Book XIV 787
for their outstanding filial piety and integrity as well as talent. Finding over
seventy of them unqualified, the king had them return home.
18th Day (Kapcha)
Establishing the Military Supply Warehouse for the first time, the king
ordered Yi Munhwa, chief royal secretary, to convey his instruction to the
Privy Council:
“When Emperor Taizu of the Song dynasty established the Palace Store-
house (Neiku), a separate warehouse different from the existing ones, it
appeared that he created it for his personal purpose. However, he said ear-
lier to some of his close lieges, ‘Since one must always be ready for wars or
lean years, it is not a good policy to levy heavy taxes when the crisis actu-
ally takes place.’ He also said, ‘I feel sorry for the people of the eight prov-
inces under prolonged barbarian control. I intend to save five million strings
(min) of coin money and recover the various counties behind the mountain
[Mt. Taixing] with that money.’ Then the Palace Storehouse established by
Emperor Taizu was for a public purpose, not for his private use. So I have
entrusted the offices concerned with property such as money and gold and
silk and clearly fixed their responsibilities to safeguard them after counting
their exact amount.
“The reason I have created the Military Supply Warehouse at the moment
is only for military purposes. As for the money and grain and fabric, which
are the income of the Warehouse, let the State Finance Commission take
charge and handle their accounting. If it happens that troops have to be mobi -
lized, the Commission should use the goods for their originally intended
purpose after reporting to the king for his instruction, and let this be a per-
manent law.”
The king paid a visit to Hŭngch’ŏn Monastery and inspected the site for the
Hall of Sacred Buddhist Relics. Then he said to Kim Chu, supervisory com-
missioner in charge of constructing the Hall: “It is not really necessary to
construct the royal tomb of Chŏngnŭng and the Palace Granary in a hurry.
However, I wanted for a long time to have the Hall of Sacred Buddhist
Relics finished. Unless it is completed now, I am afraid that there may be
someone in the future who wants to stop its construction. I want you to
hurry so that you can fulfill my wish.” The king thereupon returned to the
royal palace and played kyŏkku, a ball game on horseback, together with Yu
Mansu, To Hŭng, and Yu Un.