Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Dungeon of the Rear Palace (2)
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No matter how much it was just a show, declaring abdication wasn't something you could toss out lightly.
That's why Yeongjo spent the time from the tenth lunar month leading up to the twelfth relentlessly firing warning shots at his ministers, creating an atmosphere of terror.
First, he had a list of his officials laid out and started sticking notes on the names of those he didn't like. They were called buchu notes—named after chives because they were thin and elongated like the plant.
It was similar to Kim Jong-seo's yellow-label purges. The difference was that Kim had done it to promote people, while Yeongjo was doing it to cut them down.
Then, apparently not wanting to take all the blame himself, he passed it down to the crown prince.
The crown prince mechanically dismissed or exiled those with notes on their names, like a robot. This only worsened Noron's perception of him.
And Noron was the majority faction—they dominated most of the court officials.
Naturally, the government's affairs began to go awry.
Joseon's bureaucrats were both politicians and technocrats. Unleashing an area-of-effect attack like this naturally created holes at the operational level.
For instance, around this time, a serious issue arose with the envoy mission to China that needed to be dispatched right away.
Jeong Gi-an, the deputy envoy—one of the three key ministers on the road to the capital—had been exiled.
It was clearly an oversight, but Yeongjo seemed unwilling to admit it.
Five days before the formal departure ceremony, ministers daily petitioned to either appoint a new deputy or recall the exile, but there was no response.
In the end, on the day of the ceremony itself, Sim Bal was appointed as the new deputy... but not only would this make the mission a mess, this guy also had a note stuck to his name.
You needed coordination even for a purge—what kind of comedy was this?
The ministers raised hell again this time too, but the king remained silent. In the end, the Ministry of Personnel forcibly pushed through one of our Han clan's own, Kim Mun-haeng.
The deputy envoy was third in rank after the chief and vice envoys—not a low position at all—yet it had come to issuing an oral decree instead of proper paperwork due to the urgency. Even I felt sorry for the Minister of Personnel, Jo Jae-ho, this once.
I wasn't comfortable either.
Relationships are mutual. I'd been using Noron's backing all this time, so now Noron was trying to use me in return.
Until now, they'd let it slide under the excuse that I wasn't a censor and my position was low, but with the king indiscriminately destroying ranks and offices alike, the pressure on me was starting to build.
Mainly through the Han clan. My brother Kim Mun-haeng, suddenly drafted as deputy envoy and forced to trek thousands of ri, said to me with a sad expression right before leaving:
"Though I'm a lowly official, if a favorite like you just speaks up once, couldn't it stop His Majesty's wrath?"
I knew what he left unsaid: 'Worst case, it's just exile or dismissal.'
But I couldn't do that.
Right now, Yeongjo was casually tossing around phrases like "specially dismissed" (meaning no reinstatement), "never to be employed again," and "remove from the attendance roster." Whether he meant it or not, I couldn't risk even the slightest danger.
But becoming known as Noron's traitor fawning over the king would be an even greater risk than dismissal.
I was caught between a rock and a hard place. A situation that made you want to curse.
Anyway, I had to dodge this one.
I immediately feigned outrage, as if I'd write a petition on the spot.
"Though I'm a minor official, how could I hold back in a matter of loyalty? I'll purify myself soon and submit a memorial."
"I'll trust in you alone."
Leaving those words, my brother Kim Mun-haeng turned away sadly and headed north. I hoped the travel funds I slipped him would ease his empty heart a bit.
Once I confirmed he'd left the capital, I quickly started fabricating an official errand to get me out of the city for a while.
A petition? Are you insane?
Now was absolutely not the time. It's like those guys who go full survival mode during a special firearms crackdown and end up as sacrifices for Detective Kim's promotion.
To avoid losing Noron's trust, I'd have to submit one eventually—but the timing was after the senior ministers broke the king's stubbornness and no one could be casually exiled anymore.
Until then, purification it was.
Yeongjo's fierce warning shots had even me in a frenzy.
That's why it was a bit later that I realized another meaning hidden behind this abdication show and purge atmosphere.
I went to see Park Mun-su of the Equal Tax Service.
Hong Gye-hui would listen to me better, but for this matter, the Soron Park Mun-su was better.
With Park Mun-su sending me out of the capital, no one would think "They're protecting Kim Un-haeng."
"With the rivers freezing over, we must re-inspect the market guards along the ferry landings. I plan to go down the river from Yangju to Gimpo to check."
Ugh, even I thought it was a perfect excuse.
But Park Mun-su rejected it outright.
"No. You think you can just leave the capital willy-nilly in this political climate?"
It felt like facing a mid-level manager at a small firm where there'd never been a single normal day since its founding.
And your buddy Yi Jong-seong is always bursting into tears and bolting out of the capital.
"How could a lowly official like me be involved in state affairs?"
"Your house servant has nothing to do with your ancestors, but would you leave him out on an ancestral rite day?"
This guy—does he hate me because his buddy Hong Gye-hui went undercover as a secret inspector ten years ago when you were governor of Hamgyong and accused you of corruption?
You were acquitted, but probably not because you were truly clean—it was likely the king's decision. Massive financial maneuvers like that can't avoid some graft.
As my imagination vividly painted Park Mun-su as history's greatest corrupt official, he added one more line.
"His Majesty has ordered all major and minor official business to be handled at the Eastern Palace."
"Pardon?"
I felt the near-complete draft impeachment of Park Mun-su in my head flying out the window.
Of course, the crown prince was acting as regent.
But everyone in court knew it was just in name.
So ordering official business to the Eastern Palace now was, simply put, like saying "Abdication in 60 seconds."
Yet Park Mun-su said it nonchalantly.
"Yes. So quit talking nonsense. You've finished the separate review of last year's equal tax receipts from the market guards, right? Take that and go to the Eastern Palace. He said to handle it there, so handle it there."
In that moment, I realized why Park Mun-su was reacting so bureaucratically to this massive crisis.
The crown prince, with fire on his heels, had called me through the approachable Soron Park Mun-su.
Park Mun-su clearly knew the king's order wasn't really to report to the crown prince but to go and persuade him.
But he planned to play dumb, just like I did during that pirate capture incident last time.
'I sent the paperwork to the Eastern Palace as ordered—what's the problem?'
Normally, since I had no official reason to meet the crown prince, this ploy was needed. But if I were the king, I'd want to thrash him.
I wanted to thrash him too. This left me no choice but to go.
Looking on the bright side, at least I didn't need to prepare volume three of the Qing history books this time. No way even the crown prince would demand that "in this climate."
As I backed out with heavy sighs, Park Mun-su tossed a meaningful line.
"The Crown Prince didn't send some Eastern Palace attendant to fetch you. It's official business—he ordered it through me."
The meaning in Park Mun-su's final words was hard to grasp right away. But I knew better than to ask here.
So I quietly withdrew, grabbed the report he mentioned (how does a high official even check if field stats are done?), and sank into thought.
Byeolgam had various meanings, but here it mainly referred to errand-runners and guards attached to the royal household.
My brother Kim Jeok-haeng's current salt farm attendant post was named similarly as a mid-level manager under the national (royal) salt office.
They were often used for the royal family's personal matters too, so on the surface, Park Mun-su's words meant nothing special—just emphasizing it was official business.
But Park Mun-su wasn't the type.
He didn't send a byeolgam.
He couldn't send a byeolgam?
That's when the thread started unraveling.
There were circumstances that even mobilized a senior minister like Park Mun-su. It wasn't just a "business" excuse to see me.
As I'd suspected before, there were spies around the crown prince now.
Probably the byeolgam Park mentioned. And they weren't the king's spies.
That had been the case forever, and even then the crown prince had summoned me a few times without the king interfering.
These spies belonged to another faction. Not Noron, not Soron, not the king.
In truth, Yeongjo had never unjustly tormented the crown prince.
At least, that was Yeongjo's stance.
When ministers petitioned, "Why do you keep crushing our crown prince's spirit?!" Yeongjo's response was:
"I haven't specially rebuked him once, yet the crown prince humbly takes caution on his own."
'Hey, I never hit him. He brought the money himself. Right? Quick, say I didn't hit you.' It sounded like a bully, but the king really said it.
I heard it from Uncle Hong Gye-hui. Probably in the Diaries of the Office of Royal Decrees too if you looked.
By the same logic, the crown prince kowtowing on the floor, infinite-waiting in the cold outside, or smuggling meds in the capital's heart while ignoring the royal clinic—all "voluntary" actions.
The crown prince even had to devise his own torments wisely.
So when I arrived at the Eastern Palace, the porcelain flying through the open sliding door was also the crown prince's voluntary act.
One of the Eastern Palace attendants Park mentioned took the hit and toppled over.
The porcelain broke too, but pottery's tougher than it looks—blood trickled from the attendant's forehead.
The crown prince burst out, flinging the door wide, pointing his sword at underlings like it was a finger. The attendants, maids, and eunuchs paled.
"Get out! I don't want to see any of you—scram!"
He wasn't even wearing a headscarf, his long hair whipping free. In this midwinter, his jacket strings were undone, baring his sturdy torso.
The crown prince liked physical training, so his body was impressive. In modern times, he'd be a brooding warrior in a photoshoot... but in 18th-century Joseon, he just looked like an executioner.
Scumbag vibe, spot on. And the crown prince seemed eager to act the part in Joseon style.
"If you don't all run, I'll chop you down!"
If this were his first meltdown, it'd be highly suspicious.
But rumors of his madness—like not knowing when he'd kill or claiming he already had—were as familiar to underlings as Yeongjo's tantrums.
So in the gap as the palace staff "obeyed the crown prince's command" and fled, my private audience felt perfectly natural.
The crown prince offered no lengthy excuses to me.
He just tossed his sword aside upon my entry, tied his jacket, and properly donned his headscarf.
I'd somewhat guessed from outside, but that action explained everything.
It was an act.
"Do you know the intent behind this court order? This unfilial son has no place to put himself."
I recited the model answer.
"His Majesty is angry over the factional ministers—how could it be Your Highness's fault?"
"Factional ministers... Yes, that's part of it. But this latest measure has another meaning."
It must relate to those attendants he just chased off. I swallowed quietly while prostrated, out of sight.
If I heard it, there'd be no going back. But I couldn't plug my ears or leave. Truly awkward.
As I thought that, the crown prince's voice came, spitting the words:
"Do you remember my sister-in-law, the late Hyosunhyeonbin Jo?"
"How could I forget that grief?"
Hyosunhyeonbin was Crown Prince Hyojang's wife. People overlooked it since Hyojang died young, but he had a crown princess.
With Hyojang dead, she held no political value and was forgotten, dying last year at 37.
Still, as a crown princess, her funeral was grand. Yeongjo praised her as a virtuous widow and mourned deeply.
But what came after was the problem. Then Yeongjo...
"You must know Mun氏, the maid from the crown princess palace who entered during the funeral."
...Yeah. Yeongjo saw his daughter-in-law's maid at the funeral, got lustful, got drunk, and brought her into the palace.
Truly impressive. Real history? Even a middle schooler would feel patriotic solemnity at a Joseon funeral, yet a nearly-sixty geezer?
Fetish? Because of the tiger penis I gave him?
Later, he waited for the queen to die and immediately took a thirteen-year-old as new queen. Seems Yeongjo had pedophilia plus some death-related perversion.
I recalled that amateur psychopath test online: something about killing someone else to create a funeral just to see a guy from a previous one again.
"Recently, that maid Mun氏 boldly placed her brother Mun Seong-guk as an Eastern Palace attendant. The妖婦 and traitor scheming together to divide father and son— that's why I had to call you like this."
The explanation that followed was even more shocking.
Mun氏 got pregnant right away and apparently dreamed big, palace-intrigue style.
She clumsily wielded power, planting her humble allies like Mun Seong-guk everywhere—mostly in the Office of Royal Records or near the crown prince.
And despite having no title yet, she dared defy the crown prince's birth mother, Yeongbin Yi氏.
With targets the crown prince and Yeongbin, the goal was obvious: she'd bear the next king.
Naturally, the palace's top authority, Dowager Consort Kim, had to enforce discipline.
Joseon's corporal punishment methods didn't vary much by status. The Dowager summoned Mun氏 and caned her. She was just a titilless maid, after all.
Mun氏 naturally ran crying to Yeongjo and snitched.
Then Yeongjo's doting-father winter training began.
Got it. Yeongjo's thinking.
He aimed to break Dowager Kim.
I'd been thinking from the ministers' side and missed it, but if Yeongjo threw an abdication fit, not just the crown prince and ministers but the Dowager had to come stop him. Precedents from the five prior shows: "by Her Majesty's decree, reluctantly."
For all his "receiving Her Majesty's will out of filial piety," Yeongjo wouldn't forgive even his birth mother if she crossed his power—let alone a stepmother.
To him, the Dowager beating his favored concubine could only look like a challenge.
So the court's mess stemmed from this fifty-eight-year-old man's romance—or lust? Anyway, that.
I didn't want to meddle further.
It was even good for me.
Of course, Yeongjo probably planned the show to suppress Noron too, but if the goal was the Dowager, ministers might not take it seriously.
But the crown prince's next words shifted my thinking a bit.
"They say if they can't bear a son, they'll bring one in anyway—so schemers truly fear not heaven. What should be done?"
If Mun氏 actually bore a son, the crown prince was dead.
The reason he was still alive was solely as father to Yeongjo's only male heirs, Yi Jeong and Yi San.
History had no other sons for Yeongjo, so Mun氏 wouldn't either... but.
Wait.
Did this Mun氏 even exist in history?
I racked my brains in a cold sweat.
But history focused on Sado Seja and Jeongjo; I couldn't recall records of Yeongjo's childless concubines.
What if, like my earlier joke, the tiger penis changed history?
Then my grand plan—using my one precious item to save grandson Yi Jeong and raise him as Joseon's wise future king—would be ruined.
If Sado became deposed, his sons would be Westerners too. No, Mun氏 would kill them first.
And my Chief State Councillor path, hinged on Yeongjo (skipping Sado) to his grandsons, would become unpredictable. The rumor of my closeness to the crown prince meant I'd be lucky not to get purged.
Of course, Mun氏 might be historical and end childless as per canon.
But like with Noron's petition pressure, I couldn't gamble.
No choice.
As always, frontal assault with "loyalty and righteousness."
From ancient times, no monarch obsessed with pillow talk, sidelining the eldest for a favored second son, ended well.
I'd protect the royal succession.
I raised my head with a resolute expression. The crown prince looked at me with eager anticipation.
"This foolish subject has a stratagem."
Author's Note
1. Yeongjo's line "I haven't scolded the crown prince once?" is verbatim from history. The deputy envoy issue and note purges are all factual. However, after wildly firing them off, he pardons everyone once the abdication show ends. This arbitrary rewards and punishments based on mood trace back to Sukjong's era, ultimately contributing to lax discipline.
2. Hong Gye-hui went undercover in Hamgyong, impeaching Governor Park Mun-su for exaggerating famine relief reports to draw excess grain, profiting from private salt loans, and embezzling while lavishly distributing treasury funds to the people.
There's a sense it maliciously twisted Park's unique procedural-free financial wizardry (Noron was plotting to take down Soron heavyweight Park then), and he was indeed acquitted. However, as Kim Un-haeng suspects, such large-scale money movements couldn't prevent underlings' corruption.
3. Contrary to Kim Un-haeng's thoughts, Lady Mun of the Inner Quarters was real, and all depicted events happened. In actual history, she bore two daughters (promoted to consort the year after this point) and was executed by Jeongjo right after his ascension for tormenting Sado Seja.
4. As will appear later, the 1752 abdication show indeed targeted the Dowager alongside Noron—aiming for two birds with one stone.