Joseon’s Response to Gijiwi(歧州衛) during the Reign of King Yeonsangun and King Jungjong

The Joseon dynasty, from its beginning, pursued a contamination policy against Jurchen(女眞) to stabilize the nothern border and tried to take the upper hand in its relationship with it. That policy continued until the 15th century. Based on the improvement of the governing system during the rule of King Sejong, Joseon intervened actively in issues related to Jurchen by the time of King Sejo and took the lead in their relationship. However, the relations turned unstable during King Seongjong’s regin. After the failure of conquest in Udike, Joseon could no longer maintain the proactive policy against Jurshen as before.<br/> Yet, Joseon’s containment policy was still in effect and some Jurchen tribes, who had sustained significant damage from Joseon’s expenditionary force, fled. One of them is Moryeonwi(毛憐衛) people who lived near the Tuman River and migrated to the north of the Yalu River, and another is Gijiwi. The Gijiwi people settled down near the Pajeo River, which was under control of Geonjusamwi(建州三衛). They found the way to servive and thrive maintaining livelihoods with hunting, gathering, and plundering.<br/> It was Wangsanjeokha(王山赤下) who made known the existence of Gijiwi to Joseon. He provoked the youth of his village and stuck the nothern border of Joseon to take revenge on his relatives who were arrested and killed by Joseon. Joseon dispatched Dongcheongrye(童淸禮) to induce and keep them under its influence. By the time of King Yeonsangun and King Jungjong, due to domestic political conflicts and aggravation of social and economic conditions, Joseon couldn’t take bold action against Jurchen tribes moved to the neighborhood of Four Abolished Guns(廢四郡). Wangsanjeokha‘s Gijiwi moved to Unjeongpyeong(雲井坪) area, north of Hyesanjin(惠山鎭), to gather the nearby Jurchen people and expand its power.<br/> Joseon took Gijiwi’s movement as a serious security therat that weakened its position and made the border unatable. Joseon attempted to excute Wangsanjeokha of Gijiwi, to restore its prestige and take a leading postion. Joseon, however, failed to prepare for retaliation from the Jurchen remnants and faced a huge resistance, such as in the Manpo incident(滿浦之變) in 1528 when Jurchen attacked Manpo(滿浦) and killed rhe governor. Therefore, Joseon had to retrieve the devastated nothern border and endavor to devise means to watch and keep Jurchen under its influence.