P ART V CONCLUSION 767
work. The net result was the creation of a group of officials who were willing
to follow the Taewongun's lead in the implementation of policy.
In the realm of local government, however, the Taewongun came close to
achieving some of the ideas that Yu put forward in his work. While he did not
attempt to put local clerks on government salary or upgrade their status as Yu
had suggested, he did establish village granaries to administer grain loans and
relief to the pcasantry instead of the district magistrate. While the results of this
reform were mixed, the measure at least reduced the level of corruption by by-
passing the magistrates and their clerks.
While Yu was obviously far ahead of his time, his ideas were not irrelevant
to Korean history. In the sphere of bureaucratic reorganization, in particular,
they had significant influence on the Taewongun, who succeeded in prevent-
ing total collapse for another generation.