The Sprout and the Growth (12)
Yesterday, Yi Yeon summoned Secretary Hong Dam once more.
He had words to share ahead of the grand council.
But even at the beginning, he had to face opposition.
“Your Majesty, this is not possible.”
“Why?”
“The taxes we have collected so far already assign thirty percent to the public levy and the corvée. If we abandon both, a grave shortfall will cripple our treasury.”
Hong Dam closed his mouth firmly and bowed his head, declaring the idea utterly impossible.
Yi Yeon found the man’s stern resolve admirable.
Yet the challenge lay in how to handle him.
*Such people are best convinced rather than forced.*
He decided to try.
“Born without fault, yet taxed for breathing—that is itself an injustice, is it not?”
“What?”
“Unlike land tax, the public levy and corvée are taxes levied directly on people themselves.”
“True… but…”
“So I propose we abolish them. Yet the treasury troubles you?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I fear that very outcome.”
Yi Yeon handed the worried secretary a prepared document.
The cover bore the words “Income Tax Collection Plan.”
“What is this?”
“Read it first.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam flipped the cover and skimmed the opening pages with wide eyes.
In his brief stint as a middle-school substitute teacher, Yi Yeon had used standard report forms when drafting this very plan.
The result was clear: Hong Dam’s astonishment was unmistakable.
“From now on, use this format to compose all documents. They look excellent.”
“I shall comply, Your Majesty.”
As Hong Dam read on, excitement made his Adam’s apple bob.
“Your Majesty—when they reduce our salary, they deduct ten percent in tax? What does this mean?”
“Taxing income is only natural. That is why I set it this way. Any objection?”
“None, Your Majesty. Yet the backlash will be fierce.”
“What if I double their salary?”
“Double? That is—”
“Then there will be no backlash, will there not?”
“That is true, but we cannot build reserves, and we will still lack funds for the new officials we must recruit.”
“That is why we are issuing national bonds, as you know.”
“The collected revenue exceeded expectations, so I changed my mind.”
“Change it again.”
“What? Again?”
Hong Dam tilted his head in confusion.
They were short on reserves, yet the funds for new officials would now be ample.
How could borrowing solve the problem?
“Hmm… This country has survived on whatever funds we could muster, whether present or absent.”
“That was inevitable, was it not?”
“No. I believe I was wrong. That is why I am changing it.”
“Wrong—yes, but how?”
“Each year, before the deadline, calculate the required budget and execute it the following year.”
“We already do that.”
“Not only for salaries, but across every field.”
Yi Yeon had decided that even basic budgeting—short of full modern methods—must be planned in advance.
Without it, the country’s chaotic spending was impossible to predict.
“For that, we must first establish a system for borrowing, using, and repaying debt. In good years we need not worry, but if famine strikes, we will be helpless. That cannot be allowed. Problems must be solved instantly.”
“Ah, now I understand, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam finally grasped the king’s intent.
Even with abundant revenue, borrowing was required to prepare for lean times.
“Moreover, this country has far too many thieves. Starting with the royal family.”
“What?!”
“Income is taxed naturally, yet the royal kin enjoy exemptions. Commoners must follow suit, must they not?”
“That custom began in the preceding reign…”
Hong Dam fell silent.
He recalled the immediate abolition of the previous dynasty’s direct tax.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I have spoken out of turn.”
“It is fine. Anyone who raises the issue first must have it on their tongue too.”
“Truly, I am humbled, Your Majesty…”
Yi Yeon had instructed him to point out flaws, yet he had ignored the advice.
He believed the minister spoke from a treacherous forefather’s heart.
Moreover, suppressing such feelings would achieve nothing.
Obtaining a minister’s true heart was no easy task.
“I believe even customs passed from the previous reign must be corrected if flawed. That is why I myself intend to pay taxes first.”
“What?!”
Hong Dam was stunned, but Yi Yeon smiled wryly and asked,
“Why the shock? The king must set the example so that subjects follow, and the people follow in turn. Is that not the natural order?”
“Yet Your Majesty is the ruler of this country.”
“Precisely why I must set the example, do you not agree?”
“Ha…”
Hong Dam exhaled a sigh that nearly became a gasp.
The logic was sound, yet the emotion left him unable to voice it.
“Still, I have decided that the royal family will begin paying taxes. Thus, even after abolishing the public levy and corvée, the treasury will not only be sufficient—it will overflow.”
“What?”
“Read the document to the end.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam read on, stunned anew.
Royal income was roughly ten thousand seok per year.
Yet the document projected five million seok for this year.
Unbelievable.
“This… this…”
“It would be better to discuss after you have read everything.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam could not steady his trembling hands.
The numbers could not be wrong.
When he finished, he swallowed hard and asked,
“There is truly that much gold and silver?”
“So I have been told.”
Only a few cans had been found at the Mapo gold-mine site.
But the gold, silver, copper, and lead extracted from the Unsan mines were staggering.
Even the gold pulled from the bedrock using black gunpowder had already exceeded two tons.
*Twenty soccer balls, at most.*
When his second brother reported two tons, Yi Yeon had been shocked.
He had assumed the quantity was vast.
Yet seeing the stored bars, their modest volume made him laugh aloud.
*In films from my previous life, they were stuffed into bags or loaded into trucks.*
“Keep this matter secret.”
“I shall, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam asked no questions.
Words would slip out, and the Ming court would swarm here overnight.
“But, Your Majesty—glass mirrors are selling at such exorbitant prices?”
“You must not have heard the rumors.”
“No, I heard them, but I never imagined they could command such prices.”
A few days earlier, news of his elder brothers’ arrival in Han-yang had arrived together with a Ming eunuch’s urgent message.
Sales of fabric and mirrors had been complete, yet additional orders were demanded.
The mining rights would be resolved in a few more days.
But the current rumor was different.
Sim Tong-won had sold a single mirror for a hundred seok of rice.
An amount equal to a third-rank official’s annual salary and maintenance allowance combined.
Thanks to the improved postal service, reports from all provinces now reached them rapidly.
The conclusion was simple: profit and leisure.
By doubling pay and offering two-month rotations, soldiers lined up to volunteer.
That was how Yi Yeon learned the figure was not a hundred seok, but five hundred.
He summoned Sim Tong-won.
Before he could speak, the minister confessed voluntarily.
He had struck the bargain with buyers to prevent national chaos.
Then he placed a box on the table.
Inside was gold—ten percent of the total profit as tax.
Yi Yeon handed the box to Hong Dam.
“Open it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Hong Dam’s eyes widened at the weight.
Eight slender gold bars the thickness of his little finger lay neatly arranged.
“Your Majesty, the trade bureau chief sold glass mirrors and obtained ten times this amount?”
“So I have been told.”
“This nation truly hides many wealthy men.”
“Indeed.”
A single bar could purchase a respectable thatched house.
Then the king had secretly amassed a fortune capable of buying a palace.
The same had happened in Ming, but Yi Yeon said nothing.
He already knew.
“Yet how did the trade bureau chief know to bring exactly ten percent?”
“We agreed to collect ten percent of trading profits.”
“Ah…”
Hong Dam had heard of income tax for the first time today.
But the trade bureau chief had acted as if he already knew.
“Truly, the bureau chief is remarkable.”
“That is why we appointed him. His insight is unmatched in Joseon.”
“Yet, Your Majesty, I can only admire your judgment.”
Hong Dam felt uneasy appointing such a problematic man to the trade bureau.
But he could not criticize.
The bureau reported directly to the crown.
Yet the results were astonishing.
It was the young king’s insight that truly amazed him.
Yi Yeon asked the staring Hong Dam,
“What do you think?”
“Selling only fabric and mirrors would suffice, Your Majesty.”
Yi Yeon had already incorporated projected sales of fabric and glass mirrors into the income-tax plan.
The total exceeded even the gold and silver from Unsan.
The three thousand sets of fabric alone ordered by the Ming eunuchs would generate three million seok.
And the glass mirrors had been requested in unlimited quantity.
Reaching five million seok by year’s end was not hyperbole.
“So, I will need your help.”
“How, Your Majesty?”
“From now on, each set of fabric and each mirror will sell for a hundred seok of rice. The same price will be set for the Ming.”
“You said you would give glass mirrors away for free.”
“Only five hundred per year.”
“Ah…”
Hong Dam could not contain his curiosity.
“Forgive me, but did you know this outcome when you decided?”
Yi Yeon nodded slowly and explained.
“Though many are wealthy in this world, we cannot search them out one by one. So I thought: how to make them come to us voluntarily. I found the answer—use them. Wealthy people know wealthy people, after all.”
“Ah…”
“But the price was the issue. No matter how fine the goods, no one would buy if the price was unknown, and once a bargain was found, they would never pay more.”
“Amazing. You gave them away for free after considering that.”
Hong Dam felt chills.
The young king appeared playful, yet his calculations were beyond any verbal description.
He had heard of the free mirrors given to the Ming envoys and felt a pang of pain.
Yet the result had far exceeded imagination.
“So, do not worry about revenue. Advance the national-bond issuance.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“This matter must not be discussed openly.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Tomorrow, when we present the gift, plan the council so that even in emergency, you can manage it well.”
“Yes.”
“Also, do not mention the consumption tax. That is my affair.”
“What?”
“You have no reason to be scolded.”
“Ah… the grace is boundless, Your Majesty!”
*
With the plan set, the time had come to present the gift.
Only then could the ten-percent income tax be collected with minimal resistance.
Yet it could not be handed out arbitrarily in a society that exalted frugality and humility.
Yi Yeon had planted the seed, but the ministers’ reaction was cold.
Neo-Confucian thought made the confusion natural.
*Damn it! Everyone is smiling while pretending otherwise.*
He had tried to call consumption virtuous, but the atmosphere felt wrong.
Outwardly they valued face above life.
So he reversed course.
“This country will develop without limit. Subjects of such a nation must live with dignity. They must wear clean clothes.”
The ministers’ silence was telling.
*Damn it!*
Yi Yeon gave up persuasion and nodded toward the ship.
The ship roared,
“The king commands you to come forward!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The inner attendants entered, carrying lavish silk fabrics of every hue and piled them in the center of the hall.
*
Note: In 1864, the Heungseon Daewon-gun sold mining rights to foreigners to increase revenue. Among them, only the Unsan mine produced over eighty tons of gold in forty years.