Baekje百濟

Baekje is a separate branch of Buyeo. It lies straight east of the capital, more than six thousand li, on the sunward shore of the sea. Its western border is Yuezhou, to the south is Wa, to the north is Goryeo, and all of these are reached only by crossing the sea; to its east is Silla. The king lives in two fortresses, one east and one west. Among the offices there is the naesin jwapyeong, who has charge of sending out and taking in commands; the naedu jwapyeong, who has charge of the storehouses; the naebeop jwapyeong, who has charge of rites; the wisa jwapyeong, who has charge of the guard troops; the jojeong jwapyeong, who has charge of prisons; and the byeonggwan jwapyeong, who has charge of the troops outside. There are six bang (方), and each bang commands ten commanderies. The great families are eight: the Sa, the Yeon, the Hyeop, the Hae, the Jeong, the Guk, the Mok and the Baek. Their law is this. One who rebels is put to death and his household is confiscated. One who kills a man redeems himself by handing over three slaves. An official who takes a bribe or steals repays threefold and is barred from office for life. Their customs are the same as those of Goryeo. There are three islands where hwangchil (黃漆) is produced; in the sixth month they cut it open and take the sap, and its colour is like gold. The king wears a purple robe with wide sleeves, blue brocade trousers, a plain leather belt and black leather shoes, and a cap of black silk gauze adorned with gold flowers. His officials wear crimson, and adorn their caps with silver flowers. The people are forbidden to wear crimson or purple. They have written records, and they set down the seasons and the months as the people of China do.

In the fourth year of Wude the king, Buyeo Jang, first sent an envoy to present gwahama horses, and from then on he sent tribute often. Gaozu invested him as King of the Daebang Commandery and King of Baekje. Five years later he presented bright-light armour (明光鎧), and at the same time complained that Goryeo was blocking the road of tribute. In the early years of Zhenguan, under Taizong, an edict sent an envoy to settle their grudge. Baekje and Silla were also enemies from generation to generation and often raided each other, and so the emperor sent down a sealed letter. "Silla is my vassal, and the king's neighbour state. I hear that you raid and harm each other often. I have already sent edicts to Goryeo and to Silla to spread peace between them, and the king should forget his old grievance and know my true mind." Jang presented a memorial and begged pardon, but his troops did not stop. Twice he sent envoys to court, and presented iron armour and a carved axe, and the emperor comforted him generously and gave him three thousand bolts of silk. In the fifteenth year Jang died, and his envoy in white mourning dress presented a memorial that said, "Buyeo Jang, King of Baekje, the outer subject of my lord, has died." The emperor mourned for him at the Xuanwu Gate, gave him after his death the office of Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and sent funeral gifts that were very generous. He ordered Zheng Wenbiao, Director of the Bureau of Sacrifices, to invest his son Uija as Pillar of State and to let him succeed to the kingship.

Uija served his parents with devotion and was a good brother to his brothers, and in his day they called him the Zengzi of Haedong. In the next year he made peace with Goryeo and struck Silla, and took more than forty fortresses and sent out troops to hold them. He also planned to take the fortress of Danghang and cut the road of tribute. Silla reported the danger, and the emperor sent Xiangli Xuanjiang, Assistant Director of the Court of Agriculture, carrying an edict to admonish them and undo it. When Uija heard that the emperor had newly gone to attack Goryeo, he used the opening to take seven fortresses of Silla; and a long while after that he seized more than ten fortresses again, and thereupon sent no more tribute. When Gaozong came to the throne, Uija sent an envoy, and the emperor sent down an edict to him. "The three states of Haedong laid their foundations long ago, and their lands are truly locked together like the teeth of a dog. Of late you have quarrelled over every opening and raided each other, and there has been no peaceful year. The high fortresses and heavy garrisons of Silla have all been taken into the king's hands, and Silla has come to me in its distress and begs that the king give back the land. Long ago Duke Huan of Qi was only a feudal lord, and yet he preserved states that were perishing. How much more am I the lord of the ten thousand regions: can I fail to care for their peril? The fortresses the king has annexed should be given back, and those Silla has taken captive I shall have given back to the king. If you do not do as the edict says, I shall leave the king to his decisive battle, and I shall send out the Khitan and the other states to cross the Liao and come deep in. Let the king think on it, and have no regret afterwards!"

In the sixth year of Yonghui, Silla complained that Baekje, Goryeo and the Malgal had taken thirty fortresses on its northern border. In the fifth year of Xianqing an edict therefore made Su Dingfang, Grand General of the Left Guard, Grand Commander of the Marching Army of the Singu Road, and set under him Liu Boying, General of the Left Guard, Feng Shigui, General of the Right Militant Guard, and Pang Xiaotai, General of the Left Valiant Guard, and had him send out the troops of Silla and attack Baekje, crossing the sea from Chengshan. Baekje held the mouth of the Ungjin, and Dingfang struck hard and the enemy was heavily beaten. The royal army rode the tide and went forward under sail, and halted one sa (舍) short of the fortress of Jindo. The enemy came out in full force to bar the way, and Dingfang broke them again, cut off more than ten thousand heads and took the fortress. Uija took the crown prince Yung with him and fled to the northern border, and Dingfang surrounded them. His second son Tae set himself up as king and led the people in a firm defence. Then Uija's grandson Munsa said, "The king and the crown prince are both alive, and yet my uncle makes himself king. If the Tang troops loosen their hold and go, what will become of my father and me?" He went out over the wall on a rope with those about him, and the people all followed him, and Tae could not stop them. Dingfang had his soldiers climb the battlements and set up the banners, and Tae opened the gate and surrendered. Dingfang seized Uija and Yung, the lesser king Hyoyeon, and fifty-eight chiefs, and sent them to the capital. He pacified the five provinces, thirty-seven commanderies, two hundred fortresses and seven hundred and sixty thousand households of that state, and divided it into five Area Commands, Ungjin, Mahan, Dongmyeong, Geumnyeon and Deogan, and raised up the headmen of the place to govern them. He ordered the nangjang Liu Renyuan to hold the fortress of Baekje, and made Wang Wendu, nangjang of the Left Guard, Area Commander of Ungjin. In the ninth month Dingfang presented the captives, and an edict set them free and did not put them to death. Uija fell ill and died, and he was given after his death the office of Chamberlain for the Palace Garrison, and his old officials were allowed to come and mourn (弔喪). By edict he was buried to the left of the tombs of Sun Hao and Chen Shubao, and Yung was given the office of Chamberlain of Agriculture. Wendu died while crossing the sea, and Liu Rengui took his place.

Boksin, a nephew of Jang, had led troops before, and now he held the fortress of Juryu with the monk Dochim and rose in revolt. They welcomed Buyeo Pung, a prince of the old house, from Wa and set him up as king, and the western region all answered them, and they led troops and surrounded Liu Renyuan. In the first year of Longshuo, Rengui sent out the troops of Silla and went to the rescue. Dochim had raised two walls on the Ungjin River, and Rengui and the Silla troops struck them from both sides, and they fled into the walls, and ten thousand of them fell and drowned in the struggle over the bridge. The Silla troops went home. Dochim held the fortress of Imhyo and called himself general who leads the army (領軍將軍), and Boksin called himself general of the frost peak (霜岑將軍), and they sent word to Rengui. "We hear that Tang has agreed with Silla that when Baekje is broken they will kill everyone, old and young alike, and give the country to Silla. Rather than take our death, we shall fight." Rengui gave his messenger a letter in answer to reason with them, but Dochim was very haughty. He lodged the messenger in an outer hostel and sent back a slighting reply: "Your envoy's rank is low. I am the great general of a state, and by the rites I cannot meet him." Then he simply sent him away. Rengui, having few men, rested his army and nursed its strength, and asked to join with Silla and plan against them. Before long Boksin killed Dochim and took his troops into his own, and Pung could not control him. In the seventh month of the second year, Renyuan and the rest broke them at Ungjin and took the fortress of Jira, and came up to Jinhyeon by night and entered it as day broke, and cut off eight hundred heads, and so the grain road of Silla was opened. Renyuan asked for more troops, and by edict Sun Renshi, General of the Right Awesome Guard, was made Commander of the Marching Army of the Ungjin Road and sent with seven thousand troops from Qi. Boksin took the state wholly into his own hands and plotted to kill Pung, and Pung led his trusted men and cut down Boksin, and made peace with Goryeo and Wa. Renyuan, now that he had the troops from Qi, had his spirits raised, and he and Kim Beommin, king of Silla, led the foot and the horse, while Liu Rengui led the ships, and they went forward together from the Ungjin River toward the fortress of Juryu. The host of Pung was encamped at the mouth of the Baekgang, and they met four times and won every time, and burned four hundred ships. Pung fled, and no one knows where he went. The false princes Buyeo Chungseung and Buyeo Chungji led the remnant of the host and the men of Wa and asked for terms, and all the fortresses were recovered. Renyuan put his army in order and went home, and left Rengui to hold the place in his stead.

The emperor made Buyeo Yung Area Commander of Ungjin and sent him back to his country, to undo the old bitterness with Silla and call back the people who were left. In the second year of Linde he met the king of Silla at the fortress of Ungjin, and they killed a white horse and swore an oath, and Rengui wrote the words of the oath. "In the past the former king of Baekje gave no thought to what went against right and what followed it. He was not warm with his neighbours, he was not at peace with his kin, and together with Goryeo and Wa he raided and cut away at Silla, breaking its towns and putting its fortresses to the sword. The Son of Heaven pitied the people, who had done no wrong, and ordered his envoys to mend the friendship; but the former king trusted to his steep places and his distance, and was slighting and not respectful. At this the emperor was greatly angered, and he struck and he subdued. Yet to raise up what has fallen and join again what has been cut off is the common rule of kings, and therefore he has set up the former crown prince, Yung, as Area Commander of Ungjin, to keep its ancestral rites. Let him lean upon Silla and be its ally for ever, tying friendship and clearing away grudges, and let him respect the command of the Son of Heaven and be a vassal state for ever. Liu Renyuan, General of the Right Awesome Guard and Duke of Lucheng County, comes in person to this oath. Should any be of two minds about this faith, and raise troops and move a host, the bright spirits will look down upon it and send a hundred calamities, his children and grandchildren will not grow, and there will be none to hold his altars of state. For all generations, let no one dare to break it." Then they made a covenant of iron written in gold, and kept it in the ancestral shrine of Silla.

When Renyuan and the rest had gone home, Yung feared that his people would break up and scatter, and he too went back to the capital. In the Yifeng period he was raised to King of the Daebang Commandery and sent back to his vassal state, but by this time Silla was strong, and Yung did not dare enter his old country. He governed from the land of Goryeo, and there he died. Empress Wu had his grandson Gyeong succeed to the kingship, but the land had already been divided between Silla and the Balhae Malgal, and so Baekje came to an end.