He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 105

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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 (4)

On the day when a great fire broke out in Hanyang, King Sejong and King Taejong Lee Bang-won had left the palace and were devoted to hunting.

Even before this, Lee Bang-won had often gone hunting using the excuse that King Sejong needed to move his body for his health, spending both the Royal Court budget and royal private funds…

So the fact that they were hunting now wasn’t particularly special in itself.

However, there was something unusual – the hunting style of King Sejong and King Taejong had changed significantly from before.

“Your Majesty, is there any discomfort in riding the horse?”

“It’s already been over a year since Retired King personally taught me horsemanship, so I don’t get tired from riding this much.”

Lee Bang-won smiled broadly upon hearing those words.

In his view, if there was one thing King Sejong lacked, it was physical strength.

But now he had lost much of the weight he had gained, and his stamina had improved greatly, showing no signs of fatigue even after riding around for 2 si-jin (4 hours).

Of course, if Lee Seong-gye were alive, he would have said that any man from our family should be able to ride for two days, not just 2 si-jin, without getting tired…

But since even some able-bodied men get tired after riding for about 2 si-jin, this was quite an improvement.

“Your Majesty rides so well and has become so healthy – this is truly a great blessing. It’s as if I can see Jongmyo and Sajik Shrine becoming stronger day by day.”

“Then this time I must catch a superior grade game and personally offer sacrifice to King Taejo.”

“Your Majesty’s body has become strong and your filial devotion is so sincere – now I truly have no worries.”

Originally, a Royal Hunt involved beaters driving about three prey animals to the king who sat still, and the king would shoot them.

And all soldiers and civilians from surrounding areas were allowed to hunt freely.

However, King Sejong and King Taejong had finished all the ceremonial procedures and were now hunting freely.

While moving through the hunting grounds on horseback at a fairly fast pace, Lee Bang-won spotted a wild boar.

Lee Bang-won gestured for everyone around to be quiet, had King Sejong stop his horse, then signaled him to take up his bow.

King Sejong and Lee Bang-won held their breath and drew their bowstrings taut.

They aimed for the wild boar’s right shoulder, which would be good for offering at Jongmyo.

If an arrow pierced the right shoulder, went through the heart, and came out toward the left shoulder, it would be superior grade – precious sacrificial food to offer at Jongmyo.

When King Sejong gave a look, both released their bowstrings simultaneously.

The two arrows were fortunate enough to successfully kill the wild boar instantly.

“Your Majesty, very well done! Haha, to think the day would come when Your Majesty and I would ride horses and shoot arrows to hunt a wild boar so perfectly! Isn’t this a joyous occasion worthy of being recorded in the historical records for posterity?”

“Since Retired King is so robust and caught the wild boar so perfectly, it is indeed a great celebration.”

“I believe this was possible because Your Majesty did not neglect physical training and steadily practiced horsemanship and archery even while busy with state affairs. Since this was possible because Your Majesty’s body became strong, it is truly a great celebration.”

The warriors of the Royal Guards and Gyeomsabok nearby shouted “Long live!” three times in agreement with those words.

King Taejong thought he should give these perceptive people at least one seom of rice each.

And King Taejong, feeling good, wanted to ride this momentum to suddenly brag about his son, so he asked the Commander of Gyeomsabok.

“What do you think of His Majesty’s equestrian skills, Commander of Gyeomsabok?”

“How could this humble subject evaluate His Majesty’s equestrian skills?”

“His Majesty will continue to practice horsemanship, train in mounted martial arts excluding mounted acrobatics, and strengthen his body. Then the Commander of Gyeomsabok will have to serve as his teacher, so speak freely without reservation.”

“He is not lacking even when compared to the mounted regular soldiers of the Ten Guards. If he continues to practice equestrian arts steadily as he does now for about 1-2 more years and learns mounted archery, he will reach a level comparable to heavy cavalry, excluding mounted acrobatics.”

“I don’t know about regular mounted soldiers, but isn’t saying heavy cavalry too much of an exaggeration?”

“His Majesty has already shot 50 arrows and hit 47 of them. For someone who has achieved this much in just 3 years of learning archery, I speak with confidence as a military officer.”

Upon hearing those words, King Taejong Lee Bang-won’s smile stretched from ear to ear.

If his son could shoot arrows while riding a horse, someday he would be able to see with his own eyes his son hunting beasts by shooting arrows while mounted.

Just thinking about it as a father made him feel good.

“Since the Commander of Gyeomsabok says so, I am truly pleased. I will specially bestow a treasured sword upon the Commander of Gyeomsabok, so receive it and steel your resolve to do your utmost in protecting His Majesty from now on.”

“Yes, Retired King.”

“And when you think about it, isn’t His Majesty’s body becoming so healthy and agile also because Kim Dae-bung risked his life to offer me loyal counsel?”

At those words, King Sejong flinched.

It was an undeniable fact that his body had become agile and healthy, and he had become a very powerful man at night, which was good in many ways.

However, he remembered the pain of dragging his heavy body up Bukaksan Mountain once a day thanks to Kim Dae-bung’s loyal counsel, and the sorrow of having to ‘exercise’ instead of enjoying his beloved night work and reading.

Out of spite, he thought he should make him a minister as soon as possible and work him for life.

“I heard that three tigers were caught today. I will bestow one of their pelts upon Kim Dae-bung to reward his loyalty.”

“Your grace is boundless.”

“Since the Royal Court’s budget is ample, from today until the end of the Royal Hunt, ensure that even the slaves can eat meat to their heart’s content by purchasing cattle, pigs, and chickens in addition to the hunted beasts for cooking.”

While such warm conversation was taking place, in the distance, an official could be seen riding a horse and approaching very urgently.

Seeing that his appearance wasn’t very good as he approached the king…

He must have come to deliver very bad and urgent news.

“Your Majesty, disaster has struck! A great fire has broken out in Hanyang!”

“How much damage has there been?”

“I do not know that much, Your Majesty. Right now, Queen Consort is leading the firefighting efforts herself despite being heavily pregnant. Moreover, since we’re focused on extinguishing the fire, we cannot determine who the arsonist is.”

There could be no greater disaster than this.

While the king was away, some bastard who deserved to be torn limb from limb had appeared and set fire to Hanyang.

“His Majesty, it seems I must return to the palace immediately.”

“Yes, now is not the time to be conducting a Royal Hunt.”

Lee Bang-won and King Sejong returning to the palace wouldn’t immediately extinguish the fire.

However, the arsonist bastards who caused this fire could set additional fires at any time after setting the first one.

To prevent such additional damage, the king had to return quickly.

There were countless disaster victims in Hanyang to care for, reconstruction to do… there was a mountain of work.

“I will return immediately. Prepare at once. Skip all complicated procedures entirely, and return to the palace as quickly as possible!”

“Yes, Retired King.”

In King Sejong’s mind, that wasn’t enough.

With his stamina and horsemanship, if he rode very fast from here in Gwangju County in Gyeonggi Province to Hanyang, he could get there within half a day.

If he, as king, returned even a little faster, he could reduce the damage…

“Retired King, I will ride on horseback and return to Gyeongbok Palace.”

“Riding fast on horseback is dangerous.”

“If I go with the Gyeomsabok and Naegeum-wi warriors here, protecting myself from bandits or those who would harm me shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Lee Bang-won could no longer oppose King Sejong when he spoke this firmly.

Judging from King Sejong’s horsemanship skills shown just moments ago, it seemed entirely possible for him to travel from Gwangju to Hanyang on horseback.

“Commander of Gyeomsabok must watch carefully to ensure Your Majesty doesn’t overexert himself.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Once Lee Bang-won’s permission was granted, King Sejong immediately rode his horse toward Hanyang.

**

As King Sejong had expected, he and his party were able to arrive at Gyeongbok Palace in less than half a day.

“What is the current situation, Queen?”

Queen Soheon, who had been commanding the firefighting efforts in King Sejong’s place, explained the detailed situation.

By divine providence, they were able to safely protect Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo, but since fires had broken out throughout Hanseong, thousands of houses would have been completely burned down and many Common People would have been injured or killed.

Tears streamed down King Sejong’s eyes as he heard the story.

His heart ached terribly thinking of the countless Common People who must have died painfully in the flames.

He had thought that with the implementation of the Bangwon Method, he had finally given the Common People hope to live for the future.

How could so many Common People have to die without even properly tasting that hope?

“First, we opened Gyeongchang to cook porridge for those who lost their homes. And in suppressing this fire, Kim Dae-bung, the Inspector of Jeonhamsa, truly rendered great service.”

“Kim Dae-bung again? Kim Dae-bung is truly a loyal subject, a loyal subject… So what kind of service did he render?”

“As soon as he learned of the fire, he first evacuated his household members to safety. Then he himself put on his Official Robes and stood before the Common People to calm those who were in chaos due to the fire. After that, he personally took up a hammer and together with the Common People demolished houses in the direction the fire would spread, preventing it from spreading further. Even in the urgent situation, he reported to me a plan to catch the arsonists. Thanks to this, we were able to arrest 30 people suspected of being arsonists.”

King Sejong was deeply moved.

As a civil official rather than a military one, there was no need for him to step forward and lead the firefighting efforts.

Nevertheless, he risked his own life and comforted the Common People on the front lines, making them put out the fire.

‘Kim Dae-bung must have saved at least thousands of Hanyang’s Common People.’

“Upon hearing that he collapsed and fainted on the spot as soon as he heard the fire was extinguished, I had the Royal Physician examine his condition.”

Royal Physicians didn’t necessarily only have to care for the king and royal family.

They also had the additional duty of caring for Government Officials of the 2nd rank or higher.

So Queen Soheon’s measure was not greatly wrong.

If they couldn’t even send a Royal Physician to a subject who had rendered service with the resolve to sacrifice his body for the country, what kind of unreasonable case would that be?

“Looking at the Official Robes Kim Dae-bung was wearing, they were covered in mud and had holes burned through them from fire starter sparks flying everywhere, making them almost no different from rags.”

Right now, King Sejong had an enormous amount of work to do.

Nevertheless, King Sejong decided to visit Kim Dae-bung first.

He believed it was also a king’s duty to look after a subject who had risked his own life to protect Hanyang.

As soon as King Sejong asked for Kim Dae-bung’s location, he immediately rushed there.

“Your Majesty.”

When King Sejong entered, his eyes saw Kim Dae-bung’s body thickly covered with all kinds of medicinal ointment.

His entire body was covered with burn marks and injury scars.

“How is Kim Dae-bung’s condition?”

“He has passed the critical point, Your Majesty. He will regain consciousness and wake up soon.”

King Sejong wept as he looked at Kim Dae-bung.

These were injuries sustained by someone who didn’t need to take risks, yet threw himself into danger to save even one more of the common people.

Seeing those scars made him feel as if this disaster had occurred because he hadn’t listened more carefully to his loyal advice.

“… Everything is all my fault. Therefore, Royal Physician, you must save Kim Dae-bung by any means necessary.”

King Sejong said this and took off his gonryongpo, placing it beside Kim Dae-bung.

“When the medicinal ointment dries, cover him with this directly. You must absolutely not let this become Kim Dae-bung’s burial shroud.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The very idea of using a gonryongpo as a burial shroud was nonsensical, but the Royal Physician wasn’t foolish enough to object to this.

It was judgment befitting someone who had risen beyond the typical promotion ceiling for royal physicians of junior third rank and climbed even higher.

This anecdote was later recorded in textbooks as an actual heartwarming story that took place.

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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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