Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Chief State Councillor Slayer (3)
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Moving isn't some simple affair where you decide on it and just up and leave.
Even in a world with ladder trucks and five-ton trucks, it usually takes a full day to pack up and move.
Let alone in this Joseon, where there are no trucks or ladder trucks, trying to relocate all the way to some far-off place is out of the question.
Moreover, Joseon—putting it nicely—is a land of propriety and law; put less nicely, it's a country overflowing with stuffy, old-fashioned rituals and formalities.
So, before you can even set off, there's a mountain of tasks to handle first.
"Excluding Ryu Jeong-hyeon, I've got to pay visits to the Three Chief Ministers, the Ministers of the Six Ministries, and even the Deputy Chief Scholar of the Hall of Worthies. Why are there so many people I have to see? And every one of them, when I visited, begged me in unison not to submit my resignation and to stay on in the court..."
Hwang Hui in particular threw a fit when I visited his home, demanding I report for duty immediately.
His words still echo in my ears even now.
'You pushed for the great reform that will be Joseon's millennium plan, the Bangwon Law, and now you're pulling out? Don't you think all your hard work so far would go to waste? Come back to the Ministry of Finance right now of your own accord. The Retired King and His Majesty will value your talents and promote you, even entrust you with more important duties. Don't go. Without you, the Ministry officials are dying out there. Don't go, I say!'
The reason I took office in the first place was to secure a position where I wouldn't be ignored even if I holed up in my hometown reading books all day. It wasn't so I could become a lifelong Chief State Councillor denied retirement permission even after reaching retirement age by King Sejong.
So, I didn't yield to Hwang Hui's earnest pleas.
If I just fire off that impeachment memorial against Ryu Jeong-hyeon while preparing to move and then retire to the countryside, my happy days begin and my misfortunes end. Why would I be crazy enough to go back to the Ministry and volunteer to play water buffalo again?
"Dol-soe."
"Yes, my lord."
"How are the moving preparations coming along?"
"We've mostly packed the luggage. We'll carry the furniture on our backs with A-frames, and load books and such on donkey backs."
"Good. And we can take a ferry to Yanggu, so first we'll head to Noryangjin and catch the ferry there."
People often think of Joseon as a mountainous land where carts can't roll, so all goods are transported by water, making inland transport difficult.
Strictly speaking, that's not entirely accurate. You walk the mountain paths where carts can't go, and take boats wherever rivers reach—that's the Joseon tradition.
"Once I return to Yanggu, I'll find you a match right away so you can hold your wedding soon."
"Oh no, that's too much, my lord."
"Did you think I didn't know you like Kim the county chief's Heesoon? I'll put in a good word with Kim Gwon-nong, the county chief. Just steel your resolve."
"Thank you, my lord. And Kim Man-deok is waiting outside right now."
"You should have said that first. Bring him to the men's quarters at once."
I quickly donned my overcoat and greeted Kim Man-deok inside the men's quarters.
"Don't let anyone in until I call for them."
"Yes, my lord."
Unless King Sejong sent Royal Guard officials to forcibly arrest me, no one could enter our home without my permission anyway.
"Seeing the moving crates packed in your residence makes it real that you're actually leaving, my lord."
"......I've done all I can, so now it's time to return home. I'm sorry to take my daughter with me."
"Gyeol likes you too, so how could a father stand in the way? Just... if there's one thing I ask, please treat her preciously."
"Of course. If Gyeol gets pregnant, I'll even boil her seaweed soup myself."
In Confucian society, we often think a man cooking is absolutely taboo, to the point where they say peppers fall if he enters the kitchen...
That's just a hollow ritual invented later in the Joseon dynasty, during the era of factional politics, by parvenus who bought their way into yangban status with money. In reality, it's fine to cook as a hobby.
No Su-sin in King Seonjo's time personally cooked for his ailing mother, and it became a famous anecdote. Park Ji-won of Yeonam even made chili paste himself and sent it to his son-in-law.
Of course, it's still a pretty unusual hobby.
"Anyway, did you look into the Chief State Councillor's usury?"
"Yes. What I found... it's a miracle no major scandal has erupted yet."
Ryu Jeong-hyeon—this guy's specialty is clinging to power like glue.
When Sejong implemented currency, he stepped forward personally, targeting the powerless commoners with counterfeit coins to maintain the yangban support while complying with the 'royal command.'
Thanks to that, he avoided a bad reputation among the yangban, allowing him to quash usury impeachments.
Sejong overlooked it because it wasn't against 'state law,' and by early Joseon standards, he was an economic expert on par with Keynes.
But his position now is vastly different from original history.
While I was Jinhae County Magistrate, I proved that collecting a bit more tax but spending the budget efficiently benefits the people far more than blindly cutting costs.
Moreover, since he even challenged the Bangwon Law—with Yi Bang-won's name etched right into it—his standing must be shaky.
Still, he's surviving as 'Chief State Councillor,' so no one dares touch him lightly, and he hasn't challenged royal authority.
But if I just add one finger...?
I could kill even a Chief State Councillor.
People might think it's because I'm a court powerbroker, but that's not it. He's dying because he did something worth dying for.
"Not only the principal and compound interest, but he even appointed zealous usury collectors as postmasters."
"Postmasters, huh."
There's one common misconception. People think the only way to rise in office in Joseon was through the civil service exams.
Strictly speaking, in early Joseon, there were various paths besides the exams.
Through the 'four miscellaneous clerks' system, filling certain posts for required service days could make you a formal official with rank, just like exam passers.
This included upper clerks, deputies, capital clerks, armed constables, and postmasters. Among them, postmasters oversaw remote post stations far from the capital, so it was less prestigious.
In short, if a high official like the Chief State Councillor wanted, he could parachute in his cronies.
"Appointing personal connections as postmasters isn't a huge blemish for a senior official. But rewarding diligent usury collectors with postmaster posts and a shot at office? Is that even decent?"
"Of course not."
What merit is collecting usury that they give office for doing it well?
If that's how you hand out offices, gather all the brutal thugs who wield knives across the country, make them armed constables, and after their term, commission them as military officers to pioneer the four garrisons and six camps. What nonsense—cut the crap.
"The Chief State Councillor is extremely wealthy, with warehouses everywhere, running usury operations in towns across the eight provinces. Those appointed postmasters use his slaves to collect principal and interest. For those who can't pay, they beat them until they 'voluntarily' become slaves themselves."
This is real? The Seo Dal incident was just hushed up, but a Chief State Councillor doing this to the people?
"Not some ridiculous rumor?"
"Why else would he use slaves instead of post clerks or soldiers? How else do you amass nearly 70,000 seom of rice just from Hanyang?"
This is chaos beyond chaos. Does this even make sense?
Thinking about it, it doesn't seem entirely implausible.
In Joseon, when rebellions arose, private slaves filled the role of soldiers.
When Grand Prince Suyang launched the Gyeyu Coup, the guy Im Eo-ul who first cracked Kim Jong-seo's skull became Second Merit Subject.
"Those who do well as postmasters get promoted through service to border military officers."
"It's not uncommon to commission postmasters as military officers after full term. But appointing usury experts as such... depending on perspective, isn't this raising private soldiers? How has none of this reached the court?"
Kim Man-deok chuckled at my words.
"Usury collection is legal, and as the King's favorite Chief State Councillor, no one dared impeach him."
"But that favor is fading now..."
Time to impeach.
Worst case, the Great Equalization Law—no, Bangwon Law—is ready to roll once Yi Bang-won gives the signal.
But with Ryu Jeong-hyeon as Chief State Councillor, he'll keep throwing absurd roadblocks.
For Joseon's sake, he has to die.
Yeah, think of it as my last good deed before retirement.
"......Gather some stories from the people victimized by the usury too."
Yi Bang-won and King Sejong truly love the people.
So, piling victims' tales onto the investigated facts guarantees it passes.
Heading to retirement anyway, I can pin 'Chief State Councillor Slayer' as my final achievement.
Plus, no one would believe the guy who slew the Chief State Councillor is coming back, securing my countryside life even more. How perfect.