Chapter 93
A report sent by the Joseon diplomatic mission to Ming had arrived at the court.
Though it was called a report, it had been written in summary form, so the details could only be known after formally receiving the travel record written by the chief scribe.
But after checking all the brief key points written in the report, Sejong was so overjoyed that he could not stay seated on the throne and had to spring to his feet.
"Is everything written in the report really true? It feels as though I am dreaming."
Sejong knew full well that unless the envoy chief, deputy envoy, chief scribe, and interpreters dispatched with the mission were all desperate to die quickly, they would never have tampered with the report.
Besides, a report sent to the king, especially one sent by an envoy mission, was reviewed internally at least six times before being dispatched...
There would not be even the slightest error in what was written in there.
So even though he knew everything in the report was true, he had ended up saying such a thing because he was too happy.
The ministers in the royal chamber knew that too, so they did not spoil the mood by saying something like, “Do not worry. It is all true, Your Majesty.”
“Joseon has served the suzerain state, Ming, with all sincerity, yet the emperor has always demanded excessive tribute from Joseon. As a result, the people went to great trouble, in their poverty, to procure gold, silver, and warhorses.”
In Ming, when they received the gold, silver, and warhorses sent by Joseon, they valued them at more than three times their own rates and returned them as luxury goods and various other items.
But even by a simple comparison, the market rates in Ming, where gold, silver, and warhorses were produced in abundance, and those in Joseon differed by more than threefold.
Thus, the more tribute Joseon paid, the greater its losses became.
It was so bad that, in the early Joseon period, the state had even strictly banned gold and silver mining altogether so that precious metals would not have to be offered as tribute...
“However, these circumstances are only matters of the past. Now, gold and silver no longer need to be offered, and as for three thousand warhorses, Joseon can easily handle that much.”
Three thousand warhorses is by no means a small number.
By 21st-century standards, a horse used for cavalry is not merely a 'passenger car' but can be compared to a tank.
If one were to put a price on it, it would be as precious as a supercar costing well over 300 million won at minimum.
However, in this age, they are undervalued because of Ming, and since Joseon has national power superior even to France and England, the strongest powers in Europe, taking on 3,000 sports cars is not particularly difficult.
‘Now I can finally raise a few more cavalrymen.’
When Hwang Hui tactfully shouted “Long live,” the other ministers followed suit and all joined in three shouts of “Long live!”
“Long live! Long live! Long, long live!”
Instead of thanking the emperor for reducing the tribute, the Joseon officials praised their own king, thereby showing their resentment toward Ming.
Sejong found that very pleasing.
Sejong resolved to keep giving these clever, loyal ministers plenty of work and meat, the things he liked best.
Things you like are better when you share them.
“Your Majesty, it is indeed something to rejoice greatly over with all the people that the tribute has been reduced, but according to the report submitted by the chief envoy, Kim Daebung, who went as chief scribe, is said to have formed a deep friendship with a man named Wang Jin, who will one day become the real power among the eunuchs. Wouldn't this be yet another great achievement of the envoy mission?”
Even in Joseon, eunuchs held a very important position, serving as the king's secretaries.
But in Ming, eunuchs had not only the role of the emperor's secretaries, but also powerful authority, including military inspection powers and even the power to have officials' heads cut off.
In particular, in the Directorate of Ceremonial, one of the key eunuch offices, they could decide whether to accept diplomatic documents sent by Joseon as they were, and they could also add their own opinions.
Those opinions were generally accepted, too.
“Kim Daebung is not one to handle matters clumsily, so this Wang Jin will surely rise high as a eunuch and become someone who wields great influence in Ming. However, I wonder why he judged it that way.”
“According to the memorial Maeng Sa-seong submitted, Wang Jin has the best handwriting among the eunuchs and is said to be serving as a teacher at the Naeseodang, where eunuchs are trained.”
By the time of the 16th-century Sarim era, simply becoming someone's teacher or someone's disciple was enough to wield great influence in Joseon.
In the early 15th century, during the era of the Gwanhak faction, however, it was impossible to become a minister or wield influence merely because one was someone's teacher.
Separate from that, however, they considered a teacher as important as one's parents and regarded honoring them as only natural.
Moreover, eunuchs could not even form families because they were castrated, so if you consider that they treated the eunuch organization as their family and naturally stuck together tightly...
“Wang Jin will someday become the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. And if he becomes the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, he will repay Joseon for the great favor it has shown him by reducing the various harms Joseon suffers.”
“Indeed, that is so. Moreover, according to Maeng Sa-seong, chief scribe Kim Daebung, like Han Xin enduring the humiliation of crawling under a ruffian's legs... had extolled Wang Jin to the skies, and he also wrote that, after His Majesty the Emperor recognized the hidden intent and came to trust Joseon even more, it seems the tribute was reduced.”
“Bring me the memorial Maeng Sa-seong wrote like that.”
Sejong hurriedly read through the contents and passages.
The more he read, the more he felt a pain that tore at his heart.
In Joseon, eunuchs were little more than people whom even interpreters, physicians, and ordinary commoners pointed at behind their backs.
A eunuch was not much different.
And yet Kim Daebung, knowing full well that he could be pointed at back home in Joseon at any time because of what he had done, sacrificed his own honor solely for Joseon's national interest.
He asked a lowly eunuch with no official rank to write for him, praised him lavishly, and bent his waist and lowered his head to imply that he himself was nothing.
Seeing that attitude, the Ming emperor must have firmly believed that Joseon had no will to resist Ming.
“As expected of Kim Daebung. He was a great man who did not fear death for the sake of the ancestral shrine and state, and now he has even cast aside his honor, saying he will endure the mockery of others for Joseon's sake.”
In truth, Kim Daebung himself did not regard honor as heavily as other Joseon people did.
As long as it was not the kind of thing that got him branded and socially ostracized, he wasn't someone who paid much attention to honor.
But in Joseon, where honor was more important than life, Kim Daebung's behavior in Ming would surely be seen as loyal conduct that moved everyone's hearts.
“I will not forget Kim Daebung's loyalty. The court historian will record his devotion without omitting a single character, and no one in Joseon should ever look down on his dedication and sacrifice.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Prepare a grand banquet to console the envoy mission for its hardships.”
**
When I returned to Hanyang, I wanted to go straight home.
Because I missed Gyeoul so much and had been longing to see Gyeoul again.
However, the envoy mission's official duties only end after attending every last banquet hosted by the king...
so I was forced to attend the banquet.
‘Can't I rest a bit so I can see Gyeoul today, and have the welcome banquet tomorrow?’
As I sat there eating palace food while thinking that, a eunuch suddenly appeared and looked for our envoy party.
Following his lead, we were summoned forward one after another and, after standing before Sejong and bowing, I could feel Sejong the Great gazing at me with a very deep look.
It was a gaze that even seemed to carry a plaintive emotion.
Like Liu Bei's eyes when he watched Xu Shu being dragged off to Cao Cao because his mother had been taken hostage in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
“You have all worked hard traveling such a long way to Beijing.”
“We are overwhelmed by Your Majesty's grace.”
“From what I have heard, chief scribe Kim Daebung endured even the humiliation of extolling a eunuch for the sake of the ancestral shrine, the state, and Joseon. Was it not painful to bow your head to a rankless eunuch?”
It was, of course, humiliating.
But I have no regret whatsoever about what I did.
Because this was for Joseon's sake, and because it was a move meant to tear Ming apart.
Kneeling to gain leverage is not humiliation; it is strategy.
“As a subject of Joseon, what is so difficult about giving up petty honor and a fine reputation for Joseon? Even an ordinary commoner does not mind doing all sorts of hard, dirty work for his family.”
A person, in truth, is finished once he dies.
What good is it if your name remains after you die?
Whether people curse me or not, I wouldn't be able to hear it anyway.
So suddenly, one case I personally judged when I was magistrate of Jinhae came to mind.
“When I was magistrate of Jinhae, there was a case in the county where a tenant farmer named Kim Malsoe was beaten by a local rich man.”
Malsoe had been beaten so badly that his whole body was covered in bruises.
“The incident began because Kim Cheomji said he would raise the rent charged to his tenant farmer, Malsoe, from the usual 50 percent to 60 percent. Malsoe pleaded for mercy, saying that even the current 50 percent was enough to break his back and that if it went up to 60 percent, his wife and children would starve to death. But Kim Cheomji shouted at him to get out if that was the case, scolded him, and hit him.”
No matter where you go in this world, there are scumbags everywhere who abuse their power.
In my view, even a 50 percent rent was already too much, and to say he'd raise it another 10 percent to 60 percent was just nonsense.
“For this case, I ordered Kim Cheomji to receive twenty blows of the cane and pay a fine for recklessly beating a commoner and for trying to collect tenant rent as high as 60 percent despite the law prohibiting byeongjak ban-su (50 percent tenant rent). I also ordered the rent reduced to 30 percent in accordance with the law. After passing that verdict, I asked Malsoe why he had bowed his head so meekly before Kim Cheomji's absurd demand.”
“What did he answer?”
“He said that as the head of the household, if he refused to bow his head just to save his pride and quit tenant farming, his wife and children would starve to death immediately. He said he had to bow his head. If even an ordinary commoner would do that for his family, then I thought that I, as one living off the state's stipend, should cast aside my pride for Joseon and not fear being pointed at.”
Sejong's eyes reddened.
Then he ordered me to come closer.
He handed me a cup and poured the liquor himself.
In Joseon, when Choe Yoon-deok won a great victory over the Jurchens in the Battle of the Pajeo River, this kind of special treatment was said to have been given, and it is described with great emphasis... so this was an extremely exceptional honor.
“I will never forget your loyalty. In addition, I will bestow 30 bolts each of Sara and Neungdan, one saddled horse, 100 nyang of silver, and other offerings... and I will specially raise your rank from Jong 5th to the lower grade of Jong 4th.”
“We are overwhelmed by Your Majesty's grace.”
“And I appoint you as Byeolje of the Jeonhamsa, so use the craftsmen brought from Ming to build the ships Joseon needs and benefit the people.”