666 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
sat down again and said, ‘How can they be as tricky as that? When we write
characters on documents, we always make sure that the character tian comes
first, on top. I have never ridden on a saddle like that.’
“Changsu spoke to the emperor: ‘Having heard that characters were
found in the saddles previously presented to Your Majesty, I personally
checked with the artisan who made the saddles several times when I brought
them over. The man reassured me that there were no characters in the sad-
dles, so I brought them without any worries. Those who make saddles nor-
mally indicate the grade of quality by placing characters on them and
remove them later when they have completed their work. The one who made
the saddle this time, however, forgot to remove the characters. How can his
mistake be forgiven? It has been forty years since I served in Koryŏ. I served
two or three kings,^32 and I dare not say that any of them, not to mention
King Kongmin,^33 were sincere in their faithfulness to the emperor. The
present king, however, is [different from them and] consistently sincere in
his respect for the emperor and never negligent.’
“The emperor said, ‘I understand that you are trying to defend your king.
However, since he shows little sincerity toward us, how do I dare make him
my in- law? Though I really intended to establish a family relationship
through marriage, the other side paid almost no serious attention to it. What
can I do, then?
‘As for Chŏng Ch’ong’s family, the statements made by Chŏng Ch’ong
and his wife are factually at variance, including dates of birth. How can
they belong to the same family? Take away all of his family with you when
you go home.
‘In the case of the tribute horses you brought, I want you to take them
back home since the marriage is already canceled, and it is difficult to keep
them here. As for the saddles, I ordered the Directorate of Horses (Majian)
to burn them all. Take 57 taels of gold for their price. Tell your king not to
cause trouble. If he continues to keep petty people around and listens to
them, he will see things fall apart very soon.
‘The myriarch of Ŭiju was originally supposed to be sent to the depart-
ment responsible for interrogation. However, Yi [Sŏnggye] sent you to me- King U, King Ch’ang, and King Kongyang.
- Unlike his successors, King Kongmin tried to establish a friendly relationship with
Ming China. The speaker deliberately disregards this fact in order to emphasize T’aejo’s loy-
alty to the Chinese emperor.