INTRODUCTION I9
Some of these changes were failures. After 1598 political power was determined
more than ever by factions, culminating in the successful coup against King
Kwanghaegun in 1623. In the rebuilding of the military defense system, the short-
age of troops was overcome, not by the enlistment of the yangban malingerers
and draft dodgers, but by the incorporation of slaves into the military for the
first time.
The restructuring of military defense was adversely affected by the influence
of factional politics. The new divisions created after I623 became playthings
of the politicians who participated in the coup of that time, and the consequence
was the weakening of national defense and eventually defeats in I 627 and I637
at the hands of the Manchus, who in I 644 succeeded in overturning the Ming
empire. After the Manchu victory in I 637, the Manchus chose not to rule directly
but imposed harsh terms of tribute on the Korean economy and kept a sharp
eye on the Korean military system to ensure that no major rearmament projects
that might lead to an alliance with the surviving Ming restorationist armies could
be pursued.
A respite was provided in the rebuilding of the economy because the destruc-
tion of land and the loss of population created a surplus of land and allowed the
survivors to begin to restore their fields to annual production, but the state chose
not to interfere in the system of distribution. It chose to reduce the land tax to
a minimum for the benefit of reconstruction, but it allowed the return of yang-
ban and landlords to their lands, the mobilization of private resources and cap-
ital, and the continuation of slavery and tenancy for the cultivation of large
holdings.
The most striking changes took place in the economy. In the agrarian sector
new techniques and methods spread and served to increase production, allow-
ing surpluses that gradually began to be marketed. The state sought to convert
tribute contracting into a system of state purchase of necessities from merchants
and the market, which stimulated commerce. Officials sought to introduce metal-
lic currency into the market to increase the speed and efficiency of exchange,
and private merchants began to expand their activities beyond the restrictions
of licensed merchants.
Thus, when Yu Hyongwon began to write his massive study of the problems
of contemporary statecraft, Korean conditions had changed significantly from
the previous century, but the Choson government had by no means solved its
major problems in the fifty years since the Imjin War. Yu had to decide whether
the bureaucratic monarchy was functioning the way it should, whether the king
had too much or too little power, and whether the right men were being recruited
into government positions. He faced problems of agrarian reconstruction, land
distribution, taxation, and military service. He had to decide whether the cur-
rent system of landownership based on inheritance, purchase, and sale, and the
use of slaves and tenants for the cultivation of estates should be maintained or
changed. He had to ponder the problems caused by a largely hereditary and priv-
ileged yangban ruling class and a slave society. He had to contemplate the meth-