The dominant power of the throne in unified Silla is clearly evident also in the nature of its military organization. Among the important military units in Silla before the unification were the yukchong, or "six garrisons." These are thought to have been organized along lines that reflected earlier tribal traditions, and with the Silla unification they went out of existence. Instead, in conformity with the changes elsewhere in Silla society, a new pattern of military organization was instituted, characterized by nine "oath bannermen" divisions (sodang) and ten garrison units again called chong.

The nine sodang, as finally constituted in the reign of King Sinmun (681-692), formed a national army that was stationed in the capital. Believed to have come into existence as a volunteer army, the sodang units gradually were expanded until, after the unification, nine divisions had been organized. The tunics of each of these had collars of a distinctive color-green, purple, white, scarlet, yellow, black, cobalt, red, and blue. A special characteristic of the sodang was that they drew their recruits not only from the native Silla population but also from the former inhabitants of Koguryo and Paekche, and from Malgal tribesmen as well. The sodang divisions appear to have operated under the direct authority of the king, to whom each unit took an oath of loyalty. Thus the emergence of the nine sodang as the core units of Silla's army, replacing the "six garrisons" which had been under the command of the aristocracy, may be said to have been another consequence of the deliberate efforts made to strengthen the authority of the throne.

Complementing the nine sodang divisions in Kyongju were the "ten garrisons" (sip chong), units stationed outside the capital. The two most important of these were positioned at modern Inch'on and Y-oj'u, garrisoning Hanju province, the largest province and also strategically the key frontier area for the defense of the kingdom. The remaining eight garrisons were at modern Sangju, Ch'ongyang, Namwon, Talsong, Haman, Naju, Hongch'on, and Ch'ongsong, one in each of the other eight provinces. Distributed uniformly as they were throughout the whole of the Silla domain, it is not difficult to imagine that these units not only were entrusted with the defense of the country but were charged with internal security duties as well. Once again, this bespeaks the centralized character of governmental authority in Unified Silla.

There were many other military units as well, although of lesser importance. They too were a part of the carefully designed military structure that, along with the administrative system of the nine provinces and the five secondary capitals, constituted major links in the institutional arrangements through which Unified Silla governed.

Military Organizations of Ancient Korea

Introduction
Re-organization of the Military System
Emergence of Powerful Military Garrisons