438 MILITARY REFORM
recipients of [state] land grants, then even though you make [the burden of ser-
vice on slaves] somewhat lighter than it was before, there is still no way to avoid
[having slaves] bear a heavier burden [than men of good status]. The situation
makes it that way, and there is nothing you can do about it."I20
He pointed out that he could have taken the position that slaves should nei-
ther receive land nor be required to perform military service, which in fact had
been the law at the beginning of the Choson dynasty. The result, however, was
a gradual increase in the slave population and creation of a severe shortage in
the number of men available for military service. It was this crisis that was solved
by the creation of the sago soldiers and the recruitment of slaves for military
service during the Imjin War.
Furthermore, there was also a law in the Koryo dynasty that forbade the grant-
ing of land to persons of base status (slaves), "but not only was that wrong, it
could not be carried out."Yu remarked that most slaves in the Koryo period were
domestic servants who lived in the household of the master, but there were also
the so-called "outside resident" slaves as well who actually cultivated parcels
of land at some remove from the master's house. In other words, it was not pos-
sible to prohibit slaves from possessing or owning land in fact, and once this
were acknowledged, it was legitimate to expect them to perform military ser-
vice. So much the better if a land-grant system, such as Yu advocated, provided
slaves economic support in exchange for their military service.
Yu actually considered the possibility of allowing a slave to assume the role
of one of the three support personnel of a soldier of good status and receive a
one kyong land grant, but he was willing to allow this only in exceptional cir-
cumstances. "With regard to the duty household and support persons of com-
moners and slaves, there is a proper way to deal with them according to their
type."I2I
He was also willing to allow that slaves who passed examinations for mili-
tary skills be exempted from base status (myonch on) or manumitted. If they
were private slaves, however, the owners would be compensated by the grant of
an official slave as a substitute or payment of twenty p 'il of cloth.I22 This reg-
ulation was, of course, consistent with his policy of easing the rules of manu-
mission to promote the gradual disappearance of slavery, but it was hardly an
aggressive abolitionist tactic to allow a few slaves with outstanding military tal-
ents to be manumitted with considerable compensation by the state to their mas-
ters. What had been taking place since the Imjin War, the sale of exemption or
manumission certificates to slaves who had the money to pay the price, was far
more effective in reducing the number of slaves, even though the motives involved
were far less noble.
Finally, Yu understood that requiring military service of slaves as sago sol-
diers was also an imposition on the property rights of the slaveowners, but he
considered this a small price for them to pay. He defended a law already in force
at the time, that slaveowners would be prohibited from seizing their slaves on