King Bojang, part one寶藏王上

The king's name was Jang (藏), and because he lost the country he has no posthumous name. He was a son of King Daeyang, the younger brother of King Geonmu (King Yeongnyu). In the twenty-fifth year of King Geonmu's reign Gaesomun killed him and set up Jang to take the throne after him. Silla plotted to strike Baekje and sent Kim Chunchu to ask for troops, but he did not agree.

In the second year, in spring, the first month, his father was enfeoffed as king. An envoy was sent to enter Tang and bring tribute.

In the third month Gaesomun spoke to the king. "The three teachings are like the three legs of a cauldron, and not one of them may be missing. Now the Confucian and the Buddhist have risen together, but the Daoist is not yet flourishing, and this is not what is called having all the arts of the Way of the world. I bow down and ask that an envoy be sent to Tang to seek the Daoist teaching and teach it to the people of the country."

The great king thought this deeply right, and he sent up a memorial and set out the request. Taizong sent eight men, the Daoist priest Shuda and the rest, and with them he gave the Daodejing of Laozi. The king was glad, and he took a Buddhist temple and made it their lodging.

In the intercalary sixth month Taizong of Tang said. "Gaesomun killed his lord and holds the government of the country alone, and this truly cannot be borne. With the strength of arms we have today it would not be hard to take him, but I do not wish to weary the people. I would have the Khitan and the Malgal harry him. What do you say?"

Zhangsun Wuji said. "Gaesomun knows himself that his guilt is great, and he fears that the great state will punish him, so he has set his defences strictly. If Your Majesty bears with him for a while, he will take himself to be safe, and he will surely grow proud and idle again and give his evil freer rein. To punish him after that will not be too late."

The emperor said. "Good."

He sent an envoy bearing the tally, with full rites, to invest the king, and he sent down an edict. "To hold the far places close is the fair law of the kings before us, and to let a line pass on through the generations is the old rule of many ages. Jang, king of the state of Goguryeo, is bright and quick in his gifts and his heart, and careful and upright in his knowledge and his reach. Early on he learned the teaching of rites, and he is heard of for his virtue and his right dealing. He has newly taken up the work of a frontier state, and his good faith has shown itself first, so it is fitting to add rank and appointment and to follow this old rule. He may be Superior Pillar of State, King of the Commandery of Liaodong, and King of Goguryeo."

In autumn, the ninth month, Silla sent an envoy to Tang and said. "Baekje has struck and taken more than forty of our fortresses, and now it joins its troops with Goguryeo and plots to cut off the road by which we go to court. We beg for troops to come to our rescue."

On the fifteenth day the night was bright but the moon was not seen, and the host of stars flowed to the west.

In the third year, in spring, the first month, an envoy was sent to enter Tang and bring tribute.

The emperor ordered Xiangli Xuanjiang, aide in the Court of Agriculture, to carry a letter under the seal and give it to the king. "Silla has given itself over to our state, and its tribute has not fallen short. You and Baekje should each put up your arms. If you strike Silla again, next year troops will be sent out and your country will be struck."

When Xuanjiang came into the country Gaesomun had already led troops out to strike Silla, and he had broken two of its fortresses. The king sent someone to call him back, and so he returned. Xuanjiang gave him warning not to raid Silla, and Gaesomun said to Xuanjiang. "We and Silla have been at odds in hatred for a long time now. In the past, when the men of Sui came raiding, Silla took the moment and seized five hundred li of our land, and it holds all those walled towns. Unless the land taken from us is given back, I fear the arms cannot be stayed."

Xuanjiang said. "How can what is already past be called up and argued? Now the fortresses of Liaodong were all of them counties and commanderies of China at the first, and China still says nothing of it. How can Goguryeo insist on seeking its old land?"

The mangniji would not agree in the end. Xuanjiang went back and told the whole state of things, and Taizong said. "Gaesomun killed his lord, he harmed the great ministers, and he was cruel to the people, and now he goes against my edict too and raids a neighbouring state in violence. He cannot be left unpunished."

In autumn, the seventh month, the emperor, being about to send out troops, had four hundred ships built in the three prefectures of Hong, Rao and Jiang, to carry the army's grain. He sent Zhang Jian the commander-in-chief of Yingzhou and others to lead the troops of the two commanders-in-chief of Youzhou and Yingzhou, and the Khitan, the Xi and the Malgal, and to strike Liaodong first and see how things stood.

Wei Ting, the chief minister of justice, was made commissioner for the carriage of supplies, and all the prefectures of Hebei were to take their orders from Wei Ting, who was allowed to act as the moment required. Xiao Rui the vice minister was also ordered to move the grain of the prefectures of Henan and bring it in by sea.

In the ninth month the mangniji offered white gold to Tang. Chu Suiliang said. "The mangniji killed his lord, and not even the nine Yi would bear with that. Now we are about to punish him, and to take in his gold would be a thing like the cauldron of Gao. Your servant holds that it must not be taken." The emperor followed his word.

The envoy also said. "The mangniji will send fifty officials to enter the guard of the palace."

The emperor was angry and said to the envoy. "You all served Go Mu (King Yeongnyu) and held office and rank. The mangniji killed him and rose against him, and you could not avenge your lord, and now you go about speaking for him and deceive a great state. What guilt is greater than this?" He handed them all over to the court of justice.

In winter, the tenth month, the rain that fell at Pyeongyang was red in colour.

The emperor wished to lead the army himself and punish him, and he called up the old men of Chang'an and comforted them. "Liaodong is old land of China, and the mangniji has murdered his lord, so I shall go myself and bring it in order. Therefore I make a promise to you elders. If a son or a grandson of yours goes with me, I can look after him, and there is no need to grieve." Then he gave them cloth and grain in plenty.

All the officials urged the emperor not to go. The emperor said. "I know it. To leave the root and go after the branch, to let go of the high and take the low, to set aside the near and go to the far, these three are not good omens, and to strike Goguryeo is such a thing.

Yet Gaesomun killed his lord, and he has cut down the great ministers to have his way, so the people of the whole country stretch out their necks and wait to be saved. Those who argue against it only fail to see this clearly."

So grain was carried north to Yingzhou, and grain was stored up eastward at the fortress of Godaein.

In the eleventh month the emperor came to Luoyang. Zheng Tianshu, who had been prefect of Yizhou, had already left office, and because he had once followed Emperor Yang of Sui in striking Goguryeo the emperor called him to the travelling court and asked him. He answered. "The road to Liaodong is long, and the carrying of grain is hard and blocked, and the Eastern Yi are good at holding their fortresses, so they cannot be brought down all at once." The emperor said. "Today is not to be measured against Sui. You have only to listen."

Zhang Liang the minister of punishments was made grand commander of the marching army of the Pyeongyang route, to lead forty thousand troops of Jiang, Huai, Ling and Xia, and three thousand men raised in Chang'an and Luoyang, and five hundred warships, and to cross the sea from Dongzhou and make for Pyeongyang. Li Shiji, steward of the crown prince and commandant of the Left Guard, was made grand commander of the marching army of the Liaodong route, to lead sixty thousand foot and horse, and the Hu who had surrendered in the two prefectures of Lan and He, and to make for Liaodong. The two armies joined their strength and gathered in force at Youzhou.

Jiang Xingben, commander of the marching army, and Qiu Xingyan the vice director were sent ahead to oversee the many men and make ladders and rams at Mount Anra. At that time the brave men of far and near who answered the call, and those who brought engines for striking fortresses, were more than could be counted. The emperor himself took from each and added to each, and he chose what was handy and easy.

He also wrote out an edict with his own hand and made it known through the realm. "Gaesomun of Goguryeo has killed his lord and been cruel to the people. How can the heart bear it? Now I would go on progress to Youzhou and Ji and call Liaodong and Jieshi to account for their guilt. Where I pass, in the camps and the halting places, let there be no wearying and no waste."

He said also. "In the old days Emperor Yang of Sui was harsh and violent with those under him, and the king of Goguryeo was kind and loving to his people. With an army that had its mind on rebellion he struck a people at peace and in accord, and so he could not succeed.

Now, to speak of it roughly, there are five grounds on which we must win. The first is to strike the small with the great. The second is to punish the rebellious with the obedient. The third is to take a disordered state while we are in order. The fourth is to meet the weary while we are rested. The fifth is to face the resentful while we are glad. Why should we fear that we shall not win? Let this be made known to the common people. Do not doubt and do not fear."

So of all the lodgings and the gear made ready to supply him, more than half were cut away. By edict the several armies, and Silla, Baekje, the Xi and the Khitan, were to divide the roads and strike.

In the fourth year, in spring, the first month, Li Shiji's army came to Youzhou.

In the third month the emperor came to Dingzhou and said to the officials in waiting. "Liaodong was land of China at the first, and the house of Sui sent out its armies four times and could not get it. My striking of the east now is only to avenge, for China, the sons and younger brothers who were lost, and to wash away, for Goguryeo, the shame done to lord and father. The corners of the realm too are greatly settled, and only this place is not brought to peace, so while I am not yet old I shall use what strength is left in the officers and take it."

When the emperor set out from Dingzhou he wore bow and arrows himself, and with his own hands he tied his rain cloak behind the saddle.

Li Shiji's army set out from Liucheng and made a great show of its array, as though it would come out at the garrison of Huaiyuan, but in secret it moved north toward Yongdo and came out where Goguryeo did not look for it.

In summer, the fourth month, Shiji crossed the Liao River from Tongding and came to Hyeondo, and the walled towns of Goguryeo were greatly startled and all shut their gates and held themselves. Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia, the deputy grand commander, led several thousand troops and came to Sinseong, and Cao Sanliang the commandant drew up some ten horsemen and pressed straight up to the gate of the fortress, but those within were startled and afraid, and not one dared come out.

Zhang Jian the commander-in-chief of Yingzhou led the Hu troops as the vanguard, crossed the Liao River, and made for Geonanseong, and he broke the Goguryeo army and killed several thousand men. Li Shiji and Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia struck Gaemoseong and took it, and they got ten or twenty thousand people and a hundred thousand seok of grain, and they made that land into Gaizhou.

Zhang Liang led the fleet, crossed the sea from Donglai, and fell upon Bisaseong. On all four sides the fortress hung sheer, and only by the west gate could it be climbed. Cheng Mingzhen brought up his troops by night, and Wang Dadu the deputy commander was the first to climb. In the fifth month the fortress fell, and eight thousand men and women were lost there.

Li Shiji went forward and came below the fortress of Liaodong. The emperor came to the Liao marsh, where the mire ran more than two hundred li and man and horse could not pass. Yan Lide the great artificer spread earth and made a bridge, and the army did not halt on its march but crossed to the east of the marsh.

The king sent out forty thousand foot and horse from Sinseong and Gungnaeseong to save Liaodong. Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia led four thousand horse to meet them, and in the army all held that the difference between the many and the few was too great, and that it would be better to dig the ditches deep and raise the ramparts high and wait for the emperor's carriage to come.

Daozong said. "The enemy trust in their numbers and have it in mind to make light of us, and they have come far and are worn and weary. Strike them and they will surely be beaten. We ought to clear the road and wait for the imperial carriage. Are we instead to leave the enemy to our lord and father?"

Ma Wenju the commandant said. "If we do not meet a strong enemy, how shall the stout men be shown?" He whipped his horse and rushed on them, and wherever he turned all fell down.

The heart of the men grew a little easier, and when they had joined battle Zhang Junyi, commander of the marching army, drew back and fled, and the Tang troops were beaten. Daozong gathered the scattered soldiers and climbed high and looked out, and he saw that the ranks of the Goguryeo army were in disorder, and with several thousand swift horsemen he charged them. Li Shiji brought up his troops to help him, and the Goguryeo army was greatly beaten, and more than a thousand died.

The emperor crossed the Liao River and took away the bridge, to make the hearts of his men firm, and he camped at Mount Masu. He comforted Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia and gave him gifts, he raised Ma Wenju out of turn and made him general of the palace guard, and he beheaded Zhang Junyi.

The emperor himself led several hundred horse and came below the fortress of Liaodong, and he saw the men carrying earth on their backs to fill the moat. The emperor took a share of the heaviest of it and held it on his horse, and the officials who followed him strove with one another to carry earth and set it down below the fortress.

Li Shiji struck the fortress of Liaodong, and he did not rest by day or night for twelve days. The emperor brought up his picked troops and joined him, and they ringed the fortress for several hundred li, and the sound of the drums and the shouting shook heaven and earth.

In the fortress there was a shrine of Jumong, and in the shrine there were a coat of chain armour and a sharp spear, and it was said without ground that heaven had sent them down in the days of the earlier Yan. When the ring drew close, a beautiful woman was dressed up to be the wife of the god, and the shaman said. "Jumong is glad. The fortress will surely stand whole."

Shiji set out catapults in a line, and they threw great stones more than three hundred paces, and whatever they struck fell in at once. The men of Goguryeo piled up timber to make towers and wove nets of thick rope, but they could not hold them off, and the ram carts struck the sheds on the parapet and broke them.

At that time Baekje offered armour lacquered with gold, and it also made patterned armour of black iron, and the men wore it and followed. When the emperor met Shiji, the light off the armour dazzled in the sun.

The south wind blew hard, and the emperor sent picked men to climb to the tip of the ram poles and set fire to the tower at the southwest. The fire spread and burned within the fortress, and at that he waved his officers and men on to climb the wall. The Goguryeo army fought with all its strength but could not win, and more than ten thousand died. Of the strong soldiers taken there were more than ten thousand, and there were forty thousand men and women, and five hundred thousand seok of grain, and he made that fortress into Liaozhou.

Li Shiji went forward and struck the southwest of Baegamseong, and the emperor came to the northwest of it. Son Beoreum, the lord of the fortress, secretly sent a man of his own heart to ask to surrender, and he came to the wall and threw down a knife and an axe as a token, and he said. "Your servant wishes to surrender, but there are those in the fortress who do not agree."

The emperor gave a Tang banner to his messenger and said. "If he truly means to surrender, let him set this up on the wall." Daeeum set the banner up, and the people in the fortress thought that the Tang troops had already climbed the wall, and they all went along with him.

When the emperor overcame Liaodong, Baegamseong asked to surrender, but then it repented of it. The emperor was angry at its turning this way and that, and he gave an order in the army. "When the fortress is taken, all the people and the goods shall be given as reward to the men who fought."

Li Shiji saw that the emperor was about to take their surrender, and he led several tens of armoured men and made a plea. "The reason the soldiers strive and face the arrows and the stones and give no thought to their death is only that they are greedy for what they may take and seize. Now the fortress is on the point of falling. Why take their surrender after all and leave the hearts of the fighting men forlorn?"

The emperor got down from his horse and thanked him and said. "What the general says is right. Yet to let the troops loose to kill people and to take their wives and children captive is what I cannot bear. Those under the general who have done good service I shall reward out of the goods of the storehouse. I would have this one fortress ransomed through the general."

So Shiji drew back. More than ten thousand men and women of the fortress were taken, and a tent was set up by the water and their surrender received, and food was given them, and to those over eighty silk was given in due measure. The soldiers of other fortresses who were in Baegam were all comforted and given warning, and grain and arms were given them, and they were left to go where they would.

Before this the jangsa of the fortress of Liaodong had been killed by those under him, and his seongsa took up the jangsa's wife and children and fled to Baegam. The emperor pitied him for the right feeling he had, and gave him five lengths of silk, and had a spirit carriage made for the jangsa and sent him back to Pyeongyang.

Baegamseong was made into Yanzhou, and Son Daeeum was made prefect.

At the first the mangniji had sent seven hundred men of Gasiseong to hold Gaemoseong, and Li Shiji took them all captive. Those men asked to follow the army and give their strength to it. The emperor said. "Your houses are all in Gasi, and if you fight for me the mangniji will surely kill your wives and children. To get the strength of one man and wipe out a household is what I cannot bear." He gave them all grain and sent them away. Gaemoseong was made into Gaizhou.

The emperor came to Ansiseong and pushed his troops forward and struck it. Go Yeonsu, the yuksal of the northern division, and Go Hyejin, the yuksal of the southern division, led the Goguryeo army and troops of the Malgal, a hundred and fifty thousand, to save Ansi.

The emperor said to the officials in waiting. "There are three plans now for Yeonsu. To bring his troops straight forward and join Ansiseong and make a rampart of it, and hold the steep of the high mountain, and eat the grain in the fortress, and let the Malgal loose to plunder our oxen and horses, so that we could strike and not bring it down at once, and if we wished to go back the mire would block us, and he would sit still and wear our army out. That is the best plan. To draw out the host within the fortress and steal away with them by night. That is the middle plan. Not to measure his own wit and strength, and come and fight with us. That is the worst plan. Look, all of you. He will surely come out with the worst plan, and his being taken is there before my eyes."

At that time Go Jeongui the daero, who was old in years and practised in affairs, said to Yeonsu. "The Prince of Qin cut down the many strong men within and brought the Rong and the Di without to obedience, and he stood alone and became emperor. This is a man of a gift the age has called for. Now he has raised the host of all within the seas and come, and he cannot be met in the field. The plan for us is nothing better than to halt our troops and not fight, and let the days stretch long, and send out picked troops in parties to cut off his road of grain. When his food is gone, he will seek battle and not get it, and he will wish to go back and have no road, and then we can win."

Yeonsu did not follow him, and he led his army straight forward, until he was forty li from Ansiseong.

The emperor feared that he would hang back and not come, and he ordered the great general Ashina She'er to lead a thousand Tujue horse and draw him on. When the troops first joined, they fled as a feint, and Yeonsu said. "He is easy to deal with." They pressed forward in rivalry and took the moment, and they came to a place eight li southeast of Ansiseong and drew up their ranks with the mountain at their back.

The emperor called all his generals and asked their plans. Zhangsun Wuji answered. "Your servant has heard it said, 'When you face the enemy and are about to fight, you must first look to the heart of the soldiers.' Your servant has just now passed through the camps, and he saw that the soldiers, hearing that Goguryeo had come, all drew their swords and bound on their pennons, and gladness showed in their faces. These are troops that must win. Before Your Majesty had put on the cap of manhood you went into the ranks yourself. Whenever a surprise was brought out and the victory got, it was all had from the holy plan above, and the generals only carried out the reckoning that was made. For today's business also, your servant begs Your Majesty to point out the way."

The emperor laughed and said. "Since you gentlemen all give way to me in this, I shall reckon it out for you."

Then with Wuji and the others he took several hundred horse and climbed high and looked out, and he saw how the mountains and the streams lay, and where troops might be hidden, and where they might go in and come out. The Goguryeo army had joined its troops with the Malgal and drawn up its ranks, and they ran forty li long. The emperor looked out at them, and there was fear in his face.

Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia said. "Goguryeo has tipped out the whole country to hold off the king's army, and the guard at Pyeongyang must be weak. I ask that your servant be lent five thousand picked men to overturn the root of it, and then a host of several hundred thousand may be brought to surrender without a fight." The emperor did not answer him.

He sent an envoy to deceive Yeonsu. "I have come to call your guilt to account because a strong minister of your country killed his lord. To come to open battle was not what was in my heart. When I came into your borders, fodder and grain were not to be had, and so I took a few of your fortresses. When your country mends the rites of a subject, what has been lost will surely be given back."

Yeonsu believed him and made no further preparation.

By night the emperor called his civil and military men and laid his plans. He ordered Li Shiji to lead fifteen thousand foot and horse and draw up his ranks on the western ridge. Zhangsun Wuji and Niu Jinda were to lead eleven thousand picked troops as the surprise force, to come out of the narrow valley from the north of the mountain and strike the rear. The emperor himself led four thousand foot and horse, and they carried drums and horns under their arms and laid their banners flat and climbed the mountain. The emperor commanded the several armies that when they heard the drums and the horns they were all to come out together and strike with all their force. And he ordered the officers in charge to spread a tent for receiving the surrender beside the hall of audience.

That night a shooting star fell on Yeonsu's camp.

At daybreak Yeonsu and the rest saw only that Li Shiji's army was small, and they drew up their troops and made to fight. The emperor looked out and saw the dust rise from Wuji's army, and he ordered the drums and the horns to sound and the banners to be raised, and the several armies beat their drums and shouted and went forward together. Yeonsu and the rest were afraid, and they made to divide their troops and hold them off, but their ranks were already in disorder.

Just then there was thunder and lightning, and Xue Rengui, a man of Longmen, put on strange clothes and shouted aloud and broke into the ranks, and wherever he turned there was none to stand against him, and the Goguryeo army fell down before him. The great army took the moment, and the Goguryeo army broke utterly, and more than twenty thousand died. The emperor looked out and saw Rengui, and he made him General of Roving Attack.

Yeonsu and the rest led what was left of their host and set their backs to the mountain and held themselves firm. The emperor ordered the several armies to ring them about, and Zhangsun Wuji took away all the bridges and cut off their road of return. Yeonsu and Hyejin led their host, thirty-six thousand eight hundred men, and asked to surrender, and they came in at the gate of the camp and bowed down and asked for his command.

The emperor picked out three thousand five hundred officers, from the yuksal down, and moved them to the inner land, and the rest he let go and sent back to Pyeongyang, and he gathered up three thousand three hundred of the Malgal and buried them all in pits. He got fifty thousand horses, fifty thousand head of cattle, and ten thousand suits of bright-light armour, and other arms to match. He changed the name of the mountain he had gone up to, and called it Mount Jupil. Go Yeonsu was made minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, and Go Hyejin minister of the Court of Agriculture.

When the emperor overcame Baegam he said to Li Shiji. "I have heard that Ansiseong is steep and its troops are picked, and that the lord of the fortress has ability and courage, and that in the troubles the mangniji made he held the fortress and would not submit, and the mangniji struck him and could not bring him down, and so left the fortress to him.

Geonan has weak troops and little grain, and if we come out where they do not look for us and strike, we shall surely win. You may strike Geonan first, and when Geonan has fallen Ansi will be in my belly. This is what the art of war calls 'a fortress there is reason not to strike.'"

He answered. "Geonan is in the south and Ansi is in the north, and the grain of our army is all in Liaodong. If we now go past Ansi and strike Geonan, and the men of Goguryeo cut off our road of grain, what shall we do then? It is better to strike Ansi first, and when Ansi has fallen we have only to go forward with the drums and take Geonan."

The emperor said. "I have made you my general. How should I not use your plan? Do not spoil my business."

So Shiji struck Ansi. The people of Ansi looked out and saw the emperor's banner and parasol, and at once they climbed the wall and beat drums and shouted, and the emperor was angry. Shiji asked that on the day the fortress was overcome all the men be buried in pits. The people of Ansi heard of it and held the harder, and it was struck long and did not fall.

Go Yeonsu and Go Hyejin made a plea to the emperor. "Your servants have already given themselves over to the great state, and we dare not withhold our whole heart. We would have the Son of Heaven achieve his great work early, so that your servants may see our wives and children again. The people of Ansi look to their homes and hold them dear, and every man fights for himself, so they are not easily taken all at once. Now your servants, with a host of more than a hundred thousand of Goguryeo, looked at the banners and were broken and fell apart, and the courage of the people of the country is shattered. The yuksal of Ogolseong is old and worn and cannot hold firmly, and if the troops are moved there and come up to it, they will arrive in the morning and win by evening, and the small fortresses on the road besides will surely flee and fall apart at the mere sight of the wind.

Then gather up their stores and their grain and go forward with the drums, and Pyeongyang will surely not be held."

The officials also said. "Zhang Liang's troops are at Saseong, and if he is called he can come in two nights. Take the moment while Goguryeo is in fear and trembling, and join our strength and take Ogolseong, and cross the Amnok River and take Pyeongyang straight off. It rests on this one stroke."

The emperor was about to follow them, but Zhangsun Wuji alone held that when the Son of Heaven goes out himself it is not as when the generals go, and that he must not ride danger and look for luck, and that the host of the enemy at Geonan and Sinseong was still a hundred thousand, so that if he turned toward Ogol they would all tread on his rear, and that it was better to break Ansi first and take Geonan, and then drive far and go forward, and that this was the plan that was safe in every part. So the emperor let it be.

The generals struck Ansi hard. The emperor heard the sound of fowls and pigs in the fortress, and he said to Shiji. "The ring about the fortress has lasted long, and the smoke and the fires in the fortress have grown fewer by the day. Now the fowls and the pigs are very loud. This must be a feast for the soldiers, and they mean to come out by night and fall upon us. Set the guard strictly and be ready for them."

That night several hundred of the Goguryeo army came down the wall on ropes. The emperor heard of it and came himself below the fortress and called up troops and struck hard, and of the Goguryeo army several tens died, and the rest drew back and fled.

Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia oversaw the host in raising an earth hill at the southeast corner of the fortress, and it came up close and pressed upon the wall. Those in the fortress also raised their wall higher to hold it off. The soldiers took turns in parts, and they joined battle six or seven times a day. The ram carts and the stones from the catapults broke down their towers and their parapets, and those in the fortress set up wooden palisades after each blow to stop up the gaps.

Daozong hurt his foot, and the emperor put in the needle for him himself. They raised the hill without rest by day or night, sixty days in all, and the labour spent on it was five hundred thousand. The top of the hill was some jang away from the wall, and it looked down into the fortress. Daozong set Fu Fu'ai, a commander, to lead troops and camp on the top of the hill and be ready for the enemy.

The hill fell and pressed upon the wall, and the wall came down. Just then Fu'ai had left his own company without leave, and several hundred of the Goguryeo army came out through the breach in the wall and fought, and they took the earth hill and held it, and they dug a trench and kept it.

The emperor was angry, and he beheaded Fu'ai and had him shown through the camp, and he ordered the generals to strike, but in three days they could not win it. Daozong went barefoot to below the banner and asked for his punishment. The emperor said. "Your guilt deserves death. Yet I hold that Emperor Wu of Han killing Wang Hui was not so good as Duke Mu of Qin using Mengming, and you have the service of breaking Gaemo and Liaodong besides, and so I pardon you as a special thing."

Because the cold comes early to the left of the Liao, and the grass withers and the water freezes, and men and horses could hardly stay long, and because the food was nearly gone besides, the emperor commanded the army to turn back. First the households of the two prefectures of Liao and Gai were drawn out and taken across the Liao, and then he made a show of his troops below Ansiseong and turned away, and those in the fortress all hid their traces and did not come out. The lord of the fortress climbed the wall and bowed and took his leave, and the emperor thought well of his firm holding and gave him a hundred lengths of fine silk, to urge him on in serving his lord.

Shiji and Daozong were ordered to lead forty thousand foot and horse as the rear guard, and they came to Liaodong and crossed the Liao River. The Liao marsh was mire, and cart and horse could not pass. Wuji was ordered to lead ten thousand men and cut grass and fill in the road, and where the water was deep they made bridges of carts, and the emperor himself tied brushwood to his horse's whip and helped with the work.

In winter, the tenth month, the emperor came to Pogu and halted his horse and oversaw the filling in of the road. The several armies crossed the Baljak river, and a wild wind and snow came on, and many of the soldiers were soaked and died. He commanded that fires be lit along the road to wait for them.

In all they took ten fortresses, Hyeondo, Hoengsan, Gaemo, Mami, Liaodong, Baegam, Bisa, Hyeopgok, Eunsan and Huhwang, and of the households of the three prefectures of Liao, Gai and Yan that were moved, seventy thousand people went into China.

From the time he surrendered Go Yeonsu was always bitter and sighing, and before long he died of his grief. Hyejin came in the end to Chang'an.

In the three great battles of Sinseong, Geonan and Jupil, very many of the Goguryeo army and of the men and horses of Tang died. The emperor, because he could not bring his work to success, repented of it deeply, and he sighed and said. "Had Wei Zheng been alive, he would not have let me make this journey."

Kim Busik comments.

Taizong of Tang was a holy and bright ruler, such as does not often come into the world. In putting down disorder he is to be set beside King Tang and King Wu, and in bringing about good rule he comes near to King Cheng and King Kang. And when it came to the use of arms, his surprises were without end, and there was none to stand against him wherever he turned. Yet the work of his eastern campaign broke down at Ansi, and so the lord of that fortress may be called a hero and no common man. But the history has lost his surname and his name, and this is no different from what Yangzi spoke of, "Qi and Lu had great ministers whose names the history lost." It is greatly to be regretted.

In the fifth year, in spring, the second month, Taizong came back to the capital and said to Li Jing. "I had the host of the whole realm, and I was brought to straits by a small Yi. Why was it?"

Jing said. "This is for Daozong to unravel."

The emperor turned and asked Daozong, and he set out in full the words he had spoken at Jupil, of taking the moment when Pyeongyang was empty and seizing it. The emperor was downcast and said. "I was in haste at that time, and I do not remember it."

In summer, the fifth month, the king and the mangniji Gaegeum sent an envoy to beg pardon for their guilt, and they offered two beautiful women with him. The emperor sent them back and said to the envoy. "Beauty is a thing men hold dear. Yet I pity them for leaving their kin and hurting their hearts, and I shall not take them."

The clay image of King Dongmyeong's mother wept tears of blood for three days.

At the first, when the emperor was about to go back, he gave a bow and clothing to Gaesomun, and Gaesomun took them and did not thank him, and he grew prouder and more wanton than before. Though he sent envoys and offered up memorials, his words were one and all false and empty, and he treated the envoys of Tang with arrogance, and he was always watching for a gap on the border. Again and again the emperor commanded him not to strike Silla, but his raiding and trampling did not stop. Taizong by edict had his tribute refused, and he took counsel again on punishing him.

The Samguk sagi, volume twenty-one.