Chapter 212
On the way back to Joseon, Kim Mandeok asked me with a smile.
“The shogun of Wa has personally stepped forward to suppress the Wokou and declared that he will faithfully pay tribute to Ming. It seems Wa is finally going to enter an age of peace and prosperity. Trade with Wa will then explode, so don't you think it would be wise for the Mandeok Trading Company to start preparing to expand into Kyoto? What do you think?”
“You are quite greedy, Father-in-law.”
“I may look like an official in an official robe, but at heart I am still a merchant. Naturally, I must do anything that makes money. Ah, except for the sort of nonsense one does while possessed by the ghost of Goryeo.”
There is an old saying that achieving excessive success at a young age is not a blessing but a misfortune.
Some people hear this and say it is merely something old, useless codgers say because they resent seeing young people succeed...
In fact, among young people who achieve success early, it is fairly common for them to lose that rapidly acquired success just as quickly.
And the greatest reason for this is that they easily lose sight of their original resolve.
When YouTubers who post travel videos first begin creating travel content, they often adopt the concept of traveling in a poor and shabby manner because their circumstances leave them no choice but to do so...
But as their views increase and their income grows, countless cases arise in which they eventually start showing themselves flying overseas in business or first class, causing the essential appeal of their videos to disappear and leading to their downfall.
By contrast, people who achieve success at a fairly advanced age tend to use their long experience to avoid forgetting why they succeeded and strive to preserve their original resolve, allowing their success to endure for a long time.
“His Majesty recruited a lowly man like me because I know commerce well. But if I give up being a merchant merely because I became an official, would that not erase the reason His Majesty recruited me in the first place? So every day, I think about how I can succeed as a merchant and how I can make a great deal of money.”
“Many sages have said unanimously that the hardest thing is to preserve one's original resolve. Since you work so hard every day not to forget yours, Father-in-law, you will one day become a great chancellor like Guan Zhong.”
“Guan Zhong was a merchant once, too, wasn't he?”
Guan Zhong was fairly famous thanks to the idiom known to us as the friendship of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, and later remained in history as the brilliant minister known as Guan Zi.
That man, too, had once been a merchant.
But Guan Zhong was not good at business and ruined everything.
Later, he even had to support his parents and family with money given to him by his friend Bao Shuya.
Our father-in-law, however, was someone who had even succeeded in business.
"Guan Zhong utterly failed at business when he was young, but you amassed great wealth through commerce as well. You seem far superior to Guan Zhong."
"...... Heh heh, my son-in-law. So when we return to Hanyang this time, you intend to recommend me to His Majesty in a memorial as a talent equal to Guan Zhong, do you?"
I had no intention, like Bao Shuya, of saying, 'I am a fool, but my father-in-law is a talent who could govern the whole world just as Guan Zhong did.'
Rather, because my father-in-law was an exceptionally capable official like Guan Zhong, it would only be right to promote him more quickly; and since I was still young, my own promotion could be delayed a little...
My scheme had been seen through.
"Ahem. In any case, it would be best if you did not open a branch in Kyoto."
"Why not?"
"Because in about ten years, an unprecedentedly great war will break out in Wa."
Hearing the words “ten years,” my father-in-law tilted his head.
"What are you talking about? The shogun of Wa currently wields more power than anyone, and Wa will grow stable under his rule."
"If a man held power while observing his own principles and justifications and ruled through fear, things would turn out as you say, Father-in-law. But the current shogun is a man obsessed with power. Would someone like that govern while preserving principles and justifications?"
A tyrant and a king with strong royal authority are similar in some respects.
First, both kill many people, and both mercilessly purge anyone who offers even the slightest resistance.
A tyrant does not even observe the minimum principles, indiscriminately purging his opponents while trying to grant his close aides unlimited power.
A king with strong royal authority, on the other hand, preserves at least the minimum principles and makes his close aides understand that the moment they cross the line, they too can be purged like his opponents.
And Ashikaga Yoshinori, the current shogun, is acting like a tyrant, going beyond even a king who seeks strong royal authority.
“The moment he became shogun, he confiscated one of his relatives’ domains for no reason, claiming only that he disliked him. I have also heard that he is subjecting the kugyō who serve the emperor to absurd persecution. For now, everyone is enduring it because he is a shogun with tremendous power, but if things grow even worse in the future... there will be people who simply cannot bear it any longer.”
It was around 1430, and the Kakitsu Rebellion—in which a daimyo driven mad by Yoshinori's tyranny would cut that bastard's head off with a sword—was eleven years away...
In about ten years, that bastard Yoshinori would be dead.
If Joseon added a little of its viciousness—no, Britain's wisdom—their factions would split apart and fight one another quite nicely.
How wonderful would it be if Joseon could profit a little in the process?
“So don't even think about opening a shop in Kyoto. What will you do when a great war erupts there, with more than 200,000 troops clashing and fighting?”
“...... What kind of utterly absurd thing are you saying?”
The Kakitsu Rebellion actually ended after only a portion of the Akamatsu clan had been crushed.
But if one thought a little about the circumstances behind the Kakitsu Rebellion...
'I think we could blow this up to the level of the Ōnin War.'
“The way of the world is that things do not always turn out for the best.”
“In any case, I understand. I will absolutely not open a branch in Kyoto.”
“A wise decision, Father-in-law.”
Ming, too, would burst into flames after the Tumu Crisis, but Japan would be ablaze even before that.
Well, for Joseon, sitting right beside them, it would merely be a matter of watching a fire across the sea.
At that moment, Kim Mandeok looked at me with an extremely suspicious smile.
"Ah, and I have prepared a very fine gift for you."
"What is it, exactly?"
"You will naturally find out when we reach Hanyang, so just keep that in mind."
**
In Haesam-bu, Pyeongan Province (near Vladivostok), two young and capable officials were being worked to death.
They were Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In.
"Don't you want to return to Hanyang, Jibong?"
At that, Hwangbo In sighed and replied.
"Jeoljae (Kim Jong-seo), if I could only return to Hanyang, I would be ready to do absolutely anything. Once we return to the State Council, I think I could even smile and endure the Chief State Councillor's nagging."
"I feel the same way."
"This is already the third time we have submitted a memorial asking to return to Hanyang, yet they keep rejecting it... It makes me want to cry."
"His Majesty values the achievements of the two of us highly and has bestowed no small amount of wealth upon us. He has even raised our ranks from Senior Fifth Rank to Senior Fourth Rank already... To others, it must look as though we are racing along the road to success, but..."
Haesamwi—no, this region, which Joseon has given the new name Haesam-bu, is such a barren and frigid land that simply living here is difficult.
It is so cold in winter that the sea freezes over, making farming impossible.
Thus, we would like to submit a memorial asking that we both be allowed to abandon this place, but we cannot bring ourselves to do so, because it is overflowing with all kinds of precious resources.
‘There are an extraordinary number of fur-bearing animals such as sable and foxes, gigantic pine trees spread everywhere, and there are an obscenely large number of sea cucumbers as well...’
If we dried the sea cucumbers harvested here and sold a single doe's worth to Ming, we could buy dozens of seok of rice.
Mink and fox pelts were also considered extremely expensive luxuries in Joseon, and with demand for ships in Joseon rising crazily...
this region's high-quality timber had become an essential material for Joseon's development.
"Thanks to that, we managed to make quite a fortune."
"What good does that do us when we cannot even spend it here?"
As Yi Jing-ok approached the two men lamenting their lot, a smile spread across his face.
"Heh heh, you are all having a hard time."
"Not at all, my lord."
"I have come especially to bring you some good news."
"Good news? Surely His Majesty has ordered us to return to Hanyang?"
"That's right. Moreover, he has appointed you as academicians of the Hall of Worthies, a prestigious office."
Being an academician of the Hall of Worthies was unquestionably a prestigious post, even if the court lectures were rather arduous.
And it meant they could escape this wretched northern region.
"Long live! Long live! Long, long live! Long live His Majesty the King!"
Yi Jing-ok gave a quiet chuckle as he watched the two men cry out their cheers.
"Ah, but..."
This time, an extremely sinister smile appeared on Yi Jing-ok's face.
Seeing his changed expression, Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In felt tremendous fear.
Come to think of it, there was something exceedingly suspicious about this.
Even for Yi Jing-ok, working here must be terribly grueling. Yet he merely congratulated them on going to Hanyang without showing any jealousy or envy?
No matter how they thought about it, it made no sense.
The two of them soon learned the reason.
"I hear Director Kim is likely to be appointed Vice Director of the Hall of Worthies."
Hearing the words Director Kim—Kim Dae-beom—the two shook their heads in unison.
"My lord! Commander!! Please!! Let us stay here! We do not need promotions or anything else. Please! We hear that Director Kim is coming as Vice Director of the Hall of Worthies, and if we go to the Hall of Worthies, it means we could die of overwork before long!"
Yi Jing-ok answered Kim Jong-seo's impassioned plea.
"I hear the Chief State Councillor recommended him. So you have no choice but to be dragged to the Hall of Worthies."
Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In clung to their last thread of hope, submitting resignation memorials in which they wrote earnest sentences and gave their most heartfelt reasons.
As expected, their resignation memorials were rejected.