NEW SCHOOLS 195
resentment, it would also provide a great way to destroy people. What we must
first do is for several years have the king personally send down his bright, trust-
worthy, warm, and feeling instructions, promulgate a set of regulations, and
make everyone aware of them so they will clearly understand what is in the
king's mind. He should also encourage and uplift the people. In addition, two
or three supervisors should be selected to make the rounds of the provinces to
examine people and provide rewards and punishments to them. Only after this
is done should we then carry out the law uniformly and without repercussion.8sHe was also willing to provide an additional measure of leniency for yang-
ban ftunkouts. Whereas commoners who were ejected from school would be
required to return all but their basic one-kyong land grant to the state (under Yu's
proposed land-grant system, see chap. 8) and be enrolled for military service,
bona fide sons of yangban could be enrolled in the special guard units reserved
for members of their class - the Loyal and Righteous Guards (Ch'ung'iiiwi) and
the Loyal and Obedient Guards (Ch'ungsunwi), that were features of the early
Chason military system - and would retain two ~kyong ofland. Even greater ben-
efits would be afforded to eldest legitimate sons who were heirs to the family
line (sejok) and those entitled to the protection privilege; their names would only
be stricken from the school register and they would not be required to return
their student land grants to the state. X6
Privileges for Royal Princes
Princes of the royal line were also to be given ranks and awards of protected
land (umjon) on the basis of whether they were sons of the queen or royal con-
cubines, and these distinctions would remain intact.^87 Furthermore, those mem-
bers of the royal clan enrolled in the Peer's School who failed examinations,
missed class without excuse, committed a breach of etiquette, or broke the rules
of the school, would be subjected to less punishment than commoners in the
other schools. Minors might be whipped, but adults on salary would only suf-
fer salary reductions; there was no provision for reducing them to commoner
status.^88
Yu realized that his authorization of a separate Peer's School for princes of
the royal blood contradicted his perception of ideal practice in ancient China
where the sons of the elite, from those of the Son of Heaven and the feudal lords
down to the high ministers, important officials, and scholars, all entered the
National Academy to receive instruction. Furthermore, in that age the only cri-
teria for appointment to office were worth and virtue; no one (supposedly) was
favored because he was a close relative of the monarch, nor was anyone aban-
doned or shut out from office merely because of his blood. "They had high offi-
cials who were both relatives of officials and from [families 1 of different
surnames."89
It was in the later age of moral decline, however, that the system of equal treat-