Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: No one lives forever
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Lee Geum, the last loyal retainer Hong Inhan, seemed eager to emulate the resolve of the Three Scholars from two jia ago.
In the process of releasing Jo Jaeho, Hong Inhan—who had been in charge of interrogating the criminals—was, of course, captured and bound by the guards and soldiers after the verdict.
He dared to sternly rebuke this anti-Confucian spectacle where a son scolded his father.
"Guh...!"
Kim Unhaeng glanced at him and said,
"The traitor's gag is loose."
"Yes, sir!"
The gag was immediately tightened. Instead of jade, a roughly gathered wooden block was shoved into his mouth, and in place of a coffin, sturdy soldiers' kicks rained down on his back. Only then did Hong Inhan, who had tasted the ancient rite that Injo had nearly endured—bearing jade in the mouth and riding in a hearse—finally fall silent.
There were many who wanted to execute Hong Inhan right here and now for setting fire to the Nakseondang pavilion—evidence be damned. The Crown Prince especially wanted to.
However, slaughtering his father's chief retainer before his eyes might give rise to the 'misunderstanding' that the Crown Prince was threatening his royal father.
Kim Unhaeng's idea was to entrust the execution to his half-brother Hong Bonghan, doubling as a loyalty test. If Hong Bonghan was in his right mind, he would immediately submit a memorial begging to execute his brother.
As a bonus, he would beg forgiveness for his own sins and resign from all his posts, making Kim Unhaeng's cleanup afterward much easier.
Thus, Kim Unhaeng averted his gaze from Hong Inhan and looked toward the upper seat prepared before the south gate of Namhansanseong Fortress.
It was a position that was practically the lowest seat.
Our king—no, the soon-to-be Supreme King—kept his mouth shut without even needing a gag.
Proof that he was smarter than Hong Inhan.
It wouldn't matter if the Crown Prince screamed that he was a rebel. Among all those abdicating monarchs in history, do you really think not a single one ever rebelled?
Many probably resisted like Emperor Zhao Mo, the master of the emperor's spear art, but they were all erased, leaving only records of 'peaceful abdications.' That's why Yeongjo stayed quiet—he knew it.
Sure enough, Yeongjo stubbornly remained silent.
But we had generative AI, so no problem. Special Promotion Official Lee Ilje telepathically decoded and translated His Majesty's intentions.
"His Great Majesty is deeply moved by the Queen Dowager's merciful granting of the abdication and states that now he can finally reveal his honorable intentions. The Little Majesty shall receive His Great Majesty's command with utmost loyalty and filial piety."
The one who should have originally played this role was Jo Jaeho, the current number one of the Soron faction.
However, Jo Jaeho had taken it upon himself to atone for failing to properly serve the king and was kneeling in the sinner's seat.
Wasn't he originally the guy who supported the Crown Prince and got executed? He'd earned a beautiful name in the annals, so enough with the tsundere act—join us already?
Just as Hong Gyehui, the uncle who originally locked the Crown Prince in a chest in real history, became a fervent pro-Yeongjo partisan, it seemed things could flip like this too.
So, they had no choice but to temporarily appoint Lee Ilje as the Soron representative.
In any case, even the Soron who had tried to grind Yeongjo down acknowledged that he 'had no interest in the throne since his days as Heir Apparent.' Such beautiful impartiality. Tears welled up. It had definitely worked that Park Mun-su received the Queen Dowager's final edict.
What about the Noron who supported Yeongjo during the game classic Gejang's era—how would they save face?
Wasn't the whole point of this farce so far to establish that 'from now on, the royal line belongs to the Yeoning faction (supported by Noron)'?
And I was Noron too. Now it was time for me to lead the party line.
The supreme expert on abdication waves, Crown Prince Sado, didn't foolishly rush to accept the throne.
"This is an honor I dare not accept. How can your subjects engage in such discussions when Your Highness shows no intent to relinquish? Withdraw."
Hmm. He was doing it perfectly without instruction now.
But then, Yeongjo—who should have been muted—opened his mouth.
"I shall bestow the royal wine with my sincere heart, so the Crown Prince must not decline."
It was a sophisticated abdication proposal, revoking his key policy of alcohol prohibition. And since it was a 'harmonious' event, they had even set up a table here.
But no way he'd do that.
"Let us go to the auxiliary palace. As you all say, I am old and frail, unable to withstand the cool breeze."
What cool breeze in midsummer? Oh ho. I saw through that villain's wicked scheme.
I quickly ordered the palace servants.
"Attend to His Majesty's attire. His sleeve is a bit askew."
If the Sacheon Tang Clan has hidden weapons and the Habuk Paeng Clan has greatswords, the Jeonju Yi Clan has iron maces.
It was the second form of the Jeonju Yi family's poison secret martial art: 'Iron Mace in the Sleeve'—the final strike Lee Seonggye nearly delivered to Yi Bangwon at the banquet when he usurped the throne, but failed.
Why the second form? Because the first was used by Yi Bangwon on Jeong Mongju, and the third by Grand Prince Suyang on Kim Jongseo.
As a history buff grounded in rigorous verification, I was certain Yeongjo was hiding an iron mace.
However, no metallic clunk came from either of Yeongjo's sleeves.
Yeongjo gave me a cold once-over.
"Do you think everyone is like you? Your every thought is cunning and vicious."
Anyone laughing here is a traitor. I quickly scanned the surroundings and calmly replied,
"This servant merely inspected the beard of the laughing king."
"If you can't believe it, Kim Unhaeng, come up here too. I have words for you."
Huh. Guess it wasn't an assassination attempt after all?
We entered Namhansanseong Fortress and ascended to the auxiliary palace's private chamber. The remaining civil and military officials and soldiers guarded outside, and the Crown Prince and I faced the king alone, without even historians or eunuchs present.
The Inspector General post was nothing but a cold joke thrown at Jo Jaeho and the betrayers from the start.
Lee Geum's first words, leaning on the empty desk as if on a rural fence, sounded like a village bumpkin from Yeohang.
"Does it feel good to cast out your father?"
The Crown Prince accepted the implicit plea in that tone.
He straightened from his prostrated position and looked up at his father. Then he gave an answer that would never be recorded in history.
"You failed to kill your son, so Your Highness must have felt frustrated."
Kim Unhaeng, standing in the corner, squeezed his eyes shut. Conversely, Lee Geum's eyes widened.
"If I kill, you must die. Didn't you read books and learn filial piety?"
"Kim Unhaeng here was once the Crown Prince's tutor in classics and is proficient in the histories and scriptures. How could this servant not know?"
Lee Geum glanced at Kim Unhaeng, then let out a sneer laced with clear intent. Kim Unhaeng pondered the act of lunging forward and throttling the king's neck.
In the meantime, Lee Geum began his 'words.'
"Do you know why I strictly disciplined your studies? Because the entire world seeks to devour you—it's a tiger's maw, and beyond the gates lies a forest of brambles and swords. If a monarch is not wiser than all his subjects combined, he will surely end up beneath them."
This was no lie. It was a lesson Jeongjo would put into practice. It wasn't coincidence that among Joseon's kings with shaky legitimacy, many were highly scholarly.
"I will teach you the study of things. Man dies without grain, and the five grains die without water. What does 'eat' mean? It means killing another and making it one's own."
Kim Unhaeng, who knew the original history, felt a chill.
'Yeongjo's' life had indeed been like that.
His brother died, and he took the throne; his sister-in-law died, freeing him from threats of assassination and rebellion; afterward, he killed scholars en masse to hold the jade seat.
Of course, Yeongjo bore no responsibility (or so it's presumed) for the deaths of King Gyeongjong and Queen Seonui.
Yet it was undeniable that their deaths were more crucial to Yeongjo than to anyone else. At this point, the distinction between dying naturally and being killed becomes irrelevant.
Later, when Queen Seo died and he killed her favored Crown Prince Sado, it was unclear whether it was killing to survive or simply the desire to kill.
Judging by Hong Inhan and Jeong Hu-gyeom's activities in Yeongjo's later years, even if he'd lived just ten more years, one couldn't guarantee Jeongjo would have survived unscathed.
By killing those around him one by one and endlessly devouring their grudges, Yeongjo could achieve immortality.
But this time, he had failed.
Lee Geum left his final plea like a coiling curse.
"I likely won't see you again, so take my present teaching as my last will. The throne is like that. I knew it, and that's how I've survived until now. You too will one day weigh whether to kill your wife, children, parents, or brothers. If you don't, you die."
The Crown Prince's face paled.
He knew why Yi San, Dragon Head Army, had been given that military title.
Was it base division-sowing by his father, as he'd first thought, or a warning left as prophecy?
Then an alien, utterly alien voice intruded.
"In the end, no one can live forever."
The king and Crown Prince's heads snapped sideways in unison. Kim Unhaeng, clutching his sleeves and bowing his head, spoke as if performing ventriloquism from a marketplace stall.
"A farmer doesn't eat his seeds no matter how hungry he is. He endures three years of nine meals a day, sustains himself on grass roots and tree bark, but always saves seed for next year. Because even a mere commoner knows he can't survive forever that way."
Lee Geum's gaze flew like a blade. But Kim Unhaeng deflected it.
"Thus, man does not devour his descendants but passes down wealth and wisdom to them, awaiting death openly. Just as children cannot birth their parents, parents cannot eat their children. This is the true meaning of filial piety and love."
Truly, like a man of shallow learning, the scent of a heretic scholar stung the nose. Lee Geum moved to shout him down.
But the Crown Prince blocked his next words.
"At first, this servant thought Your Highness's teachings were all there was. So I couldn't confide my resentment to anyone, and vented by beating and injuring those around me."
"That's exactly why you lack the innate qualities."
"Yes. But what if I'm a bit lacking?"
"What?"
"The world is neither a forest of brambles and swords as Your Highness lowly teaches, nor a tiger's maw. When Your Highness and your eunuchs hounded me like rats, only one person mercifully forgave me, allowing me to awaken. Now this servant knows. Thus, I no longer fear or rage."
Lee Geum knew who that one person was. That's why he targeted him directly.
"One who merely panders and ruins his lord is called a sycophant!"
"Yet one who covers a man's faults, encourages him, and leads him to the right path is called a friend. What is so fearsome, what so unforgivable?
Though I lack learning, I read why we observe three years of mourning: because a child cannot survive the first three years without parental love, so when parents die, we repay that grace over the same span. If survival required killing someone, mankind would have slaughtered each other long ago and all rotted away in the fields."
No one in the world exists who never needed help in their lifetime.
Humans are all frail at birth, at least. And countless other times besides.
Far from weaknesses as the king thought, these are opportunities to give love to one another. That's what the Crown Prince was saying.
Of course, Lee Geum's experience and prestige surpassed the Crown Prince and Kim Unhaeng combined, doubled. Such words wouldn't persuade him.
Yet the reality of what he 'could not devour' made Lee Geum 'vulnerable.'
And the Crown Prince struck that soft spot.
"I shall serve so that Father no longer harbors such fears and worries."
The Crown Prince did not call himself 'this servant.' His address for his father had changed too.
There was no formal abdication ceremony, but now the king had changed.
Kim Unhaeng saw the dark energies writhing around Lee Geum being sucked one by one into the Crown Prince.
Since the Crown Prince couldn't see the light, Kim Unhaeng phrased it in overly commonplace tones.
"I shall become a king among men. A king who does not transcend humanity—that is my aspiration."
Yeongjo had no power left to harm me or the Crown Prince.
Yet this tension exceeded even being dragged to the royal inquest or fighting the Dutchmen. Because skills couldn't resolve it?
After a long silence following the Crown Prince's declaration, Yeongjo issued a curt eviction.
"Unfilial son and disloyal subject. No more words. This is my grave—ancestral rites done, now get lost."
So that's why he invited us up. Such a wise judgment it almost made me sorry for treating him as senile all this time.
If Yeongjo stayed in Seoul, he'd be tempted by 'legitimist' lures on his end, and we'd be forced into making him a 'benign king' against our will.
Like Lee Seonggye in Hamheung's main palace, it was better for him to be in this 'Namhansanseong main palace.' I had planned to guide him that way if possible—perfect.
What if Yeongjo used the mighty fortress as a base for another uprising?
Then make it not a mighty fortress anymore.
I issued a press guideline to those around: 'The king left various encouragements and final words to the Crown Prince until the formal abdication.' Then I immediately began measures.
In truth, Namhansanseong was already hardly a 'fortress' even without Kim Unhaeng's intervention.
Not due to crumbling walls or lack of equipment like in typical Joseon tales, but changes in military thought.
As the Jurchens showed during the Manchu invasion, the era of outdated fortress defense was over. The Joseon court had already deemed Namhansanseong and Ganghwado useless since Sukjong's reign (mobile defense like Seonjo's is aside).
What needed defending was no longer the 'king' but the 'capital.' Protecting the king remained the sole national defense goal, but that required securing Seoul first.
Thus, fortifying Seoul had proceeded steadily. The capital tree-planting project Kim Unhaeng had profited handsomely from was part of it.
Lee Geum came to Namhansanseong despite that for three reasons.
First, capital fortifications weren't complete under the circumstances; second, he believed enemies lurked within; third, he himself was a traditionalist.
And Kim Unhaeng neatly resolved that military debate between traditionalists and innovators.
By dismantling Namhansanseong.
At the Crown Prince's order, advised by Kim Unhaeng, the Su-eo Command Post and various command platforms were first disassembled.
Fortress walls and gates were needed for fortresses, not nursing homes. The gates' stone hinges were smashed, timber salvaged thriftily, and plans made to systematically dismantle the walls too.
All materials would reinforce Hanyang directly in Seoul.
The vast time this would take was practically a boon for the new government.
Continuously transporting Namhansanseong materials to Hanyang meant soldiers coming and going nonstop.
Even if Lee Geum backed some ambitious officer to pull a 'dynasty founder' like Lee Seonggye, it would be impossible under such vigilant eyes—like plotting treason in a marketplace.
The ironclad defense symbol that even Hong Taiji couldn't breach head-on, Namhansanseong and the Royal Guard—followed their rightful creator, King Jangmok, into 'burial.'
While the bustle continued—soldiers breaking camp, furling banners, sneaking fortress items—I returned to Seoul, tidied up tasks, and pondered.
For Soron, Park Mun-su was still unemployed. Lee Jong-seong was outside the capital as always. Jo Jaeho claimed sinner status, so send him home to read books.
Noron hardliners: Hong Bonghan's kin were sinners, so self-reflection until the Crown Prince's formal ascension and a prince demotion ceremony pardoned them.
Dongdang, centered on the Yeonan Yi clan's Bo faction, held grudges against Yeongjo and would return to the Crown Prince's side; negotiate well with former Left State Councillor Lee Cheon-bo for mediation.
Namdang, Kim Sang-ro's Qingpung Kim Ro clan—Kim Sang-ro likely a traitor, so Kim Jae-ro restricted. He was already a retired elder anyway.
Namin needed my support instead. Since Chae Je-gong worked hard, link them with the Dutch for a 'barbarian faction' or something.
Put those Hong faction remnants clinking glasses to 'freedom' back in the Military Armory's special workshop. They made great cannons, so make more. Namin would thank me for the favor.
Thus, one by one, it all led to one conclusion.
Whoa.
Including the king, no more petty schemers to frame me?
The modern man's Joseon development basics course, 'sycophant purge,' took too long.
Now, time to develop Joseon mercilessly. Bearing the white man's burden.
Author's Note
The subtitle is taken from the song title by the American band Oingo Boingo. Some of you might recognize it from the character in the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
1. Hong Taiji first demanded the precedent of '衔璧舆櫬' from Injo. But soon 'generously exempted' that 'Article 1' and only required three prostrations and nine head-knocks. Probably a kind of bluff.
2. Wei Emperor Zhao Mo charged at regent Sima Zhao with a spear himself to resist, but ended up dead.
3. The Crown Prince's three-year mourning reference is from Confucius criticizing a disciple (whom he first sent off, then behind his back) for saying 'if everyone does three years, the country perishes—let's do one year.' Confucius followed 'don't speak further to the unteachable,' surprisingly often just executing, ignoring, or abandoning without moralizing.
4. Rumors swirl about Queen Seonui, Gyeongjong's consort: she tried assassinating Yeongjo, or planned to adopt an heir before Gyeongjong's death; Lee In-jwa invoked her name (then Queen Dowager). All wild histories, including Yeongjo killing her.
But she clearly opposed Yeongjo, and he disliked his sister-in-law—evident as he renovated her quarters for Crown Prince Sado after her death.
5. Unlike the scene, a father becoming Supreme King doesn't make the reigning son king exempt from 'minister' duties. And Lee Seonggye's iron mace second form is wild history (first and third are factual).
6. Under Sukjong, Joseon's defense strategy was overhauled. Namhansanseong's isolation was an issue; Ganghwado lost defensibility from long reclamation making landings 'convenient'; Gyeonggi's Daheung Fortress was so dilapidated it could be abandoned.
Post-wars, booming commerce expanded Hanyang's economy, making it impossible for the king to abandon the capital. The Training Command and families comprised 10% of Hanyang's population—no reason for soldiers to follow a fleeing king.
Thus began construction of a new defensive line linking Bukhansanseong-Tangchundae Fortress-capital, but even under Yeongjo, it remained patchwork. Kim Unhaeng's corruption during these capital renovations appeared in Chapter 95, 'Twisting Scales' part.
(Referencing Kim Jong-su, 2017, 'Reorganization of Gyeonggi Military System under Joseon Sukjong.')