One day, while in the woods, his favorite bird, in pursuing its [[77]]quarry, flew so far ahead that it was lost to the sight of its master. Hastening after it the young man espied a shrine at the roadside into which he saw his hawk fly. Entering, he found within a hermit priest. Awed and abashed at the weird presence of the white-bearded sage, the lad for a moment was speechless; but the old man, addressing him, said: “What benefit is it for a youth of your abilities to be seeking a stray falcon? A throne is a richer prize. Betake yourself at once to the capital.”
Acting upon the hint thus given him, and leaving the falcon behind, Taijo wended his way westward to Sunto, and entered the military service of the king. He soon made his mark and rapidly rose to high command, until he became lieutenant-general of the whole army. He married and reared children, and through the espousal of his daughter by the king, became father-in-law to his sovereign.
The influence of Taijo was now immense. While with his soldierly abilities he won the enthusiastic regard of the army, his popularity with the people rested solely on his virtues. Possessed of such influence with the court, the soldiers, and the country at large, he endeavored to reform the abuse of power and to curb the cruelties of the king. Even to give advice to a despot is an act of bravery, but Taijo dared to do it again and again. The king, however, refused to follow the counsel of his father-in-law or to reform abuses. He thus daily increased the odium in which he was held by his subjects.
Such was the state of affairs toward the end of the fourteenth century, when everything was ripe for revolution.
In China, great events, destined to influence “the little kingdom,” were taking place. The Mongol dynasty, even after the breaking up of the empire founded by Genghis Khan, still held the dragon throne; but during the later years of their reign, when harassed by enemies at home, Corea was neglected and her tribute remained unpaid. A spasmodic attempt to resubdue the lapsed vassal, and make Corea a Mongol castle of refuge from impending doom, was ruined by the energy and valor of Ni Taijo. The would-be invaders were driven back. The last Mongol emperor fell in 1341, and the native Ming, or “Bright,” dynasty came into power, and in 1368 was firmly established.
Their envoys being sent to Corea demanded pledges of vassalage. The king neglected, finally refused, and ordered fresh levies to be made to resist the impending invasion of the Chinese. In [[78]]this time of gloom and bitterness against their own monarch, the army contained but a pitifully small number of men who could be depended on to fight the overwhelming host of the Ming veterans. Taijo, in an address to his followers, thus spoke to them:
“Although the order from the king must be obeyed, yet the attack upon the Ming soldiers, with so small an army as ours, is like casting an egg against a rock, and no one of the army will return alive. I do not tell you this from any fear of death, but our king is too haughty. He does not heed our advice. He has ordered out the army suddenly without cause, paying no attention to the suffering which wives and children of the soldiers must undergo. This is a thing I cannot bear. Let us go back to the capital and the responsibility shall fall on my shoulders alone.”
Thereupon the captains and soldiers being impressed with the purity of their leader’s motives, and admiring his courage, resolved to obey his orders and not the king’s. Arriving at Sunto, he promptly took measures to depose the king, who was sent to Kang-wa, the island so famous in modern as in ancient and mediæval history.
The king’s wrath was very great, and he intrigued to avenge himself. His plot was made known, by one of his retainers, to Taijo, who, by a counter-movement, put forth the last radical measure which, in Chinese Asia means, for a private person, disinheritance; for a king, deposition; and for a royal line, extinction. This act was the removal of the tablets of the king’s ancestors from their shrine, and the issue of an order forbidding further continuance of sacrifice to them. This Corean and Chinese method of clapping the extinguisher upon a whole dynasty was no sooner ordered than duly executed.
Ni Taijo was now made king, to the great delight of the people. He sent an embassy to Nanking to notify the Ming emperor of affairs in the “outpost state,” to tender his loyal vassalage, to seek the imperial approval of his acts, and to beg his investiture as sovereign. This was graciously granted. The ancient name of Chō-sen was revived, and at the petitioner’s request conferred upon the country by the emperor, who profited by this occasion to enforce upon the Coreans his calendar and chronology—the reception of these being in itself alone tantamount to a sufficient declaration of fealty. Friendship being now fully established with the Mings, the king of Chō-sen sent a number of youths, sons of his nobles, to Nanking to study in the imperial Chinese college. [[79]]