796 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
them accede to their demands. So the people have to spend all that they have
just to satisfy the insatiable greed of these monks, and this is certainly a
serious concern of the state. How can it be possible for a man who com-
mitted a crime to be forgiven by bribing Buddha?
“I urge you to gather up the paper prayer slips, prohibiting Buddhist ser-
vices and transactions based on donations from the people. I also urge you
to prohibit the members of the royal family from donating palace properties
to the temples or holding services in the inner palace for preventing disas-
ters. If one is always careful and afraid, reflecting on himself for proper
conduct, all the blessings will follow by themselves. Why should he depend
on benefits from Buddha? If there is anyone among the grand councilors,
literati, and eunuchs who dares to make proposals related to the construc-
tion of Buddhist temples, you should discipline him strictly and drive
him out.
“1. The military should be reorganized. When the provincial navy was
originally organized, the number of active seamen was prescribed in such a
way that if the father was first squad leader, the son was made second squad
leader, and if the elder brother was first squad leader, the younger brother
second squad leader. In addition, if there was a supernumerary person, he
was turned over to another soldier so that he could be his support person. As
a result, the suffering of the people was extreme. Furthermore, sometimes
they are captured by the Japanese invaders or shipwrecked while trans-
porting goods on a boat or run away one after another because they were
unable to bear the hardship of being on board the ship for a long time, so the
number of naval personnel decreases day by day. Then provinces and coun-
ties are ordered to replenish the prescribed number of seamen within a fixed
date, and in the process, hundreds of abuses take place and the provinces
and counties are thrown into turmoil.
“We request that provinces and counties fill up the fixed quota of seamen
with those on active duty and the ones to be recruited, updating the military
records, and if they are incapable of meeting it, the number of seamen short
should be subtracted from the fixed quota, readjusting the prescribed number
to the current level. In addition, if a household has two or three adult males,
it should be required to send no more than a male for military service, and if
it has four or five males, it should be made to send two males—first and
second squad leaders, respectively. Even if a household has extra males eli-
gible for military service, they should not be handed over to others. Then the
living conditions of the people will improve to a certain extent.