162 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
and others. He was then thirty-nine years old. He was survived by four sons:
Sŏngbŏm, Sŭngbŏm, Hŭngbŏm, and Hŭibŏm.
Earlier, when a relative of Hyŏnbo named Kim Chin lived as a monk, he
committed adultery with the wife of his slave, named Sui, and had a daughter
by her. Though his relatives said that she was the daughter of Sui, Kim Chin
believed that she was his own daughter and secretly loved and protected her.
Later, he returned to the secular world, abandoning the life of a monk. Then
he drove out his slave, Sui, after taking away his wife. He also married off
his daughter to a scholar named U Yŏn, providing him with slaves, houses,
and land.
U Yŏn had a daughter from his wife and married her off to Chŏng
Un’gyŏng, a tribute student of the National University. Un’gyŏng rose to
minister of the Board of Punishments after serving in various offices. He
had three sons, and the eldest one was none other than Chŏng Tojŏn.
When Tojŏn first entered into public service, U Hyŏnbo’s sons and brothers
all held Tojŏn in contempt. Whenever he was newly appointed or trans-
ferred to other departments, he had a hard time because the Censorate office
delayed signing the document he needed. Believing that it happened due to
the intervention of Hyŏnbo’s family, Tojŏn was upset and resented them
de e ply.
After Prince Kongyang ascended the throne, he took U Sŏngbŏm, the son
of U Hongsu, as his son-in-law, and it made Tojŏn more nervous because he
was worried that Sŏngbŏm and others would use their power to expose his
life history. So Tojŏn left no stone unturned in order to slander Hyŏnbo’s
family. When the new dynasty started, he killed Sŏngbŏm by making a
false accusation, and even tried to kill Hyŏnbo and his sons by implicating
them in crimes. Furthermore, having learned that Cho Chun was on bad
terms with Yi Saek and Yi Sungin, he tried to frame them together with Yi
Chonghak.
Tojŏn drafted the first royal decree after the king [T’aejo] ascended to the
throne. He listed a series of measures that would help the people and at the
end of the decree discussed the crimes of over ten people so that they could
be put to death. The king ordered chief royal secretary An Kyŏnggong to
read the draft of the royal decree and was very surprised while listening to
it. He said, “Haven’t I already said that I would be generous and forgive the
people of their crimes? How can I punish them like that? Stop discussing
their crimes any further.”
As Tojŏn and others requested the king to punish them by lowering the