Book XIV 835
for Pangbŏn. They would tell Pangbŏn, “Since we have already made a con-
nection with Her Majesty the queen, she will get Your Lordship to take the
place of Pangsŏk [crown prince and the younger brother of Pangbŏn born of
the same mother, Queen Sindŏk]. Since a royal decree on that will be
announced soon, please don’t go out—wait inside.” Still trusting what they
said, Pangbŏn did not come out from where he was, and people scorned his
foolishness. Prince Chŏngan knew that Pangbŏn would not be spared by the
conspirators, so he told him to come out, but Pangbŏn chose to ignore him.
Arriving at the entrance of his village where a military unit and his house
were located, Prince Chŏngan halted his horse and called Yi Sukbŏn. Then
Sukbŏn, fully armed, showed up with two warriors. Prince Igan, Lord of
Sangdang, and Prince Hoean and his son also arrived on horseback.
Yi Kŏi, Cho Yŏngmu, Sin Kŭngnye, Sŏ Ik, Mun Pin, Sim Kwiryŏng, and
others, who were the followers of Prince Chŏngan, now joined the forces of
Prince Chŏngan, but they only consisted of ten men on horses and nine
more on foot, including Min Mugu and Min Mujil, the brothers- in- law of
Prince Chŏngan. Then iron spears that were prepared by Lady Min were
brought out and half of them distributed to the soldiers. The attendants and
slaves of the princes, who numbered about ten, held sticks in their hands,
and only Sogŭn [the servant of Prince Chŏngan] carried a sword.
Having run as far as the road north of Tukso, where the military banner
of the supreme general was displayed, Prince Chŏngan called Sukbŏn and
asked, “What should we do about today’s developments?” Sukbŏn replied,
“Now that things have come to such a point, there is no need to be afraid.
Just give us a military password, please.” Prince Chŏngan gave two charac-
ters, “sansŏng” [mountain fortress], for the password and proceeded to the
gate of the Three Armies Headquarters to wait for the Mandate of Heaven.
Having learned that a disturbance had broken out, Pangsŏk decided to
lead the soldiers under his command into the fight. He ordered Pong
Wŏllyang, vice minister of the Office of Guest Affairs, to go up the south
gate and find out if there were many soldiers. Finding that the streets from
Kwanghwamun Gate to Namsan Mountain were filled with fearsome
mounted troops, Pangsŏk became scared and dared not go out. The people
at that time called this the help from the spirits.
Prince Chŏngan called to Sukbŏn again and asked, “What should we do
now?” Sukbŏn replied, “We should go to the place where the wicked gangs
are gathered and lay siege to the house they are in. We will set the house on
fire and kill them as soon as they jump out.”