Chapter 223
Sejong had one old, cherished dream.
It was to create a script that every person in Joseon could learn easily.
He believed that realizing this dream would free the people from the hardships caused by being unable to read or write because they could not learn Chinese characters.
"Even when Kim Daebung was magistrate of Jinhae, he would occasionally submit memorials... They said that corrupt clerks and magistrates exploited the fact that poor people could neither read nor write, and embezzled from them."
During his time as magistrate of Jinhae, Kim Daebung did not spend his free time outside his official duties enjoying flower-viewing and autumn-leaf outings with public funds, as other magistrates routinely did.
Instead, he took on extra work.
One of the things he did during those extra working hours was compile accounts of the misdeeds committed by clerks he had personally punished, as well as the misdeeds he himself might commit as a magistrate, and send them to Sejong.
Every such memorial ended with words like these.
[Because the people cannot read, they do not know what the laws of the country are, and cannot even properly recognize that they have been exploited.
Even after having their noses cut off in broad daylight while still alive and awake, poor people merely think the world is cruel and accept it as something they must endure. Thus, they do not even know that they are suffering injustice.
As I watch such people, I sometimes think that this is fortunate.
Even if they realize they have suffered an injustice, they cannot write it down and dare to submit a complaint to Your Majesty, so all they can do is let it rot their insides...
Would it not be better if, at the very least, they had no awareness that they had suffered injustice, so that their insides would not rot away?
Thus, whenever this lowly subject thinks of the common people's pain, my heart feels heavy as a thousand pounds in one way or another.]
Although Kim Daebung had never directly mentioned ‘Hunminjeongeum’ or ‘an easy script that even the people could learn without difficulty,’ the stories in his memorials deeply shook Sejong.
"If we create a script that the people can learn and use easily, provided they have the will to learn... I once thought that we could surely reduce the cases of people born poor suffering injustice simply because they did not know the written language."
In actual history, Sejong explained his motivation for creating Hunminjeongeum in these terms.
‘Because the language of our country (Joseon) differs from China's, the written language and spoken language do not correspond, and thus the ignorant people cannot express their thoughts in writing even when they have something they wish to say. Therefore, to solve this problem, I have created twenty-eight letters.’
"But I can no longer be satisfied with merely creating an easy script."
If an easy script were created, the people would be able to convey in writing what they wished to communicate.
And if an easy script allowed the people to freely write their opinions, that meant they would also be free to read.
When speaking of the script, Kim Daebung had said this.
'A nation of gentlemen where all the people learn the Way of Confucius and Mencius.'
And in Sejong's hands was the object that would become the most important foundation for creating a country where everyone could become a gentleman.
It was a cheap Sohak textbook made of low-quality paper, later recorded in history as Sejong Eoje Sajaseohak.
"Kim Daebung has already prepared everything."
The entire contents of this Sohak book were written in Chinese characters, but what if the characters written here were not Chinese characters...
What if it were printed using the script that only needed the finishing touches put on it?
If that happened, would it not bring us one step closer to a country where all the people could learn as much as they wished?
"Painting in the dragon's eyes is a task that only I, the king, can carry out."
As the creation of the script he had begun developing several years earlier, inspired by Kim Daebung, was nearly complete...
With just a little more research to finish, it would be possible to proclaim Hunminjeongeum.
And Sejong also had a father who could handle state affairs in his stead while he devoted himself to research.
"I am a fortunate man."
Kim Daebung, who occasionally made the maddening remark that he would resign before turning sixty and kept Sejong on his toes; his father, who bore all the evil burdens in his stead; and the Crown Prince, who possessed a fine character and an exceptional mind, despite being a little too fond of gunpowder weapons.
And talented subjects of the caliber of Hwang Hui, Maeng Sa-seong, and Jo Mal-saeng, as well.
"Let us build a country where any subject with the will to learn can study."
**
Having firmed up his resolve, Sejong went to see Yi Bang-won.
It was still before the end of the workday, and there were a few watching eyes around them.
Yi Bang-won also greeted Sejong using semi-formal speech.
"Why have you come to see me at such an early hour, Your Majesty?"
"I have come because there is something I would like to ask of Father."
"I do not know what you could possibly want to ask this decrepit old man put out to pasture, but I shall help as much as I can. So speak without burdening yourself."
"It is a difficult request. What I ask is... for you to oversee the affairs of state in my place for a while, Father."
When Yi Bang-won actually heard Sejong's request, he felt as though he had been struck over the head with a club.
He had already been the Taesangwang for a long time.
In other words, he had officially become a king with no authority or power at all, and had handed all power over to his son Sejong...
That was why he could not understand why his son was trying to return power to him, even though he had added the condition that it would be only ‘for a while.’
Sejong respectfully handed the stunned Yi Bang-won the steaming-hot Sohak book just printed at Jojiseo.
"Father, do you know what this is?"
"Is it Sohak?"
"Yes, it is Sohak. This is the Sohak printed for only five percent of the previous cost. And I have had a dream for a long time."
Sejong told only a very small number of people that he was creating a new script.
Even Kim Daebung had not heard that Sejong was creating a new script.
Yi Bang-won, however, knew both that Sejong was creating a new script and what dream he had lived with for so long.
That was why he let out a hearty laugh when he heard the word “dream.”
"Your Majesty, your dream is truly beautiful. And when I think that this old man, before he dies, may be able to lend even the slightest strength to your dream, my own heart starts pounding as well..."
"Thank you, Father."
"When Your Majesty first came to me and said you wanted me to guard the throne for a while, I wondered what bizarre nonsense you were talking about. But if it is to create a country where all the people are given the opportunity to learn and everyone can read and write, should I not whip even this old body into action and do my part?"
The phrase “this old body” was ill-suited to Yi Bang-won, whose body was still far too healthy and brimming with vigor to be called old.
In Joseon, being sixty-three was an age at which going outside without a cane was difficult, yet he still went hunting once every fifteen days and remained so vigorous that he could occasionally share the meat of animals he had hunted with the Crown Prince and the grand princes.
Thus, the expression about whipping his old body into action did not really suit him.
Even Yi Bang-won realized that talking about whipping an old body did not suit him, so he quickly changed the subject.
"A country where all the people hear the teachings of the sages and study. A country where even those belonging to Chilbancheonyeok (people of commoner status who are despised because their occupations are considered equivalent to those of lowborn people), and their children, can pass the civil service examinations and become yangban if they set their minds to studying and devote themselves to it."
"Yes, Father."
"It is a country I never dreamed of throughout my life, nor even thought to dream of. If such a country is created, even Confucius will envy Joseon instead of the Middle Kingdom from then on."
Historians assess it this way.
They say Confucius was able to make a name for himself because his teachings were the best philosophy for calming a chaotic age.
At the same time, at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, learning was a privilege monopolized by a very small elite.
They also say that Confucius's noble character could be passed down through his teachings because he offered that learning to both the poor and the wealthy without distinction.
And what Confucius valued most was that everyone learn, regardless of the gap between rich and poor.
If Joseon, where Sejong's new script had spread, were also to gain the strength of Kim Daebung, who devised all manner of wondrous policies that no one—not even Sejong or Yi Bang-won—could have imagined and always produced results beyond expectations...
"Father."
"Speak."
"In twenty years from now—or thirty at the latest—not a single person in Joseon will be unable to read. I will make it so."
Sejong's words were an exceedingly arrogant declaration.
Even in Europe, which used phonetic scripts, fewer than ten percent of people could read books written in Latin—or rather, medieval German...
Even in the 1930s, only about fifteen percent of people in Korea could read Hangul.
And he intended to create a country in the early fifteenth century where everyone could read?
It was an enormous dream—one so preposterous that it could be dismissed as an impossible fantasy, leaving no room for argument.
Yet Sejong sincerely believed it was possible.
"I have now passed sixty and am nearing seventy, and I can feel that my life is slowly drawing to its end. But if Your Majesty continues to show me such a beautiful dream, I find myself wanting to live even a little longer, even if it makes me look undignified in the eyes of others."
Yi Bang-won still treasured in his study the memorial jointly submitted by fifteen hundred residents of Jinhae County.
He sometimes read it and felt...
This was not Goryeo, but Joseon.
That was why he allowed himself the desire to live a little longer.
He felt the same way now.
"I will guard the throne for a while."
And from that day onward, Taesangwang Yi Bang-won temporarily took charge of state affairs in Sejong's place.