Queen Regnant Jinseong眞聖王

Queen Regnant Jinseong ascended the throne. Her name was Man (曼), and she was a younger sister of King Heongang. There was a great amnesty. The tribute and taxes of the several ju and commanderies were remitted for one year. The hundred high seats were set out at Hwangnyongsa, and she went there herself and listened to the law. In winter no snow fell.

In the second year, in spring, the second month, a stone of Soryangni moved of itself.

The queen had from of old had relations with Wihong the gakgan, and by this time he was always coming inside and taking charge of affairs. She then commanded him, together with the monk Daegu, to gather and make up hyangga, and this was called the Samdaemok (三代目). When Wihong died she gave him the posthumous title of Great King Hyeseong.

After this she secretly drew in two or three young and handsome men and was lewd with them, and then she gave those men offices of weight and put the government of the country in their hands. Because of this the flatterers and favorites had their way unchecked, bribes went about openly, reward and punishment were not even, and the cords and bonds of rule fell in and went slack.

At that time someone without a name slandered and mocked the government of the day, wove up words, and posted them on the road to the court. The queen commanded men to search it out, but they could not find him. Someone told the queen, "This is surely the doing of a man of letters who has not had his way. Is it not perhaps Geoin (巨仁), the hermit of Daeyaju?"

The queen commanded that Geoin be shut in the prison of the capital, and she was about to punish him. Geoin was full of anger and resentment, and he wrote on the wall of the prison:

"Yu Gong wept aloud, and for three years there was drought. Zou Yan held sorrow in him, and in the fifth month frost fell. Now my own hidden grief is again like the old days, yet august Heaven says nothing and is only blue and blue."

That evening of a sudden cloud and mist came, and it thundered, and rain and hail fell. The queen was afraid, and she brought Geoin out and let him go home.

On the first day musul of the third month, the sun was eclipsed. The queen was unwell, and she had the prisoners set down in a record and pardoned all but those held for capital crimes, and gave leave for sixty men to be made monks, and the queen's sickness then healed. In summer, the fifth month, there was drought.

In the third year the several ju and commanderies within the country did not send in their tribute and taxes, the storehouses were empty and dry and what the country had to spend ran short, and so the queen sent out envoys to press them. Because of this brigands rose up like swarms of bees everywhere.

Then Wonjong and Aeno and others held Sabeolju and revolted. The queen commanded Yeonggi the naema to take them. Yeonggi looked at the ramparts of the brigands and was afraid and could not go forward, and Uyeon the chonju fought with all his strength and died there. The queen sent down an order and Yeonggi was cut down, and the son of Uyeon, who was some ten years old, followed after him as chonju.

In the fourth year, in spring, the first month, there was a halo about the sun in five rings. On the fifteenth day she went to Hwangnyongsa and looked at the lanterns.

In the fifth year, in winter, the tenth month, Yanggil, the brigand chief of Bugwon, sent his lieutenant Gung Ye with a hundred and more horsemen, and they fell upon the villages east of Bugwon and on Jucheon and some ten other commanderies and districts within the charge of Myeongju.

In the sixth year, Gyeon Hwon, the brigand of Wansan, held the ju and called himself Later Baekje, and the commanderies and districts southeast of Muju came over and joined him.

In the seventh year, Kim Cheohoe, the sirang of the Board of War, was sent to go to the Tang and present the banner and tally, and he sank in the sea and died.

In the eighth year, in spring, the second month, Choe Chiwon presented some ten articles on the affairs of the time, and the queen thought well of them and took them in, and she gave Chiwon the rank of achan. In winter, the tenth month, Gung Ye went from Bugwon into Haseulla, and his following came to six hundred and more men, and he called himself general.

In the ninth year, in autumn, the eighth month, Gung Ye struck and took the two commanderies Jeojok and Seongcheon, and he also broke Buyak and Cheorwon and some ten other commanderies and districts within the charge of Hanju.

In winter, the tenth month, Yo, a son of King Heongang by a concubine, was set up as crown prince. At the first, King Heongang was watching a hunt, and by the side of the road he saw a woman whose form and substance were fair. The king loved her in his heart and commanded that she be put in the carriage behind, and when he came to the tent palace he lay with her there in the open. At once she was with child and bore a son. When the boy grew up his body and his looks were great and outstanding, and he was named Yo.

Jinseong heard of this and called him inside, and she stroked his back with her hand and said, "The frame of the bones of my brothers and sisters is not as it is with other people. This child has two bones standing up on his back. He is truly a son of King Heongang." Then she commanded the office in charge to make ready the rites and to invest him and raise him up.

In the tenth year, brigands rose in the southwest of the country. They made their trousers red to set themselves apart, and the people called them the red trousers brigands. They slaughtered and harmed the ju and the districts, and they came as far as Moryangni in the western district of the capital, where they robbed and plundered the houses of the people and went away.

In the eleventh year, in summer, the sixth month, the queen said to those about her, "These last few years the people have been in want and hardship and brigands have risen like swarms of bees. This is my own want of virtue. To give way before one who is worthy and hand over the throne — my mind is settled upon it." She gave the throne over to Yo the crown prince.

Then an envoy was sent into the Tang to present a memorial, saying,

"Your subject So-and-so speaks. To hold the office of Xizhong was never my own portion; to keep the constancy of Yanling is my good plan. My nephew Yo is the son of my late elder brother Jeong. His years are coming to the time of setting the mind on learning, and his mettle is such as may raise up the house. There is no need to seek outside; here one is raised up from within. Of late I have already let him hold the charge of the hedge for a time, and by this the calamities of the country have been stilled."

In winter, on the eulsa day of the twelfth month, the queen died in the Northern Palace. She was given the posthumous name Jinseong (眞聖), and she was buried at Hwangsan.

Samguk sagi, book eleven.