I Humbly Beseech You to Repel Them with an Iron Mace (4)

Politicians in the twenty-first century care about the power and wealth they enjoy while alive.

Whether they are cursed after they die or their corpses are dug up and subjected to posthumous mutilation, that is none of their concern.

However, Joseon seonbi tended to regard the value of honor and life as equal, and sometimes considered honor more important than life.

It was during King Seongjong's reign that things went disastrously awry.

Honor-hungry Sarim censor-officials clamored that making a water tank out of copper was extravagant and that it should be made of stone instead.

Once their opinion was accepted and the water tank was made of stone, the cost turned out to be slightly lower if it had been made of copper.

Even so, those madmen congratulated themselves and celebrated, claiming that they had achieved the great feat of curbing the king's extravagance.

Of course, this culture later provided the foundation for yangban to empty their private fortunes and organize righteous armies during the Imjin War and the final years of Joseon.

Thus, it served as an example of how every matter contains both good and bad aspects.

And now I was at the scene of an incident in which my own father, driven by his hunger for honor, had caused an event capable of shaking the court...