Mokho Rebellion (牧胡亂) was a revolt in 1374, the 23rd year of King Gongmin of Goryeo, instigated by the Mokho (Hachi), Mongol-descended herders who tended horses on Tamna (present-day Jeju Island), where a pasture of the Yuan was located.1 It is also called the Hachi Rebellion (合赤의 亂), or the Gapin Incident (甲寅의 變) after the sexagenary year in which it occurred.
Background
After the suppression of the Sambyeolcho resistance against the Mongols in the 14th year of King Wonjong (1273), the Yuan established the Military and Civil Governor-General's Office on Tamna, which the Sambyeolcho had occupied, and governed it with Darughachi. In the 3rd year of King Chungnyeol (1277), the imperial horses were pastured on Tamna, establishing a pasture. Even after Tamna was returned to Goryeo in the 21st year of Chungnyeol (1295), Jeju continued to function as a pasture for the Yuan court. The Mongol herders who tended horses at this pasture were called the Mokho (牧胡).1
At their peak, the Mokho numbered between 1,400 and 1,700. For roughly a century they were stationed on Jeju, living among the local inhabitants, passing on horse-raising techniques, and in some cases marrying Tamna women.2 At the same time, they exploited the resentment of Tamna residents, which arose from the harsh exploitation and corruption of Goryeo officials dispatched to Tamna, and schemed to incite rebellion against the Goryeo court.3
With the accession of King Gongmin and the implementation of anti-Yuan policies, the conflict between the Mokho and Goryeo officials on Jeju intensified. The Mokho killed Goryeo officials and, at one point, requested from the Yuan homeland the establishment of a Manho Office (萬戶府) on Jeju. After driving the Yuan north and taking possession of the Chinese mainland, the Ming established relations with Goryeo and adopted an intimidating attitude toward it. The Ming demanded that Goryeo deliver 2,000 Jeju horses, which were needed to attack the remnants of the Yuan who had retreated north (Northern Yuan). The Mokho leaders on Jeju, Seokjilli Pilsa, Chogodokbulhwa, and Gwaneumbo, resisted this, declaring, "How can we send the horses that the Emperor Shizu (Kublai Khan) had pastured to Ming, our enemy state?"41 They gave up only 350 horses. Following protests from the Ming envoy, the Goryeo court finally decided to subjugate Tamna.
Course of events
The commanders of the armies organized by the court to subjugate the Mokho were as follows:
- Commander-in-chief of the Yanggwang, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang Armies (楊廣全羅慶尙都統使) - Choe Yeong (then Munha Chanseongsa)
- Commander of the Military Affairs Office (都兵馬使) - Yeom Heung-bang (then Miljik Jehaksa)
- Yanggwang Province Marshal (楊廣道元帥) - Yi Hui-pil (Senior Marshal, then Samsa Jwasasa), Byun An-yeol (Deputy Marshal, then Panmilijiksa)
- Jeolla Province Marshal (全羅道元帥) - Mok In-gil (Senior Marshal, then Chanseongsa)5, Im Gyeon-mi (Deputy Marshal, then Milji)
- Gyeongsang Province Marshal (慶尙道元帥) - Ji Yun (Senior Marshal, then Pansunggyeongbusa), Na Se (Deputy Marshal, then Dongji Milijiksa)
- Assistant Marshal of the Three Provinces (三道助戰元帥) concurrently Western Sea Circuit Inspector (西海都巡問使) - Kim Yu (then Jimunhasa)
These men were military leaders who had gained power by participating in the suppression and pacification of frequent wars, such as the Red Turban Rebellion, the Wokou (倭寇) raids, and the Choe Yu Rebellion. They had much combat experience, and before being selected for the expedition, all had held high office at or above the second rank, equivalent to ministerial rank. The mobilized warships totaled 314, all of which had been seized from the Wokou, and the troops numbered 25,605 in total. In addition, Ryu Yeon, Military Commissioner of the Gwallim (門下評理), and Hong Sa-u, Jiomilijiksa (知密直司事), were appointed as Circuit Inspectors of Yanggwang Province and Jeolla Province, respectively, to remain and guard against any possible joint action by the Mokho and Wokou,46 or a Wokou surprise attack.
The Goryeo subjugation army, under Choe Yeong as commander-in-chief, arrived at Naju on July 29 (《Geumseong ilgi》). In August, the soldiers' discipline was established at Naju's Yeongsanpo. After departing from Jindo and reaching Chuja Island, over a fortnight passed amid unfavorable weather, including adverse winds. Because the 100 warships allotted to the Western Sea Circuit Inspector Kim Yu had not arrived, Choe Yeong wanted to stay longer at Geomsangot in Byeokpajin, Jindo. However, the other commanders, despite Choe Yeong's orders, set sail from Bogil Island toward Chuja Island, so Choe Yeong had no choice but to follow. Eventually, near Chuja Island, they encountered a storm, and many of the ships were badly damaged.4
On August 15, the Goryeo army departed for Jeju by galley, and on August 28 arrived at Myeongwolpo (明月浦). They sent former Jeju Magistrate Park Yun-cheong to win over the seongju of Tamna and the Prince, while also demanding that the Mokho surrender voluntarily. The Goryeo troops aboard eleven ships were landed first. However, the Mokho tore up the documents Choe Yeong had sent and refused negotiations. The Goryeo troops who had landed on Jeju were annihilated by 3,000 cavalry of the Mokho leader Seokjilli Pilsa, who were stationed at Myeongwolpo. Earlier, Goryeo's Anmusa Yi Ha-saeng, who had been staying on Tamna, was also killed by the Mokho. Because the Mokho, who had repulsed Goryeo escort troops several times, were in high spirits, and because the soldiers feared that all Tamna residents might have colluded with the Mokho,7 the soldiers refused to advance. Choe Yeong then beheaded a single Bijang (裨將, junior officer) in front of the soldiers and paraded the head, and only then did the soldiers land on the shore and fight the Mokho.
The Goryeo army pursued the Mokho up to 30 li inland, seized all of the Mokho's horses, and formed cavalry units. Beginning at Myeongwolpo (Myeongwolchon), they fought day and night in the directions of Eoreumbi, Balgeun Oreum, and Geumeun Degi Oreum.8 When they returned to Myeongwolpo and set up camp, the Mokho leader Seokjilli Pilsa and others attempted to lure the Goryeo army to Saebyeol Oreum49 to settle the matter. Seeing through this, Choe Yeong drove his troops forward and pursued them urgently.4 The Mokho, pressed into a defensive position, fled through Yeonrae (延來) and Horo (烘爐)8 to Beomseom, south of Seogwipo (西歸浦).
Choe Yeong gathered forty fast boats to encircle Beomseom, and then led elite troops into Beomseom. Seokjilli Pilsa, cornered, came out with his three sons and surrendered. The other Mokho leaders, Chogodokbulhwa and Gwaneumbo, threw themselves off a cliff and committed suicide.410
Choe Yeong had Seokjilli Pilsa and his three sons all executed by waist-cutting (腰斬). He also located the bodies of the other two Mokho leaders who had committed suicide by leaping from the cliff, beheaded them, and sent the heads to the king in Gaegyeong. The remaining people were pacified and incorporated as commoners.8 Seokdasiman (石多時萬)411, Jo Jang-holgosan (趙莊忽古孫), and 105 others, who had been captured by Choe Yeong and then escaped, fled east again and held out at Apak in Dongdo (東道). Choe Yeong destroyed even this stronghold and thoroughly searched out and killed all the fleeing Mokho. It is said that the corpses of the dead covered the fields.4
Of the 1,700 horses taken as spoils from the defeated Mokho, 774 were entrusted to local officials to raise. The golden tablets (金牌), silver tablets (銀牌), and seals (印信) were distributed to Goryeo officials on Jeju and to the indigenous leaders of Tamna. The Goryeo army, which departed Myeongwolpo with the remaining horses on September 22, was forced back to Myeongwolpo by adverse winds at Hwatal Island (火脫島). The next day they set out again and reached Chuja Island, but only on October 5 did they leave Chuja Island. Braving the storms, they passed through Sohando, Bogildo, Jindo, and other places, and only on November 3 were they able to reach the shore at Mokpo. In the course of this, 93 of the horses carried on the ships died in the storms.8
Thirteen days after Choe Yeong left Jeju, on the mainland of Jeju a local horse bandit, Cha Hyeon-yu (車玄有), rose in rebellion. He burned the government offices and slaughtered and ate the horses and cattle that Choe Yeong had seized and entrusted to the government, gaining power. He was suppressed within about a month by the Prince Mun Sin-bo (文臣輔) and the seongju Ko Sil-gae (高實開). Thus, remnant forces hostile to Goryeo and the Ming persisted on Jeju for some time.
Impact
The Ming demanded only Tamna's horses by coercion
By suppressing the Mokho Rebellion on Tamna, Jeju, which until then had been under the influence of both Goryeo and the Mongols, was completely brought under Goryeo's control. However, Jeju suffered from even greater demands for horse tribute than before. From the 5th year of King U (1379) to the 4th year of King Gongyang (1392), of the roughly 30,000 horses Goryeo delivered to the Ming, more than 20,000 were horses from Tamna. Even when, in the 19th year of King Gongmin (1370), Goryeo submitted the 《Tamna Gyepumpyo》 to the Ming, asserting Goryeo's past claim that Jeju had always been Goryeo territory, with the Mongols merely borrowing its pastures, and requested recognition of Tamna as Goryeo territory, the Ming neither immediately accepted this nor officially denied it. Instead, it coerced Goryeo to supply only Tamna's horses. In the 12th year of King U (1386), however, the Ming communicated to Goryeo a de facto intention to purchase Tamna horses, which amounted to demanding that horses be delivered, but withdrew this the following year, and thereupon formally acknowledged the Goryeo court's sovereignty over Jeju.
The assassination of King Gongmin and the death of Ming envoys
Domestically, while Choe Yeong was away on Jeju, King Gongmin was assassinated in Gaegyeong. The Ming envoys Im Mil and Chae Bin, who were returning with 300 horses, were killed at Gaeju Station (開州站) by Kim Ui, a Goryeo official who had been in charge of their escort (Kim Ui fled to the Northern Yuan immediately after the incident). This made diplomatic relations between Goryeo and the Ming hostile. Then, in response to the Ming notice of the establishment of Tieling Wei, Choe Yeong and others triggered an attempt at the Liaodong campaign. At this time, King U tried to keep Choe Yeong, who intended to lead the punitive army personally as Commander of the Eight Provinces (八道都統使), by his side, insisting that "the reason the late king (King Gongmin) was assassinated is that you (Choe Yeong) went south (to Jeju) on a punitive expedition and no one was left in Gaegyeong."4 Eventually, Yi Seong-gye, who took Choe Yeong's place as Right Army Commander (右軍都統使) to lead the Liaodong expeditionary army, turned back his army at Wihwado (Wihwado Retreat), executed Choe Yeong, and deposed King U. Thus he laid the groundwork for the founding of Joseon.
Dismissed as the rebellion of non-kinsmen
In the Mokho Rebellion, not only Mongols who had come to Tamna but also many semi-Mongolized Tamna people born between Mongols and Tamna natives took part. However, after the rebellion was suppressed by Choe Yeong's Goryeo army, in the disturbances instigated by Cha Hyeon-yu, Gang Baek-eon (姜伯彦), and the remnants of the Mokho, Tamna residents almost entirely refused to join. The suppression of the rebellion was carried out by Jeju's indigenous forces. Tamna people gradually rejected the remnants of the Mokho and came to adopt an attitude of denying even the fact that they had once lived intermingled with the Mongols. Ha Dam (河澹), who served as magistrate of Daejeong County on Jeju from the 17th year of Joseon's King Taejong (1417) to the 2nd year of King Sejong (1420), recalled the fierce scale of the war, describing the Mokho Rebellion thus: "Those who were not our own kin mixed in and brought about the Gapin Incident (the Mokho Rebellion). Swords and shields filled the sea, and the land was daubed with livers and brains; one can only say that it chokes one up."12
References
- Kim Il-u, 《Goryeo sidae Tamna sayeon-gu》 (2000), Sinseowon
- Kim Il-u and Mun So-yeon, 《Jeju, mongoleul mannada》 (2013), Jeju Culture and Arts Foundation
Related works
Musicals
- 《Beomseomui sumbisori》, 2002
Novels
- Yi Seong-jun, 《Tamna, noeul soge jida》 (2 volumes), Dogseochi Gak, 2015, ISBN 978-89-6208-124-4
Comics
- Jeong Yong-yeon, "Mokho," magazine 《Bogo》 (Issues 1 to 5), Humanist Publishing, 2014
- By the same author, 《Mokho-ui nan: 1374 Jeju》, Ttalgi Chaekbang, 2019
Footnotes