It is generally believed that the hardships endured by the people during this reign, because of famines, pestilences and other calamities, were a forerunner of the terrible cataclysm that swept over the land during the following reign, in the great Japanese invasion. These calamities had begun in the very first year of the reign when a pestilence swept the province of Ham-gyŭng. The same year an enormous mass of rock became detached from the side of Sam-gak mountain back of Seoul and fell with such a tremendous crash that it was heard and felt in all the adjoining[adjoining] prefectures. This was followed by disastrous floods in various parts of the country whereby thousands of people perished and vast amounts of property were destroyed. In the city of P‘yŭng-yang alone 720 houses fell and 209 lives were lost.
It was in 1550 that an astronomical instrument[an astronomical instrument] was made, called the Sŭn-gi-ok-hyŭng or “Heaven Measure.” We are not told the exact nature of the instrument, but it implies a considerable degree of intellectual activity and an inclination toward scientific pursuits that is rare in Korea.
The Queen Mother, as seems to have been common with women of high degree in Korea, became a confirmed Buddhist. This tendency became so strong that in 1552 she had a law made requiring government sanction for a man to enter the priesthood, and special examinations were also required. A monk named Po U, an unscrupulous but capable man, exercised immense influence at the palace. The courtiers besought the king to drive him away but as yet the Regent was too strong.
The following year the custom of filling the ranks of the army by conscription was inaugurated. All men over fifteen years of age were supposed to give two or three years’ service. But it was not a success. The military spirit has never been really strong in Korea since the downfall of ancient Ko-kuryŭ. The profession of arms has always been looked down upon as an inferior calling and so long as a living could be gained some other way the army has been shunned. The law of conscription was soon modified so that the payment of a modest sum, three hundred and fifty cash a year, bought exemption from service. Later the sum was raised to 10,000 cash and even to 20,000 in some cases, but this included a large “squeeze” on the part of the officials.
The Queen Mother’s power came to an end in 1554 when the king reached his twenty-first year. From that point matters began to mend. The ex-Regent and her minions lost a large part of their power, but other difficulties came up which took the place of those which were thus overcome. The wild tribe of Kol-gan-bul crossed the northern border and harried the border towns. When sixty of them had been caught and beheaded the remainder retired. A Japanese marauding band, returning from the coast of China laden with booty, landed on the Korean coast and were there captured and sent to Nanking. The next year seventy boat-loads of Japanese landed on the Chul-la coast and killed several prefects but the governor called about him a band of soldiers and routed the invaders. A hundred and twenty Japanese were killed and all their arms were captured.
One of the most signal victories the Koreans ever scored over the pirates occurred in 1556. A thousand or more of these unwelcome neighbors landed at Tal-yang in Chŭl-la Province and besieged the town. Government troops were sent against them but were driven back with great loss. The O-ran, Ma-do and Ka-ri harbor forts were besieged and taken and the towns of Chang-heung and Kang-jin were swept by the remorseless foe. Kim Pin the admiral of Chul-la Province, and the prefect of Kwang-ju were both badly defeated in their attempts to check this hostile advance.
Yi Yun-gyŭng, the prefect of Chŭn-ju raised a force of 2000 men and marched toward the seat of war. An experienced general warned him that he could do nothing but he replied “Then let my head pay the price.” He gave a written promise that if any of his men deserted he would forfeit his life, so great was his confidence in the quality of his soldiers. Pushing rapidly forward he first encountered the Japanese at Hyang-gyo where he threw up breastworks. He was to have been reinforced by his brother but the latter sent, warning him that it was a hopeless case and urging him to retreat. He replied by decapitating the messenger and attacking the enemy single-handed. He warned his men that the first one to retreat would lose his head.
The leader of the Japanese rode a powerful white horse and bore in his hand a yellow flag, and he kept beating his sword against the flagstaff with terrible clamor. Gen. Yi began the attack not by shooting at the Japanese themselves but by shooting fire arrows into their camp and among their baggage. When this was seen to be well ablaze he ordered a charge and singling out the conspicuous Japanese leader soon laid him low with one of the famous “needle arrows.” The enemy was soon in full retreat but their progress was stopped by a high ledge of rocks and there they were brought to bay. It is said that 1800 Japanese perished at this point. This is but another sample of what Korean soldiery can do when properly led. The brilliant young leader was made governor of the province. The Japanese who escaped made their way across the straits into the island of Quelpart, where they demanded arms of the prefect, for they had cast away theirs in their precipitate flight. Instead of complying the prefect attacked them, brandishing an enormous battle-club. The victory was complete and the plain was strewed with the dead bodies of the foe.
When the king heard of these victories he praised the troops and remitted all the revenue from the prefectures where the Japanese had created the disturbance.
A serious rebellion occupied public attention in the year 1563. A butcher of Yang-ju named Im Ko-jung gathered about him a band of desperate highwaymen and began to plunder and burn in that and the neighboring prefectures. Government troops chased them into Ku-wŭl Mountains where they were tracked with difficulty owing to the fact that they wore their shoes reversed in order to deceive their pursuers. But the army surrounded the whole mountain and, gradually working their way up, at last brought the offenders to bay and cut them down.