NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION 05/2022
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Lee Seong-je, Researcher at the Research Institute of Ancient and Medieval History of Korea
Liaodong is a region east of the Liaodong Province in today's northeastern China. By borrowing the term familiar to us, Manchuria (滿洲) can be described as southern Manchuria. It was in the early fifth century when Goguryeo occupied this region. It was around this time that Gwanggaeto the Great (廣開土王) looked all around the newly conquered territories in the Liaodong region. The various measures that he and the kings who succeeded him must have taken to rule the new territories are unknown, but at least it is clear that fortresses were built in various places in Liaodong and used as strongholds and defensive facilities for their rule. Goguryeo's fortresses show various scenes from Goguryeo's history directly to us.
First Line of Defense in the Western Front - Liaodong
There are Jinzhou, Pulandian, Gaizhou, Haicheng, and Liaoyang on the passage that stretches from the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, Yeoshun, which was the battlefield of the Russo-Japanese War in the past, to Shenyang, the largest city in northeastern China. These are cities you will find when you cross Liaohe from the west or places where you have to bring a boat to land on the Liaodong Peninsula. Without exception, these were the places where Goguryeo built their fortresses. The magnificent walls remaining today indicate that they were the front line of Western defense.
At Dahei Mountain in Jinzhou District of Dalian City in Liaoyang Province, there is a mountain fortress with a circumference of 5 km. The current name is Daheshan Mountain Fortress (大黑山山城) or Daheshang Mountain Fortress (大和尙山城). Still, it was called Bisaseong Fortress (卑奢城) during the Goguryeo Dynasty. When Sui and Tang invaded Goguryeo, the navy used the route that started from the Shandong Peninsula and advanced east along the Liaodong Peninsula. The place that served as a gateway in this route was Bisaseong Fortress. It is surrounded by rugged mountains and has historical records depicting it as “the four sides of the fortress are steep and can only be crossed through the west gate.” As the fortress gave a view of both the Balhae Bay and the Yellow Sea, it was the best fortress dominating the sea traffic using the coastal route of the Liaodong Peninsula. In the War against Tang in 645, the fortress was captured during a night raid by Tang forces, and about 8,000 Goguryeo people were taken, prisoners.
Trace of the Great Wall of Goguryeo – Delisi Mountain Fortress and Majuanzi Mountain Fortress
If you go north from Jinzhou and pass Wafangdian, you will see Longtan Mountain on the western side of the route. This is the location of the Delisi Mountain Fortress. The fortress walls built up by trimming the fortress's stones continue along the ridge. If you pass the east gate and enter the fortress, you can immediately find a large reservoir called 'Longtan.' The walls of the reservoir were built with stones, and this is an accessory of the Goguryeo fortress also found in Zhuanghe, Chengshan, Jilin, and Longtan Mountain Fortresses. A Taoist temple is next to the reservoir. It is presumed that major buildings must have been located here during the Goguryeo period as it is the flattest area inside the fortress. If you follow the valley road, you will reach the west gate. Here, you will find a small semicircular fortress. The wall from the southern peak descends into it, and the northern wall encloses it from the outside.
Also, there is Majuanzi Mountain Fortress in the east of Delisi Mountain Fortress, across the road between Wafangdian and Gaizhou. Judging from the site condition, it is paired with Delisi Mountain Fortress. The image of paired fortresses at such a close distance is also found in Zhuanghe Chengshan and Fuchengshan Mountain Fortresses in the southern part of Liaodong Peninsula. Interestingly, several places seem to have been left unfinished on the eastern wall of Huchengshan Mountain Fortress. What was the reason for the hasty construction? There are related historical records. Goguryeo began to build its own Great Wall in 631 to counter the threat of Tang. Authors have different opinions on whether the wall actually existed, but the fact that another fortress was built next to it in addition to the original fortress has something to do with the great construction, which Goguryeo supposedly spent 16 years building.
Various Construction Methods – Geonanseong Fortress
When it comes to Goguryeo's fortresses, people easily think of stone-built fortresses, but the Goguryeo people also frequently applied clay-stone mixing technique and rammed earth technique using fine soil. Geonanseong Fortress, which is the present-day Gaoli Chengzi Mountain Fortress (高麗城子山城), is a place where you can see the various fortress wall building methods all at once. It is located in Gaoli Chengzi Village in Qingshilingxiang, on the east side of the path running from Gaizhou to Dashiqiao Bridge north of Wafangdian. The fortress walls are well preserved and the mountain range surrounding Gaoli Chengzi Village. It can be seen that the periphery of the east and west gates was constructed using the rammed earth technique, and the fortress walls continuing from here were made using several techniques, such as clay-stone mixing technique and stone construction, depending on the section. The 『History of Goryeo』 written by Chen Dade, a Tang envoy, records, ‘Pyeonggwakseong Fortress (平郭城) is now called Geonanseong Fortress… previously Pyeonggwak Prefecture of Han,’ as if the two were the same. But this is not true. Pyeonggwak is believed to be an ancient fortress site of the Han Dynasty discovered in Gaizhou. Goguryeo, which occupied Liaodong, built a new fortress separately from the prefectural fortress of Pyeonggwak, and used it as a base for regional domination and defense. The fact that Goguryeo reorganized Liaodong in a way unique to them by building a mountain fortress and using it as a base instead of using the existing flatland fortress as it is after occupying Liaodong can also be proven by the combination of Fushun (撫順) Gaoer Mountain Fortress (高爾山城) and Xuancheng Fortress (玄城).
Bastion to Defend Goguryeo – Defense Line of Liaodong
The Goguryeo people built a defensive network layer-by-layer by building a fortress behind it, separate from the fortress built in front of the defensive line. Baegamseong Fortress (白巖城) is located on a vast rocky mountain to the north of Chengmen Goucun Village in Xidaxiang District, Dengta City. Its circumference is about 2km, and stone walls built up inside and outside are well preserved in the east, west, and northern sections. What makes Baegamseong Fortress stand out along with the fortress walls is the bastion protruding outside the fortress walls. Five bastions were known, of which three remain almost intact. Three stone pillars were built inside the fortress wall at the midpoint between bastions. It appears that they had stairs going up the fortress wall and also served to buttress the walls. Excavations confirmed the water storage was constructed as a stone structure inside the west wall. Baegamseong Fortress was constructed as a base behind Liaodong Fortress, but it could not serve its role in the War of 645. The lord of the fortress, frightened by the fall of Liaodong Fortress, which was known as an impregnable fort, conspired with the Tang forces. As a result, more than 10,000 men and women, including reinforcements from Ogolseong Fortress, were taken as prisoners.
In the Battle of Jupilsan (駐山) that followed, the Goguryeo army was defeated again. It seemed that the legend of the rise of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was to be realized again. However, the place that put an end to the momentum of the Tang army was Ansiseong Fortress. Due to the fierce opposition of the residents of Ansisoneg Fortress, Emperor Taizong had no choice but to retreat. He was always victorious, but it was not enough to break through the defensive line of Liaodong. Goguryeo's fortresses in Liaodong served as the stronghold to protect Goguryeo until the fall of Goguryeo. It was also the Goguryeo Fortresses in Liaodong where the revival army was raised after the country's fall, which fought ferociously.
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