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208 book IV When an Epidemic Is Rampant, the Death Toll Also Increases. The District Should Report to the Court the Names of Those Who Treat and Bury the Victims of the Disease. In the winter of 1798 influenza broke out suddenly and took the lives of countless people. The court ordered the rich to carry out the task of relief, treatment, and burying the dead, promising to confer official titles of rank 2 and 3 on them. When I was in charge of Koksan, I conveyed the royal decree, and five people responded and volunteered to undertake the task. After their job was completed, I submitted the list of their names to my superior. However, my superior refused to report it and said, “I cannot submit the names to the court because no district except yours carried out the royal decree.” I immediately sent a report to the Royal Secretariat in which I stated as follows: “From now on the people will not trust the words of our sovereign. Since this is not a trivial matter, your office must mention it to His Majesty during the royal lecture. Otherwise, I will go up to visit the capital and submit a report to the king.” When the Royal Secretariat finally reported the matter, the king was greatly surprised, granted the official titles to those five people as he had promised, and reprimanded the governor by ordering a second-degree reduction in salary. CHAPTER : SAVING THE VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTERS Since the Victims of Disasters like Floods and Fires Are to Receive Special Privileges Granted by the Government, the Magistrate Should Carry Out His Duty to the Best of His Ability. Furthermore, He Should Try to Find a Way to Help the Victims on His Own in Addition to Discharging His Official Duty. Government subsidies for the victims of natural disasters are usually provided by a grain loan [hwansangmi]. However, this grain is often nothing but empty husks. Therefore, when the grain loans are distributed, the magistrate personally should supervise the quality of the grain, watching the process of milling and winnowing the rice. If he does that, he will find that the quantity of the rice substantially decreases in that process. Then he has to add 3 mal to each sŏk of rice, and in case 1 sŏk is less than 12 mal, he should order the clerk in charge of the granary to make up for the loss. In addition to releasing the grain loan for relief to the victims of natural disasters , the magistrate should personally go out to some of the privately owned mountains in the neighborhood and cut down timber. Taking the value of the timber into account, he should set the price, and instead of paying it directly, he should exempt the owner from his compulsory labor according to the timber’s worth. The length of the exemption period must be observed, and the grant of Love of People 209 the privilege should stop as soon as the owner is fully compensated. If the amount of the lumber is insignificant, granting the privilege is not necessary. If Natural Disasters and Misfortunes Occur, the Magistrate Must Hurry to Rescue the Victims from Fire or Water as If He Himself Were in Danger. No Delay Must Be Allowed. When Liu Kun became magistrate of Jiangling, a fire broke out in his district. When he bowed his head toward the fire, the wind changed its direction, and the fire finally died away. If one reflects on this incident, it was really an accident. At that time Liu Kun was so nervous and worried about the tragedy that his sorrow and prayer must have reached Heaven, and the residents of Jiangling gave credit to Liu Kun for this miracle. If Liu Kun had merely bowed his head, displaying little emotion and sincerity, people would not have talked about him in such a manner. When Song Shibei was in charge of Suining, a riverbank in his district was flooded and in danger of collapsing because of the rising water. When the water kept undermining the bottom of the bank, Song took an armchair to the bank to stay there. The people around him urged him to leave the place for his safety, but he refused to. When the water level finally went down with the passing of time, the people of his time compared him with Wang Zun. When Chen Xiliang was in charge of the land of...

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