Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Sejong's Enlightenment (1)
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In Joseon, the king most renowned for his scholarship was, naturally, King Sejong the Great.
They say he enjoyed academic debates so much that he held royal lectures nearly every week.
So, when I worked at the Hall of Worthies, I often got dragged into those lectures.
"What did you just say, Chief State Councillor?"
"His Highness has specially decreed that Kim the Scribe should attend this royal lecture as well."
"Isn't it the law of Joseon that only Hall of Worthies scholars and full-rank officials of the second rank and above attend royal lectures, excluding those who give lectures?"
"That's generally the case."
A royal lecture, simply put, is like calling in ministers and above under the guise of studying classics to hold what amounts to a cabinet meeting.
Of course, since the prime ministers are so busy, the basic setup is that only a few of them attend on rotation.
The Hall of Worthies became seen as a fast track to success because those assigned as royal lecturers get to expound on the scriptures directly before the king, and during the discussions on the lecture content, the king can personally assess their abilities.
It's a place where promising talents are kept for a long time to study all sorts of knowledge and research policies from various ministries, grooming them for the path to becoming prime ministers.
"But from what I heard through the Deputy Prime Minister, it seems His Highness has something specific he wants to ask you."
"I have no idea what he might inquire about."
"From the talk, His Highness has lately been very interested in the lives of the common folk. So he ordered the local magistrates to submit detailed reports on how they live, but apparently, their reports didn't satisfy him. Do you know why that might be, Kim the Scribe?"
"It's because the world the magistrates live in is different from the one the people inhabit."
Politicians often don't truly understand how the commoners—their base of support—live.
Even if they experienced bone-crushing poverty in their youth and know firsthand what it's like, once they're surrounded only by fellow successes in society, that past poverty becomes just fragmented memories...
They lose touch with how people in the same position as their former selves are faring.
Once, when I accompanied a minister to a university lecture event, a student told him this:
'I'm preparing for the civil service exam to become a public servant in the future.'
The minister replied, 'Ah, the civil service exam—you mean the senior civil service exam or the diplomatic service exam, right? The judicial one was abolished. If you do well, you might even end up as Kim the Administrative Officer's successor someday.'
Later, when I explained, 'That college student preparing for the civil service exam was probably studying for the grade 9 exam,' he clicked his tongue, wondering why a college student would bother with that.
If that minister had been looking down on grade 9 civil servants, I'd have thought he was just some elitist snob.
But no, he genuinely couldn't comprehend why a college student would prepare for the grade 9 exam.
Well, back in his day preparing for the exams, even passing the grade 7 exam as a college student would draw tongue-clicks.
In a world where status gaps have largely vanished, things are still like this—how could magistrates possibly understand the lives of poor commoners?
"True enough. I've never worried about my next meal my whole life. But most commoners wake up every day fretting over what they'll eat. Thinking about it that way, I can see why you say it's inevitable—the worlds we live in are just too different."
"It's not so much a lack of ability on the magistrates' part; it's truly unavoidable."
"His Highness knows this too, which is why he's so troubled."
"I see. So, when should I attend the royal lecture?"
Prime Minister Hwang Hui looked at me with a wicked grin.
"Kim the Scribe, you still have the Four Books and Three Classics memorized, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"The lecture's right after regular dismissal today. His Highness insisted it had to be then. Oh, and since you're not the lecturer, you won't have to give a talk, so no problem there, right?"
"......"
I nearly let slip some utterly disloyal remark.
Like saying His Highness probably scheduled it after regular dismissal because he hates exercise, including hiking.
Wouldn't that make him just like a modern office worker making excuses to skip personal training...?
"Why tell me this now, Chief State Councillor?"
"His Highness suddenly decided last evening that it had to be this way. I only heard today myself."
When I came in today, for some reason, King Sejong the Great dumped a mountain of work on us.
Exaggerating a bit, it was enough to finish two days' worth in one.
The Minister of Finance apparently wailed that it was too harsh not to allow overtime on such a busy day...
Why is he doing this to us?
I glanced at Deputy Prime Minister Jo Mal-saeng, whom I suspected as the culprit.
Sensing my gaze, he suddenly remembered some business and started preparing to leave.
"Come to think of it, I forgot the Ministry of Defense contacted me that the musket you proposed, Kim the Scribe, is nearly complete. I should go hear about it directly."
And with that, he bolted before the sparks could fly his way.
Hwang Hui looked at me with that same wicked grin and said,
"This royal lecture should pass smoothly now—thanks to you, Kim the Scribe."
......He's planning to dump all of King Sejong the Great's endless curiosity on me.
Eating crab guts and dried persimmons at the same time wouldn't be as brutal as dealing with Prime Minister Hwang Hui right now.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ For the royal lecture, I was dragged to a place I knew all too well.
This was the Royal Lecture Hall, where Hall of Worthies scholars, prime ministers led by Hwang Hui and Jo Mal-saeng, and King Sejong the Great himself gathered for lively discussions on scholarship and policy.
Ah, but of course, the only one enjoying it would be King Sejong the Great.
Because ordinary Joseon officials like me don't think, 'Kyarruk, studying is the most fun! Studying is the easiest thing!'
Amid all that, I spotted a few welcome faces.
"Vice Minister of Education, how have you been?"
Jeong In-ji turned around, his face covered in dark circles.
Regular dismissal has become the norm lately, so there's hardly any overtime anymore.
So why does he look to me like some corporate drone pulling all-nighters until 3 a.m. and dragging into the office at 8 a.m. every day...?
"Do I look well? With Joseon developing so rapidly, the Hall of Worthies workload has tripled from before... And yet we still can't do overtime, and during lectures, His Highness asks so many questions... We're dying over here. I'm seriously considering resignation. But you know what's really scary? If I submit my resignation, His Highness rejects it every time..."
"You've been through a lot..."
"Kim the Scribe, please come back to the Hall of Worthies... We need you now more than ever. Wasn't it great when we were together?"
At that, Hwang Hui suddenly flew into a rage.
"Vice Minister, Kim the Scribe is indispensable at the State Council. You wouldn't say this if you knew how busy we are, but I'm also serving as Governor of Hanseong concurrently. My head aches from all the capital development..."
"But Chief State Councillor, you still look healthy as ever..."
"Hey now, what are you saying? I'm swamped with overwork and exhausted every day. Why else would I take supplements daily if I weren't in poor health?"
"Then, milord, send me to some other ministry instead of the Hall of Worthies."
"You're just turning thirty, aren't you? At that age, you could chew up iron nails. Just tough it out with some patriotic zeal."
Jeong In-ji sank under Hwang Hui's boomer 'Young whippersnapper complaining about no energy!' attitude.
Looking around, I also saw Choi Man-ri, whom I'd been too busy to meet lately.
His face looked almost as bad as Jeong In-ji's.
I should send that guy a bundle of supplements later. He looks like he'll drop dead at this rate.
As I was about to ask how he'd been since it had been so long, King Sejong the Great entered.
"Today's lecture texts are from the Great Learning Extension, specifically the sections on selecting disciples and on military matters. Proceed with those."
At King Sejong's words, the designated royal lecturer, Kim Man-su the Remonstrance Official, began his explanation diligently.
Since everyone knew the texts well, they were probably half-listening.
I was too.
But King Sejong the Great listened intently, as if hearing some long-lost martial arts manual for the first time.
And when it came to parts describing the hardships and joys of the common people's lives, he perked up his ears even more.
"I have listened well to the lecture by Kim Man-su, the Remonstrance Official serving as royal lecturer. Now, I ask all present at this royal lecture. I have long known the people's lives are hard and have continuously pondered ways to help them. In civilizing the butchers, I pitied their difficulties and sought to embrace them generously into Joseon's fold with stipends. But to embrace them, I needed to think from their perspective, which I failed to do, leading to great failure. From that, I learned the lesson that to properly care for the people's lives, one must think from their viewpoint. Thus, I ordered the magistrates to report in detail on how the people live. Yet their reports lacked the level of detail on the people's lives that I sought. I wish to hear your thoughts on why that is."
King Sejong the Great's love for the people is evident just from the Public Land Law, the core of tax system reform.
When creating a tax system based on that year's harvest and soil fertility, he consulted over 150,000 people before implementing it.
Of course, in my Joseon, it's a system that would never be adopted.
I acknowledge the intent of the Public Land Law, but magistrates would report 'average conditions' even in good harvest years to line their pockets if it were introduced.
Even sending secret royal inspectors wouldn't easily catch that.
"Moreover, even now, there are more than a few starving poor among Joseon's people. Why is that?"
At King Sejong's question, the Left Councilor replied.
"The reason destitute folk without clothes or food exist among the people is that their rulers have not yet inspected them properly. Please order the magistrates to examine their counties more carefully for such people."
"When civilizing the butchers, we inspected them, provided food aid, and gave them land. But the results were dismal. Do you think merely having magistrates inspect the people's lives carefully is enough?"
Under King Sejong's rebuke, the Left Councilor could no longer speak.
"It is my sin as king not to know the people's hardships. Reflecting that I was unaware or misunderstood and thus erred would seem mere empty words to those suffering people. That is why I ordered the magistrates to report in detail on their circumstances and difficulties—so I would no longer commit the sin of not truly knowing their hardships."
From our school days, we learn that mistakes are absolutely unforgivable.
You lose points for wrong answers even if you know the right one.
In company life, messing up a task you're good at comes at a cost.
How much more for a politician's mistake?
It can kill dozens, hundreds, thousands of real people.
That's what King Sejong means to say.
"How can we prevent the emergence of the poor, and how can we rescue them from poverty?"
For that question, I decided to offer a very realistic alternative.
"Kim Dae-bung, Scribe of the State Council, reports."
Capitalism's seeds are already sown in Joseon anyway—might as well talk it up fully.
Capitalism isn't absolutely right, but among various social forms, it's the best option.
"No matter how great a king, he cannot save all the poor in the land or completely prevent poverty from arising. The best we can do is reduce their numbers."
As long as humanity exists, eradicating absolute poverty is impossible.
However, we can reduce the number of those suffering from it.