General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 29No Chŏng, surrendered themselves along with over three households under
their control, and T’aejo presented them to the king.
When T’aejo entered Ura [Mountain Fortress],^86 he heard the sound of a
man crying aloud inside the fallen walls. He ordered an officer to find out
what was going on and discovered a half-naked man who sobbed as he said,
“I am the one named Bai Zhu, who passed the civil service examination
with the highest honor in the Yuan government. Yi Inbok of your country is
the same age as me.” Upon hearing that Bai Zhu was the principal graduate
(changwon) of the Yuan, T’aejo took off his coat and made him put it on.
Then he provided him with a horse and brought him back to court with him.
The king bestowed the Korean name Han Pok upon Bai Zhu, who served
T’aejo very diligently.
In the eighth month [of the nineteenth year (1370) of King Kongmin], the
king ordered T’aejo to go out and attack the Tongnyŏng Administration,
together with Chi Yongsu, the military commander of the Northwest Region,
and his deputy Yang Paegyŏn.
In the twelfth month [of the nineteenth year (1370) of King Kongmin],
T’aejo arrived in Ŭiju, leading a royal army of a thousand six hundred
troops. He crossed the Yalu River by making a floating bridge, and the
whole operation took him three days. Then he arrived at Luojiang Tower,
which was two days’s journey from the fortress of Liao, [T’aejo’s destina-
tion]. Leaving the main supplies behind [at Luojiang Tower], T’aejo ordered
his troops to move on, taking only seven day’s supplies with them.
He also ordered Hong In’gye, Ch’oe Kongch’ŏl, and other officers to
launch attacks, while he led a crack cavalry force of just three thousand
cavalry. Observing that our forces were small, the enemy held us in con-
tempt. A little later, however, the main body of our forces arrived, and the
people inside the fortress were awed by the large number of our troops.
Only one of the enemy commanders, named Chu Ming, proud of his
bravery, was eager to resist. T’aejo sent Yi Wŏn’gyŏng to persuade Ming to
surrender: “We really have no problem killing you, but our general wants to
save you for his own purposes. Why don’t you surrender yourself quickly?”
As Ming refused to listen, Wŏn’gyŏng said again, “It seems that you don’t
know anything about our general. He is so talented [in archery] that he will
- There are two places under the name Ura. One is located in Kapsan in North P’yŏnan
Province, and the other in Hoeryŏng in North Hamgyŏng Province.