Sambyeolcho Rebellion

Sambyeolcho Rebellion
Part of Mongol invasions of Korea and Kublai Khan's campaigns
Pae Chung-son, the leader of Sambyeolcho Rebellion
Date 1270–1273 Location Korean Peninsula, Ganghwado, Jindo, Jejudo Result Goryeo and Yuan military victory Destruction of the Sambyeolcho army
Belligerents
Sambyeolcho army	Yuan dynasty Goryeo
Commanders and leaders
Pae Chung-son † Kim T'ong-jŏng †	Goryeo King Wonjong Kim Pang-gyŏng Yuan dynasty Kublai Khan Heundo (炘都)
Strength
700	12,000

Sambyeolcho Rebellion
Hangul	삼별초의 난
Hanja	三別抄의 亂
Revised Romanization	Sambyeolchoui nan
McCune–Reischauer	Sambyŏlch'oŭi nan

The Sambyeolcho Rebellion (1270–1273) was a Korean rebellion against the Goryeo dynasty that happened near the end of the Mongol invasions of Korea. It was suppressed by Goryeo and the Yuan dynasty. After the rebellion, Goryeo became a vassal state of the Yuan dynasty.

Background

From 1231, Goryeo was intermittently invaded by the Mongol Empire. During this time, Goryeo was controlled by a military regime led by the Ch'oe family. In 1232 the government under the nominal king fled to Ganghwa Island, which Mongol horse riders were unable to land on, and resisted the Mongol invasion. Unfortunately because of its fragile foundation, Goryeo faced frequent rebellions. The 1258 rebellion resulted in the establishment of Ssangseong and Dongnyeong Prefectures by the Mongols.

Unlike these rebels, the Sambyeolcho (Three Elite Patrols) were an organ of the military government. They were organized by the Ch'oe family to maintain security. However, unlike the Ch'oe private guards unit (which was to personally protect the family), the Sambyeolcho assumed public functions performed by police and combat forces, effectively replacing the Six Divisions of the military.

In 1258, Ch'oe Ŭi, the fourth dictator of the Ch'oe family, was overthrown by Kim Chun (also known as Kim In-jun) using the Sambyeolcho. Kim Chun took a pro-Mongol policy and sent Crown Prince Wang Chŏng to the Mongol Empire. At the same time, King Gojong and the crown prince approached the Mongols to restore power from Kim Chun.

In 1268, however, Kim Chun was annihilated by the Sambyeolcho under the order of Im Yŏn. The next year, Im Yŏn's attempt to replace King Wonjong was reversed by the crown prince (Chungnyeol) with the help from the Mongol force. In 1270, Im Yŏn's successor Im Yu-mu was killed by the pro-Mongol faction using the Sambyeolcho. It marked the end of the military regime.

Anti-Mongol struggle

When after the collapse of the system of military rule in Koryö, Wönjong decided to heed the Mongol demands to move the capital back to Kaesöng. By doing so Wonjong, dealt the deathblow to the Koryö military as (potential) rulers of the country and he put an end to the war with the Mongols that had devastated the country for more than three decades. At the same time, however, he paid for these successes by placing the Koryö capital squarely within the reach of the Yuan Empire. The military at the temporary capital of Kangdo on Kanghwa-do Island (the Three Extraordinary Watches and the Guard Corps) rejected Wonjong's concessions to the Mongols on both grounds. They feared not only the loss of their influence, but also repercussions as Wönjong was planning to seize the register of the Three Extraordinary Watches and hand it over to the Mongols. At the same time, they knew that there would be no place for them in Kaesöng under Mongol control. Fearing repercussions and seeing an opportunity, the military revolted, rejected Wönjong as their monarch, killed anyone who would not support them, put the Duke of On on the throne and established their own state.

Resentful of the peace terms worked out with the Mongols, the Sambyeolcho, led by Pae Chung-son, revolted against the government. Systematically blocking passage between Gangwha and the mainland, they brought nearby islands and coastal regions under their domain. They gave up Ganghwa Island and fled to Jindo Island in the southwest.

Although the Sambyeolcho raided the coastlines of Jeolla Province, the southwestern province, Jindo Island started to face food shortages in January 1271. In February the court of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty called for the Sambyeolcho's surrender. In April, the Yuan court decided to crush the rebels. The vulnerability of the rebels became immediately clear. While they were all but invincible when fighting through naval guerilla warfare, their base at Chindo was tailor-made for the kind of concerted attack the Mongol army was expert in at mounting. Led by Mongol commander Hindu, infamous Koryõ defector Hong Tagu and Kim Panggyong, Chindo was conquered amidst heavy fighting and the survivors had to flee, leaving everything and everyone behind. Kim Panggyong reckoned the government army had taken prisoner over 10,000 family members of Extraordinary Watches members and several tens of warships.

After the fall of Chindo, the Three Extraordinary Watches relocated to Tamna, now led by Kim Tongjöng (?- 1273). Due to T'amna's relative inaccessibility (compared to Chindo), it took two years before the allied army under Mongol and Koryõ command launched an attack at Tamna. During this period, the Three Extraordinary Watches did everything itcould to hamper the military built-up on the mainland by raiding harbors and destroying wharfs, fortifying the island against the inevitable invasion and trying to warn Japan about the imminent invasion of their land by a combined Mongol-Koryö-Song army, while also proposing an alliance. Again, though, the sting had been taken out of the resistance against the Mongols, because of the now completed transformation of the Three Extraordinary Watches into a large and formal army that needed a stationary base versus its previous hertiage as an effective decentralized guerilla army. At the same time, the Yuan did what it could to support Koryõ in preparing for the invasions. Relief rice (20,000 bushels from the Eastern Capital) was sent to Koryõ after it reported famine and Khubilai readily agreed to Wönjong's entreaty not to allow looting after T'amna had been conquered (which later became an advantage for the Yuan when they occupied the island and raised horses on it).

The reason it took two years to prepare for the invasion and conquest of Tamna was that in the meantime preparations for the invasion of Japan were also being made. The fact that the Three Extraordinary Watches at T'amna were keenly aware of what was going on and its efforts to warn the Japanese government of what was coming, demonstrate the grasp the rebels had of the current state of affairs as well as their well-functioning intelligence network. When finally on April 11, 1273 a combined army of Mongols and Koryõ, aided by a sizeable contingent of North Chinese soldiers, boarded Koryõ naval vessels and headed for T'amna, the conquest would prove to be something of an anticlimax. Despite having prepared for two years, the island was swiftly taken and the members of the Three Extraordinary Watches killed in battle, executed or taken prisoner (to be executed later). After the presumed death of Pae Chung- son in the batde at Chindo, the Three Extraordinary Watches had been led by Kim Tongjõng. After his forces had been defeated, he fled to the slopes of Hallasan accompanied by seventy of his soldiers. He died there two months later, while his soldiers were captured and later executed. With the death of its last leader, the rebellion of the Three Extraordinary Watches had come to an end. Thereafter, the Yuan dynasty directly controlled Tamna until 1294.

See also

• History of Korea
• Mongol invasions of Korea
• Korea under Yuan rule

References

• Ikeuchi Hiroshi 池内宏: Kōrai no Sanbetsushō ni tsuite 高麗の三別抄について, Mansenshi kenkyū Chūsei No. 3 満鮮史研究 中世 第3冊, pp. 67–101, 1963.
• Murai Shōsuke 村井章介: Kōrai, Sanbetsushō no hanran to Mōko shūrai zen'ya no Nihon 高麗・三別抄の叛乱と蒙古襲来前夜の日本, Ajia no naka no chūsei Nihon アジアのなかの中世日本, pp. 144–188, 1988.
• Schultz, Edward J., Generals and Scholars - Military Rule in Medieval Korea, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2000, pp. 63–65