卫右渠 / King Ugeo of Wiman Joseon

Overview

卫右渠 / King Ugeo is the grandson of 卫满 and the ruler of 卫氏朝鲜 during its final conflict with Western Han. His inherited position combines regional strength with control over neighboring rulers’ court access before diplomacy collapses into retaliation, war, aborted submission, and internal fracture.

Current Profile

Hanji 364-2 says Ugeo inherits rule through Wiman’s son after the polity has absorbed nearby groups and attracted more Han migrants. He does not attend the Han court and blocks neighboring small states from sending petitions or appearing there. When 涉何 is sent to reopen compliance, Ugeo refuses.

Hanji 366-1 continues the sequence: She He kills a Joseon escort officer, and Joseon retaliates by killing the envoy in Liaodong. Ugeo then defeats 杨仆’s early force and resists Xun Zhi at the Pei River. Under renewed military pressure he offers submission, horses, provisions, and his son, but the prince turns back when the Han side demands disarmament.

Ugeo then holds 王险城 while the divided Han command delays decisive action. Hanji 366-2 says that once Xun Zhi receives the combined force and intensifies the attack, several senior officials defect but Ugeo still refuses surrender. The administrator Sam has him killed and submits to Han. Resistance continues under Seong Gi until Ugeo’s son and another defector’s son help induce the city’s final submission.

Key Characteristics

• Final Wiman Joseon king who inherits Wiman’s enlarged and Han-recognized position before facing escalation, negotiation, siege, and collapse.
• Intermediary ruler who blocks neighboring polities’ direct access to the Han court.
• Ruler who offers submission after initial resistance but does not complete it after the crown prince’s security fears.
• Defender whose position later benefits from division between Han commanders.
• Ruler who refuses surrender after senior officials judge the war unwinnable.
• King killed through internal elite defection rather than direct capture in battle.
• Political center whose death does not by itself end all resistance.

Evidence

• Inheritance and access control: Hanji 364-2 makes Ugeo Wiman’s grandson and says he neither attends court nor permits neighboring small states to reach it.
• Failed demand: Hanji 364-2 says Ugeo rejects She He’s attempt to secure compliance.
• Escalation and resistance: Hanji 366-1 links Ugeo to rejection of She He’s demand, Joseon’s retaliation, Yang Pu’s defeat, and defense of the Pei River.
• Aborted submission: Hanji 366-1 says Ugeo offers horses, supplies, and his son before the disarmament dispute ends the crossing.
• Siege setting: Hanji 366-2 places Ugeo at the center of the prolonged siege and competing surrender channels.
• Refusal and death: Hanji 366-2 says senior officials defect while Ugeo refuses surrender, after which Sam arranges his killing.
• Incomplete collapse: Hanji 366-2 says Seong Gi continues resistance until the final internal settlement.

Qualifications

This is a source-bounded profile, not a complete biography or a full account of Wiman Joseon’s institutions. The sources give little access to Ugeo’s reasoning, the identities and motives of the blocked small states, or his internal coalition, and the failed submission does not prove settled trust or a durable political agreement. Names and titles are normalized to received-text forms where the summaries diverge.

What Changed

• Added Ugeo’s dynastic inheritance and court-access blockade as the political prehistory of She He’s mission.
• Reframed the campaign opening as the escalation of an older frontier-hierarchy dispute.

Relationships

• 卫氏朝鲜 - polity Ugeo rules during its final war.
• 王险城 - defended capital and final resistance center.
• 荀彘 - opposing general whose unified command intensifies the assault.
• 汉四郡 - administrative order created after Ugeo’s polity is defeated.
• 涉何 - envoy whose killing and death form the immediate escalation chain.
• 卫山 - envoy who negotiates Ugeo’s aborted submission.
• 卫满 - grandfather whose recognized frontier position Ugeo inherits.
• 朝见通道垄断 - mechanism describing Ugeo’s obstruction of neighboring rulers’ Han access.