Chapter 207
There is a cruel saying that you give one more task to an employee who does good work.
It is a truly terrible saying.
No, if someone does good work, you should raise their salary and give them a vacation.
How can anyone even think of giving them more work?
It is the worst atrocity an employer or superior can commit.
It is an evil on the level of putting pineapple on pizza in front of an Italian, or going to an ice cream shop with 31 different flavors and buying only a single scoop of mint chocolate ice cream.
And the worst part of all is that it happened to me.
“Father-in-law, isn’t this going too far?”
“What do you mean, too far?”
“Why is His Majesty ordering me, who just returned from Wa, to go to Wa yet again? And as chief envoy (the head of the embassy), no less.”
“Isn’t it because you were the one who clearly explained to His Majesty, in the royal audience hall, why we should send an embassy to Wa and what benefits it could bring?”
It was certainly true that I had suggested to Sejong that we should send an embassy to Wa.
That was an undeniable fact, so I would not deny it.
However, if I had drawn up a plan involving the benefits of threatening the shogun to control the Wokou and negotiating to secretly trade copper with the Wokou as well...
Shouldn’t they have sent someone other than me, who had been suffering from seasickness aboard Ming’s treasure ship (a very large ship, but still a ship) until just a few days ago?
To put it plainly, someone like Yi Ye, an expert in diplomacy with Wa.
Why, then, was His Majesty entrusting such a major task to me, who had gone out to sea to placate Ming and returned after suffering so much?
Did I ask to be promoted, say that I wanted to enjoy even greater wealth and glory, or do anything worthy of impeachment?
Why send innocent me to Wa yet again just because I proposed a good policy?
“Since I was the one who made the proposal, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to send someone else who specializes in diplomacy with Wa to handle the practical affairs?”
“Isn’t it simply that His Majesty trusts our son-in-law that much? Try to think of it positively.”
Kim Mandeok said this and let out a huge sigh, as though the earth had caved in.
“And you are not the only one being saddled with a mountain of work... I, too, was suddenly promoted yesterday, becoming Junior Sixth Rank. Having thus joined the ranks of chamsang officials (officials of Junior Sixth Rank or above), I was simply grateful for His Majesty’s grace and quietly carrying out my duties. But today I was ordered to identify the market merchants engaged in smuggling with Ming and submit a list of them.”
“Father-in-law, you have been through a lot as well.”
“Still, I cannot deny that a former nobody of a merchant from Jinhae like me has been promoted again and again until I reached the ranks of chamsang officials. It is immense royal favor and an unparalleled glory for my family. Now, if I can just pass the civil service retest in two years, I do not think I could ask for anything more. It is held only once every five years, so if I fail then, I cannot even guarantee that I will still be alive by the time of the next examination.”
“You come home every day after leaving the office and devote yourself to studying under a teacher, do you not? With that much dedication, I think you will certainly pass the examination in two years.”
Originally, Joseon held the civil and military retests (examinations held only for those who had passed the state examinations) once every ten years.
However, in the Joseon I had influenced, the shortage of government officials had become so severe that the court no longer hesitated to recruit merchants as officials...
So the retests, which had once been held every ten years, were changed to once every five years.
“I had not realized that you were this grateful for His Majesty’s grace and eager to devote yourself to the country. It seems the Ministry of Revenue has acquired a truly valuable talent. As a son-in-law who has learned this, I ought to give you a good opportunity.”
There was a good reason I had always refused promotions that came at an unreasonable speed.
That was because enjoying the benefits of lightning-fast promotion even once meant getting hit by a bomb of work.
Even now, keeping up with the work pouring in while leaving the office on time was difficult. How much more work would come crashing down if I received such exceptional treatment?
Most regrettably of all, it would reduce the time I could spend with Gyeoul.
“I can say that I know a fair amount about scholarly matters, but I do not know commerce well. So when we meet merchants from Wa, I need someone who can help coordinate our opinions... I think you would do that job very well, Father-in-law.”
“There is a fellow named Yi Bong-sa in the Ministry of Revenue who is even more capable than I am. I think it would be better to take him instead of me. What do you think?”
“Since you intend to sit the civil service retest and eventually join the ranks of the dangsang officials, it would be far more helpful to your promotion to go and earn merit yourself if an opportunity arises than to sit quietly in your post until then.”
There is an old saying.
‘Even the road to the underworld is not frightening if one has a companion.’
That was right. I would far rather suffer from overwork together with several others than endure it alone in solitude.
Since Sejong the Great Demon King, who loved the people too much, had ordered me to go to Wa yet again, work myself to death, and return, it would be excellent for both of us if I took along my father-in-law, who dreamed of becoming a dangsang official, and advanced the mission together with him.
My father-in-law would move one step closer to becoming a dangsang official, while I would gain a dependable colleague to work alongside me.
“Do not worry. I will find some way to help with your promotion, at least.”
Even without receiving a single special promotion, I was guaranteed to reach the Lower Grade of Senior Third Rank, directly below the dangsang ranks, before my mid-thirties simply by accumulating enough seniority for regular promotion.
And even if I kept postponing my promotion again and again, circumstances would arise in which a special promotion became unavoidable.
I was twenty-six now, and I suspected that, one way or another, I would be among the dangsang officials by the time I was about thirty-one.
So there was no need for me to hurry my own promotion at all.
Getting promoted quickly offered me no benefit.
‘What a beautiful arrangement this is: delaying my own promotion to fulfill my father-in-law’s dream. How pleasing to look at.’
“......Thank you, son-in-law.”
“I regard you as my own father.”
Under Confucian ritual law, a father-in-law occupied a position very much like that of a father and was an extremely precious person.
“Then, I shall be going.”
Once I returned from Wa this time, I would definitely be promoted.
It was a kind of custom to raise an official’s rank one step if, after traveling to a distant foreign country, he also earned merit by successfully carrying out his assigned duties.
The last time I had accompanied Munjong to Ming, I had refused by making the excuse that, since the mission itself was not an auspicious occasion, I could not be promoted...
Besides that, I had repeatedly refused promotion by offering various other excuses.
But if I went as the chief envoy of this embassy to Wa, there would be no way to avoid a special promotion.
“But Joseon is the land of loyalty and filial piety...”
I would insist that it was improper for me to become a dangsang official at such a young age, while emphasizing the competence of my father-in-law, Kim Mandeok.
If I then argued that it was important to appoint capable people skilled in practical affairs, like my father-in-law, to important positions... I could direct the promotion toward him.
How wonderful would that be?
My father-in-law would move one step closer to becoming a dangsang official, while my own promotion would be delayed a little, in keeping with common sense.
“This is absolutely not using Father-in-law as a shield. I am simply fulfilling my filial duty to him.”
Today, I had succeeded in carrying out such perfect filial devotion that even Confucius and Mencius could not dare object.
Father-in-law would surely be pleased as well.
**
Kim Mandeok was a man who dreamed of becoming a dangsang official before he died.
And his son-in-law always did his utmost to help him realize that dream.
As a result, even though he had never taken the state examination, he was able to enter government service, and a mere three years after doing so, he had risen into the ranks of chamsang officials.
Thus, Kim Mandeok was always grateful to Kim Dae-beom.
His son-in-law had made him Joseon’s greatest merchant and a respectable official—and, to top it off, he was a devoted husband who did not so much as cast a glance at any woman other than his daughter.
How could he not be grateful?
Thus, Kim Mandeok resolved to repay the kindness he had received from Kim Dae-beom this time.
“If a man only receives and never repays, can you call him a human being? He is nothing but a beast.”
Having decided to repay the favor, he took time during working hours to seek out Hwang Hui, who had become an earthbound spirit of the State Council.
In fact, by Joseon standards, it was a gross breach of etiquette for a mere Junior Sixth-Rank nobody to seek out the First-Rank Chief State Councillor...
But although Kim Mandeok was a mere Junior Sixth-Rank nobody, he was that Kim Dae-beom’s father-in-law, no less, and had made a name for himself as a capable official in the Ministry of Revenue...
So he was granted the special honor of meeting Hwang Hui alone.
“State your business briefly. I am busy with my duties as well.”
Although Hwang Hui said he was busy, he had thrown all sorts of tasks at Jiphyeonjeon (Kim Dae-beom), so he was not actually that busy.
Up until moments ago, he had been enjoying a leisurely tea with the Right and Left State Councillors.
Kim Mandeok noticed this from the atmosphere alone, but being a wise man, he did not bother to mention it.
“I have come to ask a favor.”
“What? A favor?! Damn it...”
“It concerns my son-in-law.”
Since it was a favor concerning Kim Dae-beom, Hwang Hui could not simply dismiss it out of hand.
“What favor are you talking about?”
“Isn’t my son-in-law afflicted with a grave illness, thinking only of the royal ancestral shrine, the dynastic state, and the people whether awake or asleep? Since that son-in-law of mine refuses promotion every time, what other reason could there be? Is it not because he fears causing trouble for His Majesty by worrying about any opposition that might arise?”
At court, the Saheonbu had been obstructing the promotion His Majesty had personally ordered for Kim Mandeok, insisting even today that it would be difficult to give their approval.
This sort of thing happened from time to time. When the son of Jo Mal-saeng, the current Right State Councillor, passed the state examination, they had even thrown a tantrum by refusing to issue his appointment certificate.
Hwang Hui smiled when he heard Kim Mandeok speak of Kim Dae-beom’s rapid promotion.
“So that was why he had consistently refused whenever His Majesty the Grand King and His Majesty King Sejong, both of whom thought highly of Kim Eung-gyo, expressed their intention to elevate him to the dangsang ranks.”
“Then, once he returns from Wa this time...”
Hwang Hui’s instinctive sixth sense was telling him.
If Kim Dae-beom were made Chief State Councillor, he would be able to resign.
“I understand. I will make the necessary preparations, so do not worry.”