A History of Korea (36 page)

CH
NG TOJ
N: FROM MASTERMIND TO POLITICAL POWER

In 1383, after nine years of political exile, the up-and-coming Confucian scholar Ch
ng Toj
n visited the northeastern frontier of Kory
. There, in General Yi S
nggye’s home region, Ch
ng had his fateful encounter with this future founder of the next Korean dynasty. Whatever took place in their meeting, it was enough to forge a strong alliance, with Ch
ng hitching his ideals and destiny to the man who had amassed heroic feats in repelling marauding Japanese pirates and Red Turban raiders (
Chapter 6
). As it turned out, this bond could be characterized as an alliance of mutual convenience, with Yi using the scholar as much as Ch
ng used the general. When, as Kory
’s second-ranking military officer, Yi S
nggye was sent to lead a Korean expedition to invade Ming dynasty China in a show of force during a border dispute in 1388, he recognized this as folly and instead turned his army toward the Kory
capital. There he arrested his commander and effectively took control. Waiting for him was Ch
ng Toj
n, who quickly led efforts to implement the political changes that allowed Yi to rule, including the forced abdication of the Kory
monarch in favor
of Yi’s hand-picked one. Ch