There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 352

353. War on Crime (1)

“Wouldn’t something other than manpower generation be better?”

That’s what I blurted out when I received the initial report.

‘We should be able to find places to install hydroelectric generators soon too.’

Park Seo-saeng, who is in charge of supplying waterwheels, is finding places with fast currents that don’t dry up even during droughts.

The waterwheel map created in that way could be used to install hydroelectric generators.

Of course, to produce large-scale power and use it all year round, we would have to build a dam somewhere.

Besides that, there is also coal brought in from Liaodong [modern-day Liaoning province in China].

Currently, it is being brought in to replace firewood, but if production increases, it could be used for thermal power generation.

The problem is the smoke that comes out.

‘Even if it’s impossible to introduce thermal or hydroelectric power generation right away.’

There is another alternative.

I’m sure I used bellows powered by livestock when I built the steel mill on the Han River, so why did it suddenly regress?

There are also many livestock that boast dozens of times the power of humans.

Especially in the current situation where we are bringing in livestock from the Uryangkhai Three Guards [a region in present-day Mongolia] and Mongolia at bargain prices.

When you think about it, this was an easier source of power to obtain than criminals.

However, the officials seemed to have different ideas.

“Are you aware that the number of cattle and horse thieves has recently increased?”

“That’s what’s giving me a headache.”

I was craving a cigarette that probably only grows on the other side of the world right now.

It seems that even in this peaceful world, there are people who can’t live without stealing.

‘Well, it’s probably the same everywhere.’

The newspaper, Sunbo [a Joseon-era newspaper], was filled daily with articles about cows and horses being stolen from various villages.

“I feel the need to crack down on this in a major way.”

These days, the pockets of Joseon people are getting better, so the criminals are too relaxed.

It’s time to tighten discipline around here.

‘It will also serve as publicity for the separation of judicial power.’

It may seem like an unrelated matter at first glance, but since we are spending the budget to send down new officials, if we carry out a major crackdown operation in conjunction, public opinion will think, ‘Well, something has changed after all.’

“Cows and horses do the work of ten people and are animals that the people cherish, so those who steal them and take wicked profits should also lose their livestock and have to make up for the lost labor.”

“Indeed.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

‘The Gulag was a system I created first, but it’s a pity that it’s gradually disappearing.’

Not only me, but the officials are also wondering what they can extract from the criminals they catch.

Come to think of it, is the talk about manpower generation perhaps because of me?

At first, I used to send them to the Northern Frontier, following the example of England pioneering Australia, but there was a lot of backlash from the north as well.

‘They asked why we were sending criminals to their hometowns.’

The Jurchens [a Tungistic people who lived in Manchuria] kept petitioning through the military commissioners, so I eventually had to withdraw it at some point.

There were many cases where those who were punished and released had nowhere to go and voluntarily settled in the north, but it was another matter to implement this nationally.

Even without sending criminals, the population was steadily increasing due to inflow and natural increase, so there was no need to do so.

Some officials made racist remarks like, ‘Aren’t the wild people and criminals similar in temperament?’ but they became tight-lipped when I told them to go and civilize them directly if their customs were bad.

It seems they didn’t have the passion to voluntarily go and work in the north.

“Those who steal the property that others have worked hard to build, especially the cows that are essential for farming, are truly wicked. We must round them up and prevent them from committing the same crime again.”

I said that and stamped the royal seal.

* * *

I decided to hold Dan-i’s wedding before declaring war on crime.

‘Actually, I was going to postpone it at first.’

It’s not because I felt uneasy about carrying out an inauspicious event before an auspicious one.

‘I have to issue a general amnesty at the wedding.’

That means we have to release all the criminals we’ve caught, so what’s the point of the war on crime?

It doesn’t matter if I don’t issue it, but since I’ve been doing it whenever there are important events, wouldn’t the people suspect that our king hates his son?

‘Our royal family is more harmonious than ever right now.’

This is a fact that even Yi Bang-won [King Taejong of Joseon] can’t deny.

However, there was a reason why I insisted on holding the wedding before the war on crime.

It was because of Do-ui’s strong argument.

“Thieves will be most rampant when there is a wedding. They will commit crimes believing that Your Majesty will issue a general amnesty.”

‘Criminals commit crimes because the social atmosphere is grim, and they commit crimes when there are good things happening because they are excited.’

This will be even more true ahead of national events like weddings.

They have already learned that a general amnesty is issued during celebrations.

From the thieves’ point of view, it is a moment when they can steal without any risk, so they will run wild without hesitation.

“We will mobilize all the power of the government offices at that time to round them up.”

But that is a trap.

This general amnesty will exclude the thieves.

‘It doesn’t matter if there are guys who have been living without a criminal record and got caught this time.’

They may feel wronged, but those guys probably stayed still usually and jumped into crime believing in the general amnesty.

I have no intention of showing leniency to those who think of amnesty as a party for committing crimes.

“The Ministry of Justice and the Uigeumbu [a high-level law enforcement agency], and the provincial offices and government offices across the country have already been ordered to have troops on standby.”

“We will be able to completely eradicate the guys who have been difficult to catch so far.”

“It will be easiest to arrest them when they come out without considering the situation like this.”

For this reason, I ordered to delay the arrest of the bandits a little before the wedding.

Like loaches following a mudfish, the thieves also watch each other.

If others are busy making a killing at this opportunity, they won’t be able to save face in front of their subordinates if they just stand by and do nothing.

Come out, all of you.

I will make sure that not a single thief is left in this country after this operation is over.

I rubbed my hands and smiled evilly.

* * *

The operation to arrest the thieves en masse using the general amnesty as bait had a unique flaw.

“Do you really have to do such a thing for your child’s marriage?”

Ju So-hwa asked sullenly.

“That’s why I’m sending him off to get married first.”

I didn’t want to see blood before my son’s marriage, so I moved the wedding forward from the date I announced to the nation.

It doesn’t matter if the thieves realize later that the wedding has already taken place.

I’m not going to pardon them anyway, so they have to accept it.

I thought that and glanced around at the wedding scene.

Dan-i was fidgeting, not concentrating at all.

It seems like he’s bored with the wedding.

‘Who did he take after?’

The Jeong family’s daughter, on the other hand, is quite mature.

There’s a reason why she got the most points in the interview.

The public vote was not reflected at all, and it was selected purely based on the scores of the judges – the King, the Queen, the Retired King, and the Queen Dowager, but popularity may have had an influence.

Yi Bang-won, at least, seemed quite satisfied.

What was the reason why his father reinstated Jeong Mong-ju [a prominent scholar and politician of the late Goryeo period], whom he had killed, and revered him as a symbol of loyalty?

All for the sake of establishing legitimacy.

But since a member of that family came in, and even satisfied the condition of being a powerless in-law, he must have been against it from the beginning.

On the other hand, Ju So-hwa’s reaction was a bit subtle.

“Sniff……”

‘Is she going to die?’

I couldn’t understand why Ju So-hwa suddenly burst into tears.

“Why are you doing that? It’s not like your son is going to die.”

Moreover, it’s not like I’m sending my son far away, but my daughter-in-law is coming to the palace.

“I don’t know. I just feel sentimental.”

How long has she been raising a child to be like this?

‘Well, she might have thought of herself.’

She might see herself in her daughter-in-law, who came to a foreign country far away when she was young.

Ju So-hwa is unavoidable, but the daughter-in-law is a different story.

I turned my head towards Jeong Jong-seong.

He’s my in-law, but the daughter-in-law is a child from his concubine, so his age is closer to Yi Bang-won’s.

“The Crown Princess will be lonely coming to the palace at a young age, so let her family come and see her often.”

Then Jeong Jong-seong shook his head heavily and said.

“No. She is my daughter, but now she is married out and is a member of the royal family, so that cannot be.”

‘I said it’s okay, but he’s talking too much.’

Well, considering what happened to Queen Wongyeong’s maternal uncles when they kept coming to the palace to see her, it might be a wise move.

Still, there’s no need to act this cautiously.

“Even if the Grand Prince Consort thinks so, his mother and sisters may think differently. I will have the Grand Prince Consort’s wife and children often invited to the women’s association meetings, so don’t stop them.”

He’s the King’s in-law, so I have to save his face to that extent.

‘I’ll have to raise his rank too.’

I gave him the title of Grand Prince Consort when I appointed the Crown Princess, but I thought his rank was too low for his position.

I had no intention of reducing his actual job anyway, so I was going to prepare a suitably high honorary position, but Jeong Jong-seong politely declined.

“I have already been given the title of Grand Prince Consort, so there is nothing more to add to my rank, and I have no desire to be greatly used in officialdom.

Even without that, I was planning to resign from my position soon because of some work.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

I asked out of curiosity.

He’s not going to become a professional mahjong champion.

Jeong Jong-seong made a somber expression and put down the wine glass he was holding to his mouth.

“Yaeun Teacher [a renowned Confucian scholar] passed away recently.”

‘Oh, that’s right.’

I remember hearing that Giljae [Yaeun’s given name] had died recently and sending someone to pay condolences.

Surely he didn’t die because he saw the family of a loyal subject of Goryeo marrying into the royal family.

‘I was close to him too.’

It’s a story that will only appear in unofficial history in about a hundred years.

I can only pray that such rumors don’t spread.

“Because Yaeun Teacher passed away, there is no one to teach at the academy, so I am thinking of taking over and running it instead.”

“Shouldn’t the academy originally be run by the person who inherits its tradition?”

“Actually, his disciples asked me to do it. They said that they have mostly already entered the government and are in charge of state affairs, and Yaeun Teacher received teachings from my father, so it cannot be said that he is completely unrelated to the academic lineage.”

Jeong Jong-seong continued.

“Even if it’s not a disciple of Yaeun Teacher, I thought it would be good if the successor was someone who usually carries on the teacher’s spirit. I think it’s not a bad time to quit my official position.”

“I heard that Yaeun Teacher left behind more than one or two books of enlightenment in his later years, and if the Grand Prince Consort takes on the role of passing them on to future generations, it will be something that will be remembered in history. I support you.”

I poured him a drink and said.

I don’t know if it’s an evasion maneuver by an in-law trying to avoid the knives of a family with a matricidal DNA, or if it’s something he’s been thinking about, but it didn’t sound bad.

Instead of wasting his salary in the court, it might be better to become a top instructor in Yeouido [a district in Seoul known for finance and education] and be respected by the Sarim [a faction of Confucian scholars].

“Now that we’re family, let’s get along well.”

“Your Majesty, I am deeply grateful.”

Let’s forget everything that happened in the past.

Even though our older generations fought bloody battles, the younger generation is sitting there so amicably.

Then Ju So-hwa asked in my ear.

“They don’t seem to be saying anything, but are they really getting along?”

“That’s normal.”

What’s so fun about talking to each other for the first time?

Especially in such a tense situation.

We were special because we already knew each other before the wedding.

It’s just that it’s more friendly compared to the older generation.

‘Still, it would be good to create an opportunity for them to get closer.’