He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 19

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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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Merit Stele (3)

A year and a half has already passed since I took office in Jinhae County.

Though there’s still a mountain of work in progress, the results of my efforts are showing up here and there.

“Thanks to the Magistrate’s orders to build reservoirs on Dongcheon and Seosancheon and create irrigation canals, the area of farmland has increased by 3 percent compared to last year.”

“Did the farmland really increase by 3 percent?”

3% might sound like a small number that doesn’t amount to much.

However, a 3% increase in farmland throughout our Jinhae County means the area of cultivable fields has expanded by 75 gyeol.

75 gyeol means we can harvest an additional 2,250 seom of rice, and the rice we can collect in taxes has also increased by 225 seom. Considering that our Jinhae County’s total land tax is roughly just under 5,000 seom, this is tremendous growth.

“Yes, Magistrate. And since we created new irrigation canals while building the reservoirs, the wasteland available for reclamation has expanded. Some of the common people are borrowing oxen from noble houses or wealthy families and dedicating themselves to directly reclaiming land to create their own plots. The results should show around next year, so farmland will increase even more.”

“Being able to collect more taxes is good, but above all, the people’s lives will become more prosperous.”

In Joseon, the standard for middle class, or rather well-off people, is owning 1 gyeol or more of farmland.

Someone who owns 1 gyeol or more of land can’t claim to be rich, but they won’t let their family starve even during bad harvest years. Moreover, they can normally feed rice meals to their entire family.

Even if not exactly 1 gyeol, having even one or two majigi of their own land will dramatically improve their household situation. It’s truly a desirable phenomenon.

“Also, the county’s population has increased significantly. Previously, our prefecture had 2,400 households… but now it has grown substantially to 2,700 households.”

“That’s an increase of nearly 15%. It must be because vagrants and day laborers who lived near Jinhae County have settled down permanently, right?”

“Many poor people are coming over from neighboring places like Dongnae County. Most of them are employed by merchant guilds, working in orchards cultivating dried persimmons or catching anchovies. Thanks to the Magistrate ordering generous wages, they know that Jinhae County is a good place to live, so more and more people seem to be flocking here.”

“Wealth is like water. The more you draw from it, the more comes out. Since merchants release rice from their warehouses to employ common people and provide jobs in order to gain more wealth… such good things happen.”

This is something Park Je-ga said, and I agree with these words. Rice that just sits piled up in nobles’ warehouses is bound to rot away.

But when distributed to the common people, it gets allocated to everyone somehow – digging agricultural irrigation canals, building reservoirs, creating markets, and enabling consumption.

“And this is a letter that the county’s nobles are presenting to the Magistrate.”

A pile of letters that Ibang brought was stacked on my desk.

Unlike petitions, I need to read all of these but don’t necessarily need to respond… but if I ignore them, it becomes difficult to perform my duties as county magistrate…

I opened them with a resigned heart.

[Scholar Kim Nam-jo of Jinhae County humbly reports. The Magistrate practices enlightened governance and looks down upon the common people with care, so smiles never leave the faces of all the county’s people. In all my years living until reaching the age of fifty, I have never seen the people so happy.]

After reading the first paragraph, I was shocked.

I thought the yangban were asking me to reduce their burden because the taxes they had to pay because of me had increased tremendously. But instead, they’re praising me.

Though I was slightly dumbfounded, I continued reading the memorial petition.

[The Magistrate said that if those who have would give just a little more, everyone could receive great benefits. However, I lacked virtue and was foolish, so at first I disliked the idea that we elders of the county should pay more taxes for the poor common people. But as time passed and I looked back, I truly regret having thought that way.]

There’s an old saying that habits formed at three last until eighty. In other words, unless the yangban collectively got struck by lightning and were hypnotically conditioned by heaven, their nature wouldn’t suddenly change.

What on earth did those bastards eat wrong to make them sincerely repent their past behavior?

[Thanks to the Magistrate’s orders to create waterways in Dongcheon and Seosacheon and build reservoirs, watering all the fields in the county has become much easier than before. Thanks to this, this year’s farming yielded a good harvest, and despite the Magistrate increasing taxes, I was able to harvest 10% more than before. Furthermore, thanks to the creation of the market, there’s no longer a need to have servants twist rope and make straw shoes like before… I can now have the servants with spare time clear wasteland and expand my land.]

Reading this, I could finally feel relieved.

So those guys didn’t suddenly become good after getting shot in the head. At first, when I was extracting taxes, they felt very wronged about being taxed…

But once they actually paid, it brought them great benefits too, so they changed their minds.

If they came to their senses because it was profitable, I can accept that.

[Moreover, the Magistrate has educated us and set an example as elders, so the common people are grateful for our sharing and erected a Merit Stele. This is a great honor that will be passed down through our family for generations. Please continue to practice such benevolent governance for a long time.]

The other petitions had different writing styles and quoted different historical examples, but the content was all similar.

Yes, what makes people human is money rather than education or conscience after all.

During King Sejong’s time, there’s exactly one reason why the Europeans, who wore iron armor in remote villages and lived in conditions that were arguably worse than Joseon commoners despite being nobles with only spacious houses, eventually seized world hegemony.

Joseon considered luxury and the desire to become wealthy as sins, while the Europeans fully embraced it.

It’s funny to say I educated them, because the reason those bastards came to their senses was actually because they tasted money and came to their senses.

Reading these stories, I suddenly wanted to personally see how the people of the prefecture were living.

“I’ll end work here for today. You may also leave if there’s nothing urgent.”

“Really, Magistrate?”

“Do I look like some ghost who won’t let you leave on time?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

I’m someone who always guarantees punctual arrival and departure. Except when it’s urgent.

Of course, Joseon-era administration wasn’t about working intensively like in the 21st century. It wasn’t about arriving at 9 and focusing solely on work until 6, but rather finishing official document work in the morning after arriving, then taking it easy in the afternoon if there was nothing urgent…

I believe that while working, I must focus only on the work, so I’m simply making the local clerks work hard.

“You may go in for today.”

After saying that, I headed to the marketplace with only the slave Dolsoe.

I wanted to see firsthand how they lived.

**

Today is the 5-day market, a day when not just merchants but common people can freely do business.

Perhaps because of that, the marketplace was overflowing with people.

“Dolsoe, are there usually this many people at the marketplace?”

“Yes, Magistrate.”

“Don’t call me Magistrate, didn’t I tell you to call me young master here?”

If they find out I’m the magistrate, the market atmosphere will suddenly die.

It won’t be as dramatically dead or frozen as when a division commander appears, but it could become strict, solemn, and serious like when a ‘regimental commander’ appears at a peaceful battalion.

“Yes, young master. Merchants and common people flock to Jinhae County’s marketplace from Dongnae County as well as various surrounding prefectures. That’s why there are so many people.”

With a bit of exaggeration, it feels like looking at a large mart with quite a few people.

If there had been someone advertising like a discount corner, selling things cheap and urging people to buy quickly, it might have really become like a mart.

“I’m getting a bit hungry, so I should eat a rice cake. Will you eat some too?”

“May I eat two?”

“Three is fine too. You need to eat well for me to be safe. Tell me if there’s anything you want to eat. Taffy is good, soup rice is good, I’ll let you eat your fill of whatever.”

After saying this, I walked toward where an auntie was selling rice cakes at her market stall.

“Give me 4 rice cakes here.”

“For 4 rice cakes… you need to give me half a hop of rice…”

The auntie selling rice cakes who was saying this recognized my face and suddenly stood up from her spot. Then she bowed deeply in greeting.

“How could I take money for rice cakes from none other than the Magistrate?”

“No, please take it.”

“I cannot. Even a dog raised in the house courtyard knows its master’s kindness and bites thieves when they come. As a human being, how could I take money from the Magistrate for rice cakes that aren’t even worth much?”

At the word “Magistrate,” the gazes of people around us all turned toward me at once.

“The Magistrate has come?”

“Oh my, thank you Magistrate. Thanks to the Magistrate coming to our village, my children can live without going hungry.”

… I turned my gaze to look at that fellow Dolsoe.

“They say a servant’s fate changes depending on the master he serves. When I go to buy food at the county marketplace, I always receive an extra rice cake as a bonus. Isn’t this proof of how much the county people like the Magistrate?”

When even that rascal Dolsoe chimed in, the market common people began gathering around me one by one.

“Magistrate, there are rumors that the soup rice I cook tastes very good. Please let me repay even a little of the grace I received from the Magistrate.”

“Please have a bowl of soup rice that this woman cooked and also try one of the dried persimmons I carefully dried.”

My personality isn’t harsh enough. When they offer things like that, I should say ‘Bring it to the government office.’ But… I just can’t refuse.

Look at those eyes. I didn’t even tell the local clerks to announce that I was coming to the market beforehand… yet they’re making sincere recommendations for me to try delicious food on their own.

“Just for today. And I’ll pay for all the food…”

“Oh my, Magistrate.”

“… I’ll eat well.”

That day I experienced firsthand how deep the affection of Joseon people runs.

Two chickens, 2 hop of rice (equivalent to 4 rice bowls), soup rice, dried persimmons, 2 dried pollack, taffy, 4 rice cakes, abalone harvested from the coastal waters, and so on…

I was treated to a feast until my stomach was about to burst.

And not long after, the Royal Court sent down an order for me to transfer to another position.

With mountains of work still to be done, I felt resentful toward the Royal Court for telling me to go elsewhere after accomplishing only this much.

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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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