Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn

Early Years

Choe Chung Hon(최충헌) was a military officer during the time of the Goryeo kingdom of Korea. He was the son of General Choe Won-Ho(최원호), and brother of Choe Chung Su(최충수). He served under General Chong Chung Bu(정중부) in his early years, and slowly made his way up the military hierarchy. While under General Chong Chung Bu, he led an army to help overthrow King Uijong(의종), and set up a puppet king. This puppet King ended up being Uijong's younger brother Myongjong(명종). After the placement of Myongjong on the throne, the military officers started rising and killed several scholars and subjects. Chong Chung Bu became dictator of Goryeo and started exercising power untill Yi Ui Bang(이의방), one of his officers, took power. Yi Ui Bang respected Chong Chung Bu and gave him his share of power, but in the meantime, he forced the Crown Prince to marry his daughter, which made him even more powerful than before. Chong Chung Bu decided to remove Yi Ui Bang, and ordered his son and son-in-law to assassinate Yi Ui Bang. Yi Ui Bang was assassinated, and Chong Chung Bu briefly held power, but he, in turn was overthrown by a young general named Kyung Tae-Sung(경대승). When Kyung Tae-Sung rose to power, Choe Chung Hon lowered himself so that he would not be noticed, and killed by the new dictator. Kyung Tae-Sung was starting to clean up the political and military mess that his predecessors, but he died a year later, and Yi Ui Min(이의민), a former lieutenant of Yi Ui Bang, took control and became the next military dictator. Choe Chung Hon resigned from the military and started to grow his own private army with his brother, and stayed quiet during the years of terror that the despot Yi Ui Min caused for Goryeo. When Yi Ui Min was at the height of his power, his three sons started roaming the nation and robbed several villages, and wealthy statesman. Among these people was Choe Chung Su, Choe Chung Hon's younger brother. When Choe Chung Hon received news of this, he became outraged and decided to stop Yi Ui Min and remove him from power.