Historical backgrounds….

Until the late 12th century, Goryeo‘s political mainstream had been civil officers composed of Confucian scholars. By contrast, military officers, relatively uneducated, had been discriminated and ignored by the elite civil officers.

In 1170, a group of army officers, outraged by the accumulated discrimination, launched a coup and succeeded to take power. Many civil officers were killed in the process. From then on, Goryeo’s kings had become a puppet of the military regime. This “age of warriors” lasted about a hundred years until Goryeo surrendered to the Mongol empire in 1270.

During the Mongol’s colonial occupation, Goryeo became quda (marriage alliance) vassal of the Mongol empire (Yuan dynasty) for about 80 years, and monarchs of Goryeo were mainly imperial sons in-law. As a result, Goryeo court was dominated by Pro-Mongol nobles. The brothers of Empress Ki (The Goryeo woman who became the empress of the Yuan dynasty) were the notorious example for the corrupt Pro-Mongol nobles.

When the Yuan dynasty was beginning to crumble in the mid-14th century, King Gongmin of Goryeo (reign 1351~1374) ascended the throne and began the efforts to reform the Goryeo government by removing Mongolian influences. He opened the government posts to the reformist Confucian scholars in order to check the power of conservative pro-Mongol nobles. Those scholars formed a new social class called “Sadaebu (士大夫)” and their famous representatives were Sambong Jung Do-Jeon(鄭道傳) and Poeun Jung Mong-Joo(鄭夢周). (* ‘Sambong’ and ‘Poeun’ are their pen names.)

In addition, there were famous military officers who had protected Goryeo people from various foreign invaders. The renowned general Choi Young, and the new rising star Yi Seong-Gye started to emerge as new political forces. They are called “New warrior forces” (신흥 무인 세력, 新興武人勢力).

However, after the sudden assassination of King Gongmin in 1374, the pro-Mongol nobles regained their power. Against the conservative nobles, the Sadaebu scholars and the new military officers started to join forces. This is the beginning of Six Flying Dragons.

A tu o znanym nam z Faith Generale:

Choi Young 최영 (崔瑩, 1316~1388) / Jeon Guk-Hwan
He has increased his reputation as an invincible general by distinguishing himself in war. He had to tolerate the atrocious acts of Dodang triumvirates to maintain social order, but he ended up joining hands with General Yi Seong-Gye to punish them.
He tried to enforce the impractical military plan to attack Ming China, but Yi Seong-Gye’s withdrawal of army troops made his plan a total failure. He was executed by Yi Seong-Gye’s sword.