Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Stele of Merit (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A year and a half had already passed since I took up my post in Jinhae County.
There was still a mountain of ongoing tasks, but results from my initiatives were popping up here and there.
"Thanks to Your Excellency building dams on Dongcheon and Seosancheon and digging irrigation canals, the area of our paddy fields has increased by three pun—three percent—compared to last year."
"The paddy fields really increased by three percent?"
Three percent might sound like a small number at first glance.
But an increase of three percent across all of Jinhae County meant seventy-five additional gyeol of cultivable fields.
That translated to an extra 2,250 seom of rice harvested, and with taxes, an additional 225 seom collected. Considering our county's total tax revenue was just shy of 5,000 seom, this was tremendous growth.
"Yes, Your Excellency. And since we built the dams and dug new canals, more wasteland has become reclaimable. Some of the commoners are borrowing oxen from yangban households or wealthy families to clear land for themselves. We'll see results next year, which should mean even more paddy fields."
"Collecting more taxes is great, of course, but above all, the people's lives are bound to improve."
In Joseon, the benchmark for a middle-class—or at least comfortable—life was owning at least one gyeol of land.
Someone with a gyeol or more might not flaunt their wealth anywhere, but even in a bad harvest year, their family wouldn't starve. In normal times, they could feed everyone rice every meal.
Even if it wasn't a full gyeol—just a maigi or two—having one's own plot made all the difference in household prosperity. It was a truly welcome development.
"The town's population has grown a lot too. We used to have 2,400 households, but now it's up to 2,700."
"That's nearly a fifteen percent increase. Must be wanderers and day laborers from nearby settling down permanently."
"Poor folk are pouring in from places like Dongnae County next door. Most get hired by merchant guilds to work in the persimmon orchards or go out anchovy fishing. Thanks to Your Excellency's orders for generous wages, they've realized Jinhae is a good place to live, so people keep coming."
"Wealth is like water. The more you draw it out, the more flows in. Merchants release rice from their storehouses to hire people and create jobs... and good things like this happen."
It was a saying from Park Je-ga, and I agreed completely. If rice just piled up in yangban storehouses, it'd rot away eventually.
But by distributing it to the people for digging canals, building reservoirs, constructing markets, and spurring consumption, it circulated to everyone somehow.
"And this is a bundle of letters from the local yangban addressed to Your Excellency."
Ibang set a thick stack of letters on my desk.
Unlike formal petitions, these didn't require replies after reading... but ignoring them would make it hard to govern the county.
With a resigned sigh, I opened them.
[Your humble servant, scholar Kim Nam-jo of Jinhae County, bows in respect. Your Excellency's enlightened rule has brought smiles to every face in the county as you look after the people. In all my seventy years, I've never seen the commoners so happy.]
I was stunned after the first paragraph.
I'd expected complaints from the yangban about soaring taxes and pleas for relief. Praises instead? Unbelievable.
A bit dumbfounded, I kept reading.
[Your Excellency said that if those who have would share just a little more, everyone would reap great benefits. At first, this lowly one—lacking virtue and dim-witted—resented having to pay more taxes as the county elders for the sake of poor commoners. But looking back now, I truly regret that mindset.]
There's an old saying: habits formed at three last till eighty. In other words, unless these yangban had all been struck by lightning and hypnotized by heaven itself, their true natures wouldn't change overnight.
What the hell had they eaten to genuinely repent their old ways?
[Thanks to Your Excellency ordering canals dug and dams built on Dongcheon and Seosancheon, irrigating all the county's fields has become far easier than before. This year's harvest was bountiful, allowing this one to reap ten percent more even after the increased taxes. Moreover, with the new market, I no longer need my slaves twisting straw ropes or weaving straw sandals... freeing them up to reclaim wasteland and expand my land.]
Reading that, I finally relaxed.
They hadn't suddenly turned saintly from a knock on the head. At first, paying extra taxes felt like highway robbery...
But once they saw the massive gains for themselves, their attitudes shifted.
If self-interest woke them up, fine by me.
[Furthermore, Your Excellency has reformed us lowly ones into model elders. The people, grateful for our sharing, have erected a stele of merit in our honor—a glory passed down through generations. Please continue this benevolent rule for years to come.]
The other letters varied in phrasing and cited classics, but the content was much the same.
Right—money beats education or conscience when it comes to making people act human.
In King Sejong's era, even European nobles lived in arguably worse conditions than Joseon commoners—wearing iron armor in backwaters and all—yet they seized world hegemony for one reason.
Joseon demonized desires for luxury and wealth as sins; Europeans embraced them fully.
Funny that they credit me with reforming them—when really, tasting profit reformed their attitudes.
Reading these made me suddenly want to go see how the county folk were living firsthand.
"I'll call it a day and head out. You all can leave too if nothing's urgent."
"Really, Your Excellency?"
"Do I look like some ghost who won't let you clock out on time?"
"No, that's not it..."
I always guaranteed punctual arrivals and departures—except in emergencies.
Of course, Joseon administration wasn't like the 21st century's grind. You handled paperwork in the morning after arriving, then coasted through the afternoon unless urgent.
But I believed in focusing solely on work while on the clock, so I kept the clerks hustling.
"You can all go home for today."
With that, I took only my slave Dol-soe and headed to the market.
I wanted to see how people were living with my own eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Today was the five-day market, when even non-merchants could trade freely.
The place was overflowing with people.
"Dol-soe, was the market always this crowded?"
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Don't call me Excellency here—I told you to say young master."
If word got out I was the magistrate, the market vibe would die instantly.
It wouldn't freeze like a brigade spotting the division commander, but it'd turn stiff, solemn, and overly serious all the same.
"Yes, young master. Jinhae market draws merchants and folks from Dongnae and surrounding counties, so it's always packed like this."
It felt like a bustling big-box store on a busy day, if a bit exaggerated.
If there were bargain bins hawking cheap deals, it'd be a dead ringer for a modern mart.
"I'm feeling peckish—let's grab some skewered rice cakes. Want any?"
"Can I have two?"
"Three's fine too. Gotta keep you well-fed for my safety. Speak up if you want anything—syrup candy, noodle soup, whatever. Eat your fill."
Saying that, I walked over to an old lady selling skewered rice cakes from her stall.
"Four rice cakes, please."
"Four would be... half a hop of rice..."
The lady recognized my face mid-sentence and shot up, bowing deeply.
"How could I charge Your Excellency for rice cakes?"
"No, take the payment."
"I couldn't. Even a dog raised in the yard knows its master's grace and bites intruders. It'd be inhuman to take money from Your Excellency for something this cheap."
The word "Excellency" drew every eye in the vicinity to me.
"The magistrate's here?"
"Oh, Excellency, thank you! Thanks to you visiting our village, my kids don't go hungry anymore."
...I shot Dol-soe a look.
"A slave's fate follows his master. Even I get extra rice cakes when buying snacks at market. Proof of how much the townsfolk love Your Excellency, right?"
With Dol-soe chiming in, the market crowd started gathering around me one by one.
"Excellency, they say my noodle soup is the best around. Let me repay a bit of your grace."
"Try a bowl of my soup and some of my carefully dried persimmons too."
I can't stand turning down sincere offers. I should say, "Bring it to the yamen," but...
Look at those eyes. I hadn't tipped off the clerks about visiting, yet here they were, earnestly urging me to try their best dishes.
"Just this once. And I'll pay for everything..."
"Oh, Excellency."
"......I'll eat well, then."
That day, I learned firsthand just how warm-hearted Joseon people are.
Two chickens, two hop of rice (four bowls' worth), noodle soup, persimmons, two dried pollack, syrup candy, four rice cakes, abalone fresh from the shallows, and more...
They stuffed me till my belly nearly burst.
And not long after, a transfer order came from the court.
A mountain of work left undone, and they wanted me to move elsewhere after this? The royal court felt downright cruel.