The Waves of the Salsu
Wind, campfire and river sounds change with every scene, and the music follows the story.
Last time, we met Silla’s first queen, Queen Seondeok. Though she lost Daeya Fortress in 642 and was scorned by the Tang emperor, she raised the nine-story pagoda of Hwangnyongsa, and she died in 647 in the midst of Bidam’s rebellion. At her side stood two pillars of the kingdom, Kim Chun-chu and Kim Yu-sin.
Characters
Full of stratagems, and a fine writer
Stands up to Sui
Attacks Goguryeo three times
Lets Eulji Mundeok slip away
Drives all the way to Pyongyang
Eulji Mundeok · Imagined character
This time the story goes back to Goguryeo, about a generation before Queen Seondeok.
In 589, the Sui dynasty reunited China, which had long been split between north and south.
That great empire was looking east,
toward Goguryeo.
In the second month of 598, King Yeongyang of Goguryeo led more than 10,000 Malgal troops in an attack on the Sui lands of Liaoxi.
Westward!
Wei Chong, the Sui area commander of Yingzhou, held them off and drove them back.
Emperor Wen of Sui flew into a rage and sent his son Yang Liang, Prince of Han, and others with 300,000 troops by land and sea to attack Goguryeo.
The summer rains cut the supply lines, and an epidemic broke out. Many of the ships that went by sea also sank in the storms.
Push!
is all gone.
In the ninth month, the Sui army went home. Eight or nine out of every ten had died.
King Yeongyang, afraid as well, sent an envoy to apologize, humbling himself as “the dung-and-dirt subject of Liaodong” (a subject as lowly as the rotten earth of Liaodong). Emperor Wen called off his troops and treated him as before.
Nine years later, Emperor Wen’s son, Emperor Yang,
set out for the northern steppe.
In 607, when Emperor Yang visited the tent of Qimin Khagan of the Göktürks, a Goguryeo envoy happened to be there.
to come at once and pay homage.
we will lead Qimin
into your land!
Qimin did not dare hide the envoy and went with him before the emperor.
When the envoy delivered this message, King Yeongyang was afraid. Yet the king did not go to Sui.
will come for us.
prepare our defenses
in advance.
The Samguk Sagi records that Eulji Mundeok was calm and resolute, full of stratagems, and could compose writings as well. It says his family background is unknown.
In 611, Emperor Yang proclaimed that he would attack Goguryeo and gathered troops from all over the empire at Zhuo Commandery (near today’s Beijing).
In the first month of 612, another imperial edict was issued.
The petty rabble of Goguryeo
is foolish and insolent.
高句麗小醜 迷昏不恭 — Samguk Sagi, 23rd year of King Yeongyang
The Samguk Sagi records that the troops gathered then numbered 1,133,800, called two million, and that those carrying their supplies were twice as many.
at Pyongyang!
One army set out each day, 40 li apart, and it took 40 days for them all to leave. Their banners stretched for 960 li.
Emperor Yang’s main army headed for Liaodong Fortress, the nine armies crossed the Yalu toward Pyongyang, and the navy made for Pyongyang by sea.
The Sui army reached the Liaoshui (today’s Liao River). The Goguryeo army held the river against them.
is too short!
The three pontoon bridges the Sui laid fell a little more than a man’s height short of the far bank.
Two days later the Sui troops had extended the bridges, and the Goguryeo army was badly defeated; Liaodong Fortress was surrounded. Emperor Yang had ordered, “In all matters, report to me first and wait.”
We surrender!
to the emperor!
By the time the answer came back, the fortress had its defenses ready again. This happened two or three times.
Emperor Yang summoned his generals and gave them a furious dressing-down.
and take me lightly?
and to cut off your heads!
The generals all went white with fear.
Around that time, the Sui navy under Lai Hu’er crossed the sea and sailed into the Paesu (Taedong River).
the other armies arrive!
to wait!
On to Pyongyang!
His ships stretched for hundreds of li. He had just crushed a Goguryeo army 60 li from Pyongyang Fortress.
Lai Hu’er picked out tens of thousands of his best troops and pushed straight to the foot of Pyongyang Fortress.
on the soil of Pyongyang!
Chinese records tell that in this battle King Yeongyang’s younger brother Geonmu fought at the head of several hundred men sworn to die.
A Goguryeo general hid troops in an empty temple inside the outer walls, then went out to fight and fell back, pretending to be beaten.
Take everything!
When the ambush struck, Lai Hu’er was badly beaten and barely escaped with his life. Only a few thousand of his men made it back alive.
Meanwhile, the nine armies of Yuwen Shu, Yu Zhongwen and others, 305,000 strong when they crossed the Liao River, gathered west of the Yalu.
will be beheaded!
Each soldier carried 100 days’ rations, plus armor and spears, cloth and tents. Each man’s load came to more than 3 seok.
Unable to bear their loads, the soldiers secretly dug pits inside their tents and buried the rice.
By the time they were halfway there, their food was already running out.
carrying all this…
it’s our heads.
King Yeongyang sent Eulji Mundeok to the Sui camp to offer a false surrender.
and find out how things
really stand with them.
In truth, it was a mission to spy out the enemy’s condition.
Eulji Mundeok crossed the Yalu and walked into the Sui camp.
there are spears everywhere…
And take a good look.
Yu Zhongwen had already received a secret order from the emperor: “If the king or Eulji Mundeok comes, be sure to take him captive.”
that man!
here to surrender!
When Liu Shilong insisted on stopping him, Yu Zhongwen sent Eulji Mundeok back.
Yu Zhongwen soon regretted it and sent a man to call Eulji Mundeok back.
Come back!
they’re calling you.
Without looking back, Eulji Mundeok crossed the Yalu and returned.
Having let Eulji Mundeok get away, the two generals were uneasy.
We must turn back.
crush one petty foe—
how can we face
the emperor?
Since the emperor had told them to follow Yu Zhongwen’s command, Yuwen Shu had no choice but to cross the Yalu and go after Eulji Mundeok.
Seeing that the Sui troops were starving, Eulji Mundeok fled in every fight to wear them out.
falling back again?
Let them win.
In a single day, Yuwen Shu’s army fought seven times and won all seven.
Elated by victory after victory, the Sui army crossed the Salsu and camped on a mountain 30 li from Pyongyang Fortress.
Eulji Mundeok composed a poem and sent it to Yu Zhongwen.
you’re writing a poem?
The poem Eulji Mundeok sent to Yu Zhongwen
Your wondrous plans have fathomed the heavens,
your subtle reckoning has mastered the earth.
Your victories have already won great merit;
know when you have enough, and stop, I pray.
神策究天文 妙算窮地理 戰勝功旣高 知足願云止 — Samguk Sagi, Biographies, Eulji Mundeok
and stop”?
Yu Zhongwen sent back a reply admonishing Eulji Mundeok.
Eulji Mundeok again sent an envoy with a false surrender.
we will bring our king
to pay homage to the emperor.
and that fortress is forbidding.
Yuwen Shu used these words as an excuse to turn his army back.
The Sui army formed a square and withdrew.
the formation!
With the Goguryeo army striking from all sides, they had to fight as they retreated.
In the seventh month of 612, the retreating Sui army reached the Salsu.
When the army was halfway across the river—
Attack!
The Goguryeo army fell on the Sui rear guard from behind.
The Sui general Xin Shixiong fell fighting. The armies collapsed all at once, and nothing could stop the rout.
The survivors fled for a day and a night and reached the Yalu. It was a journey of 450 li.
When they first crossed the Liao River, the nine armies numbered 305,000.
Those who made it back to Liaodong Fortress
numbered 2,700.
Samguk Sagi, 23rd year of King Yeongyang
and stop, I pray.
when to stop…
we won.
The waves of the Salsu grew calm once more.
In a fury, Emperor Yang had Yuwen Shu and the others bound in iron chains, then withdrew his army and went home.
All that Sui gained in this war was Muryeora, a small Goguryeo fort west of the Liao River.
down to 2,700?!
In 613, Emperor Yang invaded again and attacked Liaodong Fortress day and night for more than 20 days. But then Yang Xuangan rose in rebellion inside Sui.
quiet.
Don’t go out!
Emperor Yang had secretly turned his army back in the middle of the night. Suspecting a trick, the Goguryeo army waited two days before giving chase.
In 614, Emperor Yang raised an army for the third time. But Sui was already in turmoil everywhere, and the troops he summoned could not arrive in time.
When Lai Hu’er, coming by sea, defeated the Goguryeo army at Bisa Fortress and was about to head for Pyongyang, King Yeongyang sent an envoy to offer surrender and handed over Husi Zheng, who had fled to Goguryeo from Sui.
Emperor Yang was pleased and withdrew his army.
Back in his capital, Emperor Yang once again ordered King Yeongyang to come and pay homage.
King Yeongyang never went.
After that, rebellions broke out across Sui without end.
In 618, Emperor Yang was killed by his own officials at Jiangdu (today’s Yangzhou), and the Sui dynasty fell.
That same autumn, King Yeongyang of Goguryeo also died. The throne passed to his half-brother Geonmu.
How Eulji Mundeok lived after that is not recorded. In the Samguk Sagi, Kim Bu-sik wrote:
That the great Sui army was all but wiped out
was the work of one man, Eulji Mundeok.
滅其軍幾盡者 文德一人之力也 — Samguk Sagi, Biographies, Eulji Mundeok
