Chapter 51
Kim Mandeok and I were, in a sense, fate-bound partners.
If I died, Kim Mandeok would die with me, and if Kim Mandeok died, the fallout for me would be huge.
More than that, Kim Mandeok had even given me Winter as a concubine as proof of his absolute trust in me.
So the two of us had become inseparable.
This was cronyism at its finest.
It might look bad in Korea, but in Joseon, it’s legal.
Therefore, I could consult with Kim Mandeok about state matters without much hesitation.
Because I trusted that nothing I told him would ever leak from his lips.
"So His Majesty the Retired King and His Majesty the King ordered you, Junior Scholar, to travel all over Gyeonggi Province and inspect whether the Bangwon Law is being properly enforced?"
"That’s right. Thanks to that, I’m having a hell of a time."
Strictly speaking, the Bangwon Law was still only being prepared for enactment.
So it’s safe to say that 99 percent of Joseon’s people don’t even know what the Bangwon Law is.
In a world without the internet, TV, or radio, where information already moved slowly, there couldn’t be that many people who knew about a law before its legislative notice even came out.
Still, the fact that the Bangwon Law would be created and enforced had simply not been made public yet; it wasn’t some enormous secret, and anyone who needed to know already knew.
Kim Mandeok had long held quite a bit of influence in Hanyang’s licensed markets, so there was no way he wouldn’t know why court officials were being shuffled around.
"It must be hard, having to inspect all eleven districts in Gyeonggi Province."
Among those eleven, four were districts where a moksa (senior third-rank official) was posted, and three more were districts where a gunsu (fourth-rank official) was posted.
In other words, I’d be going to places where people outranked me and carrying out inspections.
If I found signs that things weren’t being handled properly, I’d have to play the secret royal inspector from a period drama—barge into the government office with my ma-pae and properly 'search and seize' them.
"Inspection is one thing, but more importantly, I need trustworthy people to help me."
"The fact that you came looking for me means you’re not just after guys who can swing a sword."
Finding people who could serve as protection for me was surprisingly easy.
Because I could just hire off-duty gapsa scattered all over Hanyang with money.
The gapsa’s martial skill and combat ability were on par with special-forces soldiers, and since they were always short on money because of horse upkeep... if I paid them properly, they’d protect me well.
The problem was that the exam for selecting gapsa, called gapsa chwieop, didn’t even include a Hanja essay section, so all you got were illiterate brutes.
You might think I should just take former military officers or people preparing for the military exam with me... but if I did that, Yi Bang-won would be suspicious in a heartbeat.
No, come to think of it, given how much he trusts me right now, he’d probably just brush it off as a mere 'major mistake' and be done with it, and keep using me like he does Prime Minister Hwang Hui.
"I need someone who can write, do a bit of accounting, and has a sharp eye for business."
"...... The people at our shop—Kim Haeng-su, errand boy Kim Bok-dol, and Jangbok... they’re fairly trustworthy."
"Can I take them with me?"
"Of course. The more you succeed, the more I can grow my business too. I should help you however I can, shouldn’t I?"
"Are you talking about a shared-fate bond?"
"Yes, like beings born on the same lotus, living and dying together... you and I are already one heart and one body, aren’t we?"
Kim Mandeok said with a grin.
"After you sent that bastard Ryu Jeong-hyeon packing, my standing in the city markets improved a lot."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sir. Thanks to that, many great lords, high officials, minor officials, middle-status households, and merchant families have been coming to us for our goods. And one gwon-gwan officer from the Gyeonggi Naval Command, wanting to curry favor with you, even handed over two somewhat old large ships at a very low price—about 25 percent of market value."
"So now you’ve got ships too?"
"Up until now, I only had one ship that could carry about 300 seom (54 tons), but business in the city markets went well, and because they were sold so cheaply, I was able to buy them."
In a 21st-century modern state, you wouldn’t hand over a warship used by the navy to a civilian, but that’s only the story of a modern country.
In Joseon, if a ship used as a military vessel was awkward for the army to keep using, it was common to sell it to a private contractor. Naturally, they stripped off all the cannons first.
So Kim Mandeok now had two large ships...
He must have made a bold investment, thinking he’d sell all the specialty goods coming up from Jinhae not only in Hanyang but also in the large towns near Hanyang.
"Helping you is also part of my path to success. So if I wouldn’t be a burden, might I follow you too?"
"What about the shop?"
"The manager under me works very well. Leaving it to him for a month or two shouldn’t be a problem."
"It won’t be an easy journey."
It wasn’t so dangerous that a secret royal inspector would immediately fear for his life, but it was by no means easy.
You had to ride horses over rough roads, crisscrossing the countryside—how could that be ordinary work?
Kim Mandeok was already in his mid-forties, so his body probably wasn’t what it used to be. I wondered if he’d be all right.
Noticing how worried I looked, Kim Mandeok clenched his fist and thumped his chest.
"Though I’m 45 years old, my heart is still exactly the same as it was when I was twenty-one. And the Bangwon Law isn’t just a law for Joseon’s poor commoners, is it?"
“That’s true.”
Kim Mandeok flashed a bright smile.
"When the burden of taxes on poor commoners is reduced, do you think they’ll just spend that money on plain rice? They’ll buy mackerel, they’ll buy cod, and sometimes they’ll even buy fruit. They might even buy leather shoes. Then wouldn’t the number of customers buying the dried persimmons, paulownia wood tableware, and anchovies I sell multiply several times over?"
"That it would."
When the economy was booming, people spent more on food, clothing, and the like. In other words, consumption increased, and the sales of merchants like Kim Mandeok shot up.
In fact, the law that became the biggest driving force behind the growth of commerce in late Joseon was the Daedong Law... once the Bangwon Law was implemented, specialty-goods production across Joseon would surge, and markets would spring up all over the country.
The merchants in those markets would come racing to Hanyang to make money, just as Europeans set sail for India at the dawn of the Age of Exploration, risking their lives for profit.
You could say it would be the opening of the 'Great Hanyang Era.'
"And markets will spring up in every county and prefecture across the country. Then sea routes will open too, to carry goods for the newly wealthy commoners to buy. Far more goods than now will flow in and out across the whole country and be consumed. In the process, merchants will be able to amass wealth beyond comparison."
"You’re overflowing with greed for money."
"If a merchant isn’t greedy for money, wouldn’t that be the strange thing?"
"That’s true enough."
There was no such thing as a merchant who didn’t chase money.
Believing that would be the same as believing that if a man asked a beautiful, slim woman to go to a motel and said, 'We’ll just hold hands and sleep tonight, babe—you can trust me,' he would really only hold hands and sleep.
It starts with just holding hands, then it turns into touching her chest, then having sex... and before you know it, that becomes day one of dating.
"I want to become rich. But I don’t want to be rich alone while everyone else is poor and starving. Because I simply don’t like enjoying wealth and glory alone while knowing others are suffering, and I know that someone who becomes rich all by himself will eventually end up in a miserable state."
The Gyeongju Choi family, perhaps? I’d heard that even when the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out and every yangban family was being cut down, that household escaped harm because they had been so generous in ordinary times.
They survived because they kept giving to the poor.
There were surprisingly many rich people who survived when everyone else was dying off because they had accumulated so much virtue.
"It’s not only beneficial to the country; it also helps my own selfish interests too. If I can step forward, shouldn’t I?"
Right now, I absolutely needed someone like Kim Mandeok.
With him, I could catch the petty clerks skimming tribute prices in the market, and I could also uncover the nonsense going on at temples.
"...... We have to leave right away, so hurry and get ready."
And so I immediately set off to make my secret royal inspector’s official appearance.
“To avoid looking embarrassing in Winter’s eyes—no, I needed to show off my cool side.”
I thought I heard Kim Mandeok snickering at my muttered words...
It must have been my imagination.