Chapter 234
All the ministers froze, as if they had entered a state of suspended animation.
Because what the king was saying was utterly absurd by Joseon's standards.
Books had traditionally been the exclusive preserve of the wealthy, such as the yangban literati and jungin, while it was only natural for poor and ignorant commoners to live their entire lives without knowing how to read...
Worrying that young and poor commoners could not read books?
To convey the absurdity the ministers were feeling now, it would probably be something like this:
A man who had never dated even once in his life goes to a girl-group concert, then seriously worries about what he would do if one of the members performing there happened to fall for him and propose marriage, to the point of seeking legal counsel.
Thus, although everyone had heard of Sejong's lofty—no, unimaginable—grand undertaking, no one could step forward to oppose him.
“Thanks to the court and even merchants producing paper in large quantities, Sohak can now be purchased for less than five pun (5%) of its former price, while the Four Books and Three Classics have fallen to around three tenths (30%) of their former prices. And paper production and book printing will become even more active in the future, so book prices will continue to fall over time. If that happens, the day may come when even poor commoners' homes possess at least one copy of Saja Sohak, even if owning all the Four Books and Three Classics would be too much to ask.”
After Gutenberg's metal movable type was invented, Bible prices actually fell considerably in Europe.
Thus, while not every household across Europe had a Bible, homes belonging to the middle class and above reportedly had one each...
Since Saja Sohak was much thinner than the Bible, it might be possible for every household in Joseon to have a copy during King Sejong's lifetime.
Even if that situation does not come to pass, as the old saying goes, if you set out to draw a tiger, you can at least draw a cat...
King Sejong's noble intention will become the starting point for pulling the people out of ignorance and illiteracy, allowing Joseon to develop even further.
“Yet what is Joseon like now? Though the language spoken throughout the country is Joseon's own, is not the script used in books and documents the Chinese characters of the Middle Kingdom? Thus, because the language of the country differs from Chinese writing and the two cannot communicate with each other, the people cannot write down what they wish to say, nor can they read and learn the words of the sages. How painful is that?”
In actual history, Sejong's reason for creating Hunminjeongeum began with his sorrow that the people could not write down what they wished to convey.
But thanks to my intervention, Hunminjeongeum gained one more reason for its creation.
It became not only a script that allowed the people to easily write down what they wished to say, but also embodied the resolve to make the teachings of the sages, which the yangban alone had monopolized, accessible to poor commoners as well.
What a beautiful and magnificent idea!
“I am pained that the people cannot convey their wishes through writing, nor learn through books the duties they must uphold as human beings. Therefore, I wish to create twenty-eight new letters so that every person in Joseon may use them with ease and learn as much as they wish. What do you think?”
As he asked the ministers for their opinions, Sejong looked at me with eyes full of expectation.
Realizing that this was Sejong's signal, I opened my mouth to live up to his expectations.
“After hearing Your Majesty's beautiful intention, I have conceived a truly grand dream.”
“What dream is that?”
Both Sejong and I already knew what it was.
To create a nation where all the people had the duty to study.
“The new dream I have conceived is this.”
I repeated the phrases ‘conceived a dream’ and ‘a new dream’ to emphasize my point.
But even if you want to emphasize something, you should stop after repeating it twice; once you go beyond three repetitions, it can become tedious and meaningless, so I would now get to the point.
“To make Joseon a nation of gentlemen where all the people learn the principles of the sages.”
At the words ‘a nation where all the people learn,’ every minister sent me an unfriendly look, as though they were staring at a madman.
By Joseon's standards, I was objectively a madman.
Compulsory education would not become widespread and practicable until at least the twentieth century, so it was true that I was proclaiming it in the fifteenth century as a person far too far ahead of his time.
However, when you investigate those who made the world even a little better and brighter, you find that they were people who transcended the common sense of their age.
They were the countless people who undertook sacrifices, challenges, research, new theories, and adventures that common sense could not possibly explain, forging new paths where none had existed.
And there were the countless disciples who followed them.
The new theories and philosophies, art, and science created by those who moved ahead of their time and their disciples allowed the world to move in a slightly better direction.
I wanted to do that, too.
By following in King Sejong's footsteps.
“I believe this is precisely what Confucius truly desired and dreamed of throughout his life.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Confucius willingly accepted as disciples anyone who came bearing even a humble bundle of dried meat and paid proper respects, regardless of status. Among the Ten Disciples of Confucius (the ten most outstanding of Confucius's disciples) were Yan Hui, who could barely make ends meet, Zilu, who had once been a ruffian who disrupted social order, and Zigong, who became highly successful as a merchant through his skill in business.”
Joseon is a Confucian nation.
As a Confucian nation, Joseon upholds Confucius's teachings as its highest value.
Then no minister here would dare oppose the great current of universal education I was trying to open in line with Confucius's intentions.
Even in actual history, the spread of learning was achieved to some extent, and during the early, middle, and late Joseon periods—even during the era of in-law politics—thirty to fifty percent of those who passed the civil service examinations reportedly came from ordinary commoner families.
Of course, after the middle period, the examinations were held so frequently that the number of successful candidates increased excessively, and unless a commoner passed in the Gabgwa (within the top three), all they received was admission to the ranks of the yangban...
The important point was that even in an era when the status system had become entrenched and Song Si-yeol, whom we commonly call a Confucian Taliban, was pulling every imaginable old-fogey stunt, commoner candidates still passed in droves...
Confucian learning is a school of thought that venerates the spread of learning almost as an absolute.
"People reveal their intentions through actions, not words. The reason Confucius taught everyone who wished to learn must have been that he wanted to create 'a nation where everyone could learn.' However, during Confucius's lifetime, the various kings, though they recognized his abilities, did not wish to accept his rituals and ideas. He simply could not create a nation where all the people could learn."
In my view, Confucius probably never conceived of a system of compulsory education.
If he had thought of it and tried to realize it, he would have traveled around like Jesus, gathering people and preaching his teachings.
But a noble purpose and outcome can justify the means as well.
In truth, Confucius was unquestionably someone who wanted to spread learning widely, so if he learned that his name had been used as the basis for a lie in the process of instituting compulsory education in Joseon, he would probably let it slide with great pleasure.
If not, well, what could a dead man do about it?
In the Korea where I lived, a culture called the ‘Confucian Taliban’ arose when the Japanese bastards' bizarre samurai-style bullshit-discipline culture mixed with Confucianism, and it gnawed away at the country.
Pieces of trash who never acted like adults would act like old fogeys solely because they had gotten older, invoking the principle of elder-younger hierarchy (which was not what Confucius meant by it) while making a huge damn fuss about respecting one's elders.
I had suffered plenty because of that, too.
"Thus, I believe that Your Majesty's noble intention of ‘Let us create a nation where all the people learn the way of the gentleman’ is the same as inheriting the dream Confucius had desired throughout his life but had been unable to achieve."
Someone once said that top-tier con artists mix just one percent of lies into ninety-nine percent truth.
Along those lines, I too invoked the moral justification of Confucius's intentions, which no one in Joseon would dare openly deny, and added a tiny bit of falsehood.
Even that made it diverge considerably from Confucius's intentions...
To be honest, I was not someone who believed, like the ministers here, that only the teachings of Confucius and Mencius were the truth, the way, and the source of life.
It was all right to distort the teachings of the Chinese thinker Confucius a little for Joseon's sake, wasn't it?
"Your Majesty, I humbly beg you: make Joseon a nation of gentlemen. Let every person be loyal to the king above, fulfill their filial duties toward their parents, and set an example for their children below. And Your Majesty, please become a sovereign who warmly embraces all the people so that they may become gentlemen."
The Confucian Talibans claim that no matter how badly a superior behaves, those beneath them must always honor and serve them.
Yet Confucianism teaches that if a superior fails to act like a superior, that person is not a human being but a beast, and may be ignored.
"If Your Majesty holds such a great cause in your heart and promulgates the script, Joseon will become a country even more beautiful than the Peach Blossom Spring, which everyone imagines as an ideal paradise. Therefore, I humbly beseech Your Majesty to grant this lowly subject permission to assist Your Majesty's grand undertaking, even if only a little."
"I grant your request."
Sejong and I seized the opportunity while the ministers were bewildered, creating a situation in which they would find it difficult to oppose us.
All the ministers could do now was calculate the time and cost involved and adjust the pace.
And, well, although it probably will not happen, if someone like Jeong Chang-son appears, going on about the commoners' character...
That would be a Goryeo ghost, so sending in an expert at dealing with Goryeo ghosts would resolve it neatly.
"What Kim Daebung said is indeed correct. As he requested, I will now devote all my strength to making Joseon a nation where all the people can learn, a nation of gentlemen. If anyone opposes this, submit a memorial and inform me directly."
Sejong proclaimed sternly.
"I will personally debate the principles of Confucius and Mencius with them."
Incidentally, no one in Joseon could surpass Sejong in scholarly achievement.
If you challenged the genius who had single-handedly created Hunminjeongeum, the greatest script in existence, to a Confucian debate... who could possibly win?