Chapter 22
Looking at the ministers gathered in the private audience chamber, Sejong said.
“In this world, if you only listen to what people say, there are far too many hypocrites who act as though they could govern the whole world and pretend to be sages like Confucius. But they are nothing but empty husks that only talk big and are useless to the world. Isn’t that so, Minister of Rites?”
“Yes, that’s right. Even a mere layabout talks of lofty ambitions and says he’ll set the troubled world in order, but... many of them just lie around in their rooms, never read a single page, and only hope for some lucky break.”
In Joseon too, preparing for the state examinations was often just an excuse to pretend to be a yangban; in truth, there were countless yangban who couldn’t properly read even the Four Books and Three Classics.
Still, if you were a yangban, you were supposed to study and become a model for the common people around you through learning and virtue...
A single book could contain more than tens of thousands of Chinese characters, and reading and memorizing them all was no easy task. So there were plenty of yangban who did no studying and only had lofty ideals.
“Furthermore, there are many young hotheads who, not realizing they are still immature and lacking in ability, only talk about grand ambitions.”
Sejong himself was twenty-six, so he still counted as a young man, but his abilities were already so outstanding that even Yi Bang-won acknowledged them. Therefore, the young man just mentioned was not referring to himself.
To the future Sejong plantation slave master, the one who would one day be said to have turned all of Joseon’s officials into ‘graduate students,’ most rookie officials looked like that.
Sejong, who loves all his people—including officials—gives them tasks they can accomplish if they push themselves to the limit, so that they can fulfill the ambitions they had when they first took office.
It was Sejong’s mercy, trying to help them somehow achieve the ambitions they’d spoken aloud. Of course, the ministers would say that wasn’t mercy at all, but grinding people up in a millstone...
But in the Confucian state of Joseon, that was simply the king’s great benevolence.
“However, men like former Jinhae magistrate Kim Daebung, who at such a young age have great ambitions and put them into practice for the people’s benefit, are exceedingly rare. That is why I am truly glad to have gained such a retainer. It must have felt much like this when Taigong (the father of King Wen of Zhou) appointed Jiang Taigong, or when Emperor Xiaolie (Liu Bei) gained Zhuge Liang.”
Kim Daebung was only nineteen. If we assume he lived to sixty, that meant he was a talent who could devote the next forty-one years to Joseon.
What’s more, he didn’t even seem to have flaws like Hwang Hui or Jo Malsaeng—such as being excessively greedy for money... The moment he was appointed sixth-rank Jinhae magistrate, he put the county’s livelihood right again with outstanding ability.
Anyone could see that this meant he pursued no private gain and only wanted to serve the royal ancestral shrine and the state, and to bring peace to the people—wasn’t that the ambition he held?
To keep this retainer, who was more capable and upright than anyone else, from fully displaying his abilities and ambitions would be to commit a grave sin a monarch should never commit.
Sejong sincerely believed that.
And nurturing his talents and abilities was also a ruler’s duty.
“Where should former Jinhae magistrate Kim Daebung be sent? Speak freely without hesitation.”
At those words, Minister of Rites Heo Jo answered at once.
“Your Majesty, former Jinhae magistrate Kim Daebung is truly remarkable in ability, but he is still young. So should we not have him work in the Ministry of Rites, handling matters of etiquette, decorum, and education, and teach him the principles and rules that a government official—and a human being—must uphold?”
Next, Hwang Hui jumped in.
“Your Majesty, I, Hwang Hui, Minister of Taxation, respectfully report. There isn’t a single person in the Ministry of Taxation, myself included, who understands the principles of commerce. So even if we study the memorials on how Kim Daebung ran the market, we still cannot grasp its strange workings. We spend day and night thinking, analyzing, and worrying, but cannot arrive at a clear answer... So please send him to the Ministry of Taxation, and spare the Ministry’s officials from suffering over problems they cannot solve.”
Sejong was at a loss.
Heo Jo’s words made sense, and so did Hwang Hui’s.
He even found himself wishing Kim Daebung were two people.
Then one could be placed in the Ministry of Taxation and the other in the Ministry of Rites.
“The Minister of Rites has a point, and the Minister of Taxation has a point as well.”
After that, the other ministers chimed in too.
“Your Majesty, Kim Daebung is the sort of talent who ought to become the nation’s future chancellor. Then shouldn’t he first learn how to manage officials in the Ministry of Personnel? Please send him there as a jeollang.”
“His thinking is extremely flexible, so if he comes to the Ministry of War, he’ll show outstanding talent for making new weapons and managing military supplies. And given the talent he showed as a local official, wouldn’t he also do well at reclaiming and managing military farms?”
“The Ministry of Works is currently making commoners do corvée labor for construction projects all over the place... and we can’t even figure out what to do. But if Kim Daebung came and evenly distributed the labor among the people, even asking the yangban for help, things would become much easier. So please send him to the Ministry of Works.”
If Kim Daebung had seen this, he would have summed it up in one line.
‘The ministers are obsessed with me.’
But in Sejong’s eyes, who had made all of Joseon’s officials into ‘graduate students,’ the scene looked truly beautiful. It was enough to make him smile on its own.
“Since the ministers seem unable to decide where to send Kim Daebung, the morning court session will only drag on for no reason. So organize your opinions and report them directly to me.”
After Sejong dismissed the audience, the ministers immediately hurried over to the State Council.
**
The six ministers gathered at the State Council were raising their voices at one another.
The three chief ministers wanted to join in and shout for him to be sent to the State Council too, but unfortunately there was no post in the State Council that matched Kim Daebung’s rank, so they had nothing to say and could only stay quiet...
“No, Minister of Rites, isn’t that too much? You know better than anyone how our Ministry of Taxation officials have been working lately—how can you say that?”
“The Ministry of Rites has the important task of setting exam questions and establishing the nation’s laws. The Ministry of Justice merely enforces criminal law; isn’t it the Ministry of Rites that lays the foundation?”
“Our Ministry of Taxation can’t even understand the market Kim Daebung created. So we need to put out the Ministry of Taxation’s fire first.”
“Haven’t we already written and submitted several memorials on how a market should be operated and managed?”
“Minister of Rites, why don’t you try it yourself? You’ll see how hard it is.”
Minister of War Jo Malsaeng joined the fight between Minister of Rites Heo Jo and Minister of Taxation Hwang Hui.
“After Great King Taejo passed away, the Jurchens have been eyeing Joseon’s border at every turn. We keep mobilizing troops and such to stop them, but in the end, the way to block them is to settle people on the frontier. To do that, we need military farms. If there is anyone best suited to be the manager for military farms in the north, who would it be?”
“Does it make sense to give someone who has already served once as a local magistrate an even harder post?”
“Minister of Taxation, this is for the country.”
“I’m speaking for the country too.”
The other ministers also kept arguing about why Kim Daebung was needed in their own departments.
However, unlike the other six ministries, the Ministry of Taxation had the strongest appeal: its officials worked almost nonstop from clock-in to clock-out and even had to work overtime, so everyone gradually gave way.
“The Ministry of Taxation officials are people too, you know. I hate overtime too... And Kim Daebung isn’t exactly someone who’d work only for the Ministry of Taxation...”
Then Jeong Inji, the vice chief scholar of the Hall of Worthies, appeared.
Hwang Hui scolded him for being late.
“Why are you so late? The other senior officials have been discussing where to place former Jinhae magistrate Kim Daebung since earlier.”
Jeong Inji looked at Hwang Hui and the other ministers and grinned.
That smile made Hwang Hui feel a vague sense of unease.
“His Majesty has appointed former Jinhae magistrate Kim Daebung as a compiler at the Hall of Worthies.”
Hwang Hui could not hide his shocked expression.
If Kim Daebung were brought to the Ministry of Taxation, they could dump the mountain of work on the man who created it and enjoy the happiness of leaving on time...
It was almost there; if they just pushed a little harder, it would definitely happen...
Hwang Hui had wanted to lure the naive Kim Daebung over, keep him under his command, and enjoy an easy official life by making him work until Hwang Hui himself resigned. His happy dream vanished like a soap bubble in an instant.
“What are you saying?”
“It’s His Majesty’s order, Minister. Isn’t there a saying in military strategy that the best move is to deceive others?”
“...... No, you little rascal... How could you do this to me? I was so fond of you! Vice Chief Scholar, how could you do this to me?”
Hwang Hui felt as if his chance to leave on time—and the balance between work and life—were slipping away before his eyes. His vision seemed to turn yellow.
He suddenly wanted to hand in his resignation.
Jeong Inji was also a seasoned official, though not as worn down as the others here.
So he decided to give an answer that everyone, Hwang Hui included, could accept.
“The Hall of Worthies is a place where scholarship is studied and policies that benefit Joseon are researched. Our Scholar Kim’s loyalty to the king and love of country are things everyone here knows... If you bring the six ministries’ difficult matters to him, he will help as much as he can.”
At his words, the dying Hwang Hui instantly came back to life and cheered.
“Vice Chief Scholar, you’re the best. I’ll treat you to a drink today. On a day as pleasant as this, I should tell all the Ministry of Taxation officials to go home on time.”
At the same time, Kim Daebung felt a chill run down his spine for no reason whatsoever.