King Gogukcheon故國川王

King Gogukcheon's name was Namu (男武), and he was the second son of King Sindae Baekgo. When Baekgo died, the people of the country held that Balgi, the eldest son, was not worthy, and together they set up Iimo as king.

In the beginning of Jian'an of Emperor Xian of Han, Balgi bore a grudge that he was the elder brother and yet had not been set up. Together with Sononga he led more than thirty thousand of the lower people, each his own, and went to Gongsun Kang and surrendered. Then they came back and lived by the Biryu river.

The king was nine cheok tall, and his bearing and his looks were bold and great, and his strength was enough to lift a cauldron. When he came to matters and heard them and gave judgement, his generosity and his sternness were well measured.

In the second year, in spring, the second month, his consort Lady U was set up as queen. The queen was the daughter of Uso of the Yeonna division. In autumn, the ninth month, the king went to Jolbon and made sacrifice at the shrine of the first ancestor.

In the fourth year, in spring, the third month, on the night of gapin, a red vapour ran through the Taemi enclosure, and it was like a snake. In autumn, the seventh month, a comet appeared at the Taemi enclosure.

In the sixth year, the prefect of Liaodong in Han raised soldiers and attacked Goguryeo. The king sent his son Gyesu to hold them off, and he could not win. Then the king himself led his picked horsemen and went, and he fought the army of Han on the Jwawon plain and broke it. The heads that were cut off were piled up like a mountain.

In the eighth year, in summer, the fourth month, on eulmyo, Hyeonghok stayed over Simseong. On the last day of the fifth month, imjin, the sun was eclipsed.

In the twelfth year, in autumn, the ninth month, snow fell six cheok deep in the capital. Biryu, paeja and jungoedaebu, and Jwagaryeo the pyeongja were both kinsmen of the queen, and they held the power of the country in their hands. Their sons and younger brothers all trusted in that power and were proud and lavish. They seized the sons and daughters of others and took away the fields and houses of others, and the people of the country bore them a grudge and were angry. The king heard of it and in his anger wished to put them to death, and so Jwagaryeo and the others plotted a revolt together with the four Yeonna.

In the thirteenth year, in summer, the fourth month, Jwagaryeo and the others gathered a host and attacked the royal capital. The king called up the soldiers and horses within the capital and put it down. At last he sent down an order and said. "Of late offices have been given out of favour, and men have been raised to their places not by virtue. The poison of it has flowed out to the people and has shaken our royal house, and this has come about because I am not clear sighted. I order you four divisions each to put forward the good and worthy men who are below."

At this the four divisions together put forward Anryu of the eastern division. The king called him and gave the rule of the country into his hands.

Anryu said to the king. "Your lowly servant is dull and foolish, and truly he is not enough to take part in the great rule. There is one Eul Paso of the village of Jwamul in the valley of Amnok to the west, and he is the grandson of Eulso, the great officer of the time of King Yuri. His nature and his stuff are hard and firm, and his wisdom and his thought are deep, but he has not been used by the world, and he tills the fields with his strength and feeds himself. If the great king wishes to order the country, it cannot be done but by this man."

The king sent an envoy, and with lowly words and weighty courtesy he welcomed him. He made him jungoedaebu and raised his rank and made him utae, and he said to him. "Beyond my desert I have followed to the work of my forefathers and stand above the officers and the people, but my virtue is thin and my talent is short, and I have not come to good rule. You, sir, have hidden your use and covered your brightness, and you have lived long in want among the grass and the marshes. Now you have not cast me off but have come at once, and this is not my gladness and good fortune alone. It is the good fortune of the altars of the state and of the living people. I ask to receive your teaching humbly. Do you, sir, give it all your heart."

In his mind Paso had given himself to the country, but he held that the office he had received was not enough to get things done. So he answered. "With the dullness of your servant I dare not meet so stern a command. I beg the great king to choose a good and worthy man and give him high office, and so bring the great work to pass."

The king knew his mind, and so he appointed him guksang and had him take charge of the affairs of state. At this the officers of the court and the kinsmen of the royal house said that Paso was setting the new between them and the old, and they hated him.

The king sent down an order and said. "Be a man high or low, whoever does not truly follow the guksang, his kin shall be wiped out."

Paso withdrew and said to a man. "To hide when one does not meet one's time, and to serve when one meets it, is the constant way of a scholar. Now the lord treats me with thick kindness. How should I think again of my old hiding?" So he served the country with the utmost sincerity. He made the rule and the teaching clear and was careful with reward and punishment, and the people were at peace, and there was no trouble within or without.

In winter, the tenth month, the king said to Anryu. "If it had not been for that one word of yours, I could not have got Paso to rule together with me. Now that all these works have come together, it is your doing." So he appointed him daesaja.

Kim Busik comments.

In the old days, in the way the bright kings dealt with worthy men, there was no fixed method in setting them up and no doubt in using them. Only when it is done as Gaozong of Yin did with Fu Yue, and the first lord of Shu with Kongming, and Fu Jian of Qin with Wang Meng, are the worthy in their places and the able in their offices. Then the rule and the teaching are cultivated and made clear, and the country can be kept whole. Now the king judged alone and with resolve, and he drew Paso out from the sea shore and was not shaken by the mouths of the many, and he set him above all the officers. And he gave reward besides to the man who put him forward. It may be said that he found the law of the former kings.

In the sixteenth year, in autumn, the seventh month, frost fell and killed the grain. The people were hungry, and the granaries were opened and given out to them.

In winter, the tenth month, he was hunting at Jiryang, and on the road he saw a man sitting and weeping, and he asked him. "Why do you weep?"

The man answered. "Your servant is poor, and he has always sold his labour to keep his mother. This year the grain did not ripen, and there is nowhere to sell my labour. I cannot get so much as a measure of food, and this is why I weep."

The king said. "Ah. I am the father and mother of the people, and I have let the people come to such a pass. It is my offence." He gave him clothing and food, and comforted him and cared for him.

Then he commanded the offices in charge within and without to ask widely after the widowers and widows, the orphans and those who lived alone, and the old and the sick and the poor who could not keep themselves alive, and to relieve them. He commanded the offices in charge that every year, from the third month of spring to the seventh month of autumn, they should bring out the grain of the offices and lend it as relief in differing measure, according as the households of the people were many or few, and have it paid back by the tenth month of winter. This he made a lasting rule, and within and without there was great gladness.

In the nineteenth year, China fell into great disorder, and very many of the men of Han fled the disorder and came over and gave themselves up. This was the second year of Jian'an of Emperor Xian of Han.

In summer, the fifth month, the king died. He was buried on the Gogukcheonwon plain, and he was called King Gogukcheon (故國川王).