He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Great Fire of Hanyang (2)

Good premonitions often go astray, but somehow bad premonitions always come true without fail.

A fire broke out in Hanyang.

And it’s near our house at that.

“What crazy bastard set fire to Hanyang? That son of a bitch deserves to be torn limb from limb.”

I said that, but I’m human too.

A fire breaking out nearby means our house could also be engulfed in flames if we’re not careful, and in the worst-case scenario, Gyeoul-i and I could burn to death.

The fear that I might die for the first time in my life… no, that’s not right.

Once when I was hit by a truck and died in my previous life.

And once more when I submitted the written memorial to Lee Bang-won, so this is already the third time I’m facing it…

The first time I died before I could even feel anything, so I didn’t know what it was. The second time was done out of responsibility as someone who knows the future, for the sake of Joseon’s Common People, so I was prepared to die. Now it’s a completely different situation from those two cases.

Now I have no preparation or resolve whatsoever, and there’s Gyeoul-i to protect and even the child in her womb.

Thinking that far, fear came rushing in.

My hands and feet trembled, and the terror of what might happen to me and my family right now made my whole body stiffen.

“Damn it, really.”

Curses I don’t usually use came out of my mouth naturally.

But swearing like this made me feel my body, which had stiffened from being caught in panic, gradually loosening up.

I gathered the servants around me.

“Maknye and Chilsuni, take Gyeoul-i and quickly head toward Noryangjin. You need to go somewhere as far away from central Hanyang as possible to be safe.”

“Wouldn’t that direction be more dangerous?”

“I can’t know the exact situation right now, but if this fire started from someone’s mistake, we should hear the homeowner wailing in despair. But we don’t hear any such sounds from the surroundings at all, and seeing the circumstances that the fire isn’t in just one place, someone definitely committed arson.”

I heard that the first thing to do when a fire breaks out is to keep your wits about you.

If you stay alert, you’ll somehow survive, but if you fall into panic, you’ll die even in situations where you could live.

So to save Gyeoul-i and the child, I must help Gyeoul-i and our household servants keep their wits about them.

To do that, as the head of this household, I must put on a dignified appearance and act as if this fire is nothing at all, giving them the confidence that ‘if you just trust and follow me, you can survive.’

“Wouldn’t arsonists like this move around in groups? Like bandit gangs.”

“Yes, master.”

“They might have set fires throughout Hanyang where many people live, then tried to steal things in the chaos. And if we happen to encounter the arsonists, we could be kidnapped in the confusion and suffer shameful things.”

In Joseon, the top item on household Property Records is real estate, second is Cattle or horses, and third is people.

Among people, especially a beauty like Winter is worth at least ten Tile-roofed Houses in Hanyang.

Converted to White Rice, that’s thousands of Seom.

But if arsonists who committed arson—which carries a basic death sentence in Joseon—encounter Winter, would they really hesitate to kidnap her?

‘Why wouldn’t they kidnap a profitable beauty?’

Once kidnapped, the probability that even I wouldn’t be able to find her is extremely high.

“Our House might burn down, so Gapseok, dig a pit about one ja deep and bury the Book with Property Records, the Land Registry, and precious Jewelry in the ground.”

“Yes, master.”

“And bring out my Official Robes.”

“Why do you suddenly mention Official Robes?”

Even outside our House, people were shouting wildly and running around in complete chaos.

Also, seeing that I could smell acrid smoke, I could tell the fire had spread quite close.

Going through this insane party, one word naturally comes to mind.

‘The Great Fire of Hanyang.’

That worst fire that burned about 15% of Hanyang.

According to the records in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, 32 people died in this fire.

In reality, several times that number, or perhaps even dozens of times more people might have died.

Because the number 32 only counted confirmed human-shaped corpses found after the fire.

Just because 15% of Hanyang burned doesn’t mean 15% of residents burned to death, but in the fire called the Great Meireki Fire that burned half of Edo, at least 100,000 people died…

Even in the Great Fire of Hanyang, thousands of people might have died.

“To put out the fire, even if we combine everyone’s strength it won’t be enough, yet everyone is scattered and running around in confusion. At this rate, far from containing the flames, they’ll only spread further. So I must go and calm the people, guiding everyone to work together and focus on extinguishing the fire.”

During the Imjin War at the Battle of Yongin, Wakizaka Yasuharu was able to achieve a great victory with merely 1,500 Japanese troops against 50,000 Joseon forces.

The reason was extremely simple.

Because the Japanese fought with desperate resolve, the unprepared Joseon Righteous Army and government forces were terrified, and the command structure was also a complete mess, so they failed to organize the Joseon Army.

The current situation is similar.

If I don’t want the damage to expand further… I must somehow gather the scattered people into one.

What’s needed for that is precisely the authority I possess, and what dramatically demonstrates that is my Official Robes.

‘Joseon is a country where even virgin ghosts seek out the Magistrate to resolve their grudges.’

I received my Official Robes from Gyeoul-i and quickly changed into them.

“My Lord…”

“I will definitely return alive, so don’t worry too much. You’re not alone anymore, so above all, take care of yourself. Never overexert yourself.”

Right now King Sejong and Lee Bang-won are temporarily away from Hanyang to observe the Royal Hunt (large-scale military training).

So just as it happened in the original history, Queen Soheon in her final month of pregnancy would step forward to take overall command of Hanyang’s fire suppression.

Queen Soheon, who accomplished such a thing with a body in its final month, was truly remarkable and admirable, but…

‘There’s no reason or need to make Gyeoul-i do such strenuous work.’

Gyeoul-i tried to hold me back, but I pushed past that and quickly ran outside.

The situation was far more of a spectacle than I had imagined.

“Help! Fire, fire!”

“Move aside, get out of the way! If you don’t move, it’s you die and I live! Got it? Unless you’re crazy enough to want to die, hurry up and move!”

Looking at the clothing worn by the crowd running around in confusion over there, it was mostly Hanbok made from Cotton Cloth.

That meant they weren’t people from particularly wealthy households.

The house I live in was supposedly where the Chief State Councilor lived, so in Korean terms it would be somewhere like Hannam-dong or Seongbuk-dong, and there isn’t a single person in this neighborhood who goes around wearing clothes made of cotton.

Slaves wear worn-out or poor-quality clothes, while Yangban like me wear clothes made of silk.

Then the group wearing clothes made of Cotton Cloth are not from this neighborhood, so seeing such people flocking here.

‘The fire must have spread quite a lot.’

The situation doesn’t seem ordinary serious.

“Get your heads straight!”

When I shouted loudly, everyone who was running wild in the area turned to look at me simultaneously.

Who the hell is this guy? They looked ready to throw a punch.

However, people who saw the Official Robes I was wearing put down their thoughts of swinging their fists.

Although the situation is quite urgent, seeing me who is much higher in status than themselves, their anger management disorder was cured.

“This Magistrate is Kim Dae-bung, Inspector of the Warship Construction Office. I am that very Kim Dae-bung who risked his life to submit a written memorial to Retired King.”

When controlling such situations, authority works very well above all else.

“Do you think you can really survive by running away now? Even if you run hard, you’ll just burn to death from fires that have spread to other places.”

Actually, I don’t know where the fire started or where it’s burning either.

From the circumstances, it seems like arson incidents broke out simultaneously throughout Hanyang, but I can’t even guess exactly where.

“All men aged 15 and above here should follow my instructions. Then we can put out the fire and you can survive too.”

At my words, one familiar Yangban questioned me.

He is Kim Saeng-won.

“No matter how hard Inspector My Lord tries, you won’t be able to extinguish that great fire. So would it really help if we join forces here?”

“What Kim Saeng-won says also has merit. However, if we leave the fire alone and run away like this, both Kim Saeng-won’s house and my house will all burn down. Isn’t that right?”

That Kim Saeng-won fellow had good grandfather and Father, so while he himself has only passed the initial examination, he lives very well as a rich unemployed man in a whale-sized big house.

From what I’ve heard, besides his main wife, he has two pretty concubines, and is secretly involved with one slave too.

This is definitely a golden spoon bastard who has everything.

He doesn’t work and just plays around to his heart’s content.

Anyway, right now there’s no time to judge and think about that bastard’s private life.

“Please lend me the slaves from the Saengwon’s household for a moment.”

“I shall do so.”

“Good. From now on, all men aged 15 and above in this area must follow my instructions. To those who follow my words and put their strength into preventing the fire from spreading, I will give rice from my own private funds.”

“Is that really true?”

“Would I lie to you people?”

If I were the Governor of Hanseong or a military official from a Hanyang administrative agency like the Chungmu Guard, I would have drawn my sword and threatened to govern by ‘military law’.

In the current situation, violent threats backed by public authority would be a much more effective method than promising to give rice.

Rather than ‘Will you risk death for money?’, saying ‘Put out the fire if you don’t want to die right now’ would have a much more powerful effect.

Even Confucius once said that when there’s a fire, it’s much more effective to say you’ll kill those who don’t put out the fire rather than promising rewards to those who do.

“Those who participate in extinguishing the fire here, I will surely give them plenty of rice. I will give it regardless of whether they are slaves or commoners, so follow my instructions.”

Setting aside Queen Soheon commanding the firefighting activities, I should first put out the fire that has fallen on my own feet.

And then I must rush to the Royal Court to advise on methods to catch the culprit.

I cannot just leave the bastards who set the fire alone… I will definitely catch them.

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