Daejeon (van Joseon)

The rise to power

He helped his father in the forcible change of the dynasty, so in 1392 he killed the high-ranking defender of the last of the kings Koryo Konyan-wan Chon Monchu. During the reign of his father, he had the title of Prince Jongan, but was removed from power.

Heir to Lee Song was declared the youngest of his sons from two main wives - the young Lee Bansok, behind whom stood a powerful dignitary and neo-Confucian thinker . Lee Bangwon accused Jong Dojong and his supporters of allegedly wanting to kill all the other sons of Lee Song, and in 1398 committed a coup, ordering his warriors to destroy Brother Lee Bansok and his close associates, primarily Jung Dongjong. Banwon forced his father to abdicate, giving the throne to his second oldest brother, Lee Bangwa (the posthumous name is Jeongjong ). The real power passed into the hands of Lee Banvon and his clique.

After the fourth prince, Lee Banggan, attempted to destroy Lee Banwon’s group in 1400 , with the filing of Lee Song and Lee Bangwa, the latter decided that it was time to come to the fore. Lee Bangwa was forced to abdicate, Lee Bangang's entourage was exterminated (the prince himself was sent into exile), and Lee Bangwon ascended the throne. Immediately after coming to power, he dismissed all private military units, thereby protecting his regime from attempts. After the coup attempt, undertaken in 1402 by one of the border commanders Cho Sayyem (with the tacit approval of Lee Song), failed, the Lee Banwon regime entered a phase of stability.

Domestic Policy

Everyone who could be suspected of attempted power was repressed: for example, Lee Banvon’s supporters — the brothers of his Queen Wongyong (from the Ming clan) —were sentenced to “weave palace intrigues,” were sent into exile (and later forced to suicide). The father of the wife of the future King Sejon , who was accused by the scammer of "criticizing state policy," was also forced to suicide.

In 1414, a special department was created (the Office for the Discussion of the Forbidden), with more than 250 employees whose task was to prosecute opponents of the regime in the Yanban environment, and at the same time fight against violators of Confucian morality. Following the example of the Dynasty of Songs , in 1402 a “complaint drum” was installed in which a person who wanted to inform the sovereign personally about the abuses of officials could knock (however, slaves were forbidden to inform the gentlemen).

In the first years of the king’s power, the head of the state apparatus was the Supreme State Council , established in 1400, but by 1414 its role had diminished and was reduced to the proposal of councils that were optional for implementation.

Royal bureaucracy tightened control over the population. In 1413, following the example of the Yuan dynasty, the law on "nameplates" - original "passports" was enacted. All adults had to carry these tablets with them: in this way, the regime wanted to prevent tax evasion and military service (in reality, the majority avoided carrying tablets).

Under Taejong, the system of allocating state land for service for the bureaucracy introduced by his father after land recounting operated. (However, the fields, which were initially state-owned, after 60-70 years became private again, and there was no longer any land left for extradition for service.)

Then, royal decrees began to close many Buddhist monasteries . Against Buddhist land ownership (monasteries controlled approximately 10-12% of all lands), measures were taken: immediately after the death of the Buddhist royal mentor Muhak (1405), 90% of their lands were confiscated, more than 80 thousand monastery slaves were assigned to state institutions, and monks who did not have a state certificate were returned to the world. The influence of Buddhism has been eroded.

In general, Daejeon's reforms laid the foundations for Joseon's rational, rigidly centralized statehood. They became the foundation upon which, in the reign of the son of Daejeon, King Sejong the Great , the economy and culture of the late Korean Middle Ages flourished.

The beginning of the reign of the Li Dynasty was also marked by the flourishing of historical writing and literature. In 1408, the compilation and publication of “draft” royal chronicles of the ruling dynasty began .

Foreign Policy and War

Following his father, he was engaged in strengthening the Korean naval forces, building new ships, the number of which exceeded 600, and increasing the number of personnel of the fleet for the war against Japanese pirates . To protect the northern border in the middle reaches of the Amnokkan from attacks by the Jurchen, he began to create special fortified districts, having established the Yeon district in 1416.

Already in 1401, a royal seal was sent from China to Korea for Korean sovereigns. Korea, as a state dependent on China, was forced to equip embassies with gifts six to seven times a year (supplies of gold and silver, ginseng, horses and cattle, furs and hides, fabrics). In addition to regularly sending embassies with gifts, Minsk China also demanded that Korea supply eunuchs and girls for the imperial court.

Renunciation

In 1418, sending the two eldest sons into exile, he renounced power in favor of the third son of his elder wife, Lee Do.

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