There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 180

There’s been something strange lately.

Whether it’s the palace or the court, wherever I show my face, the gazes from left and right all focus on me.

‘I knew my presence was strong, but…’

It feels like my aura has become even more intense.

The exact reason became clear after some time had passed.

“Your Highness!”

Do came running and said.

“I am against it!”

“What are you talking about?”

What is this, babbling out of nowhere?

“Don’t even think about hiding it! Rumor has it that you are pining for that orphaned princess! You’ve only been eating one bowl of rice these days, haven’t you!”

“…Usually, normal people only eat one bowl of rice.”

How could such ridiculous rumors be attached to someone who eats and sleeps perfectly well?

‘Could it be because of that conversation we had last time?’

The people who participated in the meeting were Hwang Hee, Maeng Sa-seong, and Heo Jo.

But these people are secretly tight-lipped and wouldn’t spread the things I strictly told them not to.

Then there’s only one person left.

I immediately ordered Min In-saeng to be brought in.

“It was you!”

It seems I have a lot of bad blood with the Min clan.

When I grabbed Min In-saeng by the neck and shook him, Min In-saeng’s face turned blue, and he shouted.

“Keuk, op, oppose the oppression of historians!”

“This is good oppression, so it’s okay.”

Min In-saeng rubbed his neck and said.

“I only told the other officials of the Office of Annals! And I just wrote down the facts and handed them over.”

“Then where did the nonsense about me shedding tears of longing come from?”

“I wrote that.”

So it was you after all.

I was taken aback by how confidently he spoke.

“Your Highness’s hidden feelings were carried by the wind to me. I simply recorded it as it was.”

“Crazy… you’re really crazy…”

In any case, Min In-saeng insisted that he had only told the officials of the Office of Annals [a historical department responsible for recording events].

And as is always the case with ‘I’ll only tell you,’ this fact spread so much that there was no one in the palace who didn’t know about it.

“I am also serving as a recorder in the Royal Secretariat, so I was just asking the officials of the Royal Secretariat if there were any related royal orders.”

“I heard it from the compiler and told the Chief Secretary.”

“I told someone else…”

I rubbed my forehead.

I knew this would happen.

“Did you see? It’s not my fault.”

At Min In-saeng’s words, I grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

“Spreading false rumors in the first place is wrong!”

No wonder everyone I met was looking at me with a sly smile.

‘Is this karma?’

No, that couldn’t be.

How could it be karma when I’ve lived such a virtuous life?

===

Min In-saeng was an extraordinary person in many ways.

In the original history, he also served as a historian and crossed the line, even being exiled, and then was dismissed when he went to his post as a magistrate with a courtesan.

After being reinstated, when he was a judge in Hanseongbu [the capital district], he showed a strange intuition, arrested innocent people, and was even questioned when the Censorate [an office that monitored government officials] objected to this.

Of course, not all historians in the Joseon Dynasty [Korean kingdom from 1392-1897] were extraordinary people like Min In-saeng.

If that were the case, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty would not have been listed as a UNESCO Memory of the World.

Once the circumstances are revealed in detail by confronting people, it is difficult to shield even the Office of Annals.

That was why Crown Prince Lee Je became furious and sought out Lee Bang-won.

===

“Min In-saeng has crossed the line this time. No matter what the Office of Annals says, just dismiss him.”

Lee Bang-won nodded at my words, shouting and jumping up and down.

“The Ministry of Culture and Arts also said the same thing. They told me to send Min In-saeng into exile.”

What they fear most is that the king will abolish the good laws of the historians because of historians who cross the line.

In this situation, the only answer is to quickly cut ties with uncontrollable people.

“This must be a teething problem that only exists in the early days of the nation. Won’t these ridiculous things disappear in later generations?”

Lee Bang-won looked at me and smiled.

“It’s not funny at all.”

“Min In-saeng can be thrown away at any time… but what about the royal marriage issue?”

Lee Bang-won asked.

If Min In-saeng is dismissed and the spreading of rumors is strictly controlled, the rumors will soon subside, but then everyone will think that the king is against the royal marriage.

“On the other hand, if you have no intention, you should dispel the rumors now. Who would marry their daughter to someone who can’t even eat because of lovesickness? No matter how much of a Crown Prince he is.”

“…”

Even from the perspective of a simple political marriage, that’s true.

If their daughter does not receive the Crown Prince’s favor, the benefits of the political marriage are reduced by more than half.

If Lee Bang-won steps in and forces the marriage, no one would dare to refuse.

‘It’s not like I’m a bomb.’

Even if that’s not the case, having to spend the rest of my life with a woman I’ve never met before.

‘That’s a bit…’

I shook my head.

It’s better to think of it as saving an acquaintance.

To a place without foot binding or ritual suicide.

“…Is the envoy coming this time?”

“Yes. It’s fortunate. He comes to Joseon often and is familiar with this father [referring to himself].”

Lee Bang-won made a loud noise.

“Just trust this father.”

===

“It’s been a while, Envoy.”

“It has been a long time, Your Majesty. I am even more pleased to hear news from Joseon while I am in the Great Ming [China], as there is no one to deliver it.”

Hwang Eom, who came as an envoy, said with a blatant expression of displeasure.

There was a barb in his words, a sense of resentment stemming from the fact that he, the self-proclaimed expert on Joseon, was being sidelined and Jeong Hwa was plotting behind the scenes.

“I am also uncomfortable because the envoy is not in a good mood.”

Lee Bang-won poured a full glass of wine for Hwang Eom and said.

“Hmph, should I have to hear about the agreement with Joseon from Jeong Hwa? I thought I had forged a strong bond of loyalty with Joseon over the years.”

Looking at Hwang Eom, who was patting his belly and speaking sulkily, Lee Bang-won felt nauseous, but he forced a smile.

“Jeong Hwa approached us first with the desire to gain merit. How could we refuse the request of the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial [a powerful Ming Dynasty agency]? So, instead of participating in the treasure fleet, we just asked for some crumbs.”

To be exact, it was the Crown Prince who approached Jeong Hwa first with the desire to go abroad, but Lee Bang-won lied without batting an eye.

“Really?”

Hwang Eom said incredulously, but Lee Bang-won nodded with a smile on his face.

‘Or what are you going to do?’

One of the reasons why Hwang Eom is highly regarded is that he is an expert on Joseon.

If the relationship with Joseon is severed and that connection is replaced by another eunuch, Hwang Eom’s usefulness will decrease accordingly.

So Hwang Eom can’t just be stubborn.

Lee Bang-won built up Hwang Eom’s pride and provided a justification for resolving his anger.

“This Joseon mountain and river is prospering thanks to the protection of the Ming Dynasty. The only person who can connect this country with the Great Ming is the envoy, so you are the only one I can rely on.”

“Ohohong, you flatter me.”

Hwang Eom clapped his hands and laughed, as if he was finally satisfied.

‘It’s hard to appease this eunuch without balls.’

Lee Bang-won cursed inwardly, but he couldn’t reveal it as he was the one making the request.

He casually asked Hwang Eom.

“Now that I think about it, it’s been a long time since I told the Emperor about the royal marriage issue, but the court of our country is worried because there is still no answer. Do you know anything about it, Envoy?”

“Ah, that…”

Hwang Eom put down his glass and said.

The plan to adopt a daughter of a suitable member of the royal family and send her to Joseon as a princess fell through.

This is because Joseon was better at grasping the Emperor’s lineage than expected.

However, because the Emperor did not want to send his own daughter, he had not given a clear answer.

“She is neither the Emperor’s daughter nor his younger sister. If this royal marriage is successful, the Crown Prince will become the uncle of the next Emperor, so how can you allow that?”

Of course, the ‘next Emperor’ mentioned by Hwang Eom did not only mean the Crown Prince.

Prince Zhu Gaosu of Zhao, who was close to Hwang Eom, was also a nephew of the imperial daughter.

Lee Bang-won had expected this, so of course he had an answer ready.

“Does the hierarchy of family precede the king, or does the hierarchy of lord and subject precede?”

“Of course, the hierarchy of lord and subject precedes.”

“Then what is there to worry about? Whether it’s an aunt or an uncle, they are all subjects of His Majesty, so who would dare to act like an elder in front of him?”

“That’s…”

Officially, there is no one above the Emperor, but that doesn’t mean you can completely ignore your family elders.

The Crown Prince and his brothers are much older, but isn’t this an era where lineage is more important than age?

Lee Bang-won handed over a box from below without giving Hwang Eom a chance to object.

Hwang Eom quickly scanned it with his eyes.

It was a box that looked quite heavy at first glance.

“You are the closest aide to the Emperor, Envoy, so wouldn’t you be able to communicate a little?”

‘Aide…?’

Hwang Eom recalled the face of the formidable Yongle Emperor.

No matter how he looked at it, he seemed to think of him as an easy-to-use servant rather than an aide, but he didn’t want to deny it in front of the King of Joseon.

“Is there anything you’re worried about?”

Lee Bang-won asked when Hwang Eom hesitated.

“How could there be! I am the envoy and the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, so how could I not tell the Emperor about such a thing?”

“That’s a relief then. This box contains my sincerity, so please check it after returning to Taepyeonggwan [a state guest house].”

At Lee Bang-won’s words, the anxiety that had settled in Hwang Eom’s eyes soon turned into greed.

“Will I be able to get a definite answer when you return this time?”

===

Several years have passed since Crown Prince Lee Je tried pearl cultivation in Geoje Island.

Among the pearl oysters, the small ones have been raised for 7 months, and the large ones for 1 or 2 years, and there have already been several harvests.

Most of them died despite careful care due to lack of farming experience, but some of them contained thick pearls as expected.

The pearl layer is a bit thin, but its luster is not inferior to natural pearls.

“Hoo.”

Hwang Gwi exclaimed at the luster of the pearl.

He was Hwang Eom’s nephew and a wealthy merchant who made a lot of money by following his uncle on his trips to Joseon.

Some of it went back to his uncle, so this is what you call mutual aid.

“It’s a good thing that Joseon will supply pearls on time. Pearls of this quality will be accepted even in the imperial palace. Isn’t that right, Uncle?”

However, Hwang Eom did not answer.

He closed his eyes and pondered.

He had come to Joseon to vent his dissatisfaction with his relationship with Jeong Hwa and scrape up bribes, but when Joseon threw a big bait first, he had no choice but to get caught up in it.

‘I can’t easily refuse the King of Joseon’s request, even for the sake of my interests in Joseon.’

So Hwang Eom had made a big noise in front of Lee Bang-won, but he was not confident that he could actually persuade the Yongle Emperor.

In fact, isn’t the Emperor treating him like a dog?

‘If I step in myself…’

‘Silence!’

There was a high possibility that he would be scolded by the Yongle Emperor for presumptuously talking nonsense.

‘Then I’ll have to bring in someone else…’

Fortunately, there were quite a few people who could be allies.

End