Biography
Yeon Gaesomun was the first, and oldest son of Yeon Taejo, the Prime minister (막리지, 莫離支) of Goguryeo during the reigns of King Pyeongwon of Goguryeo and King Yeongyang of Goguryeo. It is known that the Yeon family was always of high rank and status in Goguryeo. Yeon's grandfather Yeon Ja-yu was also a prime minister of Goguryeo. Information about Yeon Gaesomun comes largely from the Samguk Sagi's accounts of King Yeongnyu and King Bojang (Goguryeo vols. 8-10) and its biography of Yeon Gaesomun (vol. 49), surviving tomb engravings belonging to his sons Yeon Namsaeng and Yeon Namsan, and the biographies of those same sons that appear in the New Book of Tang.
Tang Chinese historical records give Yeon Gaesomun's surname as Cheon (泉, Quan in Chinese, meaning "spring"), because Yeon (淵, Yuan in Chinese, meaning "riverhead") was the given name of Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Li Yuan, 李淵), founder and first emperor of Tang, and thus taboo to apply to another by Chinese tradition (see naming taboo). He is also sometimes referred to as Gaegeum (개금/蓋金). In Nihon Shoki, he appears as Iri Kasumi (伊梨柯須彌).
Very little is known of Yeon's early days, until he became the Governor of the Western province (西部大人), where he oversaw the building of the Cheolli Jangseong, a network of military garrisons to defend the Liaodong area from Tang invaders.
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