He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 122

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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 (7)

“What exactly have we done wrong that you’re giving us a chance to repent?”

What pitiful and pathetic creatures.

No.

These are the bastards at the very top of the Sijeon Guild cartel pyramid, so I shouldn’t feel pity or sympathy for them.

They already have plenty, yet they’re the kind of scoundrels who would try to do evil deeds that eat away at Joseon, so showing sympathy would be completely useless.

If I could follow my heart, I’d say ‘So, you don’t know what crimes you’ve committed? Then you might as well die,’ and then dig up all the various corruptions they’ve committed to have them face the judgment of law in a complete purge of accumulated evils…

But it’s regrettable that I can’t do that because Joseon would have a hard time handling the aftermath that would appear after crushing those bastards.

Instead, because of your insolent remarks, your wealth will be reduced to ‘half.’

Don’t you know the saying that if you stay quiet, you’ll at least get halfway there?

“Some of the merchants belonging to the Sijeon Guild came to visit my father-in-law recently.”

If I reveal which merchant did it, the friend who courageously made the report will become the target of all kinds of injustices, like a soldier who wrote a heartfelt letter to his company commander.

In the military, they can only torment you to the point where you’d consider suicide but can’t actually kill you, but the great merchants here have enough power to physically kill a few merchants even if I pulled out all their molars.

Unless I’m crazy, I will never reveal who it was.

If I opened my mouth about the whistleblower’s identity, it would be the same as killing a righteous informant with my own hands.

“According to them, you bastards colluded to pool money together and tried to buy up all the land scheduled for new development.”

“My Lord, that’s a misunderstanding.”

“Ah, well that’s fine. Buying up areas where land prices will obviously rise in advance can be called investment. I was thinking of doing the same thing myself.”

I would have let it slide if it was just up to this point.

But what made it impossible for me to overlook these bastards is what I’m about to say next.

What the hell were they thinking when Lee Bang-won and King Sejong are watching with blazing eyes, trying to monopolize Hanyang’s commerce – not some remote province – and play ‘Powerful Noble Families’?

Even thinking about it again, I really can’t understand how those bastards tried to pull this shit while in their right minds.

They say when people become blinded by money, they invest in villas where investing 100 million and just completing construction would exceed 300 million, or put their entire fortune into unheard-of coins…

‘But these guys are equivalent to chaebols in Korean terms.’

If they’re chaebols, they should have not only business acumen but also excellent political sense to reach that position and survive there… What the hell are these bastards thinking?

“But you bastards didn’t stop at just spending all your money to buy up land – you even built workshops on top of that to completely monopolize the logistics of the Eight Provinces of Joseon, didn’t you? Didn’t you ever think that as merchants, you were going too far? At that level, the Royal Court would become a puppet dancing to your tune.”

“I think there’s been a great misunderstanding – we were only trying to expand our scale to make money…”

“Why are you bastards who know everything acting so long-tongued? Should I cut that long tongue of yours to a proper length with an axe right now?”

“We have never forgotten for even a moment that we were able to reach this position entirely thanks to His Majesty’s grace – how could we have harbored such presumptuous thoughts?”

“Cut the bullshit. If that’s not the case, then why did you tell merchants with smaller businesses than yours to absolutely not buy the newly developed land?”

Unable to find any more excuses for my words, cold sweat began streaming down the faces of the great merchants.

“Ah, and I heard about the atrocities of that bastard Kim Jang-seok who runs the biggest rice shop in Hanyang – it really made my teeth grind. Unless Ryu Jeong-hyeon was possessed by an evil spirit, he couldn’t have done such things in his right mind.”

The more active logistics distribution becomes and the bigger commerce grows, the greater the power merchants wield.

In neighboring Japan, just a few decades after the Edo shogunate opened, everyone from the Shogun to Daimyo to Samurai were all borrowing money from merchants.

When they raised interest rates, they would send their retainers below to plead not to do so, and when that wasn’t enough, they later even openly offered up their ‘warrior status.’

In fact, at the end of the Edo period, merchants colluded to manipulate rice prices several times and screwed over the shogunate, yet their power was so great.

Those bastards got off with no charges and no punishment.

Since this same disgraceful situation has occurred in Joseon, should I be happy about it?

About the fact that Joseon’s commerce has developed so much that merchant scum could join forces and become powerful enough to manipulate Hanyang’s rice prices.

Well, anyway, since Kim Jang-seok acted like he was possessed by a Goryeo ghost, I’m thinking of sending him close to Former Goryeo.

How could I let a bastard who plays games with rice in Joseon live?

“You scraped together all the money you and the Hanyang Market merchants had to buy up all the rice coming into Hanyang and nearby counties through Incheon… and sold it to the Common People after raising the price threefold?”

“Well, that… that is…”

“In Joseon, we call that behavior this.”

Even in the 21st century, one of the things that must be protected for national security is food security.

That’s why the agricultural cooperative, regardless of other crops, purchases rice at ‘normal prices’ through the purchase system no matter how much surplus there is.

This contrasts with crops like pears, fruits, and cucumbers, where they don’t purchase the entire harvest even if there’s a bumper crop and the products become dirt cheap.

Because crops other than rice are viewed as both farming and business domains.

So whether they give up farming or not, the government doesn’t step in to tell them what to do.

But rice is different.

If food imports become difficult due to trade sanctions that could happen at any time, Koreans will only be able to eat domestic rice.

If there’s a shortage of rice at that time, all Koreans will have no choice but to starve to death.

So to prevent such problems in advance and stop rice production from declining, the government steps in to buy it all up.

But manipulating prices with such important rice…

“That’s treason.”

The great merchants froze upon hearing the word treason.

“If I were someone who only pursued private interests like you bastards, I would have framed all of you for treason and purged you all. And I would have filled the positions you occupied with my father-in-law’s merchant guild. That way, I could have held all of Joseon’s commerce in my hands. For me, it would have been killing two birds with one stone.”

Of course, if I did such a thing, King Sejong, who has realized the importance of commerce, would cut off my head.

No matter how much of a loyal retainer of Joseon I am, he couldn’t overlook treason.

“But because you bastards are so big, I can’t just kill you carelessly. Ah, what a truly regrettable situation.”

“… My Lord…”

“Ah, and do you now understand why I didn’t call Kim Jang-seok from the Rice Shop to this place?”

“Have you already branded him as a traitor?”

“By tomorrow, his three generations will be escorted to the State Tribunal.”

Kim Jang-seok will be executed by dismemberment, and his family will have all their property confiscated and become slaves.

Because Joseon has no law to treat such incidents as ‘treason’ and punish them, only the person involved will be executed for treason while others will receive reduced sentences.

“Why would I call a walking corpse?”

Why would I have a conversation with someone who can’t be reformed? It would be a waste of time.

“But you bastards still have some use left, so I won’t kill you just yet. But don’t forget.”

“What should we not forget?”

“Just as I don’t hesitate to throw away my life for the good Common People, I also don’t spare my life when purging those who ruin Joseon. And don’t forget that this time, I’m ‘reluctantly sparing you’ only because I judged that killing all of you would harm Joseon.”

“Yes, My Lord…”

“I will remember what you bastards tried to do until the day I die, and I will continue watching you. Well, Confucius said that even if a person’s nature is evil, they can be reformed through civilization. But I’m skeptical of that statement.”

In education, they say this.

Young children can enter prestigious universities or become professionals even with slightly lower IQs, as long as they don’t have intellectual disabilities and receive proper education…

But once people become adults, it’s almost impossible to change their nature and character no matter how much you educate them.

These bastards have already become old men, so how could I possibly rehabilitate their nature?

People don’t say for nothing that adults have no ‘room for change’ unless their parents die or they’re driven to the brink of death.

“I have no intention of reforming you bastards. So if you don’t want to die by my hand, from now on pretend to live virtuously, even if you have to force it.”

“Yes, yes… My Lord…”

“And it’s only proper that you pay the price for sparing your lives. Voluntarily offer half of your wealth to the Royal Court, and confess your crimes directly. Then I’ll speak to His Majesty and specially open a path for you to live.”

“Thank you.”

If any other fourth-rank official had said such things, these bastards would have tried to find other Ministers to tattle to.

But they know well what kind of person I am, so those bastards will conduct themselves properly.

“And never covet the newly developed lands.”

With this, the preparations for cleaning up the Cartel are complete.

The rest is for these bastards to petition on their own to break up the Sijeon Guild Cartel and report Kim Jang-seok of the Rice Shop.

Moreover, both Lee Bang-won and King Sejong already know that I’m making these moves.

‘Everything will work out well.’

Ah, after working so hard to develop Joseon like this, it would be wonderful if I could retire at the right time and live comfortably with Gyeoul-i.

I will absolutely never become like Hwang Hee or Jo Mal-saeng.

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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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