General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 39Sŭngch’ŏn Prefecture (Kanghwa),^98 and the Japanese openly declared that
they would capture our capital [Kaesŏng] in no time. Their threat threw the
whole country into turmoil and threw the people into a panic.
The government deployed the guard units in front of the royal palace and
waited for the enemy to show up, unnerving the people in the capital. The
government ordered villager militia units to keep watch on the enemy from
the top of the fortress and the regular units to go out to the East and West
Rivers to establish battle camps. Ch’oe Yŏng, director of the State Finance
Commission, was dispatched to command various divisions, establishing
his headquarters in Haep’ung County,^99 and Assistant Chancellor Yang
Paegyŏn was made his deputy. Ascertaining this information, the enemy
thought that they had a good chance of attacking our capital if they could
only crush Yŏng’s army. So they passed by many of our military camps
without engaging, heading directly toward Haep’ung, where Yŏng’s main
army was stationed.
Ch’oe Yŏng said, “The survival of our nation now depends on this one
battle.” Then he immediately advanced towards the enemy with the deputy
commander, Paegyŏn. Yŏng, however, was defeated and pursued by the
enemy. At that moment, T’aejo came to his rescue with his fast cavalry and,
joining Paegyŏn’s army, crushed the enemy. Yŏng, who had run away, saw
the enemy crumbling and at once turned around, leading his forces to attack
the enemy on one flank. As a result, the enemy was almost annihilated, and
those who survived fled at night.
In the eighth month [of the fourth year of King U], a tiger came down into
the capital and harmed many people as well as animals. T’aejo shot and
killed it.
In the eighth month of the sixth year (1380) of King U, the Japanese
massed some five hundred ships at Chinp’o [Kunsan] and invaded our three
southern provinces.^100 They slaughtered and burned the districts along the
seacoast, killing or capturing countless numbers of our people and devas-
tating their villages and towns. Corpses were strewn everywhere, including
in fields and on mountains, and the grain they spilled on the ground while
transporting it to their ships at the harbor was piled as high as a foot. The
- Sŭngch’ŏn is an old name of Kanghwa Island in Kyŏnggi Province.
- P’ungdŏk in Kyŏnggi Province. It is very close to Kaesŏng.
- They refer to Ch’ungch’ŏng, Chŏlla, and Kyŏngsang Provinces.