As the boy had been separated from his mother and banished to Kang-wha, he could be dealt with at pleasure. His death would remain unknown for a time, and the matter would pass by unnoticed. So in the following year, at the instigation of Yi I-ch’ŭm, the magistrate of Kang wha put the boy in a small room, built a roaring fire under it and suffocated him, an extreme of barbarity which the world can hardly parallel. The news soon spread among the officials. Scores of memorials poured in upon the king who answered them as before by banishment and death.
The king insulted.... the “Mulberry Palace”.... plot against the Queen Dowager.... her indictment.... she is degraded.... inception of the Manchu power.... China summons Korea to her aid.... troops despatched.... first battle with the Manchus.... Korean treachery.... Koreans make friends with the Manchus.... the Manchu court.... a Manchu letter to the king.... its answer.... Manchu rejoinder.... message to Nanking.... Chinese refugees.... a Korean renegade.... the Queen intercedes for China.... Chinese victory.... Manchu cruelty.... offices sold.... plot against the king.... king dethroned.... Queen Dowager reinstated.... reforms.... a thorough cleaning out.
With the opening of the year 1615 the king further revealed his hatred of the deposed and degraded queen by publishing broadcast the statement that she had gone to the grave of his mother and there, by practicing sorcery against him, had tried to bring evil upon him. This also brought out a loud protest from all honest men, and banishment followed. Even the children on the street spoke insultingly of the tyrant saying that he was afraid of the imps at the Myŭng-ye Palace, but had let his mother stay there with them though he himself would not go near the place. The king feared everyone that was honest and upright even though they had nothing to say. His own cousin, Prince Neung-ch’ang, whose younger brother afterward became king, was a perfectly peaceable and harmless man, but the king feared him and could not rest satisfied until he had gotten his satellites to accuse him of sedition and had suffocated him in a heated chamber on Kyo-dong Island. About this time a monk, named Seung-ji; gained the confidence of the superstitious king and induced him to build the In-gyŭng Palace which is commonly known among foreigners as the “Mulberry Palace.” To do this, thousands of the houses of the common people were razed and heavy taxes were levied throughout the country; and yet there was not enough money. So the king began to sell the public offices. Some were paid for in gold, others in silver, others in iron, and still others in wood, stone or salt. The people derisively called it the _O-hăng_, referring to the “Five Rules of Conduct” of the Confucian Code. The boys also made up a popular song which ran as follows, “Did you give gold, or silver, or wood for yours?” and they put the officials to shame by shouting it at them as they passed along the street.