Siege of Kuju
siege in 1231
The siege of Kuju (Korean: 귀주성전투) which occurred in 1231 was a decisive Goryeo victory against the Mongol Empire during the First Mongol Invasion of Korea. After the Mongol army crossed the Yalu river, it quickly captured almost all of Goryeo's border defenses. The Mongol army, however, ran into stiff resistance both at Anju and the city of Kuju (modern-day Kusong), commanded by General Park Seo.
For thirty days, the Mongols besieged the city and attacked it hundreds of times. To take Kuju, Saritai used the full array of siege weapons to bring down the city's defenses. Lines of catapults launched both boulders and molten metals at the city's walls. The Mongols deployed special assault teams who manned siege towers and scaling ladders. Other tactics used were pushing flaming carts against the city's wooden gates and tunneling under the walls. The most grisly weapon used during the siege were fire-bombs which contained boiled down, liquefied human fat.
During the siege, an old Mongol general of over seventy years of age toured beneath the city walls to look over the city's ramparts and equipment.
“Siege of Kuju” enters the record as siege in 1231. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Siege, Kuju and siege can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7510172. Authority coordinates are 39.967, 125.167. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1231.
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