6 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
was to become Ikcho. In the third month of the twelfth year (1275) of
Zhiyuan, he inherited the office of his father.
In the eighteenth year (1281) of his reign, as Emperor Shizu set out to
conquer Japan, numerous warships were gathered at Happ’o.^30 Receiving
the official order from the superior office, Ikcho raised an army under his
command and joined the military expedition along with Mongol com-
manders, including Datashi,^31 the battalion commander of Samsal^32 in the
domain of the Ssangsŏng Commandery.^33
Thus he had an opportunity to have several audiences with King
Ch’ungnyŏl^34 of Koryŏ. Whenever he saw the king, Ikcho apologized with
utmost courtesy. He said, “The reason my late father ran away to the north
was to escape from the mouth of a ferocious tiger; he never intended to
betray Your Majesty. I beseech you to forgive him.” The king replied,
“Having descended from a family of scholar-officials, how could you pos-
sibly have forgotten your roots? Your good manners and conduct bear wit-
ness to your sincerity.”
At first, when Mokcho occasionally visited Hyŏnsŏng, a number of chil-
iarchs and Mongol overseers wanted to associate with him, so he made friends
with them. They treated him with courtesy and hospitality, always slaugh-
tering their cattle and holding a banquet in his honor over several days.
Mokcho also provided them with the same kind of hospitality whenever- This refers to the port town located 10 li west of Ch’angwŏn Strategic Prefecture. The
Mongol invasions of Japan took place in 1274 and 1281. The Mongols turned Happ’o into the
Eastern Expedition Field Headquarters (Chŏngdong Haengsŏng) in 1280 and started building
warships in Happ’o. After subjugating Korea, Kublai Khan tried to conquer the Japanese
islands with a massive army, but failed in his attempts as his navies perished on the sea due to
the seasonal typhoons that the Japanese call kamikaze. - He is presumed to be a Mongol general, but the details of his life and career are
unknown. - An old name for modern Pukch’ŏng of South Hamgyŏng Province.
- Located in Yŏnghŭng, South Hamgyŏng Province, it was one of the administrative
districts established by Yuan in order to govern Koryŏ in the middle of the 13th century; it
remained under the Yuan dominion until King Kongmin recovered it by force in 1356. (Ki-baik
Lee, 157) - King Ch’ungnyŏl (1274–1308) was the 25th king of the Koryŏ dynasty. This meeting
with King Ch’ungnyŏl was significant in the sense that Ikcho could reestablish his relations
with the royal court and later his grandson Yi Chach’un (Hwanjo) actively responded to the
call of King Kongmin to attack the Yuan Commandery at Ssangsŏng, Hamgyŏng Province.
King Kongmin in his late years wanted to recover Koryŏ’s lost territory from Yuan as the lat-
ter’s power declined due to the rise of Ming China.