The Last Year of Wanggeom Fortress
Wind, campfire and river sounds change with every scene, and the music follows the story.
After Wiman drove out King Jun and became king, Gojoseon grew strong through iron and rich by passing goods between Han and its neighbors. In the reign of Wiman’s grandson King Ugeo, the Han envoy She He, heading home empty-handed, killed Gojoseon’s Lesser King Jang, who had come to see him off, and fled. The spark of war had fallen.
Characters
Daughter of a smithy in Wanggeom Fortress
A blacksmith who forges arrowheads
Grandson of Wiman
Goes to the Paesu River to make peace
Defends the fortress to the end
They come by sea and by land
YeoulI’m Yeoul. My family has worked iron since the days of my great-grandfather Bau.
is a span of the wall.
Ever since Gojoseon’s troops had killed She He, the fires in every smithy of Wanggeom Fortress had burned through the night.
Emperor Wu of Han raised a great army, gathering even convicts, and sent it by two routes.
King Ugeo, too, sent troops to hold the rugged passes. But Yang Pu’s naval force of 7,000, coming by sea, reached Wanggeom Fortress first.
Go out and attack!
Yang Pu’s army broke and scattered in all directions.
Yang Pu hid in the mountains for more than ten days before he managed to gather his scattered troops again.
Xun Zhi’s army, coming by land, could not break through the defenses on the Paesu River either.
The first round went to Gojoseon.
When the war did not go as he wished,
Emperor Wu of Han sent the envoy Wei Shan to win King Ugeo over.
would trick me and kill me.
I will submit.
King Ugeo agreed to send the crown prince to apologize and to offer 5,000 horses and provisions for the army.
The crown prince reached the Paesu River with 5,000 horses and more than 10,000 armed men.
be carrying weapons?
and come across!
will they kill us…?
won’t they start a revolt?
Unable to trust each other, the two sides never crossed the river.
And so the peace fell apart.
Emperor Wu of Han executed the envoy Wei Shan for his failure.
And then winter came.
Xun Zhi at last crossed the Paesu River and surrounded the northwest of the fortress, while Yang Pu surrounded the south.
enemies?
Counting only makes you afraid.
ladders off!
Months went by, and the fortress did not fall. But one by one, the granaries inside were emptying.
Some of Gojoseon’s ministers secretly let Yang Pu know that they wished to surrender. At that, Xun Zhi grew suspicious of Yang Pu.
and attack us!
of the Tower Ships!
When Xun Zhi took command of both armies and pressed the attack, the ministers inside the fortress secretly put their heads together.
but he has been arrested.
yet His Majesty will not surrender…
Minister Noin, Minister Haneum and General Wang Gyeop secretly slipped out of the fortress and surrendered to Han.
Minister Noin died on the way.
Summer 108 BCE.
That night, the palace was silent.
Men sent by Cham, the Minister of Nigye, killed King Ugeo. Then Cham surrendered to Han.
The king was dead.
But Wanggeom Fortress had not yet fallen.
but Joseon is still here!
YeoulDad raised his hammer too. I shouted along with them.
Xun Zhi sent Jang, King Ugeo’s son, who had surrendered, and Choe, son of Minister Noin, to talk the people inside the fortress into giving up.
and we will spare you all!
Open the gates!
It was not Han soldiers who struck Seonggi down. It was people from inside the same fortress.
is a span of the wall…
YeoulThat day, for the first time, I saw my father cry.
The gates opened. Han soldiers marched in behind their banners.
don’t let go of this.
hammer.
YeoulAt dawn a few days later, my family boarded a small boat.
And so Wanggeom Fortress, and Gojoseon, faded into the distance.
In 108 BCE, Gojoseon fell.
On its land, Han set up commanderies, Lelang Commandery among them.
YeoulWe boarded a ship heading south. I held my great-grandfather’s hammer tight against my chest.
in the south too.
YeoulIn a seaside village in the south, my great-grandfather’s hammer sent sparks flying once more.
Let’s make sickles.
Gojoseon had fallen.
But what the people of Gojoseon had built did not disappear.
On the wide plains of the north, too,
new kingdoms were growing.
