General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 35near Tŏkchŏk^89 and Chayŏn Islands.^90 [King] U^91 mobilized an army from
various provinces and ordered T’aejo and Ch’oe Yŏng, director of the State
Finance Commission (p’an Samsa sa), to command this army and establish
a defense against the enemy attack, demonstrating the power of our armed
forces at the East and West Rivers.^92
In the tenth month [of the first year of King U], T’aejo caught a tiger on a
hunt and presented it to King U. The king bestowed robes upon him, with
the following admonition: “To capture terrible beasts involves great risk. I
want you to be more cautious in the future.”
Much earlier, when Hwanjo passed away, Yi Ch’ŏn’gye [Yaozhu] secretly
tried to distance himself from T’aejo because he believed he was a rightful
heir [of his Yi clan]. Then it happened that someone complained that one of
T’aejo’s slaves had brought suit against a commoner (with higher status).
Taking this opportunity, Ch’ŏn’gye and his sister, who was the wife of
Kangu, conspired with the slave who had taken legal action, seeking to
cause trouble for T’aejo, without success. However, T’aejo did not take the
matter to heart and acted as if nothing had happened. In the summer of the
Pyŏngjin year it happened that someone stole the wife of a man who worked
for Ch’ŏn’gye. Infuriated, Ch’ŏn’gye killed the man and was eventually
imprisoned. Ch’ŏn’gye was now unable to escape punishment, especially
because a high official in command wanted him to be put to death because
Ch’ŏn’gye had insulted him some years earlier. T’aejo tried his best to save
Ch’ŏn’gye’s life, with no success. He was very saddened by the tragedy and
took care of Ch’ŏn’gye’s surviving children. He raised them until they
became adults and married. He also took care of his sister, the wife of
Kangu, because her family was very poor. So he provided her with many
slaves to improve her way of life. After the new dynasty was founded, the
sons of Ch’ŏn’gye were all appointed to high-level government posts.
- Located in Namyang, Kyŏnggi Province.
- Located in Inch’ŏn Strategic Prefecture.
- King U (1374–1388) is the 32nd king of Koryŏ. Although suspected of being born to a
slave woman and the monk Sin Ton, King U succeeded King Kongmin at the age of eleven
with the backing of high official Yi Inim, who later wielded predominant power. His contro-
versial birth and misguided pro-Yuan policy provided the pretext to justify the regime change
in favor of the new Chosŏn dynasty. - The East River (Tonggang) is located 15 li east of Imjin District, and the West River
(Sŏgang; modern Map’o area) to the west of Hanyang (Seoul).