Goryeo Military Coup of 1170

Timeline

1. 1170Along the route from Gaegyeong to Heungwangsa and Pusunwon · GoryeoUijong repeatedly took civil officials on banquets, outings, and poetry composition, while military officers were barred from sitting with them. On a royal outing he ordered soldiers to demonstrate unarmed combat, and civil official Han Rae publicly slapped general Yi So-young. Jeong Jung-bu, Yi Ui-bang, and Yi Go already harbored long grievances, and this incident became the pretext for their uprising.
2. 1170Pusunwon · GoryeoAfter the royal procession entered Pusunwon, Yi Ui-bang and Yi Go, in the king's name, mustered the inspection troops and first killed close attendants Lin Zongzhi (Im Jong-sik), Yi Bok-gi (Yi Bok-gi), Han Rae, and others; most accompanying civil officials and eunuchs died by the blade. Jeong Jung-bu held the center and suppressed any move to immediately assassinate the king, keeping the monarch in military hands.
3. 1170Gaegyeong · GoryeoYi Ui-bang and others raced back to Gaegyeong, searching out and killing more than fifty remaining civil officials, and seized control of the palace and the crown prince's residence. Uijong was deposed, and his brother Prince Uiyang Wang Hyo ascended the throne as King Myeongjong. The new king became a military puppet, and real power in the Ministry of War and the Chancellery passed into the hands of Jeong and Yi.
4. 1170Gaegyeong · GoryeoAfter the coup succeeded, the military officers quickly turned on one another: Yi Go was killed the following year, and Yi Ui-bang and Jeong Jung-bu vied for power. Even so, the earlier civil-dominated Goryeo system had ended; until the Choe military regime of the thirteenth century, kings remained constrained by military power.