TRIBUTE AND THE TAEDONG REFORM 783lent to 15 mal) nationally, deduct 200,000 som to pay for military expenses in
the southwest and north and the cost of the Japanese hostel (Waegwan) in Tong-
nae in Kyongsang Province, and use the remaining 400,000 som to pay for the
purchase of tribute items. One official, however, pointed out that it would bet-
ter to confine its application to Kangwon Province, where the amount of arable
land was small rather than any of the southern provinces where landlord oppo-
sition would be strong.^20
This objection was of crucial importance for understanding one of the rea-
sons why extension of the taedong system was so protracted: the fear of the
landowners and landlords - the wealthiest class in the country - that the reform
would increase their tax burdens. Limiting application of the law to a province
of marginal fertility and poor peasants would enable the king and court to avoid
a major political challenge.
The leading supporter of extension was Cho Sik, a section chief (Chongnang)
in the Ministry of Personnel, who argued that in ancient times funds for the
salaries of officials and rulers offeudal states came from a single source, a tithe
levied on grain, while the feudal lords (chu-hou) were also authorized to col-
lect tribute. Unfortunately, in the Choson dynasty tribute taxes in kind had become
too onerous, especially since the influential, wealthy, and unscrupulous men were
able to evade taxes, but as the current land tax was so low, raising taxes on land
was the best way to eliminate tribute and other miscellaneous taxes. If annual
production from (one kyo!?) of land was 20 to 30 sam (i.e., 300 to 450 mal), it
would be possible to raise taxes to 22 to 23 mal (per kyol) and still not reach the
classical tithe (which would have been 30 to 45 mal/kyo!). Rich landlords had
so much land and labor power under their command that their complaints about
the new tax could not be taken seriously, and the profiteers who engaged in ille-
gal tribute contracting (pangnap) were criminals who deserved no considera-
tion at all.
Although some also complained that shipments of surtax grain to the capital
would be shipwrecked, Cho responded that very few grain ships had been lost
at sea. Whenever they had, it was because of overloading or sailing during the
dangerous winds and waves of the fall season, which could be overcome by lim-
iting maritime transport to the spring. Other complaints about the possibilities
of fire in granaries were also invalid because each granary could be built at some
distance from private homes and protected by constructing fire walls. In any case,
in the past two hundred years there had not been a fire in the two major gra-
naries of the capital. 2 I
King Injo finally decided in the fall of 1623 to adopt the taedong system for
Kangwon, Ch'ungch'ong, and ChOlla provinces, but he also disliked variations
in the taedong surtax rate among the provinces and regretted that the cost of
human labor and goods needed by the district yamen were not calculated in devis-
ing the tax rate. At his request the Taedong Agency for the Three Provinces then
advised the king to adopt a rate of fifteen mal/kyi)/ for Ch·ungch'ong and Cholla,
and sixteen mallkyi)l for Kangw6n. Of this amount, ten mal would be paid to