MILITARY SERVICE SYSTEM 549school students, and military officers. The idea was rejected, but the proposal
contained two of the basic elements adopted in the 1750 equal service system.I5
As time passed more people came to the realization that the two-p 'if rate was
too high to eliminate tax evasion by illicit, lower-rate service. In 172 I the Patri-
arch Second State Councilor Yi Konmyong made an important proposal to com-
bine rate reduction to one p'il with another kind of supplementary revenue
measure, a surtax on land to be tried out in a few select districts at first. The idea
was almost adopted by King Kyongjong, but was dropped when Yi was arrested
and exiled the next monthY)
Restoration of the Matrilineal Rule, 1730No further action was proposed for the next sixteen years until Third State Coun-
cilor Cho Munmyong in 1730 requested restoration of the matrilineal succes-
sion rule in mixed slave-commoner marriages to expand the population of adult
males of good status and alleviate the service tax burdens on the commoner pop-
ulation. He pointed out that the inheritance of slave status had never existed in
China but conceded it could not simply be abolished in Korea because it had
been in use for such a long time. There was, however, absolutely no justifica-
tion for children of mixed marriages to adopt their father's status, a specious
argument sincc it had been so ordered under King T'aejong's reign. Because of
this rule, a number of men who should have been of good status (yangji5ng) had
been converted into slaves.
Although the matrilineal succession rule had been adopted at Song Siyol's
suggestion in 1669, it had not been followed, and was later rescinded for the
second time in 1689. That meant that for forty-one years no attempt had heen
made to reinstate the matrilineal law because of conservative opposition to any
loss of private slaves by the slaveowners. A number of officials supported Cho's
recommendation at this time, but because Yongjo was concerned lest this rule
stimulate slaves to turn against their masters, he dismissed Cho's proposal as
"empty" armchair talk. 17 Obviously, the king was no liberal sympathizer for the
plight of the slaves.
Nonetheless, he changed his mind a few months later when the secret censor
for Kyonggi Province, Kim Sangsong, reported that the illegal extortion of mil-
itary service taxes from neighbors and relatives was as bad as ever. Yongjo imme-
diately approved Kim's recommendation for adoption of the matrilineal
succession rule and ordered that it apply to all children born that year. 18 The suc-
cessful though belated achievement of the matrilineal rule, which happened to
be one ofYu Hyongwon's favorite ideas, was anotherexamplc of shared discourse
among scholars and officials throughout this period. It is one of several ofYu's
ideas that actually became law even without the direct knowledge of his views
by active officials, hut the matrilineal rule could not offer an immediate solu-
tion to the problem of military taxation because sons of mothers of good status
in mixed marriages were too few in number to cause a sudden increase in the