Book XI 661
9th Day (Sinmyo)
The king paid a visit to Chŏngnŭng, [the tomb of his wife Queen Sindŏk].
12th Day (Kabo)
The censorial offices impeached Han Sangjil, grand academician of the
Office of Royal Decrees and State Records, and Yu Yang, discussant of the
Security Council. Earlier, when Sangjil served as governor of Kyŏngsang
Province and Yang as magistrate of Kyerim, Yang said to Sangjil, “We
should send a man to the Japanese and persuade them to surrender them-
selves for their own sake.” So, they sent a monk named Ŭiun to them, but
the Japanese ran away. So the censorial offices decided to investigate the
reason for sending a monk.
The censorial offices submitted a memorial to the king: “Ch’oe Sŏn, former
vice supervisor; Ch’oe Koeng, former fourth censor; Yi Pan, former bureau
section chief; and others engaged in boisterous, drunken merrymaking at
night, joined by entertaining women and playing loud music. They not only
violated the prohibition on alcohol but also recklessly trespassed on private
property and damaged household items while they were drunk. Furthermore,
Sŏn and Koeng committed such wrongdoings while they were still in
mourning for their grandmothers. We request that they be turned over to the
departments responsible and punished according to law.” Though the king
granted the request, he forgave Pan, exceptionally.
14th Day (Pyŏngsin)
Yi Mich’ung, special director of the Saddlery Service (Pyŏlan’guk), was
incarcerated in the Capital Constabulary Prison for writing the character
ch’ŏn (heaven) on the golden saddle that was presented to the [Chinese]
emperor. Upon finding the character, the emperor became indignant and
said, “A saddle is a thing that a man sits on. How then can a man sit on
Heaven? This is an insult to me.” Then the emperor had it burned. However,
Mich’ung’s intention for putting the character there was simply to make it
stand out among the saddles that he had produced; he had no ulterior
motives. Therefore, he was released a little later.