836 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
At the second watch of the night [about 10:00 p.m.], when they were
passing through Songhyŏn,^41 Sukbŏn galloped his horse to Prince Chŏngan
and reported that he had spotted the house of Nam Ŭn’s concubine in the
small village.
Prince Chŏngan stopped his horse and had ten foot soldiers, including his
servant Sogŭn, surround the house first. Outside the gate, there were a
couple of saddled horses, and the slaves in charge of the horses had all fallen
asleep. Chŏng Tojŏn, Nam Ŭn, and others sat together under the light,
talking and laughing.
Sogŭn and others did not enter the house yet, only looking in, and then
they suddenly heard three arrows in a row fall on the tiled roof of the house.
Sogŭn and others came back to the entrance of the village and asked where
the arrows had come from. Sukbŏn replied, “They are mine.” He told Sogŭn
and others to go back to the house, surround it, and set fire to the three
houses next to it. Tojŏn and others all ran away and hid somewhere, but Sim
Hyosaeng, Yi Kŭn, Chang Chihwa, and others were all killed.
Tojŏn escaped to the nearby house of Min Pu, former director, but Pu
reported, saying, “A man with potbelly came into my house.” Prince
Chŏngan knew that he was Tojŏn and ordered four men, including Sogŭn,
to capture him. Finding that Tojŏn was hiding in the bedroom, Sogŭn and
others commanded him to come out. Tojŏn finally emerged out of the room
holding a dagger in his hand; but hardly able to walk, he crawled out. Sogŭn
and others ordered him to drop the dagger in his hand. Then Tojŏn threw it
away and came out of the door. He said, “Don’t kill me, please. Let me say
a word before I die.” As Sogŭn and others dragged him before the horse of
Prince Chŏngan, Tojŏn said, “Your Lordship already saved my life before. I
beg you to save it once more.” Prince Chŏngan said, “You became Count of
Ponghwa. Do you feel it is not enough for you? How can your evil reach
such an extreme?” Then he ordered him to be beheaded.
At first, Lady Min [the wife of Prince Chŏngan] tried to follow her hus-
band, desiring to share the same fortune as him, whether it be good or bad.
Watching her walking toward the prince, the prince’s subordinate, named
Ch’oe Kwangdae, and others remonstrated with her to stay home, but she
insisted on joining the prince. She finally returned home after she saw
Tojŏn’s hat and dagger that were brought by her slave Kim Pugae.- It refers to modern Hoehyŏn- dong and Sogong- dong areas in Seoul.