Book V 367had declined. Then he asked again, ‘How about the fortune of his firstborn
son?’ I replied, ‘His fortune will come late. He had better shave his head to
become a monk and wait for it.’ Ch’ŏm also asked, ‘How is the fortune of
the Lord of Namp’yŏng [Wang Hwa]?’ I replied, ‘Though it is weak now, it
will change for the better in the future.’ ”Chŏng Tojŏn, commissioner of the Flourishing Righteousness Three
Armies, and others submitted a memorial to the king:
“Since those who ruled the state from ancient times have administered
state affairs with “civil means” (mun) and suppressed disturbances with “mil-
itary means” (mu), the offices of these two parts are like the two arms of a
man, and neither of them can be abandoned. That is why we already have
numerous departments and bureaus, as well as various armies and guard
units, with the purpose of dealing with both civil and military affairs.
“Our pubyŏng military system (pubyŏng che),^34 however, generally fol-
lows the old one of the previous dynasty. Even when the previous dynasty
prospered, there were no armies except the one under that name. There was
Great Liao^35 in the north, and Jurchen and Japan in the east, which invaded
us from the outside, and there were also frequent uprisings of bandits from
the inside. If the scale of the disturbance was small, a military officer below
the rank of commandant was dispatched; if large, a supreme general or
general was sent to repulse the enemy. If the situation was too serious, how-
ever, extra soldiers were mobilized from the counties and districts to fight
against the enemy outside or the enemy within. Thus the system has been
transmitted for over four hundred years, and one can see how well it worked
in those days. When there was peace, troops were trained, and when distur-
bances broke out and troops were raised, they always used five tactical troop
formations. So you can also see how soldiers in those days were trained in
the art of war.
- It is a military system in which soldiers did not belong to a fixed commander or an
army and supported themselves by farming. Originating in the Sui and Tang of China between
the sixth and eighth centuries, it was employed in Koryŏ and continued through early Chosŏn.
However, the soldiers in the Koryŏ’s pubyŏng system, provided with land, were known to be
more committed to their jobs. So they were more like soldiers in modern times. - Known as the Liao dynasty or the Khitan Empire, it ruled over the vast territory,
including Mongolia, portions of the Russian far East, and northern China from 907 to 1125
until it was destroyed by the Jurchens of the Jin dynasty in 1125.