MILITARY REORGANIZATION 523his successor as commander of the Royal Division, Yu Hyogyon, Hyojong also
created a new 5 r o-man unit of cannoneers called the Special Destruction Corps
(Pyolp'ajin), consisting of 470 powdermakers and 114 ivory soldiers.^60
Financial shortage, of course, imposed a check on Hyojong's ambition to
increase the number of cannon available, and the minister of taxation, concur-
rently responsible for military logistics (as concurrent commissioner or Chejo
in the Quartermaster Bureau, Kunjagam) frequently opposed the minister of war,
who also acted as a concurrent commissioner in the Weapons Bureau (Kun'gisi).
At the beginning of 1654, for example, Minister of War Won Tup'yo requested
that the supplies of copper at Tongnae be sent to the capital for the casting of
Pul\yanggi (Fou-Iang-chi, i.e., POItuguese or simply, Western-style) cannon, but
he was opposed by Minister of Taxation Yi Sibang, who asked for all metal left
over after 142 weapons were made for use in making metal utensils. When Hyo-
jong decided, however, to devote the copper to gun manufacture, Yi protested
that the metal had been purchased with land tax revenues collected by his min-
istry and that the king had already promised the metal to his department. Even
though one might expect Yi Sibang to give priority to military uses of metal since
he was also commander of the Defense Command stationed at the Namhan fort,
in this case he was wearing his civil finance minister's cap and defending his
bureaucratic bailiwick. Eventually Hyojong retreated and agreed to assign some
of the copper to the Ministry ofTaxation.^61
Another hindrance to cannon casting was the competition for copper for the
minting of cash as a medium of exchange, a favorite project of Kim Yuk, one
of the leading economic experts of the day and father of the taedong tribute tax
reform. He requested the use of copper for minting cash in 165 I and the gov-
ernor ofCh6lla did so in 1656. As Ch'a Muns6p has pointed out, probably because
of the demand for copper for currency, evidence of the casting of cannon is
scarcely to be found after 1657.62
One might conclude, however, that the lack of surplus production on a
national level, and the corresponding shortage of tax revenues combined with
a lack of metal ore production in Korea itself. obstructed any policy of large-
scale musket and cannon manufacture. This sorry situation prevailed during the
reign of one of Korea's most aggressive kings, so there was plenty of room for
improvement, but Yu Hyongwon mentioned nary a word on cannons, confining
his remarks primarily to muskets. This omission was a singular defect for some-
one who insisted on building up a better defense system and admired Yu
S6ngny6ng's appeal to cast off custom and borrow the superior military tech-
nology of foreigners.
GunpowderYu also neglected the problem of gunpowder and its manufacture, a serious com-
ponent of the national capacity in firearms. King Hyojong had promoted the man-
ufacture of gunpowder to supply his muskets and cannons. He established a