Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: The Resocialization of the Butchers (4)
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I had proposed it, but honestly, it was a pretty extreme choice.
Become a citizen of Joseon or die—it was like holding a knife to their throats and threatening them.
But it was okay to do that with the butchers gathered here.
'If we don't go this far, they'll remain outside Joseon's order.'
If they stayed like illegal immigrants, living in Joseon without paying taxes or registering on the household rolls, they would never get proper livelihoods in the end.
Until now, many butchers had managed to live by raising livestock in places where central control was relatively weak, without touching violent crimes...
But the moment Joseon starts tightening the noose around their necks, they'll thrash around desperately to survive and start fires like they did before.
This wasn't because butchers were born with lowly DNA that made them destined to commit crimes, as Jeong Chang-sun had claimed. Anyone, when cornered, would act the same way.
One of them boldly stepped forward in response to my terrifying threat.
"Lord, what do you mean by that? We are already citizens of Joseon, rooted here and living as such."
As one found the courage, the other butchers nearby joined in the protest.
"Our grandfathers were citizens of Joseon, and so were our fathers."
"Our work may be lowly, but if we live in Joseon, speak the Joseon tongue, doesn't that make us Joseon people?"
"What have we done wrong to deserve a choice between death or obedience?"
If it had been the arsonists saying that, I would have torn their mouths apart on the spot.
Or made them regret ever being born into this world.
But these people, while causing various problems living in Joseon, clearly had the right to live as Joseon citizens.
They were also the ones directly affected by the policies I was implementing.
'That said, it doesn't mean they've lived saintly lives.'
These butchers here were just the ones who hadn't committed violent crimes and thus survived unscathed, but they'd no doubt done all sorts of shady things.
Riding horses across the plains shooting arrows, slaughtering cows and horses despite bans, using their strength to threaten innocent Joseon commoners, and so on...
It would be hard to find a butcher who hadn't done such things.
Even so, I planned to explain it to them—why I was forcing this choice on them.
But since they weren't good citizens, I'd only do it once.
And they weren't even in the mood for dialogue. Every one of these guys had at least petty thief-level crimes if investigated.
Since they were insolent, I'd give them a slight scare first for a more efficient conversation.
"Deputy Kim Bu-saeng, give them a little fright. Shoot an arrow near one of those guys' feet."
"Can't I hit the foot?"
"Do that, and it'll turn into a knife fight. Aren't butchers known to be so belligerent they could serve as fine soldiers even if stationed in Hamgyong Province?"
Butchers were the most discriminated against and despised group in Joseon.
Such marginalized minorities tended to cherish each other fiercely and band together tightly.
When the authorities tried to force six butchers to carry out an execution, the butchers protested by seizing Bonghwa and lighting signal fires.
Those protesters were exiled (practically life imprisonment in our terms) for occupying the front-line outpost and communication facilities, yet five hundred butchers turned out to see them off, feeding them liquor and meat to their hearts' content.
There were also cases where butchers gathered with knives to threaten a magistrate because they thought he'd go easy on a government slave who had beaten a butcher to death.
Shoot and kill them in such circumstances? It would spark a war with butchers across Joseon.
"Understood."
Constable Kim Bu-saeng drew his bow and shot an arrow near one butcher's foot.
The butchers near where the arrow landed pissed themselves.
As one nearly died for real, they all fell silent.
Now they were ready for a conversation.
"Finally, it seems you're prepared to listen."
I signaled with my hand, and Kim Bu-saeng along with the soldiers drew their bows and leveled their spears.
The regular army, fully armored and armed, was now in full combat readiness.
"Goryeo called you 'Hwacheok' and treated you as beasts, not people. Both Goryeo and Joseon strictly punished rapists with flogging or beheading regardless of the perpetrator's status, but in Goryeo, raping a butcher woman was treated as 'violating a beast'—a mere light whipping and release was common, I've heard."
There was a slight inaccuracy in my words.
Because Joseon had Prince Yangnyeong, mad for women. He raped countless women, even married a concubine he'd locked eyes with, yet lived well.
I also wasn't sure if someone in Goryeo had actually been executed for raping a butcher's daughter.
But the important thing was, they didn't know what I didn't know either.
If someone among them had heard such a case firsthand, they'd back me up saying I was right. Otherwise, they'd believe my words as those of the Deputy Right State Councillor acting on full authority.
In politics, even lies are expedient means, after all.
"In Joseon, even raping a new butcher's—or butcher's—daughter warrants flogging. Because you are people living in Joseon."
At my words contrasting 'beast' in Goryeo with 'person' in Joseon, their eyes widened.
"Joseon, instead of calling you Hwacheok, called you new butchers—or simply butchers—and tried to embrace you somehow. It gave you fields and food rations."
The method itself was certainly flawed, but I believe the spirit of trying to make you people even while giving handouts deserves high praise.
"However, because that method was wrong, the Joseon commoners refused to accept you. Moreover, forcing you—who had never farmed once—to farm exclusively was clearly the court's error. Thus, His Highness has issued an edict forgiving all crimes you've committed until now. Furthermore, you are no longer Hwacheok; legally, you are now commoners, so no one can discriminate against you for your lowly birth."
Lowly actions can still be discriminated against.
Someone doing base deeds is a criminal—it's fair to discriminate.
"Is that true?"
"I stand here in place of Right State Councillor Jo Mal-saeng. My words are as good as the Councillor's."
In my bosom was a blank authorization stamped with Jo Mal-saeng's seal.
Normally, you shouldn't have such things, but Hwang Hui said it was fine for Kim Dae-bung and would turn a blind eye from the State Council.
"Horse slaughter remains forbidden, but cow slaughter is now permitted... and on the premise that you register on local household rolls, you may raise livestock and herd in the empty lands of Pyeongan and Hamgyong Provinces."
Joseon desperately needs vast numbers of cows, horses, chickens, and pigs.
For pigs, I'd secretly brought Ming pigs during my envoy trip as preparation, and Tsushima merchants doing illegal trade (piracy) would import large ones at high prices anyway...
Chickens, cows, and horses would be selectively bred using British wisdom.
For these reasons alone, we needed these guys' strength.
"Is that really true?"
"Yes. But there is a condition."
"What condition?"
"From now on, you must take on all the dangerous tasks for Joseon."
At my words, their faces crumpled.
"If you choose farming, for 3 years; if herding livestock, for 5 years—you must take on the hard labor."
"Isn't that too unfair?"
I admit it's unfair treatment.
What I was doing was practically forcing unpaid passion labor on them.
But to eliminate discrimination against them, the butchers had to endure this.
"It is unfair. I won't deny that. However, the Joseon commoners will all see you enduring this unfairness. Then they will accept you."
"What do you mean by that...?"
"The commoners will use the water stored in reservoirs you built with your own bodies to overcome droughts and farm. The walls you piled up will protect them. Once they realize your toil has enriched them, the people will accept you."
Even Southeast Asians who served in the Korean military are seen as full Koreans.
Even grandpas who froth at foreigners say, 'Oh, you served? Then you're Korean. Sorry.'
How much more for these butchers, who for 3-5 years of hellish labor to atone for their birth as butchers, serve those around them.
If someone refuses to accept them after that...
Well, unless they've lost family to butchers, I wouldn't understand it.
No, if caught discriminating for other reasons, the villagers would probably beat the crap out of them themselves.
Once we've gone that far.
"Endure for the rest of your lives, and for your children's."
During the Saemaul Movement, everyone endured six-day, 12-hour weeks.
The reason was simple.
They wanted their kids to succeed.
And over the years, the food they could give their children changed.
From barley-mixed rice, to proper side dishes with barley rice, then meat dishes with white rice.
That's why the elders who lived through it say:
Even though it was hard, looking back, it was happy.
Butchers with families would think the same.
Being born lowly doesn't change human nature.
"Will you accept?"
At my words, the butchers nodded.
And I immediately put them to work on civil engineering projects in various counties near Hanyang.