Chapter 54
There are too many rotten bastards in this world.
The thought that you can't just take them all down is the kind of lifelong regret anyone thinks about at least once.
I graduated with a history degree and, while preparing for employment, took the civil service exam with the aim of making the country a little better, and after becoming a civil servant I worked harder than anyone else.
As a result, by my sixth year on the job, I had even been specially promoted to senior administrative officer.
But then a bureau chief bastard like Ryu Jeong-hyeon decided he had to get promoted somehow to assistant vice minister, and later to vice minister, so he diverted the welfare budget into a politician's vanity project.
He even boasted that if I followed him, he'd give me a section chief's post in about two years, so I told him to go screw himself, seriously.
In the end, even though I kicked up a huge fuss, the vast amount of hard-earned tax money that could have helped countless households was spent on politicians' vanity projects.
And for making a scene, I got shoved off to some backwater post.
If I'd just compromised a little, by my eighth year I could have been a division chief in a central ministry, and with a high probability I'd have risen to vice minister as a civil-service-exam recruit, then in retirement I might have gone all the way to executive director or managing director at a major company.
'Of course, even if I went back to that time, I'd probably do that stupid career-throwing stunt all over again.'
Back then, that incident drained all my energy...
After reincarnating in Joseon, I thought I should live a little more comfortably...
When I went to Jinhae County, I was able to directly help the commoners I couldn't help in my previous life, and when I went to Jiphyeonjeon, I could draft policies that benefited all the people of Joseon.
And so, even though I thought my own comfort came first, I kept ending up doing "just one more thing" and then another one after that.
This is driving me crazy, honestly.
"...... Sir, you don't look in a good mood."
"His Majesty the Retired King enacted the Bangwon Law to bring hope to so many people... so why are there so many people trying to abuse this law as well?"
At my words, Kim Mandeok nodded.
"How could all people be good? I saw all kinds of trash while doing business too."
"...... I suppose you did."
"Still, the Bangwon Law is a system that only just got started, isn't it? At this point, it's being implemented quite well. Isn't it giving the people direct benefits?"
"If the Bangwon Law keeps going like this, I think it'll turn out pretty well."
Human beings can't be perfect. No matter how hard I work like a dog, some things just can't be done.
Completely eliminating corruption in this world is impossible from the start.
All you can do is improve things little by little through slow, steady effort.
Considering that this is early Joseon, I'm the odd one for getting angry over corruption at this level.
Still, there are two major problems here.
"The corruption and bribery the commoners can see are not even 10 to 20 percent of what actually happens. If you really dug into it, there'd probably be five or ten times more corruption."
"...... That's true."
"Of course, let's say we even look past that. But the most important thing is..."
Even in 21st-century Korea, when people hear Yi Bang-won, the first word that comes to mind is "mace"; Taejong Yi Bang-won is regarded as a terrifying monarch of purges.
Much less in Joseon?
If you challenge royal authority, you're treated like a demon who smashes your head before you can even start talking.
Of course, if there is no challenge to royal authority, there is no king more generous than Yi Bang-won.
He's the king who, when ministers were talking common sense—saying that because children had kicked around a ball with the names of the three princes written on it, it plainly counted as punishable conduct and the whole family should be executed as if for treason—still ordered the culprit acquitted, even at the cost of weakening royal authority.
And the problem is that the Bangwon Law, a law carried out under the club-wielding Yi Bang-won's own name, already has people trying to use loopholes.
"As the years go by, corruption will only get worse. They pulled this stunt even with His Majesty the Retired King watching them with both eyes wide open... well, I won't bother saying any more."
They'll try every trick they can to shove the 1 gyeol 18 doe tax burden onto tenant farmers, and the rich will use every trick they can to reduce the increased taxes.
The ways of skimming off public tribute will keep evolving too.
Rather than watch that kind of thing happen, the method Yi Bang-won always uses—restoring order through a striking example of punishing one to warn a hundred—is desperately necessary, even if my retirement gets delayed.
If there's someone I can save, I'll save one more person. That way I won't regret it.
When I took the group including Kim Mandeok close to the government office, a constable pointed a spear at me.
"...... It's curfew, so why are you trying to enter the government office with such a large group? Step back immediately. Otherwise, I'll call the office constables and have you arrested."
Even in the 21st century, where freedom of assembly exists, if you lead a crowd around in front of City Hall late at night without filing a gathering notice, you can be arrested.
Much less in Joseon? Even if it isn't treason, it's the kind of offense that deserves corporal punishment.
If you resist for no reason, you could really end up being charged with treason and lose your head.
Therefore, this constable's response is perfectly correct.
So I should answer properly, like a civil servant, and follow procedure.
I showed the mopae in my hand to the constable.
"I am Kim Daebung, the secret royal inspector. I have come to the Anseong government office on urgent official business."
"My apologies, sir."
"Open the government office gate at once."
"Sir, it's curfew right now, and the county magistrate is asleep as well. So please come back when dawn breaks."
What he said was reasonable. So there was no need to hassle the constable who was doing his job well or get angry at him.
Instead, I signaled to Kim Mandeok with my eyes.
Then Kim Mandeok unfolded the royal edict I had received directly from the king.
"By royal command!"
At the words "royal command," the constables immediately dropped to the ground.
When I read out all the contents, they all broke out in a cold sweat that poured down their faces like rain.
The constables, who weren't even officers, had nothing to do with this, yet hearing that by royal command I could inspect the place as much as I liked, they must have frozen solid.
"Wake the county magistrate at once. And from now on, this inspector will thoroughly inspect Anseong County by royal command, so you will follow my instructions."
"Yes, sir!"
Joseon has never had a secret royal inspector system until now. So, if I exaggerate a little, only Yi Bang-won, His Majesty King Sejong, and I know what a secret royal inspector is.
That's why I needed a royal edict explicitly stating that, upon receiving royal command, I could exercise such-and-such powers.
Otherwise, if the constable arrested me saying I was some rebel bastard, I'd have nothing to say.
However, as long as I have a genuine edict in my hand, the constables here now have to die if I say die and dance if I say dance.
"Mandeok, where should we inspect first?"
"In my opinion, the biggest problem with the Bangwon Law is... the doe-bak used as the standard when collecting taxes. If you increase the amount of rice in the doe-bak by just about 10 percent, you can collect more than 10 percent extra tax from the people."
"So with just one doe-bak, they can skim off more than 10 percent of the taxes?"
"Yes, Inspector sir."
I pointed at one of the constables guarding the government office gate and said.
"Tell me where the government office warehouse is."
"Yes, sir. This way. Please follow me."
The rice sacks in the place the constable led me to were bigger than I had expected.
These bastards must have cleverly fudged the doe-bak size and collected more than the regulations allowed.
"...... Bring me the doe-bak."
As soon as I got the doe-bak, I immediately took out the yucheok, Joseon's standard measuring instrument, and measured the doe-bak's size.
The magistrate here wasn't a complete fool either, so like Kim Mandeok said, he hadn't gone so far as to make the doe-bak more than 10 percent larger than the actual standard doe-bak...
"Hmm, the doe-bak is off by about 5 pun, or 5 percent."
That meant the people of Anseong were unknowingly paying an extra 5 percent when they paid their taxes.
A single doe-bak isn't much, but every little bit adds up.
Add it all together, and it would amount to dozens of seom of rice, maybe even hundreds. Truly incredible.
"And the pears earmarked for tribute also seem a little odd."
This isn't exactly dealing with luxury pears that cost well over 100,000 won apiece like Mudeungsan watermelons, but even so, their size seems a little smaller than expected.
"Have you already sent up all the tribute goods?"
"We still haven't managed to secure all the pears for tribute, so we're in the process of buying them."
I could tell from the constable's voice, expression, eyes, and gestures.
That there was definitely a secret here that couldn't be exposed.
"Where are you buying the pears? According to the newly enacted law, you should be buying them at the county market..."
"Uh, that..."
The hardest thing in the world is whistleblowing from the inside.
That's why rooting out military corruption is so hard.
If you can't stand the corruption and report it, you have to be branded as human trash for the rest of your military service, so it's impossible to bear.
"...... Where are you from, lad?"
"Gwangyang County in Jeolla Province. I'm here because of military service."
"If you answer honestly, I'll use my authority as inspector to send you back to your hometown."
Military service is rotated anyway, so if I send you back a little early once, it won't really go against fairness.
"We're buying them through the monks of Chiljangsa Temple."
"...... I see."
While I was extracting information like that, the county magistrate hurried into the warehouse.
Even though he didn't know exactly what a secret royal inspector was, having taken me for someone who had received a royal command, he came dressed very neatly.
"Oh my, Inspector Kim. You must have had a hard time coming all this way. Why don't you shake off your travel fatigue and do this tomorrow when it's light..."
Uh, I don't negotiate with criminals at a crime scene.
"From now on, I will seal the warehouse of the Anseong government office under the inspector's authority, and I will handle all of Anseong County's affairs on behalf of the office. Magistrate, please return to your lodging and rest comfortably while you wait."
...... Ah, so this is bonggo.
It's what we'd call "search and seizure"—a phrase that's even a symbol of fear in the 21st century.
And after the search was done, I used my authority as inspector a little too much and sent the Anseong magistrate to Hanyang.
As everyone knows, once he gets to Hanyang, a certain Yi Bang-won in a black gonryongpo will welcome him warmly with a mace in hand.
"...... Well then, Yi Bang, let's have another constructive conversation."