Kim Daebung, Secret Royal Inspector (9)

It had only been thirty years since the former Goryeo dynasty, where chaos and terror ruled, came to an end.

Since this was a handwritten world with no computers or Excel, administrative records were naturally a complete mess.

So I had expected that if we did a proper land survey, we'd uncover plenty of land omitted due to poor administration, mistakes, or deliberate fraud.

“What a ridiculous joke, seriously. It's laughable just to look at it, isn't it, Mandeok?”

Kim Man-deok, who was organizing the documents beside me, replied.

"Yes, Inspector-nim. The Bangjeon method is truly remarkable. It's much faster and simpler than the previous land-survey methods, and it's accurate too. On top of that, with the villagers' active cooperation, it finds every hidden field without missing a single one. It seems it'll now be impossible to cultivate land tax-free anywhere in Joseon's Eight Provinces."

That would be wonderful, but unlike animals, humans are the kind of creatures who, the more cornered they are, the more ingenious ways they come up with to survive.

If the Bangjeon method makes us tax every field in plain sight, then the yangban landlords will either reclaim mountains no human foot or eye can reach, or clear wasteland and somehow turn it into tax-exempt land.

Or, as before, they'll try to shave the taxes down even a little by colluding with the clerks and magistrates to leave things out.

What I can do right now is the best I can manage.

The basics of administration are to thoroughly examine what can be done and what cannot, and then do your utmost within those limits.

"Before surveying the land with the Bangjeon method, Anseong County's paddy and dry fields were recorded as 13,026 gyeol, but after the Bangjeon survey, it increased to 32,567 gyeol. I can't believe it increased by more than two and a half times."

"I feel the same. I never thought there'd be this many hidden fields."

When Yu Jip-il first introduced the Bangjeon method and surveyed land in three counties of Hwanghae Province, the area recorded in the original ledger increased three to five times, and

the sigigyeol—the land that actually gets taxed—increased by 1.5 to 2 times, I heard.

So I had expected tax revenue to rise quite a bit...

But I never expected results like this, even in Sejong's reign—the most prosperous period in Joseon's history and the era when administration ran at its best.

"If the amount of land has increased 2.5 times, then the taxes collected this year will also increase by 2.5 times. What do you intend to use the extra tax revenue for?"

"If someone other than me had come here as a secret royal inspector, they'd have used only part of it for the county office's budget and handed the rest out to the people."

In a Confucian country like Joseon, an extreme tax-cutting zealot like Ryu Jeong-hyeon is respected and revered as an economic expert.

Even Yi Bang-won and Sejong kept that bastard alive and in the post of Chief State Councillor, despite knowing full well how badly he ran usury, because he was regarded as an economist on the level of Joseon's own Adam Smith and Keynes.

According to Joseon's warped economic theory, then, if a lot of taxes were collected, it was only right to give them back to the starving people...

"But just because taxes come in a lot doesn't mean blindly giving them back to the people is the best answer."

"As you say, my lord, if we hand out rice, it'll fill their empty bellies for the moment, but once they eat it, it's gone."

"I'll gather the artisans, pay them wages, and have them make the new farm tools Lord Jang Byeoljang has created. We'll also build weirs so that we can secure plenty of water for farming. And of course, the people who take part in the labor will be paid generously in rice as wages."

Of all public works, water-control projects are the ones that directly improve the everyday lives of the people living in Joseon.

Not only will they minimize the damage when droughts hit, they'll also provide irrigation water reliably, increasing agricultural output and the amount of land that can be cultivated.

If enough irrigation water is secured, we can adopt the rice-transplanting method and create a structure where barley is harvested in spring and rice in autumn. Then food production will nearly double.

"As expected, you're wise. And after looking into the temples involved in this year's tribute collection in Anseong County, I could tell those bastards had skimmed off quite a lot."

The corner of Kim Man-deok's mouth curled up.

"As you know, my lord, falsifying the price of goods offered as temple tribute is a deeply rooted bad habit."

"When I was appointed magistrate of Jinhae, the temple monks I met had inflated the price of the tribute goods by more than double and pocketed the difference."

Which is why I still vividly remember sending every monk at the temple under escort to Hanyang and punishing them as soon as I was appointed magistrate of Jinhae.

"These bastards skimmed off as much as 500 seom of white rice. They must also have surely lorded their power over the merchants selling the tribute goods in the process."

"Even those sham monks were throwing their weight around, huh. We should write up a memorial proposing that those sham monks be arrested and thrown in prison, and that the chief abbot and the senior monks be punished severely."

"You don't intend to punish all of them harshly?"

"It's better to shed as little blood as possible. Of course, even the lowest-ranking monks at the temple are guilty of greed and of sucking the lifeblood of the people while claiming to root out wrongdoing, so we'll have to carry out either a caning or a flogging depending on the severity of their crimes."

The high-ranking monks like the chief abbot would probably be exiled by Yi Bang-won, and end up stuck in some remote backwater doing hard labor for the rest of their lives—or have their necks cut off.

"When is the new county magistrate supposed to arrive?"

"I sent a messenger to check, and he says he should arrive the day after tomorrow."

"The urgent matters are more or less wrapped up, so we should start preparing to leave today."

"Yes, Inspector-nim... and the property of the ibang and the six clerks..."

Kim Man-deok's eyes sparkled. He must be after the land and property those six clerks have.

Well, I do plan to let them live as promised, and send them off with enough of a fortune that they'll have no trouble making a living in the new place...

But since I saved their lives, they should pay a price for it.

"Have the ibang and the six clerks' property bought up at a rock-bottom price. And if they say they won't sell, make them face reality by telling them that nobody else is about to buy their property."

"Thank you, Inspector-nim."

Those six clerks are local notables with deep roots in this land dating back to the Goryeo era.

Naturally, they'd have plenty of land, and no small amount of wealth as well.

"From what I've seen, those six clerks are incredibly capable. They'd be perfect to put to work in your merchant guild."

"Thank you."

I really am a generous man.

To think I'd even set aside some wealth for the corrupt ibang and the others, and even give them jobs—basically guaranteed slave labor.

"Keep helping me diligently from now on, too."

Once the Bangjeon method is spread across the country and takes root, Joseon's commercial economy will grow several times larger than it is now.

If I gave Kim Man-deok the choicest part of that, he'd become a merchant several times bigger than he is now.

And in the early Joseon period, not only ordinary commoners but all kinds of lowborn people were recognized for their talents, selected, and able to rise in the world.

I never met him personally, but there was a man named Park Jacheong who was crazy about public works, and even though he had been a slave in Goryeo, he rose all the way to First Senior Rank.

It is said that even during the reigns of Taejo and Taejong, there were countless cases where people of lowborn origin were granted office after their martial talents and such were recognized.

Even when Sejong appointed Jang Yeong-sil to office, there had been plenty of discussion about whether his abilities were truly worthy of such an appointment... but no one ever said it was impossible to confer office on a lowborn person.

"And once word gets out that I set things right here, the other counties will take care of themselves."

Anseong County magistrate Lee Seok-do had been turned into a headless ghost exactly three days ago by Yi Bang-won's order.

And once they hear through rumors that surveying the land with the Bangjeon method is unavoidable, they'll realize it's better to do it themselves than to have me come do it.

The magistrates of the counties I inspect will know enough to handle things properly on their own.

**

The story of Secret Royal Inspector Kim Dae-bung naturally reached Kim Ki-deok, the magistrate of Ansan County in Gyeonggi Province.

The legendary lunatic who, the moment he was dispatched, cut off the head of a junior fourth-rank county magistrate.

And a man who, despite knowing the local yangban would resent it, surveyed the land without the slightest error and raised tax revenue to 2.5 times what it had been.

"Up until now, I'd been thinking of talking it over with the yangban and wrapping things up by only raising it about 80%, while also slowing the pace down a bit..."

In the process, Kim Ki-deok received quite a few gifts.

Ansan's land documents, all sorts of local specialties, rice, silk, and so on.

Enough wealth that even he and his children could live idly off it for the rest of their lives.

And with just that much, he thought his personnel evaluation would naturally come back as 'excellent,' and that once he finished his term he could be promoted to Senior Fourth Rank, but...

But what if Kim Dae-bung came to his county, found every hidden field, and exposed all the forged paperwork?

"Then there'd be a bloodbath in our county, wouldn't there?"

Kim Ki-deok's own neck wouldn't survive it.

Wealth and glory are great, but what's the point if you end up dying a dog's death while trying to enjoy them?

"Is the ibang here!"

At those words, the ibang hurried over.

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Summon the local yangban to the magistrate's office right this instant! I will personally persuade them that they must actively cooperate with the land survey under the Bangjeon method."

"But Magistrate... aren't the local yangban lords extremely averse to the Bangjeon method?"

"If a secret royal inspector comes to our county because of that, can you take responsibility for what you just said?"

At the mention of a secret royal inspector, the ibang's face went pale.

Putting aside the fact that he had gone out in secret, the accomplishments Kim Dae-bung had racked up were already well known to the ibang.

"If you want to pay even a little less tax, tell them to cooperate!"

In Gyeonggi Province—and in counties elsewhere that heard the rumor of the secret royal inspector—people began voluntarily adopting the Bangjeon method with enthusiasm.

Because they wanted to avoid, by any means possible, the disaster of a secret royal inspector showing up in their county.