Baekje百濟

The ancestor of Baekje came out of the country of Goryeo. A serving woman of that king's house suddenly conceived, and the king meant to kill her. The serving woman said, "Something shaped like a hen's egg came and touched me, and so I am with child." The king let her go. Afterwards she bore a boy, and he was thrown into the privy, but a long time passed and he did not die, so they held him divine, and the king ordered that he be reared and named him Dongmyeong. When he was grown the king of Goryeo came to fear him, and Dongmyeong in his dread fled as far as the Eomsu, and the people of Buyeo raised him up together.

Among Dongmyeong's descendants there was one called Gutae (仇台), who was firm in benevolence and faithfulness, and he first set up his kingdom in the old land of Daebang. Gongsun Du, the Grand Administrator of Liaodong under the Han, gave him his daughter to wife, and little by little the country grew and flourished and became a strong country among the Eastern Yi. At the first a hundred families (百家) crossed (濟) the sea, and from this it was named Baekje. More than ten generations passed, and in every generation it served China as a subject, and the earlier histories record it in full.

In the early years of Kaihuang its king Yeo Chang (King Wideok) sent an envoy to offer the goods of his country, and Chang was made senior kaifu, Duke of the Daebang Commandery, and King of Baekje.

The country is four hundred and fifty li from east to west and more than nine hundred li from north to south. On the south it touches Silla, and on the north it stands against Goryeo. Its capital is called Geobal Fortress.

In the offices there are sixteen grades. The highest is the rank of jwapyeong, and next daesol, next eunsol, next deoksol, next usol, next nasol, next jangdeok, and these wear a purple belt; next sideok, a black belt; next godeok, a red belt; next gyedeok, a blue belt; next daedeok and below, a yellow belt for all; next mundok, next mudok, next jwagun, next jinmu, next geugu, and all of these use a white belt. The making of their caps is the same throughout, but only those of nasol and above are dressed with a silver flower. The jangsa (長史) is changed once in three years.

The land within the capital region is made into five bu, and a bu has five wards (巷), where the gentry (士人) live. The five bang (方) each have one bangnyeong, and a bangjwa is second to him. A bang has ten gun, and a gun has a commander.

Among their people there are Silla and Goryeo and Wa mixed together, and there are people of China as well. Their clothing is much the same as that of Goryeo. The women do not use powder or brow-black. An unmarried girl braids her hair and lets it hang behind, and once she is married it is parted in two and coiled on the top of her head.

In their customs they esteem riding and shooting, and they read the classics and the histories. They are able in the work of office, and they know medicine, and the arts of divining by yarrow and by tortoise-shell, and the reading of faces. They hold it respectful to put both hands on the ground. There are monks and nuns, and there are many temples and pagodas. They have the music of drum and horn, of the gonghu, the jaeng, the u, the ji and the flute, and the games of pitch-pot, of go, of jeopo (樗蒲), of aksak (握槊) and of juggling beads. They use the Yuanjia calendar of Song, and they take the month of in (寅月) for the head of the year.

Among the great surnames of the country there are eight clans: Sa, Yeon, Ri, Hae, Jeong, Guk, Mok and Baek. The rites of marriage are much the same as in China, and their mourning rules are as in Goryeo. They have the five grains and cattle and pigs and fowl, and for the most part they do not cook their food with fire. Their fields are low and wet, so the people all live on the hills. Great chestnuts grow there.

In the middle month of each of the four seasons the king sacrifices to Heaven and to the spirits of the Five Emperors, and the shrine of their first ancestor Gutae stands in the capital city, and they sacrifice there four times a year. To the southwest of the country there are fifteen places where people live on islands, and all of them have walled towns.

In the year Chen was pacified, one warship drifted to the country of Tammora, east over the sea. When the ship was able to return it passed by Baekje, and Chang gave its men supplies very generously and sent them on, and with them he sent an envoy bearing a memorial to congratulate the emperor on the pacifying of Chen. Gaozu thought well of it and sent down an edict:

"The king of Baekje, having heard that Chen was pacified, has had a memorial borne to me from far off. The going and the coming is hard in the extreme, and if they meet wind and waves they will come to harm at once. I know well already how pure and how full the heart of the king of Baekje is. Though we are far apart, the matter is as if we spoke face to face. Why must envoys be sent often for us to know each other? From this time on he need not bring tribute separately year by year, and I too will not send envoys. Let the king know this."

The envoy made the dance of thanks and went away.

In the eighteenth year of Kaihuang, Chang had his jangsa Wang Byeonna come and offer the goods of his country. As this fell at the raising of the Liaodong campaign, he sent an envoy bearing a memorial and asked to be a guide for the army (軍導). The emperor sent down an edict: "In a past year, because Goryeo did not offer the tribute of its service and had no rite of a subject, I ordered my generals to punish them. Go Won and his ministers were afraid, and in their fear they submitted and confessed their guilt, and I have already pardoned them, so they cannot be attacked." He treated the envoy generously and sent him back. Goryeo came to know much of this matter, and with soldiers it raided the borders of Baekje.

Chang died and his son Yeo Seon ascended the throne, and when he died his son Yeo Jang (King Mu) ascended the throne.

In the third year of Daye, Jang sent the envoy Yeon Munjin with tribute. In that same year he sent the envoy Wang Hyorin as well to present goods and to ask that Goryeo be attacked. Emperor Yang allowed it, and had him watch the movements of Goryeo. But within, Jang was on good terms with Goryeo, and he held deceit in his breast and spied upon China.

In the seventh year the emperor went in person to punish Goryeo, and Jang sent his subject Guk Jimo to ask the time when the army would go out. The emperor was greatly pleased and added rich gifts, and he sent Xi Lü, gentleman of the Bureau of Works in the Department of State Affairs, to Baekje, so that the two might keep each other informed. In the next year, when the six armies crossed the Liao, Jang too set his soldiers out in strength along his border and gave out that he was helping the army, but in truth he held to both sides. Before long a breach arose with Silla, and the two were always at war.

In the tenth year he sent an envoy with tribute again, but afterwards the realm fell into disorder, and the sending of envoys came to an end.

Going south from there by sea for three months there is the country of Tammora, more than a thousand li from north to south and several hundred li from east to west. Its land has many roe deer and deer, and it is a dependency of Baekje. Going west from Baekje for three days one comes to the country of Maek (貊國), it is said.