공민왕대 재정운용 검토 및 충선왕대 정책지향과의 비교 (King Gongmin-wang’s financial management, and his acknowledgement of King Chungseon-wang’s policies)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 고려사학회
· 수록지 정보 : 韓國史學報 / 34호 / 9 ~ 61페이지
· 저자명 : 이강한

초록

King Gongmin-wang displayed a wide range of efforts to balance the budget and manage the financial status of the government, during his twenty-plus years in power. Earlier studies of this era focused their examination upon Gongmin-wang’s efforts of rectifying the problems that came from powerful entities’ illegal violations of lower citizens’ lands or assimilation of those very souls, and as a result the late 1360s, especially when Buddhist priest Shin Don was in power, was put under the scholars’ micro-scope most of the time. Yet Shin Don’s efforts and Gongmin-wang’s endorsement of it was only one portion of all the efforts displayed during the reign of King Gongmin-wang, which were in most cases devised by Gongmin- wang himself. At the time when Gongmin-wang first rose to the throne in 1352, the financial situation of the Goryeo dynasty was so dire, and to fix that situation the King could not feel comfortable at only rectifying certain problems. He had to overhaul the entire taxation procedure and pursue a dramatic increase in the government’s revenue.
So, in the late 1350s, after he successfully drove the Gi Cheol faction out of the government, he not only liberated the souls from the late powerful factions but also assigned them to new duties, thus creating new sources for taxation and workforce mobilization. And he re-launched the government monopoly on salt and iron materials, in order to artificially increase channels of taxation. Also, following such efforts, Gongmin-wang launched a land ownership survey project in the mid-1360s when the invasion of the ’Honggeon-jeok’ bandits ended and incursions of the Japanese ’Waegu’ pirates were a little bit dialing down. And in the early 1370s he initiated a census-taking campaign as well, after Shin Don was kicked out of power.
It is true that he also displayed rather ‘conventional’ moves in terms of finance-managing in the early 1350s, when he was simply not able to take aggressive policy initiatives because of the powerful Gi Cheol family. And in the early 1360s, when invasion forces were ravaging the country, he had to take drastic measures to cut expenditure, instead of actively finding more ways to levy taxes upon the public. But most of the time, other than the aforementioned brief recesses, he was indeed devising various ways to increase revenue and stabilize the government’s finance.
Also, it should be noted that Gongmin-wang’s policies and strategies to balance the budget and increase governmental revenue featured distinct similarities to those exhibited by his own grandfather, King Chungseon-wang. Chungseon-wang was famous for creating a new taxation register which had taken into account not only the recent changes that happened in the national census but also the changes that accumulated in terms of land ownership status throughout the country. And he was also well-known for creating new sources for taxation and mobilization, for establishing governmental depots and accumulating commercial commodities, for launching governmental monopoly on salt for the first time, and for encouraging governmental production of merchandises to be invested and exchanged in foreign trades. King Chungseon-wang was also known for ’not’ being that decisive in preventing powerful entities from illegally violating or obtaining control over lower citizens’ lands and able-bodied adults, but he was indeed strongly motivated to launch social relief programs and reinforce certain offices to oversee them, based upon his own achievements which was a healthier financial condition of the government.
And as we’ve seen above, Gongmin-wang used similar methods in his efforts, and while he from time to time seemingly abandoned the principle of monitoring powerful beings’ illegal land/body violations, he was actually the first one since Chungseon-wang to implement necessary orders to reestablish the government’s social relief program and reactivate project-involved governmental offices. Most of all, his efforts related to increasing the revenue always overlapped with his orders regarding social relief efforts, suggesting the possibility that he designed both agendas to be linked with each other from the very beginning.
So, we can say that Gongmin-wang’s efforts and intentions in managing the government’s finance and using them to stabilize the public was indeed a reincarnation of Chungseon-wang’s efforts and intentions. Facing crises, it seems that Gongmin-wang found some merits and ideas in his own grandfather’s previous efforts. We shall remember that in recognizing and acknowledging the internal continuity of the history of the 14th century of Korea, which we tend to examine only through bits and pieces.

영어초록

King Gongmin-wang displayed a wide range of efforts to balance the budget and manage the financial status of the government, during his twenty-plus years in power. Earlier studies of this era focused their examination upon Gongmin-wang’s efforts of rectifying the problems that came from powerful entities’ illegal violations of lower citizens’ lands or assimilation of those very souls, and as a result the late 1360s, especially when Buddhist priest Shin Don was in power, was put under the scholars’ micro-scope most of the time. Yet Shin Don’s efforts and Gongmin-wang’s endorsement of it was only one portion of all the efforts displayed during the reign of King Gongmin-wang, which were in most cases devised by Gongmin- wang himself. At the time when Gongmin-wang first rose to the throne in 1352, the financial situation of the Goryeo dynasty was so dire, and to fix that situation the King could not feel comfortable at only rectifying certain problems. He had to overhaul the entire taxation procedure and pursue a dramatic increase in the government’s revenue.
So, in the late 1350s, after he successfully drove the Gi Cheol faction out of the government, he not only liberated the souls from the late powerful factions but also assigned them to new duties, thus creating new sources for taxation and workforce mobilization. And he re-launched the government monopoly on salt and iron materials, in order to artificially increase channels of taxation. Also, following such efforts, Gongmin-wang launched a land ownership survey project in the mid-1360s when the invasion of the ’Honggeon-jeok’ bandits ended and incursions of the Japanese ’Waegu’ pirates were a little bit dialing down. And in the early 1370s he initiated a census-taking campaign as well, after Shin Don was kicked out of power.
It is true that he also displayed rather ‘conventional’ moves in terms of finance-managing in the early 1350s, when he was simply not able to take aggressive policy initiatives because of the powerful Gi Cheol family. And in the early 1360s, when invasion forces were ravaging the country, he had to take drastic measures to cut expenditure, instead of actively finding more ways to levy taxes upon the public. But most of the time, other than the aforementioned brief recesses, he was indeed devising various ways to increase revenue and stabilize the government’s finance.
Also, it should be noted that Gongmin-wang’s policies and strategies to balance the budget and increase governmental revenue featured distinct similarities to those exhibited by his own grandfather, King Chungseon-wang. Chungseon-wang was famous for creating a new taxation register which had taken into account not only the recent changes that happened in the national census but also the changes that accumulated in terms of land ownership status throughout the country. And he was also well-known for creating new sources for taxation and mobilization, for establishing governmental depots and accumulating commercial commodities, for launching governmental monopoly on salt for the first time, and for encouraging governmental production of merchandises to be invested and exchanged in foreign trades. King Chungseon-wang was also known for ’not’ being that decisive in preventing powerful entities from illegally violating or obtaining control over lower citizens’ lands and able-bodied adults, but he was indeed strongly motivated to launch social relief programs and reinforce certain offices to oversee them, based upon his own achievements which was a healthier financial condition of the government.
And as we’ve seen above, Gongmin-wang used similar methods in his efforts, and while he from time to time seemingly abandoned the principle of monitoring powerful beings’ illegal land/body violations, he was actually the first one since Chungseon-wang to implement necessary orders to reestablish the government’s social relief program and reactivate project-involved governmental offices. Most of all, his efforts related to increasing the revenue always overlapped with his orders regarding social relief efforts, suggesting the possibility that he designed both agendas to be linked with each other from the very beginning.
So, we can say that Gongmin-wang’s efforts and intentions in managing the government’s finance and using them to stabilize the public was indeed a reincarnation of Chungseon-wang’s efforts and intentions. Facing crises, it seems that Gongmin-wang found some merits and ideas in his own grandfather’s previous efforts. We shall remember that in recognizing and acknowledging the internal continuity of the history of the 14th century of Korea, which we tend to examine only through bits and pieces.

참고자료

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