238 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
As for U and his son Ch’ang, the officials as well as the people across the
country all asked that they be executed, a request that King Kongyang
granted. I had no intention of harming them from the beginning. How can a
petty scholar be so reckless as to make such a record?” Then he permitted
the Office of the Inspector-General to interrogate Haeng.
Originally, King Kongmin of the Koryŏ dynasty had no son to succeed
him. Then he fell into a cunning scheme devised by monk Sin Ton and
made the monk’s son U his own, claiming that he had had him by a court
lady named Han. Though U was only nine years old, the king installed him
as Great Prince Kangnyŏng and let him live in the palace of the Queen
Dowager. After King Kongmin suddenly passed away, Yi Inim and others
recommended that U be seated on the throne, fully aware of the evil inten-
tion of King Kongmin.
In the Mujin year (1388) when our army turned around [at Wihwa Island]
to march back home, the king [the general at that time] tried to restore the
royal Wang family. But Cho Minsu insisted on placing Ch’ang, the son of U,
on the throne, following the counsel of Yi Saek; and Pyŏn Annyŏl joined Yi
Im, the father-in-law of U, in enthroning Ch’ang. These facts clearly came
to light through investigations. After King Kongyang rose to the throne, the
Censorate requested that Annyŏl be punished, and King Kongyang granted
the request. Consequently, the Office of the Inspector-General immediately
dispatched an official to the place where Annyŏl was exiled and carried out
the execution. Upon hearing what was happening, the king [then right chan-
cellor] tried to stop the execution, but it was already too late for him to
prevent it. The death of U and his son Ch’ang also took place because all
high- and low-ranking officials made a request that the root of the troubles
be eliminated, and King Kongyang granted it. Being one of the trusted offi-
cials of King Kongyang, Yi Haeng distorted the truth of the matter and
eventually suffered the consequences for it.15th Day (Sinyu)
As the king returned to the temporary royal palace, over fifty people blocked
the royal carriage and appealed to the king to restore them to their original
status as commoners. The king ordered the Capital Constabulary Prison
to interrogate them for trespassing in a restricted area and punish three
people who were presumed to be the leaders by beating them with a heavy
paddle.