Go Jil

Go Jil (高質, 626–697) was a military officer of Goguryeo and the Tang dynasty.

Life

His given name was Jil (質), and his courtesy name was Seongmun (性文). His 19th-generation ancestor Go Mil (高密), at the end of the Later Han, defeated the Yan army (燕軍, the army of Murong Wei) and made great contributions to preserving Goguryeo. The King of Goguryeo wanted to enfeoff him as king (王), but he declined three times and did not accept it, and instead was granted the surname Go (高).

His great-grandfather Go Jeon (高前) was of the third rank (三品) in the Bon-beon (本蕃, Goguryeo), and was appointed as Widu Daehyeong (位頭大兄). His grandfather Go Sik (高式) was of the second rank (二品) in Bon-beon, served as Makriji (莫離支), and alone handled matters of state administration and the military. His father Go Ryang (高量) was of the third rank, served as Governor of Chaeksong (柵城都督), and was appointed as Widu Daehyeong concurrently with Daesang (大相). Thus Go Jil, who came from a family of distinguished Goguryeo nobility for generations, was likewise of the third rank in Bon-beon and was appointed as Widu Daehyeong and Daejanggun. However, when the state was thrown into turmoil through the Goguryeo–Tang War, he led his family and subordinates across to the Tang and surrendered.

Afterward, Go Jil served in the Tang government and achieved many merits. When he fought against the Khitan at Mami Fortress (馬米城) in Liaodong, he, together with three Goguryeo women, held the walls and moat firmly and fought the enemy with great difficulty, but no reinforcements arrived. The fortress was isolated and its supply lines cut off; the soldiers were exhausted and the arrows used up. Day and night the enemy besieged it, and as the soldiers were overrun, they fell and died. He was taken prisoner, yet his bearing and appearance remained dignified. Not yielding to the cruelty and authority of the enemy, he was finally slaughtered. On the 23rd day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of Tang's Wansui Tongtian era (697), he died together with his son Go Ja (高慈) at Magi Fortress (磨米城), at the age of 72.

On the 17th day of the 12th month of the 3rd year of the Shengli era (700), he was buried on a hill in Pingle Township (平樂鄕), Hegong County (合宮縣), Luozhou (洛州). …(The epitaph) was composed by Wei Chengqing (韋承慶), Courtier of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (朝議大夫) and Acting Secretary of the Phoenix Pavilion (行鳳閣舍人), and was calligraphed by Liu Congyi (劉從一) of Hongnong (弘農), former Senior Guard of the Right Gate Guard Garrison (前右監門衛長上). Yao Chukui (姚處괴, with 王 in place of 土 in 壞), Chang Zhicong (常智琮), and Liu Langren (劉郞仁), three men from Meiyuan County (美原縣) of Yizhou (宜州), together wrote the tomb inscription.

Speculation Drawn from the Epitaph