Book I 163
grade of their crimes, the king replied, “U Hyŏnbo, Yi Saek, and Sŏl Changsu
should not be touched even after their crimes are reduced to the lower
grades.” So Tojŏn and others requested the king to physically punish the rest
of the people according to their crimes. Believing that physical punishment
by flogging would not endanger their lives, the king reluctantly granted the
request. Tojŏn, along with Nam Ŭn, said to Hwang Kŏjŏng and others,
“Those who are sentenced to 100 strokes of beating with a heavy paddle
should not be allowed to live.” Kŏjŏng and others killed the three U Hongsu
brothers and another five people, including Yi Sungin, by beating them with
a heavy paddle. When they returned to the court, they reported to the
king that those people had died of being sick after their physical punish-
ment. Thus, Tojŏn settled his private grudge against his enemies, deceiving
the king.
The king did not know it at first, but finally realized the truth of the
matter when he heard that they were all dead. He was deeply sorrowful and
lamented over the loss of talented people. In the autumn of 1411, His Majesty
[King T’aejong] retroactively punished Hwang Kŏjŏng and Son Hŭngjong
for their cruel and reckless killing and thus satisfied the bitterness and anger
of those who got killed unjustly.
25th Day (Kapsul)
The Office of the Inspector-General submitted a memorial to the king:
“Previously, we requested that royalty and the powerful families of the pre-
vious dynasty be allowed to keep an appropriate number of their slaves, and
that the rest of their slaves be reverted to the government. We have now
heard that Your Majesty had ordered that the slaves of the wives’ family of
royalty who committed crimes should not be mentioned. We sincerely
believe that there should be no differentiation between the slaves of royalty
and the slaves of their wives’ families. We urge you to have them all handed
over to the government.” The king granted the request.
26th Day (Ŭlhae)
Wang Kyŏk, Lord Yŏngbok, the tribute emissary of the previous dynasty;
Kwon Chunghwa, assistant grand councilor; and others returned to court
from their trip to the Ming capital. They reported, “The imperial crown
prince [of Ming] passed away on the twenty-fifth of the fourth month, and
the emperor made his grandson Yun Wen succeed his father.”