564 MILITARY REFORMdent on peasants], but in the later age [husel, soldiers and agriculture [or soldiers
and peasants] were divided, the system of the early [sage] kings was destroyed,
The Five Guards system of our dynasty was in fact modeled after the Ill-ping
system [ofT'ang China, according to which] soldiers rotated on and off duty,
and being a soldier did no damage to agriCUlture, In the interval [between plant-
ing and harvesting?] they would engage in the construction of walls or service
on the frontier, Because the court was deeply concerned over the difficulty that
cavalrymen and infantrymen had in having to carry their food rations with them
over long distances [in reporting to duty from their homes], they allowed them
to pay cloth and hire substitutes, The was the origin of the system of the cloth
tax,
At the beginning of our dynasty the system of personal service [sinyO'k] was
very strict, and everyone, from the sons of the highest lords and officials down
to the common people, had a service assignment Those who had the protection
[11m] privilege were enrolled in the Loyal and Obedient Guards or the Loyal
Assistant Guards, Those who did not have the protection privilege were regular
soldiers r chong/Jv/ing 1 or armored soldiers [kapsa], Thus the will of the people
was settled, and the service required from the people was distributed equally,
Since that lime the way of the world has been such that law and order has
gradually disintegrated and the sons and younger brothers of the officials [sahu]
no longer have their names listed on the rosters of the various guards, Even the
local gentry with rank titles [hyangp 'wn] and the relatives [of officials] who are
cold and destitute have also styled themselves yangban in order to evade per-
sonal service, The result has been that military service has fallen exclusively
on the poor people who are tired, weak, and have nothing to rely on.Hong believed that the cloth tax system had its origin in the substitution of a
cloth payment in lieu of service accompanied by a shift in the subject of ser-
vice from all adult males. no matter what the status of the individual, to only
men of good (ym!i?) status, but as more men succeeded in escaping military ser-
vice, the detinition of wlIlg became narrower and was applied eventually only
to men unable to acquire yangban status or de facto exemptions from service.
Hong also claimed that there were currently only 120,000 households available
to pay the taxes due for support of duty troops, a tigure that had risen from 300,000
households in 1682 to 500,000, and he listed a half-dozen measures adopted to
make up for the shortage in revenue produced by Yongjo's decision to cut the
military cloth tax rate in half.
These measures included a vcrsion of the tine or levy on students who failed
qualifying examinations. Instead of registering them for military service and
taxation like other commoners, each province conducted a "capital examina-
tion" and the top student was granted a degree, the second student a chance to
proceed to the regular civil service (hoesi) examination, and the next five an
exemption from the CUITent year's cloth taxes. All the rest had to pay a one-p'if
levy, but were designated specially selected military officers (sonmu kUIl 'gwall).