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276
Nihongi.

battering-engines. The Koryö troops were brave and stalwart, and therefore re-took two of the Thang forts. There were only two left, which they prepared to take by a night attack. The Thang soldiers, nursing their knees, wept aloud. But their (the Koryö men's?) arms were blunted and their strength exhausted, so that they were unable to take them.[1] If this is not a case of navel-biting[2] disgrace, what is?

The priest To-hyön says:—"To describe the intentions of Chhyun-chhyu[3]—He was really about to begin with Battering-engine.
Battering-engine.
Koryö, and he first made it known to Pèkché. The close attack of Pèkché was exceedingly urgent and distressing, therefore it is so stated."[4]

In this year Maro, Kishida no Omi, Governor of the province of Harima, and others, presented a precious sword, saying:—"It was found in a hole in the millet-field of a man of the district of Saya."

Moreover, when the generals for assisting Koryö cast anchor at the beach of Kaphari in Pèkché, they lit a fire. The ashes became changed and formed a hole, from which there issued a

  1. The two forts above mentioned.
  2. i.e. helpless disgrace. To bite one's navel is impossible.
  3. King of Silla.
  4. All this is most unclear.