-So, Silla was in trouble...the king had been reduced to a figurehead, while the aristocracy was the real power behind the government.
-King Aejang, son of King Seosang, ruled from 800, but was killed by his uncle (King Heondeok, see below) in 809.
-765-809 saw unchecked growth in aristocratic power due to the absence of a strong king.
-809- King Heondeok, brother of King Soseong and uncle of ing Aejang, had taken the crown for himself! He faced a rebellion, led by Kim Heonchang and other descendents of King Muyeol, but they were quelled.
-However, the real power lay in the office of the prime minister, almost exclusively available to the Kim clan.
-Many aristocrats began to move out of Gyeongju to build their own private estates and live as kings in their own right. They built castles and fortresses, without the king's permission, and raised their own armies and ruled their domains with absolute authority. They also kept the taxes for themselves.
-The king couldn't do anything because he didn't have an army that could enforce his will, since the army was made up of aristocrats. Also, the peasantry was now controlled by the aristocratic lords, since it was the aristocracy who determined the peasants' food allocation and laws.
-Many Korean merchants began to move to the Yalu River area, or in or around Tang China to trade. However, the Yellow Sea was a scary place- choppy waters, storms, rocky coasts, and pirates!
-Many Korean low-status nobles also went to Tang China to study in its courts or serve in their armies, so then when they returned to Korea they would have much more respect and higher status.
-King Heondeok died in 826, replaced by his younger brother, King Heungdeok.
-King Heungdeok ruled by 826-836, and died without an heir, so he was replaced by King Wonseong's grandson, King Huigang.
-However, in 838 there was a coup, and King Huigang was toppled by Kim Myeong, the prime minister, who then crowned himself King Minae.
-839- King Minae was dethroned in another coup, and was replaced by King Sinmu, a descendant of King Wonseong.
-However, King Sinmu ruled like 3 seconds before dying.
-839- King Munseong is enthroned.
-However, there were more uprisings from aristocrats and prime ministers and shit, until he died in 857. At this point, the king truly was just a figurehead and Silla had become a kingdom divided in fiefdoms. The king was only around in order to keep the common folk united, and to the "protector" of the 3 sacred relics of Korean Buddhism that they believed kept Silla safe from disaster and bestowed luck upon the kingdom.
-Most notable up the uprisings is that of the ruthless naval warrior Jang Bo-go, who rose to power as a leader of Silla's naval forces in the southwest against pirate raiders, and even tried to get into the bone rank with political maneuvering even though he came from peasant origins.
-The rest of the 9th century was very turbulent. Famine and revolt plagued the kingdom.
-King Heonan, son of King Munseong, ruled from 857-871, same shit.
-King Gyeongmun, relative of King Munseong, ruled from 861-875, same shit.
-King Jeongang ruled from 886-887, same shit, died without an heir.
-Because Jing Jeongang had died without an heir, he was replaced by Queen Jinseong, Silla's third and final queen.
-She was the daughter of King Gyeongmun, and she was really debauched and corrupt, although this is possibly sexist, biased, and maybe even a lie. Prude Buddhist monks hated her and encouraged a revolution.
-Order collapsed under her reign, as famine became intolerably brutal, the queen raised taxes, people abandoned their farms and jobs, and bands of brigands and mobs began to roam the land.
-In order to try and salvage this shitty situation, the southwest of the peninsula, still maintaining a Baekje identity, decided to break away and form its own kingdom under Gyeon Hwon, a disgruntled Silla general, and set up a new capital at Sangju.
-Pledged to avenge the death of Baekje, this new kingdom moved quickly to carve out a kingdom that included Gwangju and Jeonju. This new kingdom was called Hubaekje ("Later Baekje"), and the capital was at Wasanju (modern-day Jeonju).
-The Tang Dynasty actually recognized the sovereignty of Gyeon Hwon as the new king of Hubaekje.
-Meanwhile, in the north, shit was getting bad, too.
-Around Gaesong in the north, there were 4 rebellious warlords vying for power.
-Eventualy, a new kingdom was established by a guy named Goong-yae at Gaesong, this kingdom was likewise called Hugogoryeo ("Later Gogoryeo", also later called Taebong), and soon after this they even controlled Pyeongyang, Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, and other places.
-This period is known as the Later Three Kingdoms Period.
-Hugogoryeo and Hubaekje found themselves with lots of hungry, talented workers who couldn't find jobs in Silla due to the bone rank and were in search of opportunity.
-One problem worth noting, however, is that Hugogoryeo, when they took over the regions south of the Han River, they had some problems because the people there were culturally Sillan, and didn't like being conquered by what they saw as northern barbarians.
-Also, Goong-yae began to get cult-like, preaching a new kind of Buddhism and referring to himself as Buddha and that he had descended from heaven to spread peace and blah blah even though he was a brutal tyrant like most of every cult leader, ever.
-While Hubaekje was busy attacking Silla, Hugogoryeo attacked Hubaekje! This allowed for Hugogoryeo to gain territory.
-Finally, Goong-yae began to grow even more paranoid and insane, and was finally slain in a military coup. Thus, Wang Geon was installed as King Taejo of Taebang (name was now changed from Hogogoryeo) in 918, thus marking the beginning of the mighty kingdom of Goryeo!
-Meanwhile, King Gyeongmyeong still held onto Silla for dear life.
-King Gyeongmyeong died in 924, replaced by King Gyeongae.
-War had broken out between Goryeo and Hubaekje.
-Suddenly, Balhae to the north fell to barbarian hordes- The Khitans, a Mongolian/Central Asian horselord army that devastated the kingdom.
-Many refugees fled to Goryeo, and many of these refugees were actually ethnic Gogoryeons anyway, and lots of them flocked to Pyeongyang.
-King Taejo set up 2 capitals of Goryeo - Gaesong in the south, Pyeongyang in the north.
-Meanwhile, Hubaekje led its forces to attack Silla, and actually broke through Gyeongju's forces and entered the city in 927.
-They found Silla's king, King Gyeongae, having a party haha.
-He ended up killing himself before Goryeo forces could capture him. Meanwhile, the Goryeo army looted the city. They then installed a puppet king, King Gyeongsu, as the last king of Silla.
-Goryeo tried to attack Hubaekje forces as they returned to Jeonju, but they were unable to overtake them.
-928- The beginning of many battles between Hubaekje and Goryeo.
-934- Hubaekje sacks Gaesong, but can't keep the city and is driven back.
-Finally, King Gyeon Hwon experiences a collapse of the stability of the royal family as his son tries to take the throne, and King Gyeon Hwon flees to Goryeo, where he was warmly received in 935. He was dying from poor health, but begged Goryeo to go south and fuck up his son, Gyeon Singeom.
-935- Goryeo goes south and conquers Hubaekje.
-Then king Gyeongsu stepped down and abdicated his throne to King Taejo of Goryeo.
-Goryeo had now taken the whole peninsula! Victory!
-King Taejo's offspring married into the royal Silla fmaily, thus joining the two houses and giving legitimacy to the Goryeo throne.
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