Book II 175
ten wings in Anju, and four wings in Ŭiju, and assigned battalion com-
manders to each of them so that they could carry out military training and
prepare weapons for potential crisis. If the country is at peace, they engage
in farming, and if the country is at war, they are supposed to go out
to fight.
“However, those who serve as battalion commanders these days are
selected so poorly that most of them are avaricious and neglectful of their
duties. They use soldiers for their farming as if they were their slaves and
take their daughters from them by force.
As a result, military households escape across the national frontier.
Hence, we would like to request that you select men of integrity talented in
martial arts and let them train soldiers and prepare weapons after making
them battalion commanders. If there is any battalion commander who acts
lawlessly as his predecessors did, please let the local magistrate report to
the governor so that he can be strictly chastised for his wrongdoing.
“1. At the end of the former dynasty, the government ordered each prov-
ince to refine iron to produce military weapons, and many years have passed
since then. Thereafter, we heard that the iron produced in the Northwest
Region had doubled in its amount, but the production of military weapons
had not increased.
“We would like to request that you order the Privy Council to send
official letters to provincial military commissioners and have them report
every month and every season on the production of iron and the number
of military weapons, rewarding or punishing them according to their
performance.
“1. In ancient times, married women were not supposed to visit their
parents’ home once their parents passed away, and the custom was ob -
served strictly. At the end of the former dynasty, however, the custom
degenerated so much that the wives of the literati began to frequent the
houses of powerful families without shame, and men of discernment are
ashamed of it.
“We would like to request you to rectify the current custom by prohib-
iting the wives of civil and military officials henceforth from visiting people
freely except their parents, brothers and sisters, paternal uncles and aunts,
and maternal uncles and aunts.
“1. After the Three Dynasties [Xia, Yin, and Zhou] the ways of conduct
taught by the sages deteriorated. After Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning
of books, the hearts of the people worsened further.