Great King Gim Bu金傅大王

Great King Gim Bu.

The fifty-sixth king, Great King Gim Bu, has the posthumous title Gyeongsun.

In the second year of Tiancheng, the year jeonghae, in the ninth month, Gyeon Hwon of Baekje invaded Silla and reached Goulbu, and King Gyeongae asked Taejo of Goryeo for help.

Taejo ordered a general to go to the rescue with ten thousand strong troops, but before the relief army arrived, Gyeon Hwon swept into the royal capital in the eleventh month, in winter.

The king was with his queen, his concubines, and his kinsmen, amusing himself at a feast at Poseokjeong, and did not even know the troops had come. Taken by surprise, he did not know what to do.

The king and queen fled into the rear palace. His kinsmen, the high officials, and men and women scattered in all directions as they ran, and were captured by the bandits. High and low alike crawled on the ground and begged to be made slaves.

Gyeon Hwon let his troops loose to plunder public and private property, and went in and took up quarters in the royal palace.

Then he ordered his men to search for the king. The king was hiding in the rear palace with the queen and a few concubines.

They were seized and brought into the camp. He forced the king to take his own life, violated the queen, and let his men loose to defile the concubines.

Then he set up Bu (傅), a kinsman of the king of a younger generation, as king. So this king was raised to the throne by Gyeon Hwon.

The body of the former king was laid out in the western hall, and the new king wept aloud with his ministers.

Taejo of Goryeo sent an envoy to offer condolence and sacrifice.

The next year, the year muja, in spring, in the third month, Taejo came with some fifty horsemen on a tour to the borders of the capital.

The king went out with all his officials to meet him in the fields and brought him into the palace. Face to face they showed every courtesy and feeling to the full, and a feast was laid in Imhaejeon.

When the wine had warmed them, the king said, "I did not have Heaven's help, and so I brought on this disaster. Gyeon Hwon did wrong as he pleased and made me lose my country. What pain could be greater than this?"

Then tears streamed down his face, and of those around him there was none who did not sob. Taejo too shed tears.

He stayed several ten-day periods and then turned his carriage home. The troops under his banner were quiet and did not trespass by so much as a hair.

The men and women of the capital congratulated one another and said:

"When the Gyeon came before, it was like meeting wolves and tigers. Now that Lord Wang has come, it is like seeing our own parents."

In the eighth month Taejo sent an envoy to present the king with a brocade robe and a saddled horse, and also gave gifts, each according to rank, to the ministers and generals.

In the second year of Qingtai, the year eulmi, in the tenth month, the land on every side had all passed into other hands. The country was weak and its position isolated, and it could not be at peace on its own.

So the king took counsel with his ministers about surrendering the land to Taejo. The ministers argued back and forth without end.

The crown prince said:

"Whether a country stands or falls surely rests on the will of Heaven. We should gather the hearts of the people together with loyal ministers and righteous men, and give up only after we have used all our strength. How could we lightly hand over a dynasty of a thousand years to another?"

The king said:

"Isolated and in danger as we are, our position cannot hold. We can neither be strong nor be weak. To let innocent people have their livers and brains smeared on the ground is what I cannot bear to do."

So he sent Gim Bonghyu of the rank of sirang with a letter to ask Taejo to accept his surrender.

The crown prince wept and took leave of the king. He went straight to Gaegolsan, wore hempen clothes and ate wild plants, and ended his life there.

The youngest son shaved his head and joined the Hwaeom school as a monk under the name Beomgong. It is said he later lived at Beopsusa and Haeinsa.

Taejo received the letter and sent Wang Cheol of the rank of taesang to receive the king.

The king led all his officials and came over to Taejo of Goryeo.

Fragrant carriages and precious horses stretched in a line for more than thirty li and filled the roads, and the onlookers stood like walls.

Taejo came out to the fields to meet and comfort him. He gave him a quarter east of the palace〔It is now Jeongseungwon.〕 and gave him his eldest daughter, Princess Nangnang, as his wife.

Since the king had left his own country to live in another, she was likened to the nan bird, her name was changed to Princess Sillan, and her posthumous title was Hyomok.

He was enfeoffed as jeongseung, ranking above the crown prince, and given a stipend of one thousand seok.

The officials and generals who had attended and followed him were all recorded and given posts. Silla was renamed Gyeongju and made the lord's fief.

When the king first offered his land and came to surrender, Taejo was greatly pleased and treated him with generous courtesy. He sent a man to say:

"Now that you, King, have given your country to me, your gift is great. I wish to make a marriage with your royal house, so that the good bond of son-in-law and father-in-law may last forever."

The king answered, "My uncle Eongnyeom〔He is the younger brother of Great King Sinheung, the posthumous title given to the king's father, Hyojong of the rank of gakgan.〕 has a daughter who is beautiful in both virtue and looks. None but she could take charge of the inner household."

Taejo married her, and she is Queen Sinseong of the Gim clan.

〔The Wangdae jongnok written by Gim Gwanui of this dynasty says Queen Sinseong was of the Yi clan. Apart from this, nothing of the Gim clan is recorded among the twenty-five queens and consorts, so the details are not known. Yet the historian's comment also calls Anjong a grandson of Silla through the female line, so the histories should be taken as right.〕

Taejo's grandson Gyeongjong, named Ju, married the daughter of Lord Jeongseung and made her his queen. She is Empress Heonseung.

Then Jeongseung was enfeoffed as Sangbo (尙父).

In the third year of Taiping Xingguo, the year muin, he died, and his posthumous title was Gyeongsun.

The historian's comment says this:

"The Bak clan and the Seok clan of Silla were both born from eggs. The Gim clan is said to have come down from heaven inside a golden chest, or some say riding a golden carriage. This is even stranger and cannot be believed. Yet the world hands it down and takes it for fact.

Now if one looks only at their beginnings, those who sat above were frugal toward themselves and generous toward others. The offices they set up were few, and the affairs they carried out were simple.

They served China with the utmost sincerity, and envoys went to court over mountain ladders and by ship one after another without a break. They always sent their sons and younger brothers to attend the court as guards, and to enter the schools and study.

In this way they took on the civilizing influence of the sages and worthies, reformed their rough customs, and became a country of propriety and righteousness.

Moreover, relying on the awesome power of the imperial army, they pacified Baekje and Goguryeo and made their lands into commanderies and counties. This may be called flourishing.

Yet they honored the law of the Buddha without knowing its harm, until pagodas and temples stood side by side in every village, the common people fled into black robes, and soldiers and farmers dwindled little by little. The country grew weaker by the day. How could it not fall into disorder and perish?"

"At this time King Gyeongae added wild pleasures to all this. He went out with his palace women and attendants to amuse himself at Poseokjeong, set out wine, and made merry, not even knowing that Gyeon Hwon had come.

He was no different from Han Qinhu outside the gate and Zhang Lihua up in the tower.

That Gyeongsun entrusted his life to Taejo was not something he could help, yet it may also be called admirable.

Had he fought with all his strength, braved death, and resisted the royal army until his strength broke and his position was exhausted, his whole clan would surely have been overthrown and the harm would have reached the innocent people.

Instead, without waiting for the command, he sealed the storehouses, recorded the districts in registers, and offered them up. The merit he won for the court and the kindness he showed the people are very great.

Long ago, when the Qian clan brought Wuyue into Song, Su Zizhan called him a loyal minister. Now the merit and virtue of Silla far surpass that.

Taejo of Goryeo had many queens and concubines, and his descendants also multiplied. Yet Hyeonjong, a grandson of Silla through the female line, came to the precious throne, and those who carried on the line after him were all his descendants. How could this not be the fruit of virtue stored up in secret?"

After Silla had offered its land and the state was abolished, Sinhoe of the rank of agan gave up his post in the provinces and came back. He saw the capital broken and in ruins, and with the grief of one who sighs over millet growing thick, he composed a song. The song is lost, and its details are not known.