General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 3escape from the crisis by taking Tut’a Mountain Fortress^8 for his defense.
Then it happened that the mountain fortress supervisor whom he had trouble
with earlier was newly appointed as the surveillance commissioner of the
district in which Mokcho resided and was about to arrive soon. So he was
compelled to relocate once more or face retaliation from the new surveil-
lance commissioner. Thus, he took his family and crossed the sea to arrive
at Ŭiju (namely Tŏgwŏn)^9 in the Northeast Region [Hamgyŏng Province].
He was joined by the 170-plus households that initially had followed him,
as well as many other people from the Northeast Region because they
greatly admired him. Then the government of Koryŏ appointed Mokcho
military commander of Ŭiju and had him defend the highlands against the
Yuan army.
At that time, the northern part of Ssangsŏng (namely Yŏnghŭng)^10
belonged to the Kaiyuan Route (lu),^11 and Grand Prince Sanji^12 of the Yuan
dynasty established his camp in Ssangsŏng in order to capture the northern
region above Ch’ŏllyŏng.^13 So he twice sent men to talk with Mokcho and
persuade him to surrender. Mokcho finally surrendered to him, reluctantly
leading his people, including Kim Pono and over one thousand households.
Prior to this incident, the people of P’yŏngyang heard of Mokcho’s favorable
reputation, and many of them decided to follow him. So they also joined
Mokcho at the time of the latter’s surrender [to the Yuan forces].^14 Extremely
pleased, Sanji treated Mokcho with great courtesy and generosity. He enter-
tained Mokcho holding a grand banquet in which they enjoyed drinks.
When the banquet came to an end, Sanji personally took a jade chalice and
held it against Mokcho’s chest. He said, “How can your people know the
- Located about 50 li due west of Samch’ŏk in Kangwŏn Province.
- Ŭiju here should not be confused with another Ŭiju in North P’yŏngan Province.
Tŏgwŏn County that belonged to Yŏnghae Strategic Prefecture in South Hamgyŏng
Province. - Located in South Hamgyŏng Province.
- The route [lu] was a territorial-administrative region during Yuan times. The Kaiyuan
Route was located in Jilin and Liaoning Provinces. - A Mongol general also called Yegu.
- A mountain pass located between Anbyŏn in South Hamgyŏng Province and Hoeyang
County in Kangwŏn Province. - In 1254, Mongol General Jarlairtai launched the sixth and final military campaign
against Koryŏ and devastated the entire country. According to the Annotated Account of
Korean History (Tongsa kangmok) by An Chŏngbok, the Mongol army took 206,800 captives
and the corpses were too many to be counted. Under these circumstances, it appears that
Mokcho had little choice but to surrender to the Yuan authorities.