He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 36

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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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Daedongbeop (1)

Joseon needs the Daedongbeop. If it can be introduced even a minute or second sooner, that would be best.

This is because in current Joseon, the Common People are dying in agony due to the flawed tribute tax system.

Of course, since there’s a consensus that the tribute tax system is such a natural institution, even the Common People who are the targets of exploitation only cry out ‘reduce our tribute taxes’ and never think of overthrowing the system…

In a country that aims for yeomindongrak – making the Common People eat well and live well – if it’s implemented without knowing it kills the people, that’s unavoidable, but implementing it while knowing doesn’t make sense.

“Have all Tribute Goods collected in Rice. Then wouldn’t the Government Office’s finances and the specialty products needed by the Royal Palace become insufficient?”

“On the contrary, they will become more abundant. And the burden on the Common People will decrease.”

“The burden on the Common People decreases while the nation’s finances become more abundant. Doesn’t this not make sense?”

What I said naturally doesn’t make sense. How could the nation’s finances become more abundant when the total amount of money the Common People pay decreases?

I have no intention of advocating such unrealistic fiscal policy to Lee Bang-won for institutionalization.

During the Age of Exploration, no, even until the 17th century, there are many reasons why Joseon, which had stronger national power than most European powers, became a punching bag by the late 19th century…

I know that one of them was precisely because of Confucian economics – the garbage practice of unconditionally collecting minimal official taxes and having officials procure the rest on their own. There’s no way I’d advocate for such policies.

What use would it be for someone who submitted a written memorial to save the Common People to advocate policies that kill them?

“I’m not saying to reduce the amount collected. I’m simply saying to collect taxes fairly.”

“Collecting taxes fairly… Daebung, do you think the current system of collecting taxes by household units is unfair?”

“Yes, that’s correct. The current system is extremely unfair.”

My words must have been quite shocking, as Lee Bang-won plopped down on the floor of the Jeonokseo.

Saying the tax system is unfair could be interpreted, if viewed somewhat strictly, as denying the foundation of the nation. However, he shows no signs of anger. From this, I can tell he’s receiving my words positively.

Seeing him look at me with very bright, sparkling eyes, he must find this quite interesting.

“Speak specifically.”

“The current tax system divides property grades into large households, medium households, small households, minor households, and very minor households, collecting military service, Tribute Goods, and taxes by household. By dividing it this way, the system was organized so those with more pay more and those with less pay less… but this system, as I answered during the special examination, is imposing enormous taxes that poor Common People cannot bear.”

Lee Bang-won nodded while listening to my words.

“So I made the yangban of Jinhae County spend much money on Tribute Tax and various public works, and collected that much less in taxes from the Common People.”

“The yangban’s burden increased, so there must have been complaints…”

“Indeed, everyone had great complaints at first.”

Since there seemed likely to be many complaints, I subtly let slip that I would report to you, Lee Bang-won, about how the yangban of Jinhae County had conspired with previous County Magistrates to embezzle taxes, and then a magical thing happened where the yangban’s complaints suddenly disappeared.

For me, even if things went wrong, I would either be ‘dismissed’ or receive a reward for being honest, so I could freely make accusations… but the nobles of Jinhae County could face tragic circumstances like Jeong Hak-so, so they listened to my words very well.

“The nobles of Jinhae County used to pay taxes amounting to less than 10% of their annual income, but after I took office, they now pay 23% in taxes. Meanwhile, the taxes collected from poor common people have been reduced to about half of what they were before.”

I cannot introduce a progressive tax system to Joseon. The reason is simple.

If I introduce a progressive tax system and collect taxes by setting tax brackets like comprehensive income tax, nobles from all over the country would rebel and try to burn down Joseon.

To put it bluntly, if England hadn’t imposed strange taxes on its colonies in North America and had just guaranteed some political participation… American independence would have been delayed by decades, or even over a century.

Because people like Washington would have lost their justification and cause for claiming ‘independence’.

But England created strange taxes and collected them from America, and the enraged Americans poured tea into Boston’s coastal waters, creating that disaster… and finally achieved independence from England.

This kind of phenomenon could happen throughout Joseon as well. Using public authority would quickly suppress it, but at the cost of my head flying off. Or maybe I’d face dismemberment (having my body cut into five pieces).

So I proposed the Daedong Law to maintain a realistic line. A method where the wealthy pay a bit more.

“As a result, the people’s lives became easier, and the taxes collected in Jinhae County increased by a full 40% compared to before.”

“Truly remarkable. I was amazed when I read the official report you submitted, but hearing it again like this is still very surprising.”

Lee Bang-won’s gaze toward me seems to have become a bit sticky. How should I put it, this is like a professor’s eyes looking at a graduate student.

No, that can’t be right. Only King Sejong has the ability to turn all his subjects into graduate students. I must be feeling things wrong because my body has weakened from being imprisoned.

“The current tribute goods are distributed based on households rather than their actual wealth, and there aren’t even established procedures for how much should be collected and how. While land tax and other various taxes clearly have procedures, tribute tax has no such thing. As a result, all sorts of bizarre incidents are occurring.”

“Bizarre incidents…”

“The previous county magistrate of Jinhae County, where I served as magistrate, collected 35 du of white rice per household to purchase tribute goods.”

35 du of white rice is roughly 3.5 seom of rice. That’s enough white rice for three adult men to eat only rice meals for a year and still have leftovers.

“… If this is deceiving the king with false words, I will not let you off easily.”

“Why would I tell lies to Retired King? Though I did muster the courage to submit a written memorial to uphold my beliefs, I am actually quite cowardly… I do not wish to die by committing the crime of deceiving the king with false words.”

Ah, actually I did lie to some extent. It was an average of 35 du per household, so they only collected about 10-15 du from nobles, and collected 50 du each from those who seemed more manageable.

But if I mention this fact as well, it’s obvious that the nobles and clerks of Jinhae County who listened to me well would die en masse, so I’m hiding those circumstances.

Joseon is originally a country where ‘marine-style order’ and ‘flexibility’ are accepted as basic – moderately lying and moderately embezzling to bring holiday gifts to superiors… so I have to adapt to some extent too.

Fish cannot live in water that’s too clean, and with reforms, you can’t do everything you want from the very beginning.

If you want to get a grade 1 on the college entrance exam but don’t even know basic arithmetic, you need to start over with elementary school math rather than problem sets that grade 1 students solve. It’s fine to develop slowly, one step at a time.

Because that alone could save countless people.

“… Why don’t other county magistrates do such things… Of course, there’s no other official as honest and upright as you in all of Joseon.”

Lee Bang-won’s gaze toward me became a bit more intense. It’s definitely not romantic love, but somehow if I fall into those eyes, I feel like I’ll become Hwang Hee.

I should watch the implementation of the Daedong Law and look for an opportunity to submit a resignation petition.

Yes, submitting a resignation petition and returning to my hometown to live with Winter wouldn’t be bad either.

What meaning would advancement have? I can’t spend my precious time in Joseon only working. If you have some money, living sweetly with a pretty wife is the real way to live properly. And I have both wealth and Winter, so I just need to submit my resignation letter at the right time.

“35 du per household… 35 du… 35 du from the common people whose livelihood is already difficult… Good heavens, how can this be…”

“The situation in other counties won’t be different. Though they may not collect this much every year… such incidents won’t be few.”

“It’s because I am lacking.”

“You can set it right.”

If you stab a sword into someone’s neck, that person dies. However, even right before stabbing, if you repent and withdraw the sword, it won’t lead to the ‘result of killing a person.’

Similarly, if you repent now that you know it was wrong to impose excessive burdens on countless people because you didn’t know until now… even if you can’t save those who were oppressed and sacrificed so far, you can save the countless people who will be trampled in the future.

“I lack virtue, lack wisdom, and have been lazy. What good is it to merely love the people when I cannot provide for them?”

“You just need to change the system.”

“Change the system. Yes, you said to collect tribute goods as rice. Do you intend to combine and collect land tax and tribute goods costs?”

As expected of Lee Bang-won! It’s a genius-like idea worthy of King Sejong’s father who legitimately passed the Goryeo Civil Service Examination.

When I said to collect tribute goods as rice, he came up with the idea of combining land tax and tribute goods.

“Yes, that’s correct. Keep the land tax at 30 du per gyeol as now, but collect about 18 du per gyeol for tribute goods.”

“That would be 48 du per gyeol, wouldn’t that be too much?”

Even combining those two, the tax per gyeol of land would be only about 16% based on average year yields.

If I had my way, I’d want to reduce taxes collected from low-income groups and tax the nobles up to about 30%… but since that’s realistically impossible.

I must pursue a single tax rate of about 48 du per gyeol, the current tax collection rate, to fill the treasury.

“I can be certain of this.”

“Of what do you speak?”

“If you do just this, songs of peace will naturally flow from the people’s lips, and everyone will live with hope. The Royal Court’s finances will also become abundant, so there will be no shortage in defending Joseon from barbarians.”

Ah, as a side effect, commerce will also develop like crazy.

Joseon’s financial circulation will flow well, and the economic scale will also grow.

“I will trust you.”

After saying these words, Lee Bang-won looked at me and smiled broadly.

“You called this law the Daedong Law. However, since this law is truly beautiful, there’s another name that suits it better than Daedong Law.”

“What name do you wish to give it?”

“How about Bang-won Law, named after me?”

Lee Bang-won’s name carries a very good meaning. So much so that one might wonder if it was really chosen by Lee Seong-gye, who was far from scholarly pursuits.

“When King Taejo named me, he imbued my name with the meaning that I should become someone who can spread virtue widely, like a fragrant scent spreading far and wide.”

… All kings’ names are subject to pihwi (the law forbidding the use of those specific Chinese characters). However, Lee Bang-won said to use the Chinese characters of his name freely since they were so commonly used.

Of course, freely using the king’s name would be considered madness by Confucian standards, so people only use the characters for “fragrant” (bang) and “far” (won) separately. No one dares to write the two characters together.

Even with the king’s permission, pihwi is a principle that must be observed, so to break that and attach the name “Bang-won” to a law I created means…

“Anyone who opposes the Bang-won Law, whoever they may be, is no different from a ghost of Goryeo.”

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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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