MILITARY REORGANIZATION 527
not go against what is proper in terms of the lay of the land."67 Yu took to heart
the classical admonition about limiting construction work so it would not inter-
fere with the livehood of the peasantry, although he allowed for the use ofland-
grant peasants on miscellaneous labor service and hired laborers at any time for
minor repairs and small jobs.
For major construction work, however, the whole adult male population, includ-
ing both regular soldiers and support taxpayers, were to be mobilized. Yu deemed
this an appropriate way to use soldiers during peacetime, but he also provided
that they be compensated for every thirty days of labor by exempting them from
one shift of duty (two months) and the archery examination; cavalry and sago
soldiers would be excused from one year's training and archery examinations
for every fifteen days of construction labor.
Contrary to current conditions under which workers were not exempted from
other duties, were not given rations, and were subject to demands for bribes.
under the new system officials would also pay the workers a ten-day week's
worth of rice or three mal and hold a celebration banquet. Payment of the work-
ers could be provided from a percentage of the grain transport rice that would
be retained in their home districts and by the use of the regular grain payments
from support taxpayers. If the support taxpayer lived at some distance from the
construction site, the government would work out arrangements for substitut-
ing local grain to prevent the burden of shipment over long distances. Officials
were to take the distance of the soldier or peasant from the work site and the
exact amount of labor needed into consideration and assign men from districts
near the site in limited numbers. Work assignments were to be made clear and
schedules of work laid out in advance; the workers were not to be rushed, and
if the job were not completed by the seasonal time limit, completion was to be
put off to the next season. Yu was. indeed. following the teachings of the clas-
sics that sage rulers worked out rules for construction in fine detail to make sure
that these public works would not become a source of oppression.^68
He was not sure that high quality construction could be maintained without
spelling out every detail of the work procedure and maintaining strict military
discipline because Korean work habits were notoriously bad.
The people of our country are lazy and lax hy nature. They are always careless
in everything they do and they dissemble, so that the construction of walls and
moats is very shoddy .... Since the custom of the people has been slipshod, and
this has been the case for a very long time. it is very difficult to enlighten them
just with the llse of words alone. You mllst first build a wall in accordance with
my system in one place, and then have I people in] other places see what has
heen done and adopl the [same] method.The men would proceed to the workplace under the command of their local
commanding officers. a method not only convenient "but also the way in which
the ancients carried out tasks that combined [the work] of large numbers of peo-