Book V 357
Wouldn’t it better if you reduce the number of tribute horses and send us
quality horses only instead of showing us disrespect and causing trouble?’
“I also looked into this matter. The horses produced in our small kingdom
are originally small in stature and dull in mind. When the time comes to
send tribute horses, we try to select the best ones we can. However, since
they have to travel a very long distance, I am afraid that their legs hurt and
some of them get sick. How can a small kingdom dare to show disrespect [to
the great nation]?
“The seventh item was as follows: ‘As a procedure for changing your country
name, you sent an official to request my decree. So I allowed you to choose
Chosŏn or some other name on your own, and you found the right one.
However, despite the fact that your country name was already changed, in
your memorials you continue to refer to yourself as provisional ruler (kwŏnji
kuksa), and I do not understand what you have in mind. This is nothing but
trickery and, in fact, an inauspicious sign.’
“As for this problem, on the fifteenth day of the second month of the
twenty- sixth year of the reign of Hongwu, your servant Han Sangjil returned
home from the Chinese capital carrying a letter from the Ministry of Rites
that bore Your Majesty’s sacred instruction. Your sacred instruction was as
follows: ‘For the country name of the Eastern Barbarians [Koreans], Chosŏn
not only sounds appropriate but also it has been used for a long time. So,
taking that country name as his foundation, he should revere Heaven and
govern the people well so that his posterity can prosper permanently.’
“I indeed received your permission to change our country name to
Chosŏn. However, being foolish, I thought I had as yet failed to receive the
title of king from you. Therefore, I feared it would be reckless and inappro-
priate that I refer to myself as the king in my memorials submitted to you.
This indicates that I had no intention whatsoever of committing trickery or
insulting Your Majesty. Your instruction that recently arrived by letter from
the Chief Military Commission of the Left Army said, ‘Rectify the current
way of referring to yourself immediately.’ Another instruction of yours,
sent separately through the Chief Military Commission of the Left Army,
also said, ‘This epistle is directed to Yi [Sŏnggye], the king of Chosŏn.
Based upon this instruction, let him change the old ways of referring to
himself in his subsequent memorials expressing gratitude or making appeal.’
So I obeyed the instruction.