The History of Korea (vol. 2 of 2)

by Homer B. Hulbert

Of another ilk were Song U-jin, Yi Neung-su and Hyŭn Mong. These gathered about them bands of desperate men and went about the country looting and burning. In Seoul there was consternation. At any moment one of these bands might enter the city and work their will. The Crown Prince, a cause of great uneasiness, was still at Chŭn-ju and for aught anyone knew he might be plotting the overthrow of the government. In fact this impression was so strong that the highwaymen dared to write to him complaining of the king and asserting that they were going to make a clean sweep. The implication was plain, that they intended to put the prince upon the throne. The solicitude of the people in Seoul took form in the rumor that Yi Tă-hyŭng himself, the Minister of War, was in league with the rebels. For forty successive days this injured minister went and knelt at the palace gate and begged that the king would have him executed, as he could not endure the charge of unfaithfulness.

It was customary for the emperor to nominate an heir apparent for the Korean throne, but at the beginning of this war it had seemed necessary to appoint one immediately and so the king had informally promised the prince that he should be king. The latter now demanded that this be confirmed by the emperor and a messenger was sent to the Chinese court for that purpose; but as the emperor had no son himself except by a concubine and was loath to put him on the throne of China, so he was unwilling to see this prince put on the throne of Korea. The result was that he sent back a prompt refusal, which for the time dashed the hopes of the ambitious prince.

It appears that the rebuke which the emperor administered to the king was in some senses deserved. The king after all his wearisome exile in the north, probably paid more attention to the pleasures of peace than[than] was for his own good or the good of the country. If so the rebuke had its effect, for the king immediately roused himself and set to work reorganizing the finances of the country and putting the army on a better working basis. Hitherto the revenue had all been collected in rice but now he allowed the revenue to be collected in any kind of produce, and the collection of it was farmed out to various individuals, a practice which at the time may have had its good points but which at the same time had within itself very bad possibilities. The reorganization of the army was a matter of great importance and the king set himself to it with a will. Heretofore each general had had his own following and there was no central power nor seat of authority. Each body of troops followed the caprice of its leader with no reference to any general plan. Before the Chinese general Yi Yŭ-song left he put into the hands of the king a book treating of the art of war, a work written by Ch’ŭk Kye-gwang. This book the king put into use and appointed Cho Kyŭng and Yu Sŭng-nyong to have charge of the whole matter of military reorganization. In order to put the new plan into operation a large number of poor and destitute soldiers were gathered. They had to pass a physical test which consisted in lifting a rice bag full of earth, and of leaping over a wall as high as their heads. In ten days two thousand men were found who endured the test. The drill consisted of three parts, (1) firing with guns, (2) shooting with bow and arrow, (3) using the battle axe. In time these men became the royal guard and escort. The number gradually increased to 10,000, 2,000 being attached to each of the government departments. The whole force was divided into two parts and while one part was drilling in the city the other was set to work farming in the suburbs. In this way they raised the food necessary for the sustenance of the whole force. The plan was extended to the country, and teachers were sent to practice the country soldiers. It became a species of militia. From this time the quality and discipline of the Korean army improved in a marked degree.

THE LAUNDRY.

It appears that the Koreans were not the only ones who suspected Gen. Yi Yŭ-song of showing favors to the Japanese, for the emperor took notice of it and deprived him of his high rank. He was supplanted by Gen. Ko Yang-gyŭm. This new appointee advanced toward the border of Korea as far as Liao-tung and from that point sent a letter to the king saying that the Chinese had already lost enough men and treasure in the war and that the king had better hasten to make friends with the Japanese and induce them to come and do obeisance to the emperor. It appears plain that this man wanted peace to be patched up before he should be called upon to do active work in the field. When the king saw this letter he said, “When the Crown Prince becomes king he can do as he pleases but as for me I will never make peace or friendship with the Japanese.” But Yu Sŭng-nyong urged the helplessness of Korea alone and the need of securing China’s help at all hazards. Sŭng Hon urged the fact that the new Chinese general had a large force in hand and he must be conciliated at any cost. So the king reluctantly sent an envoy to China asking that overtures of peace be made with the Japanese. Even while this envoy was on the way, the emperor, apparently thinking the war at an end, sent an order commanding the immediate return of Gen. Yu Chung, with all his forces, from the province of Kyŭng-sang. The Crown Prince sent begging him not to go. The people all about the country were in distress about it. He was believed to be the only hope against the Japanese. The command of the emperor however was law and the general was forced to obey. Taking his army, together with the wives and children of those who had been married to Korean women, he went back to Liao-tung. It is said that over[over] 10,000 of the Chinese took back their Korean wives to China, but six years later they all returned to their native land.

Kato was desirous of meeting and having a talk with the Korean general Kim Eung-sŭ, the general of Kyŭng-sang Province. To this end he sent a Japanese named Yo-si-ra to arrange a meeting, and in course of time they met at the town of Ham-an and had a conference. Kato opened the conference as follows: “If Korea will help us to become the vassals of China we will remove all our troops from Korea immediately and we will also consider it a great favor.” But Gen. Kim, who knew of the enmity which existed between Kato and Konishi, waved[waved] the main question by asking, “Why is it that you and Konishi cannot agree? It is plain that so long as he is here such a plan as you recommend cannot be carried out.” Kato answered, “I have long wished to make an end of him, but can never get a chance. If in some way we could work up a charge against him and circulate it among the troops we might be able to get all the army removed to Japan.” As to the further deliberations of these two men we are not informed, but we judge from this passing glimpse that Konishi the younger man was so firmly intrenched in the affection of his troops that Kato despaired of making head against him until that affection was in some way alienated. In this Kato acknowledges his virtual defeat at the hands of his youthful rival.

The emperor was not as anxious as his generals to make peace with the Japanese, and when he heard that his new appointee to the peninsula was in favor of a treaty with the invaders he promptly ordered his retirement, and Gen. Son Kwang was sent to take his place. Hardly had this happened when the envoy Ho Ok, from the Korean court, arrived, asking that a treaty be made with the Japanese. When his message was delivered all the court was in favor of the plan; but the Prime Minister said that as they had been deceived once by the Japanese general So Sŭ-bi, who had accompanied Gen. Sim Yu gyăng from Pyŭng-yang on a similar errand before, it would be well to test them with three propositions. “(1) We will give the king of Japan the royal investiture. (2) Every Japanese soldier must leave Korea. (3) The Japanese must promise never to disturb Korea again.” This plan pleased the emperor and Gen. So Sŭ-bi was sent for, that he might appear before the emperor and accept these conditions. On arriving at Peking the Japanese readily acceded to the terms and exclaimed, “We will gladly agree to this and will swear by heaven to abide by the terms.” Thereupon Sim Yu-gyăng, who had always had a strange leaning toward the Japanese, now exclaimed, “Japan now evidently desires to become China’s vassal. An envoy must be sent to invest Hideyoshi with the royal insignia, and all this trouble will end.” But Hŭ Hong-gang had a truer estimate of the visitor and remarked, “The Japanese are a subtle people, and all this talk of becoming vassals of China is mere pretense. There is no use in sending an envoy to Japan.” Gen. Sŭk Sŭng said, “This man seems to be honest in what he says. Gen. Sim Yu-gyŭng should accompany So Sŭ-bi back to Korea and there confer with the Japanese leaders and then arrangements can be made for investing the king of Japan.” The emperor so ordered and at the same time appointed Yi Chong-sŭng as envoy extraordinary to Japan to perform the ceremony of investiture. Yang Pang-hyŭng was appointed his second. These events all occurred in the latter part of the year 1593.

As the new year opened the political sky was dark enough. Not only were the Japanese intrenched in the south but predatory bands infested the country and the government troops had all they could do to hold them in check, let alone any offensive operations against the Japanese. However, after a hard chase a large band of the miscreants were brought to bay at Hoe-mun Mountain and cut to pieces. At this time also the king sent again to Nanking asking that his successor be nominated, but again he was refused.

The career of Gen. Kim Tŭk-nyŭng whom, as we have seen, the Japanese had dubbed “The Flying General,” affords us another example of the fatal weakness of Korea, in the envy excited against any really successful man; for even while Gen. Kim was successfully combatting the Japanese in his own way, his very successes aroused the spleen of Gen. Yun Keun-su who accused him to the king of having killed plenty of Koreans, but never a Japanese. On the strength of this groundless charge, and without questioning its truth, the king brought Gen. Kim to Seoul and imprisoned him a year. And so a man of highest loyalty, of such unselfish patriotism as to devote the whole of his private fortune to the fitting out of soldiers to fight his country’s foes, was dragged away from a successful field of work to languish in prison, simply because a less successful man begrudged him his fame.