632 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
10th Day (Kyehae)
The moon concealed Jupiter.15th Day (Mujin)
The king paid a visit to Chŏngnŭng.^4The Office of the Inspector-General impeached eunuch Cho Sun by sub-
mitting a memorial to the king, and a brief summary of the memorial is as
follows:
“Cho Sun is by nature cunning and greedy, and his words and deeds are
devious and sycophantic. In the previous dynasty when the usurper Sin
reigned tyrannously, Sun served as his right- hand man, freely exercising the
power in granting favors while taking bribes and breaking laws.
“Thanks to your benevolence of nurturing life, he not only has preserved
his life but also enjoyed the privilege of serving Your Majesty by your side.
It would, then, be natural for him to change his ways and serve the king
more respectfully and diligently. However, on the contrary, he is constantly
contriving to extort others and seize their property.
“When Your Majesty recently presented silverware, robes, and a saddled
horse as offerings to the Buddha and other spirits to pray for the recovery of
the ailing Queen, Sun seized them all under the pretext of exchanging them
with some other things. Later, being afraid that his thievery would be dis-
covered, he turned over the horse to the shaman. His cunning trickery is no
worse than that of a thief who makes a hole in the fence to break into a
house. We urge you to have him imprisoned and his crimes investigated and
then confiscate all the property belonging to him.”
The king only allowed for Sun to be sent away to his birthplace. The
Office of the Inspector-General submitted another memorial to the king and
impeached Sun again for taking many bribes from Yang Ch’ŏnsik, minister
of taxation. The king only permitted the inspector-general to withdraw his
certificate of appointment.The governor of P’unghae Province submitted a memorial to the king: “The
people of our province have failed in farming and suffered from famine and- The tomb of Queen Sindŏk who recently passed away.