Chapter 13
For quite some time, Kim Daebung had been one of Yi Bang-won's targets of interest and close observation.
Though Kim Daebung himself would not know it, Bang-won had once even issued a secret order to the pan-gwan under the Gyeongsang Provincial Governor—essentially the deputy governor—to go and quietly see how Jinhae County was being run.
The memorial sent back by the man who received that secret order was so full of things that made no sense by Joseon's common sense from start to finish that he was left utterly flustered.
On his first day in office, Kim Daebung apparently went through every document in the government office, then said those damned monks handling the tribute taxes had embezzled a huge amount of tax revenue and smashed the temple to pieces.
Then, saying it was tax money overcollected from the people, he returned it and shared it out evenly among them.
What was even more astonishing was that he had offered tribute goods to the court at more than 2.5 times the previous amount.
“When I received the memorial saying that the tribute goods offered by Jinhae County had increased 2.5 times over before, I really did not know what to make of it.”
Even after offering 2.5 times as much tribute goods, the burden on the people had eased, and they were overjoyed...
There was no way a sycophant or corrupt official desperate to flatter the king could forge a memorial like that.
So he ordered the governor to secretly send the pan-gwan and verify it.
If it had been a fabrication, it would have been daringly deceiving the king, and he meant to punish it very harshly and restore discipline.
The memorial submitted by Pan-gwan Kim Myeonghoe said that the people, grateful for the grace of being given a good magistrate, had voluntarily held a feast, and that the people's lives had clearly improved from before.
When Bang-won read Kim Myeonghoe's memorial, he was so shocked that he pinched his own thigh, unable to tell whether he was dreaming or awake.
The tribute taxes he had known... Joseon... no, ever since the days of old Goryeo, tribute taxes had been a burden that tormented the people, an unavoidable levy the state had to collect in order to run the country...
And yet, by more than doubling that tax, he could wipe out the corrupt middlemen and give the people hope—something he simply could not understand.
After pinching his thigh, the sharp pain made it clear that this was definitely reality.
After that, so happy was he that he kept laughing nonstop for more than fifteen minutes.
A government official named Kim Daebung had appeared in Joseon... Thinking of the future in which his son would command such an extraordinary talent and make Joseon an even better country, he could not stop smiling.
“And this time, a market. A market.”
In Bang-won's hands was the memorial Kim Daebung had personally written and submitted.
Bang-won had read this memorial together with Sejong, and when he was alone he had read it several more times.
He picked out the passage that had impressed him most and read it aloud.
“Before the market existed, there was a widow whose husband had died, and even if she worked day and night she was so desperate she could not feed her children. But after the five-day market was established, besides working the fields day and night, she used her one special skill—her knack for gathering wild greens—to pick greens in the mountains and sell them at market. Since then, she says she has been able to give each child a proper bowl of barley rice at every meal, and she is overjoyed at this. Looking at this, is not that widow living in a world worth living in now? Is this not a peaceful age?”
What beautiful words they were. More beautiful than anything Confucius or Mencius had said.
The ideal Bang-won had always pursued since Joseon's founding—to give the people a better today than yesterday—had been realized in perfect form.
“Those words are truly right, right indeed.”
A smile spread across Bang-won's face.
But with every step he took closer to Geunjeongjeon, his expression grew darker.
For the voices of the people-devouring vermin—the specters who should have died with old Goryeo after exploiting the people for their own wealth and glory—
were coming from inside.
“Your Majesty, the words of Kim Minho, an inspector of the Saheonbu, are a little extreme, but they are not far from the truth. Opening a market privately is indeed strictly forbidden by law, and the ancient sage Guanzi (Guan Zhong) sternly warned that if the people devote themselves only to easy pursuits such as trade, they will neglect their proper occupation, farming.”
Of course, Bang-won's son Yi Do did not back down from such nonsense.
“That Guanzi said that when the people have enough to eat and enough to wear, they know propriety. If you want to educate the people, first you must make it easier for them to make a living. If not, what happens when the people go hungry? They will become thieves, and they will become wanderers. But look at Kim Daebung. He opened a market and opened a path for the people to feed themselves. He will now be able to guide the people rightly even without a whip.”
Bang-won was genuinely proud of his son. The boy was only twenty-five, yet when he argued with the court's ministers he did not lose an inch.
That boy would one day become a sage king and shine on Joseon even more brightly than I did.
“...... Still, I am needed for now.”
Kim Daebung, who opened the market, fed the people, and gave them hope.
The intent behind opposing what he did isn't simply to guard against more 'merchants.'
My son knows that too, but perhaps he does not mention it to avoid bloodshed.
However, Bang-won thought differently. Rotten things must be cut away.
“His Majesty the Retired King is here!”
Bang-won marched up to the throne where Sejong was seated. Then he lifted the iron mace in his right hand to show it.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Right now, I can see the specter of old Goryeo alive and moving.”
In private, Sejong and Bang-won spoke normally. But in formal settings like the Pyeonjeon, they spoke with due decorum.
That was the conduct necessary to preserve the power and authority Bang-won had spent his entire life trying to uphold.
Already, the ministers shrank beneath the murderous aura of Bang-won's black dragon robe and iron mace; their faces went pale, their heads bowed low, and they could only swallow dryly for no reason at all. Cold sweat poured down their backs.
But the words that came out of his mouth were 'old Goryeo'...
Whenever old Goryeo was mentioned in Joseon, bloodshed always followed.
Someone who had enjoyed power and risen high until yesterday could, overnight, be turned into someone who, after all kinds of torture, would be begging, 'Please just kill me.'
“Your Majesty, I lived through the days of old Goryeo. Do you know what the people were like back then?”
“I do not know.”
“They were extremely lazy.”
Sejong found Bang-won's words puzzling. If life had been hard, shouldn't one have lived even harder and more diligently?
Then why was he calling them lazy?
“In the morning they would get up and sow seed and weed the fields, but they did all of it very carelessly. They farmed extremely carelessly indeed.”
“The people of old Goryeo and the people of Joseon were all the same—people who lived by farming—so why was that?”
“Because the people of old Goryeo had no hope.”
Bang-won recalled the dreadful Goryeo era. It had been utterly harrowing.
“In old Goryeo, land monopolization was rampant, the army was rotten to the core, and the officials were only eager to extort the people. As a result, all the taxes and levies they squeezed out came to as much as nine-tenths of the harvest. Even if you worked hard at farming, it was almost impossible to survive on the grain you managed to keep.”
“....... Was that so?”
“By contrast, Joseon pursued yeomin-dongrak—governance that shares joy with the people—and tried to reduce the excessive taxes imposed on them. As a result, Joseon's people, so long as there was no bad harvest, had little trouble farming and feeding their families. That is why Joseon's farmers worked hard and toiled in the fields.”
Bang-won truly believed that. And he was right.
Unlike Goryeo, Joseon was safe from foreign invasion, and though taxes were heavy, farmers might not eat their fill, but they would not starve to death. So by the standards of this age, no country was better for the people to live in than Joseon.
That was why the people worked hard. Because this was a country where, if they worked hard, they could enjoy the simple happiness of feeding their families every day and staying alive.
“I want Joseon to be a country that can give hope to the people. I truly do.”
At Bang-won's words, Sejong's eyes reddened.
At that moment, Bang-won glared around at the ministers and barked.
“Joseon must be a nation that gives hope to its people! It must let them dream of tomorrow. That is the path Joseon must follow. And how can you say that Kim Daebung, the Jinhae magistrate who gave the people of Jinhae County a chance to dream of tomorrow and brought hope to the widow the court could not look after, was in the wrong simply because he privately opened a market?”
Bang-won ground his teeth. The sound made the ministers tremble even more.
“Kim Daebung opened a market and, for a widow who could not even put food in her children's mouths despite working day and night, finally put barley rice into those children's mouths. He eased the hunger of people who had always had to live hungry unless it was a bumper harvest.”
When he first learned Kim Daebung's name, Bang-won actually disliked him.
Because that disheveled scholar bastard, Kim Daebung, was denying the tax system of Joseon that he and those who shared his ideals had built, staking their lives on it.
But not anymore.
“Joseon must be a nation that looks after its people.”
Bang-won took a step forward.
With every step, the iron mace moved up and down.
“That was what Magistrate Kim Daebung of Jinhae did.”
If Kim Daebung had been here, he would have muttered inwardly, 'I did do what was best for the people, but I also did stir up the court, so I would like to resign and return to the countryside at this point,' and sunk into despair.
But unfortunately, Kim Daebung wasn't even able to take part in this gathering.
To Bang-won's eyes, though, Kim Daebung looked like this.
Zhuge Liang, who thought it a waste of time to eat, ate only a little and worked so much that he didn't even realize his own body was being worn away.
In other words, a loyal retainer who wanted to work for the nation forever—a candidate for lifetime Chief State Councillor.
“I tried to smear him by tacking on claims like 'the people will become bandits' and 'the people will become lazy' as excuses, but in the end, isn't the memorial submitted by Saheonbu Inspector Kim Jangho basically saying he is worried that if the people grow wealthy through trade, the household heads who can't feed their families on relief grain alone will no longer borrow extra grain at high interest from yangban families?”
At those words, Chief State Councillor Ryu Jeonghyeon trembled all over.
In Joseon, usury was legal, but it was not something people looked on favorably.
He had built up a tremendous fortune from it, but he was only still alive because he had never crossed the line.
He knew that if Bang-won brought that mace down even once, he could be killed on the spot.
“Ah, there are still so many specters of old Goryeo in Joseon. Buddhist monks are sucking the people dry through tribute taxes, and local scholars are worried that if the people grow wealthy, they won't borrow grain from them anymore. How is that any different from old Goryeo?”
Bang-won let out that lament and then handed down his ruling.
“The Saheonbu Inspector Kim Jangho, who submitted such garbage for a memorial, is hereby stripped of office. Furthermore, do not ever restore him to office.”
Every minister in Joseon experiences being stripped of office at least once. So being stripped of office is not that severe a punishment.
But once the words 'do not ever restore him to office' are added, he is not restored under ordinary circumstances.
That punishment means he becomes a helpless nobody with his string cut loose.
“The Chief Inspector shall find the person who told Kim Jangho about Jinhae County and have him escorted to Hanyang... no, to preserve order in Jinhae County, have him beheaded there. In addition, turn every member of that Goryeo remnant's clan into slaves.”
A nobleman is hardly ever sentenced to death.
But this wasn't even hanging; it was beheading. And making the family slaves too... Bang-won was clearly treating this case as something equivalent to treason.
The wise ministers of Joseon did not oppose Bang-won's ruling.
“And have the Minister of Taxation study the policies Kim Daebung is carrying out in Jinhae County.”
With that, Bang-won left the Pyeonjeon.