Revolt
At the time, the monarch of Silla was Queen Jinseong, who was the third and the last female head of state in Korean history (the other two being: Queen Seondeok of Silla and Jindeok of Silla). Queen Jinseong was a powerless ruler and the government was largely corrupted by interventions of royal family members and rampant bribery among members of the royal court. The corrupt government continuously exploited the peasants and farmers, and after a year of famine, massively raised taxes in 889 which led to many revolts and rebellions. Local aristocrats, called hojok (hangul:호족, hanja:豪族) emerged as de facto rulers of many provinces, with the attention of government concentrated on suppression of rebellion and their own power struggles. Among the rebel leaders and local aristocrats, Gi Hwon and Yang Gil gained the most power.
Gung Ye first joined the troops of Gi Hwon in 891 but left shortly after as Gi Hwon did not fully trust him. Gung Ye joined Yang Gil's rebellion force in 892, and became leading general of the rebel forces by defeating the local Silla army and other rebel groups. Most local aristocrats of Myeongju and Paeseo, including Wang Gun, submitted to his force, making him even more powerful than his master Yang Gil. Silla, after nearly a millennium as a centralized kingdom was quickly declining, and Gung Ye instigated his own rebellion in present-day Kaesŏng in 898. He eventually defeated Yang Gil and other local lords in central Korea to proclaim himself king of Hugoguryeo in 901.With his rival Gyeon Hwon's Hubaekje taking control of the peninsula's southwest, he opened up the Later Three Kingdoms period with the last days of Silla.
Read more about this topic: Gung Ye
Famous quotes containing the word revolt:
“I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)
“Distorting hackneyed words in hackneyed songs
He turns revolt into a style, prolongs
The impulse to a habit of the time.”
—Thom Gunn (b. 1929)
“To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.”
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)