Heukchi Sangji (黑齒常之, 630 – 689),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Hangwon (恒元), was a Chinese military general of

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

origin, one of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korea, Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of History of Korea, Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (), many states and statele ...

. He is remembered primarily as a leader of the Baekje Revival Movement to restore the kingdom after the capital fell in 660 to the Silla–Tang alliance. Later after their defeat he became a general of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. In China his name was read as "''Heichi Changzhi''".

Background

In 1929 the tomb of Heukchi Sangji was discovered and excavated in

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. According to the ''

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk sagi'' () is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Completed in 1145, it is well-known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. The ''Samguk sagi'' is written in Classical ...

'', he was a man of the West Be (Bu, District) in Baekje who had surrendered to the army of the

at the fall of Baekje in 660, and became a distinguished Tang general. The epitaph states that his clan was a collateral branch of the Baekje royal family (Buyeo clan, 扶餘氏) but since their ancestors were enfeoffed with the Heuk-chi country (黑齒國), their descendants took this name. The epitaph also states that the Heukchi clan leaders held the rank of Dalsol (達率, 2nd court rank). According to the epitaph his great-grandfather was named Mundae (文大), his grandfather Deokhyeon (德顯), and his father was Sacha (沙次).

Baekje revival movement

In 660 a coalition of about 180,000 men of the Silla–Tang alliance led by Tang's

Su Dingfang Su Dingfang () (591–667), formal name Su Lie () but went by the courtesy name of Dingfang, formally Duke Zhuang of Xing (), was a Chinese military general of the Tang dynasty who succeeded in destroying the Western Turkic Khaganate in 657. He wa ...

and Silla's

Kim Yu-sin Kim Yu-sin (; 595 – 21 August 673) was a Korean military general and politician in 7th-century Silla. He led the unification of the Korean Peninsula by Silla under the reign of King Muyeol and King Munmu. He is said to have been the great ...

attacked Baekje and took the capital of Sabi. Sangji fled with several other generals to the Gangsan Fortress and joined the Baekje Revival Movement. He and his followers gathered 30,000 men in 10 days. Tang's

seemed to be eager to defeat him and

people. But he won continuously reoccupying 200 or more castles. In 663, Silla and Tang counterattacked, and besieged the restoration movement at a fortress known as Juryu Castle (주류성/周留城).At this point Boksin appears to have betrayed the restoration movement. He had Dochim killed and sought to slay Prince Pung as well. However, Pung killed him first, and fled to

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

. The restoration movement was destroyed shortly thereafter at the

Battle of Baekgang The Battle of Baekgang () or Battle of Baekgang-gu, also known as the Battle of Hakusukinoe () in Japan, and as the Battle of Baijiangkou ( zh, c=白江口之战, p=Bāijiāngkǒu Zhīzhàn, t=白江口之戰) in China, was a battle between Baek ...

. During this battle his follower Yong Sak betrayed him for the Tang but Heukchi Sangji kept marching onward defeating several Chinese armies. He surrendered and the Tang appointed him as the Outer General of the Lieutenant's Army and the Yangju Citizen of the Lieutenant's Army.

General of Tang

In 687, when Emperor Ruizong's mother Empress Dowager Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) served as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

, there was an invasion by the

Eastern Tujue The Eastern Turkic Khaganate ( zh, t=東突厥, p=Dōng Tūjué or Dōng Tújué) was a Turkic peoples, Turkic khaganate formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century (AD 581–603) after the First Turkic Kh ...

khan Ashina Gudulu and his general Ashide Yuanzhen (阿史德元珍). Empress Dowager Wu commissioned the ethnically

general Heukchi Sangji, assisted by

Li Duozuo Li Duozuo () (died August 7, 707), formally the Prince of Liaoyang (遼陽王), was an ethnically Mohe people, Mohe general of the History of China, Chinese Tang dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty. He is mostly known for his participation in the ...

, to defend against Ashina Gudulu's attack, and they were able to defeat Eastern Tujue forces at Huanghuadui (黃花堆, in modern

Shuozhou Shuozhou is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the northwest. It is situated along the upper reaches of the Fen River. The prefecture as a whole has an area of about and, 2010 PRC Census, ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

), causing Eastern Tujue forces to flee.

Death

But Heukichi and his patron General Zhao felt out of favour from Wu Zetian and the two was sentenced to prison when they were slandered against. Finally, he came to be in chains and sentenced to death in 689.

In popular culture

From 1939 to 1940, Korean writer Hyun Jin-geon wrote a historic novel called Heukchi Sangji,which was a novel created to elevate national sentiments against the Japanese colonial times.

Notes