Chapter 25
Confucianism is not a discipline meant for politics.
People say that Confucianism looks down on commerce, legitimizes a hierarchy in which the old are automatically above everyone else simply for being old, and treats unconditional filial piety as the only thing that matters. But Christianity isn't much different.
So what's the problem? These damn fools are the kind who condemn 'legitimate luxury' as sinful, worship low taxes, and revere the Zhou dynasty (a Bronze Age civilization) as if it were sacred.
The one currently in charge of Joseon's 'fiscal policy' is the Chief State Councillor, Ryu Jeonghyeon... and his way of thinking is exactly that.
A fool who believes that if taxes are low and state spending is slashed without a plan, the people will live better. A man like that has served as Minister of Taxation, become Chief State Councillor, and is praised as a great statesman who managed the finances well. That's the problem.
As for me, I'm always ready to submit a memorial of resignation and head back to the countryside after speaking my mind... so I'm thinking of overhauling Joseon's fiscal policy.
'I'll just fix what's wrong, then retire to the countryside.'
"Right now, Joseon's civil officials, including local magistrates, number about 570 in total, whereas the number of counties and prefectures in Joseon reaches 364. So according to your argument, Kim Suchan, we would have to increase the number of civil officials by at least 60 percent. The court is poor. How could we possibly support that many officials' stipends?"
Right now, thanks to Yi Bangwon's expansionary fiscal policy, Joseon's finances are running a surplus. In other words, across Joseon's early, middle, and late periods, the central treasury is the strongest it has ever been.
I don't want to believe it either, but it all happened because of Joseon's uniquely foolish idea that 'the less tax you collect, the better.'
That's why, by Injo's reign, they ended up enacting the Yeongjeongbeop—the Uniform Land Tax Law—supposedly for the people's sake, but really for the yangban who paid virtually no taxes except land tax, fixing land tax at the lowest rate whether the harvest was bad or good.
A country that collects less than 2 percent in actual taxes from the rich is sure to run smoothly.
"The sages said that collecting as little tax as possible is the way to benefit the people. Following that teaching, if we collect as little as possible from the people and have the king and officials refrain from extravagance, wouldn't that be the road to a peaceful and prosperous age?"
It is true that states often fall because of the luxury indulged in by the ruling class. So I can agree, to some extent, that extravagance should be avoided.
But Joseon was a country that called even the king drinking milk a luxury, and so it abolished or scaled back the system for raising dairy cows. What a foolish thing.
If they had spared no expense investing in dairy farming to raise dairy cows more efficiently, the people might have lived in a country where they could drink milk from time to time.
By slashing taxes like this, officials are paid very little, and the clerks get no salary at all, so everyone makes up for their dignity and living expenses with things like 'bribes' and 'holiday gifts.'
I myself have also taken gifts worth thousands of seok of rice—converted into Korean won, I can't say exactly, but it's hundreds of millions, maybe even more than a billion.
At this rate, if you set the annual salary of a rank-9 official at 100 million won, and a minister's salary at around 10 billion won, wouldn't all the tax money that disappears into corruption vanish entirely?
"I, too, of course agree with the sages. It is true that the king and yangban officials refraining from extravagance is the way to benefit the people. However, isn't Joseon's national policy goal yeomin-dongrak—creating a country where both the people and the king can rejoice?"
"So taxes should be collected lightly..."
Back when I was taking the civil service final exam before Sejong, if someone had argued like that, I wouldn't have had a thing to say. No matter how many correct things you say, if you have no results to prove them, it all turns into armchair theory.
But now I have results—evidence to back up my claim.
"When I was serving as magistrate of Jinhae County, the taxes collected from the samin—all the people, including the yangban—were 40 percent higher than those collected by my predecessor."
Hwang Hui was speechless after hearing me. He was grimly enduring the moment his common sense came crashing down around him. Watching him, I thought it served him right.
If he were someone like Lord Heo Jo, a principled man so spotless that not even a speck of dust would come off him, I would have felt a little sorry. However, Hwang Hui is also the kind of man who is corrupt to the core.
A guy like that saying we should cut taxes to save the people—how hypocritical can he get?
"However, because the taxes we collected were not used for extravagance or hoarding wealth, but for building reservoirs and developing commerce, we were able to benefit the people. My view then and now is the same. To benefit the people, taxes must be collected properly and spent properly."
"...I see. So what is the plan you have in mind, Suchan?"
"Officials whose sole job is to handle market fairs must be appointed in every county nationwide. They must supervise order at the markets and thoroughly inspect whether merchants are doing anything dishonest or hiding the taxes they owe. If we don't do that, expanding the markets could end up breeding nothing but bands of thieves in every county of Joseon."
"I never expected you, someone who says commerce should be encouraged, to say that."
"I nearly got badly taken for a ride myself just recently when I came to Hanyang and tried to rent a place."
I didn't get gouged because Kim Mandeok was by my side. If Kim Mandeok hadn't been there, I would have been gouged to the hilt.
That insane property shark even tried to rip me off, an official, so what wouldn't he do to helpless commoners? By the late Joseon period, those bastards would build up the geomgye—sword gangs—and make the problem so bad that Joseon would have to respond with something close to treason-level measures.
So they absolutely have to be watched, inspected, and managed with extreme care. Otherwise, those bastards might keep evolving in the dark until they turn into merchants from that damned country.
What the British Empire did should be done only to Ming China and those Japanese bastards, not to the people of Joseon.
"At first, if you appoint a lot of officials, finding the stipends to pay them will be a major problem. But even in a small town like Jinhae County, we were able to collect 1,000 seok of white rice through market taxes alone. Then can you imagine how much could be collected in big towns like Pyeongyang and Gaeseong?"
Hwang Hui swallowed hard. It seemed he liked my idea of hiring many officials, collecting plenty of market taxes, and making a fortune.
That nobleman would never, even if he died and came back to life, become a clean-handed official, so... maybe he was already calculating how much he could skim.
In any case, if markets were established all over the country, Joseon's commerce and economy would develop greatly from here on out. Maybe, even without my intervention, it would go on to create its own Age of Exploration to go search for pepper or whatever.
"If tribute goods collected as taxes are bought directly by the government from the market fairs, or if the government negotiates with the merchants there to buy them, we can collect far more. By cutting out the corrupt middlemen, including the monasteries, it won't burden the people even if we collect more."
"That would make sense, yes, it would."
"Not only can taxes be collected in larger amounts, but market fairs also help the people's livelihoods. In a bad harvest, they can exchange whatever little surplus they have to get by. In normal times, they can trade a little extra and grow richer."
If markets become active nationwide, each district's specialty products will spread here and there, and the scale of the economy will only grow larger.
Joseon thought this sort of economic development was bad and tried to suppress it...
It's something that benefits the people, so why suppress it? It should be encouraged without question.
"That's desirable. However, the Chief State Councillor will probably hate this."
"Loyalty to the king and devotion to the country begin with putting public duty before private affairs. Even though my talents are pitifully lacking, simply being picked for a post above my station is something my family could boast about for generations... If I cared only about my own safety and advancement and offered nothing but flattery instead of honest remonstrance, how shameful would that be?"
Suppose the Chief State Councillor impeaches me with murderous intent.
Then I'd seize the chance, write my resignation, and go back to my hometown. Once I'm home, I'd meet a pretty woman, get married, have children, and live a sweet little life, only sending in a memorial now and then.
I've already made King Taejong Yi Bangwon and King Sejong aware of the importance of commerce... so Joseon will keep developing even without my intervention.
"Now I understand once again why the retired king and His Majesty like you so much."
After saying that, Hwang Hui gathered up the notes from our conversation and was about to leave.
"If the Chief State Councillor impeaches you, I'll definitely help you too."
After saying that, Hwang Hui left.
No, he didn't need to go that far and help me. After all, it wasn't as if I'd lose my head or be exiled just for offering that much remonstrance; I could simply say I had been impeached and resign, and that would be the end of it.
Just then, I heard the clerks outside the Jiphyeonjeon trying to stop the ministers.
"Minister of Rites, Your Excellency, the Minister of Taxation is still inside."
"Didn't the Associate Minister of War arrive later than the Minister of Rites?"
Hearing that, I understood.
That my lot was truly no different from Jiphyeonjeon GPT.
"...... Is this right?"