Ch‘oe that one day Gen. Yi T‘ă-jo would become king, but at the time Gen. Ch‘oe laughed at it. Now he was forced to grant that the prophecy had been a true one. A popular song was composed at this time, whose refrain states that
“Outside the wall of P‘yŭng-yang there is a red light,
Outside the wall of An-ju a snake.
Between them comes and goes a soldier, Yi.
May he help us.”