Je state

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Je State or Chi-Cheong (Hangul : 제나라 Hanja/Hanzi : 濟國 or 薺國) (765CE - 819CE) was a Korean kingdom established by the remaining people of Goguryeo against Tang dynasty. Its territory was around Shandong, and it continued for 58 years under four emperors. According to the history books of Tang, the State of Je attacked the capital city of the Tang Empire five times.[1][2] The State of Je had unique systems of law and administration.[3]

Contents

[edit] Foundation of Je State

The founder of Je, Yi Jeonggi (Hangul : 이정기 Hanja/Hanzi :李正己) was born at 732CE in Yingzhou (Hangul : 영주 Hanja/Hanzi :營州) , which is currently Chaoyang (Hangul : 조양 Hanja/Hanzi : 朝陽). It is said that his original name is Yi Hui-ok (Hangul : 이희옥 Hanja/Hanzi :李禧玉). The old history book of Tang (舊唐書) says as follows: A soldier from Uighur did on his own way, and nobody could stop him. So, Yi Jeonggi asked him to have a duel, and eveyone thought that the soldier from Uyghur would defeat him. However, Yi Jeonggi stuck him down when the fight started. Because of this duel, Yi Jeonggi became a hero in the army.

In 758, a local government official of Yingzhou, Wang, was dead, and then Yi killed sons of Wang. Thereafter, Yi could gain military power in the area. When there was rebellion in Shandong, the government of Tang sent Yi Jeonggi to suppress the rebellion. Because he suppressed the rebellion in Shandong, he controlled the Shandong area. After that, rebelled in Shandong against Tang government at 765 CE when he was 33 years old. He governed 15 prefectures.

[edit] War with Tang

In 781 CE, a local governor, Yi Bosin had died. Yi Jeonggi wanted a son of Yi Bosin to be the local governor, but the Tang government refused. Thereafter, Yi Jeonggi had a plan to attack Tang dynasty. Yi Jeonggi ordered the administration of Je to his son, Yi Nab, and paid attention to attacking Tang dynasty thereafter. The number of soldiers he had was 100,000, while that of the Tang was about 50,000 or so. Then, the Tang government made mobilization orders to collect more recruits, so the number of soldiers became about 92,000. The Tang government had changed the tax system as one-tenth for the war with Je.

Yi Jeonggi made plans very carefully. He assembled his second division at Suzhou (徐州), which was a place of strategic importance to enter the capital city of Tang. If supplies to the capital city of Tang were stopped, the Tang army would be in dire straits. Thus, most of the troops in Tang were assembled in Suzhou because it was very urgent. At first, it seemed that the Tang had an advantage in the war, but Yi Jeonggi had the major advantage of blocking the Grand Canal, ultimately impeding in the supply line to Chang'an, the capital city of Tang. However, Yi Jeonggi had a sort of tumor. So, he died in August of 781 CE when he was 49 years old.

[edit] Enthronement to Yi Nab

[edit] List of Sovereigns

  1. Yi Jeonggi (Hangul : 이정기 Hanja/Hanzi :李正己/李定己) 765CE - 781CE
  2. Yi Nab (Hangul : 이납 Hanja/Hanzi :李納) 781CE - 793 CE
  3. Yi Sago (Hangul : 이사고 Hanja/Hanzi :李師古) 793CE - 807CE
  4. Yi Sado (Hangul : 이사도 Hanja/Hanzi :李師道) 807CE - 819 CE

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ New history book of Tang, 新唐書
  2. ^ Old history book of Tang, 舊唐書
  3. ^ Zizhi Tongjian, 資治通鑒
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