674 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
“After our looking into the matter, when Yu Yang, discussant of the
Security Council, served as magistrate of Kyerim, the Japanese marauders
cautiously revealed their intention of surrendering themselves to our author-
ities. So he rushed out alone on horseback and reasoned with them about the
benefits they could get when they turned themselves in, and finally suc-
ceeded in persuading them to surrender themselves, offering their sons as
our hostages. Having accomplished his goal successfully, he should have
continued to exert himself until he brought the matter to a successful con-
clusion.
“However, after the Japanese surrendered and moored their ships at our
port, he just chose to stay at his quarters under the pretext of being ill and
paid little attention to them. He did not do anything except sending monk
Ŭiun to them, and that made the Japanese suspicious and they finally ran
away. Furthermore, he concealed the fact from the government that he
had dispatched the monk, and when asked the reason, he only gave vague
answers made of weird words, tantamount to lying. We request that the
department responsible have his appointment revoked and interrogate him
until the suspicion is cleared.”
The king, however, ordered the officials in charge to send Yu Yang away
to a distant district and to wait until monk Ŭiun showed up and then find out
the facts by cross- examining them.4th Day (Ŭlmyo)
Lady Kim, the mother of Subcolonel Cho Tŏngnin, a resident of Ch’ŏngju,
was bereaved of her husband at the age of nineteen. After her parents put
pressure on her to remarry, she had her hair cut and lived as a widow for
sixty years. Magistrate Kim Chasu reported this to the government. The
government built a gate [in her village] to honor her faithfulness and let
Tŏngnin serve her by granting him an exemption from military service.This month, there was a heavy rain. Almost 10,000 kyŏl of farmland in
Kyŏngsang Province was washed away.5th Day (Pyŏngjin)
Ascending Yungmuru, the Tower of Eminent Martial Officials, the king
watched a stone fight.