Where did millions of Koguryo people go after the country was destroyed?

In life, can people let go of their worries about home? In history, countless people lost their countries and homes due to natural and man-made disasters. They are either wandering around the world, wandering around the world, or poor and miserable. Koguryo people are such a sighing group.

First, from a powerful country to being annihilated

Li Tang is undoubtedly the country with the most foreign exchanges in the ancient history of China, and its exchanges are like a rosary. Many regimes, such as Tubo, Western Regions, Koguryo, Baekje and Japan, which were originally short-lived in the long history, have left traces in the history of Li Tang. Koguryo is one of the countries that we are very familiar with and associated with the Tang Dynasty.

From the founding of the Western Han Dynasty to the demise of the Li Tang Dynasty, Koguryo, as a neighbor of the Central Plains regime, had frequent contacts with China. Although it is difficult to compete with the Central Plains in strength, it was once the undisputed overlord and a symbol of the Korean Peninsula. It was only during the Li Tang period that Silla, another regime on the Korean Peninsula, joined forces with the suzerain Li Tang to destroy another regime, Koguryo and Baekje. Koguryo, which has existed for more than 600 years, has turned into the dust of history.

When the country is broken, Koguryo people are naturally no longer Koguryo people. But they still want to live, or to exist in some capacity. Therefore, the great migration of Koguryo adherents will inevitably come.

Second, after being homeless, where to go?

In the first year of Li Tang (668), in order to completely eliminate the hostility of Koguryo adherents to Li Tang due to national subjugation, Li Tang launched a forced migration of Koguryo adherents. At the same time, some adherents spontaneously moved to the surrounding areas. As for others, they "stay where they are" and stick to Koguryo's historical sites. Therefore, the whereabouts of Koguryo adherents can be roughly divided into three categories: entering the Tang Dynasty, entering neighboring countries and staying where they are.

In September of the first year of Tongzhang (668), Koguryo could not resist Li Tang's attack and sent a prince to make peace with Li Tang. Immediately, more than 200,000 people, including Koguryo imperial clan and courtiers, were taken to Li Ji in Koguryo and brought back to Li Tang.

This is the first batch of immigrants after Koguryo's national subjugation, and it is also the largest one recorded in history books. The following summer, under the organization of Li Tang, tens of thousands of Goguryeo adherents came to Jianghuai, Lingnan, Shannan and Jingxi in China, with footprints all over the country.

Later, due to the enthusiasm of Koguryo's adherents for national rejuvenation, Tang Gaozong named the last king of Koguryo, Gao Zang, as the governor of Liaodong, and made him the king of Korea, asking him to recruit the adherents in the original territory of Koguryo and send some immigrants to the mainland back to their original places. However, the adherents of Goguryeo were not treated well by Tang Gaozong, so Emperor Gaozong had to move some strong adherents to Henan, Longyou and other places far away from North Korea, leaving only some weak people in their homeland.

The second kind of adherents, those who entered neighboring countries, went to Silla, Turkic, Qidan, Bohai Sea, Japan and other countries, mainly to Silla.

The adherents of Koguryo chose to go to these countries mostly because they could make a living at a suitable distance. Sometimes, after being transferred to the mainland by Li Tang, some believers will pack their bags and go to these countries. However, it is worth mentioning that many of the adherents who went to Silla were prisoners of war or residents of the original Koguryo territory plundered by Silla. But in any case, after they were conquered, they all belonged to other countries except Tang Li, and they were essentially migrating Koguryo adherents.

As for the last one, the adherents who stayed in Koguryo's homeland, although still in their homeland, no longer have the identity of Koguryo. Most of them still belong to Silla, which occupied Koguryo's homeland. Therefore, even if they still agree with Koguryo in their hearts, they can only accept their new identity.

Third, the plight and future of Koguryo adherents

Although we have never experienced the pain of losing our country and family, we have never lost this feeling in the ancient poems we studied since childhood. For Goguryeo's adherents, their adherents' identity comes entirely from the subjugation of the country. When they lost their original identity and familiar landscape, their life in the immigrant land was not good at first.

Take the adherents of Koguryo who entered the Tang Dynasty as an example. The upper class of Koguryo, such as the royal family who entered the Tang Dynasty, was well treated in Li Tang, and Gao Zang was even appointed Governor of Liaodong and King of Korea. But for these people, even if they forget their old country, the benefits they get are not as good as Koguryo. Therefore, despite Li Tang's kind attraction, many Koguryo believers chose to rebel.

A wider range of Koguryo middle and lower class adherents became ordinary civilians or slaves in Li Tangduo. They may have the pain of national subjugation, but their real life is not much different from the past. Therefore, after experiencing the initial discomfort, these people gradually integrated into Li Tang society, constantly integrated with the Han nationality, and finally became a part of the Chinese nation. The same is true of ordinary Koguryo adherents moving to other countries, and finally let time dilute their adherents' labels.

Generally speaking, after Koguryo's death, Koguryo's adherents mainly flowed to Li Tang and Silla, and some of them also flowed to neighboring countries. Except for some who died because of the restoration of the country, most of them accepted their new identities and integrated into their new homes. It was with their integration that Koguryo became history.