Chapter 188
Today, Dancheon County Magistrate Kim Gu-bong reported for duty two hours earlier than scheduled.
It was all because of Dancheon's overzealous yangban and commoners... no, because of Kim Daebung.
So, venting his anger at Kim Daebung, he headed to the dongheon to begin his work.
"Kim Daebung, you rotten bastard! How can you work an old man on the verge of retirement this hard? Is this something a human being would do?"
If one passed the gwageo in the military division and served out enough years, one would rise to at least junior fourth rank unless one was an exceptionally useless official, and a reasonably capable official could rise as high as the lower grade of senior third rank.
Joseon promoted officials according to seniority rather than merit, and, except in special cases like Kim Daebung, officials below the dangsanggwan rank were only eligible for advancement after completing the required number of days in office.
Thus, the posts of dohobusa, which could be filled by an official of the lower grade of senior third rank, and county magistrate, which could be filled by an official of junior fourth rank, were often assigned to officials near retirement so they could build up their "retirement funds."
Kim Gu-bong, too, had taken the post of Dancheon County Magistrate intending to spend his final years in comfort, save up a decent retirement fund, and then retire.
Yet although he was a late-career sergeant—or, in military terms, a colonel—serving as a county magistrate, he did not neglect the duties entrusted to him.
It was true that he had tried to reduce his workload where possible, but he did not handle any work that a county magistrate was supposed to do carelessly.
Doing one's work carelessly would be a disgrace to his family, and if he happened to attract Yi Bang-won's ire, he might even end up with a dented head.
"Is the i-bang here?"
At the magistrate's words, the i-bang, who had reported for duty a little earlier than him, replied without hiding his exhaustion.
"Yes, Magistrate."
"I-bang, didn't you report for duty rather early?"
"There is so much work that we have to report early if we are to finish it by the appointed date, don't you think?"
Hearing the i-bang's reply, the late-career county magistrate Kim Gu-bong cursed Kim Daebung inwardly once again.
He had wanted to build up a modest fortune in his final years, retire, return to his hometown, and enjoy a leisurely old age watching his grandchildren amuse themselves.
He had thought he might be able to take it easy, but just when he thought the work had suddenly piled up because they had to compile the geographical gazetteer, from that day onward he had to search desperately for the region's specialties.
Then, when he happened to discover a fairly large silver mine, he even had to draw up a plan to develop it.
The yangban of Dancheon learned of His Majesty's intention to bestow a san-gye on those who managed their myeon and ri well, making them pumgwan (yangban who held only a rank, honorary officials), or even grant them government posts if they achieved truly great results.
It seemed to set their hearts ablaze; these people, who had spent their whole lives believing that passing the gwageo was something completely beyond them and had quietly lived their lives, suddenly had a spark in their eyes, volunteered to develop local specialties, and eventually even poured their personal fortunes into the gwamegi business, doing everything they could.
"The documents I am holding are all things that need to be processed today. They include requests from the yangban who serve as myeonjangs and ijangs, as well as budget allocations and requests for support needed to develop the silver mine, and so on."
"There are a lot. An absolutely filthy lot."
"I apologize."
"What fault could the i-bang possibly have? All this happened because His Majesty wants to look after the people."
He sighed heavily again and again, but nevertheless prepared to begin work without delay.
"Magistrate, I hate to bring this up, but a document from Lord Kim Eung-gyo in the capital has arrived."
"Hand it over quickly, then go get to work."
Kim Gu-bong immediately opened the document Kim Daebung had sent.
[I heard from Jiphyeonjeon that Your Honor, the magistrate of Dancheon County, has been suffering greatly under your heavy workload lately. While wondering whether there was anything I could do to help, I happened to think of some systems and policies that might benefit Dancheon County while handling my work at Jiphyeonjeon, so I have written and sent this letter.]
Every government office in Joseon was currently handling an enormous volume of work because of the compilation of the new geographical gazetteer.
Jiphyeonjeon in particular must have been frantic organizing geographical information submitted by every district in the country, identifying their local specialties, and reviewing the process of establishing the myeon-ri system...
And this man had thought of systems and policies that might help Dancheon County and written him a letter while handling such a staggering workload?
"That man must have a ghost who died of overwork possessing him."
[First, because the silver mine discovered in Dancheon is large, I will send a junior sixth-rank silver-mine inspector to personally oversee development and mining in the area. Therefore, please hand over all matters related to developing the silver mine to the inspector as soon as he arrives.]
After reading this passage, Dancheon County Magistrate Kim Gu-bong let out a sigh of relief.
One-third of his current work concerned the Dancheon silver mine, and now he could dump all of it on the silver-mine inspector...
It was because he felt relieved at the thought that he would finally have room to breathe.
[I have also heard that the yangban of Dancheon are working hard to catch fish, including herring, in cooperation with the commoners, and I find their spirit truly admirable. However, I understand that Your Honor, the county magistrate, is receiving reports on every step of the business and personally approving every matter in order to lead them properly. But aren't the ijangs and myeonjangs of the individual villages the ones actually taking charge of and directing all this work?]
There was not a single incorrect word in Kim Daebung's letter.
The yangban serving as ijangs and myeonjangs had gathered the commoners and coaxed them with the promise that if they went out to sea during the agricultural off-season to catch herring and make gwamegi, the people of Dancheon would never have to go hungry again...
The ijangs and myeonjangs were indeed the ones best able to understand and carry out this work.
[Therefore, have the ijangs and myeonjangs work at the county office and directly lead the herring fishing and gwamegi production. Have the county's hobang and gongbang approve the matters, and then let Your Honor handle them; the work will proceed much more quickly and smoothly.]
Even the county magistrate thought this seemed right.
Even Qin Shi Huang of Qin had tried to seize every matter in the realm and handle it himself, only to fail and ultimately provide the cause for his country's destruction...
Wouldn't it be far more efficient to divide up the work according to what he could and could not do, what he could delegate even if he was capable of doing it himself, and what he absolutely had to do himself?
"Kim Daebung really does give me both the illness and the cure. He makes the workload ridiculously huge, then proposes a way to adjust it back down to something a person can actually handle..."
He then began reading the document attached at the end.
[If herring fishing begins and gwamegi is mass-produced, there will be a shortage of salt above all. So I thought it over carefully. The jayeom we commonly eat is made by boiling seawater and evaporating the water, isn't it? Therefore, using the same principle, if we pour seawater shallowly onto a floor paved with pottery tiles and dry it with the hot sunlight and blowing wind, won't salt remain on it?]
What Kim Daebung was describing was the process of making solar salt.
First, seawater was collected on a floor paved with pottery tiles, and the water was evaporated by wind and sunlight.
If this process was repeated, white salt would remain on the floor; that salt was solar salt.
[The salt obtained this way will contain a great deal of dirt and be too dirty for people to eat. Therefore, dissolve the salt in water again, then decant only the upper brine to remove the settled dirt and other impurities. If you boil that brine again until all the water evaporates, you should obtain relatively clean salt. If the salt obtained at this stage is used to pickle gwamegi, I believe the problem of the salt shortage will be solved.]
"We'll have the gongbang handle this."
[Lastly, the yangban investing money to enable the commoners to go herring fishing will certainly be a great help to the poor. However, as gwamegi production increases in Dancheon, the number of jobs will increase accordingly, drawing workers from all over the country... If that happens, I am concerned that the yangban may exploit those who come to Dancheon looking for work. Therefore, Your Honor, you must have the hobang periodically monitor whether the sailors and laborers employed by the yangban are properly receiving at least the minimum wages necessary to make a living.]
What Kim Daebung was worried about was that the yangban would take advantage of the vulnerability of people who came to Dancheon but could find no work other than herring fishing and brutally cut their wages.
The yangban of Dancheon—or more precisely, those serving as ijangs and myeonjangs—were blinded by the knowledge that they could receive not only a san-gye but even a government post if they performed well...
They were paying so generously that even Kim Daebung wondered why they were running such a worker-friendly business...
The problem was that such generous wages depended entirely on their goodwill.
If the situation changed in some way, there was a very high chance that the herring fishermen would become targets of wage exploitation.
"Kim Daebung knows how to distinguish perfectly between the work I must do and the work I can do but may have someone else handle. Why did I never think this way before? Now that I understand, I should delegate my work appropriately too."
Having made up his mind, Kim Gu-bong began the day's work by appropriately passing tasks on to the county's assistant magistrate and instructor.
He had the assistant magistrate find a location for a village near the silver mine and ordered him to review how much authority should be granted to the myeonjangs and ijangs.
The hyanggyo instructor's official duty was to teach scholarship at the local Confucian school, but in Dancheon, where even yangban had developed the custom of not studying...
he instructed the man serving in that position to have the myeonjangs and ijangs handle every sort of odd job related to herring fishing.
In this way, the county magistrate was able to divide the scope of the work precisely and assign it to his subordinates.
"Ever since herring fishing began a few months ago, far fewer people have been taking out grain loans."
The grain loans issued by Joseon government offices were, in principle, interest-free loans.
In practice, however, clerks and soldiers sometimes abused the system by demanding repayment of the amount lent, and borrowers had to repay two-year-old grain with newly harvested rice, so the loss to the people was considerable.
Thus, borrowing grain was regarded among the people as a "last resort," and once their livelihoods became more comfortable, the first thing they did was reduce their reliance on such loans.
"Work has flooded in during the final years of my official career, and it has been hard on my body, but I now have plenty to boast about to my children and grandchildren... This isn't so bad after all."
Now he only had to put aside a reasonable amount of wealth, wait for his term to end, and retire gracefully.
Thinking that, now that his overwork was over...
The world somehow looked beautiful.
The thought that his twenty-five-year career as an official was finally coming to an end even made him feel a little sad.
"Although I never rose to the ranks of the chief ministers or became a dangsanggwan, I am truly fortunate to be able to bring my career to a good end here in Dancheon."
Thinking this, Kim Gu-bong devoted himself to the work he had to do.
However, Joseon—now with ample funds and an abundance of work—would never leave a capable official nearing retirement alone.
Just as Dancheon's urgent business was nearing completion, a shocking royal edict arrived for him.
"... I was promoted to junior third rank? A promotion? And even deputy director of the Iron Production Office? What the hell is this?"
Dancheon County Magistrate Kim Gu-bong was not happy at all that he had received a promotion.
He had finished preparing for retirement and was grinning at the thought of returning to his hometown to rest comfortably...
If he was suddenly raised in rank and assigned to the Jecheolsa, one of the minor central offices considered among the easiest places in Joseon to earn a promotion...
it meant he would have to travel by ship around every corner of the country and keep fighting piles upon piles of paperwork.
"A promotion at this point in my career... It was the promotion I once wanted so badly, yet I get it now, when retirement is all I have left. Where am I supposed to go to find a peaceful old age? No, no. This can't be happening!"
That day, caring nothing for the promotion or anything else and desperately wanting to rest, Kim Gu-bong submitted a resignation memorial, citing the decline of his health.
King Sejong prevented him from retiring by bestowing upon him three doses of herbal medicine painstakingly prepared by the Naeuiwon.