The next year he transferred his court to Song-do which became the permanent capital. There he built his palace and also the large merchants’ houses and shops in the center of the city. This latter act was in accordance with the ancient custom of granting a monopoly of certain kinds of trade and using the merchants as a source of revenue when a sudden need for money arose. He divided the city into five wards and established seven military stations. He also established a secondary capital at Ch‘ŭl-wŭn, the present Ch‘un-ch‘ŭn, and called it Tong-ju. The pagodas and Buddhas in both the capitals were regilded and put in good order. The people looked with some suspicion upon these Buddhistic tendencies but he told them that the old customs must not be changed too rapidly, for the kingdom had need of the help of the spirits in order to become thoroughly established, and that when that was accomplished they could abandon the religion as soon as they pleased. Here was his grand mistake. He riveted upon the state a baneful influence which was destined to drag it into the mire and eventually bring it to ruin.
In 920 Sil-la first recognised Koryŭ as a kingdom and sent an envoy with presents to the court at Song-do.
[Illustration: _THE SOUTH GATE OF NA-JU._]
Wang-gön looked out for the interests of the people in the distant parts of the country as well as for those near the capital. In order to break the force of the attacks of the wild people beyond the Tu-man River he built a wall across the northern border of Ham-gyŭng Province. It is said to have been 900 _li_ long. But there was a still stronger enemy on the south. Kyŭn-whŭn had by this time come to see that he had no hope of overcoming the young kingdom of Koryŭ and so he bent his energies to the securing of his position against the danger of interference, especially in his plans against Sil-la. For this reason he sent a messenger to Song-do with presents and tried to make friends with his old time enemy. His next move was to attack Sil-la. Wang-gön took up the cudgels in support of the king of Sil-la and by so doing secured the lasting enmity of the bandit who from this time determined upon war without quarter against his northern enemy. Wang-gön said to the Sil-la envoys, “Sil-la has three treasures; the nine storey pagoda, the Buddha six times the height of a man, and the jade belt. As long as these three remain intact Sil-la will stand. The first two are in Sil-la. Where is the jade belt?” The envoy answered that he did not know, whereupon Wang-gön blamed him sharply and sent him home. When Sil-la finally fell, the jade belt passed into the hands of Wang-gön.