842 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMYsalary of fifteen mal (one sam in contemporary measure) as well. The salaries
for local clerks and runners were less: two kok or twenty mal for clerks (sari)
and twelve mal for runners and official slaves.^59
Yu also prescribed that soldiers in the capital guard (kyiJnghy()ng) would be
paid a salary of fifteen mal/month in addition to eight p'il of cotton cloth by
their support taxpayers, and their commanders and cavalrymen would be given
higher salaries. Yu kept their salaries lower than the runners because their duties
were far lighter and they were also eligible for cloth support payments. Arti-
sans in state employ (chang'in) were also to be granted twenty-five mal/month,
but they would be subject to severe investigation of the quality of their work,
and if found wanting, they could suffer beatings, reduction of salary, and dis-
missal. Craftsmen who made bows, arrows, armor, knives, woven cloth, and
jade objects would be eligible for a salary raise to the equivalent of a 9B regu-
lar officia1.^60
Clerks and runners in the provinces were also to be granted fifty myo of land
in addition to their salaries. Their land grants would be exempted from fire-
wood and brush levies, and they would be exempted from labor service required
of ordinary land-grant peasants. Yu specifically listed the costs of salaries for
all clerks and runners in all district magistracies, military headquarters, schools,
and post-stations as part of each office's expenses. To reduce the work loads of
clerks and runners he divided them into two shifts and excused those off duty
from running personal errands for officials. They were only to be used for enter-
taining guests, assisting at ritual sacrifices, and performing military duties. They
would retain their salaries even when transferred and be protected against any
illegal attempts by magistrates to deprive them of their salaries. Any magis-
trate who arbitrarily reduced the number of shifts and took over the salaries
owed to clerks and runners for his own use would be subject to the charge of
embezzlement. 61
Yu rejected the idea that clerks and runners might simply be paid daily rations
or wages for the days that they served on tours of duty because they were enti-
tled to regular salaries equivalent to what the head of a peasant household would
earn and should be held fully responsible for completion of their tasks. In con-
temporary Korea the local clerks and runners had gained so much power and
wealth through corruption that they frequently controlled almost all the land in
the vicinity of the magistrate's or military commander's district. Without gov-
ernment provision for full salaries for them, there would be no way to eliminate
their domination of local real estate.
Yu opposed the suggestion that government funds could be saved by grant-
ing local clerks and runners only a half-salary and half a land grant because they
deserved the same fuIl salaries and grants that their counterparts in the capital
were to receive. He reminded his readers that previous Confucian scholars had
praised the Chou system because it provided clerks and runners with land grants
in addition to salaries to provide for the support of their families and guarantee
honest behavior. Since these petty officials were in charge of administering the