There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 409

410. Back to the Routine (2)

Reading the divorce petition, I could roughly grasp the chaotic situation that had unfolded during their marriage.

It seemed that while I was waging wars on the battlefield, a different kind of battle—a battle of love and war—was also taking place in a quiet corner of the capital.

The gist of it was that the wife, feeling neglected and unloved, had resorted to some rather bizarre shamanistic practices in an attempt to win back her husband’s affection.

‘Poor thing,’ I thought.

It was a pitiful story, indeed.

“What did the Office of the Inspector General say?”

“They’ve stated that if the attempt to use shamanism is confirmed, a divorce must be granted without question.”

I initially thought it was a bit harsh to divorce her simply for seeking strange remedies from a shaman…

“However, they found a female deity effigy hidden, intended to be burned and offered to Hyang [a personal name, likely the husband], and a towel used to wipe up snake semen. This evidence was obtained by capturing a servant, so there’s no way to deny it.”

Unfortunately, the reason for the divorce was rather… unsavory.

Regardless of whether such practices were effective, the fact that a married woman, especially the wife of a royal relative, engaged in such sorcery was frowned upon.

Even in modern times, someone rumored to be obsessed with a pseudo-shaman would be considered eccentric, to say the least.

‘If it were just simple jealousy, I would try to arrange a conciliation meeting…’

But it was hopeless, especially since she was caught by a petty shaman peddling such crude sorcery.

That’s why I had emphasized through Good Thinking [a communication channel or public announcement] the importance of avoiding shaman phishing scams and seeking out only safe, nationally certified shamans.

‘Even if I were to advise against the divorce, they’d have no choice but to kick her out to protect the royal family’s reputation.’

The petition had come to me, but at this point, it was practically a request to ‘kick out the wife’ and grant a divorce.

There was no way for the country to intervene in such a personal matter.

What could we do if they simply didn’t like each other anymore?

Due to the nature of Joseon society, noblemen often dismissed their wives, but wives rarely initiated separation from their husbands, creating an inherent unfairness in who took the lead in a separation.

‘If they’ve formed a marital bond, they should cherish each other and live well.’

Ah, but then my children would have grounds to criticize me.

It didn’t seem like Dan was on particularly good terms with the Crown Princess, either.

They weren’t fighting, but they didn’t seem particularly affectionate.

‘Well, maybe this is just a typical arranged marriage relationship,’ I thought.

I tried to convince myself.

‘Does his younger brother know about this?’

I wondered and asked Dan, and he nodded.

“Hyang couldn’t bear to see his wife’s face, so he practically lived in the Military Arms Bureau for a while. The rumors probably spread quite a bit. My uncle probably knows too.”

“So you knew about it a long time ago?”

“Well… yes.”

Dan scratched his head and replied.

“Well, you couldn’t *not* know at this point.”

I was glad I didn’t have to explain the delicate situation in detail from the beginning.

He wouldn’t have filed a petition for divorce without informing his parents, after all.

“…I’ll approve it. Tell your cousin to go to Nanjing for the time being.”

His father was the Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet in Nanjing, making it a perfect opportunity for him to gain experience while assisting with administrative work.

It was my way of showing consideration, allowing him to clear his head and build his career in Nanjing.

Even if she was a wife he didn’t get along with, he would likely feel strange after the divorce, and staying in the capital would only invite gossip.

‘It’ll be enough if only the other nephews stay in Hanyang [the capital].’

To be precise, since the other sons who weren’t the eldest were under my watchful eye, the vassals would understand that they served as sufficient… assurances. No one would say it outright, though.

* * *

With the imperial decree, things proceeded smoothly.

There was nothing in this country that couldn’t be resolved when I intervened directly.

The divorce was quickly finalized because the charges were clear and my order was given.

When a petition to allow a divorce came to me, it was as if the husband had already dismissed the wife, and all that remained was to stamp the seal.

It was called permission, but in reality, it was like acknowledging a divorce that had already taken place.

‘I need to revise the laws one day.’

However, conversely, a wife abandoning her husband was not tolerated.

In the Great Ming Code, which Joseon was currently following, if a wife abandoned her husband and ran away, she would be punished with 100 strokes of the cane, and if she remarried after running away, she would be sentenced to strangulation.

That meant she would be strangled to death.

‘When I think about it, it’s a terribly unreasonable system.’

In the first place, the grounds for divorce were not clearly established.

It was based on the misconduct of a woman, which was like saying it depended on how you interpreted it.

‘Well, it’s not just divorce issues that are legally ambiguous like this.’

Joseon already had a law called the Economic Codes, which was compiled during Yi Bang-won’s reign.

In addition, there was the Great Ming Code, which was being applied in accordance with Joseon’s circumstances.

However, in Joseon, morality was the standard for governing society, and law was only a supplementary means to support it.

‘So far, there hasn’t been a big problem governing like this.’

It was impossible to definitively say which was superior between moral rule and legal rule in this era.

However, the world I was aiming for would require a much more complex and sophisticated structure than it currently had.

We needed to move towards acting with clear grounds for almost all administrative and legal actions.

Even if it was impossible right now, someday.

In the process, we would fix laws and customs that seemed unreasonable and sow the seeds of the rule of law.

‘Maybe this is the only time we can do it.’

At this point, when I’ve made Joseon rise to the level of an empire, when there is no clear direction for the nation of Joseon.

Wasn’t there something that only I, the de facto founder of the empire, could solve while I was in power?

The timing was also good.

Even now, vassals were constantly petitioning to compile the Supplement to the Economic Codes to supplement or revise the Economic Codes.

Since the Ming Dynasty had been overthrown, it was embarrassing to continue following the Great Ming Code, so they were proposing to enact a new legal code to fill the gaps in the Governing the World Codes.

Even if a significant portion of the framework was taken from the Great Ming Code, the idea was to at least change the label.

However, the demand for statutory law would soon increase to a range that could not be covered by traditional laws such as the Governing the World Codes or the Great Ming Code, so patching it up with something like the Supplement to the Economic Codes was not satisfactory.

Let’s put new wine in new bottles; it seemed we needed to refine the legal system.

* * *

Currently, administrative integration was gradually taking place in Joseon.

Fortunately, the Liaodong and Liaoxi regions, which were already our territory, only needed to replace the official titles that nominally belonged to the Prince of Shen of the Ming Dynasty.

The newly organized region of ‘Zhili’ [directly governed territory] consisted of the existing Eight Provinces, the (former) Prince of Shen’s territory, and the Manchuria region.

It was called Zhili, but eastern Manchuria, where the Jurchens lived, was practically under indirect rule, though this would gradually come under the jurisdiction of the central government over time.

The meaning of Zhili was practically to preserve this place even if most of the Central Plains were torn away.

However, the entire newly incorporated Central Plains was not so simple.

We had to introduce an administrative system compatible with Joseon… that is, Zhili, and apply the separation of administration and justice that was gradually being implemented in Zhili.

To do so, we needed to apply unified laws.

I issued a decree from Nanjing to slightly adjust the judiciary of the Central Plains, but that was only to temporarily suspend the harsh punishments stipulated in the Great Ming Code.

Peeling off the skin, cutting off the waist, and cutting off the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth?

This is… the center of civilization?

Indeed, Joseon was definitely a true civilized nation.

Before there were calls to introduce such harsh punishments to Joseon, let’s quickly turn to legal research and aim for the enactment of clear and unified statutory law.

Of course, this law would also have to be revised and modified from time to time according to the passage of time, but that was a matter of course.

Then, first of all, we needed to gather the working group to start the work, right? We also needed to set guidelines and send them down.

Legal officials would also participate, but since they were originally close to lower-level clerks, we would eventually have to take manpower from among the existing officials and allocate them.

Although the Joseon court had become a much larger government than it was at the beginning of the nation, there had always been a shortage of people.

New tasks continued to arise and become more subdivided, and the territory had steadily expanded, so it was a matter of course.

The Joseon court has always been short of people.

Since we had to deploy Joseon-affiliated officials to the Central Plains, a large-scale new recruitment was inevitable this time as well. Only those preparing for the civil service examination were having a field day.

I sighed.

That’s why I wanted to entrust the regency to Dan and rest for a while.

I don’t know why I’m creating work even during the regency period, but there’s no choice.

There were many memorials piled up that Dan couldn’t decide on alone.

Such as a memorial to build a new palace befitting the dignity of the imperial country.

There’s reason and money, but I don’t have time to pay attention to it, so it’s on hold. It’s not an urgent matter right now.

However, unlike the palace, there were problems that couldn’t be postponed no matter how busy I was.

‘I’ll have to send my daughters off to get married soon, right?’

While I was working hard on the war and its aftermath, another year was passing by. If we passed this year, they’d be seventeen.

It’s an age when they can be said to be of marriageable age according to Joseon standards.

To be honest, they still look young in my eyes as their father, but that’s just my opinion.

At first, I thought it would be best to send them to prestigious families where they could live with as much power as possible.

However, watching my nephew’s divorce, I decided to think a little differently.

‘Shouldn’t I look at their compatibility?’

I’m talking about personality compatibility, the harmony of the couple, rather than the four pillars of destiny [traditional Korean fortune-telling based on birth details].

It would be a headache if they were sent off to get married and then fought and couldn’t live together.

If anything, the groom would give in because of the background.

‘Our daughters aren’t lacking anywhere.’

Both of them have beautiful appearances, and their personalities… well, one of them is okay. They’ll be loved wherever they go.

I’ll have to choose the other one with some care.

As I was thinking hard about their marriage prospects, a new guest came to visit.

“Your Majesty, King On Sado of Ryukyu requests an audience.”

“Tell him to come in.”

For some reason, On Sado, who was in Nanjing, had not returned to Ryukyu immediately.

He followed me all the way to Hanyang.

I used the fact that the King of Ryukyu had come to pay his respects to promote it extensively, but seeing him settle down without any intention of returning, I tilted my head.

‘Isn’t he worried about his country?’

“What’s there to worry about when the Joseon army, which shares the bond of father and son with the suzerain state, is firmly protecting our altars and grains?”

“Hmm…”

Well, that’s true too. Even if the Ryukyu nobles took advantage of On Sado’s absence to enthrone a new king, we would never recognize it.

Our army stationed in Shuri [Ryukyu’s capital] would immediately dispatch to crush the enemy and put On Sado back on the throne.

However, in that case, On Sado would have no choice but to be dragged around by us.

Well, if you think about it, he’s doing that now… but anyway, he might become a complete puppet.

‘What’s his angle?’

Regardless, On Sado bowed his head and said.

Perhaps because he spent his childhood in Joseon, his Joseon language was very fluent.

It was convenient because there was no need for an interpreter to attend.

“I have something to ask of Your Majesty.”

If he’s here to say he wants to stay longer, I’ll scold him and kick him out.

I was planning to cut back on some of the side dishes that go to this man anyway, so it’s a good thing.