2 PROLOGUE
In the seventeenth year of the reign of King Jungjae, the South East peninsular was engaged in a very great war.
At the time, the great Soyon Empire was divided into three Kingdoms, In the North the Kingdom of Hwaseong, in the middle the Kingdom of Han and in the South the Kingdom of Seju.
The great King Jungjae was a wise ruler in the early years of his reign and yet along with the wars of the three Kingdoms, The Empires of Yi and Jin all struggled for the continental power.
For decades war raged on and King Jungjae of Han succeeded in defending the boundaries of his kingdom.
Shortly into his reign, the King fell seriously ill and suddenly, he died on the eve the of his eighteenth year on the throne.
King Jungjae had a sounding fame that echoed around the surrounding Kingdoms but by his time of death, the King had no living male heirs to inherit his throne.
All that left of his legacy was his two daughters Yheonjae and Seungjae who were twenty three and twenty years respectively.
The King had managed to declare his older daughter his successor before his death and as she was indeed popular, she was smart and brave and believed she was strong enough to govern and maintain everything that he had fought for.
Very many of the officials however were not content with the King's doing as there had never been a woman who had sat on the throne of Han.
Yheonjae however was confident and her earlier engagement into politics gave her a strong foundation and the hope of one day uniting the three Kingdoms into one.
Queen Yheonjae having the support of many officials was granted the right to the throne and on the fourteenth day of the third month, she was crowned in Gaesungseong palace.
There was so much jubilation and the immediate action of the Queen was to reshuffle her government and put in it a number of officials she tested and trusted herself.
She manouvered corruption and had seen early prosperity in the dawn of her reign until there came battle fatality.
The other two kingdoms used advantage of the presence of a female monarch to attack Han and conquer her but Queen Yheonjae stopped at nothing.
She had her troops fight in retaliation and it was a matter of time that the Northern Kingdom of Hwaseong took advantage of the situation to attack from the North.
Han's military and armed forces managed to hold off the two Kingdoms and for what seemed to be a corner, her troops under general Syunshin advanced beyond the Southern border and then captured the capital of Seju.
In the battle, the lives of the Seju Royal family were lost and those who survived were exiled and banished as Han and Seju had become one.
Threatening the biggest of the three Kingdoms Hwaseong, She doubled her military power and then went up with every thing that she had against the United two.
It was to the advantage of the South being mountainous and hilly that the troops of Queen Yheonjae under the same General Syunshin triumphed and once again she prevailed.
Exceeding in military might, The young Queen in no less than seven years had managed to capture the Kingdom of Hwaseong in the North and at last the three Kingdoms were united under her wise and just rule.
The Empires of Yi and Jin feared that the Queen would get out of control and would battle with them for continental supremacy that rumours spread about them preparing for war.
Queen Yheonjae was quickwitted and the two being in the same direction, she erected the Barrier wall in the West which was near to impenetrable and served a threat to The Jins and the Yi.
She was simply left out of war and she even swore that she would not at any one time abandon her promise of being at ease and maintaining the peaceful nature of her people to the continental powers.
Following the union of the three Kingdoms, the three names were dropped and altogether with officials from all the three Kingdoms, a new name by the Queen was chosen in which the kingdom of HANSEONJU was born.
Much of the war in the Kingdom had simmered down and after the Queen managed to contract a serious disease that nearly claimed her life, the government was shaken.
From conquering there had come unification, the rest of the attention was turned to the marriage of their virgin Queen.
She had managed to prove fit for the job of being a monarch but it was necessary that she had a child to keep her name and pressure from the Han royals whose dynasty then catered for all three united Kingdoms arose.
Seven years on the throne and all the Queen's hardwork would go to waste if she did not have a son so government talks and sessions grew livelier with every day.
The Queen was introduced to a variety of suitors and also a number of officials dressed their best to appease their Queen and win her over.
Queen Yheonjae was wise but she still feared a matrimonial alliance, she had been a Sovereign and singlehandedly earned her glory that she feared marrying a man would make her inferior.
There never had been a man to play second fiddle to his wife and would the titles all shift in the favour of her would be consort?
She needed a way to go around it and as many hadn't predicted, she found excuses and continuously postponed marriage talks.
She kept a whole lot of male favorites that she changed time to time and had her own servants spread rumours on her having secret love affairs.
It all played a primary destruction and worked out in her favour until she turned thirty nine years and she declared that she was too old for a matrimonial institution.
There was tumult and the next big question was who would be her successor if she died.
Queen Yheonjae in desperate need to quench the thirst of her citizens made what seemed to be a reliable choice and the final one out.
Her thirty six year older sister who had about three daughters in her marriage had given birth to a fourth child that happened to be a son about a year earlier.
Claiming that the young infant Hongmyeong was both the late King's and her blood as well, being so young it was able to adopt him quickly into court life, she declared him the Crown Prince and had him invested and moved into Gaesungseong palace.
The young boy was taught very well and with time he took on official roles which made him endeared to the people of HANSEONJU.
When Queen Yheonjae was seventy years old, she fell ill and having aged on the throne for forty seven years the Kingdom sympathized with her.
When the Queen's death seemed inevitable, at once, a royal edict was passed and it recognized that the Crown Prince Lee Hongmyeong was the final successor of the great Queen.
Fourteen days after the edict was passed, The Queen Yheonjae breathed her last and the thirty six year old Prince Hongmyeong was declared King.
He performed the Late Queen's final rites and she was buried in her own royal tomb on the Royal family estates.
When the mourning was over, the New King was set to rule and even a coronation was throne to celebrate his Ascension.
King Hongmyeong was perfect and beloved by most people.
However, he had one flaw that made him the enemy of the Han nobles and members of the extended royal family.
The Queen's sister Seungjae having married had dropped the status of the Han family name and took on the name of Lee, her husband's house from a minor nobility.
Initially and unintentionally, the new King had initiated a new royal dynasty something that the Hans could not agree on.
Additionally, The new King was already married and not interested in changing his family name as well as that of his ancestors.
War erupted in the court and eventually the Hans brought in political instability when what was at first a quiet fight evolved into an open war.
The Hans had another King in mind, the son to the cousin of Queen Yheonjae through her father's second brother Prince Neungjae and they pressured him to resist and maintain the Queen's and her ancestors dynasty, the house of Han.
War raged for about three years and the Hans were in hiding as parliament crumbled.
The Prime Minister stepped in and they captured the Hanjeongsanseong palace and fortress that served as a base to the revolters and their ideal King.
The Prince Neungjae was charged with treason, found guilty and he eventually lost his head in the capital square which left the antagonistic Hans devastated as they were expelled from their positions.
Those who actively participated in the revolt were murdered and a few were exiled to restore peace in the Kingdom as their lands and property were all confiscated.
Eventually, as the Hans had feared, having faced so much opposition from the Hans, the King had developed a huge grudge on them that in return for their malevolence, he declared a new royal dynasty three years into his reign.
During the celebration of New Moon festival in the year 1376, the Kingdom had the GEOSAN DYNASTY established and transitioned the Kingdom of HANSEONJU into the KINGDOM OF GEOSAN.
From then on the descendants of the King formed the Royal house of Hyeonju Lee which effectively rid the monarchy of the old Han influences.
For over one hundred years, the Hans lived in exile until a new King came to the throne of Geosan in the year 1476.
The new King Chanyeong was tenderhearted as he was dignified and he began his great grandfather's undoing by forgiving the Han's in exile and inviting them to return to their country.
Majority returned and the King having noticed majority were youth he returned their lands and gave them properties claiming he wouldn't punish the innocent children for the transgressions of their ancestors.
The Hans slowly started to rebuild themselves and they became trade Masters and political geniuses that some earned positions in the government.
The Hans monopolized trade and their continuous success made them feared by most of the Lee Royals who were in power.
It was noted as some of their parents had been Princes of Royalty, some had withheld the Princely titles that court along with the King who was soon dying amended the state of affairs and stripped the Royals of their titles.
Eventually, the Hans were declared Lords and Ladies by the King's grace and since the majority had no interests in succession wars or Princely titles, they ignored it.
At last with the pure Han bloodline maintained and the Lees absolutely powerful, an internally divided Kingdom thrived and despite many shortcomings managed to maintain its peace.
