668 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
you to the emperor in the Kisa year (1389). He must have some reason when
he strongly requests for permission to go to China. I urge you not to send
him.” However, the king did not listen to him. Shortly after Kŭn departed,
the king dispatched an official to give him some gold.
When Kŭn returned home after receiving special treatment from the
emperor, Tojŏn instigated the Office of the Inspector-General to impeach
Kŭn for returning alone while Chŏng Ch’ong and others were still detained
in the Chinese capital. Then he said to the king, “While they still have
Ch’ong and others detained, they allowed Kŭn alone to return home, even
providing him with gold, and this is exactly what I expected to happen. I
urge you to interrogate him.”
The king asked, “How do you know that Kŭn was awarded gold?” Tojŏn
replied, “I heard that Kŭn used gold to pay for his expenses. Unless the gold
was bestowed by the emperor, how could such a poor scholar obtain gold?”
The king laughed and said, “Even though he is a poor scholar, are there no
ways for him to get gold?” Tojŏn did not know that the king himself had
given the gold to Kŭn. As Tojŏn strongly urged the king to interrogate Kŭn,
the king said, “At a time when the emperor was enraged, he volunteered to
go to China and mollify the emperor. As a result, the emperor no longer
demanded that you appear at his imperial court. So Kŭn made contributions
not only to the country but also to you yourself. I was going to reward him,
but you want me to punish him?” Then the king ordered Kŭn to come back
to work as usual. Tojŏn dared not say a word in reply. Because Ch’ŏnsik and
Changsu were also people whom he tried to shun, Tojŏn tried to accuse
them of speaking slanderous words at the imperial court.The king gave orders to the Privy Council, saying, “Since the construction
of the royal palace is pretty much completed, what remains incomplete
should be taken care of later. For now, stop all construction work and give
your best effort to training troops and saving provisions.”21st Day (Ŭlmyo)
The king ordered Yi Hwa, concurrent chief director of the State Finance
Commission, and Chŏng Tojŏn, Count of Ponghwa, to hold a banquet for
the commissioners in charge of palace construction.