Book VII 475
spiritual cultivation in the monastery; the ones belonging to the second
grade are those who travel on horseback, preaching Buddhist scriptures; and
in the third grade are those who welcome the people coming to offer sacri -
fices or visit families in mourning to get food and clothing. In our opinion,
there is no problem even if we mobilize the group of monks who belong to
the third grade and use their labor for the construction of the royal palace.
“We request that you give orders to the departments concerned to recruit
the monks for the construction, instead of issuing a requisition to the people
for labor service, and thereby improve people’s livelihood. Then the con-
struction can continue on schedule and the foundation of the state will also
be strengthened.” The king accepted the advice and consequently had the
people recruited for labor service return to their homes.
No Sang, timber supervisor (changmok pyŏlgam) of Kyoju Province, spoke
to the king: “There will be many problems if we try to transport over ten
thousand logs, which we have just cut down, on time. It would be advisable
to tie them together and float them down the river after the rains.” The king
followed the advice.
The [Righteousness Flourishing] Three Armies submitted a memorial to
the king:
“The so- called ‘military affairs’ can be best carried out when superiors
and inferiors hold one another in check and oversee one another. The various
guard units serving inside the royal palace should be placed under the com-
mand of the Three Armies Headquarters, and the Office of the Judge of the
Royal Guards (Chinmuso) should check the guards on duty against the list
with their names and submit a report to the king. An official of the Security
Council on night duty should make a chief clerk (tanghugwan) of t he Se c u r it y
Council collect the name lists of guards on duty, including those of the com-
manders in charge. The chief clerk writes ‘present’ or ‘absent’ under the names
of the commanders above the rank of supreme general and general- in- chief.
However, he makes the commanders below the rank of general personally
sign their own names and submits the paper to the king the following morn-
ing. In the case of commanders below the rank of commandant, he reports
only the total number of those who were on night duty.
“The task of conducting reviews of various guard units should be also
carried out by the Three Armies Headquarters, and the military commis-
sioner on duty should personally confirm the names on the list every time