Volta
Conflict1359–1362

Red Turban Invasions

The Red Turbans, Han Chinese rebels against the late Yuan, invaded Goryeo twice; in the second invasion Gaegyeong fell and King Gongmin fled to Bokju (Andong).

In the twelfth month of 1359 some 40,000 Red Turbans crossed the Yalu and took Seogyeong, but were driven out the next year. In 1361 over 100,000 returned and captured Gaegyeong, and Gongmin fled to Bokju (Andong).

In the first month of 1362 an army of 200,000 under Jeong Se-un, An U, Yi Bang-sil and Kim Deuk-bae retook the capital, with Choe Yeong and Yi Seong-gye distinguishing themselves. The war devastated the country, and the generals who fought the Red Turbans and pirates emerged as a new force.

Show on the map

The map in 1359

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

States and rulers at the time
Goryeo · invaded — King Gongmin
Places
Songak (Kaesong), Pyongyang Fortress

People

  • King Gongmin1330 – 1374

    monarch · Thirty-first king of Goryeo, who led anti-Yuan reforms, recovered the Ssangseong Commandery and backed Sin Don’s reforms

  • Choe Yeong1316 – 1388

    commander · General who fought the Red Turbans and Japanese pirates, won at Hongsan in 1376, and was executed after the Wihwado retreat

  • Taejo (Yi Seong-gye)1335 – 1408

    commander · Founder and first king of Joseon, formerly a general who fought Japanese pirates and the Red Turbans

Before and after

Earlier
1351 Reforms of King Gongmin
Later
1363 Mun Ik-jeom Brings Cotton to Korea

Themes that include this event

  • Song, Ming and Samurai JapanAD 960 – 1500

    The age when the civil-minded Song bought peace from Liao, Western Xia and Jin while the lower Yangtze boomed and Neo-Confucianism took shape, and the Ming, having driven out the Yuan, rebuilt the East Asian order through imperial autocracy, the sea ban and tribute — as Japan passed through the Kamakura and Muromachi warrior governments into the Warring States era, and Korea from Goryeo to Joseon

  • GaeseongAD 901 – 2003

    From Wang Geon, lord of Songak, to the Kaesong Industrial Complex — Gaegyeong, Goryeo’s capital for five centuries, and home of the Song merchants

  • AndongAD 930 – 1940

    From the Battle of Gochang that helped found Goryeo to Yi Hwang’s Dosan Seowon — home of Goryeo wooden halls and Yeongnam Confucianism