The king feigned to be very loath to believe all these charges and to act upon them; he called heaven to witness that the very thought of it was terrible to him and averred that he would rather be banished to some distant shore than even to mention such a thing. But after a great deal of urging he was prevailed upon, and said he could no longer be deaf to the entreaties of his subjects and the welfare of the country. So he took away her title of Tă-bi and decreed that she should be called Sŭ-gung “West Palace,” and that she should receive no part of the government revenue, that officials should no more do homage to her, that her marriage certificate be burned and that all her wedding garments be taken from her. He determined also that in the event of her death no one should assume mourning, that her name should be inscribed in no ancestral temple, and that she should be shut up in her own apartments and strictly guarded.
And now there appeared in the northwest a cloud which was destined to overspread the whole of Korea, and China as well. Norach‘i was chief of the Manchu tribes. He was from the wild tribe of Kön-ju which, as we have seen, was broken up by a Korean military expedition. His grandfather’s name was Kyu-sang and his father’s name was Hapsiri. These had both been put to death by a Chinese general, A-t‘ă, and to the unquenchable hatred caused by this must be ascribed the terrible reprisals the young Norach‘i made on China, where his descendants occupy the imperial throne to this day. At the time of his father’s death he had fled eastward beyond the reach of China’s arm but gradually gaining power he crept slowly westward again until he had a footing on the great Manchu plains. But he was not yet ready to carry out his plans against China, and when the Mongol, Hapuigeukosip, entered the great wall and overthrew the Chinese general Yu Pu, Norach‘i caught him and sent his head to Nanking. The Emperor was pleased at this and gave him the rank of “Dragon Tiger General.” Having thus disarmed suspicion, the hardy northman began gathering and training troops until there stood about him 10,000 skillful archers. Some years before this he had killed his younger brother for fear of complications and now in the year of the events of which we are writing he had overcome the three great Chinese generals Yi Yong-bang, Chang Seung-yun and Yang Yö-gwi. The ruling dynasty of the Ming in China became well aware of the gravity of the situation and saw that it was necessary to square themselves for a desperate fight with the great Manchu leader.[leader.] The first act of the Emperor was to send a summons to the King of Korea ordering him to send generals and troops at once to join the Chinese forces against Norach‘i. The king responded by sending a man to find out the exact state of affairs, whether China was weak or strong and whether it would pay to help her in the coming struggle. This was paying China back in kind for her delay in sending aid when the Japanese invaded the peninsula, but Korea was thoroughly loyal to the Ming power. She may be criticised in many ways but there was never shown a deeper loyalty or devotion than Korea showed the Mings during the years of struggle against the Manchus, a devotion that always worked against her own selfish interests.
The Chinese general Yang Ho sent back to the king and said, “When we ask for aid do you merely send a spy to find out how matters stand? This war is as much in your interests as ours, so you had best send an army at once to form a junction with us in Liao-tung.” However little stomach the king had for the war this appeal was too strong to be set aside. Even this base king could not overlook the tremendous obligation under which Korea lay on account of aid rendered by China against the Japanese. He therefore appointed generals Kang Hong-rip and Kim Kyöng-sŭ as first and second in command and under them three other generals, Chŭng Ho-sŭ, Yi Chung-nam and Chŭng Eung-jŭng. These men were put in command of 20,000 troops drawn from the five provinces of P‘yŭng-an, Ham-gyŭng, Kyŭng-keui, Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng and Chul-la, and they were ordered to the northern border. This was toward the close of the year, but before its end the Chinese sent a messenger to hurry forward the Korean troops, as it was intended to make a grand demonstration with the opening of the new year.
In the first month of 1619 the troops went forward to the seat of war. It was in the middle of winter and most of the soldiers were going from a comparatively warm climate into the rigors of a semi-arctic region. The Chinese Gen. Yang Ho was advancing upon the Manchu position by four different roads. The whole army rendezvoused at Sim-ha in Liao-tung not far from the Korean border town of Eui-ju. The combined forces were led by four generals, Yang Ho, Yu Chŭng, Kyo Il-geui and the Korean Kang Hong-rip. Meeting a smallÖö body of five hundred Manchu troops they drove them back into the hills with considerable slaughter, and fondly supposed that all the Manchus could be put to flight as easily. In this preliminary skirmish the Koreans took a leading part, and one general was killed and another was wounded in the hand. The next day the whole force advanced to a place called Pu-go. The right and left flanks of the army were composed of Chinese and the center was held by Gen. Kang Hong-rip with his Korean troops. Suddenly, almost without warning, ten thousand Manchu horsemen swept down upon the right flank. The impetuosity of the charge carried everything before it, and almost instantly the whole right wing was thrown into confusion and took to precipitate flight, in which both Gen. Yu Chŭng and Gen. Yang Ho were killed. Then the Manchu chief Kwi Yŭng-ga with 30,000 men came across the Ka-hap Pass and fell upon the left flank, and that too was routed in short order. The center under Gen. Kang had not yet been attacked and stood unmoved by, and not unlikely unconscious of, the terrible destruction being meted out to their allies to the right and left. Now, Gen. Kang had been instructed by the king to watch the turn of events and if the Chinese could not hold their own to go over to the Manchus and make friends with them. This indeed does not look much like loyalty to China, but it must be remembered that we are dealing now not with the Korean sentiment as a whole but with the wretch who occupied the throne at the moment, and who had no more real loyalty toward China than he had love for his own country.
Gen. Kang followed his instructions and sent to the Manchu leader and said, “We are not enemies. There is no cause for hostilities between us. We have been forced into this unpleasant position against our wills. As the Chinese showed us favors during the Japanese invasion we have had to make some show of interest in order to reciprocate the favor, but as things have turned out we should be glad to make friends with you.”
The Manchu chieftain was willing enough to come to this agreement and so the whole Korean contingent went over en masse to the Manchus. Gen. Yang was brought before Norach‘i to make his obeisance. That powerful man was seated upon a throne, clothed in yellow silk, and on either side were many young women with jewelled pendants in their ears. Gen. Kang was told to stand some distance away and bow, but he said that in his own country his rank was sufficiently high to warrant a nearer approach. So he was led nearer. He then made only a slight genuflection. This did not please the choleric Norach‘i and the general was compelled to make a proper obeisance. Gen. Kim Kyöng-sŭ likewise went through this humiliating ceremony.
It appears that Gen. Kang had decided that it was to his interests to join himself permanently to the Manchus, for when soon after this Gen. Kim tried to despatch a letter to the king, giving a carefully detailed account of the Manchus and their strength, the letter was intercepted by Gen. Kang who gave it to Norach‘i and advised that Gen. Kim be killed. This was immediately done.
Three months later the Manchu chief sent a letter to the Korean king, couched in the following terms, “I have seven causes for hating the Ming dynasty and it is impossible for me to keep my hands off them. Now you and I are not enemies. To be sure you have injured us more or less in the past, but we will waive all that. It will be necessary[necessary] for you however to break off all connection with China and stop aiding her in any way.” Gen. Kang also wrote at the same time saying, “The Manchus are training all their youth to war, and soon they will have the whole of Liao-tung.” When the king received these letters he referred them to the governor of P’yŭng-an Province to answer. The answer ran as follows, “For two hundred years both you and we have been the subjects of the Ming power and now that trouble has arisen between you and the authorities at Nanking it will be bad for you and us as well. China is like a parent to us and how can we refuse to aid her? We cannot listen to your demand and abstain from helping her. If you will make peace with us and clearly define our boundaries and abstain from conquest, China will not be only glad but will reward us both with gifts.” To this the Manchu replied, “If you think that China will give presents you have been grievously deceived by her. They are all liars and cheats and I hate them. Put away this idea and stand shoulder to shoulder with us. We must take an oath and sacrifice a white horse to heaven and a black bullock to the earth. After that I will send back all your generals and soldiers. Let there be no more weapons used between us, but only horse-whips.” This latter refers to friendly intercourse by means of horses. Gen. Kang also wrote, “Norach’i has taken[taken] Puk-kwan and Gen. Kim T’ă-sŭk is dead. Păk Yang-go has surrendered. Norach’i has joined the Mongol forces to his own and is advancing on Yo-gwang. His two sons Mangoda and Hongtasi advise him to first seize Liao-tung. Every day there are long debates to discuss whether it were better to strike Liao-tung or Korea first. This is a secret but I am sure of what I say. They are making great numbers of ladders and I am sure they are intending[intending] to invade Korea first.”
This letter troubled the King, for it interfered with his own personal comfort. So he sent a swift messenger to Nanking begging the Emperor to send a large force to “guard your eastern territory” which meant that the king wanted China to stand between him and this Manchurian scourge.
The relatives of Gen. Kang were kept informed by him of the state of affairs in the north, and they sent large sums of money to Norach’i to buy him off and prevent him from invading Korea; and it may be that it was this, at least in part, that delayed it for some time. The king’s messengers found the road to Nanking blocked by the Manchus and so had to turn back. The king thereupon sent envoys one after another by boat, but as the Koreans were poor sailors, they failed to land at the right place and fell into the hands of the Manchus or were wrecked by storms.