He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 119

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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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Breaking the Cartel (4)

A rumor is circulating in the Hanyang Market Guild.

The content was that the wealthy Sijeon Merchants were trying to monopolize everything.

The source of this rumor would be those who received Kim Man-seok’s donations, but since that fact was not of interest to the Sijeon Merchants, no one paid attention to it.

And like a communist specter, that rumor stirred up ‘burning anger’ among the small and medium-sized Sijeon Merchants.

Those burning with anger, jealousy, and resentment gathered in one place today.

At the gathering, one Sijeon merchant broke the silence and spoke.

“No, does this even make sense? Master Bong-sang, although it’s natural for the ways of the world to be unfair and unjust. This kind of thing really shouldn’t happen.”

The oldest merchant among those gathered, who was called Master Bong-sang, let out a sigh.

He himself sympathized with his anger a hundred, a thousand times, but what could he do?

He couldn’t dare go against the collusive order led by the great merchants who had much more money than him and were closer to power.

Going against the collusive order of the Sijeon was like confronting a raging current head-on, and the result would be not only himself but also his family, employees, and all his dependents ending up on the streets.

Merchant Lee Bong-sang knew that the current situation was wrong, but it was difficult to think of any other way than blaming himself for being powerless in the face of money and power.

That’s how life is.

When you become an adult, you experience all kinds of unfair and frustrating things.

There are times when you have to pretend nothing happened even when you experience injustice, and even when your insides rot from suppressing anger, you have to laugh heartily and live as if nothing is wrong – that’s the life of a man who has become an adult.

The endings of those who couldn’t suppress their burning anger and fought back were generally all miserable.

‘Rather than fighting against injustice, there are truly many times when enduring and bowing down becomes the wise course of action.’

“Manager Jeong-man, calm your anger and settle your mind.”

“But Master, after hearing that rumor, how can I…”

“Just because you release the anger surging from youthful passion doesn’t mean we can find a way out, does it? What we need now is to find a way to survive in this situation and to discover if there’s anything we can gain in the moments of opportunity that will come…”

Lee Bong-sang struck the Writing Desk in front of him with the fan he was holding.

At the sound of the fan hitting the low wooden desk, everyone’s attention turned in that direction.

Confirming this, Lee Bong-sang sternly admonished Jeong-man.

“We didn’t gather here to drink alcohol and vent our inner frustrations! Get your head straight. Though we may be humble Merchants, I alone have 20 employees under me, and you have over 5 employees under you, don’t you? Everyone gathered here is in a similar position. On our shoulders rest not only our own lives and our families’, but also the lives of our employees and their families. We must never forget that for even a moment!”

Lee Bong-sang is not wealthy enough to be called a great merchant in Hanyang Market.

If he had been wealthy enough to be a great merchant, he wouldn’t have been able to come to this gathering.

Because this place, to borrow Kim Dae-bung’s expression, is a gathering where mid-sized and small business leaders meet to discuss countermeasures against the tyranny of ‘conglomerate’-level wealthy merchants.

However, though not quite a great merchant, Lee Bong-sang was wealthy with personal assets exceeding 2,000 Seom of White Rice, and the others gathered here were also wealthy individuals with personal assets exceeding hundreds of Seom and representatives of trading companies.

“Do you think my heart isn’t bursting? Those bastards who call themselves great merchants among themselves, enjoying power that even decent yangban scholars would find hard to covet… They’re trying to devour not only Hanyang’s commerce, but now all commerce nationwide. Do you think my heart wouldn’t burst watching that?”

“Sir…”

“From what I hear, it’s truly a sight to behold. The Royal Court plans to build new roads connecting various ferry crossings and Jongro Market, and create workshops and markets where various goods are traded centered around Nambu, establishing a massive system so that all of Joseon’s goods can be traded through Hanyang. If that happens, isn’t it obvious that Joseon will become several times wealthier than now?”

Merchants who failed to read these trends of the times have long since been weeded out from the markets.

Such people suffered major business failures because they couldn’t keep up with Kim Dae-bung’s commerce revitalization policies.

“The so-called great merchants know this fact too, so they’re distributing massive Bribes to the ministers to lay the groundwork. Going one step further, they’re investing all their capital and mobilizing even distant relatives to set up shops and workshops… It seems they’re thinking of throwing us people like us only the scraps left after they’ve eaten their fill.”

This was similar even in Europe on the opposite side of Earth.

They created organizations called guilds to prevent new people from establishing workshops or doing business, no matter how much money they brought.

What emerged from this process was the apprenticeship system that forced unpaid slave labor (occasionally given pocket money, minimal room and board provided) for up to 10 years.

Even after completing such education and preparing lots of money, without connections, workshop establishment permits wouldn’t be issued, forcing one to live as a salaried craftsman or merchant for life.

If one was extremely skilled and lucky, it was possible to start from nothing and obtain a ‘workshop’, though.

“So what should we do?”

“Just comply and live as we are…”

In fact, if he could have complied and somehow continued living as before, Lee Bong-sang wouldn’t have created this gathering or cursed the great merchants here.

As the saying goes, “birds hear words spoken during the day, and mice hear words spoken at night,” there would surely be minions employed by the great merchants here, though he didn’t know who.

The great merchants were people who would crush anyone who tried to oppose them even slightly, using any excuse they could find.

‘There are naturally those who try to parasitically gain even a crumb from them.’

If Lee Bong-sang, who had the virtue to oppose the order dominated by great merchants, took action, their solid vested interests could be shaken.

Those bastards would obviously move to bring down Lee Bong-sang by finding fault with everything.

Knowing all this, when maintaining the status quo was possible, there was no reason to take action.

However, when someone who has 9,999 seom of white rice draws his sword to reach 10,000 seom, they won’t simply take just one seom of white rice and be done with it.

One seom becomes two seom, and two seom becomes 100,000 seom in an instant.

In the end, they too will be devoured.

Now, if they don’t move, they’ll die anyway.

“We should go find Kim Man-deok, the father-in-law of Kim Dae-bung who submitted the written memorial.”

“That person is clearly in the ranks of great merchants, but would he really help us? Moreover, despite being a merchant, isn’t he rising faster than most civil examination graduates? According to rumors, he’ll even reach the rank of high official in the future.”

“Wasn’t that Kim Dae-bung who submitted the written memorial the one who asked the Retired King to either smash my head with an iron mace or withdraw the currency to save wretches like us? Kim Man-deok becoming a great merchant and rising so quickly – isn’t it all because Kim Dae-bung has been backing him? Being such a person, he won’t carelessly cast us aside just to make some money.”

Behind Kim Man-deok’s rapid promotion was the love and attention of a son-in-law who squeezed his abilities as hard as wringing a dry rag, determined to make his father-in-law a high official…

But no one cared about the hardships experienced by Kim Man-deok, who had already become a figure above the clouds.

Everyone thought worrying about him was as pointless as worrying about celebrities, conglomerates, or politicians.

Furthermore, the evaluation of Kim Dae-bung was beyond the need for words.

Not only the written memorial, but during the recent great fire in Hanyang, he threw himself into danger and did everything possible to save even one more person.

Such a person abandoning innocent common people?

Seriously speaking, a person flying across the sea would be more realistic.

“Also, those so-called great merchants monopolizing all of Joseon’s commerce would be detrimental to the country. Wasn’t that how it was during former Goryeo? Great merchants monopolized trade and sold luxury goods consumed by nobles with ridiculous profits, so nobles exploited the common people to continue their extravagance and eventually met that fate.”

“Then should we just submit a petition through someone close to us…”

At those words, Lee Bong-sang laughed heartily.

“Haha, look here, this is about ‘former Goryeo.’ If a petition goes up, even without me saying anything separately, the court officials will realize that the current situation is similar to that of former Goryeo. Then could we market guild merchants possibly remain safe?”

Those here who encouraged the petition could somehow avoid the iron mace.

However, while they might preserve their wealth, there was a very high probability that their commercial distribution networks and business rights would face the iron mace.

“…”

“Coldly speaking, the only person in the court who can look after lowly merchants like us is Kim Dae-bung who submitted the written memorial. In fact, this Hanyang development policy was all planned by him too.”

Lee Bong-sang steeled his resolve.

“I will personally petition Lord Kim Man-deok to disband the Sijeon Dojung (merchant organization).”

“Disband, you say?”

“To survive, we must give up at least this much.”

And two days later, the news reached Kim Dae-bung.

Lee Bong-sang, the master of the Silk Shop in the Market Guild, had personally petitioned for the disbandment of the Hanyang Sijeon Dojung.

Kim Dae-bung smiled coldly upon seeing the report.

Because the cancerous mass was now ready for surgery.

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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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