Book XIV 783
“The king [of Chosŏn], however, detested the reproach so much that he
treated it as if it were words from the enemy and never stopped seeking
ways to secretly insult [the emperor]. If the king is allowed to continue to
follow his ways, his kingdom will be dominated by treachery and filled with
subjects who are scheming like the king himself. If this happens, what good
is it for the king if he is seated on the throne?
“Those who are now following the king are the scholars who are all friv-
olous and inexperienced. Instead of assisting the king based on principle,
they steal words and phrases from the Chinese classics written by sages and
turn them into insulting remarks by purposely twisting their meaning. Thus,
they have committed crimes before the spirits of heaven and earth, and how
can they be forgiven?
“Now, according to the deposition made by Cho Sŏ, there are three more
people who plotted together to insult in drafting the memorials and letters
to us. Since I am particularly letting the king know about it, the king shall
look into the matter and send the people concerned to our court.”
The deposition made by Cho Sŏ was as follows:
“Yun Kyu, former section chief of the Board of Rites, Kong Pu, assistant
master of the National Academy (Sŏnggyun sasŏng), and Yun Su, section
chief of the Board of Rites, all belong to the same group of scholars including
Cho Sŏ. Around the eighth month of the thirtieth year of Emperor Hongwu’s
reign, Yun Kyu and others told Sŏ: ‘Last year, the emperor of the Great
Ming read the memorial that we jointly composed, and Kim Yakhang had
to rush to the Ming capital. Now, according to Sŏl Changsu, director of the
State Finance Commission, who has just returned from China, the emperor
of the Great Ming detained our people and he is not going to release them
anytime soon. Strangely enough, the emperor destroyed all the horse sad-
dles that we presented as a tribute. Further, he will also detain some of the
people who brought those saddles and will not release them easily.’ In the
eleventh month, which included the birthday of the imperial crown prince,
they said, ‘Our Majesty will send tributes again together with a congratula-
tory memorial. Then why don’t we produce some characters similar in
sound and have them hidden in the memorial? Let’s find out if China has
scholars intelligent enough to discover them.’
“All agreed with the plan, and then they disingenuously placed the char-
acters of ch’ŏnch’ujŏl sa (千秋節使) in the text of the memorial in an
insulting way and finally had Yu Ho, acting director of the Directorate of