Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Currency and Direct Appeal (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
King Taejong raised the iron mace.
Kim Dae-bung, the man who dared to defy the will he had established.
It was to remove him, the one blocking his grand vision to save the people through currency.
Even if he had grown older and his body wasn't what it used to be, he still had the strength to lift the mace.
So now, all that remained was to bring it down on Kim Dae-bung's head. With this one act, he could issue a stern warning to all who opposed the currency.
Those against the currency, those who refused to use it—they would all meet the same end as Kim Dae-bung.
It was the natural duty of a ruler to implement policies for the people's benefit.
Thus, when a ruler, after deep deliberation, set the correct path for the people, but the foolish masses, in their ignorance, refused to follow and veered toward the wrong way...
Sometimes, it was absolutely necessary to cut them off decisively to guide them onto the right path.
Just as he had poisoned Minister Shim On, or nearly wiped out the Yeohung Min clan.
This was what he must do for Joseon, to bestow a better future upon its people.
"If your resolve is truly that firm, then there's no helping it."
As he spoke those words and moved to strike down with the mace, King Taejong's motion hesitated.
It wasn't because he hated or feared killing.
King Taejong loved the poor and weak among the people more than anyone.
He had even forgiven the children who kicked a ball inscribed with the names Yangnyeong, Hyoryeong, and Chungnyeong—innocent kids unwittingly cursing three grand princes.
In Joseon, witchcraft was a capital offense, and if the target was royalty, it was treated as high treason.
Yet when the target had to be killed, he killed even family. He had slain Jeong Do-jeon, the pillar of Joseon, the subject his father King Taejo loved and trusted most.
King Taejong felt no guilt in executing those who needed to die.
The reason he hesitated now was...
For a fleeting moment, Kim Dae-bung before him looked just like Jeong Mong-ju, whom he had killed.
The greatest civil official of Goryeo, the man his father, General Yi Seong-gye, feared and guarded against more than the Goryeo kings themselves.
Since Joseon's founding, King Taejong had never seen such integrity and loyalty.
No, if speaking strictly of spirit, there was one other: Jeong Do-jeon, the Three Peaks who burned himself for an ideal Confucian state, declaring he would make Joseon a land of Neo-Confucianism and laying its foundations.
Even the renowned prime ministers of King Sejong's era paled in comparison to these two.
Was it because of that? King Taejong decided to swallow his pride. To embrace Kim Dae-bung, a man akin to those two he had most desperately wanted to claim.
"Currency will bring prosperity to Joseon. The Yuan dynasty greatly expanded their realm using jiaochao notes. I saw firsthand in their capital, Dadu, how magnificent they were, so I am certain. Joseon will surely flourish greatly by circulating currency."
The prime ministers of early Joseon—who had witnessed the founding firsthand and remembered it vividly—widened their eyes in shock.
King Taejong, who had beaten Jeong Mong-ju to death with his iron mace, who had mercilessly purged all opposition—when he declared someone would be purged, they died without fail.
It was the most natural thing in the world. So Hwang Hui, Heo Jo, and the other ministers all thought Kim Dae-bung would soon perish under the mace.
His actions, filled with loyalty and sincerity, had even moved the other prime ministers...
They had planned to do their utmost to ensure his family suffered no harm after his death.
But seeing King Taejong halt his strike, they could only stare in stunned silence.
"Aside from that one man, no one has ever tried to persuade to the very end while holding the mace aloft."
The man who, at Seonjuk Bridge, had tried to persuade right up to the moment the mace came down: Jeong Mong-ju.
"I do not claim Your Highness the Supreme King's noble will is wrong. However, to implement currency, markets must first be established in every county and town of Joseon. Commerce must develop. Only when the people grow utterly weary of trading in o-seungpo cloth and white rice will they be ready."
At Kim Dae-bung's words, King Taejong gritted his teeth this time.
"Bend your will. The king and I will use you greatly."
Kim Dae-bung was a man with little interest in power. His true dream was to contribute moderately to Joseon's progress, then retire to his hometown with Kim Gyeol and live peacefully.
But he alone thought that way; even Kim Gyeol believed Kim Dae-bung aimed to be Chief State Councillor for life.
"Riches, glory, and power mean nothing to me. This humble subject upholds the ancestral temple and state altar, and the noble wills of Grand King Taejo and Your Highness the Supreme King. If I can aid even slightly in creating a land where all the people rejoice, that is enough. Thereafter, I wish to retire, build a modest home, and live at ease with my wife and children in the peaceful era of Joseon we have achieved."
If Ryu Jeong-hyeon or Hwang Hui had said that, it would have sounded like posturing from someone pretending to be poor and incorruptible.
But Kim Dae-bung was the true incorruptible official who had earned a Stele of Merit in Jinhae County and a petition from a thousand souls for extending Joseon's first magistrate's term.
His words stirred King Taejong's heart. And so, he recalled it once more.
The content of Kim Dae-bung's memorial before the direct appeal.
With his head cooled, revisiting it brought doubt creeping into his mind. Was his judgment truly correct?
"...... Hurry and respond to my words..."
"Currency is necessary for Joseon. Yet the Joseon of today cannot bear it. It's like feeding honey to a child not yet three years old, claiming it's good for the body—the child will die suddenly. Joseon cannot bear currency."
Kim Dae-bung's words flowed as naturally as a stream.
"What Your Highness attempts now is like telling a child not yet three, who cannot even recite the Thousand Character Classic, to take the civil service exam and pass. No matter how strictly Your Highness instructs, that child cannot master even the Thousand Character Classic. It has not matured enough to accept it."
"You mean..."
King Taejong could find no immediate rebuttal to Kim Dae-bung's words.
Currency was essential for Joseon. If used, if widely circulated, Joseon could prosper like Yuan's Dadu.
Thus, currency must be used. It must be issued to benefit more people. Yet a contradiction arose.
He knew his thinking was flawed, but couldn't articulate exactly how...
Kim Dae-bung's words continued.
"It's only natural a young child cannot recite the Thousand Character Classic, but would a parent whipping their child's calves with a switch for failing the exam truly be education? No, Your Highness—it is merely child abuse."
Kim Dae-bung hurled a straight pitch at King Taejong: You're no different from abusing a child.
His boldness made even the prime ministers shrink back momentarily. Before the man who would smash heads with his mace, he had essentially asked, "How can one who claims to cherish the people try to kill them?"
"I did it for the people, for Joseon.... Joseon needs currency..."
Hearing this, Kim Dae-bung quietly prostrated himself, forehead to the ground, then addressed King Taejong.
"Entering office to realize great ideals and loyally serving king and country is the way of man. Your Highness's will to spread currency across Joseon is essential for its progress. Yet the court itself does not accept currency even for taxes—imposing it on the people is like whipping a child not yet three for failing the exam. Thus, I beseech Your Highness to reconsider."
King Taejong was furious. Infuriated, seething—he wanted to refute it.
Yet he could not.
He himself didn't fully trust currency, refusing it for taxes—how could the people?
"....."
Tears fell from King Taejong's eyes, drop by drop.
At the same moment, he dropped the mace.
Before Kim Dae-bung's loyal counsel, bearing the integrity of Jeong Mong-ju and the spirit of Jeong Do-jeon, King Taejong yielded his stubbornness.
Watching this, Heo Jo and Hwang Hui murmured.
"To think the day would come when His Highness the Supreme King halts a mace mid-strike—what in the world?"
"How should I know? There's only one thing that matters."
A smile spread across Heo Jo's face.
"Counselor Kim has survived. The lad lives."
King Taejong gazed at Kim Dae-bung with hollow eyes.
Then he turned and walked away, step by heavy step.
Approaching King Sejong, he sighed and spoke.
"We must review whether Supervisor of the Hall of Worthies Kim Dae-bung is right or wrong, Your Majesty."
"......"
King Sejong was startled by his father's declaration of surrender but did not show it.
He knew well how grave it was for his father to abandon a conviction.
Adding words or showing doubt on his face would be unfilial.
"Yes, Father."
Amid everyone's cheers, Kim Dae-bung was then escorted to the Office of Prisons.
Even the prison guards broke protocol, letting him walk on his own.
Naturally, he was assigned the finest solitary cell.
After King Taejong and King Sejong returned to the palace, the people shouted "Long live the king!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Several days passed since the direct appeal.
King Taejong skipped court audiences, holing up in his chambers, endlessly pondering if implementing currency was right. It was because of Kim Dae-bung.
At first, his defiance of the currency policy—which Taejong had staked his life on—irked him greatly. He had planned to use this chance to break him properly and mold him into an obedient minister like Hwang Hui...
But ruminating after imprisoning him, he realized his actions would drive the people to death no differently.
"The court refuses coins even for taxes, yet demands the people trade with them—truly an absurd contradiction. Why did I ever think this way?"
Thinking back, when he had first issued and used treasury notes upon ascending the throne, they had circulated reasonably among the people. But from the moment he declared they wouldn't be accepted for taxes, they became worthless trash.
"My convictions blinded me. What I did in good faith, for the people's sake, nearly killed them all."
Tears flowed from King Taejong's eyes as he grasped the root of his error.
He fetched and read a copy of Kim Dae-bung's report, which he had often urged King Sejong to study.
The part about how the people rejoiced at the markets' opening, how he had given peace to a poor widow...
"Thank goodness. Truly fortunate..."
Had he pushed the currency policy and repeated his past mistakes, it would have been like shoving all the people into a tiger's maw. Even King Sejong would have had innocent blood on his hands.
A king must sometimes be ruthless for great causes, but taking innocent lives for a meaningless endeavor was the gravest sin to avoid... Thanks to Kim Dae-bung, he had averted it.
Then his eye caught memorials from Minister of Finance Hwang Hui and several others.
Kim Dae-bung's words held no fault—please reconsider. His act was irreverent, but do not punish him harshly. Such contents.
All were bold counsels that could touch his reverse scale.
"..... Is Senior Eunuch present?"
"Yes, Your Highness the Supreme King."
"Let us go to the Office of Prisons briefly. I must see Kim Dae-bung. I will release him myself."
The senior eunuch was inwardly aghast at King Taejong's words of not punishing Kim Dae-bung but releasing him instead.
The man obsessed with consolidating royal authority was now admitting fault and undermining it himself.
Thus, King Taejong trudged through the curfew-shrouded streets of Hanyang to meet Kim Dae-bung alone in prison.
He parted his heavy lips and spoke.
"...... As you said, I will withdraw the royal command to implement coins and currency. So, answer me as you did the other ministers."
The self-deprecating "I" was used by a king only for grave errors or extreme anger.
Here, it was the former.
"What should I do for Joseon's sake?"
Without hesitation, Kim Dae-bung replied to his question.
"The Great Equalization Law... Levy all tribute goods in rice, Your Highness."