He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 114

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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 Resocialization of Butchers (5)

The Butcher education policy I created is being implemented throughout all of Joseon.

Nevertheless, there are still a considerable number of people who refuse to accept this new policy that Joseon has put forward.

“There are truly many in this world who repay goodwill with malice. Don’t you think so, Inspector Kim?”

Kim Jong-seo, who was once my equal, nodded his head upon hearing my words.

“Yes, My Lord. We treated those who were once called Hwacheok and received worse treatment than commoners so well – incorporating them as common people, giving them land, and even lending them Cattle. Yet there are still those who refuse to be civilized in the end… Even when people treat them really well with kind words, they can’t properly accept it.”

“What can we do when they want to drink their own punishment?”

The majority of Butchers accepted the Civilization policy that Joseon put forward.

When we gently coax them with a Sword in the right hand and hope to live as citizens of Joseon in the left hand, what choice do they have?

Either die right now along with their Wives and Children, or struggle like dogs for a few years and then live like human beings.

Of course they would choose the latter.

If they have proper minds and can think about their families and future, that is.

However, some bastards stubbornly resisted, saying they could not accept it.

“We can’t kill them all, so how about just making them all Slaves? I hear that lately the ironworkers are crying out that they lack Slaves to work in the mines. There are plenty of other places that need Slaves too.”

“Let’s use only those who led the opposition to the Royal Court’s measures as Slaves to work in the mines, and finish with the others by directly instilling patriotic spirit into their bodies.”

“You mean to teach the Butchers how to read? I believe their nature is rotten to the core, so Civilization would be truly difficult.”

Well, those who rebel to this extent honestly deserve to have their character itself seriously suspected of being rotten.

What Jeong Chang-son would later say when opposing the creation of Hangeul – ‘The lowly Common People have rotten character by nature, so even with education they cannot become filial sons or virtuous women, Your Majesty?’ – was wrong both Confucianly and as a civil servant…

But honestly, since they’re full-grown adults who have even dabbled in various crimes, most are already rotten to the core.

‘Very occasionally there are cases where they change into good people.’

But separately from that, seeing Kim Jong-seo of all people suggesting to send them to work as mine Slaves.

It seems like he suffered great economic losses from this fire and is suggesting to send them to work as mine Slaves for his Tantrum.

“Inspector Kim, did you lose much in this fire?”

Upon hearing my words, Kim Jong-seo’s eyes instantly reddened.

Then he bowed his head deeply and spoke in a dejected voice.

“I bought a fairly large Tile-roofed House in Bukchon to live with my parents… but because of those bastards not worth chewing up and spitting out, that House burned down completely.”

“What a pitiful matter.”

“It was a House worth 500 seom of White Rice. 500 seom of White Rice turned to Ash in an instant. The silk and other things I had stored in the Warehouse all burned up too, so I’ve become a pauper now…”

In the 21st century, unless you’re quite wealthy, most people put all their assets into their homes, so if the House burns down it would be an enormous loss…

But in Joseon, the number one item on the property list is still the farmland one owns.

Even if the House burned down, the farmland would remain, so if he just endures until this year’s harvest season, he should somehow manage to make a living.

Until then, I can only wish him good luck.

“The Butchers who rebelled against His Majesty’s royal command are currently imprisoned in each County’s prison. Their number reaches as many as 3,000.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

“To teach them proper etiquette, we shouldn’t teach them writing, but teach them very painfully with their bodies… Do you have any thoughts of trying that?”

Teaching them painfully with their bodies doesn’t mean Torture will take place.

Rather, training that would make Guerrilla Training look somewhat laughable will be conducted over several months while brainwashing and instilling the moral concepts necessary to live as citizens of Joseon.

“It would also be an opportunity to temporarily leave the State Council.”

According to what’s written in the records, Hwang Hee caught Kim Jong-seo like catching a mouse.

When I came to the State Council, I could see that just as those words said, Kim Jong-seo was receiving very severe scolding from Hwang Hee.

When handling work, if you write even one character wrong, he’ll tear into you asking if you really learned how to use a brush properly, seeing how you write like that…

He even said he’d buy proper new shoes, claiming that seeing you favor one leg suggests your shoes must be wrong.

By Korean standards, this would be considered problematic harassment, but by Joseon standards, it’s not a problem at all, so no one takes issue with it.

Actually, Hwang Hee’s harsh treatment like this also helps hide Kim Jong-seo’s character flaws.

He’s naturally quite unilateral and tends to get criticized for it, but when people see him getting severely scolded by Hwang Hee, they think ‘That poor fellow must be having a hard time’ and sympathize with him and include him.

What a strange relationship.

“Please send me. Though I may not be a military official, isn’t civilization clearly the work of civil officials? I can do it very well.”

“Do so.”

“How about taking Jibong (Hwangbo In’s pen name) along as well?”

Hwang Hee answered that question instead.

“We’ll send Inspector Hwangbo, so Inspector Kim can just stay here.”

“…”

“If both Inspector Kim and Inspector Hwangbo are gone, won’t the State Council work come to a halt? That won’t do. If you’re going, Inspector Kim goes alone.”

“Yes, Chief Minister.”

Kim Jong-seo abandoned Hwangbo In just like that.

Honestly, since neither Hwang Hee nor Jo Mal-saeng gives me a hard time, the State Council work is manageable for me, but those two are dying trying to process piles of work within ‘scheduled time’ while dealing with various harsh treatment.

If they don’t finish work on time, Hwang Hee gets summoned by King Sejong.

But Kim Jong-seo leaves and only Hwangbo In remains here? That means Hwangbo In’s workload doubles.

I shouldn’t treat my subordinates so harshly like that.

“I’ve roughly put together the framework. Since Inspector Kim said he’s going, organize the personnel and budget needed to civilize those 3,000 people and report by tomorrow.”

“Yes, did I hear wrong?”

“I said to submit the report by tomorrow. You can do it by tomorrow while handling your other work, can’t you? I know Inspector Kim can do it all. Oh, of course no overtime work. His Majesty dislikes that.”

With Kim Jong-seo’s capabilities that I’ve observed so far, he should be able to write that report while finishing other work by tomorrow.

Unlike Hwang Hee and Jo Mal-saeng, I only assign the maximum amount of work a person can handle, so what a kind superior I am.

Perhaps moved by my goodwill, Kim Jong-seo said nothing and returned to his seat with the documents containing the framework I had prepared.

And I went to find Hwang Hee since I had something to report.

“Chief Minister.”

“Speak.”

“I’ve been observing carefully for some time, and calves born from mating between large bulls and cows were significantly larger than other cattle when fully grown.”

Actually, I’ve never seen such a thing.

However, when the Industrial Revolution occurred in England, they succeeded in dramatically increasing cattle size using crossbreeding and mating.

For example, English cattle in 1700 weighed only 170kg when fully grown, but by 1786 this had increased to 380kg.

This was possible because the English succeeded in improving breeds by gathering the finest cattle and crossbreeding them.

“Continue speaking.”

“Inspired by that fact, what if we gather livestock like cattle, pigs, horses, chickens, and sheep, as well as rice, grains, and fruit-bearing trees from counties nationwide to Hanyang, then crossbreed and mate only the finest specimens?”

“Large bulls and cows mating to produce calves that become very large when they reach adulthood… indeed, that would be so.”

“If we repeat this process again and again, then send them to counties throughout Joseon to repeat breeding once more, Joseon’s cattle will gradually grow larger. Then we could obtain greater quantities of beef and create farm cattle capable of plowing wider areas.”

Genetic improvement isn’t particularly difficult if you only want to do basic, simple things.

Just do as I described.

“It would be good to hold this like an annual competition after each harvest. We could hold competitions and festivals at village, county, provincial, and national levels. Those who participate in each competition and win should be given prizes.”

“Village competition winners get one seom of rice, county winners get 30 seom of rice, provincial level gets 100 seom, and national competition winners should receive a generous 300 seom or so.”

“These competitions won’t just be for cattle but will have all sorts of categories – will the finances be alright?”

“We’ll use this standard for cattle, and adjust the prize money for other competitions. Besides, it needs to be at that level for farmers and yangban to work hard at raising bigger cattle, don’t you think?”

That made sense too.

Moreover, Joseon wasn’t such a poor country that it couldn’t afford those kinds of rewards.

And the benefits gained from improving livestock, grains, fruits and such would be enormous, so it’s definitely not a losing proposition.

“The common people will be happy with more festivals and prize money, and it will be of great help to the country.”

Hwang Hee chuckled.

“If rice ears that used to produce 200 grains could produce just 210, wouldn’t that mean harvesting 5 percent more rice from the same area of field? If we continue developing this way, wouldn’t Joseon’s income increase greatly? But this old man finds it very difficult to devise new systems and write reports, so Scribe Kim should handle the writing. I’ll just do the reviewing.”

And so I increased my workload once again.

Still, livestock improvement and breed improvement are essential for Joseon’s development, so what choice do I have?

I have no choice but to work hard at it.

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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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