Book XI 639sup port personnel one can take should depend on the urgency of the mili-
tary situation. One who takes many slaves with him should not be provided
with support personnel, and the magistrate who recruits extra support per-
sonnel except those who are needed for carrying out military affairs should
be punished.
“1. Since the Kyŏngin year (1350), Japanese marauders have raided the
districts along the seacoast, and those districts have been laid waste and are
virtually deserted. When we have built warships lately and defended our
coast successfully, the enemy has dared not approach our land, and the res-
idents were also able to settle down. This was possible thanks to the con-
struction of warships.
“However, naval officers and soldiers have to spend most of their time at
sea, most likely under extremely miserable conditions. Moreover, they are
required to provide themselves with all the supplies that were produced
from the land and needed for their boats, as well as with miscellaneous
labor service, so their burden is excessive. Nevertheless, the magistrate
ignores their burdens and sufferings and harasses them by levying corvée
labor on those military households. Consequently, navy soldiers run away
and the number of military households decreases day by day.
“From this time forward, the navy soldiers and their military households
should all be exempted from corvée labor, and the magistrate and cunning
yamen clerks who keep on disregarding this decree should be punished for
disobedience.
“If any household is missing among the military households attached to
the navy, it should be registered on the records and assigned to different
services, except the people who are already registered as sons, sons- in- law,
and support personnel.
“1. According to the art of war, he who commands the army should share
his soldiers’ joys and sorrows and always look after them when they are ill.
That way, he can win the hearts of his soldiers, who will serve well when he
fights the enemy. The navy ship captains of each province, however, often
punish their seamen in anger, abusing the law or, even worse, abandoning
them on deserted islands. When the seamen become sick due to humidity or
hunger and cold after a long voyage or when they lie in bed from exhaustion
for a day or two, these commanders believe they are suffering from fever and
do not provide them with any treatment. They instead cut their lives short by
leaving them behind on a desert island or throwing them into the sea to
drown. Sometimes the seamen become sick because they are not provided
with drinking water. Because problems such as these are overlooked, seamen