MILITARY FIN ANCE 491deliberation to the question, and the decision to test the household tax in P'yong'an
was not simply the product of a couple of officialsY
Royal Secretary Song Kwangyon also called into question Yi Samyong's cal-
culations. He claimed that Yi's proposal for 6,000 duty soldiers serving on rota-
tion, half in the capital and half in the provinces, was the same as the existing
system of the Royal Division, but without the tax income from support taxpay-
ers. Did Yi really think that the costs of the equipment of duty soldiers, their
travel expenses, and their room and board while in the capital could be provided
for just by the household cloth tax revenue? You could not really abolish the
support taxpayers of the provincial garrisons and the frontier duty troops
(ippangjigun) because the revenue from the household cloth tax would only be
enough to provide the out-of-pocket expenses of garrison commanders during
peacetime, let alone wartime. Yi Samyong's estimate that annual military costs
were no more than two to three hundred thousand p'i! while the revenue to be
expected from the household cloth tax would come to over one million p 'iI, was
just not to be believed. To cap it off, the tax resembled all those last-ditch schemes
of Chinese dynasties to save themselves from ruin, "The per capita cash tax was
a product of the evil government of the Ch'in dynasty; the two-p 'il silk tax was
a legacy of Emperor Wu of thc Wei dynasty, all features of an age of decline.
Even the Chou system of levying taxes on households was only some kind of
twisted reading of the Chou-kuan [Chou-li, or Rites of Chou]." Despite Song's
criticism ofYi's underestimate of expenditures being undoubtedly correct, Suk-
chong rebuffed his criticism and later transferred some of the officials of the
Office of Inspector-General who had opposed the household cloth tax in
P'yong'an,33
Court Debate over Household Cloth Tax, 1682
Sukchong's apparent decisiveness was undermined, however, by a rising tide of
protest, which culminated in a major debate in the first lunar month of r682.
Chief State Councilor Kim Suhang. a supporter of the household tax, acknowl-
edged that court ministers were divided over the issue, but he had heard that a
majority of the people of the Western Route (i.e., both Hwanghae and P'yong'an)
actually wanted the household cloth system. He had recommended that the Bor-
der Defense Command draw up a bill of particulars and a special official be
appointed to administer the new system, but the high ministers were afraid to
take responsibility. He even admitted he was reluctant to make a final recom-
mendation on his own. The Sillok historian also noted that the top state coun-
cilors. Kim Suhang and Min Chongjung, who favored the household cloth tax,
were opposed by Third State Councilor Yi Sangjik, who was staying away from
court on grounds of illness.3^4
Opposition of Kim Suhung. A few days later, the sinecllred Kim SuhLlI1g pro-
posed that the household cloth tax be dropped. He pointed out that Yu Kye had