Great Fire of Hanyang (1)

Wherever there is light, shadows are bound to form.

It is an undeniable fact that Joseon greatly prospered under the economic and tax order led by Kim Daebung, but not everyone was happy to enjoy that prosperity.

Merchants unable to keep up with the changing times began dropping out of the competition in droves, while some yangban even started gnashing their teeth at the court, asking why they should have to pay taxes that poor commoners had once been responsible for.

Besides those mentioned above, there were others who hated the current prosperity more than anyone.

“Dolsoe, can the world really be like this? No, what the hell did we do so wrong for the world to treat us like this?”

Dolsoe replied.

“Have people like us, hwacheok (baekjeong), ever been treated like human beings for even a day or two?”

“In the old days, even yangmin gentlemen lived hard unless they were rich, so I could put up with it and live that way too. But these days, those yangmin gentlemen are all living so well. Seeing that makes me so bitter and twists my guts that I can't stand it. No, did we do something wrong to become hwacheok? We were born that way—does that alone mean we have to live in poverty and be despised as well? Why is the world so harsh only on us?”

King Sejong spared no effort to embrace the baekjeong as commoners of Joseon.

He not only gave the baekjeong wasteland they could clear free of charge, but also provided them with food to live on while they worked the land and had the commoners of each county teach them how to farm...