Book XIV 829posthumous vice grand councilor. He was by nature upright and simple.
Studying hard by himself, he passed the civil service examination, served
both in the capital and the provinces in the previous dynasty, and earned a
reputation for being upright and unbending.
When he served as magistrate of Sunch’ang, one of his friends happened
to drop by and request a local product. He (Yi) unloosed his sword and gave
it to a clerk. He told the clerk to sell it to buy the requested item. Ashamed,
the friend left.
When he served as fourth inspector, Kim Yong, a powerful minister at
the time, wanted to see him, but Yi made excuses not to visit him. When
Yŏm Chesin was appointed chancellor, he said, “He abandoned his mother
in the Sinch’uk year (1361) when the Red Turbans invaded and failed to
escort the royal carriage. How can he be made chancellor?” Then he refused
to the end to sign his name on the document of Chesin’s appointment.
When he served as fourth inspector, King Kongmin carried out the
funeral of Queen Noguk. The second inspector, according to precedents,
was supposed to make the burial mound, but he did not show up, under
some pretext, for he believed in the old saying that one who makes the
burial mound cannot be successful in his public career. His Lordship
[Mubang], next in the line of responsibility, undertook sincerely the making
of the burial mound. Respecting his integrity, King Kongmin appointed
him director of the Court of Royal Ceremonies and Sacrifices and soon
promoted him to inspector-general. Then he was promoted again, to acade-
mician of the Security Council with the title of Uplifting, Loyal, and
Mandate- Assisting Merit Subject (Ch’uch’ung chwamyŏng kongsin). When
he served as magistrate of Kyerim, he governed his district with benevo-
lence, and the residents who had abandoned their hometown returned home.
Thereafter, he was summoned back to court and appointed Chancellery
scholar.
In the spring of the Kabin year (1374), he was appointed examination
administrator of the civil service examination. After the death of King
Kongmin, he left public service for sixteen years. Then, his former student
Cho Chun, who passed the civil service examination and rose to power,
recommended him to the position of chancellor- without- portfolio and
enfeoffed him as Great Lord of Kwangyang. He died at the age of eighty.
Upon his death, the king suspended the morning audience. He was granted
a posthumous title, Mun’gan. He had two sons, Yŏm and An’guk.