Silla新羅

Silla is the offspring of Byeonhan. It lies in the Nangnang land of Han, a thousand li across and three thousand li from end to end. To the east it is barred by the Jangin (長人), to the south-east is Japan, to the west is Baekje, to the south it comes down to the sea, and to the north is Goryeo. The king lives in Geumseong, which is about eight li round, with three thousand guard troops. They call a fortress geonmora (健牟羅). A town that lies inside is called a takpyeong, and one outside an eumneuk; there are six takpyeong and fifty-two eumneuk. In court dress they honour white, and they love to sacrifice to the spirits of the mountains. On the day of the full moon in the eighth month they hold a great feast, give rewards to the officials, and shoot at the mark. In setting up their offices they put kinship above all, and the clans mark themselves off as the first bone and the second bone. They take to wife the daughters of their brothers, their aunts on the father's side and on the mother's side, and their cousins. The royal house is the first bone, and the wife too is of that house, and the sons they bear are all of the first bone. They do not marry women of the second bone, and if they do she is always made a concubine. Among the offices there are the jaesang, the sijung, the sanongyeong and the taeburyeong, seventeen grades in all, and a man of the second bone may hold them. Business must be discussed with the whole body, and this is called hwabaek (和白); if even one man differs, it is dropped. The house of a jaesang never lacks its stipend, and has three thousand slaves, and armoured soldiers, cattle, horses and pigs to match. They pasture them on an island in the sea, and when they want to eat they shoot them down. They lend grain to others, and when a man cannot repay they take him for a slave. The king's surname is Kim, the surname of the noble is Bak, and the common people have no surname and only a given name. For vessels they use willow cups, or bronze, or earthenware. On New Year's Day they greet one another, and on that day they bow to the spirits of the sun and the moon. Men wear trousers of coarse cloth. Women wear a long jacket, and when they meet a person they always kneel, and to put the hands on the ground is held to be respectful. They use no powder and no eyebrow black, and they all wind their fine hair about the head and adorn it with beads and colours. Men cut their hair and sell it, and cover their heads with a black cloth. In the market it is women who buy and sell. In winter they build a hearth inside the house, and in summer they set their food on ice. Among their livestock there are no sheep, and few donkeys and mules, but many horses. The horses are big, but they do not walk well.

The Jangin (長人) are people three gil tall, with saw teeth and hooked nails, and black hair covering the body. They do not cook their food with fire, but chew birds and beasts, and sometimes they seize a man and eat him. When they get a woman, they set her to making clothes. In their country the mountains run on for tens of li, and there is a gorge, shut fast with a gate of iron, which is called the Barrier Gate, and Silla always keeps several thousand crossbowmen there to guard it.

In the beginning Baekje went to attack Goryeo and came to ask for help, and Silla went with all its troops and broke Goryeo; and from then on the attacks between them never stopped. Afterwards Silla took the king of Baekje and killed him, and the grudge was knotted tighter still. In the fourth year of Wude the king, Jinpyeong, sent an envoy to the court, and Gaozu sent down an edict that Yu Wensu, Gentleman-Attendant of the Cavalier Escort, should carry the tally and answer with gifts. Three years later Jinpyeong was given the office of Pillar of State, and was invested as King of the Nangnang Commandery and King of Silla.

In the fifth year of Zhenguan, Silla presented two women musicians. Taizong said, "Not long ago Linyi presented a parrot, and it spoke of longing for its home and begged to go back. How much more, then, with people?" And he sent them home with the envoy. In that year Jinpyeong died, and as he had no son they set up his daughter Seondeok as ruler, and the great minister Euljae held the government of the state. By edict Jinpyeong was given after his death the office of Left Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and two hundred bolts of funeral goods were sent. In the ninth year an envoy was sent to invest Seondeok with her father's title, and the people of the country called her Seongjo Hwanggo (聖祖皇姑). In the seventeenth year Silla was attacked by Goryeo and Baekje, and its envoy came to beg for troops. It happened that the emperor was himself going to attack Goryeo, and by edict he had Silla lead out troops and split the enemy's strength. Seondeok sent fifty thousand troops into the southern border of Goryeo, and they took the fortress of Sugu, and she reported it. In the twenty-first year Seondeok died, and she was given after her death the office of Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and her younger sister Jindeok succeeded to the throne. In the next year Jindeok sent her son Munwang and her younger brother Chunchu, who held the rank of ichangan, to attend the court, and Munwang was given the office of General of the Left Militant Guard, and Chunchu the rank of Specially Advanced. Chunchu then asked to change their robes and caps and follow the system of China, and rich clothing was brought out from the palace and given to him. He also went to the National Academy and watched the seokjeon sacrifice and the lectures, and the emperor gave him the Jin shu that he had himself composed. When he took his leave to go home, the emperor commanded all of the third rank and above to see him off outside the city.

In the first year of Yonghui, under Gaozong, Silla attacked Baekje and broke it, and sent Chunchu's son Beommin to the court. Jindeok wove a piece of brocade and made a hymn on it and presented it. "The great Tang has opened a mighty work, and lofty are the imperial plans and flourishing. War is halted and the great settlement made, letters are raised up and a hundred kings are carried on. Ruling heaven, he honours the grace that falls like rain; governing all things, he makes the hidden light his own. His deep goodness keeps time with the sun and the moon, and his hand on the turning age moves on toward peace. The banners, how brightly they shine, and the gongs and the drums, how loudly they sound. The outer barbarians who go against his command shall be cut down and overturned and take the punishment of heaven. The pure custom gathers in the hidden places and the open, and near and far they vie in bringing tokens of good omen. The four seasons are even as the jade candle, and the sun and the moon and the stars go round the ten thousand regions. The spirit of the high peaks sends down chief ministers, and the emperor gives office to the loyal and the good. The virtue of the three sovereigns and the five emperors is made one, and it shall light up our house of Tang." The emperor found her meaning beautiful, and raised Beommin to Chamberlain of the Treasury.

In the fifth year Jindeok died, and the emperor mourned for her, gave her after her death the office of Commander Unequalled in Honour, sent three hundred bolts of coloured silk, and ordered Zhang Wenshou, assistant of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, to carry the tally and offer condolence and sacrifice, and had Chunchu succeed to the throne. In the next year Baekje, Goryeo and the Malgal attacked together and took thirty of its fortresses. An envoy came to ask for rescue, and the emperor ordered Su Dingfang to attack them, and made Chunchu Commander of the Marching Army of the Uyi Road, and so Baekje was pacified. In the first year of Longshuo Chunchu died, and Beommin succeeded to the throne. His country was made the Great Area Command of Gyerimju, and Beommin was given the office of Area Commander.

In the fifth year of Xianheng, Silla took in the rebel host of Goryeo and seized and held the land of Baekje. The emperor was angry, and by edict cut away its offices and titles, and made the king's younger brother Inmun, supernumerary Grand General of the Right Valiant Guard and Duke of the Imhae Commandery, King of Silla, and had him go home from the capital. By edict Liu Rengui was made Grand Commander of the Marching Army of the Gyerim Road, with Li Bi, Chamberlain for the Palace Garrison, and Li Jinxing, Grand General of the Right Army Leading Guard, as his deputies, and troops were sent out to attack to the end. In the second month of the second year of Shangyuan, Rengui broke their host at the fortress of Chiljung, and with Malgal troops he went by sea and raided the southern border, and those he cut down and took were very many. By edict Li Jinxing was made Grand Commissioner for the Pacification of Andong and encamped at the fortress of Maecho, and in three battles the enemy all fled. Beommin sent an envoy to the court to beg pardon, and the baskets of tribute followed one upon another, and so Inmun came back and gave up the kingship, and by edict Beommin's offices and titles were restored. Yet Silla took much of the land of Baekje, and so reached as far as the southern border of Goryeo. Nine provinces were set up: Sangju, Yangju, Gangju, Ungju, Jeonju, Muju, Hanju, Sakju and Myeongju. A province has an Area Commander, who governs ten commanderies or twenty; a commandery has a taesu, and a county has a sosu. In the first year of Kaiyao Beommin died, and his son Jeongmyeong succeeded to the throne. He sent an envoy to the court to beg for the Tang rites (唐禮) and other writings, and Empress Wu gave him the Rites for Fortune and Misfortune and fifty pieces of writing. When he died his son Ihong succeeded, and when Ihong died his younger brother Heunggwang succeeded.

In the Kaiyuan period, under Xuanzong, Silla came often to the court and presented gwahama horses, johaju silk, eoaju silk and sealskins. It also presented two women, and the emperor said, "These women are all the aunts and sisters of the king. They have been taken from their own customs and parted from their kin, and I cannot bear to keep them." He rewarded them generously and sent them home. Silla also sent its young men into the Imperial Academy to learn the classics. From time to time the emperor gave Heunggwang brocade with lucky patterns, silk gauze of five colours, purple robes with embroidered figures, and fine vessels of gold and silver, and Heunggwang for his part sent up rare dogs and horses, gold, fine hairpieces and other things. In earlier days the Balhae Malgal raided Dengzhou, and Heunggwang struck them and drove them off, and the emperor raised Heunggwang to Grand Commissioner of the Yeonghae Army and had him attack the Malgal. In the twenty-fifth year he died, and the emperor grieved for him the more, gave him after his death the office of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and ordered Xing Shu, as vice-minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, to offer condolence and sacrifice. His son Seunggyeong succeeded to the throne, and the emperor sent down an edict to Shu. "Silla is called the country of the gentleman, and knows the Odes and the Documents (詩書). You are a scholar of solid learning, and therefore you go with the tally. You should set out the meaning of the classics, and let them know how great a state this is." And because the people of that country play baduk well, by edict Yang Jiying, adjutant of the soldiers section of the Guard Command, was made deputy envoy, and the strongest players of that country were all beneath him, and so they gave the envoys gold and treasure in plenty. Soon after, Seunggyeong's wife, a woman of the Bak, was invested as queen. When Seunggyeong died, by edict an envoy came to mourn, and his younger brother Heonyeong succeeded to the throne. When the emperor was in Shu, Silla sent an envoy up the river to Chengdu to give the new year greeting.

In the early years of Dali, Heonyeong died and his son Geonun was set up, who was only a boy with his hair still in tufts, and Kim Eungeo was sent to the court to wait upon the imperial word. By edict Gui Chongjing, Director of the Granaries Bureau, went to mourn, with Lu Ting and Gu Yin, investigating censors, as his deputies, and they invested him, and his mother, a woman of the Kim, was made grand consort. It happened that the chief ministers fought for power and attacked one another, and the country fell into great disorder, and only after three years was it settled. From then on Silla sent tribute every year. In the fourth year of Jianzhong Geonun died, and as he had no son the people of the country together set up the chief minister Kim Yangsang to succeed him. In the first year of Zhenyuan, Gai Xun, Director of the Revenue Bureau, carried the tally and gave him the mandate. In that year he died, and Gyeongsin, a cousin of Yangsang on the father's side, was set up to succeed to the throne. In the fourteenth year he died, and as he had no son they set up his eldest grandson Junong. In the next year Wei Dan, Director of the Enfeoffment Bureau, was sent with the patent, but before he arrived Junong died, and Dan turned back. Junong's son Jungheung was set up, and in the first year of Yongzhen, by edict Yuan Jifang, Director of the War Bureau, gave him the mandate. Three years later the envoy Kim Yeokgi came to give thanks, and he said, "In the year that is past you invested my former lord Junong as ruler, his mother the lady Sin as grand consort, and his wife the lady Suk as consort. But Junong was unfortunate, and the patents are still in the department (省中). I beg that they be handed to me to carry home." He also begged gate halberds for the chief ministers Kim Eonseung and Kim Junggong, and for the king's younger brother Sogeum Cheommyeong, and by edict it was all allowed. Twice in all Silla brought tribute. In the seventh year Jungheung died and Eonseung was set up, and word of the mourning was brought, and Cui Ting, Vice-Director of the Operations Bureau, was ordered to mourn and to give the mandate to the new king, and his wife, a woman of the Jeong, was made consort. In the Changqing and Baoli periods, envoys were sent twice to the court, and they stayed on as guards of the palace. Eonseung died and his son Gyeonghwi came to the throne. In the fifth year of Taihe, Yuan Ji, left admonisher of the Heir Apparent, gave the patent and the condolence according to the forms. In the early years of Kaicheng, Silla sent the king's son Uijong to give thanks, and he asked to stay as a palace guard, and this was granted, and in the next year he was sent home. In the fifth year, the Court of State Ceremonial listed a hundred and five hostages and students whose term was full, and all of them were sent home.

There were men called Jang Bogo and Jeongnyeon, both of them good in battle and skilled with the spear. Jeongnyeon could also go down into the sea and walk fifty li along the bottom without choking, and if their courage and hardness were matched against each other, Bogo did not come up to him. Jeongnyeon called Bogo elder brother, but Bogo went by age and Jeongnyeon by skill, and neither would ever give way to the other. They both came from their country and became junior generals in the Wuning army. Afterwards Bogo went back to Silla and had audience with the king and said, "All over China they make slaves of the people of Silla. I would hold Cheonghae, so that the robbers cannot carry our people off to the west." Cheonghae is the key point of the sea road. The king gave Bogo ten thousand men and had him hold it, and from the Taihe period on there was no one selling the people of Silla upon the sea. After Bogo had become a great man in his own country, Jeongnyeon was cold and hungry and living as a stranger at Lianshui, and one day he said to Feng Yuangui, the commander of the garrison, "I mean to go back east and beg my food from Jang Bogo." Yuangui said, "How do you stand with Bogo? Why go to die at his hand?" Jeongnyeon said, "To die of hunger and cold is not so clean as to die by the sword. How much better to die in my own country!" And so he went. When he came and had audience with Bogo, they drank together with the greatest joy. Before the drinking was over, word came that a great minister had killed the king, and the country was in disorder and had no lord. Bogo divided off five thousand troops and gave them to Jeongnyeon, and he held Jeongnyeon's hand and wept and said, "No one but you can put down this calamity." Jeongnyeon came to that country, cut down the rebel, set up a king, and reported it. The king then called Bogo and made him chief minister, and had Jeongnyeon hold Cheonghae in his place. After the Huichang period the tribute came no more.

The appraisal (贊) says: Du Mu wrote, "When An Sishun was Military Commissioner of Shuofang, Guo of Fenyang (Guo Ziyi) and Li of Linhuai (Li Guangbi) were both chief generals of the headquarters gate. The two did not get on, and though they ate from the same table they always glared at each other and did not exchange a word. When Fenyang took Sishun's place, Linhuai meant to run away, but had not settled on it. Within ten days an edict came that Linhuai should divide off half of Fenyang's troops and go east into Zhao and Wei. Linhuai went in and made his plea: 'I will gladly take death itself, but I beg you to spare my wife and children.' Fenyang hurried down, took him by the hand and brought him up into the hall, and said, 'The country is now in disorder and the ruler has been driven from his place. No one but you can strike in the east. Is this a time to hold on to a private grudge?' When they parted they held hands and wept, and urged each other on to loyalty and right, and in the end the great bandit was put down, and it was truly the work of these two men. To know that a man's heart will not turn traitor — to know his heart is hard; and when a man is angry he sees only the other's faults, so to know his ability is harder still. In this the worth of Bogo and the worth of Fenyang are equal. When Jeongnyeon threw himself upon Bogo, he must have said to himself, 'He is high and I am low. If I bow beneath him he will not kill me over an old grudge.' And Bogo did not kill him, and that is the common feeling of men, just as Linhuai's begging for death from Fenyang is the common feeling of men. Yet Bogo's use of Jeongnyeon was a thing that came from himself, and Jeongnyeon was hungry and easy to move; while Fenyang and Linhuai stood against each other all their lives, and the command over Linhuai came from the Son of Heaven. Weighed against Bogo, Fenyang is the better. This is the very point of success and failure where even sages and worthies hold back. The world calls the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao the teachers of a hundred generations, yet when the Duke of Zhou held the young child and governed for him, the Duke of Shao doubted him. With the sageness of the Duke of Zhou and the worth of the Duke of Shao, who served King Wen in youth and helped King Wu in age and could settle all under heaven, still the heart of the Duke of Zhou was not known even to the Duke of Shao. If a man truly has a heart of goodness and right, and clear sight does not go with it, then even the Duke of Shao was as he was — how much more those below him!" Ah, as for those who do not tear at each other with grudge and poison, but put the trouble of the state first: Jin had Qi Xi, and Tang has Fenyang and Bogo. Who says there are no men among the Eastern Yi?