Chapter 213
The Japanese delegation I led returned home in triumph after accomplishing its intended objective.
No—actually, we achieved several times more than we had set out to accomplish.
Sejong was overjoyed at the delegation’s great success.
“When I sent you, Kim Dae-beom, to Japan as an envoy, I thought that opening even a single port in Japan would count as a success. Yet you once again achieved far more than I had expected, even making the Japanese king (shogun) personally lead a great army and declare a campaign to subjugate the Shoni clan, leaders of the Wokou.”
“You honor me, Your Majesty.”
In fact, even if I had not intervened, that shogun Yoshinori fellow would undoubtedly have attacked the Shoni clan.
Although the Shoni clan was a great daimyo family that controlled five of Japan’s sixty-five provinces, including Tsushima, it was an anti-shogun daimyo that paid no heed whatsoever to the shogun’s words.
However, even I could not help being surprised when I heard that Ashikaga Yoshinori had declared that he would personally lead the campaign.
“His Majesty the Emperor of Ming viewed favorably the fact that the Japanese king personally submitted a state memorial declaring that he would subjugate the rebel Shoni Mitsusada, and said that he would personally bestow the imperial tally and battle axe upon Joseon.”
The battle axe was a symbol of the authority granted to a supreme commander temporarily entrusted with a nation’s army, allowing him to command its troops and direct the war.
Of course, bestowing that weapon did not mean that Sejong had been given authority to command Ming’s armies as well.
Even so, the fact that Ming had bestowed it meant that Joseon was the most trustworthy of the vassal states. It was essentially a proclamation saying, ‘From now on, if anyone in Ming rebels against us, you Joseon people should trample them down yourselves—and manage them for us, too.’
“Moreover, we can now purchase ample copper through Japan for casting the firearms we need, so dealing with the Jurchens in the north will become far easier than before. You have truly rendered a great service.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”
“Therefore, I shall raise Chief Envoy Kim Dae-beom’s rank to junior third rank, promote Deputy Envoy Kim Hanjik by two grades to junior fifth rank, and raise Kim Mandeok to junior sixth rank. I shall also bestow ample land and grain upon them to reward their efforts.”
Becoming a senior court official was an unavoidable fate for me.
Just as Hwang Hui could not resign before His Majesty King Sejong passed away, this, too, could be regarded as a future that had already been decided.
I had no intention of pointlessly denying a fact I could not avoid.
Even so, what mattered was the attitude I showed when I became a senior court official.
‘I am young and lacking in ability. However, since Your Majesty has ordered me to try, I shall do my best.’
‘In truth, I want to become a senior court official so I can enjoy wielding power to the fullest! Power, money! It’s all mine!’
If there were two types of senior court officials, which one would His Majesty King Sejong find it easier to reward with overwork?
The answer was the senior official who shouted, ‘I love power!’
A man who loved power was someone brimming with ambition for high office, giving Sejong ample justification to shove him into a life of overwork, just as he had Hwang Hui and Jo Mal-saeng, in exchange for satisfying his desires.
That was why I had continually declined rapid promotion.
Even if I could not resign right away, I wanted to succeed in resigning when I turned sixty and become a free man.
“Your Majesty, this servant is still young, and my learning is shallow. How could I possibly bear such a high office? I beg Your Majesty to reconsider.”
“I believe that you, Kim Dae-beom, will one day become a great pillar supporting the nation and rise to the ranks of the chief ministers. Therefore, heed my wishes and do not refuse this promotion.”
“Since I am still young, I will eventually rise to the position of senior court official even if I advance slowly. However, if I, who still lack a proper understanding of how the world works, were to enter the ranks of senior officials right now, I would make many mistakes and cause Your Majesty trouble. That is what I fear most.”
“Every court official hopes to enter the ranks of senior officials even a day sooner, and you surely harbor the same desire. Yet your loyalty in asking that your promotion be delayed for the sake of the royal ancestral shrines and the state is truly admirable. Very well. I shall respect your wishes and withdraw the order this time.”
Fortunately, I had once again succeeded in avoiding promotion.
Yes, my promotion to senior court official was inevitable anyway, so let’s endure for just four or five years by advancing one rank every year and a half…
“You have all worked hard traveling such a long distance, so I grant the entire delegation ten days of rest. Leave the court at once and rest comfortably.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”
At that moment, Sejong, Hwang Hui, Maeng Sa-seong, and the other ministers all looked at me with extremely wicked smiles at the same time.
They looked remarkably similar to the smiles professors wore when they called an adorable, cute first-year university student to their research office, bought them expensive sweet-and-sour pork and fried dumplings, and recommended graduate school to them…
Surely, I was only imagining things, right?
I also seemed to have grown quite weak after being away for so long.
Despite the distinct warmth of spring, my body suddenly began to shiver. I must have damaged my health while visiting Japan.
I should eat some ginseng and go straight to bed as soon as I leave the court today.
**
As soon as Kim Dae-beom left the throne hall, Hwang Hui reported in a voice full of concern.
“Your Majesty, I am ashamed to say this, but Minister Kim’s continued refusal to accept promotion is likely because he fears that some people may envy his rapid rise.”
Sejong and Hwang Hui, the man who had made this report, both wore smiles utterly at odds with the gravity of what had supposedly been said.
That was right. The two of them were staging this conversation so they could get everything done before Kim Dae-beom returned to court after his ten-day vacation.
As proof, royal commands had already been sent to Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In in Haesambu, ordering them to come to Hanyang at once because Kim Dae-beom would be appointed deputy director of the Hall of Worthies.
“Who on earth could possibly envy Kim Dae-beom’s promotion?”
“This servant has only suspicions. I do not know who might be envious or jealous of Minister Kim.”
That was right. In truth, no one at court envied or resented Kim Dae-beom’s rapid promotion.
No—even if there had been someone who did, there was no fool stupid enough to reveal it.
‘That young brat Kim Dae-beom is being promoted ahead of me, even though I passed the civil service examination long before him, simply because he is slightly more capable?’
If someone submitted a memorial or impeached him, saying, ‘Does that make any sense?’…
The odds were high that Yi Bang-won, a benevolent man who showed warmth even to children but suffered from an illness that made him unable to rest until he had beaten Goryeo diehards to death, would bring the hammer of punishment down upon him (figuratively, not physically).
His skull, unable to withstand the physical hammer attack, would cave in, sending him to the next world.
However, forcing Kim Dae-beom to accept a promotion required proper justification.
They needed a well-intentioned lie claiming that he was delaying his promotion because of jealous and envious people.
“Minister Kim thinks of nothing but the royal ancestral shrines, the state, and the people, day and night. He is so famous for never pursuing personal gain that he is an incorruptible official from whom even the Office of the Censors could not uncover a single speck of dust if it set out to impeach him. Being such a man, did he not continually refuse promotion because he worried only that accepting it might harm Your Majesty’s reign, rather than for his own sake?”
“Ah, so that was the reason.”
Had Kim Dae-beom been present in the throne hall, he would have denied it, even if that meant interrupting Sejong.
However, because Kim Dae-beom was not a senior court official and therefore could not be present there, he had no way of knowing what was being discussed in the throne hall.
Consequently, public opinion at court moved according to the scheme Sejong and Hwang Hui had prepared.
“Ah, I should have trusted Kim Dae-beom’s loyalty and supported him more actively. So his reason for refusing promotion all this time was that he feared those jealous of him might cause trouble for me. I was too shortsighted to understand his true feelings until now. And the Chief State Councillor and Right State Councillor, who reported this to me today, are true loyal subjects.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”
“Considering Kim Dae-beom’s achievements, it would hardly have been strange if he had become a senior court official several years ago. Therefore, I shall use this opportunity to promote him to Tongjeong Daebu, senior third rank, upper grade, and appoint him deputy director of the Hall of Worthies.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”
This was conveyed to Kim Dae-beom the following day.
Hwang Hui and Jo Mal-saeng, who had spearheaded Kim Dae-beom’s promotion to senior court official, received twenty days of leave on the grounds that they needed to visit their parents’ graves.
The ministers of the court greatly admired the filial devotion of those two men.
**
I was peacefully resting at home while drinking water boiled with ginseng when a bolt from the blue struck me out of nowhere.
I had refused a promotion to junior third rank, yet they had made me a senior court official outright.
Who on earth had devised such a wicked scheme?
I wasn’t Sima Yi, so why had I fallen into a trap like this?
“That’s impossible…”
While I stood there utterly aghast, Kim Mandeok laughed heartily at me as he played with his grandson Jangsaeng, then turned toward me.
“Do you like the present, son-in-law? I put in a little effort.”
What? This was truly a case of being struck on the foot by the axe I had trusted.
In that case, I wouldn’t hold back anymore either…
We’re all going to work ourselves to death together.