King Onjo温祚王

The founder of Baekje, King Onjo (溫祚王), had for his father Chumo (鄒牟), who is also called Jumong. Fleeing from trouble in Northern Buyeo, he came to Jolbon Buyeo. The king of Buyeo had no son but only three daughters. When he saw Jumong he knew that he was no common man, and he gave him his second daughter to wife. Before long the king of Buyeo died, and Jumong came into the throne after him.

Two sons were born to him. The elder was called Biryu, the next Onjo. The son whom Jumong had begotten while he was in Northern Buyeo came and was made crown prince, and Biryu and Onjo feared that the crown prince would not suffer them. So at last they went south with ten officials, Ogan and Maryeo among them, and the people who followed them were many.

At last they reached Hansan and climbed Buaak to look out over land where they might live, and Biryu wished to live by the sea. The ten officials remonstrated. "This land south of the river alone wears the Han River as a belt on the north, holds the high hills on the east, looks out on rich marshes to the south, and is barred by the great sea on the west. Its steepness given by heaven and the profit of its ground make a position hard to come by. Is it not fitting to make the capital here?"

Biryu did not listen. He divided the people who were his and went to Michuhol to live there. Onjo made his capital at Wiryeseong south of the river and took the ten officials as his helpers, and he named the country Sipje (十濟). This was the third year of Hongga of Emperor Cheng of the Former Han.

Michu was damp of soil and salt of water, and Biryu could not live there at ease. He came back and looked at Wirye, where the capital stood settled and the people were calm and at peace. At last he was ashamed and full of regret, and he died, and his officials and his people all came back to Wirye.

Afterward, because the people had followed him gladly when he came, he changed the name to Baekje (百濟). Their line came out of Buyeo together with Goguryeo, and so they took Buyeo (扶餘) for their surname.

In the first year, in summer, the fifth month, a shrine was set up for King Dongmyeong.

In the second year, in spring, the first month, the king spoke to his many officials. "The Malgal touch our northern border, and those people are brave and full of deceit. It is fitting to put the arms in order and store up grain, and make it our plan to hold them off."

In the third month the king held that Eureum, a kinsman of his father's rank, had wisdom and judgment and boldness. He made him ubo and gave the affairs of the army into his hands.

In the third year, in autumn, the ninth month, the Malgal came into the northern border. The king led strong troops and struck them quickly and beat them heavily, and of the raiders one or two in ten went back alive. In winter, the tenth month, it thundered. The peach and the plum came into flower.

In the fourth year, in spring and summer, there was drought and hunger and plague. In autumn, the eighth month, an envoy was sent to Nangnang to make good relations.

In the fifth year, in winter, the tenth month, the king went about the northern border and comforted it, and in the hunt he took a divine deer.

In the sixth year, in autumn, the seventh month, on the last day sinmi, the sun was eclipsed.

In the eighth year, in spring, the second month, three thousand raiding troops of the Malgal came and surrounded Wiryeseong, and the king shut the gates of the fortress and did not go out. Ten days passed, and the raiders came to the end of their food and went back. The king chose out swift soldiers and followed hard after them as far as Daebuhyeon, and in one battle he overcame them and killed or took more than five hundred men.

In autumn, the seventh month, Masuseong was built and the palisade of Byeongsan was set up. The governor of Nangnang sent a man to say this. "Not long ago we exchanged visits and made good relations, and our minds were as one house. Now you press upon our border and raise up a fortress and a palisade. Is there some design to eat us away as the silkworm eats? If you do not change the old goodwill, but tear down the fortress and break the palisade, there will be nothing to suspect or doubt. If truly it is not so, I ask for one battle to settle the winning and the losing."

The king answered. "To set up a steep defense and guard the country is the constant way, both of old and now. How should I dare change the peace and goodwill for such a thing? It seems fitting that you should not doubt it. But if you trust in your strength and send out troops, a small country too has something to meet you with."

From this, relations with Nangnang were broken.

In the tenth year, in autumn, the ninth month, the king went out to hunt, took a divine deer, and sent it to Mahan.

In winter, the tenth month, the Malgal raided the northern border, and the king sent two hundred soldiers to hold them off in battle above the Gonmi River. The Baekje army was beaten and leaned on Cheongmoksan to guard itself. The king himself led a hundred picked horsemen out by Bonghyeon and rescued them, and when the raiders saw this they at once drew back.

In the eleventh year, in summer, the fourth month, Nangnang had the Malgal fall upon the palisade of Byeongsan and break it, and they killed and carried off more than a hundred men. In autumn, the seventh month, the two palisades of Doksan and Gucheon were set up to block the road from Nangnang.

In the thirteenth year, in spring, the second month, an old woman of the royal capital changed into a man. Five tigers came into the fortress. The king's mother died, being sixty-one years of age.

In summer, the fifth month, the king spoke to those below him. "The country has Nangnang on the east and the Malgal on the north, and they come into our borders, so that the days of quiet are few. How much more now, when strange and evil signs are seen again and again and the mother of the country has left us. The times will not let us rest, and we must move the country. Yesterday I went out and looked about, and south of the Han River the soil is rich and fat. It is fitting to make the capital there and plan for a long peace."

In autumn, the seventh month, they went below Hansan, set up a palisade, and moved the households of Wiryeseong there.

In the eighth month an envoy was sent to Mahan to tell of the moving of the capital. Then the borders were drawn and settled, reaching to the Paeha on the north, bounded by Ungcheon on the south, coming to the great sea on the west, and reaching Juyang on the east.

In the ninth month the fortress and the palace were built.

In the fourteenth year, in spring, the first month, they came and moved to the capital at Hansan. In the second month the king went about the villages and comforted them and urged them to work hard at farming. In autumn, the seventh month, a fortress was built northwest of the Han River, and the people of Hanseong were divided.

In the fifteenth year, in spring, the first month, a new palace was built. It was plain but not mean, and fine but not extravagant.

In the seventeenth year, in spring, Nangnang came to invade and burned Wiryeseong. In summer, the fourth month, a shrine was set up to make offerings to the mother of the country.

In the eighteenth year, in winter, the tenth month, the Malgal came in secret. The king led troops and met them in battle at the Chiljung River, and he took their chief Somo alive and sent him to Mahan, and the rest of the raiders were all buried in a pit.

In the eleventh month the king wished to fall upon the fortress of Udusan in Nangnang. He came as far as Gugok, met with heavy snow, and went back.

In the twentieth year, in spring, the second month, the king set up a great altar and made offerings to heaven and earth himself, and five strange birds came flying.

In the twenty-second year, in autumn, the eighth month, the two fortresses of Seokduseong and Gomokseong were built. In the ninth month the king led a thousand horsemen and hunted east of Buhyeon. He met raiders of the Malgal and broke them in one battle, and the captives he took he divided among his commanders and soldiers.

In the twenty-fourth year, in autumn, the seventh month, the king made a palisade at Ungcheon, and the king of Mahan sent an envoy to reproach him. "When you first crossed the river, king, you had no ground to set your foot on. I cut off a hundred li of land on the northeast and gave you peace there, and it cannot be said that I treated you with little kindness. It would be fitting to think how to repay it. Now, because your country is whole and your people are gathered, you say that none can stand against you, and you set up fortresses and moats on a great scale and come into our borders. What of right dealing then?"

The king was ashamed, and at last he tore down the palisade.

In the twenty-fifth year, in spring, the second month, the water of the well in the royal palace suddenly overflowed. In the house of a man of Hanseong a horse bore a calf with one head and two bodies.

The diviner said. "That the water of the well suddenly overflowed is a sign that the great king will rise up mightily. That the calf had one head and two bodies is an answering sign that the great king will take in the neighboring country."

The king heard this and was glad, and at last he had a mind to swallow up Jinhan and Mahan together.

In the twenty-sixth year, in autumn, the seventh month, the king said. "Mahan grows weak little by little, and those above and those below are divided in heart, so that its times cannot last long. If it should be taken in by another, then the lips will be gone and the teeth will be cold, and regret will come too late. It would be better to take it before others do and escape the trouble to come."

In winter, the tenth month, the king sent out his host, saying falsely that he went hunting, and fell upon Mahan in secret, and at last he took in its country and its towns. Only the two fortresses of Wonsan and Geumhyeon held fast and did not fall.

In the twenty-seventh year, in summer, the fourth month, the two fortresses surrendered, and their people were moved north of Hansan, and Mahan came at last to its end. In autumn, the seventh month, the fortress of Daedusan was built.

In the twenty-eighth year, in spring, the second month, the eldest son Daru was set up as crown prince, and the affairs of the army within and without were given into his hands. In summer, the fourth month, frost fell and harmed the barley.

In the thirty-first year, in spring, the first month, the households of the country were divided into a southern and a northern division. In summer, the fourth month, hail fell. In the fifth month the earth shook. In the sixth month it shook again.

In the thirty-third year, in spring and summer, there was a great drought. The people were hungry and ate one another, and robbers rose up in great numbers, and the king comforted them and gave them peace. In autumn, the eighth month, the two divisions of east and west were added.

In the thirty-fourth year, in winter, the tenth month, Jugeun, an old commander of Mahan, held the fortress of Ugokseong and rebelled. The king himself led five thousand soldiers and struck at him, and Jugeun hanged himself. His body was cut through at the waist, and his wife and children were put to death with him.

In the thirty-sixth year, in autumn, the seventh month, the fortress of Tangjeongseong was built, and the households of Daeduseong were divided and settled there. In the eighth month the two fortresses of Wonsan and Geumhyeon were mended and put in order, and the fortress of Gosaburiseong was built.

In the thirty-seventh year, in spring, the third month, hail fell as big as hen's eggs, and the birds and sparrows that were struck by it died. In summer, the fourth month, there was drought, and the rain came only in the sixth month. The villages northeast of the Han River were hungry and the harvest failed, and more than a thousand households fled into Goguryeo, so that between the Paesu and the Daesu the land was empty and no one lived there.

In the thirty-eighth year, in spring, the second month, the king went about and comforted the people. He reached Juyang on the east and the Paeha on the north, and came back after fifty days.

In the third month envoys were sent out to urge farming and the raising of silkworms, and whatever troubled the people with matters that were not pressing was all done away with. In winter, the tenth month, the king raised a great altar and made offerings to heaven and earth.

In the fortieth year, in autumn, the ninth month, the Malgal came to attack the fortress of Sulcheonseong. In winter, the eleventh month, they fell upon the fortress of Buhyeonseong as well and killed and carried off more than a hundred men, and the king ordered two hundred strong horsemen to hold them off and strike them.

In the forty-first year, in spring, the first month, Eureum the ubo died, and Haeru of the northern division was made ubo. Haeru was by birth a man of Buyeo. His understanding was deep and far-reaching, and though he was past seventy his strength had not failed, and for this he was used.

In the second month men of the villages northeast of the Han River who were fifteen years of age and upward were called out to mend and build Wiryeseong.

In the forty-third year, in autumn, the eighth month, the king hunted for five days on the plain of Asan.

In the ninth month more than a hundred wild geese gathered at the royal palace. The diviner said. "The wild goose is the likeness of the people. Surely there will be men from far off who come over to us."

In winter, the tenth month, more than twenty households of Southern Okjeo, Gupahae and the rest, came to Buyang and offered their loyalty. The king took them in and settled them west of Hansan.

In the forty-fifth year, in spring and summer, there was a great drought, and the grass and the trees were scorched and withered. In winter, the tenth month, the earth shook and the houses of the people leaned over and fell.

In the forty-sixth year, in spring, the second month, the king died.