Book V 339believe that your severe reprimands were intended to make me a better
person, and your kind persuasion motivated to raise me with affection,
which is similar to the words of a parent who raises a child. Now that I have
your instruction, I will certainly follow it.
“Your Majesty, with your extraordinary intelligence, closely observes
even the most distant places and generously forgives a mistake I made
in ignorance, which I believe is intended to give me an opportunity to
mend my ways. The people of my small kingdom and I forever wish you a
long life.”The king ordered able- bodied men mobilized from each province to assist
in the construction of the capital fortifications.Pak Wi, assistant grand councilor of the Chancellery, was confined in the
Capital Constabulary Prison. Prior to his imprisonment, Kim Kahaeng,
magistrate of Tongnae, and Pak Chungjil, director of the Saltern Office
(yŏmjanggwan), and others visited a blind fortuneteller named Yi Hŭngmu
at his home in Milsŏng (Miryang)^6 to read the future of the newly estab-
lished dynasty and the fortune of the royal Wang clan. Their action was
discovered by the authorities, and the king had the fortuneteller Hŭngmu
jailed in the Capital Constabulary Prison and ordered the Office of Remon-
strance and the Office of the Inspector-General (Sŏnghŏn) and the Board of
Punishments to conduct investigations on the incident, along with the Cap-
ital Constabulary (Sun’gun manhobu).
Hŭngmu made the following confession: “Kim Kahaeng, Pak Chungjil,
and others, at the request of Pak Wi, came to see me and asked, ‘Who has
the better fortune, King Kongyang of Koryŏ or His Majesty the king?^7 And
who is the most fortunate person among the members of the Wang clan?’ So
I told him that Prince Namp’yŏng Wang Hwa was the most outstanding in
his fortune, and next was Prince Yŏngp’yŏng Wang Kŏ.” As a result, the
king put Pak Wi in jail and ordered the officers of the Capital Constabulary
to go down to Kyŏngsang Province to arrest Kim Kahaeng and Pak
Chungjil.
- Miryang, South Kyŏngsang Province
- King T’aejo Yi Sŏnggye.