He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 5

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Normalization of Public Tribute (2)

Whether then or now, there are many bastards who think of taxes as free money to be squandered.

However, even though Joseon was a pre-modern state with an exceptionally high level of centralization, it was absolutely terrible at managing taxes.

While claiming to reduce the taxes that the people had to pay, they barely collected any taxes needed to operate local governments.

And yet, until the middle period of Joseon, they didn’t pay any salaries at all to clerks and soldiers.

Knowing this situation, I was willing to turn a blind eye to them skimming a reasonable amount through public tribute.

Just because it’s a Buddhist Temple doesn’t mean they should work for free, so I was going to overlook them taking a bit as compensation for their efforts.

“You rotten monks! Have you truly lost your minds!”

“Oh no, we’ve been wronged.”

“I was willing to overlook you bastards taking some compensation for the trouble of procuring items needed by the Government Office. But what the hell is this supposed to be?”

I’m reading through the Account Books that those bastards had hidden in a corner.

These bastards are complete tax thieves – no, they’re blatantly using tax money as if it were their own.

Joseon officials were so ignorant about commerce that until the 16th century, whenever markets opened in counties other than Hanyang, they would immediately send enforcement teams to shut them down – they were that stupid.

Wow, this is something that could only happen if our brains were at monkey level, seriously.

“You bastards only paid the merchants you dealt with a mere 3,521 sacks of Rice. But you reported to the Government Office that it cost 8,234 sacks. That means the profit you pocketed exceeds 4,713 sacks of white Rice! Where in heaven and earth does such an absurd case exist?”

“Your Honor, there are circumstances behind all this.”

“Circumstances my ass! The money you demanded from the Government Office is the blood and tears of the people. The people had to bear heavy taxes because the Government Office demanded it! You wicked and greedy monks have been filling your bellies with that blood tax and expanding Buddhist Temples. Is this the enlightenment your Buddha speaks of, and the path to saving all beings?”

If Buddha knew about this, he probably would have struck those bastards’ heads with the Tathagata Divine Palm.

Though I don’t know much about Buddhism, Buddhism as a religion seeks to cast off worldly troubles and worries to become free.

But those bastards made the people suffer to satisfy their own greed.

They violated the fundamental principles of Buddhism, so Buddha wouldn’t have left those bastards alone either.

Even aside from that, as a Confucian scholar and magistrate of Joseon, I have a duty to severely punish these rotten monks who are remnants and ghosts of Goryeo.

I might not have known about this corruption before, but now that I know, I have a duty to sweep it away immediately.

“I will report all the corruption and embezzlement you have committed to His Majesty so you receive severe punishment. And by my authority as magistrate, I will have all of you receive 20 consecutive strokes of the rod.”

The mention of twenty strokes made the bastards start trembling.

“Please, Your Honor. Please spare us, twenty strokes…”

“Even a strong man can’t walk for days after taking twenty consecutive strokes.”

In historical dramas, one hundred strokes with the beating stick are portrayed lightly, but beating someone with one hundred strokes was essentially equivalent to executing a death sentence. Even just ten strokes would likely tear the flesh from their legs…

If you take one hundred consecutive strokes, you’ll die either from the pain or from infection of the beaten area.

Therefore, in Joseon, when local magistrates had bandits they absolutely wanted to kill within their jurisdiction, they would sometimes administer one hundred strokes without reporting it up to the king.

So in these bastards’ case, even just twenty strokes would leave them unable to walk on two feet for at least a week.

And they’ll face the iron hammer of Lee Bang-won, who loved the people no less than King Sejong.

“From now on, we will repent our sins and follow Buddha’s teachings to provide relief to the people.”

“A tree rotten to its roots must be pulled out. You can’t revive it by watering and fertilizing it again.”

We highly value people who were human trash but then repented and lived their lives atoning for their past.

It’s difficult to commit great wrongs and then spend the rest of your life reflecting on them and living righteously.

But if you look at this from a twisted perspective? Those who commit rotten evil deeds once will repeat the same acts twice, three times.

Let’s say I show mercy to these bastards at this point. Would they be grateful? No, that would never happen.

Rather, they’d grind their teeth in resentment, and when the magistrate changes, they’d look for opportunities to embezzle like before. Humans can’t change their nature.

But forgiveness? It’s a million times better to punish these bastards and sternly warn everyone not to commit such acts.

The death penalty system exists to warn people that if they do evil deeds, the state will kill them, so don’t do it. It’s not about telling bad people to live virtuously.

“In two weeks, administer twenty strokes to these bastards in the Government Office Courtyard, and widely inform the people why they’re being beaten with the beating stick.”

Even the clerks who had opposed severely punishing the monks no longer defended them.

“Since Your Honor has judged so fairly and justly, the people will be delighted that an excellent magistrate has arrived.”

“Such rotten bastards must be severely punished.”

The clerks would have normally tried to request leniency for those guys. They knew to some extent that those guys were living off taxes…

Anyway, since they had been giving them appropriate fees (bribes), they knew they had to protect them to keep receiving endless payments, so they would have tried to defend them for the sake of a sustainable income source.

But extorting twice the amount that goes in? Even they would have thought this was too much.

“Sir, but why are you specifically holding the market in two weeks? Three days would be enough to spread the word among the county people.”

“If we’re going to make a big deal of this anyway, wouldn’t it be better not just to let them know that those people were embezzling tribute goods, but to reveal exactly how much money they skimmed using the tribute goods and say we’ll return that amount to the people?”

Just telling them that the money collected as tribute will be reduced from now on would make the people cheer with joy.

Their backs have been bent under the heavy tribute burden, and a significant portion of that will be reduced.

But what if we say that those bastards embezzled this much, so we’ll return that amount immediately?

To them, I’ll look like an angel returning the money that was unjustly taken from them.

The ripple effects from this will be much more dramatic too.

I’m not saying I would do this, but after this incident, I could do nothing for the rest of my term and still end my tenure receiving something like a Merit Stele and remain as a magistrate praised for eternity.

Ah, receiving a Merit Stele would increase the chances of becoming Hwang Hee… but that’s fine.

Wiping out all the troublemakers comes first.

“So Ibang, go contact the merchants who were dealing with those corrupt monks right away. From now on, the Government Office will deal directly with them, so tell them to negotiate well.”

“Yes, sir.”

If we deal directly without going through the monks, we’ll probably be able to buy things cheaper.

Plus, it will revitalize the local economy.

The problem is that we only collect specialty products as tribute goods – just try selling these all over the country.

It would become a key industry providing jobs to countless people.

**

Joseon tends to think of merchants as parasites eating away at the country.

Perhaps because of this, the merchants – or to put it in understandable terms, those who are like company representatives – were trembling before me.

They seem to think I’ll bring down the hammer on them like other magistrates do.

They must have heard that the monks they’d been dealing with will soon be dragged to Hanyang to face King Sejong’s legal punishment. That would make me seem even more frightening and intimidating to them.

“I have no intention of oppressing you people.”

There’s nothing good about oppressing merchants. The more you oppress them, the more likely the county’s economy will go to hell.

Other scholars might view merchants as idle parasites who want to make money without working, according to Confucian prejudices… but I know their importance very well.

In the 21st century, no one disrespects merchants—that is, businesses.

“Those corrupt monks sought far too much illicit profit under the pretext of collecting Tribute Goods on our behalf. Therefore, I had no choice but to punish them severely.”

At the mention of seeking far too much illicit profit, the merchants perked up their ears.

Yes, I’m planning to overlook the fact that you were in cahoots with the monks. If I scrutinize every single thing like that, the County’s commerce will be completely paralyzed, and who knows what kind of chaos will break out.

Even when trying to reform, one must consider realistic limitations.

Would a country function properly if you implemented communism claiming to create a world where everyone lives equally?

“So from now on, you can deal directly with me for procuring Tribute Goods. Understood?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“I’ve heard that some ignorant people ruin things by charging outrageous prices when dealing with the government. Therefore, when I trade with you, I will carefully examine what constitutes a fair price.”

“Is that true?”

If the Government Office buys goods at appropriate prices, this would benefit them as well.

How much must those guys have been extorted by the monks who acted all high and mighty while supposedly handling tribute payments for them?

Their status must have been incredibly high if there are even records of them strutting around like royal envoys carrying out the king’s orders.

“But be careful of just one thing.”

At the word “careful,” they gulped nervously.

“Don’t let me catch you using major deceptions.”

Here’s what’s important.

I’m saying I’ll tolerate minor deceptions—that is, charging a bit more to make a profit.

If I don’t tolerate this and insist on buying everything at cost, I’d be exploiting them.

However, if they use major deceptions to fool me like those rotten monks did, I’m essentially declaring I’ll kill them.

“Let’s discuss this slowly.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————