Battle of Hongsan

Choe Yeong routed Japanese pirates at Hongsan in Buyeo.

In 1376 pirates swept through Buyeo and Gongju, defeating the Gongju magistrate Kim Sa-hyeok and killing the commander Park In-gye at Gaetaesa in Yeonsan. Choe Yeong, then past sixty, asked to lead the fight himself. Hongsan was a natural stronghold walled by cliffs on three sides with a single approach; when the other commanders hesitated, Choe charged at their head. Struck in the lip by an arrow from a pirate hidden in the woods, he shot the man down, pulled out the arrow and fought on harder, destroying almost the entire band.

The pirates are said to have declared afterwards that the only thing they feared was "the white-haired Commander Choe." The victory made Choe Yeong famous, and four years later came the victories at Jinpo and Hwangsan.