Departure and Offering Deadlines and Dates of Beopseongchang Tax Carriers

Beopseongchang was supposed to divide collected tax grain into different tax carriers and have them depart before March 15 every year, but this legal deadline was missed often in reality with tax carriers departing in April or May in many cases. This trend intensified during the second half of Joseon. The government implemented a policy to make the departure deadline no big issue as long as tax carriers would arrive at the Han River safe.Beopseongchang was ordered to have its tax carriers sail safely and arrive at the Han River by April 10, but they passed the legal deadline and arrived in May in most cases in reality. There were even often cases in which they arrived in June, July, or August. This tendency increased in frequency during the second half of Joseon. The government reacted to it with no theoretical law applications. Instead, it carried out a policy to make late arrivals no special issue as long as they arrived without any accidents. The government flexibly dealt with the departure and offering deadlines of tax carriers that transported the state's financial resources.