Gyeon Hwon甄萱

Gyeon Hwon was a man of Gaeun county in Sangju. His surname was at first Yi, and later he took Gyeon for his clan name. His father Ajagae lived by farming, and later he raised up his house and became a general.

At first, when Hwon was born and still in swaddling clothes, his father was plowing in the field and his mother was carrying food out to him, and she set the child down under the trees. A tiger came and gave him milk. Those in the village who heard of it thought it strange.

When he grew up, his body and his looks were bold and striking, and his will and his spirit were lofty and out of the common run. He went with the army into the capital and then went on to guard the southwestern sea. He pillowed his head on his spear and waited for the enemy, and his courage was always ahead of the soldiers. For this labor he was made vice-general.

The first year of Jingfu under Zhaozong of Tang was the sixth year that Queen Jinseong of Silla had been on the throne. Favored menials were at her side and toyed in secret with the handles of government, and the cords and bonds of rule fell into disorder and slackened. Famine was added to this, so the people drifted and moved away, and bands of robbers rose up like swarming bees.

At this Hwon harbored in secret a covetous heart. He whistled his followers together and went about striking the districts and counties southwest of the capital, and wherever he came they answered him like an echo. Within ten days to a month his host reached five thousand men.

At last he fell upon Mujinju and made himself king, but still he did not dare to call himself king openly, and he wrote himself down as commander of the western region of Silla, director of troops and horse, bearing the tally, governor of the military affairs of the districts of Jeon, Mu, Gong and the rest, acting prefect of Jeonju, concurrently vice censor in chief, supreme pillar of the state, founding duke of Hannam commandery, with a fief of two thousand households.

At that time Yanggil, a robber of Bugwon, was bold and strong, and Gungye threw himself in to be under him. Hwon heard of it and from afar gave Yanggil the office of vice-general.

Hwon went round the west and came to Wansanju, and the people of the district came out to greet him and comfort him. Hwon was glad that he had won the hearts of men, and he said to those about him, "I have traced back the beginnings of the Three Kingdoms. Mahan rose first, and after that Hyeokgeose rose up mightily generation upon generation, and so Jinhan and Byeonhan followed them and rose. Then Baekje opened its state at Geummasan and passed more than six hundred years. In the Zongzhang years Gaozong of Tang, at the asking of Silla, sent the general Su Dingfang with a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers in ships to cross the sea, and Kim Yusin of Silla rolled up the land and passed Hwangsan and came to Sabi, and joined with the Tang soldiers and struck Baekje and destroyed it. Now how should I not dare to set my capital at Wansan and wash away the old shame of King Uija?"

At last he called himself king of Later Baekje, and he set up offices and divided the posts among them. This was the third year of Guanghua of Tang, the fourth year of King Hyogong of Silla.

He sent an envoy to pay court to Wuyue, and the king of Wuyue sent an envoy back to him and further added the title of inspecting grand guardian, and the rest was as before.

In the first year of Tianfu, Hwon attacked Daeyaseong but did not bring it down.

In the fourth year of Kaiping, Hwon was angry that Geumseong had gone over to Gungye, and with three thousand foot and horse he surrounded it and attacked it, and for ten days he did not loosen his hold.

In the second year of Qianhua, Hwon fought with Gungye at Deokjinpo.

In the fourth year of Zhenming, a muin year, the hearts of the multitude in the capital at Cheorwon changed all at once, and they pushed forward our Taejo and set him upon the throne.

Hwon heard of it, and in autumn, in the eighth month, he sent the ilgilchan Min Geuk to offer congratulations, and then he presented a peacock fan and bamboo arrows from Jirisan. He also sent an envoy into Wuyue to present horses, and the king of Wuyue sent an envoy back to him and gave him besides the title of grand master of the palace, and the rest was as before.

In the sixth year Hwon led ten thousand foot and horse, attacked Daeyaseong and took it, and moved his army to Jiryeseong. The king of Silla sent the achan Kim Yul to ask Taejo for help. Taejo sent out his army, and Hwon heard of it and drew back.

Hwon was at peace with our Taejo on the surface, but within he sought to overcome him.

In the second year of Tongguang, in autumn, in the seventh month, he sent his son Sumigang to raise the soldiers of the two fortresses of Daeya and Munso and attack Jomulseong. The men of the fortress held firm for Taejo and fought as well, and Sumigang got no advantage and went back.

In the eighth month he sent an envoy and presented a dappled gray horse to Taejo.

In the third year, in winter, in the tenth month, Hwon led three thousand horsemen and came to Jomulseong, and Taejo too came with picked soldiers and matched himself against him. At that time Hwon's soldiers were very keen, and it was not settled which would win. Taejo wished to make peace for the moment so as to wear out his army, and he sent a letter asking for peace and made his cousin Wang Sin a hostage, and Hwon in turn made his nephew Jinho a hostage in exchange.

In the twelfth month he attacked and took Geochang and more than twenty other fortresses. He sent an envoy into Later Tang and called himself a vassal state, and Tang by patent gave him the titles of inspecting grand commandant, concurrently palace attendant, and supervisor of the military affairs of Baekje, and as before bearing the tally, governor of the military affairs of the districts of Jeon, Mu, Gong and the rest, acting prefect of Jeonju, commander of the four regions of Haedong, director of troops and horse and the like, king of Baekje, with a fief of two thousand five hundred households.

In the fourth year Jinho died suddenly. Hwon heard of it and suspected that he had been killed on purpose, and at once he shut Wang Sin up in prison. He also sent a man to ask for the return of the dappled gray horse he had sent the year before, and Taejo laughed and gave it back.

In the second year of Tiancheng, in autumn, in the ninth month, Hwon attacked Geunpumseong and took it and burned it. He went on and fell upon Goulbu of Silla and pressed close to the outskirts of the Silla capital. The king of Silla asked Taejo for rescue, and in winter, in the tenth month, Taejo sent out his army to help.

Hwon entered the royal capital of Silla all at once. At that time the king had gone out with his lady and the palace women to Poseokjeong and was setting out wine and taking his pleasure. When the robbers came they were thrown into confusion and did not know what to do, and the king went back with his lady to the detached palace south of the city, and all the attending ministers and officers and the palace women and the musicians fell among the soldiers of the riot.

Hwon loosed his soldiers and plundered greatly, and he sent men to seize the king and bring him before him, and he killed him. Then he went in and lived in the palace, and he dragged the lady by force and violated her. He set up Kim Bu, a younger kinsman of the royal house, to follow in the succession, and after that he took captive the king's younger brother Hyoryeom and the minister Yeonggyeong, and he took also the treasures of the state storehouse and the weapons and the sons and daughters and the skilled among the many craftsmen, and made them follow him, and went back.

Taejo met Hwon below Gongsan with five thousand picked horsemen, and they fought a great battle. Taejo's generals Kim Rak and Sunggyeom died there, and all the armies were beaten and fled, and Taejo got away with his body alone. Hwon rode on his victory and took Daemokgun.

Envoys of the Khitan, Sago and Madol and thirty-five men in all, came on a friendly visit. Hwon sent the general Choe Gyeon to go with Madol and the others and see them off, sailing north over the sea, but they met a wind and came to Dengzhou in Tang, and all of them were put to death.

At that time the ruler and the ministers of Silla held that they were worn down and at their close and could hardly be raised up again, and they planned to draw in our Taejo and make good terms with him and take him for their support.

Gyeon Hwon had in himself a heart to steal the state, and he feared that Taejo would be before him. For this reason he led his soldiers into the royal capital and did evil there. And so on a day in the twelfth month he sent a letter to Taejo.

"Not long ago Kim Ungnyeom, the prime minister, and others were about to call you into the capital. It was like a turtle answering the voice of a great turtle, and it was a quail wishing to spread the wings of a falcon. It would surely have thrown the living people into mire and coals and made the ancestral shrine and the altars of the land a mound of weeds.

Therefore I was the first to lay hold of Zu's whip and alone to swing Han's axe, and I swore to the hundred officers as by the bright sun and taught the six divisions with the wind of righteousness. I did not look for the treacherous ministers to run away and hide and the ruler of the land to pass from us. So I raised up the cousin of King Gyeongmyeong on the mother's side, the daughter's son of King Heongang, and urged him to take the honored seat, and I built up again a state in peril. To lose a ruler and yet to have a ruler: here it was.

You did not look closely into loyal counsel and listened only to floating talk. With a hundred schemes you spied and coveted, and in many ways you came raiding and stirring trouble, and yet you have not so much as seen my horse's head or pulled one ox hair from me.

At the beginning of winter the commander Saek Sang had his hands bound below the camp at Seongsan, and within that same month the left general Kim Rak laid his bones bare before Mirisa. Those killed and taken were many, and those pursued and caught not few. Strength and weakness being so, who wins and who loses may be known. What I look for is to hang my bow on the tower of Pyeongyang and water my horse in the stream of the Paegang.

But on the seventh day of last month the envoy of the state of Wuyue, Minister Ban, arrived and passed on the king's decree. 'We know that you have long had friendly dealings with Goryeo and have bound yourselves together in a neighborly oath, but that of late, because both hostages died, you have lost the old friendship of peace and kinship, and each invades the other's borders and does not put away shield and spear.

Now we send envoys expressly to go to your own province, and we send a letter to Goryeo as well. Each of you should be friendly with the other and be faithful in well-being forever.'

My righteousness is thick in honoring the ruler and my feeling is deep in serving the great, and when I heard the decree and its teaching I wished at once to take it up with reverence. Only I fear that you wish to stop and cannot, and that though worn out you will fight on.

Now I have copied out the decree and send it to you. I ask you to keep it in mind and look into it fully. And when the hare and the hound wear each other out by turns, in the end they are sure to leave laughter behind; and when the clam and the snipe hold fast to each other, they too are made a jest. You should take the straying and the turning back again for a warning, and not leave yourself regret for later days."

In the third year, in the first month, Taejo answered.

"Bowing low I have received the one decree passed on by Minister Ban, the envoy of friendly relations from the state of Wuyue, and with it I have had from you the favor of a long letter setting out your affairs. Bowing low I consider that a splendid carriage and a fine envoy have brought the imperial writ here, and that a foot of white silk with its good word has brought me instruction as well. Though I took up the seal of iris and my thanks grew, when I opened the flowered paper the doubt in my breast was hard to send away. Now I entrust this to the carriage going back, and so I open my heart to you.

Looking up, I received what heaven lent me, and looking down, I was pressed by the pushing of men, and beyond my desert I took up the power of a commander and got my chance to set the state in order. Not long ago the Three Han met with a hard turn and all nine lands were struck with famine, and the black-haired people went over in numbers to the Yellow Turbans, and there were no fields and plains that were not red earth. I hoped to still the alarm of wind and dust and so to save the land from its disaster, and therefore I was good to my neighbor and made friendly terms with him. And indeed I saw several thousand li take joy in their work of farming and silk, and for seven or eight years the soldiers slept at ease.

Then came the yu year, and the time was the tenth month, and all at once matters arose and it came to the crossing of arms. At first you made light of the enemy and went straight forward, like a mantis blocking a wheel rut; in the end you knew the difficulty and withdrew bravely, like a mosquito carrying a mountain. You folded your hands and set out your words and pointed to heaven and swore that from that day on there would be gladness and peace forever, and that if the oath were broken the spirits would strike you down. I too honor the warring that stops the spear and look for the humanity that does not kill, and so I loosed the doubled siege and rested my weary soldiers. I did not refuse the hostages; I wished only to give the people peace.

In this I had great kindness toward the men of the south. Who would have said that before the blood on our lips was dry your cruel power would rise again?

The poison of the wasp and the scorpion came upon the living people and harmed them; the madness of the wolf and the tiger blocked the lands about the capital. Geumseong was hard pressed and in haste, and the yellow canopy of the king shook with fright. In upholding righteousness and honoring Zhou, who is like Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin in their leadership? In taking the opening and plotting against Han, one sees only the treachery of Wang Mang and Dong Zhuo. You brought it about that the king, in his utmost honor, bent and called himself son to you. High and low lost their order, and those above and those below were troubled together.

I held that without the loyalty and the purity of a chief counselor the altars of the land could hardly be made safe again. Since my heart hides no evil and my will is keen to honor the ruler, I meant to help you and set you in the court, so that you might hold up the state in its peril.

You looked at a small gain of a hair's breadth and forgot a kindness thick as heaven and earth. You cut down and killed the ruler, you burned the palace halls, you chopped the high officers into pickle, and you slaughtered the officers and the people. The fair women you took and set in your carriage with you; the rare treasures you seized and loaded up and carried away. Your chief wickedness runs over that of Jie and Zhou, and your want of humanity is worse than that of the beasts.

My rancor is utmost, as though heaven had fallen, and my sincerity is deep enough to turn back the sun, and I swear to follow the hawk and the falcon in their chase and so to set forth the diligence of a dog and a horse. Twice I have raised shield and spear, and twice the locust trees and the willows have changed. Striking by land, it was as thunder running and lightning falling; attacking by water, it was as a tiger springing and a dragon rising. Whenever I moved I brought it off, and whenever I raised my hand nothing went out in vain. I drove Yun Bin to the seashore, and the armor cast away was piled like a hill; I took Chu Jo beside the wall, and the fallen dead covered the plain.

On the bank at Yeonsangun I cut down Gilhwan before the army; beside Mariseong I killed Suin under the great standard. On the day Imjon was pulled down, Hyeongjeok and several hundred others gave up their bodies; when Cheongju was broken, Jiksim and four or five of his band bowed their heads. Dongsu looked at the banners and scattered, and Gyeongsan held a jade in its mouth and surrendered. Gangju came over from the south, and Nabu moved across from the west. My raiding and striking being like this, how should the winning back of all be far off?

What I surely look for is this: in the camp at the Zhi River to wash away the thousand kinds of rancor that Zhang Er bore, and on the bank of the Wu River to bring off the one victory that made the king of Han, and so at last to still wind and wave and make all the seas clean forever. This is what heaven helps. Where should the mandate go?

Still more, his Highness the king of Wuyue, whose virtue is full enough to wrap up the wild and whose humanity is deep in loving the small, has of his special grace sent out his word from the vermilion palace and taught us to still the trouble in the green hills. Having received his teaching and his counsel, how should I dare not to honor it and obey?

If you reverently take up the sage will and put away all your cruel devices, you will not only answer the kind grace of the upper state, but you may also carry on the broken thread of Haedong. If you do wrong and cannot mend it, what will you do when regret can no longer be overtaken?"

In summer, in the fifth month, Hwon sent his army out in secret and fell upon Gangju and killed more than three hundred men, and the general Yumun surrendered alive.

In autumn, in the eighth month, Hwon ordered the general Gwanheun to lead a host and build a wall at Yangsan. Taejo ordered Wang Chung, the general of Myeongjiseong, to strike him, and he drew back and held Daeyaseong.

In winter, in the eleventh month, Hwon picked out his stoutest soldiers and attacked Bugokseong and took it, and he killed more than a thousand of the guard, and the generals Yangji and Myeongsik and others surrendered alive.

In the fourth year, in autumn, in the seventh month, Hwon attacked Uiseongbu with five thousand soldiers in armor, and the lord of the fortress, the general Hongsul, died fighting. Taejo wept and grieved over him and said, "I have lost my right hand and my left."

Hwon raised a great army and halted below Byeongsan in Gochanggun and fought with Taejo, but he did not win, and those who died were more than eight thousand.

The next day Hwon gathered the soldiers that were left and fell upon Sunjuseong and broke it, and the general Wonbong could not hold it and left the fortress and fled by night. Hwon took the people captive and moved them into Jeonju. Taejo, because Wonbong had merit before, pardoned him, and he changed the name of Sunju to Hajihyeon.

In the third year of Changxing, Gongjik, a subject of Gyeon Hwon, brave and having wisdom and stratagem, came and surrendered to Taejo. Hwon took Gongjik's two sons and one daughter and burned through the sinews of their thighs.

In autumn, in the ninth month, Hwon sent the ilgilchan Sanggwi with soldiers in ships into the Yeseonggang of Goryeo, and he stayed three days and took a hundred ships from the three districts of Yeom, Baek and Jeong and burned them, and he seized three hundred of the pastured horses of Jeosando and went back.

In the first year of Qingtai, in spring, in the first month, Hwon heard that Taejo had camped at Unju, and so he picked out five thousand soldiers in armor and came. The general Geompil, before their ranks were formed, charged them with several thousand stout horsemen and cut down and took more than three thousand heads, and more than thirty fortresses north of Ungjin heard the news and surrendered of themselves. Jonghun the diviner, Hungyeom the physician, Sangdal the bold general, and Choe Pil, who were under Hwon, surrendered to Taejo.

Gyeon Hwon took many wives and had more than ten sons. The fourth son, Geumgang, was tall and had much wisdom, and Hwon loved him above the rest and meant to pass his throne to him. His elder brothers Singeom, Yanggeom and Yonggeom knew of it and were troubled and vexed. At that time Yanggeom was governor of Gangju and Yonggeom governor of Muju, and Singeom alone was at his side.

The ichan Neunghwan sent men to the two districts of Gang and Mu and plotted in secret with Yanggeom and the others. In the second year of Qingtai, in spring, in the third month, together with the pajinchan Sindeok and Yeongsun and others he urged Singeom to shut Hwon up in the Buddhist hall at Geumsan, and he sent men and killed Geumgang.

Singeom called himself great king and gave a great pardon within his borders. His proclamation ran thus.

"Ruyi had favor and love above the rest, yet Emperor Hui was the one who became ruler; Jiancheng held the place of heir beyond his desert, yet Taizong rose and ascended the throne. The mandate of heaven does not change, and the sacred vessel has where it must go.

With reverence I consider that the great king's sacred valor passed all his fellows and his fine counsel stood first among the men of old. He was born in a worn and closing age and took upon himself the ordering of the state, and he went round the lands of the Three Han and raised up the state of Baekje again. He swept the mire and coals clean so that the black-haired people settled in peace, and he drummed and stirred wind and thunder so that near and far came running. His work was all but a second rising, but his wisdom and his thought failed all at once in one point. He poured his love upon a young son, and treacherous ministers toyed with power, and they led the great ruler into the darkness of Emperor Hui of Jin and sank the loving father into the delusion of Duke Xian of Jin, and they would have given the great treasure to a stubborn child. What is fortunate is that the Lord on high sent down his true heart and the gentleman mended his fault, and charged me, the eldest son, to govern this one land.

Looking at myself, I have not the gifts of an eldest son. How should I have the wisdom to stand as ruler? Trembling and fearful, as though treading on ice over a deep pool, I should put forth a grace that keeps no order of rank and so show a government made new. Let there be a great pardon within the borders. All crimes below the death penalty, whether already found out or not yet found out, whether already judged or not yet judged, up to the dawn of the seventeenth day of the tenth month of the second year of Qingtai, are all pardoned and wiped away. Let those in charge carry this out."

Hwon had been at Geumsan three months when in the sixth month he fled to Geumseong with his youngest son Neungye, his daughter Aebok, his favorite concubine Gobi and others, and he sent a man to ask to see Taejo.

Taejo was glad and sent the generals Geompil and Manse and others to comfort him and bring him by the water road. When he came, he was received with rich courtesy. Because Hwon was ten years the elder, he was honored with the title of sangbo, and he was given the Namgung for his lodging, and his place was above all the officers. Yangju was bestowed on him as his fief, and with it gold and silk, screens and mats, forty slaves, and ten horses from the inner stables.

Yeonggyu, a general and the son-in-law of Gyeon Hwon, said in secret to his wife, "The great king labored hard for more than forty years and his work was near done, and then in one morning, through a disaster among his own household, he lost his land and threw himself upon Goryeo. Now a true woman does not serve two husbands, and a loyal subject does not serve two rulers. If we cast off our own lord and serve a rebellious son, with what face shall we look at the righteous men of the world? Still more, I hear that Lord Wang of Goryeo is humane and generous, diligent and thrifty, and that he has won the hearts of the people. Surely heaven has opened the way for him, and he will certainly be lord of the Three Han.

Why should we not send a letter to comfort our king, and be earnest with Lord Wang as well, and so plan for the good fortune of days to come?"

His wife said, "What you say is my own mind."

So in the first year of Tianfu, in the second month, he sent a man to carry his mind to them, and then he told Taejo, "If you raise the banner of righteousness, I ask to answer you from within and welcome the royal army."

Taejo was glad and gave rich gifts to his messenger and sent him back, and he thanked Yeonggyu as well, saying, "If by your kindness we are joined as one and the roads are not blocked, I shall first pay my respects to the general, and after that go up into the hall and bow to his lady, and serve him as an elder brother and honor her as an elder sister, and in the end I shall surely repay you richly. The spirits of heaven and earth have all heard these words."

In summer, in the sixth month, Hwon spoke to him, "The reason this old subject threw himself upon your Highness is that he wished to lean on your Highness's awful strength and cut down his rebellious son, nothing more. Bowing low I beg that the great king lend me sacred soldiers and wipe out those robbers and their disorder. Then though I die I shall have no regret."

Taejo followed him. He first sent the crown prince Mu and the general Sulhui to lead ten thousand foot and horse and make for Cheonanbu. In autumn, in the ninth month, Taejo led the three armies and came to Cheonan and joined the forces there, and he went forward and halted at Ilseon. Singeom came against him with his soldiers.

On the gabo day they faced each other across the Illicheon and drew up their ranks. Taejo with Hwon the sangbo reviewed the soldiers. The daesang Gyeongwon, Sulhui and Geumsan, and the generals Yonggil and Gieon and others led thirty thousand foot and horse and made the left wing; the daesang Kim Cheol, Hong Yu and Suhyang, and the generals Wang Sun and Junnyang and others led thirty thousand foot and horse and made the right wing. The daegwang Sunsik, the daesang Geungjun, Wang Gyeom, Wang Ye and Geompil, and the generals Jeongsun and Jonghui, with twenty thousand mailed horsemen and three thousand foot soldiers and nine thousand five hundred stout horsemen from the several roads of Heuksu and Cheolli, made the center army; and the great general Gonghwon and the general Wang Hamyun with fifteen thousand soldiers made the van. They went forward with the drums beating.

The Baekje generals Hyobong, Deoksul and Myeonggil and others looked at the array of the army, great and in good order, and they cast off their armor and surrendered before the ranks. Taejo comforted them and asked where the commanders of Baekje were. Hyobong and the others said, "The marshal Singeom is in the center army."

Taejo ordered the general Gonghwon to strike straight at the center army, and the whole host went forward together and closed in on both sides. The Baekje army broke and fled, and Singeom with his two younger brothers and the generals Budal, Sodal and Neunghwan and more than forty others surrendered alive.

Taejo took their surrender, and except for Neunghwan he comforted them all and allowed them to go up to the capital with their wives and children.

He asked Neunghwan, "It was your plan at the first to plot in secret with Yanggeom and the rest, to shut up the great king and set up his son. Is this what the righteousness of a subject should be?" Neunghwan bowed his head and could not speak, and at last Taejo ordered him cut down.

Because Singeom had taken the throne beyond his right under the pressing of others and not from his own heart, and because he had also given up his life and begged for his crime, his death was pardoned of special grace.

Gyeon Hwon was troubled and vexed, and a boil broke out upon him, and after a few days he died at the Buddhist house at Hwangsan.

Taejo's orders to the army were strict and clear, and the soldiers did not take so much as an autumn hair, and so the districts and the counties settled in their places and old and young all cried Manse (萬歲). Then he visited the commanders and the soldiers and measured their gifts and gave them office, and the small people were at ease each in his own work. Holding that Singeom's crime was as was said before, he gave him rank and office.

His two younger brothers were of the same guilt as Neunghwan, and so they were banished to Jinju, and soon after that they were killed.

He said to Yeonggyu, "After the former king lost his state, not one of his subjects or his sons was there to comfort him. Only you and your wife kept up word across a thousand li and brought your sincere mind to him, and you turned the credit to me besides. That righteousness cannot be forgotten." Then he gave him the office of jwaseung and bestowed on him a thousand gyeong of land, and he let him borrow twenty-five post horses to bring his household, and he gave office to his two sons.

Gyeon Hwon rose in the first year of Jingfu of Tang and lasted to the first year of Tianfu of Jin, forty-five years in all, and then he was destroyed.

Kim Busik comments.

Silla's fortune ran out and its way was lost, and heaven had nothing with which to help it and the people had nowhere to turn. Then bands of robbers took the openings and rose up thick as the quills of a hedgehog, and the worst of them were two men only, Gungye and Gyeon Hwon.

Gungye was at first a prince of Silla, yet he turned and made his own ancestral state his enemy and planned to wipe it out, and he went so far as to cut down the painted likeness of his forefather. His want of humanity was great indeed.

Gyeon Hwon rose from among the people of Silla and ate the pay of Silla, yet he wrapped up a disastrous heart within him and counted the peril of the state his own good luck, and he raided the capital and killed ruler and ministers as though he were hunting birds and beasts and mowing grass. He was truly the chief wickedness and the great hatefulness of the world.

So Gungye was cast off by his own subjects, and Gyeon Hwon had disaster born of his own son. Both brought it upon themselves. Whom else is there to blame?

Even with the bold gifts of Xiang Yu and Li Mi they could not stand against the rising of Han and of Tang. How much less could Gungye and Hwon, cruel men as they were, set themselves against our Taejo? They only drove the people to him.