Choe Yeong
| Choe Yeong | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1316 |
| Died | 1388 (aged 72) |
| Choe Yeong | |
| Hangul | 최영 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 崔瑩 |
| Revised Romanization | Choe Yeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ch'oe Yŏng |
Choi Young (1316–1388), also romanized as Choe Yeong, was a Korean general born in Hongseong or Cheorwon during the Goryeo period.
Choe Yeong was born into the prestigious Dongju Choe noble clan as the fifth descendant of Choe Yu-cheong, the Grand Scholar of Jiphyeonjeon, the Royal Academy, and the son of Choe Won-jik. He was raised in a strict austere lifestyle, befitting a noble aristocratic family of Goryeo. He paid little heed to what he wore and ate, and eschewed fine garments and other comforts even after becoming famous and successful. He disliked men who desired expensive articles, and he viewed simplicity as a virtue. Choe Yeong's motto, left to him by his father, was to regard gold as nothing but mere rocks.
Based on his character and beliefs, Choe Yeong was well-suited for the military. In the military, Choe Yeong quickly gained the confidence of both his men and the king due to numerous victories against Japanese pirates who began raiding the Korean coast around 1350.
In 1352, at the age of 36, Choe Yeong became a national hero after he successfully put down a rebellion by Jo Il-shin when insurgents surrounded the royal palace, killed many officials, and proclaimed Jo Il-shin as the new ruler.
As Goryeo was a tributary, or "Bumaguk (son-in-law nation)", to the Mongol Yuan dynasty since 1259, Choe Yeong was sent to help the Yuan forces quash the native Han Chinese insurgents during the Red Turban Rebellion in northern China. In 1354, at the age of 39, he deployed to northern China with 2,000 Korean mounted archers, and was reinforced in Kanbaluk by 20,000 veterans of the Goryeo Tumens. Together they suppressed the Red Turban Rebellion successfully, and returned home to Goryeo.
Choe Yeong's success in nearly 30 different battles won him even more fame and favor at home. Upon returning to Korea, he dutifully reported to Gongmin about the internal problems troubling the waning Yuan dynasty, which gave the king the idea that the time was opportune to reclaim some of the northern territories previously lost to the Mongols. General Choe fought to recover various towns west of the Yalu River to the great delight of Gongmin. In 1356, he attacked and received the surrender of the Mongol-Korean Darughachi of Ssangseong Chonggwanbu in what is now Wonsan, where the former Goryeo ruling aristocrats had surrendered their fiefdoms to the Mongols prior to Goryeo's national surrender of sovereignty in 1259. The surrendering darughachi of Ssangseong was none other than Yi Jachun, whose son, the deputy darhughachi, was Yi Seong-gye, the future founder of the Joseon dynasty.
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