Admonitions on Governing the People by Chong Yagyong; Choi Byonghyon; Byonghyon Choi

Author:Chong, Yagyong; Choi, Byonghyon; Byonghyon, Choi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2010-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

VIII

Administration of Military Affairs

CHAPTER 1: ENLISTMENT FOR MILITARY SERVICE

The Law of Collecting the Military Cloth Tax [Kunp’o] by Registering People on the Military Record Originated from Yang Yŏn1 and Has Continued up to the Present Time, but Its Abuses Are So Extensive That They Have Become an Excruciating Burden on the People. Unless This Law Is Changed, No People Can Survive.

Since commoners’ corvée services were already discussed in detail in the section on corvée duties, they will not be discussed here.

At the beginning of the Chosŏn dynasty there was a so-called household cloth tax [hop’o], but no such thing as a military cloth tax. (In the tenth year of his reign [1410] T’aejong of the early Chosŏn dynasty issued a royal decree on this matter, which appears in Precious Mirror for Succeeding Reigns.) During the reign of Chungjong,2 Inspector General Yang Yŏn (who removed Kim Allo3 from power) submitted a proposal for legislating the law to levy a cloth tax on those registered in the military roster, which was soon enacted. However, the word used in the new law based on military registration was kongp’o, which was a military cloth tax based on household registration, not pŏnp’o, which was based on military registration. Therefore, Yulgok in a memorial to the king requested reform of the military tax system and said, “If the government intends to reduce the burden of kongp’o, the military cloth tax based on household registration, it should be incorporated into the land tax.”

During that time the Korean military consisted only of cavalry and regular soldiers [chŏngbyŏng], and it adopted the disposition of troops devised by Kwangnŭng, who was King Sejo,4 not the one created by Qi Jiguang. This is evidenced in the military record of the time. Thus one can find in the records military titles like battalion commander [yŏsu] or platoon leader [taejŏng] but not ones like brigade commander [busi] or company leader [qishao].5 After the Imjin War the Five Commands [Owi]6 system was abolished and replaced by Five Divisional Headquarters of the General Army [Oyŏng], which consisted of the Military Training Command [Hullyŏn togam],7 the Royal Guards Command [Ŏyŏngch’ŏng],8 the Forbidden Guard Division [Kŭmwiyŏng],9 the Defense Command at Namhan Fort [Suŏch’ŏng],10 and the Anti-Manchu Division [Ch’ongyungch’ŏng].11 These are so-called the Five Army Garrisons [Ogunmun or Ogunyŏng]. The troops belonging to the Defense Command at Namhan Fort and the Anti-Manchu Division were mobilized in the Kyŏnggi region, and the recruitment of troops and the collection of the military cloth tax for the Military Training Command, the Royal Guards Command, and the Forbidden Guard Division were carried out throughout all provinces.

Duty soldiers, also called hosu, principal servicemen, individually had two or three support persons [poin] who provided them with rice and cloth for their military tax. If the taxes of those support persons were paid with rice, they were 12 tu, if with cloth, 2 bolts, and if in cash, 4 taels. When the military bases around Seoul were closed down after the Manchu invasion of 1636

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