There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 457

Extracurricular Story – The Land of the Morning Calm (2)

The Crown Prince is strange.

Well… truthfully, it’s rare to find someone in this family who isn’t strange, but the Crown Prince is a bit different from the rest.

It’s like he’s a strangely detached old man who’s seen it all.

It’s not like he’s had some life-changing event or difficult experience.

He’s been like that since he was very young. Though, he doesn’t seem to be aware of it himself.

“Your Highness, I have brought the cola you ordered.”

“Bring it in!”

As the Crown Prince shouted excitedly from inside, the eunuch Kim Cheo-seon shook his head and stepped inside.

“This is the cola that Uncle made, you say?”

Crown Prince Yi Yun asked, his eyes sparkling.

He’s usually like an old man, but sometimes he shows an innocent side, so much so that he seems immature.

Even now, as an adult.

Kim Cheo-seon was so used to his sudden changes that he simply presented the tray without a word.

The Crown Prince was delighted to see the cola with ice floating in it, even on a hot day, but soon his expression twisted.

“Ugh, a paper straw! I told you not to bring me these!”

The Crown Prince picked up the straw on the tray, threw it on the floor, and gulped down the drink straight from the glass.

Going back to the history of Hyeonju [a traditional Korean rice wine], it originally started when King Sejong, during his reign, made Hyeonju to offer on the ancestral rites table out of utmost filial piety for Emperor Taejo Gohwang.

Along with it, straws have been used all along, and more than half a century has passed since then, so the types of straws have become diverse.

In particular, some fastidious people preferred disposable straws that were easy to use and throw away rather than washing and reusing them.

It also acted as a measure of wealth.

The problem is that in an era without plastic, the material inevitably had to be thick paper.

‘Even the Taehwang Emperor hated paper straws, but how can grandfather and grandson have the same taste…’ Kim Cheo-seon grumbled inwardly.

The Crown Prince, who was busy gulping down the cola, exclaimed.

“They say it’s a mix of coca and cola, and indeed the taste is different from ordinary Hyeonju. The Hyeonju I’ve had so far is just sweet carbonated water compared to this.”

Of course, even with the two secret ingredients, the taste would be very different from the modern ‘it’ [referring to modern cola], but at least it was much closer to modern cola than the similar cola Yi Je made.

“The Emperor has placed tobacco under the management of Biak Corporation to be monopolized, but he has acknowledged the achievements of His Highness Simwang and allowed the Simwang residence to take this cola.”

“I envy him, he must be raking in money.”

It tasted so good that he thought the rumor that his uncle didn’t apply for a patent because he was afraid the secret would be leaked was true.

Or perhaps it was because the Emperor tasted this cola and spared him from being demoted to Duke of Aoji after he fell in love and had an unauthorized marriage.

Most of them were jokes circulating in and out of the court, but the rampant rumors that spread like that had something that could even tempt the imperial family members who knew the inside story.

The Crown Prince, who had been gulping down the cola, lay down instead of getting up and began rummaging through the comic books piled up in one corner of the room.

“Your Highness. You went to the Gyeokgu field [a polo-like ball game] the other day, went to see Gyeonggeuk [a play or performance] yesterday, and today you’re just looking at comics all day?”

Seeing the Crown Prince lazing around today, Kim Cheo-seon couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

Although they were collateral lines, the other sons of Yi Dan were all outstanding princes.

The fact that the half-brothers who were pushed out by him and couldn’t sit on the Crown Prince’s throne were scattered around and established countries one by one was enough to know.

Even though they received support from Joseon.

Kim Cheo-seon, who had vaguely heard about genetics from scholars, thought it was because they had inherited a lot of the imperial family’s good traits.

However, the Crown Prince, who should have inherited the most of those traits, was just sitting in that position for the reason that he was the eldest son, and it seemed like he was just showing off his arrogance.

It’s not like he’s a completely useless person, so he’d be exhausted and give up, but that wasn’t the case either.

He was more active and had better physical skills than many of the previous emperors, and he also showed subtle insight from time to time, even though he seemed careless.

Joan of Arc, the French commander, had made quite a contribution to the Crown Prince being born into this world, so the officials had told the Crown Prince about the situation in that country based on the national letter Yi Dan had received.

When they reached the part where Louis had set up the final defense line in Paris, the Crown Prince suddenly interrupted and opened his mouth.

“Louis doesn’t know military tactics! Even though the situation is unfavorable, he didn’t advance to the hills and set up camp in the flat capital, so he must have been defeated.”

The result was really like that, so the officials who had looked down on the Crown Prince until then had an opportunity to change their minds.

From Kim Cheo-seon’s point of view, he wanted him to continue to develop that talent and establish himself as a dignified monarch.

He also had a desire to serve the Crown Prince well and follow in the footsteps of No Bun, a legendary eunuch and loyalist.

That’s why he had spared no words of advice until now, but the Crown Prince was relaxed and calm.

“What am I, as a descendant of the imperial family, not doing?”

Kim Cheo-seon wanted to say ‘everything’, but the Crown Prince took the lead before that.

“My offspring are thriving with the Crown Princess, and my body is healthy, so it doesn’t seem like I’m going to die young. Is there anything lacking in me even in this situation?”

“Your Highness is not a stallion at a racetrack! Shouldn’t you have several responsibilities to bear in addition to prospering your offspring?”

“Well······.”

The Crown Prince lay down and covered his face with a comic book while crossing his legs.

“To be honest, I don’t think I can do anything more in this country.”

“Yes?”

Kim Cheo-seon asked, opening his eyes blankly.

“The duty of the monarch lies in discussing one prime minister (人主之職 在論一相, 『Joseon Gyeonggukjeon』) [a quote from the Joseon Gyeonggukjeon, a legal code, emphasizing the importance of the prime minister], so why should I personally review all the affairs that I don’t even know well?”

“······.”

“I am only talented in riding and playing, and I am not as good as others at getting off the horse and ruling the country myself.

No matter how much I learn and practice, it will be like that, so it would be better to leave it to others comfortably.”

===

In fact, Joseon’s internal affairs were already running similarly to the Crown Prince’s claim.

Yi Dan himself is already heavily dependent on the cabinet for internal affairs.

The Emperor was in charge of ‘world management’, that is, foreign affairs, and the cabinet and the six ministries were in charge of internal affairs, so the roles were divided.

Joseon is a strict autocratic state, so the authority is not clearly divided, but in reality, that’s how it’s been going on during Emperor Yi Dan’s reign.

This was due to the heavy workload, but also because the country grew and society became more complex, so the Emperor could not have expertise and knowledge in all fields.

For this reason, the person who is practically in charge of Joseon’s internal affairs is not Emperor Yi Dan, but rather Prime Minister Yang Seong-ji (梁誠之) of the cabinet.

He still has a few years left to reach the personnel standards of Chil Sang Pal Ha [a high-ranking official position], so he was also expected to enjoy the position of being second to none for a while.

As a person who was called Haedong Zhuge Liang [a Korean epithet for a brilliant strategist, comparing him to the famous Chinese strategist Zhuge Liang] in original history, he was a versatile person, so he was running the country quite stably.

If this continues, he will be able to leave his name as a great prime minister following the Hwang Hui-Maeng Sa-seong pair and the Yi Do-Woo Gyeom pair.

“The Hyanghoe [local gentry councils] of Hugwang have jointly appealed. The so-called peasant workers (農民工) are not thinking of farming and are leaving for Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, and Fujian to find jobs, so they are appealing for strict prohibition.”

“There is no need to pay attention to their nonsense. When you think about it, isn’t it because they cut their wages and collect heavy taxes that peasant workers are leaving their hometowns?”

Yang Seong-ji said, waving his hand.

Jili is the mainland of Joseon and the political and economic center.

According to the joke that classifies the Golpum [a rigid social ranking system] by region, this Jili was the Seonggol (聖骨) [the highest rank].

Next, Hebei and the coastal areas of the Jungwon [Central Plains of Joseon], where the flames of the industrial revolution are slowly spreading and are booming due to logistics transportation to Jili, are Jingol [the second highest rank].

The rest were the areas south of the Yellow River, which were practically ruled by the Hyanghoe formed by the local gentlemen, and were regions below Yukdupun [lower ranks in the Golpum system].

The lives of those from these regions were not much different from those during the Ming Dynasty.

Rather, it could be said that it became more prosperous than the original history because firm political stability was found and crops from the New World were gradually spreading.

However, everything is relative.

Even if Jungwon is wide, a completely different world was unfolding just next to it, so even those who had been digging up dirt in the same neighborhood all their lives could not help but be moved.

People were abandoning tenant farming and running away at night.

Due to the explosive demand for maritime logistics that went to not only Jili but also other countries, shipyards were being built on every coast, so manpower was always lacking everywhere.

Factories that were gradually importing machines from Jili or, even if not, were running division of labor processes in a handicraft manner were also the same.

People who could be cheaply exploited with low wages were always welcome.

Some Hyanghoe recognized this situation and took measures such as lowering tenancy fees or raising wages, but most of them were being left behind as they were.

Anyway, children are born every day, and the vast majority live in this neighborhood until they die.

From the perspective of the gentlemen, it didn’t matter if a few of them ran away, attracted by the lights of the city.

So, rather than establishing their own countermeasures, all they did was file joint appeals and petition to block the movement of the region.

Yang Seong-ji, who knew the situation, clicked his tongue, but that was all.

The imperial unimportant parts, such as the inland regions of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hugwang, and Sichuan, were not of interest to the court.

There is only one thing they want from these places.

Don’t start a rebellion, pay taxes diligently, and supply cheap labor.

If they perform that properly, they will ‘respect’ the autonomy of the Hyanghoe as much as possible, and the Hyanghoe will ‘repay’ by pledging allegiance to the Emperor.

Of course, only those who passed the Hyangsi [local civil service exams] that Joseon occasionally held or their descendants could join this Hyanghoe.

No matter how much wealth they accumulated, those who could not join this group of gentlemen could not even present their business cards to the Hyanghoe.

However, the stories of the Hyanghoe in the so-called ‘Jingol’ region were different.

Since Joseon considered this place to be the next most important after Jili, its autonomy was lower than that of the inland, but it was rather free in terms of the qualifications for the Hyanghoe.

In these regions, the political structure was shaken once by the invasion of Joseon, and the rise of a new class that had a firm grip on trade routes with Jili and could have a big voice politically and economically was remarkable.

These were mostly merchant classes who operated large merchant groups or battlefields, and they were the ones who were able to raise their voices based on the economic interests connected to Jili.

Of course, they were loyal to the current Joseon system, just like the Hyanghoe in the inland, but they were taking a more active stance.

That was to bring people who could represent them not only to the Nanjing court but also to the central court in Hanseong [the capital city of Joseon].

The former Ming Dynasty’s imperial family was treated as relatives of the Joseon imperial family, and some people like Woo Gyeom held key positions in the central court, but strictly speaking, they were not representatives of this new class.

This was also the case in Jili.

The Joseon mainland is the birthplace of the industrial revolution.

Factories and merchant groups that had been created a long time ago were merging and dispersing, and there were already countless people who had made a fortune.

The creation of Hangul [the Korean alphabet] and the development of printing technology that had continued for decades, and the resulting explosive dissemination of knowledge, gave considerable intellectual confidence to those who were not bureaucrats or Sarim groups [Confucian scholars].

However, the arguments that could represent their voices were still slow, and even the Sarim who inherited the academic style of Gil Jae were only making arguments such as ‘the king’s rule according to the public opinion of the Sarim’.

This was partly because they used purified language to avoid being hit by the imperial family’s iron hammer, but fundamentally, they also had the awareness that the country could only be led by a group of trained Sadaebu [scholar-officials].