Daedong law
Tribute in local goods was replaced by a tax in rice levied on land; begun in Gyeonggi, it took a century to cover the whole country.
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Tribute in kind fell unevenly on households, and officials and merchants who paid it on others’ behalf and then charged several times the cost (bangnap) made it worse. On Yi Won-ik’s advice, Gwanghaegun applied the new law in Gyeonggi in the year he took the throne and set up the Seonhyecheong to run it.
It levied 12 du of rice per gyeol of land, payable also in cloth or coin. Opposition from landholding yangban slowed its spread: Gangwon under Injo, Chungcheong and coastal Jeolla under Hyojong at Kim Yuk’s urging, Gyeongsang early in Sukjong’s reign, and finally Hwanghae in 1708, covering every province except Pyeongan and Hamgyeong.
The burden on peasants with little or no land fell. The state used the rice to buy goods through licensed purveyors (gongin), whose trade helped a commercial, money-based economy grow. Royal tribute (jinsang) and special levies remained, so payments in kind did not disappear entirely.
