In the year 523, King Muryeong of Baekje laid on his deathbed in the fortress of Ungjin which served as the royal palace. The 25th monarch of the kingdom was nearing the end of his long reign. At his side were two loyal retainers, Dal the Horsekeeper and Hyun the Blacksmith. They sat with the king into the twilight hours of his final days.
King Muryeong’s Final Days
King Muryeong was one of the few monarchs of his time to survive to old age. His predecessors before him had all died by the sword, ever since the days of King Gaero whose reign saw the downfall of Baekje’s first capital, Wiryeseong, upon the Han River. Gaero’s successor, King Munju, moved the capital to Ungjin, but he sat on his throne for only two years before the Minister of Defense Hae Gu turned against him. Hae Gu killed the king’s brother and then orchestrated the king’s death as well. The king’s young son, Samgeun, became his successor but lived for only two years before death claimed him. Then came King Dongseong of Baekje, who sailed hither from the islands of Wa. He reigned for more than twenty years, but in the end he too died at the hands of a former minister, Baek Ga.
Baek Ga had been given the lordship of an outlying castle, Garimseong, in the Sabi region. King Dongseong had long wished to move the capital from the mountainous Ungjin to the wide and fertile plains of Sabi. But he knew that the aristocrats would oppose him. Those whose political power was based in Ungjin would want to stay there, and those who dreamed of a glorious return to Wiryeseong would not wish to move even further away. So, King Dongseong used the excuse of taking royal hunting trips to lay claim to the lands of Sabi in the hopes of one day moving the capital there.
His ambitions were cut short when Baek Ga, lord of Garimseong, murdered him during one such hunting trip. Rumor had it that Baek Ga was not pleased with his post, which felt less like a boon and more like exile from the court. Soon after his regicide, Baek Ga openly revolted against the monarchy, but his rebellion was put down by Dongseong’s successor, King Muryeong of Baekje who also came from the islands of Wa.
Since ascending to the throne, King Muryeong had strengthened the monarchy during the 23 years of his reign. Now, nearing the end of his life, he thought back to where it had all begun and reminisced of the past with his two faithful retainers, Dal and Hyun.
Memories of Garimseong
Twenty-three years ago, Dal and Hyun had been living in Garimseong under the lordship of Baek Ga. One day, their lord appeared in the castle covered in blood. Rumors swirled that he had murdered the king and was revolting against the kingdom! But in the days that followed, nothing had changed. Life went on as usual. The only difference was that the lord of the castle seemed to be eagerly awaiting a message that never came. Perhaps there were co-conspirators among the nobility that had wanted the king dead. If so, they had seemingly abandoned Baek Ga to his fate. Days became weeks. When a month had passed, an army finally appeared outside the castle. Baek Ga hoped they might be fellow rebels wishing to join his cause. But alas, they were the royal army led by Baekje’s new monarch, King Muryeong.
Baek Ga asked for counsel from Dal and Hyun, sensing that there was wisdom in the humble horsekeeper and blacksmith. Dal counseled caution, but Hyun advised him to welcome the new king with open arms. After all, who was it that had paved the way for King Muryeong’s ascension to the throne? Surely the king had come to give Baek Ga his just reward.
Heeding the blacksmith’s counsel, Baek Ga opened the gates to his keep. King Muryeong and his army entered without any resistance. And then the king ordered Baek Ga to be imprisoned, tried for treason, and put to death. So ended the former minister who had cut short one king’s reign and made the way for the next.
When King Muryeong learned who had given Baek Ga his final counsel, he summoned Dal and Hyun to appear before him. They spoke to the king plainly and without guile. The King listened to them intently. He was impressed by their earnestness. When their story was finished, the king took them into his service, so that they might give him secret counsel and service whenever the need arose. Over the years, the horsekeeper and blacksmith served the king faithfully and earned his confidence. Now in his dying moments, the king asked that these two confidants give their loyalty to his son and successor.
Upon the king’s deathbed, Dal wept tears of sorrow, and Hyun offered a pair of gilded shoes to be buried with the king. When at last King Muryeong departed from this life, he took the horsekeeper’s tears and the blacksmith’s shoes with him into the next world.
King Seong’s Ambitions
King Muryeong was succeeded by his son, King Seong of Baekje, the 26th monarch of the kingdom. With a strengthened monarchy that had been bolstered throughout his father’s reign, King Seong revived the ambitious dream conceived of by King Dongseong—that of a new capital in the Sabi Region. Yet he could not achieve such a task alone. Therefore, he summoned the loyal retainers from his father’s days, Dal and Hyun, who had now entered into his own service.
The king told them of his great desire for a new capital and the challenges that he would face. For both the common people and the aristocrats would not be pleased with such a bold plan. Dal and Hyun offered to go among the people in an effort to sway their hearts, so that popular support would help to sway the nobility in turn.
The horsekeeper and the blacksmith went among the common folk—dining, drinking, and even dancing among them. In their investigations, they soon learned that the people were distressed to hear that the king had announced plans to move the capital from Ungjin to Sabi. They knew that such a move would entail the construction of new castles, and the enormous labor that would be demanded of them. At the same time, rumors were spreading that Goguryeo was preparing a campaign against Baekje. The kingdoms had long feuded and vied for territory over generations. Almost fifty years ago, Goguryeo had taken the Han River from Baekje. Now, it seemed they wanted even more territory.
If the people were sent to build the new city in Sabi and also serve in the army to defend against foreign invasion, who would farm the land in the harvest season? The people were not happy with these prospects—neither the difficult construction nor the dreadhold war that lay ahead.
Something needed to be done to inspire them to imagine a more hopeful future.
The Heart of the People
While listening to people’s sentiments in public spaces, Dal and Hyun saw a familiar face. It was Gyeomik, a buddhist priest from the days of King Muryeong.
Fourteen years ago, he had set out on a long voyage to the distant nation of Cheonchuk on the mainland continent in pursuit of Buddhist scriptures. Now in the days of King Seong he had returned at last, with both Buddhist scriptures to be translated and a high-ranking Buddhist monk from Cheonchuk. The horsekeeper and blacksmith were very pleased to see Gyeomik. For he was not only a respected priest but a man of the common folk. If anyone could convince the populace of the goodness of King Seong’s plan, surely it was Gyeomik.
However, the retainers soon realized that convincing him would be their first challenge. They invited the priest to tea and appealed to him for his aid. But Gyeomik wondered why the people should suffer for the king’s bold ambitions. Was the move to Sabi not an attempt to wrest power from the aristocracy, by weakening the noble families whose base of power was in Ungjin, and moving the capital away even further away from the Han River where other nobles long to return?
But Dal and Hyun implored the priest to look at the situation with a wider view. Building a mighty city on the banks of the Sabi River would be a boon to the people. The land there was rich and fertile. The mountains offered a natural bulwark against foreign invasion. And the wide river offered a path to the sea so that Baekje might once again become a hub of trade and commerce. None of this could be achieved from a landlocked mountain fortress. Ungjin was a strong and defensible redoubt, but not the ideal location for a great capital.
Gyeomik listened carefully to their words. At last, Dal offered a bargain. If Gyeomik would aid them in their campaign to persuade the people, then Dal and Hyun would persuade the king to build a great temple in the new city, one which would sway the people’s hearts to faith.
It was then that Gyeomik saw a vision of a golden city on the riverbanks. And in the skies above the city flew a brightly gleaming bird with golden feathers. He knew that this was not a mere flight of fancy, but a prophecy of the future yet to come. At last, the priest was roused from his vision, but his memory of what he had seen remained. He told Dal and Hyun of his premonition and finally agreed to help them in their quest. Gyeomik had been recruited to their cause! Soon, he began to proselytize to the people about the just and righteous mission of building a new capital in Sabi. Public sentiment started to shift in favor of the move.
However, people were still shaken by the reports of a vast army from Goguryeo. Reports indicated that they were 30,000 soldiers strong and marching toward Baekje! Among them were the legendary armored cataphracts of Goguryeo—riders and horses both encased in steel.
Fearing for the future of their kingdom, Dal and Hyun rode north to attempt to turn the fortunes of war in Baekje’s favor.
The War in the North
In the northern border of the kingdom, the horsekeeper and blacksmith once again went carousing among the people to assess the situation. Through many conversations with the locals over bowls of soup and rice wine, they learned that the soldiers that were mustered to defend the northern border with Goguryeo were mostly untrained peasant levies. What hope did they have against Goguryeo’s heavy cataphracts? Worse still, reports were trickling in that Goguryeo had brought not only their famed cataphracts but also engines of war. They were well prepared to lay siege to Baekje’s northern castles.
Dal and Hyun knew what challenges they faced. But it was still spring, and they had several months before the invaders would arrive in the late summer. The most pressing matter was preparing Baekje’s peasant army and martialing them into a proper defensive force. For this task, Dal and Hyun worked together. The horsekeeper gave subtle yet rousing speeches and trained the green soldiers in the art of horseriding. Meanwhile, the blacksmith made the soldiers fit in both body and spirit through exercise, by way of his own example. However, their efforts were not without cost. Hyun became overexerted and exhausted by the effort, and Dal became injured after falling off the back of an untamed horse. Even so, their combined efforts yielded fruit, as they swiftly and surely trained the ragtag batches of new recruits into battalions of brave soldiers.
With Baekje’s armies ready to mount a defense, a strategy still needed to be formed against the invading enemy. Therefore, Dal and Hyun each took up a crucial task. Dal formulated a course of action to lure Goguryeo’s heavy cataphracts into wetlands to entrap them. In the height of the summer, the heat and the mud would make their heavy armor work against them. Meanwhile, Dal snuck behind enemy lines and used his expert knowledge of metal to sabotage Goguryeo’s siege engines before they came within sight of Baekje’s lands.
After a fortnight, when Dal and Hyun reunited after their respective missions, they were each delighted to hear of the other’s success. With both the heavy cataphracts and siege engines neutralized, the remaining army from Goguryeo was utterly demoralized. They soon turned around and returned to their homeland. The people of Baekje had been saved from war with their powerful northern neighbor!
As heroes of the war returned from the north, and popular opinion turned in favor of the move to Sabi, the aristocracy had no choice but to support King Seong’s plan. In the following years, the capital of Baekje was moved from Ungjin to Sabi, where a mighty city was carefully planned and built.
Epilogue
In the twilight of their lives, Dal and Hyun continued to serve the crown. They had the thanks of both king and kingdom for their deeds of heroism. Yet their waning years were not without tragedy. Hyun was helping in the construction of Sabi Palace when a terrible flood struck the site. He lost his life while organizing an evacuation of the local workers. Dal was greatly saddened by the loss, but still more sorrow lay ahead.
In the final years of King Seong’s life, Baekje allied with the neighboring kingdom of Shilla to wage war on Goguryeo. Together, they reclaimed the lost Han River region, but Shilla turned against Baekje and laid claim to the Han River for themselves. King Seong’s son, the crown prince, fell into a rage and led an army against Shilla. But his war was foolhardy and reckless. His army became surrounded and trapped by Shilla forces. King Seong, hoping to raise the morale of his son’s army and rescue them, rode to the battlefield under cover of darkness with only a few soldiers to guard him. His path was discovered by Shilla scouts who set a trap and ambushed him. Shockingly, they did not ransom him but chose instead to slay the king and all those with him.
When news reached the crown prince of the king’s untimely end, he was saddened and outraged. Above all, he was angry with himself for being the cause of his father’s death. He resolved to give up the throne and enter a monastery, believing he had no right to wear his father’s crown. Yet Baekje was still in the midst of war, not only with Shilla but also with Goguryeo whose armies threatened to return and avenge their losses.
It was Dal the horsekeeper who convinced the crown prince to take up the mantle of leadership, if only for a time, so that he might save his kingdom. Perhaps in the future, he could even build a temple in his father’s memory. At last, the crown prince acquiesced. He agreed to lead his people, but as a prince rather than a king. Yet in time, the prince grew into a true king. At last, he took up the crown and became King Wideok, the 27th monarch of Baekje. And he built Neungsa Temple to honor the memory of his departed father.
On the grounds of Neungsa temple, Dal prayed for the spirits of the honorable blacksmith Hyun and the kings of Baekje whom they had served together.
This was a summary of a playthrough of “Baekje’s New Capital,” a scenario included in my historical PbtA game Champions & Crossroads which is currently in development.