Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: Maps and Trade (4)
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Humans are animals that live by habit.
They repeat similar tasks every day, eat their favorite foods over and over, listen repeatedly to music in genres they enjoy, and even turn on the TV at the exact broadcast time after waiting for their favorite programs to start—all because they faithfully follow the instinct of habit.
That's why, when people reach their forties or fifties, the music genres they listen to and sing along with often stop at the songs that were popular when they were in their twenties, regardless of what's trending in the current world.
When you see elderly folks who love trot music, it's because trot was the music of their youth.
Conversely, this means people tend to view anything new and unfamiliar with prejudice and resistance, whether it's good or bad.
In other words, no matter how excellent a new system I devise and propose, other regions will show rejection and uncooperativeness even before trying it out.
'The people of Jinhae County are the type who'd believe me even if I said I was making yakgwa out of meju.'
"By the way, Inspector, what specific system do you plan to implement?"
"I'm thinking of grouping the households into units of five and managing them, drawing from the fifteen-family system of the Qin state."
"Isn't that the harsh law Shang Yang enforced?"
In truth, the five-household mutual surveillance system I planned to implement could easily be used as a tool to oppress the people.
When Shang Yang introduced the fifteen-family system in Qin, he was able to perfectly grasp the population numbers and the property they owned.
This is undoubtedly one of the system's positive functions, but the problem lies in how Shang Yang applied collective punishment to groups of five households.
If even one person in a group of five households failed to fulfill military service or pay taxes, he imposed severe penalties on everyone in the entire tong—a larger unit combining those five households.
Even in the late Joseon era during the Catholic persecutions, the reverse function of the five-household mutual surveillance law, modeled after the fifteen-family system, came into play: if even one Catholic believer emerged from five households, everyone in their tong faced harsh punishment.
'We should eliminate collective punishment as much as possible.'
It's only right that the guilty party receives punishment, but punishing innocent family members or neighbors is deeply unjust from the perspectives of both fairness and justice.
As modern conscription advanced, the recognition that collective punishment was wrong spread, gradually narrowing its application over time.
"The reason the Qin state's fifteen-family system became a harsh law that tormented the people was because Shang Yang drove them into a corner with collective punishment. And while the Legalists disregarded benevolence and righteousness, leading to Qin's eventual downfall, it's a fact recorded in the histories that after employing Shang Yang, Qin rapidly grew from a small frontier state into a power capable of unifying the world."
"That's true."
"I believe that if something benefits the people, a minister eating the king's rice has a duty to adopt it, even if it's from barbarian culture. And since Your Highness is already appointing merchants to official posts, hasn't Joseon already become a nation that accepts anything beneficial to the people, without regard to its origin or the status of those who bring it?"
According to research by a certain Japanese scholar, among the three Northeast Asian powers in the 15th century, Joseon saw the most inventions and discoveries of a scale that significantly influenced history.
Considering that the Ming dynasty was truly the world's strongest power at the time, this seems almost impossible by common sense...
The reason it was possible is that Japan back then had no spare energy to worry about innovation amid the utter chaos of its governance, while the Ming locked their doors, arrogantly believing they were the best under heaven and needed no such thing...
Yet King Sejong of this era drew not only from the Ming but even from the wisdom of the Arabs, called Huihui people, to advance the nation.
I, too, intend to follow King Sejong the Great's example and embrace anything Joseon needs.
Whether it's a black cat or a rainbow-colored one, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.
"Alright, now I'll explain the system I've devised."
"This might take a while, so please don't stand here uncomfortably—come inside the county office and tell us. And who are these young men who came with you?"
"Very well. These two are my disciples."
The county magistrate immediately beckoned a servant and ordered him to escort Gwon Ram and Han Myeong-hoe to their lodgings.
He repeatedly emphasized that they should prepare thoroughly and serve them food with utmost care...
Those two lads are in for a feast that might just break the table.
Refusing such hospitality would be rude, and since they're traveling, they deserve some enjoyment...
I'll let them lay out a full spread today, but starting tomorrow, just a modest five-dish meal.
"Please, come inside."
As soon as we entered the inner quarters of the county office and sat down, the magistrate swiftly prepared writing materials and assumed a posture ready to take notes.
Looking at his face across from me, it carried a grim determination, like a soldier facing impending war.
"I told you not to feel burdened. Goodness, anyone would think I'm some child-eating goblin."
Hearing me, the magistrate averted his gaze.
A sign of disagreement with my words.
Ever since I started making Sejong exercise to improve his health, all the court officials had been freed from overtime...
Thanks to that, Hanyang's officials now had time to care for their families and leisure, greatly improving their quality of life.
All I wanted was for them to focus solely on work during hours and relax freely afterward.
"Alright, since you're busy with official duties too, I'll get straight to the key points. Feel free to ask questions anytime if something's unclear."
"Yes, understood."
"If, after I finish explaining, there's any part you don't fully grasp and it causes issues, I'll be in a bind too. So make sure to ask about anything before we move on."
This is the most awkward situation for a new employee at a company.
Ask about what you don't know, and they scold you for not knowing; don't ask and proceed, and they berate you for pushing forward blindly without checking.
Considering such hardships is a virtue of a good superior.
"First, group the households in each village into units of five, calling that a ban. Then group five ban into a tong."
"So if a village has ten or more tong, do you plan to group those further?"
"In Jinhae, I don't think that's necessary. Each tong has 25 households, so roughly 150 people per tong, right? Near the county office, a village might exceed five tong... but even a little farther out, villages with three or more tong are rare. In really remote areas, you might not even fill one tong."
"That's true."
In Han Myeong-hoe's myeon-ri system, 25 households made a ri, and five ri made a myeon.
They appointed ri chiefs and myeon chiefs, along with various officials, to establish local governance...
But that system ignored how villages in rural areas are quite spread out when forming ri and myeon.
A ri of 25 households posed no major issues.
But for a myeon of 125 households, forcing distant villages together caused considerable problems.
To exaggerate a bit, it's like my next-door neighbor being in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, but I'm grouped into Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, forcing me to travel dozens of kilometers just to get a resident register extract.
'Just grouping by physical proximity, like Pocheon or the adjacent city, would avoid such issues.'
So I have no intention of creating units larger than the tong of 25 households, to avoid confusion.
"Thus, I've decided against further subdivisions above the tong level. Above that, divide by villages without regard to population: ri per village, and around the county office, divide into east, west, south, and north myeon."
"This will certainly make it easier for the county office to manage the people. Honestly, overseeing every remote corner village from the office was grueling."
"That's why we had no choice but to leave it to the local yangban, but without institutional justification from the state, we couldn't."
The class authority and wealth of yangban could certainly make the people follow.
But lacking official state sanction, confusion inevitably arose.
Moreover, even living in the same village, yangban and commoners view the world differently and have vast gaps in living standards.
Cooperation itself is difficult.
But creating organizations like tong, ri, and myeon gives them a reason to work together, making management far smoother.
"You recommend and appoint suitable people as ri chiefs and myeon chiefs."
"Yes, Inspector. But from the people's perspective, tighter controls mean higher taxes, so will they cooperate willingly?"
Of course they'll hate it.
"Naturally, they won't want to cooperate. That's why I came to Jinhae myself."
And I passed on to the magistrate the art of persuading the people.
Including exactly how to phrase it.
"Just do it like this."
The magistrate nodded at my words.
"Good, since you understand."
**
Soon after, Jinhae County Magistrate Park Sang-gi gathered all those appointed as ban chiefs, tong chiefs, ri chiefs, and myeon chiefs.
To persuade them personally using the techniques handed down from Kim Dae-bung.