Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Currency and Direct Appeal (5)
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'Since time immemorial, losing one's convictions has meant death itself.'
This saying rings profoundly true. Humans only find meaning in life when they live by their beliefs.
The implementation of currency in Joseon runs counter to my convictions. If it comes to pass, I'd have no reason left to go on...
Well, not quite that extreme. Still, if I bend my principles here and stand by while currency is introduced, I'd probably spend the rest of my life drowning in regret.
To use a bit of an odd analogy: even if confessing to a girl as a college freshman leads to rejection and you dodging into the army, wouldn't you still confess if you liked her?
That way, even if things get awkward with her for a bit and staying at college feels uncomfortable... you won't regret it for the rest of your life. Regretting after confessing is momentary, but regretting not confessing lasts forever.
"If anything blocks the path I choose, I smash it aside. Even Poeun Jeong Mong-ju, whom King Taejo sometimes regarded as a teacher and other times as Zhuge Liang, I personally killed at Seonjuk Bridge. Not only the old Goryeo dynasty, but my own brother and Jeong Do-jeon—the pillar of Joseon—I crushed them all."
Jeong Do-jeon's influence on Joseon was immense. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he laid the very foundations of the nation.
During the Prince's Revolt, Lee Bang-won did kill Jeong Do-jeon, but he couldn't touch the ideologies and systems he left behind. Even his eldest son now serves as Minister of Justice.
As for Jeong Mong-ju, well, had he simply participated in Joseon's founding, lifelong Chief State Councillor would have been a given for such a great man—no need for lengthy explanation.
So, for a green kid like me to pick up an axe and prostrate myself against currency reform? That's no reason at all for Lee Bang-won not to crush me. After all, he already crushed Jeong Do-jeon and Jeong Mong-ju.
"Even if it means my death, I harbor no regrets, but allow me one final remonstration."
"...... Very well, granted."
The ministers and Chief State Councillors, led by Prime Minister Hwang Hui standing behind Lee Bang-won, shot me signals with their eyes. Kneel now, they urged, and recant your stance.
But contrary to their expectations, I intend to say everything I must right here.
I'm no eternal loyal subject by any means, but as someone who already knows innocent commoners will die because of currency, I can't be heartless enough to turn a blind eye to their suffering.
"As magistrate of Jinhae County, I opened markets that benefited countless people. Poor widows rejoiced that they no longer had to starve their children, and tenant farmers who had only ever toiled for others began saving money to buy their own land, dreaming of hopeful futures. Though I contributed not a shred to Joseon's founding and never lived through that moment,
His Highness the Supreme King once said this to me, then magistrate of Jinhae."
"Yes. I remember. I told you that benefiting the people and giving them hope—that is Joseon's founding spirit."
"After receiving that undeserved decree, despite my shortcomings, I strove even harder. To uphold His Highness the Supreme King's sacred will, so that Joseon's people could dream of slightly better tomorrows."
Joseon yangban praised the king as naturally as they breathed to survive. Even mid-conversation, they'd suddenly credit everything to the king's grace.
I'd slipped in some 'king praise' here to persuade Lee Bang-won, in that same vein.
But setting aside the flattery, I one hundred percent agree with what he said: benefiting the people is Joseon's founding ideal and true value.
Don't countless successful people and ordinary family heads say the same?
Having nothing but diligence to rely on, their lives were grueling, but their children grew up well in the process, making every moment happy.
Just as with families, so too with the nation, I believe. King Sejong the Great lived that way his entire life, even creating the Proper Sounds for the Education of the People.
I'm no eternal loyalist like Admiral Yi Sun-sin (by 21st-century ethics, the only real knock against him is taking one concubine), nor do I have the caliber of independence fighter Yi Hoe-young, who sacrificed his entire fortune for the people lifelong...
But if I stand idle while a crisis looms before my eyes—one that could kill all of Joseon's poor commoners—choosing my own survival, I'd regret it forever.
From guilt, perhaps like Jeong Chang-son seeing ghosts in his later years, I might spend my life haunted by the resentful spirits of those sacrificed to currency policy. Because I could have saved them but didn't even try.
"Yet now, the court mints coins and forces them on the people. But when it comes time to pay taxes, if the people offer coins, the government refuses them. If the very offices issuing the coins won't accept or recognize them, how can the people trust and use them? I certainly wouldn't."
Since I already detailed the reasons and logic against currency in my direct appeal, and they've surely reached Lee Bang-won's ears, no more lengthy philosophical arguments are needed.
What I must say now is simple, short, and straight to the heart.
'You're going to kill all the people!'
Like a doctor bluntly telling a patient: "Quit smoking. Unless you want lung cancer to kill you."
"The people will keep using o-seung-po cloth and rice as always, so the court will wield state power to harshly punish those who don't. They'll order the arrest of non-users, flog them, confiscate their property, and ship them off to the navy."
Lee Bang-won flew into a rage at my words.
"Are you truly mad?"
I'm mad, sure. Only a madman would submit a direct appeal before Lee Bang-won. Bluntly put, what I'm saying amounts to begging for death.
But everything I say is pure truth, from one to ten.
The horrific tale I just described is straight from the Annals of King Sejong.
When Ryu Jeong-hyeon became Chief State Councillor and head of the Currency Bureau, he learned that a lowly leather craftsman—barely considered human among artisans—was bartering instead of using currency.
Ryu demanded severe punishment, and the man ultimately died from flogging.
His family's property was confiscated, and all the men dragged off to the navy.
To make it relatable today: the family head executed for his crime, all assets seized, and surviving men sent to a hellhole far worse than Cheongsong Prison, to toil till they drop dead.
Of course, the victims appealed to Sejong in tears, protesting their innocence and the injustice—father killed, total confiscation, entire family to the navy?
King Sejong the Great repented his error, pardoning the confiscation and navy conscription, sparing the family total ruin. But could a family that lost its head truly remain intact?
Even scarier: the annals record only this one case. Who knows how many others suffered similarly—too many to count.
Some magistrates must have confiscated property legally and kept silent.
One can scarcely imagine how many such tragedies befell the people.
I must stop this nightmare.
"Terrified of trade itself, the people will shun not just markets but even periodic fairs. No one will use coins that only hurt the user, and as a last resort, if caught bartering with o-seung-po or rice, their households will be shattered."
"......"
"The people of Jinhae County, who barely found a path to survival through those markets, will plunge back into poverty. Starving heads of household will watch their families waste away, then sell themselves into slavery or turn bandit out of anguish. This is the inevitable result of currency... I cannot bear witness to such horrors in my lifetime."
Tears streamed from my eyes. Knowing history, I could vividly picture the coming atrocities.
Commoners, unable even to feed their starving children, would curse the heavens and lament their fate. Some kids would simply starve to death.
Unlike the 21st century, premodern society saw famine and starvation as commonplace.
Unable to endure, some would borrow from usurers like Ryu Jeong-hyeon and end up his slaves.
Lee Bang-won raised his baton.
"......"