Letter to the Hwanghae Inspector and the Garrison Commander of Sogang移黃海道巡察使所江僉使文

To raise up the profit of salt and so help the state's expenses is a plan already followed in ages past. The men of old made salt a great treasure of the state, and taught the people the means of it, and turned ruined places into lands of plenty and wealth, in more cases than one or two. Ming set up troops for boiling salt apart and fixed the rule for taking it in as tax, and that law is very close-meshed, so that a great deal of their army provisions is all provided by depending upon it. In our country it is not that there are few places along the sea where salt is got, but all of it turns to private use; so that at this time when military supplies are short we sit still and lose a great profit, which is truly a pity.

Ongjin and Haeju in this province have the most salt-cauldrons of anywhere; so now we would go to these places and set up salt-yards apart, and cut out the naval troops who are to go into the seven harbors and have them boil and gather as their strength allows, and put the garrison commander of Sogang in sole charge with his whole strength, so that salt may be got in good plenty while the burden does not reach the people. On the other hand, let a salt storehouse be set up at a place near Samseongdae in Tosan, and let the sacks of boiled salt be hauled in one after another and piled there; and whenever salt is dear, let the people be allowed to come and buy it at an even price. Then the people of the near mountain-valley counties will all find it easy to get salt, and the grain the government gets will be much besides.

As for the intent of the business to be carried out, let this province reckon it particularly closely and report back, to be the ground for settling it to the bottom. And look into and report the number of each thing besides, one by one: how many salt-cauldrons in all, of the government and of private hands, are already set out; how many men in all the salt-boiling troops are; and how many seok come in as tax in a year. Further, when the season of full boiling in spring comes, if the soldiers who are to go on frontier duty be cut out and helped with rice from the army provisions, and salt be bought and brought into the storehouse to be a stock for the people to buy and eat, then even without a separate undertaking of boiling, the salt got will likewise be no little. Reckon these matters as well and report back, to be the ground for disposing of it.