He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 115

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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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Resocialization of the Butcher (6)

Jangseong Village, Icheon County, Gyeonggi Province.

Today, the reservoir construction is in full swing.

Only by starting the embankment construction at this time can it be completed before the rainy season when heavy rains pour down, and only then can collecting water for next year’s farming become easier.

Those participating in the construction here are those who chose 3 years of labor service as the price for becoming ‘common people’ from butchers under Kim Dae-bung’s policy.

“This is much harder than slaughtering and butchering cattle. It’s so hard I feel like I’m going to die. This back doesn’t feel like mine anymore. If it were my back, it couldn’t hurt this much.”

The butchers working here are those who lived as nomads, wandering from place to place and experiencing nomadic life, and those who often hunted to make a living.

The work of butchering – striking down with a sword to cut the necks of cattle several times larger than humans, and removing the flesh and hide attached to bones…

It’s really no ordinary work.

As a result, butchers needed exceptionally strong physical strength to make a living.

Nevertheless, the civil engineering work they’re doing now requires squeezing out all the strength in their bodies, and the working hours are also long, so even Im Kkeok-jeong, who has lived as a butcher for over 30 years, naturally lets out words about how hard it is and how he feels like dying.

“Damn it, why is this so hard? Slaughtering cattle is definitely better.”

He keeps grumbling with his mouth, but even so, his body doesn’t stop digging with the shovel.

It’s extremely hard, but it’s not to the point where it’s completely impossible, and he remembered what the Icheon magistrate had said not long ago.

Criminal butcher bastards with swollen livers set fires and burned about 20% of Hanyang, even killing 1,800 people of Hanyang.

The enraged king captured all the arsonists and made them directly watch their wives and children’s necks being cut, and the arsonists were burned alive, then taken out just before death and torn apart limb by limb to death.

After executing those arsonist butcher bastards, the king gave the butchers not involved in this crime the last chance to become common people of Joseon, and if there were butchers who refused even this opportunity, they would be dragged to the mines along with their wives and children to work until death.

“I’m really dying from exhaustion, when will this embankment construction ever end…”

He would have to continue this work for a full 3 more years, and when his thoughts reached that point, he really wanted to die.

Nevertheless, as he continued working silently, he suddenly felt as if all the strength in his body was draining away.

“Im Kkeok-jeong! What’s wrong?”

Seeing him stagger slightly, a government office soldier quickly approached and examined Im Kkeok-jeong’s complexion and body.

Considering that previously, it would have been completely impossible for a person who was a soldier equivalent to a common person to worry about him, this was truly an amazing change.

“Did you forget His Majesty’s order that after completing three years of hard labor, you should become people of Joseon and live together farming?”

“No, sir.”

“What did the workshop master say before starting work today? He told you to speak up immediately if you feel unwell and rest a bit. At times like that, you should drink salt water and rest for about one gak (15 minutes). If you just endure everything, you’ll die, die.”

The soldier’s words, when examined closely, don’t make sense.

What about all that urging to work to death, and now when someone is actually struggling and about to collapse, he’s asking why they didn’t rest.

This is the same person who would have scolded them saying ‘Yeah, don’t think about being clever and work harder’ if they had actually said they were tired and wanted to rest.

It’s quite contradictory, but that’s how all the work ordered by Joseon government offices is.

Nevertheless, Im Kkeok-jeong is secretly moved by the soldier’s words.

In the past, whether a butcher like himself collapsed during forced labor or not, no one – whether soldiers or local clerks – would have cared.

Because lowly butchers and outcasts weren’t the same kind of people as them.

But now that soldier is worrying about him like this, which means he sees him as a person…

“I’m fine.”

“What do you mean fine. Actually, I also came from my hometown quite far from here, dragged here for military service. Watching you people who have to work construction to death for three years doesn’t feel like someone else’s problem. Just rest for about one gak and the work meal will come too.”

“Work meal, you say?”

“The village people said you’re working hard and it must be difficult, so they prepared a work meal and makgeolli.”

The village people were also wary at first when they saw the butchers who appeared to build the reservoir.

But after a month of being in the village without causing problems and working diligently on construction, they had somewhat lowered their guard.

Watching the butchers sweating in the reservoir construction project that was essential for the village but really difficult to build…

Public opinion emerged that although they were butchers, they were pitiful, and some people thought they were admirable after hearing that they were working so hard because they wanted to farm and live like themselves.

As a result, the village people finally came to provide work meals to the butchers.

“Are you really giving us a work meal?”

“What’s so great about a work meal that you’re so happy? A month ago when the magistrate gave you meat and alcohol, you didn’t seem that pleased.”

Im Kkeok-jeong saw possibility here.

Just three more years, if he really thought of himself as dead and rolled around for just three years, not only himself but even his wives and children could live without being pointed at and called butchers.

That alone gave him the will to regain his strength.

Even after being incorporated into the general commoners, the problem of making a living wouldn’t be so easy…

Still, if he could live as a person who wasn’t an object of contempt and disdain, he would be so grateful for that alone.

“I’m so happy thinking that in three years, I too will be able to live like a human being.”

The soldier nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Honestly, when he himself thought about those called butchers, he had thought they weren’t people but ghosts in human form.

So he had always been on guard.

The governor had also said that those bastards were unpredictable, so he should always be prepared to kill them if necessary.

But after watching those working on construction up close for a month, even he who had been dragged here as a soldier began to think they were pitiful people, and at the same time realized they were human beings just like himself.

It was truly amazing.

“Hang in there a little longer.”

“Yes.”

**

King Sejong and Lee Bang-won devoted their utmost effort to accepting the butchers as people of Joseon.

Though their efforts achieved some results, there were always those who remained alienated.

It was these alienated ones who had eaten away at Joseon by committing various crimes like the Great Fire of Hanyang.

While implementing Kim Dae-bung’s new butcher policy, King Sejong and Lee Bang-won ordered local officials to regularly write and send official reports about the butchers, or rather the former butchers who had now become commoners.

“It’s already been a month since the butchers began their labor service in counties across the nation.”

“Yes, His Majesty. The aftermath of that terrible fire that burned Hanyang is finally settling down a bit, and I’m really curious about how those new butchers… no, those who have newly become commoners are getting along.”

Lee Bang-won urged King Sejong to hurry up and read the official report and pass it to him.

Hearing the urging, King Sejong hurriedly read it, then smiled brightly and handed the official report to Lee Bang-won.

Seeing King Sejong’s smile, Lee Bang-won guessed it contained good news and snatched the official report away.

“While those bastards from Former Goryeo only practiced exclusion instead of embracing the outcasts, our Joseon has succeeded in completely embracing them with virtue!”

The content written in the official report was as follows.

At first, the villagers were wary of the butchers who were skilled at archery and even rode horses, finding them frightening.

However, as they watched these people take on extremely difficult tasks that the common people should have done—such as building reservoirs, maintaining various roads, and constructing stone bridges—many began to feel grateful…

Seeing them endure harsh labor with only the desire to become commoners like themselves after three years, people began to view the butchers with admiration and pity, gradually creating an atmosphere of opening their hearts to them.

If things continue this way, there will be many reservoirs built by them throughout Joseon, gradually making agricultural water supply easier and making farming tasks like rice transplanting more convenient…

“Because they couldn’t establish themselves among the people, I gave them land and food, and commanded the people to somehow guide them well… but it seems what was needed was for them to first approach the people with a humble attitude.”

King Sejong sighed after hearing Lee Bang-won’s words.

“After reading the official report that they are being accepted by the people, I painfully realized my own shortcomings.”

“I have never once felt that you lacked anything, so why do you think that way?”

“I wanted to be a benevolent king, but I did not know how the people would think about and accept the policies I implemented. Thus, until Kim Dae-bung submitted his written memorial, I tried to introduce currency thinking only that it would help the country, and nearly experienced a great failure.”

Lee Bang-won and King Sejong had made desperate efforts to introduce currency in Joseon without Kim Dae-bung.

The result of those efforts was disastrous.

Since they were both exceptionally outstanding kings, even without experiencing it directly, they could roughly imagine what would have happened due to currency if Kim Dae-bung hadn’t been there.

“This is because I only saw the people as subjects to be taught and comforted, without trying to understand what problems they actually face and encounter in their lives. Kim Dae-bung knew this, which is why he submitted a written memorial to prevent it.”

Lee Bang-won nodded his head.

“Your words are correct.”

“From now on, I will study how the people live, what they think, and what they desire. By doing so, I want to help them even a little more. If I do that, even if I cannot achieve a golden age of peace, couldn’t I at least get close to it?”

A golden age of peace—the world that people and ministers desire most.

At the same time, it is an ideal that can never be achieved.

While reading the official report, King Sejong resolved to run toward a goal that could never be achieved even with lifelong effort and dedication.

“Thinking this way, there is one more thing I find regrettable.”

“What is it?”

“Unlike me, the people cannot write or read Chinese characters, so they cannot record or convey what they want to say. How wonderful would it be if writing were easier for the people to read and write? Then I, as king, could know more about the people and empathize with them.”

In King Sejong’s heart as he spoke those words, a new dream began to sprout.

It was to create a world where all people could read and write.

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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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