Chapter 35
Yi Bang-won raised his mace.
Kim Daebung, who had risen in opposition to his own stated resolve.
He had risen to eliminate the man obstructing his grand cause of saving the people through currency.
Though age had weakened his body, he was not so feeble that he lacked the strength even to raise a mace.
All that remained was to bring the mace down on Kim Daebung’s head. With this single act, I could sternly warn everyone who opposed currency.
I could tell them that anyone who opposed currency or refused to use it would meet the same fate as Kim Daebung.
It is the natural duty of a ruler to devise sound policies for the sake of the people.
Thus, if a ruler, after much deliberation, devises the proper path for the people to follow, but foolish people, blinded by ignorance, refuse to take it and instead head down the wrong path...
Then sometimes it is absolutely necessary to cut them down decisively so they can follow the proper path.
Just as he had administered poison to Sim On and nearly exterminated the Yeoheung Min clan.
This was what he had to do for Joseon, to give the people living in Joseon a better future.
"If that is truly your conviction, then I have no choice."
The moment he said that and tried to bring down the mace, Yi Bang-won’s movements faltered.
It was not because he disliked or feared killing people.
Yi Bang-won loved the poor and vulnerable more than anyone.
He had even forgiven the children who had kicked around a ball marked with the names Yangnyeong, Horyeong, and Chungnyeong, thereby ‘cursing the three grand princes without realizing it.’
In Joseon, sorcery (cursing) was unequivocally punishable by death, and when the target was a member of the royal family, the crime was treated on the level of high treason.
Yet if those he had to kill were family, he killed them all the same. He had even killed Jeong Do-jeon, the man his father had loved and trusted most, the man who could be called a pillar of Joseon.
Yi Bang-won was a man who felt no guilt whatsoever about killing those who had to die.
The reason such a man had hesitated was this.
For an instant, Kim Daebung standing before him looked just like Jeong Mong-ju, whom he had killed.
Goryeo’s greatest civil official, the man his father, Yi Seong-gye, had feared and watched more warily than Goryeo’s kings.
Since the founding of Joseon, Yi Bang-won had never seen such spirit and loyalty.
No, if one considered spirit alone, there had been one more. Sambong Jeong Do-jeon, the man who sacrificed himself for an ideal Confucian state and laid Joseon’s foundations by declaring that he would turn it into a Neo-Confucian nation.
Even the great ministers who brought glory to Sejong’s reign would seem insignificant beside those two men.
Perhaps because of that, Yi Bang-won decided to set aside his pride. He wanted to take Kim Daebung, a man like those two—the sort of men he had wanted more than anything—into his fold.
"Currency will make Joseon prosper. Yuan succeeded in greatly strengthening the country by using Jiaochao paper currency. I personally saw in Dadu (the capital of Yuan) how magnificent a thing Jiaochao was, so I am certain of it. Joseon, too, will surely prosper greatly by putting currency into circulation."
The eyes of the ministers who had directly witnessed the early days of Joseon, and thus still vividly remembered its founding, widened.
Yi Bang-won, who had beaten Jeong Mong-ju to death with a mace and ruthlessly wielded the mace of purges against any opposing faction, had declared, ‘I will purge him.’ Anyone he said that about was certain to die.
It was only natural. Hwang Hui, Heo Jo, and the other officials all thought Kim Daebung would soon be beaten to death by the mace.
His actions, filled with loyalty and sincerity, had moved even the other ministers...
They had intended to do everything they could to ensure that his surviving family would not be harmed even if he died.
But when they witnessed the extraordinary sight of Yi Bang-won stopping mid-motion, they could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded.
‘No one has ever tried to persuade someone to the very end while holding a mace, except for one man.’
The man who had tried to persuade his opponent until the very moment he was about to bring his mace down at Seonjuk Bridge: Jeong Mong-ju.
"I am not saying that His Majesty the Retired King’s sacred will is mistaken. However, before currency can be implemented, markets must first be established in every town throughout Joseon. Commerce must then develop. Every commoner must first find trading in oseungpo and white rice so inconvenient and unbearable that they cannot stand it any longer."
At Kim Daebung’s words, Yi Bang-won resorted to forceful reasoning this time.
"Bend your will. The King and I will put you to great use."
Kim Daebung was, in truth, not particularly interested in power. His real dream was to work for Joseon’s development for a while, then retire to his hometown with Kim Gyeoul and live in comfort.
But he was the only one who thought that way; even Kim Gyeoul believed Kim Daebung’s goal was to become ‘chief state councillor for life.’
"Wealth, glory, and power are not important. This humble servant wishes to serve the royal ancestral shrine and state, and the sacred will held by Great King Taejo and His Majesty the Retired King. If I can help even a little in creating a country where all the people can rejoice, that alone is enough for me. After that, I wish to retire to my hometown, build a modest house, and live peacefully with my wife and children in a Joseon enjoying an age of peace. That is my true dream."
If Ryu Jeong-hyeon or Hwang Hui had said those words, it would have sounded like ‘a statement from someone merely pretending to be poor and incorruptible.’
But Kim Daebung was a genuine incorruptible official who had received a stele praising his virtue in Jinhae County and even a thousand-person petition requesting an extension of his term as magistrate—the first such petition in Joseon.
His words moved Yi Bang-won’s heart. So he brought it up again.
The contents of the memorial Kim Daebung had submitted before filing his jibu sangso.
Now that his head had cooled, he recalled it, and doubts began to arise in his mind. Was his judgment really correct?
"...... Go on, say that my..."
"Currency is necessary for Joseon. However, Joseon cannot handle currency right now. Just as feeding honey to a child under one year old because it is good for the body can cause the child to die suddenly, Joseon cannot handle currency."
Kim Daebung’s words flowed on as naturally as water.
"What Your Majesty is trying to do now is like ordering a child who has not yet turned one and cannot even memorize the Thousand Character Classic to take the civil service examination and pass it. No matter how sternly Your Majesty teaches him, that child will never even be able to learn the Thousand Character Classic. He is not mature enough to absorb it."
"What you are saying is..."
Yi Bang-won could not immediately find anything with which to refute Kim Daebung’s words.
Currency was absolutely necessary for Joseon. If Joseon used currency and it became widespread throughout the country, then Joseon could prosper just as Dadu in Yuan had.
Therefore, currency had to be used. He needed to issue currency and benefit more of the people, but then a contradiction surfaced.
When someone realizes that their thinking is wrong but cannot put into words exactly how it is wrong... Kim Daebung’s words continued.
"It is perfectly natural for a child to be unable to learn the Thousand Character Classic, but can a parent call it education to beat a child’s calves with a switch because the child cannot pass the civil service examination? No. It is nothing more than abusing a child."
Kim Daebung had just bluntly told King Taejong Yi Bang-won that what he was doing amounted to child abuse.
His audacity was enough to make even the ministers shrink back for a moment. In front of Yi Bang-won, who stood ready to crack his skull with a mace, he had effectively asked, ‘How can someone who claims to love the people be trying to kill them?’
"I did this for the people, for Joseon.... Currency is necessary for Joseon..."
After hearing those words, Kim Daebung quietly pressed his forehead to the ground and bowed. Then he spoke to Yi Bang-won.
"Establishing oneself and attaining fame, serving one’s sovereign, and loving one’s country are the duties of a human being. Your Majesty’s desire to spread currency throughout Joseon is also essential to developing Joseon. However, when the court cannot even accept currency as taxes, forcing it upon the people is like beating a child who has not yet turned one with a switch because the child cannot pass the civil service examination. Therefore, please, Your Majesty, reconsider."
Yi Bang-won was furious. Furious, and so desperate to refute him.
Yet he could not refute those words.
He himself did not completely trust currency, which was why he refused to accept taxes in currency. There was no way the people could trust it.
"....."
Tears fell drop by drop from Yi Bang-won’s eyes.
At the same time, he let the mace fall.
Yi Bang-won had yielded his stubbornness before Kim Daebung’s loyal remonstrance—a man with the loyalty of Jeong Mong-ju and the spirit of Jeong Do-jeon.
Heo Jo and Hwang Hui, watching this, muttered.
"The day His Majesty the Retired King stopped while bringing down a mace has actually come. What on earth happened?"
"How would I know? There is only one thing that matters."
A smile spread across Heo Jo’s face.
"Kim Suchan is going to live. That fellow is going to live."
Yi Bang-won gazed at Kim Daebung with hollow eyes.
Then he turned his back and began to trudge away.
When he drew near Sejong, he sighed and said,
"We must examine whether the words of Kim Daebung, a compiler at the Hall of Worthies, are right or wrong, Your Majesty."
"......"
Sejong was startled by his father’s declaration of surrender. However, he did not let it show on his face.
He knew very well how momentous it was for his father to bend his convictions.
To add anything to his words or express doubt through his expression would be unfilial.
"Yes, Father."
Afterward, amid everyone’s cheers, Kim Daebung was escorted to Jeonokseo (the prison).
Even the guards at Jeonokseo violated protocol and had him walk there himself.
Naturally, he was assigned the finest solitary cell.
After Yi Bang-won and Sejong returned to the palace, the people shouted, "Long live!"
**
Several days passed after the jibu sangso was submitted.
Yi Bang-won did not attend court audiences and instead shut himself in his room, continually pondering whether implementing currency was truly the right thing to do. He was doing so because of Kim Daebung.
At first, he had been extremely annoyed that Kim Daebung had opposed the currency policy he intended to stake his life on, and he had planned to use this opportunity to properly tame him into an obedient subject like Hwang Hui...
But after putting him in prison and mulling the matter over, he came to realize that what he had tried to do was no different from driving the people to their deaths.
"The court refuses to accept coins as taxes while telling the people to conduct their transactions with coins. What a truly absurd and self-contradictory act. Why on earth did I ever think this was right?"
When he thought about it, that was exactly what had happened. When he had issued and used jeohwa immediately after ascending the throne, it had circulated among the people to some extent. But the moment he declared that jeohwa would not be accepted as taxes, it had become literal trash.
"I was blinded by my own convictions. What I did out of goodwill, out of a desire to help the people, nearly killed them all."
Tears streamed from Yi Bang-won’s eyes as he realized the cause of his mistake.
Then he found and read the copy of Kim Daebung’s memorial that he had often urged Sejong to read.
The passage about how everyone had rejoiced when the markets opened, and the part about giving a poor widow an age of peace.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness..."
If he had forced through the currency policy and repeated his past mistakes, he would have pushed all the people into a tiger’s jaws. He would even have stained Sejong’s hands with the blood of innocents.
A king sometimes had to become cruel for the sake of a grand cause, but taking the lives of innocent people over something utterly meaningless was a grave sin that must never be committed... Thanks to Kim Daebung, he had been able to avoid that sin.
What caught his eye then was a memorial submitted by several ministers, including Hwang Hui, the Minister of Taxation.
They said that there was nothing wrong with Kim Daebung’s words, so he should please reconsider; that although Kim Daebung’s actions had been disrespectful, he should not be punished and cast out, and so on.
They were all loyal remonstrances capable of touching his most sensitive nerve.
"..... Is Sang-on (the second-in-command of the Directorate of Eunuchs) here?"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Retired King."
"Let us go to Jeonokseo for a moment. I need to see Kim Daebung. I should release him myself."
When Yi Bang-won said that he would not punish Kim Daebung but would instead release him, Sang-on was horrified inwardly.
The man who had been obsessed with establishing royal authority had admitted his mistake, thereby diminishing that authority with his own hands.
Thus, Yi Bang-won trudged through the streets of Hanyang under curfew and met Kim Daebung alone inside Jeonokseo.
Then he parted his heavy lips and spoke.
"...... As you said, I will withdraw the royal edict ordering the use of coins as currency. So answer me as well, just as you answered the other ministers."
The royal first-person term gwain is usually used by a king when he has committed an extremely grave mistake or wishes to show that he is angry.
This time, it carried the former meaning.
"What should I do for Joseon?"
Kim Daebung answered his question immediately, without hesitation.
"The Daedong Law... Please collect all tribute in rice."