There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 334

335. The Light of Civilization (1)

I’ve heard that Mongolians learn to ride horses from the time they can walk.

My son isn’t quite at that level, but he rides small horses without hesitation.

However, as in modern times, traffic accidents usually happen not when you’re a beginner, but when you’re full of complacency.

“How did you break your leg riding a horse?”

“He was imitating equestrian stunts…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

The reason was obvious.

The military officers and guards assigned to protect him must have all passed equestrian skills tests to be appointed, so it would have been tempting to show Dan-i when he was bored.

And then he would have begged to try it himself…

In other words, he fell while doing circus tricks on horseback.

The rice chest flashed in my mind. [Rice chests were often used to punish disobedient children by confining them inside.]

It must be sleeping in the East Palace storage by now.

“Your Majesty, His Highness did not fall during equestrian stunts.”

“What?”

“His Highness is truly a born martial artist. He imitated the six movements of equestrian stunts just by watching them.”

Then why did he fall off the horse?

“He jumped off the horse after finishing and fell!”

Dan-i, splinted and carried out on a stretcher, shouted with his arms wide open.

It meant he jumped while standing on the horse and broke his leg because he landed wrong.

Just like the great-grandson of a Mongolian chiliarch [a commander of a thousand soldiers].

“Dismiss all those who failed to properly supervise the Crown Prince’s dangerous behavior.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Father!”

Dan-i shouted in surprise.

“It was my idea to try it!”

I’ll reinstate them eventually, but they’re all confined to quarters in the meantime.

Even if the Crown Prince is headstrong, this is too much.

“Those military officers are treating the Crown Prince, a precious person of the nation, the same as themselves, so it is right to punish them severely.”

Nobun said, standing next to me.

“However, His Highness likes and follows the talents of those around him, so we cannot simply dismiss them.”

This guy has been subtly siding with the Crown Prince since some time ago.

There’s a reason why people are wary of eunuchs.

How can I be at ease with such a sycophant around?

“If His Highness’s martial talent blossoms, there will be no one to match him, so guards are lining up to teach him. Forcibly forbidding it is…”

“What good is a king with martial talent? Is the king supposed to lead wars himself?”

Maybe those Western barbarians do, but the Joseon king will never lead in person.

What about the kings who have reigned until now?

That’s an exceptional characteristic of the founding generation.

In terms of achievements, I’ve practically re-established this country, so only up to me.

“I’m not going to stop him from riding horses.”

It’s like a driver’s license in this era, so I don’t intend to ban it, but there’s no need to teach him how to fight.

‘He’s still young, so his bones will heal quickly.’

I’m glad he wasn’t seriously injured.

I don’t even want to imagine if he had fallen on his head or back.

“While the Crown Prince is injured, he should stay in his room and read books quietly!”

The Crown Prince’s face visibly darkened.

My heart stings when I see my son’s expression, but I can’t help it.

I need to correct his safety insensitivity thoroughly.

“I’m…”

I heard Lee Bang-won grumbling behind me, but I pretended not to hear it.

* * *

The court never has a peaceful day.

Of course, it doesn’t mean there’s a fierce atmosphere of factional strife, with people trying to kill each other or wipe out entire clans.

It’s closer to the fact that accidents happen almost every day because there are so many unique and strong-willed nobles.

“Yoon-hwe entered the Jongmyo Shrine [royal ancestral shrine] drunk during the ancestral rites and lost his decorum. As a court official, how can he wish to attend court after doing such a thing?

He should be punished!”

The censors stepped forward, vying with each other to speak.

The censors originally make a fuss like this periodically. That’s their job.

If they don’t, the censors have no value, so it’s true, but this is a bit difficult right now.

‘The censors are right this time.’

Moreover, there was a decisive reason why Yoon-hwe became the target of the censors this time.

“Furthermore, Yoon-hwe, as a tutor in the Crown Prince’s Office, failed to properly assist the Crown Prince, causing harm to his body, so he should be severely punished!”

‘He’s my kid’s teacher.’

I sighed deeply and looked back at Yoon-hwe.

I’m not the kind of obnoxious parent who throws a fit at the school for not doing anything while my kid is hospitalized after a motorcycle accident.

So, I can’t punish Yoon-hwe for that reason, since he didn’t even go to Hureung [one of the royal tombs].

As for the Jongmyo Shrine incident… it’s wrong to have entered smelling of alcohol, but it wasn’t a big accident.

‘I can’t replace the kid’s teacher when I’ve already dismissed all the guards.’

“I cannot interrogate him for something he did while drunk. I will call Yoon-hwe and reprimand him, so do not discuss it.”

I made it very clear that I didn’t want to discuss this matter, and the censors fell silent.

‘He rebuked and kicked out his own teachers during his Crown Prince days, but he can’t treat his son’s teacher carelessly,’ I could clearly see them whispering.

“…I am sorry, Your Majesty.”

Yoon-hwe apologized as if he had no face to show.

“If you’re sorry, quit drinking.”

“That’s not easy.”

To describe Yoon-hwe in a word, he’s an addict.

And possessed by a ghost who died unable to drink his fill.

Otherwise, how could he enter the royal lecture hall drunk when the king is present?

‘I was going to study a bit after a long time.’

I couldn’t resist the censors’ nagging to hold a lecture, so I opened the lecture hall after a long time.

He came in drunk and my desire to learn evaporated.

I haven’t held a lecture since then.

He provided a good excuse… no, he’s a capable person, so I keep employing him, but I wonder if it’s okay to have such a person as my son’s teacher.

Perhaps because he didn’t want to be fired, he quickly said.

“Your Majesty, now that I think of it, didn’t you once tell me to devise a way to easily learn the principles of governing the world like a game?”

“I did.”

There’s a reason why Joseon and modern times both implement rote learning, so how easy would that be?

I remember giving Yoon-hwe that order as the Crown Prince’s teacher.

“Since receiving Your Majesty’s order, I have been pondering day and night without missing a single day.”

“So you drank alcohol?”

“I will not deny it.”

Yoon-hwe boldly declared that he drank alcohol to get ideas.

“But when I fell asleep drunk, Jin-san Mun-chung-gong (晉山 文忠公, Ha Ryun) [a renowned scholar and official of the late Goryeo and early Joseon Dynasty], who died, appeared in my dream.”

“Did he teach you the winning horse when buying a betting ticket?”

Horse racing is very popular in Joseon thanks to its gambling nature.

Most sports betting events, such as polo and soccer, are the same.

“I wish he had, but he didn’t.”

Yoon-hwe shook his head with a truly regretful expression.

“Instead, when I woke up, I couldn’t help but notice the Seunggyeongdo (陞卿圖) [a traditional Korean board game where players aim to achieve high-ranking government positions] that Mun-chung-gong had made in his lifetime.”

Seunggyeongdo is a kind of life game with the ultimate goal of becoming Chief State Councilor.

But the person you’re teaching isn’t just a student, but the Crown Prince.

“Are you saying you copied the Seunggyeongdo game to make a game?”

There’s only one position to be promoted to.

This is a terrible game.

“That’s not it. After all, only one person’s official position can be called in Seunggyeongdo.”

Yoon-hwe said confidently.

“However, this is made to help the Crown Prince understand the way of governing the world and enjoy it, so that he can grow the country.”

When he held up a large piece of paper, various square boxes surrounding the edges and messy writings were visible.

“Hanseong, Nanjing, Kyoto, Daining, Shuri (首里, Ryukyu capital Shuri), Simha…?”

Looking at the paper with most of the countries and cities that Joseon had identified, only one thing came to mind.

‘Blue Marble?’ [A popular board game similar to Monopoly.]

Each city has resources that represent that country.

For example, Simha has rubber, Daining has fur, and Shuri has sugar.

Of course, Joseon is hemp.

Looking at it, the gameplay seems to be the same as Blue Marble, gradually collecting money, acquiring land, and upgrading facilities.

“Is the victory condition to occupy or bankrupt all of the opponent’s land?”

Yoon-hwe’s eyes widened at my question.

“How did you know just by looking at it?”

“People’s ideas are all the same.”

More than that, what are you trying to teach the kid?

Imperialism?

* * *

As news of Jeongjong’s death spread, envoys from various countries began to flock in to offer condolences.

As when Yi Seong-gye died, a large number of Jurchen chieftains came to the capital, and envoys were also sent from Ryukyu and Japan.

Since the Jurchens have become Joseon’s people, they naturally know about the national mourning, but since we didn’t officially advertise Jeongjong’s death to the outside world, most of the envoys from abroad requested condolences after hearing the news from Cheonghaejin [a major naval base].

Therefore, it would take a long time for the news to spread to distant Majapahit or other Southeast Asian countries.

However, it is an exception for Ming, which is nominally Joseon’s superior country.

Since the king has died, they must report this and request a posthumous title.

For this reason, Ming was able to receive the news of Jeongjong Yi Bang-gwa’s death faster than anyone else.

“The former Gwonji Guksa (權知國事) [Acting Head of State] of Joseon, Yi Mo (某), has died…”

Yi Bang-gwa abdicated after ascending the throne but before receiving Ming’s investiture [formal recognition].

Therefore, Ming also called him Gwonji Guksa (權知國事, acting head of state) instead of the official King of Joseon.

Jeongjong was a king who was not treated as a true king in many ways, both domestically and internationally.

“Someone must receive His Majesty the Emperor’s decree and go as an envoy to Joseon. Who would be good?”

The mission to Joseon is not as fun as it used to be.

Since Hwang Heum, who was considered an expert on Joseon, had been out of favor for a long time, no one readily stepped forward to go to Joseon.

“Wouldn’t Jo Yang, a junior official of the Ministry of Rites (禮部員外郞), be sufficient? After all, he was not a formally recognized King of Joseon.”

However, Yang Sa-gi shook his head.

“Even though it is the death of Gwonji Guksa, if we send someone of low rank, the Joseon people will think that the superior country does not respect them. We must observe etiquette all the more when there are internal and external troubles.”

Yang Sa-gi had a previous experience.

The current King of Joseon must think that he made a big concession by establishing a separate royal palace when ceding land at the time.

In fact, Yang Sa-gi himself thought that preventing the cession of land was a considerable achievement, so it was not bad to raise the status of the condolence mission this time to save face with each other.

There was one more reason besides that.

“Then who…?”

“I will go.”

The people in the room were greatly surprised at Yang Sa-gi’s words.

“Isn’t Your Excellency now a Minister? Would His Majesty send Your Excellency, a Minister, on such a dangerous mission?”

“Are you planning to go by sea?”

The security of Liaoxi is not very good.

From Jinzhou, which is occupied by Joseon, you can expect a comfortable mission as before, but before that, you have to go through a demonic realm where the border fortresses have all collapsed and the Uriangkhai [Mongolian nomadic tribes] are roaming around.

Therefore, the missions of both sides are mainly carried out by sea.

The amount of trade between Joseon and Ming has increased to an unprecedented level, and most of the trade is done by sea.

The Joseon envoys who came this time also sailed from Byeongnando and reached Nanjing.

If you think back to the days when Yi Je’s face turned black when he suggested a sea route for the mission to enter the court, it’s truly a sea change.

However, Yang Sa-gi shook his head.

“Because the imperial envoys avoided the land route, they have not known the situation of the border for the past several years, so how can we repeat the mistake? I will try to go along the land route.”

The land of Liaodong is only lent to the King of Joseon.

It was a place that had to be reclaimed someday, so we had to find out the inside story even through the mission.

Yang Sa-gi was determined, but for some reason, he couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling that clung to his neck.