The History of Korea (vol. 2 of 2)

by Homer B. Hulbert

And now began an amusing comedy between the Chinese, who took the Japanese seriously, and the latter who were merely playing off the Chinese in order to save time.

In the fourth moon of 1395 the embassy from China to Japan arrived in Seoul, and immediately Gen. Sim Yu-gyŭng posted southward to see Kato and tell him that the Chinese embassy had already come and that he must hasten to get all the Japanese troops out of the country before the embassy should arrive at Fusan. To all this the wily Kato answered gravely, “You had better stay here a few weeks while I take a run over to Japan and ask Hideyoshi about it, and if he gives the order to take the troops back, it can be done immediately.” When he came back, instead of answering the main question he said that it would be well for a Korean to accompany the envoy to Japan. Meanwhile the Chinese envoy Yi Chong-sŭng, in Seoul, sent messenger after messenger urging the speedy removal of the Japanese troops from the peninsula; but Kato kept putting it off on one ground or another, and made no move to go. When, however, this part of the comedy had proceeded to such a point that the Japanese began to fear the Chinese would see that it was indeed a comedy, Kato took a few regiments of men from Ung-ch’ŭn and Kŭ-je and made preparations as if to depart, meanwhile sending Gen. Sim to Seoul to say that he was waiting for the envoy and his suite to come south and accompany the departing army to Japan. Five months had already elapsed since the envoy had arrived in Seoul, and he therefore determined to accept this invitation. Moving southward, he came to Nam-wŭn in Chŭl-la Province where he stopped, fearing to go directly into the Japanese camp. While there he gained the soubriquet of “frog-eater,” for he was so fond of the flesh of that reptile that he compelled the people to hunt for and procure it for him.

Gen. Son Kwang, from his comfortable quarters in Liao-tung, sent him a letter charging him with cowardice and ordering him to proceed at once on his way. Under this stimulus he proceeded to Fusan; but Kato would not come to see him, saying, “I must receive instructions from Japan before I can take you across the straits, so I will cross once more and find out the will of my royal master in regard to the matter.” After an absence of two months he came back and opened another act of the comedy by asserting that he must first take Gen. Sim across to Japan and arrange the ceremony of investiture, and that the envoy proper might follow when all was ready. By this time, what with the fear of the Japanese and bewilderment at the intricacy of Japanese diplomacy the poor envoy was well-nigh distraught. When therefore, with the beginning of the new year 1596 a Chinaman named So Hak-myŭng came from Japan and informed him that Hideyoshi had not the remotest idea of becoming a vassal of China and that if the Chinese envoy should cross to Japan he would never come back again, it capped the climax, and that very night the wretched envoy, taking only one servant and a few clothes tied up in a cloth, made his escape from the Japanese camp and fled away northward. He traveled by night and hid by day, until at last he arrived at Seoul. And so the curtain drops on another act of the comedy.

When the Japanese found out that the envoy had made his escape they were in a quandary, fearing lest they might be punished for letting him go and so spoiling the fun. They therefore gave chase, but not being able to overtake the light-footed envoy, they contented themselves with surrounding the house of the vice-envoy Yang Pang-hyŭng. The latter knew of his chief’s flight, but to draw away suspicion from himself he pretended to sleep late that morning and claimed to know nothing about the matter. When at last he was told of it by the Japanese general Kuroda, he said quietly, “Well, he was a young man and a little nervous. He should have gone to Japan long ago instead of waiting around here. It will be of no use for you to chase him.” He then deliberately arose, went to the room lately occupied by his chief, took possession of the Emperor’s letter and returned to his own apartments. By his coolness and presence of mind he allayed the excitement of the Japanese and perhaps saved his own life.

The Japanese soldiers who had been detailed to return to Japan were of course delighted to go back to their homes and were eager to set sail from Fusan. They had their baggage all on board and were hoping to start at any moment. But when they heard of the flight of the Chinese envoy they knew there would be a long delay and they were sorely disappointed; so much so in fact that many of them wept aloud. It is probable that every Japanese soldier in the peninsula would have been glad of an opportunity to return to Japan. Only the severe discipline of the Japanese army and the lack of boats prevented them from deserting in large numbers; at least we may gather as much from the frequent references to the home-sickness of the Japanese soldiers.

Yang Pang-hyŭng called the weeping soldiers before him and said, “We have waited here so long that my chief got tired and went back. But I remain and the imperial missive is with me. He has fled only to Nam-wŭn and if you send there you will doubtless find him.” This led them to believe that their fond hope of returning home would soon be gratified.

All this time the young Konishi, the rival of Kato, sat disdainfully silent watching the empty game which his unpopular rival was playing with the Chinese. When he heard of the flight of the envoy he laughed and said, “I knew he was no genuine envoy from the Emperor, for if he had been he would not have dared to show his heels like this.” This remark was intended to imply that while Kato had been trying to hoodwink the Chinese, they, on the other hand, had hoodwinked him.

Yang Pang-hyŭng lost no time in informing the Emperor of the perfidy of his chief, and the Emperor immediately ordered the recalcitrant official to be caught and imprisoned. He raised Yang Pang-hyŭng to the position of Chief of the Embassy and appointed Sim Yu-gyŭng as his second. We will remember that Sim Yu-gyŭng had already gone to Japan with Kato, bearing the imperial gifts, which consisted of a royal robe with the embroidered design of a dragon, a jade belt, royal head-gear, a map of China, a book on war and various other kinds of treasures. He there married the daughter of a Japanese named Arima, and is said by the Koreans to have become a thorough Japanese. This may have been part of the game he was playing, and we may see the fruits of it later.

Kato was determined that a Korean envoy should accompany the Chinese one to Japan and to this end he told one of the Korean officials, “If a Korean envoy does not accompany the Chinese embassy to Japan the peace will be only between Japan and China, and Korea will have no part in it. This will lead to grave troubles.” Gen. Sim also sent his nephew back from Japan to ask that a Korean envoy accompany the Chinese embassy. So the king appointed two men, Whang Sin and Pak Hong-jang to this work, conferring upon them the title of T’ong-sin-sa or “Faithful Messenger.”

In the fifth moon of this year 1596 Gen. Konishi massed his troops in forty-six regiments on the southern coast and, leaving only four regiments to guard Fusan, set sail for Japan. With him went all the envoys, both Chinese and Korean.