Chapter 141
If the Ministry of Military Affairs plans everything necessary to wage the war, including the transport of military provisions, the Ministry of Taxation is responsible for securing the budget to carry out those plans.
In other words, after the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation is the office currently suffering most under the crushing workload.
Even my father-in-law, known as the Ministry of Taxation's ace troubleshooter, was being worked like a dry rag wrung out to the last drop, and up close, he didn't look very well.
He must have been worked to the bone.
"Our son-in-law is truly remarkable. I hold only a minor post in the Ministry of Taxation, so I haven't taken on any major responsibilities, yet I'm so overworked that I feel as though I'm about to die. But there isn't much sign of fatigue on our son-in-law's face."
"Is that so? To be honest, I've been having a hard time too, since my workload has increased."
"Overtime is a daily occurrence at our Ministry of Taxation, but I hear the Ministry of Military Affairs hardly ever works late?"
The only reason this is possible is that Right State Councillor Jo Mal-saeng does a good job of prioritizing the work that can wait and the work that must be done immediately, while I process it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Honestly, without Jo Mal-saeng, our Ministry of Military Affairs would be experiencing an even worse overtime hell than the Ministry of Taxation.
"Well, seeing as our son-in-law came to our house to see me instead of spending this precious holiday with my daughter, you must have something you want to ask of me. I would like nothing more than to have a drink and chat with my son-in-law after so long, but I don't have the energy. Please understand."
"Once the war is over, I'll treat you to some ginseng liquor."
"Ginseng liquor? Where did you find something so precious?"
"The merchants of Hanyang's licensed market presented it of their own accord."
In the twenty-first century, you should never accept gifts like these, but in Joseon, refusing them could actually cause problems.
Once, when I refused the enormous gifts they gave me, saying that I couldn't accept them...
A rumor once spread throughout Hanyang's licensed market: ‘Jibu (the memorial submitter) Kim Daebung is inspecting all sorts of wrongdoing committed by merchants, and they say he sends the worst offenders to join Goryeo.’
When they came to see me then, they repented of their self-confessed crimes and offered gifts four times larger than before.
After that, I changed tactics and began accepting gifts in reasonable amounts.
If a rumor like that spread because I refused their gifts and commerce ground to a halt, it would deal a devastating blow to Joseon's economy.
"......At this rate, the medicine merchants will even bring antler velvet as an offering."
Someone really had brought me antler velvet once.
From what I heard, a physician at the Naeuiwon whose name could not be revealed had diverted the item—that is, embezzled it—to support his livelihood...
I thought accepting it would cause serious trouble, so I told him to take it back.
"Father-in-law, isn't the court's budget going to be badly depleted this time, since we're mobilizing more than twenty-five thousand troops? So how about the two of us joining forces and contributing some of our wealth?"
"Our son-in-law makes money only to spend it on state affairs. I had actually been thinking the same thing. His Majesty opened the inner treasury and contributed no fewer than 20,000 seok of white rice, so we can't simply sit around doing nothing."
Joseon is a country where failure to observe etiquette is actually a crime under the criminal code.
To put it more clearly, even an act that isn't a criminal offense can be punished simply because it is deemed offensive.
The inner treasury has just spent no fewer than 20,000 seok, so what if wealthy officials like us don't contribute a single coin?
It means we never know when, or for what reason, we might be reprimanded or punished.
Compared to being cursed out and fleeced of a huge sum for no reason, paying when we're asked nicely is the cheaper option.
"So how much should we contribute?"
"How much can you put up right now?"
"I think I can somehow contribute as much as 30,000 seok of white rice. I can't pay any more than that. If I did, I'd have to give up the capital I need to keep my business running."
"Then I'll somehow contribute up to 10,000 seok. If the two of us contribute around 40,000 seok in total, the court won't dare falsely accuse your merchant house."
In terms of modern Korea, Kim Mandeok is essentially both the owner of a conglomerate and a section officer in the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
And he makes enormous profits through all the classified information he obtains as an official.
Since he has made so much money by working at the Ministry of Taxation, paying that much is only proper.
"Some people say we've made enormous fortunes thanks to working as officials, but now that I actually have to part with such a large sum, I can't help feeling a little sick to my stomach."
"Aren't taxes always like that? It's not as though the merchant house won't function without that money, nor are we facing immediate hardship... But when you're required to pay a large sum, of course it feels like a waste."
My father-in-law clicked his tongue.
"Still, as someone serving in office, if I begrudged such a trivial amount and failed to pay what I owed, wouldn't I be likely to get the Ryu Jeong-hyeon treatment?"
They say that these days, people at the Ministry of Taxation insult tax dodgers and men who engage in egregious usury by calling them men who will end up like Ryu Jeong-hyeon.
The phrase had even become a regular part of my father-in-law's vocabulary.
Still, it was a good thing for Ryu Jeong-hyeon.
Every literatus in Joseon wanted to leave his name in history, and it seemed that this fellow's name would continue to be used in Joseon for a long time to come.
It would be used in phrases like “a bastard like Ryu Jeong-hyeon” and “someone who deserves the Ryu Jeong-hyeon treatment,” but...
Still, his name would live on, so even the dead Ryu Jeong-hyeon would be pleased.
And if not, well, what could a dead man do about it?
"But seeing as I'm being so loyal to the king and patriotic... Is there any information that might make me some money?"
"Ha, just this once."
Thirty thousand seok of white rice was an enormous sum, enough to buy around seventy moderately sized tiled-roof houses in Hanyang.
You could think of it as seventy luxury apartments in Seoul.
He was handing over that much money outright, so by Joseon standards, it would also make no sense for him to receive nothing in return.
Let's see... what way is there for my father-in-law to make a great deal of money while also serving the national interest?
"Father-in-law, around April next year, the court's army of 25,000 troops will cross the border. When that happens, the price of rice in Hamgyeong Province will rise sharply."
"Next April..."
"Buy rice from the Three Southern Provinces at a reasonable price and sell it in Hamgyeong. You'll make enough money to more than recoup the losses you're taking this time. But..."
Kim Mandeok cut me off mid-sentence.
"Son-in-law, I may hold only a minor post, but I am still an official of the court. How could I try to make an enormous windfall from rice? I will charge no more than exactly three-tenths (30 percent) above the price at which I bought it. If I sell the surplus rice from all eight provinces to Hamgyeong at that price, then even if grain prices rise because of this war, far fewer people in Hamgyeong will starve to death."
Even in Napoleon's time, and throughout the premodern era, no army could feed its soldiers sufficiently using only supplies sent from the center.
That was because transportation was a serious problem.
No matter how efficiently I arranged supplies and scraped together materials to send, local procurement would be essential.
A great deal of rice and other grain would be consumed in the process, so in Hamgyeong, where rice was already scarce, its price would skyrocket.
But if merchants like my father-in-law sold rice while keeping only a ‘reasonable profit,’ they could at least protect some of the people who would otherwise die from the effects of the shortage.
"That is true, but..."
"Yes, Father-in-law."
"To be honest, I can't help feeling that it's unfair for me to be the only one contributing this much money. Ahem, wouldn't it be a good idea to give the other merchants a chance to serve the king and country as well?"
I must have been too trapped in twenty-first-century thinking.
Merchants these days did not pay corporate tax and various other taxes like twenty-first-century companies did.
They merely paid around ten percent of their income based on accounting ledgers they prepared themselves...
‘The accounting ledgers they submitted would naturally be stuffed with cooked books.’
There shouldn't be anything particularly wrong with collecting a little more tax from people like that.
No, the common people would also face a heavier tax burden because of the approaching war...
It would be absurd if merchants were the only ones spared an additional tax.
"As expected, Father-in-law, you are wise."
"It's the wisdom of an old mule. In fact, haven't I lived decades longer than my son-in-law?"
Hmm, but I was so busy with the work currently assigned to me that I had no time to urge the merchants to pay taxes voluntarily. Pressure them? No, threaten them? That wasn't it either.
That's right—I had no time to encourage them.
Technically, I could do it if I tried, but that would mean even more overtime.
So I ought to give my father-in-law the opportunity to put the excellent idea he had come up with himself into practice.
This absolutely wasn't me passing my work off on him.
I was giving him a golden opportunity to earn merit.
"Father-in-law."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You want to become a senior-ranking official, don't you?"
My father-in-law shook his head.
"I only intend to rise as far as a junior-ranking official and then resign. I can feel my health continuing to deteriorate as I grow older. Thanks to you, our family has become a respectable yangban family, and that alone is enough..."
"No. To be honest, I was deeply impressed when I heard that after finishing your arduous work, you came home and studied the Four Books and Three Classics rather than seeking rest. I believe that determination of yours will remain unwavering."
"I read the Four Books and Three Classics to understand my duty as a human being..."
"Serving the king and loving the country is also a person's duty."
My father-in-law could never beat me in an argument about Confucianism.
Because I was a champion of the Confucian tournament (the civil service examination), after all.
"I'll pass the word on to His Excellency the Minister of Taxation. If you handle this matter well, you'll be promoted soon, and before long you'll be a Senior Seventh-Rank official."