540 MILITAR y REFORMciples opposed the demand of the Patriarchs for severe punishment of their
Southerner rivals, but the dispute became moot when the Westerner splinter
groups fell foul of the king's wishes over the choice of a crown prince.
The Westerners had favored Sukchong's first queen, who had died in 1680.
The next year Sukchong chose the daughter of Min Yujung to be his second queen,
Queen Inhyan, but when she failed to produce an heir, Sukchong shifted his favor
to Lady Chang, who gave birth to a son in 1688. Angered over Westerner crit-
icism of his desire to make the boy crown prince in 1689, Sukchong replaced
Westerner officials with Southerners and deposed Queen Inhyan. Now it was
the turn ofthe Southerners to seek vengeance, and the primary casualties were
Song Siy61 and Kim Suhang, both of whom were forced to drink poison.
In 1694, when the Southerners discovered that the Westerners were conspir-
ing to restore Queen Inhyan, they thought the opportunity for a grand purge of
all Westerners had finally arrived. But for reasons that are still obscure. Suk-
chong suddenly turned the tables on them, purged the Southerners instead, and
brought Westerners, mainly of the Disciple's Faction. back into office. The South-
erners remained out of important office for the next century.
After the Westerners returned to power, however, there was only a brief respite
before factional struggle resumed, again over the designation of a crown prince.
When the restored Queen lnhyan died in 1701, someone reported that her death
had been caused by the secret voodoo ceremonies of Lady Chang, the mother
of the crown prince. Sukchong's affections for her must have waned, for he not
only failed to defend her honor but forced her to take poison in expiation of her
evil practices. The Disciples now had their chance to make the same mistake
that the Patriarchs had in 1689; they took the side of Lady Chang and her son,
the crown prince. Sukchong did not hesitate to punish their insensitivity to his
wishes by dismissing them from office, leaving the Patriarchs in control of the
court. This was the political situation when Sukchong established a Reform
Bureau to reconsider the question of military reform. I
THE MILITARY REFORMS OF 1704
Aborted Plan to Return to the Five Guard System
The boundaries of possible reform were defined at the outset of the discussion
by the leading members of the Reform Bureau, Yi Yu, Min Chinhu, and Yi Inyop,
who dismissed the idea of replacing support taxpayers with household (hop a)
or capitation (kujon) taxes out of hand because of the persistence of famine for
several years. Instead they recommended the reduction of troop quotas by elim-
inating one of the royal or capital guard divisions.
Like Yu Hyongwan, Third State Councilor Sin Wan wanted to eliminate all
new military divisions created after 1593 and return to the Five Guard system
of early Chosan because it was (supposedly) based on the ancient farmer/sol-
dier militia principle as opposed to permanent, salaried soldiers. The inspira-