Yun Hwon (尹暄, 1573 – 15 February 1627) was a civil official, military officer, and writer of mid-Joseon Korea. His clan seat was Haepyeong, his courtesy name was Chaya (次野), and his art name was Baek-sa (白沙).1 He was enfeoffed as Marquis Haeheung (海興君) and served as Governor of Hwanghae Province and Deputy Military Commissioner, but he was executed over the withdrawal of troops during the Jeongmyo Horan.
On 27 August 1614 (the 6th year of Gwanghaegun), he was registered as a Third-Class Wonjong Merit Subject of the Wiseong Wonjong Merit Subjects. He was the son of Yun Du-su, Chief State Councillor under King Seonjo, the younger brother of Yun Bang, and the uncle of Yun Sin-ji, Seonjo's son-in-law. He was the eighth-generation great-uncle of Yun Chi-ho, a politician of the late Joseon period, and the ninth-generation great-uncle of Yun Bo-seon. He was a disciple of Seong Hon.
Life
Early life
He was born in 1573 to Yun Du-su, who was known as Odeum, and Lady Hwang. His grandfather was Yun Byeon, a Military Supplies Commissioner, and his father Yun Du-su served as Chief State Councillor. His mother was the daughter of Hwang Dae-yong (黃大用). His uncle was Yun Geun-su, who served as Left State Councillor.
He visited Useong Seong Hon and studied under him.
In 1590 (the 23rd year of Seonjo), he passed the jinsa examination. In April 1592 (the 25th year of Seonjo), when the Imjin War broke out and Seonjo fled to Uiju, he accompanied the king, and the following year he followed Seonjo and his party back to the capital. In 1597 (the 30th year of Seonjo), he passed the jeongsi munggwa (庭試文科) civil service examination in the second class and served as a historian and in other posts.
Official career
After the Imjin War, in 1598 (the 31st year of Seonjo), he was selected for the Hongmunrok (弘文錄). However, there is a theory that his selection to the Hongmunrok was influenced by his father. In 1599 he served as a recording official (記事官) of the Chunchugwan, and in December of that year as a Hojo Jwaerang. In 1600 he became Assistant Compiler and then Compiler, and in July of that year was again made Assistant Compiler. In October, when the Bibyeonsa selected sixteen Confucian generals, he was recommended as one of them.2 In February 1601 he was again appointed Assistant Compiler, and after serving as Ijo Jwarang he was rewarded for his service in the funeral and royal tomb affairs of that year and received a promotion.
In 1603 he became Jikgang of the Sungkyunkwan. In 1604 he served as Munhak of the Crown Prince's Tutorial Office and as Chumjeong of the Jangakwon. In June of that year he took up his post as Magistrate of Samcheok (三陟府使). In 1604 (the 37th year of Seonjo) he was registered as a Third-Class Hoseong Wonjong Merit Subject (Hoseong Wonjong Merit Subjects). In 1605 he became Magistrate of Dongrae (東萊府使).
Dismissal and reinstatement
While serving as Magistrate of Dongrae in 1605, he built a shrine to honor Song Sang-hyeon. In 1624 it received a royal designation as Chungnyeolsa, and at the same time Jeong Bal, Commander of Busanjin, was enshrined there as well.3 During his tenure as Magistrate of Dongrae, he was praised for his good governance and a monument to his good deeds was erected.
In 1609 he became Magistrate of Jeongju (定州牧使), and in 1611 Deputy Director of the Seungjeongwon Right Division. In 1612 he took up his post as Governor of Hwanghae Province. On 27 August 1614 (the 6th year of Gwanghaegun) he was again registered as a Third-Class Wonjong Merit Subject of the Wiseong Wonjong Merit Subjects. However, while serving as Hwanghae Governor, during the Kim Jikjae incident, he treated the criminal Kim Jikjae (金直哉) leniently when escorting him, and after being impeached he was dismissed from office. He later returned to office, and in 1617 became Governor of Gyeongsang Province. In 1620 he became Vice Mayor of Hanseong, and then went to Ganghwa as Magistrate (江華府尹). In March 1623 he supported the Injo Coup.
After the Injo Coup
After the Injo Coup, in 1624, when a envoy was sent to the Ming dynasty to request investiture for King Injo, he went to Ming as Deputy Envoy and returned home to become Vice Minister of the Military Board. Because he had secured the investiture from Ming, he was rewarded with five slaves and fifteen gyeol of farmland and was promoted.
In September of that year he became Magistrate of the Office of Royal Discipline (同知義禁府事), and in October Special Advisor of the Gyeongyeon. In 1625 he became Grand Remonstrator, and then took up his post as Governor of Pyeongan Province.
Manchu invasion and retreat
In 1627, when the Jeongmyo Horan broke out, he fought the enemy as Deputy Military Commissioner (副體察使), but Anju was lost. Yun Hwon, who was then Governor of Pyeongan, did not impose martial law even as enemy troops approached, and the soldiers and civilians all scattered.4
At that time, Governor Yun Hwon had secured more than 6,000 troops in Pyongyang Fortress, and as the surrounding magistrates led their forces to gather in Pyongyang, the total number of troops reached about 8,000.5 However, they were not elite soldiers but a motley crowd of conscripts forcibly drafted from civilian households.6
He put forward a plan to defend the fortress. But one day the soldiers took off their identification tags, piled them on top of the wall, and shouted, "Our identification tags can stop the enemy's invasion, so why should we fight?" and at that point the army began to collapse.6
When news arrived that Anju had fallen as the Later Jin forces gathered outside Pyongyang Fortress, many of the soldiers and civilians inside the fortress fled.6 When the Later Jin forces took up attack positions outside the walls, the Joseon troops who responded numbered only 2,000, and most of them were the elderly and the infirm. Following the advice of Jongsagwan Hong Myeong-gu (洪命耉) to avoid the enemy's vanguard and attack its rear, Yun Hwon moved his troops to Seongcheon.6 Sensing that the forces in Pyongyang Fortress had moved, the Later Jin army did not attack the fortress but crossed the Daedong River directly and advanced on Hwangju.6
Hwangju was Joseon's second line of defense, and a force of more than 5,000 under the command of Hwanghae Military Commander Jeong Ho-seo was prepared to block the Later Jin army as it moved south from Anju through Pyongyang. However, Jeong Ho-seo, hearing that Yun Hwon had abandoned the defense of Pyongyang Fortress and moved his troops to Seongcheon, said that with so few troops he could not stop the Later Jin army's advance, and withdrew his troops to Bongsan.6 As a result, Joseon's second line of defense centered on Hwangju collapsed without even a single battle.6
Refusal to fight by secondary-status and commoner soldiers
When the Later Jin forces moved south as far as Anju in Pyeongan Province, Governor Yun Hwon devised a plan to defend Anju Fortress. Of course, the entire plan rested on the premise that the soldiers would resist at the risk of their lives.7 However, one day the soldiers piled their identification tags on top of the wall and said, "Our identification tags can stop the enemy's invasion, so why should we fight?" and gave up on fighting.7 The identification tags recorded yangban, secondary-status sons, commoners, and slaves separately, and it amounted to saying that those of them who were secondary-status sons, commoners, and slaves would not go out to fight, so the yangban and scholar-officials should go out and fight instead.7
Thus, as the commoners who were dissatisfied with the identification tag system abandoned the resistance, Anju Fortress collapsed in an instant.
Death
Because of insufficient troops and equipment, and upon accepting the advice of Jongsagwan Hong Myeong-gu, he withdrew from Pyongyang and retreated to Seongcheon. At this time, Hwanghae Military Commander Jeong Ho-seo also abandoned Hwangju and retreated.
Upon receiving this news, the court was greatly alarmed and dismissed him, appointing Kim Gi-jong to replace Yun Hwon as Governor of Pyeongan, Shin Gyeong-won to replace Nam I-heung as Military Commander, and Yi Ik to replace Jeong Ho-seo as Hwanghae Military Commander. It also appointed Jeong Chung-sin as Military Commander and had him concurrently serve as Deputy Commander-in-Chief.4
Jeong Ho-seo, too, was imprisoned in the Office of Royal Discipline on the charge that, because he had withdrawn from Hwangju without fighting, and because other officials also retreated, he had turned the war unfavorably. Soon, his elder brother Yun Bang and his nephew Yun Sin-ji's wife, who was also Injo's paternal aunt Princess Jeonghye, campaigned for his release, but he was executed on Ganghwa Island and his head was put on public display (梟示).
He was playing baduk at the home of his brother-in-law's nephew Shim Myeong-se in Hanseong, and when the order for his public beheading arrived, Shim Myeong-se, who was playing baduk with him, lamented deeply. However, after making his final move, he said, "I had no intention of committing a crime, but I unavoidably ruined the affair, so it is proper that I submit to the royal command," and asked the constables to let him smoke a single pipe of tobacco, after which he calmly accepted the rope and was led away. He was 54 years old.
After death
His severed head was displayed at the military gate (軍門). Although he was executed according to military law, Injo issued a special order to give him a funeral. Because his son Yun Sun-ji (尹順之) was a close attendant and favored confidant of Injo, Injo followed precedent in providing a funeral and bestowed one set of coffin boards (棺板).
Works
His collected writings are titled Baeksa-jip (白沙集). He also wrote a preface to the Baeksa Collection of Yi Hang-bok, who shared the same art name, Baeksa.
- Baeksa-jip (by Yun Hwon)
- Preface to the Baeksa Collection of Yi Hang-bok
Notes