392 MILITARY REFORM
After the Imjin War of 1592-98, slaves were brought into the national army
for the first time on a regular basis. In faet, slave soldiers became an unavoid-
able necessity since the evasion of service among adult males of commoner or
good status (yang'in) had spread, reducing the basis for the recruitment of both
rotating duty soldiers and their support taxpayers. These developments exacer-
bated the inequities and inequalities in the distribution of service and tax bur-
dens that had existed prior to the Imjin War and had created hardship for both
slaves and commoner peasants, who had to supply soldiers for the national army
and pay for their support while on duty.
Military finance, in fact, remained based on the early Chason system of assign-
ing adult males as support taxpayers for duty soldiers, but the expansion of mil-
itary costs continued to increase. Officials began to consider ways to reduce troop
quotas and tax rates, as well as placing military finance on a different basis. This
idea was stimulated by economic developments that had led to greater produc-
tion, the spread of markets, and the beginning of the circulation of metallic cur-
rency, which, as we will discuss later, had precipitated a complete reformation
ofthe system of tribute taxation. Nevertheless, the discussion of these measures
of reform were obstructed and delayed for years by the various conservative forces
that resisted change.
The next five chapters will be devoted to an exploration of Yu Hyongwon's
detailed study of the military problems of his time and his proposals for reform,
but the objective is to go beyond an analysis limited to Yu's thought. Instead,
his ideas will be placed in the context of his age, especially the complex and
protracted debate among active officials over military issues that began before
he began work on his magnum opus and continued long past his death. That
debate continued even past the time when his writings on military problems were
brought to the attention of king and court in 1750. The purpose of this exten-
sive treatment will be to show whether his approach to military problems rep-
resents a new and different approach to institutional reform that could be labeled
practical, pragmatic, innovative, or in any sense "modern."
One of the tests of practicality, as opposed to traditional Confucian dogma-
tism, fundamentalism, or rigidity, would be the degree to which he was able to
adjust his principles, be they Confucian or otherwise, to the changed circum-
stances of the time. For example, if he was able to identify the most serious prob-
lems plaguing military service and organization, did he seek to adapt to changes
and establish better modes of dealing with problems than did the body of active
officials? Did he represent a progressive force as opposed to the conservative
tendencies of officialdom? Was he able to sense the economic changes taking
place and use them as a basis for new thinking on military service and finance'?
Did he appreciate the importance of new military technology and push for the
extension of new techniques throughout the armed forces?
Was his capacity for outrage over the drawbacks, inequality, and injustice con-
tained in the Chason systems of education, inherited social status, and land dis-
tribution and taxation sustained in his treatment of the military system? If not