1. Yeon Gaesomun was a powerful military dictator in the waning days of the Goguryeo kingdom, which was one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea.
19 Facts About Yeon Gaesomun
1. 2.
Yeon Gaesomun is remembered for his successful resistance against Tang China under Emperor Taizong and his son Emperor Gaozong.
3.
In popular culture Yeon Gaesomun is often remembered as an exceptional soldier-statesman without equal in Korean history.
4.
Yeon Gaesomun was born into the influential and distinguished Yeon family as the first son of Yeon Taejo, "Magniji" of Goguryeo during the reigns of King Pyeongwon and King Yeongyang.
5.
Information about Yeon Gaesomun comes largely from the Samguk sagis biographical accounts of King Yeongnyu, King Bojang, and Yeon Gaesomun himself, and tomb engravings and biographical accounts, from the New Book of Tang, dedicated to his sons Yeon Namsaeng and Yeon Namsan.
6.
Yeon Gaesomun is sometimes referred to as Gaegeum.
7.
Yeon Gaesomun had at least three sons: Yeon Namsaeng, Yeon Namgeon, and Yeon Namsan.
8.
When Yeon Gaesomun discovered the plot, he arranged a lavish banquet to celebrate his rise to the position of Eastern Governor to which one hundred of the opposing politicians of the nation were invited.
9.
Yeon Gaesomun ambushed and killed all one hundred politicians present, and then proceeded to the palace and murdered King Yeongnyu.
10.
Yeon Gaesomun was a central protagonist in this series of conflicts, as well as its primary cause.
11.
At the outset of his rule, Yeon Gaesomun took a brief conciliatory stance toward Tang China.
12.
Emperor Taizong, caught between Yang Manchun's army in the front and Yeon Gaesomun's counter-attacking forces closing in from behind, as well as suffering from the harsh winter and dangerously low food supplies, was forced to retreat homeward.
13.
Yeon Gaesomun invaded Goguryeo again in 647 and 648, but was defeated both times, and thus was unable to accomplish his ambition of conquering Goguryeo in his lifetime.
14.
Yeon Gaesomun died in 666 of a natural cause, and Goguryeo was thrown into chaos and further weakened by a succession struggle among his sons and younger brother, with his eldest son defecting to Tang and his younger brother defecting to Silla.
15.
The most likely date of Yeon Gaesomun's death is that recorded on the tomb stele of his eldest son Yeon Namsaeng on the twenty-fourth year of the reign of King Bojang.
16.
Yeon Gaesomun sometimes appears as a door god in Taoist temples in partnership with the Tang general Xue Rengui.
17.
In some Chinese legends, Xue Rengui and Yeon Gaesomun are the reincarnations of the White Tiger's Star and Azure Dragon's Star, respectively.
18.
Yeon Gaesomun appears in Peking opera as the archvillain of the famed Tang general Xue Rengui, who rescues Emperor Taizong from Yeon Gaesomun's pursuit.
19.
Yeon Gaesomun appears in numerous classical Chinese literature about Xue Rengui, who rescues Emperor Taizong from certain death at the hands of Yeon Gaesomun himself.