Book V 347“Unless Your Majesty interrogates these kinds of people and exposes
their crimes to the public, we are afraid that wicked leaders will arise one
after another to bring about unexpected trouble. It cannot be denied that our
recent problems with the suzerain state [China] have to do with these groups
of people who spread groundless rumors in China. So we urge Your Majesty
to decide according to what is right and let the censors and other law enforce-
ment officials arrest the aforementioned people and bring their crimes to
light by interrogating them and at the same time root out potential trouble by
suppressing their clique. Since we make this request for the sake of the state,
which is to last forever, Your Majesty should pay close attention to it.”
The king ordered the Censorate and the officials of the Board of
Punishments to arrest Chungjil, Wang Hwa, and others and to have them
detained in Suwŏn Prefecture for interrogation.The officials of the Censorate and the Board of Punishments did not come
to work out of protest that their proposals had been rejected. The king sum-
moned those officials and instructed them, saying, “I did not grant your
requests only because I wanted to have time to think about them more
deeply. You should come to work.”8th Day (Muin)
The Privy Council submitted a memorial to the king:
The governor of Left Kyŏnggi Province reported as follows: ‘When local
magistrates are transferred or take over, they only review the handover
records without checking the amount of money and grains in the district
warehouses. As a result, the grains that were recklessly spent, stolen, dam-
aged by rain or humidity, or spoiled by rats are mostly unaccounted for, and
no one takes responsibility for this. After several years pass, investigations
on grain losses become useless because it is hard to tell exactly when the
losses took place. Though preventing rats from damaging the grain is dif-
ficult, the damage also results from lack of attention to the problem. The
same is true with rain damage. From this day forward, the magistrates who
depart or arrive should personally verify that the recorded amount of grain
is correct. If they find any shortage, they should ensure that double the amount
of grain recklessly wasted or stolen is returned by the perpetrator. Grain
damaged by rain or rats should also be fully replaced. After this process is