498 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
8th Day (Kyŏngja)
Yi Chik, tribute embassy, returned from the Chinese capital.The king bestowed 400 kok of rice and beans and 30 bolts of ramie and
hemp fabric upon Crown Prince Bobo [of Yuan], and 100 kok of rice and
beans and 10 bolts of ramie and hemp fabric upon the grandson of the prince
of Liang.^3911th Day (Kyemyo)
The government sent one thousand horses to Ming China by dispatching
Ch’oe Chaun, former agriculture director (nongjŏng). He returned after
delivering the horses to the Chinese authorities in Liaodong, China.New posts of third and fourth mentors for the crown prince were instituted
for the first time. The king appointed Han Sanggyŏng as third mentor (chwa
pu pin’gaek) and Yu Kyŏng as fourth mentor (u pu pin’gaek).Over twenty eunuchs in the Chinese court, including Hwang Yŏnggi, Yi
In’gyŏng, Sin Yongmyŏng, Sin Hŭnggi, Kim Hwa, Chŏng Ching, Kim
Hŭiyu, Yi Wŏnŭi, Ch’oe Yŏn, and others returned home from the Chinese
capital. They were originally Koreans. The king asked them why they
returned, by sending Chŏng Hon, vice supervisor of the Publications Office.
They replied that they were expelled by the emperor. Sometime earlier,
when Hŭnggi, Hwa, Ching, Wŏnŭi, Hŭiyu, and others returned to the impe-
rial court in China after their visit to Korea and their parents [in their old
hometowns], some of them possessed herbal medicine called sohaphyangwŏn,
others had letters from the families of their Korean colleagues in the Chinese
court, and another carried loops varnished with lacquer that Royal Preceptor
Chach’o had given them in order to purchase Buddhist scriptures. When the- At the end of the Yuan dynasty, many members of the royal families and nobles who
had surrendered themselves to Ming China moved to Cheju Island either for asylum or exile,
and Crown Prince Bobo, the son of the prince of Liang, was one of them. Upon the request of
the Chinese government, Chosŏn provided them with shelter and provisions. In 1381, the
prince of Liang, who became a fugitive, eventually committed suicide, and the following year
his son, Crown Prince Bobo, took asylum on Cheju Island.