Matchlocks and Northern Expedition (9)

One thing about military abuses is that, if those at the top take an interest and respond properly, they can be eliminated to some extent.

That famous German army under the Nazis supposedly placed immense emphasis on the matter from above, relentlessly insisting that committing abuses was unbecoming of superior Germans.

As a result, Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht supposedly became an army with remarkably few abuses in its barracks.

If even the Nazis led by that bald octopus bastard could manage it, there is no reason Joseon cannot.

‘We cannot eliminate them entirely, but we should reduce them as much as possible.’

“Why do people commit abuses in the army and torment their subordinates? Because the people above them turn a blind eye, they do it simply to amuse themselves.”

Joseon culture differed greatly from twenty-first-century Korea, where the idea of human rights had taken root.

When someone’s wrongdoing was clear, people regarded it as perfectly normal for a switch to come flying first.

They say that when the scholars of one district split into factions and fought among themselves, the local magistrate personally took up a switch and beat them into submission... The story was remembered as an “edifying tale.”

That was why a culture of using harsh treatment to resolve even minor mistakes became so widespread...