정몽주의 외교 활동과 사행 노선에 관한 몇 가지 고찰

Abstract

This study examined two poems expressing his feelings on sending off foreign envoys Jeong Mongju, famous scholar and politician in late Koryŏ(高麗) dynasty, wrote in his mid-20s and the routes the Koryŏ envoy to the Ming dynasty took where Jeong participated for the first time in his life. 「Sending Off Zhao Hu Mill Sea back to East Zhejiang, 送胡照磨海還浙東」 is the poem expressing his feeling while sending off Hu Ruohai(胡若海), Gangnam ambassador, dispatched by Fang Guozhen(方國珍), the military leader in East Zhejiang in 1364 (the 13th year of King Gongmin, 恭愍王). 「Sending Off Hangzhou Envoy, 送杭州使」 is the poem expressing his feeling while sending off Zhou Jhongzhan(周仲瞻), Hangzhou ambassador dispatched by Zhang Shicheng(張士誠), king of Oh dynasty in 1364 (the 13th year of King Gongmin), or unidentified Hangzhou ambassador in 1365 (the 14th year of King Gongmin). The two poems are valuable sources enabling us to figure out the situations in China in those days when various leaders competed and fought with each other and how Jeong developed his views on international politics, especially regarding relationships of Koryŏ with Ming China. In 1372 (the 21st year of King Gongmin), Jeong, as vice leader of the Envoy to Congratulate Ming's Conquering Shu Dynasty(賀平蜀使) met Ming's emperor. Returning to Gaegyeong, the capital of Koryŏ, the envoy suffered a serious marine disaster. The disaster triggered Koryŏ to change its maine route to China from the oblique route across the West Sea to the route passing around Miaodao(廟島) Islands, Bohai Bay(渤海灣). When he returned to Gaegyeong for the second time, he, together with some members of another Koryŏ mission, took the new route through the following sections: inland waterway along the Chang River(長江) and the Grand Canal of Beijing-Hangzhou(京杭大運河); inland roads through the Sandong(山東) Peninsula; marine section passing around Miaodao(廟島) Islands, Bohai Bay; inland roads through the Liaodong(遼東) Peninsula. The main body of the Koryŏ mission, however, chose the existing oblique route across the West Sea in returning to Gaegyeong(開京). The argument that, returning to Gaegyeong, Jeong and other members of the mission used the Koryŏ ship along the inland waterway of Ming China is wrong.