Book XIII 761*
The king gave orders to provide relief to the starving people in various
provinces.
The weather was dry this month.
4th Month
1st Day (Chŏngch’uk)
The king paid a visit to Chŏngnŭng, [the tomb of Queen Sindŏk].3rd Day (Kimyo)
Jupiter approached the Heap of Corpses.Sixteen construction supervisors of the palace walls, including Chŏng Ŭi
and Kang Hoejung, were sent into exile.The special commissioners of various provinces collected taxes [from fish-
ermen] after making records of their fish traps, and then presented the taxes
to the state granary called Yubich’ang.Pak Sin and other Censorate officials submitted a memorial to the king:
“Toward the end of the previous dynasty, useless offices and titles of nobility
(chak) proliferated to as many as seventy, but the number was reduced after
Your Majesty ascended the throne. However, the total has again risen to
fifty- six in less than ten years.
“Looking at the Rites of Zhou (Zhouguan), one finds that the entire
kingdom was governed by only three dukes (sangong) and six ministers
(liuqing), and the present Ming dynasty is also ruled by the Six Ministries
(Liubu). Our country alone, despite having a territory of only a thousand li,
has twice as many grand councilors. Furthermore, since they are employed
all together and dismissed all together, the employment of public officials
has become extremely problematic. Even if we cannot emulate the adminis-
trative system established by Zhou and Ming, we request that the office of
discussant (sangŭi) and the newly added posts in the Office of Royal Decrees
and State Records be eliminated. We also request that Hansŏng Magistracy