Book III 257of the Office of Guest Affairs, to Sŏhae Province; Chang Chach’ung, min-
ister of works, to Left Kyŏnggi Province; and Im Ku, left assistant director
of the State Finance Commission, to Right Kyŏnggi Province.24th Day (Kisa)
Mt. Kyeryong was chosen as the site for the new capital, and Kyŏnggi
Province was divided into various administrative units, including counties
and districts and villages designated for the people of low status (pugok)
and for artisans (hyangso),^56 and their number amounted to eighty- one
in total.The pines in Songak suffered damage by caterpillars.28th Day (Kyeyu)
As the five- story pagoda of Yŏnbok Monastery^57 has been completed, the
king held the dharma assembly for the worship of Manjusri and personally
attended the sermon delivered by Chach’o.29th Day (Kapsul)
Fire broke out at Simwŏn Monastery,^58 and smallpox spread at Hoeam
Monastery, where Royal Preceptor Chach’o concurrently served as abbot.
Cho On, provincial military commissioner of the Northwest Region,
attacked Japanese marauders in Suju^59 and captured a Chinese named Li
Tangxin, a resident of Ninghai Prefecture, who had been taken away by the
Japanese. When he presented him to the king, the king ordered that the
Chinese captive be provided with clothing and food and delivered by Kim
Ŭlsang, former director of the Directorate of Ceremonies, to the Chinese
authorities in Liaodong.
- Literally, “local places,” hyangso is presumed to be an administrative unit established
to produce gold, silver, copper, iron, thread, paper, porcelain, ink stick, etc. The residents of
this unit were mostly either criminals or men of low social status. - A Buddhist temple in Kaegyŏng (now Kaesŏng), the capital of Koryŏ.
- A Buddhist temple in Ch’ŏrwŏn, Kangwŏn Province.
- Modern Chŏngju, a strategic town in North P’yŏngan Province.