General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 49with weapons. From now on, we should train our soldiers more systemati-
cally, enforcing strict discipline on them and establishing a clear chain of
command, so that we may not lose the opportunities to stop and punish our
enemies.
“1. The lives of soldiers depend on military provisions. Even a million
men under arms can only function as such for one day if they have one day’s
provision; likewise, they can only function as such for one month when they
have a month’s provision.
“Though the military provisions for this province [Hamgil]^116 used to be
provided by the grain produced by Kyŏngsang, Kangnŭng, and Kyoju
Provinces,^117 they are now supplied with the grain taxes collected in the
local province. However, the grain supply produced locally, by the govern-
ment and individual farmers, has run out because of recent floods and
droughts. Furthermore, monks and others without regular work manage to
obtain certain documents from men of power under the pretext of having
Buddhist services and make requests to the local authorities that they be
allowed to lend grain to the common people at high interest. So they lend a
bushel of grain and a yard of cloth and collect more than ten times the
amount they lend. This usurious practice is called pandong. The people who
fail to pay their debts are harassed and persecuted until they are starved and
ragged.
“Much worse, a group of people dispatched from various government
agencies and local army units force the people to entertain them with food
and wine, plunging the already-poor people into further desperation.
Consequently, eight or nine out of ten people abandon their homes and
wander around the country. So we have no sources for military provision
procurement. Therefore, I urge Your Majesty to prohibit all these abuses
and make the lives of people more comfortable.
“Furthermore, the districts in this province are located between moun-
tains and the sea. Hence their fields are narrow, and the quality of their soil
is barren. Their land taxes, however, are not based on the size of the arable
land but on the size of household. Hwaryŏng is the largest and most fertile
farming district in our province, but most of its lands are exempted from
- Hamgil is an old name of Hamgyŏng Province.
- Kyoju Province refers to Ch’ungch’ŏng Province. At the end of Koryŏ, Yanggwang
Ch’ungch’ŏng chudo was divided, and one of them, with the addition of P’yŏngch’ang County,
was named Kyoju Province. (Tongguk yŏji sŭngnam, vol. II, 420.