Qin and Han · King of Joseon

Ugeo 右渠

Youqu

Died BC 108

Passages: 15
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Ugeo as a ruler. This record brings together 15 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ugeo	右渠	Youqu
Title	King of Joseon	朝鮮王
Personal name	Ugeo	右渠	Youqu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Value: male
Strongly inferred · shiji:115:s0009

Roles

Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Cause: assassination · Action: killed · Authority Person Id: Shen (參) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元封三年夏 · Regnal Year: 3 · Season: summer · Western Year: BC 108
Explicit · shiji:115:s0052

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元封二年 · Regnal Year: 2 · Western Year: BC 109
Explicit · shiji:115:s0011, shiji:115:s0018, shiji:115:s0021, shiji:115:s0024, shiji:115:s0025
Source Date: Text: 元封三年夏 · Regnal Year: 3 · Season: summer · Western Year: BC 108
Explicit · shiji:115:s0052

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Descendant of Wiman (滿)
Kinship Term: grandson / 孫 · Generation Distance: 2 · Line: paternal
Kinship Term: grandson / 孫 · Generation Distance: 2 · Line: paternal
Child of Son of Wiman
Kinship Term: grandson / 孫 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father · Intermediary Person Ids:
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Changjiang (長降)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
Kinship Term: crown prince / 太子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son

Places and affiliations

Label: Joseon / 朝鮮 · Relation: ruled
Explicit · shiji:115:s0009, shiji:115:s0052

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · shiji:115:s0025, shiji:115:s0026

Events and relationships

Kind: diplomatic · Role: obstructor · Action: blocked-neighbor-missions
Explicit · shiji:115:s0010
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated-tower-ships · Other Person Id: Yang Pu (楊僕) · Place: Wanggeom / 王險
Explicit · shiji:115:s0021
Kind: military · Role: defender · Action: held-city-months
Explicit · shiji:115:s0033
Kind: military · Role: defender · Action: held-passes
Explicit · shiji:115:s0018
Kind: diplomatic · Role: would-be-surrenderer · Action: offered-surrender · Other Person Id: Wei Shan (衛山)
Explicit · shiji:115:s0025, shiji:115:s0026, shiji:115:s0027
Kind: diplomatic · Role: refuser · Action: refused-edict · Other Person Id: She He (涉何)
Explicit · shiji:115:s0011

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: relied on stubborn resistance and thereby destroyed his state · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
Explicit · shiji:115:s0059

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 115Treatise on Korea · 15 passages

傳子至孫右渠，所誘漢亡人滋多，又未嘗入見； The throne passed to his son and then to his grandson, Ugeo. Under Ugeo's rule, ever more Han fugitives were lured into the kingdom, yet he never once traveled to court to pay his respects.

真番旁眾國欲上書見天子，又擁閼不通。 When the neighboring states near Zhendan wished to send memorials requesting an audience with the Son of Heaven, Ugeo blocked their way and refused to let them through.

元封二年，漢使涉何譙諭右渠，終不肯奉詔。 In the second year of the Yuanfeng era, the Han court dispatched the envoy She He to rebuke Ugeo, but the king stubbornly refused to obey the imperial edict.

兵五萬人，左將軍荀彘出遼東：討右渠。 With a combined force of fifty thousand men, and the Left General, Xun Zhi, marching overland from Liaodong, they set out to punish Ugeo.

右渠發兵距險。 Ugeo deployed his troops to hold the mountain passes.

右渠城守，窺知樓船軍少，即出城擊樓船，樓船軍敗散走。 Ugeo held fast within the city walls. When he saw that the Tower Ships force was small, he sallied forth to attack them. The Tower Ships army was defeated and scattered in flight.

天子為兩將未有利，乃使衛山因兵威往諭右渠。 Since neither general had gained the upper hand, the Son of Heaven sent Wei Shan to use the might of the army as leverage and persuade Ugeo to submit.

右渠見使者頓首謝：「願降，恐兩將詐殺臣； Ugeo received the envoy and bowed his head in apology. 'I am willing to surrender,' he said, 'but I fear the two generals will use treachery to kill me.

右渠遂堅守城，數月未能下。 Ugeo dug in and stubbornly defended the city. After several months, it still could not be taken.

其先與右渠戰，因辱亡卒，卒皆恐，將心慚，其圍右渠，常持和節。 In their earlier battle against Ugeo, they had shamed and abused their fleeing soldiers, leaving the troops fearful and the general ashamed. During the siege, he frequently displayed credentials of peace.

天子曰將率不能，前（及）［乃］使衛山諭降右渠，右渠遣太子，山使不能剸決，與左將軍計相誤，卒沮約。 The Son of Heaven declared that the commanders could not advance, and then sent Wei Shan to negotiate Ugeo's surrender. Ugeo dispatched his crown prince in response, but Wei Shan failed to handle the matter decisively; his actions clashed with the Left General's plans, and in the end the agreement fell through.

元封三年夏，尼谿相參乃使人殺朝鮮王右渠來降。 In the summer of the third year of the Yuanfeng era, Shen, the Chancellor of Nixi, sent men to assassinate King Ugeo of Joseon and came to surrender.

王險城未下，故右渠之大臣成巳又反，復攻吏。 But the fortress of Wanggeom had not yet fallen. Cheng Ji, one of Ugeo's former ministers, raised another rebellion and turned his forces against the Han officials.

左將軍使右渠子長降、相路人之子最告諭其民，誅成巳，以故遂定朝鮮，為四郡。 The Left General had Ugeo's son, Changjiang, surrender and had Lu Ren's son, Zui, issue a proclamation to the people. He executed Cheng Ji, and with this, Joseon was at last pacified and divided into four commanderies.

太史公曰：右渠負固，國以絕祀。 The Grand Historian remarks: Ugeo relied on stubborn resistance, and his state was destroyed, its sacrifices cut off.