16?? ?? ÐÂßxÜŠ? ??? ?? (Establishment and operation of Sinseongun in the late 16th century)

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Sinseon-gun(ÐÂßxÜŠ) was and elite army established in Hassam-do(ÏÂÈýµÀ, Gyeongsang-do, Jeolla-do, and Chungcheong-do) in the late 16th century. Sinseon-gun refers to ¡°Sinsun-Jeong-ro-wi(¶¨Ì”Ðl), Byeol-si-wi(„eÊÌÐl), and Gap-sa(¼×Ê¿).¡± However, since the term ¡°Sinsun(ÐÂßx)¡± means ¡°newly selected,¡± Sinseon-gun was also understood as a ¡°newly selected military.¡± The reason why this army came to be called ¡®Shinseon¡¯ seems to be that it was a newly selected soldier outside the regular ranks of ¡®Jeong-ro-wi, Byeol-si-wi, and Gap-sa¡¯, which were elite soldiers. This army had the character of ¡®Jeong-ro-wi, Byeol-si-wi, and Gap-sa¡¯ appointed as probation. These were distinguished from the regular ¡®Jeongrowi, Byeol-shiwi, and Gapsa¡¯. They were promoted to the regular army when there were vacancies in the regular army.
In the early Joseon Dynasty, elite army were deployed only in the capital, Hanyang, and Pyongan-do and Hamgyeong-do. For the defense of the Hasamdo area, only the regular Sugun(ˮ܊), that means navy, and Jeongbyeong(Õý±ø), that means land army, were mobilized.
In the 16th century, the power of the navy and land army was rapidly weakened, and the only troops that maintained combat capabilities were elite army selected by testing martial arts. As the invasion of Japanese pirates increased rapidly in the 16th century, the need to deploy elite army in the Hasamdo area increased. However, if a large number of elite army were deployed in this area, the defense of the capital would inevitably be weakened.
In the first half of the 16th century, the Joseon government mobilized those who were learning martial arts in order to apply for Mu-gwa(Îä¿Æ), that meas an officer selection examination, on behalf of the central elite army to defend the southern region. They were called Hallyang(éeÁ¼) because they were noblemen or upper-class people who did not serve in the military.
From the late 16th century to the early 17th century, the target of conscription for the Shinseon-gun was a candidate for Mu-gwa who did not serve in the military. Considering this point, the establishment of Sinseongun was an institutional reorganization of the conscription of Hanryang. It is also presumed that this system promoted the efficiency of mobilization of troops. Sinseon-gun served in the naval and army camps in the Hasamdo area.
In the late 16th century, those who joined the Shinseon-gun were mostly wealthy nobles or upper class people. This was because in order to learn martial arts, they had to equip themselves with expensive weapons and horses at their own expense and practice martial arts for a long time.
Because the Shinseon-gun was an elite army and consisted of people of high status, so it was treated better than the general regular army. For this reason, in the early 17th century, more and more people who had not learned martial arts or were not of high social status joined the Shinseon-gun to escape the arduous military service, and the social status of the Shinseon-gun gradually declined.