862 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMY
by Minister of Taxation Won Tup'yo's suggestion that it would be cheaper to
buy cash from China than mint it in Korea. Chinese merchants in Manchuria
had flocked to Liao-tung to sell cash to Korea when they heard of the possibil-
ity that Korea was preparing to circulate cash in the economy, and they worked
out an agreement with the Korean interpreters to sell 80 ch' ing of cash for 1,600
yang of silver (850 mun of cash per yang of silver). 13 The current envoy to China
could take silver to pay for it and bring the cash back on his return. The Border
Defense Command proposed that the Ministry of Taxation pay two-thirds the
cost and the Ever-Normal Bureau the rest.
Hyojong was overjoyed with this prospect, but since Korea was currently suf-
fering under a famine and the Minister of Taxation reported that his treasury
was empty, he thought it would be almost impossible to find the silver needed.
The minister proposed sending 800 yang, but Hyojong settled for ordering dis-
trict magistrates on the frontier to buy cash with rice to obtain currency for cir-
culation. He had decided to wait to see whether the cash circulated successfully
before authorizing any more purchases.I4
Hyojong then ordered the Military Training Agency to mint cash, presumably
to use the profits to pay for their expenses from the profits of seigniorage. He
also permitted the private minting of cash for only the second time since 1635
and forbade the use of rough cloth (ch 'up '0) as currency to promote the circu-
lation of metallic cash. The Border Defense Command then charged that offi-
cials in charge of enforcing the ban against the circulation of cloth had failed
because they could not discipline their own underlings. Nevertheless, the situ-
ation in P'yong'an and Hwanghae provinces looked promising because cash was
actually circulating there, and the residents of Seoul favored the use of cash, but
there was not enough available.
To meet the short supply, the Border Defense Command requested that cop-
per and other metals from Tongnae (imported from Japan) be sent to Seoul and
that the Military Training Agency cease its current manufacture of weapons to
smelt copper into coins. Hyojong agreed and ordered that cash be banned tem-
porarily in the capital until this was done. 15 The next month Kim Yuk told Hyo-
jong that the need for cash was too urgent to wait for the current Korean
ambassador to Beijing to return from China to bring more cash. 16 A few months
later Hyojong revealed that he had decided to grant a request from a sinecured
official in the Military Affairs Commision, Yi Kyongyo, Third State Councilor
Han Hung'il, and Second State CouncilorYi Sibaek to permit private minting. 17
The Ever-Normal Bureau's Stimulation Plan, 165 IAt the end of 16S! the Ever-Normal Bureau obtained approval from Hyojong
for a more ambitious cash circulation policy. It noted that the use of cash had
been permitted in the capita\, but warned that fluctuations in its value ought to
be avoided by setting its exchange value at 1/, toe of rice, the prevailing value
in Hwanghae and P'yong'an provinces. This appears to have been the first attempt