714 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
hunger and cold, and when it happens, the original owner of the runaway
slave is required to provide another slave in his place. Sometimes, the same
man has had to provide as many as three or four different slaves because
they keep running away. When the original owner of a runaway slave does
not show up, his relatives or witnesses listed on the slave documents or the
ones who made a copy of the documents are held responsible. Because of
this, many people squander their family fortune but have no place to appeal
their grievances. Will it not be against the principle and leave a blemish on
your benevolent rule if no differences are made between the punishment of
principal offenders and that of their accomplices?
“We request that, except for those among the runaway slaves who are on
the slave documents, all the slaves who died or ran away or were provided
by the original slave owners as substitutes to fill in for their missing slaves
should not be investigated any further and returned to their original owners.
If anyone dares to hide these slaves and use them for personal purposes, he
should be severely punished. The Directorate for Adjudication of Slave
Lawsuits should provide replacements for the slaves who are released from
the government.” The king approved the proposal.Local officials who are over seventy years old and ill and classics licentiates
and presented scholars were all given the permission to retire and go home.
The king gave orders to hold a banquet for those who are over seventy years
old and release their families from labor service. As for those who are
healthy and robust, he let them reside in the places of their choice either in
the capital or Kyŏnggi Province.5th Day (Kyech’uk)
It rained at night.6th Day (Kabin)
Chŏng U and other officials were released from prison.^31The king bestowed a wooden flute on Left Chancellor Cho Chun.- About a week earlier, they were imprisoned for their failure to meet the deadline for
changing their residency from the provinces to the capital.