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| Byeolmuban | |
| Hangul | 별무반 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 別武班 |
| Revised Romanization | Byeolmuban |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pyŏlmuban |
Byeolmuban is the name of a special army unit in the time ofKorea'sGoryeo Dynasty (918–1392). The wordbyeol means of special. Founding of the army was initiated byYun Kwan during the reign of kingSukjong of Goryeo.
The army was put together to fight theJurchen who were putting pressure on Goryeo's northern borders. The Goryeo infantry had a hard time resisting the strong Jurchen cavalry.
TheByeolmuban army had six divisions:Yun Kwan'sregular army andArmor Guards calledJeonggyugun (정규군, 正規軍)Infantry calledSinbogun (신보군, 神步軍),Cavalry calledSin-gigun (신기군, 神騎軍), an army of Buddhist monks calledHangmagun (항마군, 降魔軍),Supporting troop made of slaves calledYeonhogun (연호군,烟戶軍), and volunteeredsoldiers made of merchants and ordinary citizens called Jubugunhyeon (주부군현, 州府郡縣).
Combating troops were divided into Assassin/Spies calledSinbo (신보, 神步), Siege Engineers calledDotang (도탕, 跳蕩), Archers calledGyeonggung (경궁, 梗弓), Builders calledJeongno (정노, 精弩), Ballistic/Cannon gunners calledBalhwa (발화, 發火), and special force calledTeugibudae (특기부대, 特技部隊). They were to be trained and maintain/make weapons & fight with regular army.
During the second year of kingYejong of Goryeo's reign the byeomuban, consisting of 17,000 soldiers, attacked Jurchen and killed approximately 5,000 Jurchen troops, detained another 5,000 POWs and 350 Jurchen tribal clans and took over their territory by building nine fortresses at Hamju region.
Fortresses were called Northeastern Nine Fortresses, and they are in Hamju (함주, 咸州), Yeongju (영주, 英州), Ungju (웅주, 雄州), Bokju (복주, 福州), Gilju (길주, 吉州), Gongheomjin, (공험진, 公咽鎭), Sungnyeong (숭녕, 崇寧), Tongtae (통태, 通泰), and Jinyang (진양, 眞陽).
However internal trouble at the Goryeo court later forced theGoryeoarmy to leaveJurchen territory just after few years.