There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 21

Even I have heard of Jeong In-ji. I made sure to watch ‘The Land of Morning Calm’ [a historical drama].

I vaguely remember him being involved in making the celestial globe and the sundial.

“Jeong In-ji. He seems very bright.”

Unlike before, my voice was sincere.

Hearing his name makes him seem different.

Hmm, and why do I remember him so well?

I think Jinhyuk-hyung explained that he participated in the Gyeyu Jeongnan [a political coup].

But I had no intention of drawing my sword and striking him down, saying, ‘You are the seed of a traitor!’ here.

I’m just offering some kind words.

“Judging by his face, he will become great. Raise him well.”

“How can I compare to Won-ja Mama [a royal title, meaning ‘Prince’] who extracts silver from even the lowest quality ore? But I will faithfully follow your orders.”

Even as I spoke, I wondered who was supposed to be raising whom, but Jeong Heung-in stared at me with blazing eyes.

It was quite burdensome.

I slightly turned my head and continued speaking.

“Those Mansan soldiers were originally bandits rampaging on the border. They will surely be difficult to handle, so establish strict laws to prevent any disruption to the mine development.”

I plan to stay here for a few days and then go back to Gaeseong.

This was a warning to make sure nothing goes wrong in the meantime.

“Having been a manager for many years, I have learned how to govern subordinates. Please set your mind at ease, Won-ja Mama.”

Geumju’s governor puffed out his chest with a slightly offended expression.

Hmm, showing this much confidence usually means something will go wrong.

Bad premonitions always come true.

It wasn’t long before news came that the Mansan soldiers had rioted.

===

Those who came down from Gaeseong and were accommodated in Gullak were to be housed in the dilapidated houses near the mine.

Providing accommodation for the workers coming down from Gaeseong was also their responsibility.

Before starting work in earnest, Geumju’s governor, Jeong Heung-in, distributed alcohol and meat as a gesture of goodwill, but that was the root of the problem.

“Damn it, Joseon bastards! Are you saying we all have to stay in these small rooms!”

“We are clearly citizens of a great nation, how dare you treat us like this?”

“I’d rather die now than live a hard life in this place forever!”

After drinking alcohol, they suddenly got bold and recklessly destroyed the workplace.

Of course, it was just a residence, but the Mansan soldiers used this as an excuse to quit working altogether.

I was dumbfounded that they even beat up the soldiers guarding the area.

“No, what was the governor doing to let things get this way?”

The Geumju governor who ran to me was at a loss.

“It seems that my short-sighted gesture made them even more arrogant.”

He stirred up trouble.

“You should have suppressed those guys from the start to make them know their place. Governor, you made a mistake.”

“Yes, but they are so ferocious that the soldiers in Geumju alone cannot subdue them······.”

In the end, he was asking me to release my guards to help.

It would have been nice if Yi Seong-gye was here, but my grandfather was frequently visiting the hot springs since he came down to Geumju, so he wasn’t here now.

“Since the development of silver in Geumju is also my responsibility, let’s go together.”

Are these bastards messing with my business?

Let’s see if they can stand up to me.

“Noh-boon, go to the Taesangwang [King Emeritus] and report the circumstances of my absence.”

I then headed to the mine with the Geumju governor.

Of course, the guards followed.

“It’s a relief they didn’t run away.”

“They were already upset about being arrested, so they wouldn’t have the mind to do that.”

There must be family members of the rebels as well as the Mansan soldiers.

Where are those guys now?

It would be a headache if they became the same gang as those Chinese who caused the riot.

Unlike what I or Yi Seong-gye want, they will rise up from all sides to kill us.

“It is well known that mining is difficult and hard, so they rioted, saying they would rather be stabbed to death than die digging stones in a dark cave.”

The Geumju governor whispered next to me.

‘So, bandits are bandits after all.’

I twitched my eyebrows and thought.

‘I shouldn’t have left it to others.’

I was complacent; I should have managed it myself instead of leaving it to the Geumju governor.

‘Should I suppress them strongly, even if it means some bloodshed?’

Even if they are ferocious, they are unarmed, and the soldiers are armed with spears and swords.

Anyway, there are still many Mansan soldiers left in Gaeseong.

I didn’t like killing or hurting people, but I had to do it when I had to.

‘It was the same when I was in modern times.’

The place where I worked was a place where gunfights frequently occurred even near the capital.

I heard that this kind of ‘rebellion’ becomes difficult if it is not suppressed in the early stages.

Then I saw someone.

There were Joseon people caught among the Mansan soldiers.

“Keueue······ Wo, Won-ja Mama.”

Kang Hyun’s eldest son, whose face was covered in blood, looked at me with eyes that couldn’t even open properly.

Not only that. The faces of the Joseon people who were dragged along were devastated by the Mansan soldiers’ violence.

“Even if they are criminals who have committed great treason, you are also criminals! Do you really want to die?”

“Shut up!”

The guy who was holding a dagger, which he had hidden somewhere, struck the back of the eldest son’s head with the blade.

– Thwack!

“Those bastards!”

Geumju’s governor, Jeong Heung-in, shouted.

The situation was already on the verge of explosion.

“Mama, aren’t they sons of traitors anyway? Give the order quickly! We will sweep away those bandits!”

“No, no.”

The Geumju governor, whose mind went blank at the outrage that occurred in front of the Won-ja of this country, said so, but I rejected the offer.

The bandits in Gaeseong are probably no different from those guys, and if I riot and suppress them every time, there will be no manpower left.

Besides,

‘I can’t kill Kang Hyun’s sons.’

There was also a promise with my grandfather.

It’s fate if they die unlucky while working, but I can’t not save them if they are taken hostage.

Meanwhile, a fierce-looking Mansan soldier shouted.

“It’s the same whether we die here or there! Send us back to the great country [China]!”

“You’re talking nonsense with your mouths! You committed crimes in Joseon and were dragged here, who would let you go as you please?”

The Geumju governor shouted in excitement, but I stopped him for a moment.

“You speak Joseon well.”

To my question, the guard standing next to me replied.

“There are many people from Goryeo in the Mansan army.”

In the chaos of the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods, many Goryeo people crossed over to Liaodong [a region in China].

It is natural that there are many descendants of Goryeo people who returned to Joseon in the Mansan army.

The Mansan army leader was said to be the son of a Goryeo person who had settled in Liaodong.

When I asked coldly, the Mansan army leader snorted.

‘That’s him.’

Even if the guys with rough personalities got angry and got up, it wouldn’t work without a mastermind.

Even now, the other guys are just looking around, so if I subdue that guy, it’s over.

I took something out of my pocket and gently touched it.

“I spared the lives of those who were robbing on the border and reduced their sentences to several years of labor, but are you going to refuse the right to drink and receive a fine?”

I started walking forward, step by step.

“Wo, Won-ja Mama!”

The Geumju governor desperately grabbed me, trying to go out in front of the guys alone as a child like me.

If the guys subdue me and take me hostage, the riot that seemed like a desperate struggle will turn into a major accident.

But I shook off his hand.

“If you are the leader, don’t harass the weak and come out here and let’s fight! A fight between men!”

The leader looked bewildered and then his eyes widened.

“Okay, that’s what I wanted!”

The leader was complacent, thinking he could grab me in an instant, so he hurried over here.

There was no time for the Geumju governor and soldiers to step in.

“You bastard!”

The leader’s hand got closer to me.

At that moment, I held out the thing I had lit earlier in front of the leader.

– Pow!

“Kuaaak!”

The gunpowder exploded and several small arrows pierced the leader’s face.

It was a Sechongtong (細銃筒) [a small, handheld cannon] made by the Gun Gi Gam [military arms manufacturer] for self-defense.

The reason I touched it earlier was to load it and light the fuse.

The big leader, who stupidly approached me, died without even screaming.

“Hoo, it’s nothing.”

I dusted off my hands.

It’s a waste of size that he couldn’t even break one child like me.

“Cowa, coward······.”

“What coward are you looking for while trying to fight a nine-year-old, you people.”

Is it because they haven’t been hit enough yet?

The embarrassed Mansan soldiers just rolled their eyes.

They don’t know what to do when the guy who incited the violence dies.

– Thwack!

At that time, an arrow flying from afar blew away the head of the guy who was holding Kang Hyun’s eldest son.

There is only one person in Joseon, or at least in Geumju right now, who can show such accurate hits.

I couldn’t help but look back.

“Taesangwang Jeonha [His Majesty, the King Emeritus]!”

The Geumju governor’s cry echoed.

It was an arrow without a tip, but it seemed to have flown with such a strong tension that the head of the guy who was hit by it was dented.

“How dare you try to touch the Won-ja’s body?”

The voice of Taesangwang Yi Seong-gye echoed loudly.

“It seems like you all want to be torn apart for treason!”

“Halbamama [Grandfather]!”

I sent Noh-boon to tell Yi Seong-gye about the situation earlier, but it’s faster than I thought.

Besides, he wasn’t even properly dressed in his Taesangwang attire.

“Why did you come so urgently?”

It was Noh-boon who answered instead of Yi Seong-gye.

‘So why?’

Could it be that he was worried about me?

When I stared at Yi Seong-gye, Yi Seong-gye turned his head in embarrassment.

“You bastard, why are you staring like that?”

“Thank you, Halbamama.”

“Hey, I just came in a hurry because I heard that those Mansan soldiers were rioting. Wouldn’t the people be harmed?”

“Who said anything?”

“Ahem, ahem.”

Yi Seong-gye coughed repeatedly and then went past me to the guys.

His grandfather’s back muscles were exposed as they were between his loose clothes, as if he couldn’t even tie his clothes properly.

I opened my eyes wide when I saw that.

“······!”

‘It’s like the shape of a demon.’

The appearance of the back muscles bulging out in blue is like looking at the face of a Geumgang warrior [a Buddhist guardian deity].

I thought he was just an old man, but he wasn’t ordinary.

“Taesangwang!”

“Taesangwang is here!”

Kang Hyun’s sons, who were being assaulted by the Mansan soldiers, shouted.

It’s a different reaction than when I came.

Was the Taesangwang’s reputation this great for Joseon people?

It was the same for the Mansan soldiers from Liaodong.

“Listen, Naegun [Royal Guards]!”

“Yes, Taesangwang Jeonha.”

“Since those guys couldn’t abandon their bandit nature and rioted, there’s no choice but to kill them all!”

When Yi Seong-gye shouted, the guards answered without hesitation.

“Yes, just give the order!”

They were about to make them all skewers right away.

Then the Mansan soldiers lined up and shouted.

“This, this was all ordered by the leader who fell there!”

“We had no choice but to join because we didn’t want to die!”

Those guys who drank alcohol and boldly rioted, but once they saw blood, all the alcohol would have flown away.

The Mansan soldiers blamed all their sins on the fallen guys.

“Arrest all those guys!”

At Yi Seong-gye’s command, the soldiers hurriedly ran to beat up the Mansan soldiers like dogs and rescued the Joseon people.

Kang Hyun’s sons, who were barely released, knelt down in front of me and my grandfather and expressed their gratitude.

“Why did those guys beat you up?”

When I asked, Kang Hyun’s eldest son barely opened his mouth and replied.

“They said they didn’t want to die in Joseon and harmed the soldiers guarding them and were about to run away, so when we refused, they tortured us like this.”

“You didn’t fall for it.”

Even if I was branded as a family of traitors and my family was ruined, I would have felt such a temptation.

“It is true that my younger siblings and I had such thoughts, but didn’t Won-ja Mama save us? We couldn’t abandon that.”

“Heo.”

I clicked my tongue.

Saving Kang Hyun’s children was only because of a promise with Yi Seong-gye, but they regarded it as grace and stayed here.

“I don’t know how many years it will take for you to be released, but I will make one promise.”

I opened my mouth.

“I will try to make sure that at least living here is much better than dying while running away.”

End