Chapter 111
Jo Mal-saeng is laughing beside me.
"As expected, our Jukheon is best suited to the Uijeongbu. I will remain in the Uijeongbu for the rest of my life, until the day I resign. And Jukheon can be my successor. Excellent. Very desirable indeed."
Just as Jo Mal-saeng said, I was transferred from Jeonhamsa, a junior fourth-rank subordinate office under the Ministry of Works, to the Uijeongbu.
When I was being transferred, Lord Jo Mal-saeng—who was something like my second- or third-ranked lifelong slave—asked about my wishes, saying that I ought to be promoted at an unprecedentedly rapid pace, but...
I refused.
What I want is to work for the people, not to end up like Hwang Hui, barely being permitted to retire after turning ninety amid utter political chaos.
My dream is to work right up until the retirement age, retire with dignity, and then spend my days leisurely touring Joseon as it continues to develop thanks to my efforts.
Where did they get off making such a cruel proposal to a poor college student—buying him tangsuyuk and then telling him to attend graduate school all the way through a postdoc?
'If I had accepted that proposal, my rank certainly would have changed overnight.'
Hwang Hui, who had been watching Jo Mal-saeng, clicked his tongue.
"What exactly is so desirable? The color of that official robe is the problem. Does a robe meant for cham-sang officials suit our Kim Sain at all?"
"I am already advancing far beyond what my abilities and accomplishments warrant, so I am the object of envy for countless people. If I now rise to the ranks of the dangsang officials, would I not incur even more resentment and jealousy and, as the proverb ‘A young man who rises too quickly will not enjoy a good old age’ warns, fail to withstand the enemies I make through my early success and end up with an unhappy later life?"
In truth, I did not think I would be poisoned to death after receiving a royal death warrant because of envy and jealousy, or become entangled in a factional dispute and die branded a traitor.
I was worried about being Hwang Hui'd to death by King Sejong and suffering an ‘unhappy later life.’
I did not want to spend my final years working with a bent back, leaning on a staff and chair, and eventually riding around in a palanquin even inside Gyeongbokgung.
I mean it sincerely.
When I said this, Maeng Sa-seong, who had somehow already entered the Uijeongbu, burst out laughing.
"I do not think that is something Kim Sain can say after submitting a memorial about Chief State Councillor Ryu Jeong-hyeon that asked, ‘Is that fellow not precisely a specter of Goryeo?’ In truth, even if Kim Sain were promoted to a dangsang post right this instant, who could oppose it? Anyone who did would have to pay a separate visit to His Majesty the Retired King, dressed in a black dragon robe."
"Do I even know how long His Majesty will continue to favor me?"
Yi Suk-beon, who was still in exile and unable to return, had once risen too quickly at a young age. After throwing his weight around too much, he was caught up in the purge of the Min clan and exiled, where he still remained.
At least his property had not been confiscated when he was exiled, so they said he was living relatively leisurely without going hungry... But how could I know whether I would end up following that man's path?
In official life, even when an opportunity for advancement appears, one must not greedily accept everything handed to them.
Hwang Hui shrugged at me.
"If I had my way, I would take the day off from Uijeongbu business and send word to my household to bring enough wine and food for the officials of the Uijeongbu to enjoy a drink. But circumstances are not very favorable right now, so let us deal with relieving and rebuilding Hanyang's people first. Jukheon, have you thought of anything?"
What am I, some sort of policy vending machine?
If they tell me without warning to produce countermeasures for relieving Hanyang's people and rebuilding the city, am I supposed to spit them out on demand?
This is what is so frightening about those gentlemen.
Before using someone, they flatter him so excessively that he becomes dizzy, then work him to the bone like this.
The main victims of this are me, Kim Jong-seo, who had been reassigned to the post of Geom-sang in the Uijeongbu, and Hwangbo In.
'Actually, I came fully prepared.'
Just as one focuses on studying the questions likely to appear on an exam, it is easy to predict what questions will be asked in a situation like this.
"I heard that the Gyeongchang has released 1,000 seok of white rice and 500 seok of millet to relieve the people."
"Indeed. Those who have lost their homes and all their possessions have to worry about their next meal first. How could we leave them to starve?"
"Your Majesty's intention in distributing food to them is truly noble, but it is still wrong to hand it out without receiving anything in return."
All public budgets must be used as efficiently as possible.
If the money spent on creating grotesque, unattractive works of art in front of city halls, district offices, and various government buildings were used elsewhere, it could provide hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of orphanage children with online lectures in Korean, English, and mathematics.
If they studied, entered university, and eventually found jobs, they would become self-reliant and pay taxes as well. How could that not be beneficial?
Alternatively, we could build dozens of small but warm houses for our war veterans to live in.
In truth, taking care of people who are starving because they have nothing to eat is a very beneficial use of the budget, but...
"Have those who receive relief rice and millet first build at least a shack in return for the food they have received. Otherwise, people will freeze to death in droves in this cold weather."
Joseon's winters at this time were far colder than winters in the twenty-first century.
The Joseon officials knew that as well, so they were doing everything they could to house the refugees in government offices and asking private households to take them in too...
But government offices had never been built for people to live in, so the places where fires could be lit were limited. And even private homes were already cramped, so who would want to take in strangers?
As a result, most of the disaster refugees were enduring by entering the warm areas of government offices only at set times to escape the cold briefly, like taking the first, middle, and last watch shifts...
How many people would freeze to death while sleeping outdoors without a home in the February cold...?
"Once they have built the shacks first, we can mobilize them to build thatched houses on the sites of the collapsed homes. If several people work together, the job should be completed relatively quickly."
"Building a thatched house should not be all that difficult."
"There are many trees near Hanyang, including on Bukaksan, so we can use them to build the houses."
Mentioning the felling of trees suddenly reminded me of something.
In the early days of Joseon, there were so many trees in the mountains that this was not a problem. But after ondol began to be used in earnest in Joseon shortly after the Manchu War...
People cut down the mountain trees for firewood, and by the late Joseon period, it was said that hardly any trees remained on the mountains.
When describing Joseon's scenery in those days, the expression ‘red earth’ appeared frequently. Apparently, it was because there were no trees left on the mountains, allowing the iron in the soil to oxidize and show through, leaving the land that color.
For the sake of improving the welfare of Joseon's people, I would make sure to develop coal mines someday.
"You have a point. We will implement it exactly as you suggested. Even so, the relief grain will not be enough..."
I said nothing in response to Hwang Hui and merely gave him an intensely meaningful look.
That was enough.
Lord Hwang had personally declared his surrender.
"My family has rather a lot of property. Do I look like such a petty man that I cannot even do that much for Hanyang's people? Do you take me for Ryu Jeong-hyeon?"
"Thank you very much for saying so, my lord. Though my means are limited, I will contribute around 1,000 seok of white rice as well."
When I said that I would contribute, Kim Jong-seo, who was passing by, dropped his stack of reports.
Then the fifth-rank official looked into the eyes of the fourth-rank official that was me and signaled, ‘Are you insane?’
I decided to pretend I had not noticed.
Because if word spread that I, who had thrown myself into suppressing the Great Fire of Hanyang, had even donated my own property...
In Joseon, the land of propriety, where a crime as light as a strand of thread became as heavy as a mountain once one incurred the crime of being deemed offensive, every official would have to pay truly enormous sums.
I suppose even I would be startled if I were told to spend 1,000 seok of white rice because of an unexpected expense.
But unlike Korean civil servants, who naturally live on their salaries alone whenever possible, Joseon officials turned various budgets into salaries through Marine Corps-literature-style transfers.
In other words, although it may have been unavoidable as a problem of the times, to put it bluntly, they were embezzling government funds.
I could not bring myself to interfere with matters this deeply...
But if they had transferred government money into their own pockets and used it as their own, they ought to have the conscience to give some of it back when the country was in crisis.
"...... You surely do not intend to report what you just said to His Majesty right now, do you?"
"I intend to tell him the day after tomorrow or so."
If I said that I would contribute 1,000 seok, at least 10,000 seok would certainly come out of the Internal Treasury.
It might be even more than that.
Then the burden the officials had to bear would grow by that much, so I would have to give them a generous grace period.
"Let us do that. Yes, with this, the relief issue has been resolved perfectly. Now, let us discuss the most important matter."
"Yes, my lord."
"How should we deal with the new baekjeong, the term used for the butchers we know today?"
We could not leave them as they were.
If we left the butchers of the present day alone, innocent people would once again become victims.
Men who were not Joseon people, but were not heinous criminals either.
They ought to be one or the other, hot or cold. These lukewarm people were the real problem.
"We must turn them into Joseon people by whatever means necessary."