Re-Socialization of the Butchers (1)

After the Great Fire of Hanyang, the court held intensive discussions over the question, “What should be done with the butchers from now on?”

Sejong had spent all this time trying somehow to embrace them and incorporate them into Joseon, but

The Great Fire of Hanyang had shown him that the measures taken so far were far from sufficient.

At an audience held in the presence of the assembled ministers, Sejong declared,

"Because of my lack of virtue, I failed to make the new baekjeong (a term coined by including the hwacheok among the baekjeong, a word originally meaning ordinary farmers and commoners) into true citizens of Joseon. It can be said that the new baekjeong became rebels because of this failure. Therefore, from this moment onward, I wish to correct my error and establish proper policies so that the new baekjeong, too, may live peaceful lives as citizens of Joseon."

In Korea, the word baekjeong is used to refer to people who slaughter cows and pigs.

However, that was not the word’s original meaning. It originally referred to ordinary commoners.

Yet Sejong ordered that the hwacheok also be included among the commoners, and that they be called ‘new baekjeong,’ or simply ‘baekjeong.’

However, the common people disliked using the word, asking why they were being treated as equals of the hwacheok.

They began calling themselves sangmin rather than baekjeong, and the word baekjeong came to replace the Goryeo-era hwacheok.

Thus, in another sense, the word baekjeong came to embody the failure and dark history of Sejong’s policy of assimilating the hwacheok.

“Until now, we prohibited them from slaughtering cows and horses, and also prohibited them from raising livestock and living as nomads... But when I look back and think about it, I believe that policies aimed in this direction were mistaken.”

Joseon’s policies concerning the butchers had remained unchanged from the earliest days of its founding until now.

That was because the court rejected their way of life, in which they slaughtered cows and horses and lived as nomads, and forcibly made them farm in an effort to turn them into commoners.

However, that approach had done nothing but fail time and time again.

They were being unilaterally told to abandon the way of life they had followed for generations and live an entirely new one.

It was an unreasonable demand that they found difficult to accept.

“Just as even laws that seem immutable for all eternity must naturally change when circumstances change with time, I wish to change the court’s policies for dealing with the new baekjeong. What are your thoughts?”

Northeast Asia is a region of countries that have adopted Confucianism as their state ideology.

Therefore, the people, subjects, and even kings living in this land must uphold the principles of loyalty and filial piety.

That was why Jungjong, who ascended the throne after the Jungjong Restoration, occasionally sent royal physicians to the deposed Yeonsangun to check on his health, along with restorative medicine and delicious food.

Although he had confined Yeonsangun under guard, he still had to show filial devotion.

In such a country, changing a policy handed down from the nation’s founder and grandfather, Taejo Yi Seong-gye, would be an extremely heavy burden for Sejong, but...

‘For Joseon’s sake, it must be changed.’

The ministers also agreed with Sejong’s intentions.

After all, it was simply horrifying to imagine what might happen in the future if the butchers continued failing to adapt properly to Joseon society and remained perpetual outsiders.

The dissatisfied butchers might set fire to Hanyang again, or band together and become a band of thieves.

There might even emerge someone who plotted rebellion, like the neighboring country’s Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, a terminal-stage paranoid schizophrenic and former gang leader of thieves.

In fact, half of the serious crimes currently occurring in Joseon were being committed by butchers. The situation was that grave.

‘Even for the sake of protecting myself, I have to turn the butchers into human beings.’

Naturally, the time had come when a new policy was needed to accomplish that.

“Your servant, Chief State Councillor Hwang Hui, humbly reports. His Majesty King Taejo prohibited them from slaughtering cattle because there were too few oxen for farming, and prohibited the slaughter of horses because the army needed a great many of them. However, the Bangwon Law is now widely enforced, the national treasury is well supplied, and the lives of the people have grown more prosperous. Since circumstances have changed, would Your Majesty consider partially relaxing the Ugeumryeong, the law prohibiting cattle slaughter, and permitting the butchers to slaughter cattle?”

“I agree with the Chief State Councillor’s proposal as well.”

Sejong truly loved meat.

He loved it so much that he could hardly eat a meal without it.

His love of meat was so intense that when Jeongjong died, Yi Bang-won could gauge how deeply Sejong grieved simply by seeing him give up meat.

That was why Sejong also wished to feed the meat he loved so much to the people more often.

Just as parents want to feed their children good things.

“Until now, poor people who could not afford to raise cattle apparently had to pull plows themselves instead of using oxen. But now, as the people have gradually gained some breathing room and can raise as many cattle as they need in the countryside... there is no longer any reason to maintain the Ugeumryeong so harshly.”

“Moreover, there were many ways in which the people failed to observe the Ugeumryeong in practice by coming up with various excuses. Would it not be better to abolish the Ugeumryeong altogether and allow only those who have received permission to slaughter cattle?”

As Hwang Hui had said, there was no need to deprive the butchers of their livelihood because of a law that was not properly enforced in the first place.

Rather, it would be better in many ways to raise enough additional cattle to account for those intended for slaughter and legalize slaughter within set limits.

Then the number of cattle would increase, allowing that many more oxen to be mobilized as labor.

“In truth, Joseon needs a great deal of livestock. But in Hwanghae and Pyeongan Provinces, is there not plenty of land that could be used as pasture, even in populated counties? Therefore, would it not be good to provide them with some livestock and let them live there, while registering their names in the county household registers and recording the kinds and numbers of livestock they raise? It would also be beneficial to designate their residential areas and prevent them from leaving those areas.”

The direction of the measures proposed by Sejong and the ministers was almost identical to what Kim Daebung had in mind.

They would abolish the Ugeumryeong, grand in name but not actually enforced, and create a foundation on which the butchers could survive.

On top of that, they would provide the excess land in Pyeongan and Hwanghae Provinces as pasture, allowing them to live as regulated nomads and giving them a chance to live like human beings.

“If any official has thought of a good method besides this, let him submit a memorial regardless of rank... But have him submit it directly to me without passing through the Seungjeongwon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Sejong then remembered Min Jeon, the former Mayor of Hanseong, who was imprisoned in the Uigeumbu and had declared that he would surrender all his property.

“Former Mayor of Hanseong Min Jeon disregarded the warning from Minister of Works Yi Cheon and neglected preparations for fires in Hanyang. Although he was extremely busy with the great many duties he had to handle in Hanseongbu, his neglect of his responsibilities led to the dreadful incident in which Jongmyo nearly burned down. His crime is therefore truly grave. Under normal circumstances, he should be sentenced to decapitation or hanging for nearly burning Jongmyo through dereliction of duty.”

From Min Jeon’s perspective, it was honestly enough to make him die of sheer injustice.

The number of matters Hanseongbu had to handle was not merely one or two; it exceeded dozens, even hundreds.

And to lose his head for the crime of being somewhat negligent about fire preparations among all those duties was an excessively harsh punishment.

However, considering that more than 1,000 people had died in this fire and that 18 percent of Hanyang had burned down, there was sufficient justification for such a sentence.

“However, Jegom Kim Daebung of the Jeonhamsa submitted a memorial stating that fires are inherently unpredictable, and that preparations had been delayed because Hanseongbu’s other duties had been extremely urgent and demanding. I agree with him. Before I ascended the throne, Hanyang’s population was only 100,000. Now, people are flooding in from all eight provinces by the day, and the population has already reached 120,000. How many more duties must Hanseongbu handle now? In such circumstances, I should have held special examinations more frequently and increased the number of successful candidates, but I failed to do so. The greatest fault lies with me.”

A cold sweat ran down the backs of the ministers.

Praising Kim Daebung while putting himself down was not merely the king engaging in self-reflection.

It was also an indirect but savage criticism of the ministers: What the hell had you all been doing during all this time?

Therefore, a relentless top-down chain of berating would begin today in the Uijeongbu and the Six Ministries, starting with the Chief State Councillor.

The Chief State Councillor would tear into the Left and Right State Councillors, the Left and Right Junior State Councillors would then be torn into, followed by the Six Ministers, and then the Six Vice Ministers—a multilayered structure of getting chewed out.

“Under these circumstances, what right do I have to sentence Mayor of Hanseong Min Jeon to decapitation? I have also heard that he reflected on his mistake and said he would surrender all his property... How could I not reduce his punishment? Therefore, his sentence shall be reduced. Mayor of Hanseong Min Jeon shall be stripped of his office and exiled to Gilsang in Hamgyeong Province. And in consideration of his wishes, half his property shall be used to provide relief to the people.”

Sending him to Gilsang in Hamgyeong Province in February, a time when it was already cold enough to freeze to death, meant ordering him to repent while shivering in the cold and suffering through every hardship.

On top of that, taking half his property made this a considerably severe punishment.

“The Left and Right Yun of Hanseongbu also bear some responsibility for this matter, so they too shall be stripped of their offices and exiled to Saknyeong County in Gyeonggi Province and Deoksan Prefecture in Chungcheong Province, respectively.”

At this unprecedented development in which both the first- and second-in-command officials of Hanseongbu had been removed, the ministers were inwardly aghast.

“The post of Mayor of Hanseong shall temporarily be held concurrently by Chief State Councillor Hwang Hui. And since the position of Right State Councillor has become vacant after its occupant submitted a resignation memorial... Jo Mal-saeng, who rendered great service as Minister of War, shall be specially promoted and appointed Right State Councillor of senior first rank.”

Hwang Hui, who had become Mayor of Hanseong, and Jo Mal-saeng, who had just received a promotion, had one thing in common.

They both listened extremely well to Kim Daebung’s opinions.

"The Chief State Councillor shall immediately do his utmost to restore Hanyang, while the Right State Councillor shall prepare a draft proposal on how to deal with the butchers so that it can be discussed in the Uijeongbu."