Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 826

826. Ming and Japan – Internal Stability and Expansion (5)

When Wan mentioned the Record Office, all the ministers looked at him with tense faces. Kim Jong-seo, who had first mentioned the Record Office, was no exception.

Looking at those ministers, Wan got straight to the point.

“The Sangwang [retired king] of Shinji has sent a letter, saying that he wants to create a Record Office in Shinji as well.”

At Wan’s words, Hwangbo-in asked in a serious, stiff voice.

“Have the local administrators of Shinji already started causing problems?”

Hwangbo-in had spent his entire career in the department related to law, formerly the Ministry of Justice. True to form, as soon as he heard the words ‘establishment of the Record Office,’ he immediately suspected corruption among the administrators.

At Hwangbo-in’s words, Wan smiled lightly and shook his head.

“Hahaha. No.”

“Is that so?”

At Wan’s answer, Hwangbo-in looked relieved. The other ministers shared his sentiment.

“Then, will you select people from those working as common laborers in the Seoul Record Office and send them?”

“That’s right.”

At Wan’s answer, Kim Jong-seo chuckled and chimed in.

“Shinji has a short history, so there won’t be much to record. Therefore, there will be many who volunteer to go to Shinji.”

At that, the other ministers also nodded. Seeing the ministers’ reactions, the smile on Wan’s face deepened.

“Would that really be the case?”

At Wan’s words, all the ministers in the audience hall inwardly groaned.

‘We’ve been had!’

‘It’s a trap!’

‘We forgot whose blood he inherited!’

Enjoying the ministers’ expressions, Wan continued.

“Isn’t the current Record Office only in Seoul? The Sangwang is worried about this. If a disaster were to occur and the Record Office were to be damaged, it would be a major problem.”

“Ah….”

At Wan’s words, the ministers all nodded. In fact, there had been a major fire in Seoul in the early years of Sejong’s reign, causing great damage.

Wan continued to speak.

“Therefore, we are trying to create a Record Office in Shinji to safely store all the records of the Empire.”

“In that case, those undergoing the document recording punishment in the Record Office will have their workload doubled.”

“Perhaps that will be the case.”

At Wan’s calm answer, the ministers all had the same thought.

‘There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.’

Wan continued to speak.

“Although it will be referred to the Legislative Review Board, compensation measures for those working as common laborers in the Record Office will also be established by law.”

“Compensation measures, you say….”

“Looking at past examples, those who faithfully serve their punishment are pardoned and reinstated. Of course, not to their original rank, but to a rank two levels below. We will change this to reinstatement to a rank one level below.”

At Wan’s words, Hwangbo-in bowed his head and replied.

“Those working as common laborers will also be pleased.”

However, the other ministers all muttered the same words inwardly.

‘The problem is that there are hardly any eligible people….’

‘How many people have been pardoned and reinstated so far? It’s a number that can be counted on one hand, isn’t it?’

* * *

Record Office.

It was a ‘place of fear’ for the officials of the Great Joseon Federal Empire, no, for everyone in public office.

-Find, organize, and preserve the administrative records of Joseon, as well as the past dynasties.

-Examine the preserved records to create better policies to bring peace to the people and prosperity to the country.

This was the purpose for which the Record Office was created.

The problem was finding people to work in the Record Office.

-Those who can properly read and write Chinese characters.

-Those who are proficient in Idu [a system for writing Korean using Chinese characters].

These conditions alone were headache-inducing, but the real problem was the enormous workload.

Finding and organizing the records of Joseon, as well as the previous Goryeo Dynasty and even earlier dynasties, was a truly enormous amount of work.

Sejong and Hyang, who were agonizing over finding people to take on the work with tremendous labor intensity, noticed the ‘officials.’

-They can properly read and write Chinese characters and are proficient in Idu.

Sejong, who had found the perfect candidates, immediately began to use them.

Starting with the officials who had performed Myeonshinrye [a ritual of self-purification], which was prohibited by royal decree and even by law, officials found guilty of corruption, regardless of their status, were all thrown into the Record Office.

The most representative example was Jo Mal-saeng.

Jo Mal-saeng, who was involved in the ‘Kim Do-ryeon incident,’ had all his property confiscated and had to work as a common laborer in the Record Office.

Later, after faithfully serving his punishment, Jo Mal-saeng was able to return because there was a need for talented people who were knowledgeable in national defense.

However, the Jo Mal-saeng who returned was a completely different person.

He returned as an upright and impeccably honest man who was unconditionally loyal to the king.

After that, the Record Office’s notoriety among officials gradually increased.

-The amount of work that has not decreased at all, even after decades since its creation.

-The pressure from the surroundings on those who received the document recording punishment and their families.

The pressure from the surroundings was unavoidable, but the problem was the terrifying amount of work.

Documents written in Jinseo [regular script] or Jeongseo [formal script] were fortunate. Documents written in Haengseo [semi-cursive script] or Choseo [cursive script] were difficult for even officials familiar with calligraphy and Chinese characters to recognize immediately.

In addition, if there was a typo while transcribing, they had to start all over again from the beginning.

-If there are traces of corrections in documents that future generations will see, there may be problems with authenticity. If there is a typo, rewrite it from the beginning.

For this reason, officials working as common laborers always had to be on their toes.

However, working slowly was also a problem. The length of their punishment period was not reduced if the amount of output was small.

* * *

As time passed, the enormous amount of work gradually began to decrease.

It was thanks to the desperate struggles of the officials who had worked as common laborers.

“Now there is hope!”

However, their hope turned to despair.

It was because Sejong promulgated Hunminjeongeum [the Korean alphabet].

-Translate all records into Jeongeum [Korean script] and record them again!

“Aaaagh….”

Fortunately, the work became a little easier as typewriters were invented and mass-produced.

However, Hyang and Wan pointed out the problem to the ministers.

“Why on earth! Why are there so many people receiving the document recording punishment!”

“We are sorry!”

“I told you not to create things to be sorry about!”

The reason why Hyang and Wan expressed such dissatisfaction was because people continued to receive the document recording punishment.

Moreover, there were people receiving the document recording punishment even among the female officials who had begun to establish themselves, as well as among the eunuchs and court ladies.

And those who were caught were thrown into the Record Office without question.

At first, there were concerns that there might be unpleasant incidents because men and women were together, but such incidents did not occur.

“In the Record Office, men and women have no time or energy to develop feelings for each other.”

And, on the main pillar of the Record Office, there was an inscription written by someone.

-The typewriter is fair.

* * *

Knowing these circumstances, the ministers showed a negative reaction even after hearing Wan’s compensation plan.

However, Wan’s words were not over.

“The Sangwang and I have had many discussions, and we plan to actively use Shinji and Bukji for the preservation of records. First of all, we are planning to build additional repositories in Shinji and Bukji to store the Annals [veritable records of the dynasty].”

“That is a truly appropriate decision.”

At Wan’s words, the ministers reacted positively.

As Wan said, increasing the number of repositories was a good way to prepare for possible disasters.

However, the ministers were shocked by Wan’s following words.

“And, since Record Offices will be created in both locations, we will also try to improve the Record Office.”

“If you say improve….”

“Do you know about the Great Library that was in Alexandria?”

Wan explained his and Hyang’s plan to the ministers.

-In the past, there was a Great Library in Alexandria.

-It is said that all the knowledge and historical records of the West at that time were gathered in that Great Library.

-We want to make the Record Office the Great Library of the East, no, of the Empire.

-In the future, the Record Office will not only preserve the administrative records of past dynasties, but also all the books and records related to our current knowledge and life, such as historical books, scriptures, and miscellaneous studies.

-Of course, we will not only preserve them, but also restore them, and make copies so that people who want to see them can see them.

“….”

The ministers who heard Wan’s plan were all speechless with their mouths open.

After a long time, Hwangbo-in, who had barely regained his senses, reported to Wan.

“Y-Your Majesty. That is a truly beautiful intention. However, a huge budget is required to carry out such a great undertaking.”

“I am well aware of that. Of course, I do not intend to see it completed in my reign. If we proceed with an estimated time of about 100 years, it will be possible without a significant burden on the budget, wouldn’t it?”

Hwangbo-in, who had been calculating inwardly for a moment at Wan’s point, nodded his head.

“That seems to be fine.”

“Good. Prepare a plan related to this. And….”

Wan, who paused for a moment, smiled bitterly and continued.

“Shouldn’t this be enough to reduce corruption a little? Where does that reckless confidence that they won’t get caught come from…. Tsk!”

At the sound of Wan’s tongue-lashing, everyone in the audience hall had similar thoughts.

‘I need to crack down on my children again!’

‘I’ve been hearing strange rumors around my nephew….’

In this way, the ‘transformation of the Record Office into a Great Library’ proceeded as Wan and Hyang intended.

It was a great undertaking with a notorious reputation that ‘it has not ended even after 100 years.’

A huge amount of records came out every year, and organizing and preserving them was an impossible task to complete.

Thanks to this, the Record Office buildings in Bonji and Shinji had to be built additionally every 10 or 20 years.

The Record Office became known as the ‘Treasure House of Human Knowledge,’ ‘Dungeon,’ and ‘Demon Realm.’

* * *

“Hmm… Let’s deal with the Ming and Record Office issues like this, and how about Japan? It’s been quite a while since the Ouchi family became the king of Japan, but is it still noisy?”

At Wan’s question, Hwangbo-in stepped forward and answered.

“It seems that the situation is almost settled now.”

“Then the burden on the South Sea Fleet will be reduced a bit.”

“That’s right for now, but there is something I’m a little worried about.”

“Worried? What is it?”

At Wan’s question, Hwangbo-in answered.

“It seems that Japan has finally decided to advance south.”

“Advance south already? Does Japan have that much ability?”

“It’s still unreasonable, but it seems they will start moving in earnest soon.”

“Do you have any physical evidence besides suspicion?”

At Wan’s question, Hwangbo-in answered.

“They say they have hired Joseon technicians from Europe and brought them back.”

“Joseon technicians….”

Wan trailed off with a serious face.

* * *

Wan, as well as Hyang and the ministers, were convinced that Japan would definitely choose to advance abroad.

One of the reasons was that it was difficult for Japan to be self-sufficient with its internal resources, but the biggest reason was that Japan thoroughly followed the Empire’s footsteps.

-The Empire and our Japan both lack resources. Just as the Empire has grown greatly by turning its eyes outward, so must our Japan!

This was the motto of the Ouchi family, who had now become the king of Japan, and many Japanese intellectuals were shouting similar claims.

The problem was the relationship between the Empire and Japan.

Both countries professed friendly diplomacy with each other, and there was considerable exchange of people and goods.

However, Japan also knew very well that the Empire would never give up more than a certain amount.

In the end, the alternative that Japan chose was Europe.