700 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONthe borrower fajJed to repay by tbe tweJftb mDntb, be WDlJJd be e.~peJJeD from
the granary association, and the head's punishment would be raised to the first
degree. Failure to repay the full amount of the loan would also be punished accord-
ing to the degree of the shortage. If the granary was short of funds, the mem-
bers had to contribute 10 lIlal of grain (5 mal for low born people).4Y
Yu provided that the government should order the estahlishment of "village"
granaries (sach 'ang) but not in the natural village; rather in each hyang (the cur-
rent myon), the informal subdistrict (or county) of several administrative villages
(each consisting in turn of a number of natural villages) that had no staff of reg-
ular officials. The establishment of these village granaries was to be done entirely
on a voluntary basis with government help. Volunteers would have to petition the
district magistrate, who would then lend rice from his ever-normal granary to
them as the initial capital and allow twelve years for repayment after the granary
had accumulated the amount from its interest charges. Wealthy benefactors would
also be allowed to finance the village granary with their own resources, and the
granary administrators would then repay him from the interest rcceived.
All other regulations for the operation of the village granary would simply
follow those of Chu Hsi's she-ts 'ang program except for minor variations to fit
local circumstances. The magistrate would grant I kyol1g of land (under Yu's
land distribution system) to the granary as a site, and provide labor service if a
new granary has to be built. The granary would have an administration build-
ing that would also serve the hyang as a lecture hall. The magistrate would exempt
the officials chosen by the local communities to run the granary from taxes and
military service and three peasants to serve as granary guards from military sup-
port taxes, but he would not force any community to establish a village granary
against its will, nor would he interfere in any of its operations. The regulations
for the village granary system would be incorporated with rules for the conduct
of the community compact (hyangyak) system since both activities were to be
conducted at the Izyang (county or myon) level.
Some people objected to Yu that many areas might not be willing to establish
village granaries, or if they were, they might run them carelessly or abandon
them, but Yu was certain that if the court ordered the magistrates to give full
assistance to them, there would be no difficulty in getting people to respond. If
the granary then were neglected or abandoned because of the incompetence of
its administrators, "it would be because of the evils of the times, not the fault
of the law." Or if the granary were not kept in good repair, the ordinary people
would still not suffer the beatings and punishments that accompanied the loans
of the hvranja system. People would remain free from harm and left alone to till
the fields. and they would always be able to accI.Jmulate emergency reserves by
their own savings. Yu confirmed that he had derived his policy of establishing
ever-normal and righteous granaries as the perfect antidote for the hwanja sys-
tem from the wisdom of the classic tradition. "It was the ancients who said that
they knew that this was the best method; it only depends on our taking this up
and putting it into practice."5^0