OFFICIAL SALARIES AND EXPENSES 819
by maritime transport. Since there would no longer be any need for the Royal
Treasury (Naesusa), it too could be abolished along with the current require-
ment that the capital bureaus provide daily offerings to the king. Instead, the
Royal Cuisine Office would simply follow the practice used at the Chinese court
by paying a price in rice or cash that would be at least twice the amount of cur-
rent market prices to designated purchasing masters or agents (elzuin). For spe-
cial items like bean sauce, vinegar, wine, and salt, the office would make and
store the items for use. The only possibility of a tribute levy might occur dur-
ing ritual ceremonies that occurred once or twice a year when fruit like oranges
or pomelos that only happened to ripen at certain times of the year would be
needed. Otherwise, all goods consumed by the king and even construction pro-
jects for the king would be funded by regular taxes without any special levies.
All expenses of the king and queen, including clothing, upkeep of palaccs, and
salaries for eunuchs and palace lady attendants would be paid from regular tax
revenues, especially since the ancients had quotas for these palace functionar-
ies. The crown prince would receive one-fifth the king's income for his upkeep,
and the other princes and princesses would be granted support from regular state
revenues when they left the palace for their own separate quarters. Yu argued that
an income of this size was especially generous since in Chou China the crown
prince was only entitled to a fief equal in size to those held by the feudal lords.
The queen's palace would also receive one-sixth the king's income for her own
expenses and her ladies-in-waiting, and concubines of former kings (the Rear
Palace or Hugung) would also be given funds for food and clothing and support
for their male and female slaves. Yu justified these government grants according
to the classical principle that from the Son of Heaven down to the common peo-
ple, each person was entitled to a share of support in descending order of rank.
Although the highest ministers had to support their parents from their own salaries,
the ruler was entitled to separate funding for his mother and the queen.
Yu also proposed to abolish monthly royal tribute offerings from provinces
and allow the presentation of tribute to the king as a matter of moral obligation
only on New Year's day. Even then, the offerings would be purchased on the
market from regular tax revenues by using a purchasing master. If governors of
provinces were involved in these offerings, they too would use purchasing agents
and pay for them from tax funds kept in reserve in the province, or hire artisans
for any construction that might be necessary. In no case would the governors be
allowed to reallocate tribute or tax levies to meet these needs of the king to the
districts, and the provincial army and navy commanders would be absolved from
royal tribute obligations.
Yu justified this proposal because he held that even in Chou times the kings
really did not demand tribute. Although he conceded that the feudal lords did
present particular goods produced in their own states to the Son of Heaven (King
of Chou) as a matter of ritual etiquette (ye), he always refused them. In contem-
porary Korea it would be all right to purchase items on the market once a year
as a tribute offering to the king as a matter of ritual obligation (ye). If the items