PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATION 679
(An-ch'a-shih). The governors had a larger and more complex staff than their
Tang counterparts, hut not all posts were filled on a regular basis. The main
problem of the Sung, however, was bringing the military commissioners under
control to prevent repetition of the An Lu-shan rebellion. '2
The Ming regime inherited the Yuan dynasty term for province (Sheng), and
the governors had four bureaus to handle edicts from the emperor, military affairs,
general supervision, and inspection. While Ming provincial administration
appeared to be more specialized and efficient, Yu ohserved that the various posts
and officials had divided authority to create checks and balances to prevent the
monopoly of power by a single individual. Although he felt that the central gov-
ernment was well organized, provincial government was too complex and ham-
pered by overlapping assignments. '3
In the late fifteenth century in Korea, the governor had only been assisted by
an inspector (Tosa), and several assistants (P'an'gwan) in charge of certain impor-
tant magistracies. q According to the law code of 1469, the Kyongguk taejon,
each province had educational officials, interpreters, inspectors of medicine, legal
experts, post-station chiefs, and ferry-station officials, but after the revisions of
the law codes in T744 and 1788, all but the single legal expert was eliminated.'s
Writing in the mid-seventeenth century, Yu Hy6ngwon decided to avoid the
complexity of the Ming system and reduce the governor's assistants to a mini-
mum of necessary officials, but he would not have eliminated all provincial sub-
ordinates. He would have retained three assistants to the governor: the inspector
(Tosa) whose title would be changed to consultant (Ch'amni), the inspector of
medicine (Simyak), and the legal expert (Komnyul). The governor's yamen was
to be staffed by 30 clerks, 140 runners (slaves included), and 28 boy servants.
Since Yu planned to replace the civil service examinations with schools as the
means for recruiting officials. the governor would also have jurisdiction over
the new Governor's School (Yonghak) and its staff to provide for the students'
needs. The governor would also continue the tradition of occupying two impor-
tant concurrent posts. the provincial army commander (Py6ngma choltosa, or
Py6ngsa) and provincial navy commander (Sugun ch6ltosa, Susa), each with a
staff of about 180 clerks, runners, and boy servants. Since the provincial gov-
ernor had jurisdiction over military affairs and did not need separate provincial
military and naval commanders unless necessary, some provinces had none while
others had as many as two each. I h
Yu suggested the addition of a single official in charge of supervising ocean-
going transport for the southern three provinces and the receipt and disburse-
ment of materials in the capital warehouses, to be called the maritime transport
commissioner (Haeunsa). Yu was revising the existing system of maritime grain
transport officers (Chosol), who lacked a supreme supervisor. He ordered that
the officer for maritime transport would he a Tangsanggwan (official of ranks
IA through 3A) without a permanent residence or duty station but make the
rounds of inspection. The lower officials would be recruited from residents of
the capital, granted salaries from the capital, and divided into two shifts of duty. '7