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Submission Process for Reinstatement of the Crown Prince Sado

Installation of Socheong and Preparation of Submission

Yusaeng led by Yi Hui-byeong left Mungyeong on April 17th and arrived at Hanyang on April 23rd. “Eulmyosocheongilgi” shows all the details that these Yusaeng arrived at Hanyang, installed a Socheong (office for Sangso) temporarily for a specific location, selected the leader of Socheong, prepared the draft of Sangso, reviewed and edited, completed Sangso, and went to submit it.

After Yusaeng departed on 17th, they met with Hayanghyeongam Cho Seong-gyo (趙性敎) coming down from Seoul at Gyoguijeong (交龜亭) by the entrance of Juheulsan mountain and heard about the atmosphere of the central government. At the time, Jeongjae (定齋) Ryu Chi-myeong (柳致明) submitted the Sangso for reinstatement of Sado’s status on March 29th. Samsa (三司, three branches of the government) and royal officials strongly insisted on hold Gukcheong (special courts). As a result, he was sent to an island in exile. Therefore, Yeongnam Yusaeng trying to urge for the same cause as Ryu Chi-myeong could have caused a worse result for the future government and Yeongnam Yusaeng themselves.

In spite of Cho Seong-gyo’s persuasion, Yi Hui-byeong did not change his mind and kept going his way. They passed by Chungju on April 19th, visited Beonam Chae Je-gong in Cheoin-hyeon on 21st, and stayed in Yongin-hyeon. They passed by Pangyo on 22nd, and these 28 Yusaeng arrived outside the door of Seobinggo (西氷庫) on 23rd. Yeongnam Yusaeng Jinsa, Kwon Hyeong-guk (權衡國), and 18 other people from Sungkyunkwan welcomed them outside the door.

They set up Socheong at Seoban (西泮) Yi Min-yeong (李民永)’s study on April 25th and put up the sign on the main entrance saying “Yeongnam Socheong (嶺南疏廳).” The leader, participating Yusaeng, and other Yusaeng from Seoul gathered at Socheong. The total of 114 people determined the following seven codes.

1) This Sobong (疏奉) is the large, thoughtful opinion (大論) of Yusaeng from the entire country. Various rules will be applied until the day of Sangso submission just as other Sangso; therefore, everyone should be mindful of them individually.
2) Even if some people who are not registered in Sorok (疏錄) wish to see you for some matters, but you should not go outside.
3) When many Seonbi (scholars) gather together, words come out all the time. Therefore, mind your speech and behavior so that you would not create any issue. If you do not need to work together, stay at your place and be careful with your words and behavior.
4) Once registered in Sorok, one cannot be moved or changed.
5) If you have to work on the day when participating Yusaeng arrive, bow to each other (Sangeubrye, 相揖禮) first and then welcome individually.
6) Two Sojangeui (疏掌議), two Sosaek (疏色), four Docheong (都廳), and two Jikil (直日) staffs should take turns to record everything related to work in Socheong.
7) All the codes above should be followed strictly and anyone who violates one or more shall be punished.

The codes were to control the participating Yusaeng’s speech and behaviors and prevent any issues that can arise prior to Sangso submission by defining responsibilities of Sojangeui, Sosaek, Docheong, and Jikil. Also, Sangeubrye was used to maintain order so that they could avoid conflicts with newly arriving Yusaeng and live in harmony. In fact, the number of Yusaeng who followed Yi Hui-byeong to Seoul was 28, but more Yusaeng kept coming in until 12th. They all added up to few hundreds when they submitted Sangso.
There were various kinds of problems all over the place until these Yusaeng installed Socheong and submitted Sangso. Unlike their plans to submit Sangso based on the common opinion of Yeongnam Yusaeng, not even one Yusaeng came from towns that belonged to Jinjujin until April 28th. Furthermore, these towns did not even send Baejeon (money) either so Tongmun was sent frequently to expedite it. Also, the initial budget of Baejeon was not enough for them to work smoothly because there were various public expenditures including accommodation and food expenses for the countless number of Yusaeng and purchase of Soji (疏紙, the paper used for Sangso). They had to request to Yeongnam for more Baejeon sent with the new Yusaeng coming to Seoul. They sent Tongmun to Sungkyunkwan to ask for cooperation, but Sungkyunkwan responded and told them to stop Yeongnam Sangso.
In this way, Yeongnam Socheong faced the obstacle even before the submission of Sangso because of lack of financial resources and Sungkyunkwan’s refusal for Geunsil. Yi Hui-byeong hurry the preparation of submission to prevent agitation among Yusaeng and to successfully submit Sangso; he appointed seven Docheong staffs, three Jikil staffs, three Myeongchubsubongyusa (名帖收捧有司) staffs, and two Sidoyusa (時到有司) staffs to get ready for Sangso. They purchased seven packages of Soji from the paper store (Jijeon, 紙廛). After Chilgok Yi Jeongun (李定運) brought Yeonmyeongseo (聯名書), twenty one of Saso Yusaeng (寫疏儒生) were selected and each wrote two parts of name card. Yeongnam Yusaeng living Seoul also prepared the name cards and registered to Sangso. They started drafting the original copy of Sangso (Sobon, 疏本); they did not prepare this in advance to prevent it from spreading to outside people before the submission. Soji was prepared with the width of a hundred parts for a week from April 28th to May 4th and then it was going to be compiled together on May 6th. It had been half a month since they came into the capital.
Yeongnam Sangso was creating a huge impact among the officials and other Yusaeng; this was also made clear from what various officials said. According to these officials who had met Yi Hui-byeong, they had never seen any complaints or Sangso submission for twenty-five years since 1831. They were impressed by the fact that Yeongnam Yusaeng had acted in a well-ordered manner since they arrived, and visited Socheong. Also, the leader had to be able to handle responses on Sangso and to satisfy many people at the same time, and lead them in harmony and stay healthy. The officials praised Yi Hui-byeong and said it would not be possible again for someone like him to be there to lead all Yusaeng in the healthy and harmonious way and to submit Sangso.
Yi Panseo (Yi Gye-jo, 李啓朝) and three to four retired officials came to Socheong to visit Yi Hui-byeong on May 5th and had a discussion with him. It happened after all Yusaeng were sent back to their accommodation, so there is no record of what he discussed with Yi Gye-jo. However, it is expected that Yi Gye-jo was in the position of Yejopanseo (Minister of Culture and Education), so he would have given him some advice on the issues of submission procedures and Sangso’s contents. And this would have required more time for him to revise based on the comments as well. Thus, it is presumed that this was the reason why the submission was postponed on the day with the excuse of the leader suffering diarrhea.
In fact, when the schedule was moved to later, they violated the code of not allowing to talk to people outside and sent out Tongmun to ask for cooperation. They also attached additional name cards to reinforce the fact that they could not receive Geunsil by Sungkyunkwan. Josa and Gongsawon were appointed and the jobs were distributed to Yusaeng from four Jin to calm down Yusaeng.
The contents of the draft Sangso was transcribed and sent to Jinsa Seong Jong-jin (成鍾震) to be corrected and edited; Sangso was going to be submitted to the king, so the sentences and words were elaborated and sensitive parts were revised. The draft was completely revised according to his comments on May 9th and the revised copy was sent to 10th again. All Yusaeng gathered at night on 10th and selected Gongsawon. They discussed about the procedures and completely fixed all.

Submission of Sangso for Reinstatement of the Crown Prince Sado

Yeongnam Yusaeng had lied down in front of the entrance (Bokhab) of the palace for Sangso every day from May 11th to 15th. All Yusaeng wore the proper clothes and Gat (traditional hat) and gathered at Socheon at Insi (3 to 5 am, 寅時) and brought Bongsoham (奉疏函) to outside of Donhwamun (敦化門) gate of Changdeokgung palace. They asked the official (書員) working for Doseungji (都承旨) to come to Sumuncheong (守門廳) to send over Sangso to Seungji working that day. However, Doseungji Yi Jong-wu (李鍾愚) said he could not accept this because there was no Geunsil and returned. The same day, Yusaeng had lied down when it was passing Sinsi (3 to 5 pm, 申時) and Yejopanseo Yun Jeong-hyeon (尹定鉉) came by and looked at Sobon. Later, Jinsa Yi Jun-ha (李儁河) came with twelve more other Jinsa and lied down together.

On May 12th, they lied down in front of the gate again at Myosi (5 to 7 am, 卯時) and was trying to hand over the summary (Daegae, 大槪) of Sangso to Seungjeongwon and Seori (representative) blocked them. In the afternoon, more people gathered and lied down, and they asked Seori again to send in Sangso to Seungjeongwon. But Seongjeongwon said the same thing about not having Geunsil and returned. After Sinsi, the leader told everyone that Sangso can only reach the king if every single person works hard and put true heart and order them to wait for the day. Then, Jangeui and Sosaek (疏色) persuaded and encouraged many Yusaeng, so no more conflicts or confusion occurred.

As Sangso was not accepted, Yusaeng started feeling worried and agitated and some of them did not participate in Bokhab. Therefore, they discussed about the matter and excluded the ones who did not participate in Bokhab from Sorok. They tried submitting the summary of Sangso again to Seungjeongwon on May 13th, but Doseungji returned it right away and said that it was accepted without Geunsil in the year of Imjanyeon (1792) because there was Jeongyo (king’s order, 傳敎), but it was not the case for them. Then, Yusaeng from Sungkyunkwan came to participate in Bokhab. On the same day, there was an anonymous letter about the absence of Kang Ju-yeong (姜冑永), Yeo Sa-cheol (呂思哲), Noh Seong-sun (盧性純), Kang Un-heum (姜運欽), and Cho Hyeon-gi (趙鉉基), and their names were deleted from Sorok. On May 14th, Seongjeongwon still did not accept it because there was no Geunsil.

May 15th was the birthday of Queen Sunwon, so all the state affairs were stopped. Some people said Bokhab could have stopped for the day as well, but more people thought that could degrade the purpose of Bokhab; therefore, they decided to perform it anyways. Seungjeongwon decided to stay in (啓聞), and the king approved to accept Yeongnam Sangso in the afternoon. Jinsa Kwon Jae-hyeong (權載衡) and Bongsoyuhak (奉疏幼學) Kim Jung-hu (金重垕) went in together with the original copy of Sangso when Seori came to take the summary because it was not possible to understand the whole situation from Daegae.

When the leader of Sangso followed them and arrived at Sukjangmoon gate (肅章門), Seungji scolded him under Gyepan (message board on the wall, 啓版) of Seungjeongwon and told him to complete Sangso and Yusaeng to go outside and wait there. Seori checked the length and width of Sangso and said it was not appropriate not to print one’s name (着啣). Thus, he signed it and brought it back again. Juseo of Seungjeongwon told him to go outside the gate and wait there as well. The leader, Yi Hui-byeong and other people bowed down and there was an order to return Sangso. Many Yusaeng and the leader came back to Sungkyunkwan, and Seori from Sumuncheong brought Soji from Seungjeongwon in the evening. In the morning on May 16th, Seori came and told Yi Hui-byeong to come to Seungjeongwon and wait there. He also notified that Daesaheon Yu Jang-hwan (俞章煥) submitted a complaint. When Yusaeng followed the leader and arrived at the gate, Seori brought Sobon (疏本) and gave it back to him. Seungjeongwon sent out a letter, so the leader told the people to wait for the order. When the leader arrived at Seungjeongwon, Seungji read out loud the letter and passed along the message that they should stop violating the king’s order. Later, the leader went away and Yusaeng followed him back to Sungkyunkwan. They discussed about what to do in the future but there was nothing they could do.

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