General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 37survey the terrain. As he beat his horse with the back of his sword, the metal
shone brightly since the sun was high in the sky. Surprised by the flash, the
horse jumped over the rocks, and the troops immediately followed his lead,
pushing and pulling themselves up. Their daring assaults caused most of the
enemy soldiers to fall to their deaths off the cliff.
Since T’aejo had already won over the hearts of the people, and since his
officers and soldiers, being well trained, always won the battles, the local
districts waited for him like the rain during the drought and admired him
like a rainbow in the sky.
In the eighth month [of the third year of King U], Japanese marauders
invaded various towns in Sŏhae Province [Hwanghae Province], such as
Sinju,^93 M u n h w a , A n a k a n d Po n g j u.^94 Our military commanders, who included
Yang Paegik, vice grand councilor; Na Se, chief magistrate of Kaesŏng; Pak
Poro, assistant director of the Chancellery; Sim Tŏkbu,^95 provincial military
commissioner; and others were all defeated and requested additional mili-
tary commanders who could assist their war effort to repulse the enemy. In
response, King U dispatched T’aejo, along with the Assistant Grand Council-
ors of the Chancellery (munha p’yŏngni) Im Kyŏnmi and Pyŏn Annyŏl,^96 and
Deputy Directors of the Security Council Yu Mansu and Hong Ching. How-
ever, Anyŏl and Kyŏnmi ran away after losing their engagements at Haeju.
Before he departed for the scene of the battle, T’aejo wanted to find out
his fortune by shooting a helmet from a distance of a few hundred paces. He
shot arrows three times, and they all hit the target. He said, “I think I can
tell now what is going to happen today.”
The battles with the enemy took place at a pavilion east of Haeju, and
when the fighting became intense, T’aejo suddenly ran into a little swamp.
- An old name of Sinch’ŏn, Hwanghae province.
- Pongsan, Hwanghae Province.
- Sim Tŏkbu (1328–1401): an official of late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn. He served as com-
missioner of the Three Finance Commission and left chancellor. As the supreme commander
of the Northeast Region, he made contributions, along with T’aejo, towards repulsing the
Japanese invaders. When the Chosŏn dynasty was founded, he was appointed a member of the
dynasty-founding merit subjects and enfeoffed with the title of Lord of Ch’ŏngsŏng. - Pyŏn Annyŏl (?–1390): a military official of late Koryŏ. He was born in Shenyang,
China, and entered Koryŏ, following King Kongmin. He settled down in Wŏnju, which became
his new clan seat. He made contributions towards repulsing Red Turban bandits and Japanese
marauders and rose to the rank of grand councilor and commissioner of the State Finance
Commission. Involved in the conspiracy to remove T’aejo and restore King U, he was exiled
and executed.