General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 57At first, the Ming emperor said, “Since the northern, eastern, and western
territories above Ch’ŏllyŏng Mountain Pass were originally the domain of
the Kaiyuan Route, the Chinese, Jurchens, Tartars, and Koreans who reside
in the region should be under the jurisdiction of Liaodong.”
Ch’oe Yŏng convened an emergency meeting in which all officials par-
ticipated and everyone in the meeting said, “We cannot concede those ter-
ritories to Ming.” [King] U and Yŏng met secretly and decided to invade
Liaodong. Yi Chasong, Great Lord of Kongsan, visited Yŏng at his private
house and strongly urged him not to go forward with the invasion plan.
Yŏng accused Chasong of joining Im Kyŏnmi’s faction and exiled him to
Chŏlla Province after having him beaten with a heavy stick. Ch’oe subse-
quently had Yi killed.
U received a report submitted by the chief pacification commissioner of
the Northwest Region, which read, “The [Chinese] army in Liaodong has
arrived in Kanggye and plans to establish a guard unit (wei) for Ch’ŏllyŏng.”
Shedding tears, U said, “This happened because you officials did not take
seriously my idea of attacking Liaodong.” The Ming government dispatched
Wang Deming, a captain in the Liaodong military forces, to Koryŏ to
announce the establishment of a Chinese guard unit at Ch’ŏllyŏng.
In the third month, U and Ch’oe Yŏng alone decided on the military expe-
dition against Liaodong; nevertheless, they did not dare to announce it pub-
licly. The king traveled to Haeju under the pretext of going hunting.
In fourth month, [King U] stayed in Pongju [Pongsan]. He said to T’aejo,
“I intend to attack Liaodong. I trust you will do your best [to make a success
of this expedition].” T’aejo replied, “There are four problems in raising an
army at the present time. First, it is not advisable for a small country to chal-
lenge a large country. Second, it is also not a good idea to mobilize an army
during the summer. Third, the Japanese will try to take advantage of the
situation during our military campaign as we send our army to a far-off
land. Fourth, since it is the rainy season now, the glue put on the bows will
be loosened, and the soldiers will be exposed to epidemic disease.” King U
thought his words reasonable.
After the meeting with the king, T’aejo said to Ch’oe Yŏng, “I want you
to say the same things to the king when you see him tomorrow.” Yŏng
replied, “Fine.” However, Yŏng visited the king at night and said, “I beg you
not to listen to anyone [with a different point of view].”
The following day, U said to T’aejo, “Since I have already raised an army,
it is impossible to stop this campaign.” T’aejo said, “If Your Majesty really