He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 1

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Drafted by King Sejong (1)

Eighteen years have passed since I was reincarnated in Joseon.

When I first reincarnated, I was furious and resentful about suddenly leaving my previous life, and it was completely inconvenient without tools like refrigerators and smartphones that would be taken for granted in modern times.

I mean, I was just refuting some idiot in the Gallery who was spouting nonsense about King Sejong being an economic expert with a logical, well-reasoned essay of about 5,700 characters.

Suddenly the computer shut off and my consciousness faded.

When I barely regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I was surprisingly born into a noble family in Joseon.

Whoever reincarnated me must have had some human conscience left, because the Gimhae Kim Clan family I was born into was truly a golden spoon household, lacking only government positions.

If I had been born into an ordinary commoner family…

Just thinking about it is horrifying.

“Young master, what are you thinking about so deeply? Are you getting nervous about taking the palace examination before His Majesty, even someone like you?”

“It’s not particularly that I’m nervous or anything. I’ve passed both the preliminary and secondary examinations for the great examination, and what remains is just a test where the rank I receive will differ based on my placement. I just think I need to do my best to answer whatever His Majesty asks.”

“When I listen to the stories from servants of other noble families in our district who serve masters who passed the civil examinations, they say everyone was biting their nails and couldn’t hide their nervousness the night before taking the palace examination… You truly are bold, young master.”

“Bold, my foot. I just think I should do my best within my capabilities.”

The current time when I’ve come to take the civil examination is the early reign of King Sejong.

It could be called an era of great peace, considered the time when Joseon was at its strongest.

There were no major wars like at the end of Goryeo, territory was expanded, taxes were reduced, and even the important Hunminjeongeum was created – Joseon’s golden age.

At the same time, it was a hellish period for ministers that demanded endless overtime, extra work, and high work capabilities. Capable people like Hwang Hee, Maeng Sa-seong, and Jang Yeong-sil were ground down to a heartbreaking degree…

As someone who knows history, I have absolutely no intention of suffering the same harsh treatment they endured.

Am I crazy enough to live like Hwang Hee, constantly having my resignation requests rejected? Not a chance.

“I still expect you to place first in the examination, young master. Haven’t you always been called a prodigy in Yanggu?”

“There probably isn’t anyone who passed the civil examination who wasn’t called a prodigy at least once in their district.”

“I don’t know about prodigies from other districts, but I’m certain you’ll place first, young master.”

First place, my ass! I’m just planning to roughly write whatever I want to say and quickly submit it and leave.

If I catch King Sejong’s attention, I won’t even be able to retire and will just get ground down, right? But considering the wealth our family possesses… is there really a need to make a fuss about gaining office to increase wealth and seize power?

I can just be satisfied with what I have and live enjoying it.

Even if I don’t pass the civil service exam with high rankings, I still passed anyway, so no one can call me ‘unemployed.’ And when I say I don’t take office because ‘I don’t get involved in the rotten political scene,’ the scholars in town will give me a thumbs up and approve.

Because this is Joseon, the country of scholars.

A country that acknowledges you just for frequently submitting loyal advice (sincere rebuttals of 5,700 characters) to the king, and when it’s not accepted, simply saying that I am a loyal subject but the king won’t employ me, so the world is truly in chaos.

“With so many talented people in the country, how could someone like me become the top scorer?”

“Someone like you, young master, who treats even a lowly slave like me so well, would become a great pillar of this nation if you became a minister.”

Having lived in Joseon for 18 years, I’ve become quite the young master of a noble family. However, I just can’t bring myself to treat slaves harshly, beat them, or look down on them.

But since Joseon is a Confucian country, treating slaves well isn’t particularly a flaw either…

I guarantee the maximum rights and interests of the slaves in my household.

That’s why Dolsoe can speak to me so comfortably like this.

While we were continuing our conversation, there was a knock at the door.

“Young master, I’ve brought dinner. But I’m terribly sorry to ask, but could you possibly share your room with another scholar?”

Although our family is quite wealthy, we don’t have a house in Hanyang.

We don’t have any relatives we know either, so we’re paying to stay and eat at a private house…

Since it’s exam season and people are flocking to Hanyang, it seems many people like us are imposing on private houses. Since we paid for lodging and meals first, it wouldn’t be a problem to refuse, but…

Anyway, I don’t need a quiet room for last-minute cramming in preparation for the exam, and I don’t have anything particular to do, so what would be bad about accepting one more person to share the room with?

How nice would it be if we got along well and became conversation partners?

“… I suppose it can’t be helped.”

“Thank you so much, my lord.”

Once I gave my permission, two scholars entered the room.

One appeared to be around my age and was quite plump, while the other looked like general material to anyone who saw him.

“Thank you for allowing us to share the room. I am Lee Won-jeong, who came up from Jeonju. The scholar beside me is Lee Man-ri, who also came up from Jeonju with me to take the military examination.”

But the face of the scholar named Lee Won-jeong looked somehow familiar.

Maybe it’s because he’s plump and looks good-natured. Even as I think that, I suddenly see King Sejong’s face from the Ten Thousand Won Bill overlapping with his. Well, it must just be a resemblance.

Historically speaking, King Sejong would be exactly that age…

If he’s a Lee from Jeonju, then he’s from the Jeonju Lee Clan, but no, that might be possible after the mid-Joseon period.

In early Joseon, anyone belonging to the Jeonju Lee Clan would be royalty.

Why would royalty come all the way up here from Jeonju? He must be someone with a different ancestral seat from the Jeonju Lee Clan who just happens to look similar. There are so many people with similar faces in the world.

They say “what if” can kill a person, but the probability of such a thing actually happening is almost zero.

“What is your courtesy name?”

In Joseon, nobles never call each other by their given names.

In extreme cases, even when introducing themselves, they only mention their ‘courtesy name’.

Only the king, one’s father, and one’s teacher can call someone by their given name. For anyone else to mention a real name is considered as rude as slapping someone across the face.

So they call each other by their courtesy names, which are like nicknames.

“My courtesy name is Jangheon, and this person here is Wonjeong.”

“Your courtesy name is…”

“It’s Jukheon.”

“How did Jukheon come to visit Hanyang?”

“If one is born a scholar, shouldn’t one pass the civil examinations and become a minister, rising to the position of Chief State Councilor, second only to one and above ten thousand?”

“You have grand dreams.”

“They say if you try to draw a tiger, you’ll at least draw a cat. With the heart to become a minister and serve the country with loyalty and patriotism, I devoted myself to learning. Somehow, I managed to qualify for the palace examination.”

Upon hearing the words “palace examination,” Lee Won-jeong, the plump scholar, lit up with interest.

“That’s truly remarkable. You seem to be around my age, yet you’ve already qualified for the palace examination. You’ve succeeded in making your mark in the world.”

“You flatter me.”

“The palace examination essentially determines rank according to placement, so may I ask something of Jukheon, who will enter government service before me?”

“Please ask anything.”

I allowed them to share the room so we could pass time with casual conversation like this.

In a world without TV, computers, or smartphones, talking with people is the most entertaining thing to do.

“Right now, Joseon is moving toward a golden age after overthrowing the rotten Goryeo. By His Majesty’s grace, the people eat their fill, and the nation’s coffers are becoming abundant. Though there’s still a long way to go, isn’t this enough to show that His Majesty is doing well?”

Joseon is a country overflowing with scholars and loyal counsel. While loyalty to the king is natural, criticizing wrong policies is accepted as ‘loyal counsel’ in this world.

Though this is a story from King Myeongjong’s era, there was a man named Nammyeong Jo Sik who even said such crazy things to the king as “Your Majesty is now an orphan, and the Queen Dowager is a widow.” Yet even this was considered within the category of “loyal counsel” and there are anecdotes of him being praised by scholars for it.

So as long as you don’t say something like the king should be replaced, almost any loyal counsel is tolerated.

In other words, there’s no problem with speaking according to my convictions.

“The Royal Court’s granaries may be full, but right now the people are suffering tremendously due to the flawed tax system.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The current tax system only benefits the nobles and landlords who own much land, while it’s a system that devours Joseon’s poor people. Yet the court ministers are completely unaware that the system is flawed and offer no counsel either, thus obscuring Your Majesty’s sacred benevolence… How lamentable is this?”

Joseon’s tax system in this era is naturally better than Goryeo’s.

The tax rate that Goryeo farmers bore when the Powerful Noble Families ruled reached up to 90%… But when the country changed and the Confucian nation of Joseon was established, the tax system improved greatly.

Yes, it’s definitely much better than Goryeo.

Nevertheless, the way the tax system operates is truly a mess.

Joseon only collects taxes for the Central Government’s use and doesn’t collect local taxes… so it takes the form of transferring part of the taxes collected in counties to Local Government Offices for use.

Since this is early Joseon, the corruption is relatively mild, but just wait until mid-Joseon and it will become a complete disaster.

“In current Joseon, the rich pay little in taxes while the poor people pay very much in taxes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“… Do you truly not understand the system’s flaws?”

“No, isn’t the system perfect? It’s a tax policy created after the nation’s ministers and His Majesty pondered deeply. To make the poor pay as little tax as possible, each household is divided into janho and janjanho…”

“Janho aside, janjanho is the problem.”

The current tax assessment method in Joseon is like this: Each household is divided into grades according to the property and land they possess, and they pay taxes accordingly.

Just hearing this, you might think it’s like grouping people who earn ten million won monthly with those who earn a hundred million won monthly and making them pay twenty million won annually in taxes.

That’s right. That’s correct, but the problem is janjanho! To put it in understandable terms, the method of taxing ‘commoners’ is insane.

“As I understand it, three janjanho are bundled together and considered as soho for tax collection, right? Then their tax burden would be…”

“Soho refers to the rich who own as much as 5 gyeol of land and harvest dozens of seom of rice annually. Meanwhile, most janjanho are those who don’t own even a single majigi of land and only do tenant farming. How could three households of tenant farmers dare to match the income of soho?”

In other words, soho refers to rich people with annual incomes of at least 200-300 million. And janjanho are poor people with annual salaries of around 20-30 million.

Even if you gather the income of three such janjanho, how could it compare to a soho’s income? Yet the taxes imposed are the same, so isn’t this a system telling janjanho to hang themselves and die?

In fact, looking at the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, there are records showing that when a magistrate collects taxes strictly according to this flawed law, all the county residents die off, but when there’s a magistrate who appropriately collects more from the rich, the county becomes livable.

“…”

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t collect taxes or impose military service. I’m saying we should collect taxes according to circumstances. And we can’t leave out the matter of tribute taxes—this is also a complete mess.”

When studying Joseon history, there’s always one topic that comes up: the ‘Daedong Law.’

The story goes that once the Daedong Law was implemented, the people who had suffered under tribute taxes suddenly found life bearable. The Daedong Law is portrayed like some kind of magic spell… and that description isn’t really wrong.

Because producing specialty goods for tribute taxes was a system that truly tormented the people to death.

“It’s one thing to designate apples as a regional specialty and order someone who only grows rice to offer apples, but demanding they procure precious items like ginseng or shiitake mushrooms. The people have no way to obtain these things, so they end up breaking their backs paying tribute through temples.”

I’m not a good enough person to sacrifice myself for others.

So while I know about these contradictions, I have no intention of jumping into the mud to solve the problems.

To solve all these problems, I’d have to declare war against Joseon’s vested interests.

Even if King Sejong helped and we succeeded, it’s obvious I’d just end up working myself to death like Hwang Hee.

‘It doesn’t make sense.’

“If I were a commoner, I think I would wonder: Is this truly an era of peace and prosperity, or is it another age of chaos and hell?”

“…Then is there a way to fix it?”

Several things come to mind.

There are things I picked up from the Gallery, and much I learned from reading countless alternative history novels.

Frankly, just roughly implementing the Daedong Law would drastically reduce the tax burden, secure the budget, and make the market run smoothly.

“There are methods, but even if I were to propose them, I don’t think Your Majesty would accept them. Good medicine tastes bitter, and honest advice is hard to hear. Even if a mere student like me passed the civil service exam and rose to some minor position to submit a memorial, would the Royal Secretariat even deliver it to Your Majesty?”

When I said that, Wonjeong, the plump scholar, suddenly stood up from his seat and hurriedly left, saying he had business to attend to.

The scholar who had come with him also left together.

“… Where is everyone going without eating?”

In the end, I ate alone.

**

The plump scholar Wonjeong who had conversed with Kim Dae-bung—no, King Sejong Lee Do of Joseon—felt troubled.

His heart was so heavy that even looking at the meal he encountered during this secret outing, which he had barely managed to arrange by pestering the former king Lee Bang-won, his appetite completely disappeared.

Therefore, he immediately headed to Gyeongbok Palace to find Lee Bang-won.

“Father, I have returned.”

“… Why have you come back so quickly?”

King Sejong hesitated for a moment, wondering what to say first.

Then he told the entire story of what he had heard from the scholar who came to take the examination.

Lee Bang-won was initially very displeased to hear criticism that the tax policy he had racked his brains to design was wrong, but…

Realizing that there was nothing incorrect in what the scholar named Kim Dae-bung had said, he soon sighed and felt regretful.

“… My heart is heavy thinking that I failed to deeply examine the people’s circumstances.”

“Yes, I felt the same way as you, Father. That’s why even when faced with a meal, I had no desire to eat and hurried here to see you. Even if someone brought me beef right now, I wouldn’t want to eat it.”

King Sejong was someone who couldn’t eat rice without meat.

He loved meat so much that King Taejong Lee Bang-won, in his dying words, had ordered that King Sejong must be given meat to eat even during mourning periods.

For a son who couldn’t live without meat to have no thoughts of meat, that alone showed how troubled King Sejong’s state of mind was.

“… Still, it’s truly fortunate.”

“What is fortunate?”

“This Kim Dae-bung fellow is taking this examination, isn’t he? If we select him and listen to his loyal counsel, we’ll be able to comfort the people’s lives.”

A smile bloomed on King Sejong’s face.

That’s right. If there was a minister who could point out flawed policies, wouldn’t they be able to improve the people’s lives?

“As expected of you, Father.”

The worry that had clouded King Sejong’s face completely cleared away.

King Taejong Lee Bang-won looked at his son with a pleased smile.

“A loyal subject must be made to fulfill his duty as a faithful servant.”

If Kim Dae-bung had heard these words directly, he would have tried to escape by any means necessary.

Because “faithful servant” was a pledge of loyalty meaning a subject would work for the king like Hwang Hee, and for a king to use these words directly meant…

Because it was a sentence to work him to death.

But Kim Dae-bung, who had no idea of this fact even in his dreams, entered the Civil Service Examination Hall with a cheerful heart.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————