448 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
expedite the construction of the Royal Ancestral Shrine and royal palaces
and the fortification of the walls as fast as possible, you will show your filial
piety to your ancestors and display your dignity to the people. The govern-
ment system is finally established when you firmly solidify the power of
the state, and it can be handed down to posterity for thousands of years.
We urge Your Majesty to implement our request.” The king granted the
request.4th Day (Kyŏngja)
The king paid a visit to Moksadong^85 and inspected the site of his own tomb.The king had Palace Censor Pyŏn Chungnyang^86 locked up in the Capital
Constabulary Prison and ordered Pak Kyŏng, inspector-general, and Yi
Chik, commissioner of the Capital Constabulary, and others to interrogate
Chungnyang.
Earlier, Chungnyang had said to Yi Hoe,^87 section chief of the Board of
War: “Since antiquity, one person is not supposed to hold both political
power and military power concurrently. The military power should belong
to the royal family, and political power to grand councilors. Nevertheless,
Cho Chun, Chŏng Tojŏn, Nam Ŭn, and others have now seized both mili-
tary and political power, and this is very wrong.”
Chungnyang also spoke the same words to Lord Ŭian Yi Hwa.^88 When
Hwa reported it to the king, the king summoned Chungnyang to verify the
truth of the report, and Chungnyang admitted it, saying, “Pak P’o also said
that the strange celestial phenomena that frequently appears in the sky has
to do with the wrongful course Your Majesty has taken in running the
cou nt r y.”
Becoming indignant, the king said, “The various people [who are slan-
dered] are all my loyal subjects who are like my own limbs and have been- Unknown.
- He is the son- in- law of Yi Wŏn’gye, T’aejo’s elder stepbrother. When Cho Yŏnggyu
and others planned to attack Chŏng Mongju, he secretly passed the information to Mongju. He
was executed for being a member of Chŏng Tojŏn’s clique when the First Strife of Princes
broke out in 1398. - There are two people under the name Yi Hoe. One is T’aejo’s stepbrother, and the other
related to the incident of Pyŏng Chungnyang. The latter was later appointed as supervisor of
the royal horse- breeding ranch in Tanju. - T’aejo’s stepbrother.