Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 29

Jjangra

Hello, Bomb!

29. Gapsin Renewal (7)

At Hyang’s words, the ministers hurriedly tried to offer rebuttals, but none were suitable. Still, the ministers couldn’t back down.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! Even if you are the Crown Prince, you cannot arbitrarily order the punishment of ministers!”

When the Daesagan [Chief Censor, an official in charge of monitoring and criticizing the king and other officials], who was directly involved in the responsibility, stepped forward, Hyang immediately retorted.

“Why not? I am also a subject of His Majesty! The duty of a subject is to speak truthfully to the monarch, and the responsibility of a subject is to understand the monarch’s orders and carry them out faithfully! But this fellow is trying to cloud the eyes of the monarch with clever wordplay, so how can I, as a subject, not impeach him?”

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! Your words are too harsh! Although I do not know the exact contents of the memorial, the sages have repeatedly taught that extravagance is a disease that leads to the downfall of a nation! Yet, how can you speak such sophistry that extravagance is better than frugality?”

“Their frugality is not frugality but extortion! Did the sages tell us to give high interest, or to suck the blood of the people with usurious private loans? A rich man who squanders is more helpful than a miser disguised as frugal! At least they scatter their wealth!”

“Extravagance must never be defended!”

“Then how will you take the wealth sleeping in the storehouses of those landlords and share it with the people?”

“It can be resolved with a stern reprimand! If one is a scholar who has studied the classics…”

“Do you really think they are committing such atrocities because they do not know the classics? Do you know what percentage of them have passed the minor civil service examination? They are using the policy of giving tax benefits to those who pass the minor civil service examination or higher as a means of accumulating wealth!”

“It has been a livelihood practiced since ancient times for landowners to provide tenant farming and high interest! To call this a crime is utter nonsense!”

“It is a crime to neglect what is wrong just because it has been practiced since ancient times! The number of commoners becoming slaves due to high land rent and interest is increasing! To make the country prosper, the number of commoners must increase, but now it is going in reverse! Yet, are you saying we should just ignore it because it has been done since ancient times? And you still call yourself a subject of Joseon?”

“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Enough!”

Seeing Hyang and the Daesagan’s argument going too far, Sejong immediately stepped in.

At Sejong’s command, Hyang and the Daesagan stopped their argument and immediately bowed their heads. Looking at the two and the ministers, Sejong opened his mouth.

“The direction of the two people’s remarks is quite different, but I know well that it is all for the sake of our Joseon. But! No matter how right the opinion, if it deviates from etiquette, it becomes a fault! It would be good for both of you to stop here.”

“I am deeply grateful.”

At Sejong’s scolding, not a scolding, Hyang and the Daesagan bowed their heads.

“The Crown Prince, show the memorial to the Daesagan.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Daesagan, read the part of the memorial that the Crown Prince did not mention.”

At Sejong’s command, the Daesagan, after reading the problematic part of the memorial, was greatly shocked and prostrated himself.

“Such an outrageous thing! Your Majesty! This is just the individual opinion of this person, not the intention of the entire Office of the Inspector General!”

“That is why the Crown Prince did not mention it. And neither did I.”

“I am deeply grateful!”

At the reaction of Sejong and the Daesagan, the faces of the ministers were filled with curiosity. Looking at those ministers, Sejong made a conclusion.

“I will take some time to think about the disposition of that fellow and then decide. Let’s stop here for today.”

* * *

At the end of Sejong’s command, Hyang and the ministers had to leave the throne room. The ministers who were friendly to Hyang politely paid their respects to Hyang as they left the throne room, but the unfriendly ministers paid only formal respects and immediately turned away. And at the forefront was the Daesagan.

“Hey, Daesagan. Even so, he is His Highness the Crown Prince. Are you not afraid of future troubles?”

The Chief State Councilor [the highest-ranking government official], who was also anti-Crown Prince, couldn’t stand to see it and gave a warning, but the Daesagan scoffed.

“Humph! What’s there to worry about when His Majesty is still healthy?”

“Isn’t the problem that His Majesty is favoring the Crown Prince?”

“I can just quit this position!”

“Hey!”

“I have urgent business, so I will go first.”

With those words, the Chief State Councilor clicked his tongue as he watched the Daesagan disappear with large strides.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… He’ll get into big trouble like that…”

The place the Daesagan hurried to was the Office of the Inspector General.

Thud!

The Daesagan, who roughly threw open the door of the Office of the Inspector General, looked around and ran to one of the inspectors and grabbed him by the collar.

“You bastard!”

“Cough!”

When the Daesagan grabbed the inspector by the collar and shook him, the inspectors around him rushed in.

“Please calm down, sir!”

“Please calm down!”

“Don’t stop me! Because of this damn seed, we’re all going to die!”

“Yes?”

The Daesagan growled, grabbing the inspector by the collar.

“What are you… What are you to talk about abolishing the Crown Prince? Who are you to say that!”

“Gasp!”

As soon as the words ‘abolish the Crown Prince’ came out of the Daesagan’s mouth, the inspectors around him quickly stepped back.

“Tell me! Who are you to talk about abolishing the Crown Prince!”

“How can someone who has abandoned Confucianism and is tainted with heresy be placed in the position of Crown Prince?”

“So you talked about abolishing the Crown Prince? Abolishing a Crown Prince who is only nine years old? Did you think that made sense?”

“When it comes to upholding the way of the sages, what does age matter…”

“You idiot! To change the direction of power, the timing of heaven [favorable circumstances], the advantage of geography [strategic positioning], and the harmony of people [popular support] must be right! The reason why the current monarch was able to become the Crown Prince was because the late king had the intention, so the timing of heaven was right, and there was someone with excellent qualities who could replace the Crown Prince, the current monarch, so the advantage of geography was right. Finally, it was possible because most of the ministers agreed, so the harmony of people was right! But now, which of the three, the timing of heaven, the advantage of geography, and the harmony of people, is properly aligned? Because of your trivial judgment, your life, as well as the lives of other inspectors, are in imminent danger!”

At the Daesagan’s words, the faces of the inspectors around him turned white. But the inspector who made the problematic memorial did not yield.

“However, a person called a scholar cannot say that what is not right is right! It is natural for an inspector to risk his life to remonstrate!”

“Is there such a stupid person!”

* * *

While the Daesagan was raging in the Office of the Inspector General, Hyang, who had returned to the East Palace [residence of the Crown Prince], was sighing deeply.

“Sigh~. That’s why I hate authentic historical dramas… Trendy fusion historical dramas are the best.”

Around the time he was preparing for the policy presentation, Hyang anticipated that there would be considerable opposition and had to prepare.

“The only way to respond to eloquence is with eloquence, but the problem is that those gentlemen’s specialty is to bring up ancient events and twist them around.”

For the victory in the debate, Hyang set expected questions and then searched through numerous scriptures to find appropriate idioms to use as countermeasures.

Hyang, who boasted an excellent memory through his past and present lives, but this preparation was not easy. Whenever he got tired of memorizing and took a break, Hyang kept muttering.

“As expected, historical dramas are fusion historical dramas… They don’t use difficult words…”

Hyang, who had soothed his tired mind and body from the debate, moved to his study and prepared writing tools.

“Damn it! Do they think only they can write memorials!”

* * *

The next day, as soon as the morning assembly began, a eunuch from the East Palace visited the Royal Secretariat.

“What brings you from the East Palace?”

At the question of the Royal Secretary, the eunuch presented a tray containing a scroll.

“It is a memorial from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Cough!”

The memorial submitted by Hyang was processed with super-speed and delivered to Sejong. Sejong, receiving the scroll of the memorial, put his hand on his forehead and muttered softly.

“This kid…”

Sejong had experienced many times that if Hyang made up his mind and moved, a storm would arise out of nowhere.

“Sigh~.”

Sighing, Sejong unfolded the scroll and read the memorial written by Hyang.

As the content of the memorial progressed, Sejong’s body straightened up, and his face turned serious. Finally, after reading the memorial to the end, Sejong looked at the East Palace and laughed loudly.

“Hahahaha!”

Sejong, whose stuffy chest was cleared with a burst of laughter, handed the memorial to the Chief State Councilor.

“The Chief State Councilor and the Daesagan should read it once.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Chief State Councilor’s face turned red after reading Hyang’s memorial. The Daesagan, who read the memorial after the Chief State Councilor, was the same.

“Ugh…”

“Ahem!”

Seeing the expressions of the Chief State Councilor and the Daesagan, who were groaning or clearing their throats, Sejong called the Chief Eunuch as the other ministers could not hide their curiosity.

“Chief Eunuch, deliver the Crown Prince’s memorial to the Minister of Taxation.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Minister of Taxation, read it aloud so that everyone can hear it.”

“Yes? Yes…”

The Minister of Taxation, hearing Sejong’s command, began to read Hyang’s memorial in a loud voice.

“The Crown Prince Hyang, a faithful subject of His Majesty, writes a petition. Some officials have criticized that my policy follows the path of Legalism [a philosophy emphasizing strict laws and punishments]. They cited Shang Yang’s [a famous Legalist reformer] self-inflicted harm and the downfall of Qin [a dynasty known for its Legalist policies] as examples. However, through Shang Yang’s laws, Qin became the hegemon of the Warring States period and finally became an empire that unified the Central Plains [ancient China]. Since then, Shang Yang’s laws have remained the most basic laws even in situations where the dynasties and national titles of the Central Plains have changed.

Alas. How many Confucian scholars in the long history of the Central Plains have strived to complete the ideal of benevolent rule, following the will of the sages? What is the reason why those Confucian scholars, who have made such efforts, have reorganized the legal system based on Shang Yang’s laws? Also, was the downfall of Qin really the fault of Legalism?

The reason why Qin fell was because Qin Shi Huang [the first emperor of Qin] and his ministers abandoned the right path. They extorted the people, killed innocent commoners indiscriminately, and abandoned the right path of heaven, so how could the country not fall?

(Omitted)

A great tree that does not fall even in a strong wind has strong roots, and a well that does not dry up even in a drought is deep. Examining this, the roots of a great tree are spread wide and deep, so it has the power to withstand strong winds, and to dig a deep well, you must dig wide around it first.

The method of finding the Tao [the Way, a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy], or the method of governing the country, is the same. Only 30 years have passed since our Joseon opened its doors. If our Joseon, which has just taken root, is to grow into a great tree, bear the flowers and fruits of the royal road, and become a deep well to quench the thirst of the thirsty people, it must become wide and deep.

Therefore, I believe that in order to achieve the prosperity of our Joseon and the completion of benevolent rule, we must see widely and accept various ideas. How can the Confucian school, which has strived to follow the high will of the sages, be only Neo-Confucianism? Likewise, isn’t the ultimate goal of the various schools of thought the same? (Omitted)”

The Minister of Taxation finished reading, but the throne room was silent. They were usually famous for being talkative ministers, but no one opened their mouths easily.

Hyang’s memorial was that unconventional.

As the silence continued, Sejong opened his mouth.

“Isn’t my son very smart? What do you think, Chief State Councilor?”

“…I think so.”

Sejong, looking at the Chief State Councilor answering in a reluctant voice as if he was gloating, continued.

“Although the Crown Prince’s memorial is unconventional, I think there are many things to refer to in many ways. So, I want to hear the opinions of the ministers. I hope you will think carefully and give me an answer.”

“I receive your command.”

“Then let’s take a break and continue.”

End