212 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
scattered people. Though he was good at defending against the enemy, win-
ning battles or attacking the enemy was not his strength.
At the end of the previous dynasty, he turned his heart to the king, and,
cooperating with Cho Chun and others, recommended that the king be ele-
vated to the throne and finally became chancellor. However, lacking educa-
tion and ability, he was unable to make proposals to the king. In the
discussion of choosing the crown prince, he was only anxious to please the
king. Thus, he asked the king to set up his younger son as crown prince. As
he took credit for it, intelligent people felt sorry for him. When he died, his
age was sixty-eight. His posthumous title is Chŏngjŏl, and he had no sons.27th Day (Kapchin)
When Cho Im, former deputy commissioner of the Security Council, who
had visited China as envoy to the Imperial Throne (kyep’umsa), returned
from Nanjing, the king went out to Sŏgyo^81 to greet him, leading all offi-
cials. Im presented the king with a letter from the Ministry of Rites of
China, and this is what the letter said:
“The Ministry of Rites sends this letter to the provisional ruler (kwŏnji
kuksa) of Koryŏ. On the eleventh of the tenth month, the twenty-fifth year
of Emperor Hongwu’s reign, Zhang Zhi, right vice minister of our Ministry,
and others took the letter brought by the envoy of Koryŏ to Xijiao Gate of
the Imperial Palace and submitted it [to the emperor] early in the morning
and received his imperial instruction with regard to it.
“The imperial instruction was as follows: ‘Earlier, Koryŏ sent its envoy
to report about the current situation. As I read the present letter brought to
me now, I find it not much different from the last one. China being constant
and exemplary, sage kings throughout history have ruled and preserved it
from generation to generation with little changes. As Korea is separated
from China by mountains and seas, Heaven created an independent kingdom
of Koryŏ, and therefore it is outside our domain. The Ministry of Rites, in a
reply to the letter from Koryŏ, should state, “You are free to do whatever it
is necessary to enlighten your people. If you can follow the will of Heaven
and bring your Korean people together in peace without causing trouble at
our border, you will see our envoys coming to visit you, and that will be
good for your country. Upon receiving this letter, I want you to hurry to
make a report to me about the new country name that you have chosen.”’- Literally western suburbs, it refers to the areas outside Ojŏngmun Gate in Kaesŏng.