Book VII 487
19th Day (Imo)
Ch’oe Musŏn, assistant grand councilor- without- portfolio, died. His clan
seat was Yŏngju, and he was the son of Tongsun, supervisor of Kwan-
ghŭngch’ang State Granary. Naturally intelligent and talented in technology
and strategy, he always liked to talk about the art of war. In the previous
dynasty, he rose to the position of assistant grand councilor.
He used to say, “There is nothing better than gunpowder for suppressing
Japanese marauders, but in our country no one knows about it.” Whenever
Chinese merchants from the southern part of China visited Korea, he asked
them if they knew how to make gunpowder and finally found one who knew
about it to a certain extent. Taking the Chinese merchant to his home and
providing him with food and clothes for several weeks, he eventually got the
idea of producing gunpowder after asking numerous questions day after day.
Then he reported to the Privy Council about what had happened and requested
that he be provided with a chance to test out his way of making gunpowder.
However, no one among the officials wanted to believe what he said and even
mocked him for attempting to cheat them. Musŏn still continued to persuade
them for many years until they became impressed by his sincerity. As a result,
the Superintendency for Gunpowder Weapons (Hwat’ongdogam) was newly
established and Musŏn appointed its superintendent, and finally gunpowder
could be produced. The manufacture of gunpowder soon led to the manufac-
ture of a number of gunpowder weapons of various names. The names of the
artillery are these: general- in- chief (taejanggun), two generals (ijanggun),
three generals (samjanggun), six- stone ball cannon (yukhwa sŏkp’o), fire
cannon (hwap’o), and trusty cannon (sinp’o). The other fire weapons operated
by gunpowder are these: gunpowder tube (hwat’ong) and rocket- launched
arrows of different names, such as hwajŏn, ch’ŏllyŏngjŏn, and p’iryŏngjŏn.
In addition, there are shrapnel bombs and grenades called chillyŏp’o and
ch’ŏlt’anja, the incendiary five- dragon arrow named ch’ŏnsanoryongjŏn, and
arrows of flying fire and rockets of various names, such as yuhwa, chuhwa
and ch’okch’ŏnhwa. When these weapons were made, everyone who saw
them was surprised and greatly admired them. They [The Superintendency
for Gunpowder Weapons] also conducted research on constructing battle-
ships and finally completed them with the support of the Privy Council.
In the Kyŏngsin year (1380) when Japanese invaded Chinp’o^30 of Chŏlla
Province leading three hundred battleships, the government appointed Ch’oe
- Located 17 li north of Imp’i District, Chŏlla Province.