310 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
arise in the course of five hundred years.’^53 It is five hundred years since the
Koryŏ dynasty was founded by the Wang clan.
“As the fortune of the dynasty declined, King Kongmin failed to produce
an heir, and the son [King U] of the wicked monk Sin Ton usurped the
throne by falsifying his family name and fell into debauchery and tyranny.
In the Mujin year (1388), together with grand councilor Ch’oe Yŏng, he
recklessly raised an army to trespass upon the territory of the Son of Heaven,
and because of that, the people’s troubles were without end. Our Majesty,
who was commander- in- chief of the Right Army at that time, advocated a
great cause and turned his army around to march back home. U at last real-
ized that he had made a mistake and abdicated in favor of his son Ch’ang.
“The following year, the Son of Heaven reprimanded our government for
allowing a man of a different family name to become the heir of the royal
Wang clan, and His Majesty, who was then a chancellor in charge of state
affairs, consulted with various generals and councilors and established Yo,
a member of the Wang clan, on the throne. Originally, from the days of U’s
reign, powerful ministers took over the affairs of state, corrupting the court
and causing abuses by selling public offices and taking bribes for fixing
court cases. They also seized land and monopolized mountains and fields so
that the rule of discipline collapsed, and the resultant harms and sickness
grew worse by the day. So all the people complained and lamented and
started seeking a remedy day and night.
“When His Majesty became chancellor, he eliminated old abuses and
brought reform to governance. He set the land system straight by abolishing
abusive private landholdings and raised the dignity of office by reducing
superfluous personnel. He employed men of ability and drove out the wicked
and avaricious; displaying his martial prowess, he repulsed invaders from
the borders, and treating the people with benevolence, he settled their liveli-
hood; and he established law and order and developed rites and music. So
the people of Korea loved him like their parent.
“Wang Yo was by nature confused and indiscriminate in his judgment so
that he trusted cunning people while alienating loyal subjects; listening to
the words of women and eunuchs, he caused the land system to fall into
disarray; employing his relatives and close subjects, he undermined the
fairness of public office; making his decrees and instructions inconsistent,
he destroyed the law of the state; unrestrained in expenditure, he damaged- “Gongsunchou II,” The Works of Mencius. (Legge, p. 232)