Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 165

165. The Purge (5)

“Everyone, gather around!”

Upon receiving Jeong Cho’s order, the officials of the research institute immediately gathered in the front yard.

“Everyone is here.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Hyang, after receiving Jeong Cho’s report, stood on the research institute’s porch and immediately got to the point.

“We will have to suspend the research institute’s operations for the time being.”

At Hyang’s words, the officials of the research institute looked at each other and murmured.

Once the murmuring subsided to some extent, Hyang explained the reason.

“In connection with this rebellion, a lot of manpower is needed in the process of selecting those who participated in the treason. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice have requested cooperation.”

“I believe the Ministry of Revenue already has sufficient manpower?”

Jin-pyeong stepped forward to object to Hyang’s explanation. Hyang responded to Jin-pyeong’s objection.

“The Ministry of Revenue must collect taxes and circulate currency in time for this year’s harvest. Due to this rebellion, the harvest throughout Joseon has come to a standstill. If we miss the timing, all of this year’s farming will be in vain.”

The officials, led by Jin-pyeong, who had been complaining, fell silent at those words.

“But, the railroad research….”

“Tsk….”

Jin-pyeong, who still had lingering attachments to the locomotive and tried to say something, immediately closed his mouth when Hyang’s gaze turned fierce.

Since the suppression of the previous palace invasion, Jin-pyeong had been in a situation where he respected Hyang while also finding him difficult to approach. That’s why he immediately shut his mouth when Hyang’s expression turned fierce.

With Jin-pyeong’s silence, further murmuring disappeared.

“Then, bring in the carts!”

At Hyang’s command, the eunuchs and Geumgun [royal guards] soldiers brought in the carts. In front of the twenty or so carts filled with hundreds of books, Hyang continued.

“These are the lists of traitors received from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice, the household registers of the relevant areas, and the genealogies confiscated from the traitors’ families. With these, you can trace those who fall within the scope of joint liability (連坐) [a system where family members are held responsible for the crimes of an individual].”

“…Yes.”

* * *

As the research institute’s officials investigated those involved in the treason and their families under Hyang’s orders, they sighed.

“The yangban [aristocrats] of the Lower Three Provinces will be wiped out.”

People often say, ‘If you try treason and get caught, your three generations will be exterminated. Your nine generations will be exterminated,’ but until now, it has been rare for three or nine generations to actually be exterminated.

To take the most recent example, even those swept up in ‘Kang Sang-in’s Affair’ only had Kang Sang-in and Shim On’s brothers killed, and their families were cast out as government slaves, but others were mostly unharmed.

However, in this rebellion, there were very few who fell under such exceptions. Because they gathered under the pretext of holding ancestral rites for the Mid-Autumn Festival and started the rebellion, almost everyone in the family was involved.

The situation of the instigators’ in-laws was also the same. Even if the traitor’s wife became a female slave, the in-laws were not touched, but there were more than a few families where the in-laws also participated in the rebellion.

“Seriously!”

Yi Sun-ji, who was organizing the lists of names, threw down his gold pen and shouted.

“Even if you lived without knowing how the world works, there’s a limit! How can they be so foolish!”

The order that Sejong sent down through Hyang was simple.

-It is customary to apply the Great Ming Code, but since we also have laws in Joseon, handle it fairly and accurately according to those laws.

While issuing this order, Sejong added the following.

“I feel like I want to exterminate not only nine generations but ten generations, like the emperor of Ming China. However, since there is a law, we must follow that law.”

However, the scope of joint liability for treason was almost the same in Joseon’s law and the Great Ming Code.

In addition, most of the cases in this rebellion involved family members gathered to attend ancestral rites forming groups and rising up. Therefore, the problem was that there were very few people who could be excluded by applying joint liability.

This was why Yi Sun-ji was angry.

“Hey, calm down!”

“Calm down! Calm down!”

The colleagues around him tried to stop Yi Sun-ji, but Yi Sun-ji could not contain his anger.

“Look at this! This!”

At Yi Sun-ji’s words, his colleagues examined the report Yi Sun-ji was reviewing and sighed without realizing it.

“Heo~.”

At his colleagues’ reaction, Yi Sun-ji raised his voice.

“There’s a limit to being a frog in a well [ignorant]! How can an 11-year-old participate in treason!”

“Hoo~. That means there were that many stupid people.”

“I agree.”

Even the colleagues who were trying to stop Yi Sun-ji had to sigh at Yi Sun-ji’s words.

Even if they were not formally recognized as adults at 15, there were more than a few families where boys in their early teens participated in treason, following the trend of treating them as adults if they were married.

In the end, there were more than a few families where all the men of the family participated in treason, and as a result, the family itself disappeared.

* * *

After nearly fifteen days of continuous night work, Hyang sighed as he looked at the thick scrolls he had created.

“Hoo~. Damn it! Why is the summary so thick….”

Looking at the scrolls and thick books in front of him, Hyang made an unavoidable expression and got up from his seat.

“Still, I have to report it…. Eunuch! Load all of these onto the carts!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

* * *

“Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is here to see you.”

“Let him in.”

Hyang, who entered Geunjeongjeon [main hall of Gyeongbok Palace], politely paid his respects to Sejong and looked around at the ministers. Seeing that the faces of the ministers, who had been boasting a fair and radiant complexion until recently, had become haggard, Hyang wore a pitiful expression.

‘They were boasting dewy skin just a few days ago, the old men have suffered.’

“Is the *jeongni* (정리, organization/settlement) finished?”

Hyang, who had been looking at the ministers with a pitiful face, came to his senses at Sejong’s question and immediately answered.

“Yes, Father. Eunuch.”

The eunuch, who had been standing behind Hyang, handed three thick scrolls to the head eunuch.

Sejong, who received the scrolls through the head eunuch, untied the knots and examined the contents of the scrolls.

“Heo….”

Sejong, who opened the scrolls that Hyang had submitted and examined the contents, involuntarily sighed.

“So many people have committed such foolish acts….”

Hyang immediately answered Sejong’s sigh.

“It means that among those who were nominally the most senior elders in those regions, there were so many who did not know the ways of the world.”

“That must be so….”

Sejong replied with a bitter voice to Hyang’s words and examined the numbers written at the very front.

Each of the scrolls summarized the situation in Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla, where the rebellion had taken place.

“As you can see in the scrolls….”

Hyang explained the summarized content orally.

The scale of those who participated in the uprising in the respective regions was as follows.

-Chungcheong

23 families, 1218 people.

654 private soldiers.

7855 slaves.

-Gyeongsang

32 families, 2198 people.

3421 private soldiers.

24328 slaves.

-Jeolla

26 families, 1887 people.

10578 private soldiers.

21894 slaves.

“That’s a large number. Especially Yeongnam and Honam….”

Sejong, who was listening to Hyang’s explanation, looked around at the ministers.

“Wait! I thought the possession and training of private soldiers had been banned a long time ago?”

Jo Mal-saeng stepped forward to answer Sejong’s words.

“That is true. However, it seems that the influential families in the Southern Three Provinces have been raising them under different names, such as *sikgaek* (식객, retainers) or merchants.”

Sejong quietly nodded at Jo Mal-saeng’s answer.

Indeed, even his brother Yangnyeong gathered private soldiers under the pretext of being ‘merchants skilled in hunting.’

“We must strictly crack down on the raising of private soldiers so that this does not happen again because of this incident.”

Sejong, who was planning new policies to implement while examining the report, asked the ministers again.

“What is the reason why there are so many private soldiers and slaves in Yeongnam and Honam?”

Kim Jeom immediately answered Sejong’s question.

“Yeongnam and Honam have been known as granaries since ancient times, so there have been many invasions by Japanese pirates. Therefore, many families have been raising private soldiers. The reason why there are so many slaves is that they not only give a lot of tenancy but also have a lot of fields that they cultivate directly by mobilizing slaves.”

“And all those many fields were tax-exempt?”

Kim Jeom immediately answered Sejong’s question.

“That is correct.”

“Hmm….”

Sejong, who heard Kim Jeom’s answer, examined the scrolls again and began to contemplate. Sejong, who had been contemplating alone for a long time, looked around at the ministers.

“Later generations may say that it is a cruel measure, but we must make a decision. Let’s excise them.”

At Sejong’s decision, the ministers closed their eyes tightly. The word ‘excise’ meant a ruthless purge.

‘But there is no justification to stop it!’

‘An armed uprising…. There is no justification!’

In the end, the ministers all had no choice but to bow their heads and give the same answer.

“We obey Your Majesty’s command!”

The historian who recorded all of this added the following at the end.

-Therefore, the King decided to 결 (gyeol, excise) [to cut off or eliminate] those who had committed treason, and there was not a single minister who opposed this decision.

The historian discusses.

A moment’s choice made oneself and one’s family perish, so who is to blame?

* * *

Although it was decided to impose the death penalty on all the Sadaebu (士大夫, scholar-officials) [the ruling class] involved in the treason, that was not the end of it.

“What is this book?”

Sejong, who grabbed the thickest book among the books that came up with the scrolls, examined the title.

“*Yeokjungchunginrok* (역중충인록, Record of Loyal People Among Traitors)?”

Hyang immediately answered Sejong’s question when he expressed his doubts about the title.

“It is a list of those who belonged to the families of traitors but did not participate in the rebellion and remained loyal to the end.”

“Is that so?”

Sejong shone his eyes and examined the names of those written on the list. However, before long, he was filled with regret.

“Quite a few of them are dead.”

“Many were killed for not participating in the treason.”

Sejong’s voice turned fierce at Hyang’s answer.

“With this, the traitors have more sins. Even if they do not follow their will, they harm their own blood relatives, can they still be called Sadaebu! The Minister of Justice, listen!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Those belonging to families who killed their own blood relatives shall all be subjected to dismemberment! They must not die peacefully!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After that, the handling of those involved in the uprising continued to be discussed. Since the punishment for the rebels had already been decided, the focus of the discussion was on those who had contributed.

After a fairly long discussion, reward criteria were created for those who had contributed to this uprising.

1st Class Meritorious Subject.

The commander of the army that stopped the palace invasion. The commander of the army that stopped the uprising. Commanders of all levels who died in the process of stopping the palace invasion.

2nd Class Meritorious Subject.

The middle and lower-level commanders of the army that stopped the palace invasion. The middle and lower-level commanders of the army that stopped the uprising. Soldiers who died in the process of stopping the palace invasion. The head of the family who resisted those who started the uprising.

3rd Class Meritorious Subject.

Commanders of all levels who died in the process of suppressing the uprising. The head of the family who resisted those who started the uprising.

4th Class Meritorious Subject.

Those who died or were injured in the process of stopping the uprising.

Rewards were given to those involved through these established criteria.

Many people received medals and rewards through the *seohun* (서훈, order of merit) [system of awarding honors] system created at Hyang’s suggestion.

However, in the process of awarding the prizes, Sejong gave a choice.

“If you want land, I will give you land, and if you want a pension, I will give you a pension. Choose.”

Those who were to receive the awards fell into *gomin* (고민, agony/worry) [a state of dilemma] at Sejong’s suggestion.

If they chose a pension, a pension of a different amount determined according to the established criteria was paid for a set period of time, and at the same time, the meritorious person’s child was given the benefit of entering the *gunhagwon* (군학원, military academy) or *eumseo* (음서, privilege of appointment) [a system that allowed officials to recommend their sons for government positions].

In the case of local Sadaebu, a sign with the words ‘*Chunguijiga* (충의지가, House of Loyalty and Righteousness)’ written in Sejong’s own handwriting was additionally given.

However, if they chose land, unlike the pension, the above-mentioned additional benefits were completely removed. In addition, the land received as a reward was completely tax-exempt for 5 years, and then halved for the next 5 years.

In the end, most of the meritorious people had no choice but to choose a pension.

And it was Hyang who created this policy. While drafting this policy for the first time, Hyang muttered to himself.

“I never knew I would apply car *opseonjil* (옵션질, adding options) [like selling car upgrades] like this….”

* * *

The rewards for the meritorious people ended like this, but the suffering of the families of those involved in the treason was just beginning.

Since the youngest person involved in the treason was 11 years old, the men of the families involved in the treason were wiped out.

In addition, the law on slaves was changed, and no meritorious people wanted to receive slaves as the tax system changed.

“Shall we send them north?”

“If it’s just one or two, it doesn’t matter if we send them north, but the number is too large. We can’t turn the entire northern region into a rebellious *hyang* (향, village) [administrative unit], can we?”

The punishment handed down after much discussion was *gwangsan noyeok* (광산 노역, mine labor) [forced labor in mines].

The families of those involved in the uprising were all dragged to iron and coal mines and had to do forced labor for 30 years.