At the end of the Goryeo period, there was interference from the Monwon Empire outside, powerful families at home interfered in government and seized power, land annexation was serious, and internal and external troubles caused domestic turmoil in Goryeo. At this time of turmoil, the Goryeo Dynasty ushered in a new monarch, King Gongchou.
King Gongchou began his accession to the throne at a time when he was a young man determined to strive for strength and reform politics, putting into practice the political ideas he had nurtured in the Proton Age to revive the weakening Goryeo Dynasty.
I. The Political Conception of the Proton Age
King Gong Zhan (恭愍王讳颛), Gu Tanqi, Mongol Emperor Timur, brother of King Zhonghui. King Zhongsu was born in May in the seventeenth year of Gengwu and was given the title of Grand Prince of Jiangling. In May of the second year of Queen Zhonghui, Emperor Yuanshun sent an envoy to summon the imperial guard, then called Dayuanzi.
While serving as a proton in the Yuan capital Yanjing, he received a Confucian education under Park Ingan. After 1349, Wang Qi began to serve the crown prince of the Yuan Dynasty, Ai You, and Lidara studied in Duanbentang. The Yuan government hired Manchu Confucian ministers to teach the crown prince, and Wang Qi was inevitably influenced by some Confucian ideology and culture.
During this period, he grew into a learned figure, and the insights and strength he accumulated laid the foundation for his later political path.
At the same time, Wang Qi also kept an eye on the Goryeo Kingdom. As the son of Goryeo who entered the Yuan Dynasty, he deeply reflected on himself and the situation of Goryeo, and slowly began to conceive the blueprint for the throne.
Second, the reform attempt at the beginning of the accession to the throne
In October 1351, Emperor Won Soon made Wang Chu the King of Goryeo and appointed Yi Qixian as regent to cut off the affairs of the eastern province and handle the affairs of the eastern province with full power. In November, Emperor Shun appointed Zhao Rixin as counselor, with Liu Shu and Jin Depei as deputy spokesmen for the right and left, and then successively purged the remnants of the political activities of the Zhongding dynasty.
After a series of preparations, Wang Chu returned to the kingdom of Goryeo in December and officially ascended the throne at Kang'an Hall as King Gongshu.
In the first month of 1352 (the first year of King Gongshu), Li Yanzong, the superintendent doctor, advised King Gongshu: "Braided hair and beard are not the system of the previous king, may His Highness not follow the customs." King Gong was overjoyed, and immediately unbraided and gave Li Yanzong clothes and bedding.
In this regard, some people believe that "Li Yanzong only put forward advice to cater to the wishes of King Gongshu." From King Gong's reaction, we can also see that this is indeed his own meaning, but using Li Yanzong as a traction point to abandon Mongolian hair accessories and clothing, thereby diluting the influence of Meng Yuan, which also points out the direction of King Gong's new policy in the first year.
In order to ensure the smooth progress of the reform, in February, King Gongshu announced that "the government house will be abolished, and the military book will be put into the canonical military book." ”
Since the government house was the agency of the Yuan dynasty to interfere in the internal affairs of Goryeo, and the abolition of the government house affected the overall interests of the pro-Yuan power group, Won Se-hoon first launched a counterattack, and the powerful ministers of Goryeo also put up strong resistance, and then the power group directly ignored the political reforms of King Gongcho.
However, King Gong did not give up, but continued to issue edicts announcing the formal implementation of reforms, the contents of which were summarized in the following aspects:
1. Political reform
On the political front, King Gongshu carried out three major reforms. First of all, King Gongshu focused on rewarding meritorious figures and meritorious people throughout the ages. Rewarding meritorious heroes is a reward mechanism implemented by successive monarchs in order to consolidate their ruling position and adjust the internal relations of the ruling class.
Under this reward mechanism, the political beliefs, moral principles, and behavior patterns of the rewarded courtiers are all under the influence of the new monarch, and then become supporters and supporters of the new monarch's rule, thus expanding his ruling base.
The second measure of King Gong was to open the way of speech and advice. Words and advice are important contents of the country's political life. The so-called way of speech refers to the way in which a courtier speaks to the imperial court; Counseling, on the other hand, refers to outspoken persuasion to make people correct their mistakes.
Words and counsel complement each other and are inseparable. In the long history of mankind, the passage of speech and advice not only helped the monarch to gather wisdom, but also played an important role in the supervision of the monarch's power.
The implementation of this policy played an important role in stabilizing the political situation in Goryeo and consolidating the regime of King Gongcho.
The third measure of King Gong is that King Gong attaches great importance to the discovery and reuse of talents. The so-called talent refers to a person who can make great contributions to social development and human progress with his creative labor under certain social and historical conditions.
Talent has historically played an important role in governing the country. After political reform, King Gongshu not only enlisted a group of powerful ministers, but also selected and trained a large number of talents, further expanding his ruling base, thus cultivating a backbone for his reform. This also consolidated the regime to a certain extent, thus laying the foundation for the new policy of the new monarch.
2. Economic reform
On the economic front, the Korean government focused on reforming land, taxation, and usury rates.
First of all, the Goryeo government carried out the policy of "Tianmin Discernment".
At the end of the Goryeo period, due to the domestic noble clan relying on the power of the Yuan Dynasty, they carried out crazy annexation and plundering of land, and the people who had no livelihood left their homeland one after another, resulting in a decrease in national fiscal revenue and the verge of social and economic collapse.
Therefore, at the beginning of his accession to the throne, King Gong promulgated the regulations of the Tian Min Zhengzheng. The regulations require the Quanmen clan to return the land they have seized in a short period of time and to give the peasants their freedom to ease the conflict between the powerful and the landers.
Although it failed to touch the feudal private ownership of land, it curbed the land annexation of the Quanmenshi to a certain extent, increased the enthusiasm of peasants for production, facilitated the collection of state taxes and the collection of forced labor, and promoted the social and economic development of Goryeo.
Second, King Gongshu announced tax relief. People's livelihood is the foundation of people's happy life and the foundation of social harmony. In order to promote social harmony and stability, we must put people's livelihood issues in the first place.
Therefore, after King Gongshu came to the throne, he also paid great attention to the issue of people's livelihood. As a result, regulations on tax relief were promulgated in response to the tax issue that farmers were most concerned about.
Finally, the Korean government adjusted the usury rate. At the end of the Goryeo period, monasteries indiscriminately issued usury loans to the poor, resulting in the sale of their children by the poor, and the number of displaced people increased significantly, causing social unrest.
In order to solve this problem, King Gongshu limited usurers at the source and reduced the factors of social instability, thereby maintaining social stability to a certain extent.
3. Social reform
In this dimension of society, Goryeo at that time had a lax law and order, serious abuse of power by officials, poor people, shortage of talents, and corrupt social atmosphere.
Most of the people are dissatisfied with this. Therefore, King Gongshu promulgated rectification regulations to promote social fairness and justice, improve the well-being of the people, win the support of the people and the support of society, and lay the foundation for the autocracy of the new monarch.
Due to years of war, the people of Goryeo lived in poverty, especially the widows and lonely people. Widows and widows are a vulnerable group in Goryeo society, and rescuing widows and widows is the practice of the monarch's ideology of virtue and government, which is not only related to the stability of the regime, but also related to the fairness and justice of society.
Therefore, after King Gongshu came to power, he strengthened his relief for the poor. To a certain extent, this has eased social contradictions and played a certain positive role in the stability of social order.
4. Military reform
The country cannot stand without defense, and the people are uneasy. The prosperity and development of the country, the harmony and stability of society, and the peaceful and contented life of the people all rely on the support of strong national defense forces.
Therefore, military reform is one of the core contents of King Gong's reform, the ultimate goal of which is to unify national power, strengthen the state's control over the military, and thus improve the ability to defend against external troubles in order to save the possible dangers.
First of all, in view of the current situation of the flooding of coastal wakou and the shortage of troops at that time, the Goryeo government proposed a corresponding reward policy, and gave corresponding rewards to those who fought against the wako, so as to encourage the people to actively participate in the struggle against the wako.
The promulgation of this policy encouraged a large number of people to join the army and strengthened Koryo's national defense strength to a certain extent.
Second, the long-term military oppression and frequent economic extortion of the Yuan Dynasty increased the burden on the people of Goryeo, causing popular resentment to boil.
In order to reduce the burden of military food on the common people, King Gongshu also made corresponding adjustments to the supply and delivery time of military food. It not only ensured the stability of military food supply, but also alleviated social contradictions to a certain extent, thus greatly winning the hearts and minds of the people and consolidating the ruling regime of King Gongshu.
In short, the New Deal was a revolution initiated to give legitimacy to the succession to the throne, strengthen the authority of the king, and at the same time cooperate with the resolution of various contradictions within Goryeo society.
The New Deal in the first year shows that King Gongshu has a strong desire to be pro-government and make a difference, but because there is no clear target for rectification in the new policy of the first year, and the leading force to promote political change cannot be found, the New Deal of the first year cannot achieve substantive results in this political environment.
However, the New Deal in the first year still played a positive role in the stability of Goryeo society, the increase of national revenues, and the consolidation of national defense for a certain period of time, and also laid the foundation for the new monarch's new royal power, thus preparing for the upcoming 'anti-yuan' politics.
Epilogue:
The implementation of the New Deal in the first year was not all smooth sailing. Because its reform policies harm the vested interests of different interest groups, they have aroused strong opposition. Depending on the interest groups harmed, there are more than one group of opponents.
First of all, because the abandonment of Mongolian hair accessories and clothing in the first year of King Gongshu's new policy had a certain anti-Yuan color, the Yuan Dynasty sent Cheng Xiangshu to admonish him, and removed Liu Shu and Jin Depei from their posts as punishment.
Secondly, the Tian Min Correction Regulations also attracted dissatisfaction and opposition from the Quanmen clan. At the end of the Goryeo period, the powerful and powerful tribes in the country fought against the forces of the Yuan Dynasty and illegally seized land, and the Tianmin Zhengzheng Regulations demanded that the Quanmen clan return the forcibly occupied peasant land, which harmed their vital interests, so the implementation of the reform was strongly opposed and obstructed by them.
In addition, the abolition of the government house not only harmed the overall interests of the pro-Yuan clique but also caused them to conflict, and the pro-Yuan forces led by Zhao Rixin reacted most violently to this, and also launched a rebellion in the spring and autumn of 1352.
After the Zhao Rixin Rebellion was calmed, in order to ease relations with the pro-Yuan political forces and gain the support of the Yuan Dynasty, King Gongshu began to pacify the pro-Yuan forces represented by the Qi clan. In the second year of King Gongshu, he sent "the secret envoy Li Yexian Timur and Yingyang army to protect the army An You like a Yuan tribute, and still presented the queen's birthday gift." This is the beginning of the Queen's birthday. ”
At the same time, he also enlisted the family members of Qihou in Goryeo, and in less than two years, the younger brother of the Qihou clan, the official Baideksan Yuanjun, and the nephew of the Qihou, Qiwan Buhua, was named the Prince of Demyang Province, and other members of the Qihou family were also prominent.
King Gong also consolidated his position in the Goryeo kingdom with the support of Empress Ki, which to some extent achieved his desired goal of giving legitimacy to the throne, which also meant that the new policy in the first year came to an end.