20 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
In winter, Pan Cheng, Sha Liu, Guan Xiansheng, Zhu Yuanshuai, Po
Toupan, and other Red Turban leaders, who falsely claimed title to manager
of governmental affairs (pingzhangshi), invaded the northwest border of
Korea, crossing the Yalu River with an army two hundred thousand strong.
In a letter dispatched to Korea, they demanded: “We are now advancing
toward the east with a force of 1.1 million soldiers. Come out quickly to
welcome our army and surrender to us.”
Beheading a hundred enemy soldiers, including their chief, T’aejo cap-
tured an enemy soldier alive and presented the captive to the king.
In the eleventh month, King Kongmin fled to the south to take refuge,
and the enemy captured the capital [Kaegyŏng].
In the first month of the eleventh year (1362) of King Kongmin, nine
generals, including State Councilor (ch’amji chŏngsa) An U, recaptured the
capital [Kaegyŏng, modern Kaesŏng], leading an army of two hundred
thousand troops. They beheaded enemy leaders, including Sha Liu and
Guan Xiansheng, and the number of other enemy soldiers that they beheaded
exceeded a hundred thousand altogether.
At that time, T’aejo led the attack on the East Gate, rallying two thousand
soldiers under his command. As he fought against the enemy at the forefront
of the battle and finally won, his fame spread among the people. At first, his
attack against the enemy in the fortress was met with strong resistance.
Though under siege, they reinforced their defense and did not allow their
opponents to advance. In the meantime, the sun set, and it grew dark. So the
forces from various divisions laid siege to the enemy and started pressing
them. T’aejo stayed at one of the houses on the roadside and saw the enemy
at midnight trying to break through the siege and escape. He pursued the
enemy on horseback until he reached the East Gate. Our soldiers and the
enemy were all entangled by this time and fought one another while running
toward the gate to get away outside. An enemy soldier with a spear tried to
stab T’aejo in the right ear from behind. T’aejo at that moment used his
sword to cut down seven or eight of the enemy in front of him and, whipping
his horse, jumped over the wall on horseback. Nevertheless, the horse did not
fall down, and the people around him marveled at what they saw.
In the second month [of the eleventh year of King Kongmin], Cho
Sosaeng^72 [of Koryŏ] lured Nahachu,^73 the grand councilor of the Branch- An official of Koryŏ who acted as a traitor at the end of the Mongol’s dominion over
Koryŏ. - A warlord of the Manchu region at the end of the Yuan dynasty and in the early Ming
dynasty.