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844 book X The following happened when Yi Sanggŭp became magistrate of Tanch’ŏn, which was known as a silver-producing district. He said, “This place is a pit where profit is generated. Unless the magistrate is extremely careful in his conduct, regrettable things can befall his body and name.” Then he served in his office with integrity. If there was anything left after paying the annual tribute, he used it to make up for the labor service of the people. He also reduced his personal expenses to pay for the loss when soldiers deserted or died and their neighbors were forced to take responsibility for the incidents. His efforts of this kind saved the people from exploitation and harassment. People Should Not Be Harassed or Abused for Excavating Precious Stones Produced in Their Districts. The National Code stipulated: “The districts in which precious stones are produced shall keep a record of their mining activities, and the copies of the record must be kept in the Board of Taxation, as well as in the provincial and district offices.” So-called precious stones are the following: crystal produced in Kyŏngju, topaz in Sŏngch’ŏn, dark jade in Myŏnch’ŏn, greenstone in Changgi, inkstone in Namp’o, agalmatolite in Haenam, and orpiment in Hŭksan Island. Since the people of the districts in which precious stones are produced are extremely abused, the magistrate, mindful of this, should neither accede to requests for precious stones nor start mining them even if there is a report that precious stones are newly found in his district nor take those stones in his baggage, no matter how small they are, when he returns home after finishing his term. Then he will deserve to be called a clean official. CHAPTER : MANAGING WATERWAYS AND RESERVOIRS Since Waterways and Reservoirs [Ch’ŏnt’aek] Are the Basis of Successful Agriculture , the Administration of Them Was Also a Priority for All Sage Kings. The offices of guardian of the waterways [chuanheng] and supervisor of marshes [zeyu] in Rites of Zhou are charged with watching the waterways and marshes, supervising the prohibitions related to them, and collecting taxes. According to the National Code of our country, the Bureau of Mountains and Marshes 25. “Treasures” (“Pomul cho”), Laws on Works. 26. Called yangjisŏk in Korean, which means “goat fat stone,” it was known to be good for carving or sculpture. Public Works Administration 845 [Santaeksa] belongs to the Board of Works since the tasks of digging ditches and providing irrigation water to rice paddies are included in the laws on works. The law of former kings assigned an official solely to the task of managing the water for agriculture. How can the magistrates today, on the other hand, just watch that task with their arms folded? Since silt settles in the lakes and ponds, it must be removed on a regular basis; since banks break down, they must be repaired and reconstructed once in a while; since aqueducts become blocked, the obstacles in the waterways must be removed; since hills along the water are sometimes eroded, the passage of water should be redirected (this work should be done in the upper reaches of the river, where the streams collide); and since reservoir channels are often destroyed, the people should be urged to repair them, and when the ridges are too close together and the furrows are too shallow, they should be encouraged to make those furrows wider and deeper. Nothing in the duties of the magistrate is more urgent than efforts to improve agriculture, and nothing in these efforts is more urgent than managing water. Therefore, when King Yu and Hou Ji personally engaged in agriculture, they first regulated reservoir channels, and Shi Qi and Li Kui only managed irrigation. If we look back at history in a general perspective, great achievements of outstanding officials were all related to the management of water. Since the magistrates of our time, however, tend to look at the matter as if it were none of their business, what is wrong with them? If a Stream Runs through the District, It Is Advisable to Make a Reservoir to Irrigate Land and Thereby Create Public Land to Save the People from the Burden of Their Labor Service. This Is Good Administration. One of the pressing concerns of the state is the public depository. The burden of the public depository is increasing month by month and year by year to such a degree that...

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