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Ep. 15Lend in Spring, Collect in Autumn
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Episode 15

Lend in Spring, Collect in Autumn

King Gogukcheon of Goguryeo · 194
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Previously

At Prince Hodong’s request, the Princess of Nangnang tore open the drum that was said to sound by itself when enemies came, and broke the horn. Nangnang surrendered to Goguryeo, but the princess died at her father’s hand, and Hodong, too, took his own life after he was slandered. For nearly 150 years after that, Goguryeo spread out in every direction, and in 179 its ninth king, King Gogukcheon, took the throne.

Characters

DochiA young man who works for hire
to support his mother. The hero of this story
MotherDochi’s aging mother
King GogukcheonNinth king of Goguryeo.
Said to have stood nine feet tall
Eul Pa-soA man who tilled his own fields
in the Amnok Valley
AllyuA man of the Eastern Division
who recommended Eul Pa-so
Jwa Ga-ryeoA relative of the queen.
He wields great power

Goguryeo was a land of great mountains and deep valleys. Good fields were scarce, and even hard farming could barely fill people’s stomachs.

Every household kept a small storehouse called a “bugyeong” and was sparing with food.

The people of the great houses (daega, 大家) did not farm. Their underlings carried grain, fish and salt to them from far away.

DochiA young hired laborer
OverseerStop dawdling!
Get it all moved before sundown!
Yes, sir!

Dochi worked for others for wages paid in grain, and supported his aging mother.

MotherDochi’s mother
DochiMother, I got a measure of millet today!
MotherYou worked hard again today, Dochi.

Around that time, the queen’s relatives Eo Bi-ryu and Jwa Ga-ryeo held the reins of power in the kingdom.

Jwa Ga-ryeoThe queen’s relative
This field now belongs
to the house of Jwa Ga-ryeo!
LandownerMy family has farmed this field
for generations!

Trusting in their power, the men of that family seized other people’s fields and houses.

King Gogukcheon, it is said, stood nine feet tall and was strong enough to lift a great cauldron.

King Gogukcheon
CourtierHer Majesty’s relatives
are tormenting the people!
King GogukcheonOutrageous!
They will be severely punished!

In the 4th month of summer, 191, Jwa Ga-ryeo’s faction, facing punishment, gathered followers and attacked the royal capital.

The king summoned soldiers and horses from around the capital and put down the rebellion.

After putting down the rebellion, the king said:

King GogukcheonOf late, offices have gone to favorites,
and rank has not been earned by virtue.
The harm has flowed down to the people
and shaken even the royal house.

“All this is because I was not wise.” The king blamed himself.

Goguryeo was a kingdom made up of five divisions (bu, 部). The king gave an order to four of them.

Each of you four divisions,
recommend the wise and able men
who lie hidden in humble places!

With one voice, the four divisions recommended Allyu of the Eastern Division. The king summoned him, meaning to entrust him with the affairs of state.

AllyuFrom the Eastern Division
AllyuI am dull, and not the man
to handle great affairs of state.
But there is a man
you must bring to court.
AllyuHis name is Eul Pa-so, of Jwamul Village
in the West Amnok Valley.
He is steadfast and wise, but the world has not used him,
so he lives by tilling his own fields.
Eul Pa-soDescendant of Eul So, a minister under King Yuri

Allyu pressed his case:

If Your Majesty wishes to govern the kingdom,
it must be this man and no other.

The king sent an emissary with humble words and generous gifts. Among the porters carrying the gifts was Dochi.

EmissaryHis Majesty has sent us
to bring you to court, sir.
Eul Pa-soYou’ve carried those loads
a long way. Thank you.
DochiGift porter

The king made Eul Pa-so Jungoe Daebu, added the rank of “Utae,” and said:

King GogukcheonMy virtue is thin and my talents few;
I have not governed the kingdom well.
That you came, not forsaking me,
is a blessing for the kingdom and its people.

Eul Pa-so was willing to serve the kingdom, but he felt that in that post he could not get anything done.

Eul Pa-soI am like a slow horse,
unequal to so stern a command.
Choose a worthy man, give him high office,
and achieve great things.
King Gogukcheon…I understand your meaning.
King GogukcheonI make Eul Pa-so Guksang
and entrust him with the affairs of state!

The Guksang was the highest office, overseeing all the affairs of state.

NobleA man who plowed fields,
made Guksang overnight!
A newcomer, coming between
the king and his old ministers.

The officials at court and the royal relatives resented Eul Pa-so.

Then the king issued an order:

Noble or lowly,
whoever does not obey the Guksang
will be punished along with his whole clan!

Eul Pa-soA scholar hides when his time has not come,
and steps forward when it has.
Now that the king treats me so generously,
how could I think of hiding away again?
DochiWhen his time has come…

Eul Pa-so served the kingdom with all his heart.

He made government clear and was careful with rewards and punishments, so the people lived in peace and all was quiet at home and abroad.

In the 10th month, that winter, the king made Allyu Daesaja, saying:

Without that one word from you,
I would never have found Eul Pa-so.

Three years went by.

In the 7th month of 194, in autumn,
an early frost fell.

DochiThe grain’s all frozen…
WorkerThere’ll be nothing
to harvest this fall.

The crops froze and died, and the people went hungry. The king opened the granaries and gave out grain.

That autumn, with no crops to bring in, no one was hiring laborers either.

DochiI’ll even gather firewood!
Just give me any work at all!
GatekeeperThere’s nothing to harvest.
Who needs hired hands?!

The bugyeong stood empty, and there was no way to get even a measure of grain.

DochiMother…
MotherI’m all right…
you eat.

The 10th month of 194, in winter. Dochi had wandered far in search of work, and at last he sank down by the roadside on the way to Jiryang.

That day, King Gogukcheon set out to hunt at Jiryang.

King GogukcheonHalt.
…Young man,
why are you weeping?
DochiI am a poor man, my lord,
and have always worked for hire to keep my mother.
This year the harvest failed and there’s no work,
no way to get even a measure or a peck of grain…
So I weep.
King GogukcheonAh…
I, the father of my people,
have brought them to this.
This… is my sin.

The king gave him clothes and food to comfort him.

The king ordered officials at court and in the provinces:

Seek out widowers and widows, orphans and the childless old,
and all who are too old, sick or poor to support themselves,
and care for them!

King GogukcheonEvery year, from the 3rd month in spring
to the 7th in autumn, release state grain,
lend it by household size,
and have it repaid in the 10th month of winter.
Make this
a lasting law!

People everywhere, in the capital and beyond, rejoiced greatly.

Officials went from village to village, seeking out and caring for those who could not support themselves.

OfficialThis grain is from the state.
Use it to get through the winter.
Oh my,
thank you!

The long winter passed,

and in the 3rd month of the next spring,
the doors of the state granary opened.

Officials counted the members of each household and lent out grain accordingly.

OfficialDochi’s household:
a share for two!
Neighbor womanThere are five of us,
so we get more!
MotherDochi! Is all that
the state’s grain?
DochiWe just pay it back in the 10th month,
after the autumn harvest!

That summer, Dochi worked for hire in other people’s fields again. And then, autumn—

DochiThe heads are nice and heavy
this year!
MotherHave a bite to eat before you go on!

The 10th month, in winter: the day to repay the borrowed grain.

DochiI’ve brought back
all the grain I borrowed!
OfficialDochi’s household:
loan repaid in full!

Borrow in spring, harvest in autumn, repay in the 10th month of winter.

The grain he had earned as autumn wages filled the bugyeong to the brim.

MotherWe won’t go hungry
this winter.
DochiAnd when spring comes,
the granary opens again, they say.

The next spring, Dochi again set off for the granary with an empty sack on his back.

King GogukcheonMake this a lasting law!

In 197, China was in great turmoil, and very many people of Han fled the chaos to Goguryeo.

In the 5th month, that summer,
King Gogukcheon passed away.

The king was buried at Gogukcheon-won. That is why he is called “King Gogukcheon.”

King GogukcheonI, the father of my people…

Eul Pa-so served as Guksang into the reign of the next king, King Sansang, and died in the autumn of 203. The people of the kingdom wept aloud.

Later generations called this law, which lent grain in spring and collected it after the autumn harvest, the “Jindae relief-loan system.”

Its idea, that the state should care for its hungry people,
lived on in Goryeo’s Uichang granaries and Joseon’s hwangok grain loans.

End of Episode 15

History Notes

The scenes in this story are based on these records and sites.

  1. “Hunting Scene” mural, Muyongchong Tomb
    View photo →
    “Hunting Scene” mural, Muyongchong Tomb · Goguryeo people hunting

    194: The Record in the Samguk Sagi

    According to the Samguk Sagi, in the 7th month of autumn in 194 (the 16th year of King Gogukcheon), frost fell and killed the crops, the people went hungry, and the king opened the granaries to hand out grain. In the 10th month, in winter, the king, on his way to hunt at Jiryang, came upon a man sitting by the roadside weeping. The man said, “I have always worked for hire to support my mother, but this year the harvest failed and there is no work, so I cannot get even a measure or a peck of grain.” Saying, “I am the parent of the people, yet I have brought them to this; it is my sin,” the king gave him clothes and food, and had widowers, widows, orphans, the childless elderly, and all who were too old, sick or poor to support themselves sought out far and wide and cared for. He then made it a lasting law that every year, from the 3rd month of spring to the 7th month of autumn, the state’s grain would be lent out according to the size of each household and repaid in the 10th month, in winter. Where Jiryang was is unknown today. The photo is a mural from the Muyongchong Tomb showing Goguryeo people hunting, from around the 5th century, much later than these events.

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, 16th year of King Gogukcheon

  2. The Name “Jindaebeop”

    The record gives this law no name, but it says the grain was given out as “jindae” (賑貸) according to household size. From this word, which combines “jin” (賑), to give relief, and “dae” (貸), to lend, came the later name “Jindaebeop,” the Jindae relief-loan system. It is often described as “a law that lent grain in spring and had it repaid in autumn,” but the Samguk Sagi gives the time of repayment as “the 10th month, in winter”: the grain was collected after the autumn harvest was over. Goryeo had the Heukchang, a granary that lent out state grain, which was expanded in 986 and renamed the Uichang; it carried on into Joseon’s Uichang and hwangok grain loans. In late Joseon, however, hwangok often meant forced loans and extra charges, and it sometimes became a heavy burden on the people instead.

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, 16th year of King Gogukcheon · Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “Jindaebeop,” “Uichang”
  3. Goguryeo iron plowshare
    View photo →
    Goguryeo iron plowshare · Hanseong Baekje Museum

    Eul Pa-so, the Man Who Plowed His Own Fields

    In 191, when the king had the four divisions recommend worthy men, they recommended Allyu of the Eastern Division. Saying he himself was not up to it, Allyu recommended in his place Eul Pa-so, who farmed with his own hands in Jwamul Village in the West Amnok Valley. The king made Eul Pa-so Jungoe Daebu and added the rank of Utae, but when Eul Pa-so declined, the king understood his meaning and made him Guksang. The Guksang was the highest post, overseeing all the affairs of state; King Sindae first gave it to Myeongnim Dap-bu in 166. The record calls Eul Pa-so “the grandson of Eul So, a minister under King Yuri,” but since King Yuri’s reign was more than 170 years earlier, some see him instead as a distant descendant. Eul Pa-so served as Guksang into the reign of King Sansang and died in the autumn of 203, and the people of the kingdom wept bitterly. The record does not say, however, that Eul Pa-so was the one who proposed the law of 194. The photo shows a Goguryeo iron plowshare (5th–6th century), used to plow fields.

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, 13th year of King Gogukcheon · Biographies, Eul Pa-so

  4. The Queen’s Relatives

    According to the Samguk Sagi, Eo Bi-ryu, a Paeja holding the post of Jungoe Daebu, and Jwa Ga-ryeo, a Pyeongja, held power in the kingdom because they were the queen’s relatives, and the young men of their families stirred up resentment by seizing other people’s children, fields and houses. When the king moved to punish them, Jwa Ga-ryeo’s faction plotted rebellion; in the 4th month of summer, 191, they gathered followers and attacked the royal capital, but were put down. Queen U herself was the daughter of U So of the Yeonna-bu. The Chinese history Records of the Three Kingdoms also states that, of Goguryeo’s five tribes, the Jeolno-bu married into the royal line generation after generation, and many scholars identify the Samguk Sagi’s Yeonna-bu with this Jeolno-bu. The king’s choosing of talented men by their character rather than their birth after the rebellion is sometimes read as a sign of him curbing the nobles and building up royal power.

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, 2nd, 12th and 13th years of King Gogukcheon · Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, “Account of the Eastern Peoples”: Goguryeo

  5. A Small Storehouse in Every Home: the Bugyeong

    The 3rd-century Chinese history Records of the Three Kingdoms describes Goguryeo like this: there were many great mountains and deep valleys and no good fields, so even hard farming could barely fill people’s stomachs, and they were sparing with food. There were no large storehouses; instead, each household had a small one, called a “bugyeong” (桴京). Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people of the great houses (daega, 大家) did not farm, and their underlings carried rice, grain, fish and salt to them from far away. The record does not say what a bugyeong looked like. This episode draws it as a small storehouse with its floor raised off the ground, and some people link the bugyeong with storehouses of this kind that survive at farmhouses in the old Goguryeo lands.

    Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, “Account of the Eastern Peoples”: Goguryeo
  6. Corner of the Gungnae Fortress wall
    View photo →
    Corner of the Gungnae Fortress wall · Ji’an, Jilin Province, China

    King Gogukcheon and Gungnae Fortress

    King Gogukcheon, the second son of King Sindae, became king in 179. The Samguk Sagi records that he stood nine feet tall, was strong enough to lift a great cauldron, and struck the right balance between leniency and strictness in handling affairs. In 184 he won a great victory at Jwawon over the army of Han’s Grand Administrator of Liaodong, and in the 5th month of summer, 197, he died and was buried at Gogukcheon-won. According to the Samguk Sagi, the capital at that time was Gungnae Fortress, in present-day Ji’an, Jilin Province, China. Because the Records of the Three Kingdoms says only that King Sindae (Baekgo) was succeeded by “Iimo,” some scholars doubt that King Gogukcheon really existed, but many counter that the Records of the Three Kingdoms’ account of the Goguryeo royal line also has many gaps, so this alone is not conclusive. The stone wall in the photo is thought to have been rebuilt later.

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, King Gogukcheon · Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, “Account of the Eastern Peoples”: Goguryeo

  7. The Man with No Name

    The Samguk Sagi records neither the name nor the age of the man who wept by the roadside in 194; it tells us only that he worked for hire to support his mother. Dochi and his mother in this episode are characters imagined on the basis of that man. Dochi carrying the gifts to Eul Pa-so, hearing Eul Pa-so’s words, and the scenes of borrowing and repaying grain the next year are all invented as well. The king dismounting to drape his fur coat over Dochi is imagined too; the record says only that he “gave him clothes and food.”

    Samguk Sagi, Goguryeo Annals, 16th year of King Gogukcheon

Key Words of This Episode

Next episode

Episode 16 · Eulbul the Salt Seller

When his father fell under the king’s suspicion and was put to death, Eulbul, a grandson of the royal house, went into hiding and became a hired hand in other people’s homes. No one recognized the ragged young man, wandering the riverbanks of Amnok with sacks of salt on his back, as a prince of the royal line.

Read Episode 16 →← Episode 14Back to the list

Photo credits

All illustrations in this webtoon are original. Character names and dialogue are imaginative reconstructions based on historical facts and research. Dates and interpretations follow mainstream scholarship; where scholars disagree, the History Notes say so.