He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 28

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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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Jiphyeonjeon GPT (7)

My name is Kim Dae-bung, Joseon’s universal search engine.

No, regardless of my own intentions, I’ve been forcibly turned into a universal search engine.

From what I hear, the Minister Lords have been saying things like ‘Kim Dae-bung is someone we must use sparingly and for a long time, taking turns.’

Today, the Minister of War came rushing over as soon as he arrived at the Ministry of War, wanting to be the first to utilize me.

Even if the Six Ministries have many difficult problems, why are the Ministers endlessly seeking out me, a mere 6th rank junior official…

“Now that I’ve met you, I can finally resolve the Ministry of War’s concerns. Finally, the Ministry of War can also leave work on time.”

Minister of War Jo Mal-saeng’s face bears a suspicious smile. If that gentleman weren’t the Minister of War, and if the target of that smile weren’t a man…

Hehe, it would look like a picture of someone asking ‘Won’t you do something nice with uncle?’

It seems the Ministry of War also had trouble leaving work on time.

I’m not opposed to the Ministry of War leaving work on time, but since I’m human too, I really wish these 2nd rank Minister uncles would stop obsessing over me.

If you keep getting useful tips from me… won’t other officials also come looking for me whenever their work gets stuck?

‘Dae-bung, tell us how the Ministry of Taxation can properly collect taxes from Hanyang’s Sijeon. It would be great if you could write out the implementation plan from start to finish according to Joseon’s official document format.’

‘The report you wrote was extremely helpful. So this time, I’d like you to write evidence and appropriate commentary showing that this plan doesn’t contradict the words of the sages.’

It seems like all sorts of officials will come looking for me in this manner. This is cosmic horror, what else could it be.

“… Kim Soo-chan, are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“No, Your Excellency.”

“That’s a relief. Lately, thanks to you, the Six Ministries’ work blockages are disappearing… but if you fell ill and couldn’t work, that would be a disaster. So I was thinking of urgently sending you medicinal herbs, ginseng, dried abalone and such. Ah, if the work becomes too much and you find it difficult, come over to the Ministry of War anytime. If that’s your wish, I’ll make a special petition to His Majesty. The Ministry of War will always guarantee you can leave work on time.”

When he suggested I transfer to the Ministry of War, Deputy Director Jeong In-ji suddenly appeared from somewhere and interjected into the conversation.

“Kim Soo-chan is a loyal subject who only knows how to put public duty before private matters, someone who finds even overwork enjoyable. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have accomplished what he did during his time as Jinhae County Magistrate.”

“… Indeed, I heard the Jinhae County Governor who went as Kim Soo-chan’s successor submitted a resignation petition. He said that after taking over Kim Soo-chan’s work, he felt inadequate for the position due to his own incompetence.”

“I heard the Retired King bestowed tonic medicine upon the Jinhae County Governor.”

I tilted my head at those words. No, but I wrote everything in detail in the handover document when I left, so what’s so difficult about it?

It’s not like he’s some 9th rank new official – someone who’s had over 10 years of government service finds that difficult?

It seems he went down expecting a leisurely life as a local official of the 5th rank, but unfortunately became a local official in a county under the watchful eye of the ‘King Taejong’, so there were many things to worry about and it must have been difficult. That’s probably why he submitted his resignation letter.

Taking over what I did shouldn’t be that difficult though.

Meanwhile, Minister Jo Mal-saeng looked at me and nodded his head in agreement with Jeong In-ji’s words.

“Indeed, Deputy Director Jeong (Jeong In-ji) is right. I was too greedy. Please forget about it.”

Do these two think I’m some kind of workaholic? I just work hard during working hours like 21st century Korean office workers do at their jobs. I only focus on work during that time from arrival to departure.

“Kim Soo-chan.”

“Yes, Minister.”

“The Ministry of War judges that the Common People are suffering due to military service, and wants to reduce that burden. According to the current military service law, officer cavalry (cavalry officers, equivalent to senior non-commissioned officers) are given support from 4 jeong (4 households), regular cavalry from 3 jeong, and infantry from 2 jeong households. However, the Common People find even this amount very burdensome.”

To put it simply, this is it.

In theory, for infantry, you just give them a spear and put them in military uniform, so maintenance costs aren’t that high. So they figured if two households each paying 600,000 won per month came together, they could maintain one infantry soldier.

But cavalry need horse maintenance costs, various armor and weapons, so even if 3-4 households were gathered together, each household would have to pay at least 5 million won per month.

This was an unreasonable amount considering Joseon’s household economic capacity, so the system existed only on paper with no effectiveness at all.

Because there were almost no people in Joseon who could pay that much money.

Therefore, those who went to military service could receive almost no support. Infantry had to serve without receiving any pay at all, and cavalry had to be fully supported by state finances.

Moreover, since cavalry required such specialized skills, only ‘specific personnel’ took turns, so there was no case of peasant heads of household being dragged off to military service during busy farming seasons.

But infantry was something anyone could do, so if the period of alternating service every few months happened to fall during busy farming season, that year’s farming for that household would be ruined.

“How do you think we should change this? The Ministry of War is proposing alternatives to shorten the service periods and rotate more frequently…”

I do have a rough idea of how to handle this, but since the policy itself is so complexly intertwined, even for me it’s difficult to come up with a solution right now.

After all, I’m human too, so I can’t solve the enormous number of cases that come flooding in without any delay.

From now on, I should set ‘processing periods’ according to the importance and complexity of cases. Just like how GPT takes longer to process when the content is complex.

“Please tell me specifically what alternatives the Ministry of War has proposed and what problems seem unlikely to be resolved even so. Then I will examine precedents and find solutions.”

“Even you can’t answer the military service problem immediately, I see. Good.”

Jo Mal-saeng talked for over an hour, no, almost two hours straight without even drinking a glass of water about the ‘military service’ problem that was giving him headaches.

Just writing it all down was really exhausting. Should I ask them to organize it into Documents and bring them from now on?

“This concludes the Ministry of War’s military service issue. When can you give me an answer?”

“Would it be acceptable if I think it over for three days before responding?”

“Three days, three days… it can’t be helped.”

“Since this is such a crucial matter for the nation and the issue is very complex, I hope you could tell the other ministers not to assign them other tasks in the meantime.”

“Of course. What’s three days? I’d do the same even if it were ten days.”

That smile, that expression – there’s no mistaking it. It’s the utterly selfish expression of someone who thinks only the Ministry of War needs to escape from overtime work.

“Understood. I will do my best to be of help to Your Excellency.”

Having said that, I decided to use the privileges of a Jiphyeonjeon scholar for research purposes.

In fact, that privilege is access to almost all materials within Gyeongbok Palace, though it’s nothing more than being able to see all the books and materials needed for work…

After spending about a day desperately searching through materials and thinking of alternatives, I could spend the remaining two days leisurely organizing the alternatives and writing them up as an official report to hand over to Minister Jo Mal-saeng – that should work out somehow.

I don’t currently have an answer to the problem that gentleman brought, but my head is full of knowledge about how Joseon’s history unfolded and plenty of ‘reference materials’ I can consult accordingly, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

‘The important thing is just making it even slightly more beneficial to the Common People than the current military service system.’

So I was able to postpone answering the task Minister Jo Mal-saeng requested for three days. But there’s one problem.

“Up until now, I could answer everything without much difficulty within the scope of knowledge I possess… but from now on, there will be cases where that won’t be possible.”

For the military service system, I think I can somehow come up with improvement proposals by pondering references like territorial defense forces, reserves, Roman legionary systems, and Germany’s first colonial expansion (similar to present-day eastern German territory).

But what will happen to me if consultations come in about problems I don’t know well?

I’d have to say I can’t answer as quickly as now, but there’s a very high probability I’d end up working overtime to solve it.

That must be prevented by any means necessary.

First, it’s best to eliminate the possibility of getting hit with ‘unknown work’ bombs.

“The important thing would be to guide the agenda items I need to solve toward areas where I already know the answers or can easily find them.”

Before anyone brings problems to me, I’ll propose problems in fields I’m confident about first.

For example, what if I have them build reservoirs and make all kinds of Farming Tools essential for agriculture, then advocate for the ‘advantages of Rice Transplanting’?

Minister of Finance Hwang Hee would become absolutely obsessed with ‘Rice Transplanting’. Rice Transplanting would enable double cropping in the Lower Three Provinces (Jeolla, Gyeongsang, Chungcheong) and greatly increase Rice production in other regions.

The farmers of this era don’t know it, but Rice Transplanting was quite actively practiced in the ‘Yuan Dynasty’ during the late Goryeo period and increased harvests as a result. The farmers would be interested too.

If I proceed by appropriately expanding only the fields I know in this way, I’ll be able to buy time.

I should start right away.

“May I go to Sangui-won to meet Deputy Director Jang?”

A senior Jiphyeonjeon scholar near me answered with an indifferent expression.

“If it’s for official business, you may go by all means.”

No matter how quickly I get promoted, I won’t rise above the Ministers. Unless I use General Yi Sun-sin’s promotion speed, that is.

However, from the other scholars’ perspective, I’m someone who could rise above them at any time, becoming their competitor, so there’s no way they’d view me favorably.

That’s why there’s a saying in companies, isn’t there?

Being too competent can sometimes be a sin.

“Thank you, Eunggyo.”

Having received permission, I immediately headed to Sangui-won.

After arriving at Sangui-won, I caught a passing Local Clerk and asked where Jang Yeong-sil was.

“Where is Deputy Director Jang?”

“Deputy Director is not currently at the Sangui-won office.”

He’s called Sangui-won Deputy Director, but paperwork at Sangui-won… ah, he can’t do that.

It’s not even the time when Hunminjeongeum exists, so how could Jang Yeong-sil read all the Chinese Characters? No, even if reading is somehow manageable, there’s no way he could write Official Reports following official document formats with all sorts of flowery language.

“Right now, Deputy Director is probably discussing Iron Smelting methods with the Sangui-won Craftsmen.”

“Please guide me there quickly.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Local Clerk kept watching my expression unusually closely. Do I look like I’m going to blow up Sangui-won or something?

I’m just going to find Jang Yeong-sil with thoughts of doing good work for Joseon.

“Do I look like I came to Sangui-won to cause trouble? Relax your expression.”

“How could that be?”

At the place I was guided to by the Local Clerk, there was a middle-aged man in his 40s with a bushy beard who looked like he enjoyed alcohol.

It’s hard to distinguish them by the clothes they’re wearing, but seeing that only one person is wearing a ‘samo’… that person wearing the samo must be Jang Yeong-sil.

“Are you Deputy Commander Jang? Let us join forces together to benefit Joseon.”

Now is the time for farming tools reform.

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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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