"The soldiers were quite willing to take the advice of their courageous
leader, and resolved to obey his orders rather than the king's. They
went to the capital, forcibly removed the king from his throne, and
banished him to the island of Kang-wa.

"Not yet, however, was Taijo made king. The deposed ruler plotted and
planned all kinds of schemes whereby he might be restored to his old
position of authority. Taijo heard of some of his plots, and finally did
that which would for ever extinguish the authority of the old king or
any of his family. He removed from the temple the tablets on which were
inscribed the names of the king's ancestors. More than this, he ordered
that no more sacrifices be offered to them.

"The king could have suffered no greater insult than this, for, like
all Koreans, he held as sacred the memory of his ancestors, and even to
speak ill of one of them was an unpardonable crime. But this time he was
powerless to resent the indignity or to punish the offender, and
consequently he lost what little influence he had been able to retain.

"Taijo was now formally proclaimed king. He was able to make peace with
the Chinese emperor, and under his rule the Koreans enjoyed freedom from
war and oppression. His descendants still sit upon the throne of Korea."




CHAPTER VI.


THE MONK'S STORY