He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 81

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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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King Sejong’s Trap (2)

King Sejong is climbing Bukaksan Mountain with Lee Bang-won again today.

When he first started mountain climbing, he would gasp for breath like someone about to die after just 1 gak (15 minutes) into the climb.

But after steadily climbing mountains for several months and gradually improving his stamina, he now has enough endurance to hold conversations while climbing.

“His Majesty.”

“Yes, Do-ya. Just a little more and we’ll reach the summit. Put in just a little more effort.”

“In the past, just climbing to the summit would leave me breathless and completely exhausted, but now I don’t find it too difficult even when I reach the top.”

“Truly admirable. This is all thanks to Kim Dae-bung, who risked his life to offer me loyal advice about taking care of your body.”

Even in the 21st century, the president’s health condition is classified information.

It must be kept secret just like various military facilities or diplomatic documents that are treated as classified matters for national security reasons.

Therefore, not only the president’s chronic illnesses but even minor things like passing colds are thoroughly secured to prevent leaks.

The exception would be when death is imminent, and only when it’s deemed necessary to inform the public unavoidably.

Similarly in Joseon, the king’s illness being revealed to his subjects only applied when ‘royal succession’ needed to be urgently prepared.

Therefore, for someone who wasn’t even a Royal Physician to worry about King Sejong’s health could be considered a statement of ‘treason’…

Kim Dae-bung had truly risked his own neck to offer loyal advice for King Sejong’s sake.

From Lee Bang-won’s perspective, Kim Dae-bung became a benefactor who saved his son King Sejong by risking his own life.

“Yesterday the Royal Physician said that while your body previously showed clear signs of wasting disease, now the disease has completely disappeared from your body thanks to losing weight and strengthening your muscles and bones. Isn’t this all because you diligently trained your stamina through mountain climbing?”

The thought ‘Since my body has become healthy, how about reducing the frequency of mountain climbing from now on?’ momentarily crossed King Sejong’s mind.

Those words almost reached his throat, but he couldn’t bring himself to suggest reducing the frequency of mountain climbing to his father who was smiling so brightly and joyfully.

It absolutely wasn’t because he was afraid that if he suggested it and lost the logical argument, he’d be charged with insubordination and have other exercises added besides mountain climbing.

It was restraint born from filial piety, as a son who couldn’t dare forbid something his father enjoyed.

“His Majesty, I learned today from the official report submitted by the Chief State Councilor that Kim Dae-bung is considering resignation.”

“Kim Dae-bung is considering resignation? He must be trying to move directly again to eliminate corrupt officials possessed by Goryeo ghosts or to abolish wrong policies.”

The subject Kim Dae-bung is someone who enjoys dedicating himself to the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State more than anyone else.

If he were not such a person, he could not have risked his life to submit a written memorial opposing the circulation of copper coin currency, which was Lee Bang-won’s cherished project that he sought to achieve with an iron mace, staking the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State on it.

Therefore, anyone who has not heard the reason Jo Mal-saeng mentioned would inevitably think that way.

If King Sejong had not seen the phrase written by Hwang Hee, ‘Kim Dae-bung says he wants to resign like Zhang Liang,’ he would have thought that Kim Dae-bung’s intention to submit a resignation memorial was for the purpose of pursuing other matters.

“Kim Dae-bung says that once he completes the work he must do, he wishes to depart suddenly like Zhang Liang, who served a single emperor.”

Lee Bang-won’s expression completely hardened.

Kim Dae-bung is naturally a subject who must devote himself until death for Joseon, like Hwang Hee, Maeng Sa-seong, Jo Mal-saeng, no wait… anyway.

To think that such a person wanted to leave like Zhang Liang, it was a shock as if he had been struck on the head with a wooden club in the middle of the night.

“Looking at the actions Kim Dae-bung has shown so far, one can see that he thinks of nothing but serving the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State and bringing peace to the common people, whether awake or asleep. Such a Kim Dae-bung could not possibly think of resigning and returning to his hometown.”

“Could it not be because Kim Dae-bung has achieved too many merits?”

At these words, Lee Bang-won had no choice but to nod his head.

The merits Kim Dae-bung has achieved are absolutely not at the level of overthrowing a nation’s foundation.

To reach that level, one would need to be at the level of Lee Seong-gye, who is evaluated by recent historians as a ‘great general’ even surpassing General Yi Sun-sin.

Moreover, while Lee Seong-gye was the one who brought down Goryeo, he was also a hero who saved Goryeo from the crisis of national destruction several times.

However, this only means his achievements are not yet at the level of overthrowing a nation, but if he were a subject serving a monarch like King Seonjo who fled at light speed or a thief like Zhu Yuanzhang…

He is someone who has achieved merits so great that it would not be strange if he were purged at any time.

Therefore, Lee Bang-won and King Sejong’s thoughts inevitably flowed in this direction.

‘Since the merits he has achieved are too great, he wants to step down out of concern.’

“Though Kim Dae-bung’s merits are indeed great, I am different from some thief. I know Kim Dae-bung’s true heart, so how could I cast him aside after using him?”

Zhu Yuanzhang, that man purged a total of 10,000 people, combining meritorious subjects and their nine generations of family members.

However, Lee Bang-won only killed those who deserved to die for causing trouble, regardless of whether they were family or not.

The men of the Min family caused too much trouble because they were royal relatives by marriage.

Min Mu-gu said, ‘Wouldn’t it be right to kill all the other sons except the crown prince?’ and Sim On, King Sejong’s father-in-law, showed presumptuous behavior such as personally selecting who could meet King Sejong as soon as it was confirmed that King Sejong would become crown prince.

Since they openly stirred up trouble wanting to engage in politics by powerful families, he killed them for strengthening royal authority and national stability.

“However, his concerns are not entirely without basis, so I must comfort him well and ease his anxious heart. If I, as king, cannot remove the worries of a subject who pledges to devote himself body and soul with utmost effort for the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State, what a shameful thing that would be.”

Ministers like Hwang Hee and Jo Mal-saeng reveal all sorts of corruption and flaws whenever you shake them down.

So the problem can be solved by simply sending a secret letter or secretly instructing the Office of Inspector General to impeach their misconduct, then stepping in as king to block it.

By bestowing the royal grace of directly stopping the impeachment process, he could continue using them until death, while also giving them the assurance that they would only be safe as long as they continued working in the Royal Court.

But Kim Dae-bung has no flaws.

Unlike Jo Mal-saeng or Hwang Hee, who reveal all sorts of dirty things even with a cursory investigation, the more thoroughly you investigate him, the more only good deeds emerge.

Lee Bang-won sighed inwardly.

‘It would be nice if he had at least some weaknesses.’

However, a brilliant alternative occurred to King Sejong, who in the history without Kim Dae-bung had driven all his subjects to the brink of death from overwork like graduate students, while he himself worked 120 hours a week.

The fact that if there are no weaknesses, the king can directly gift them some.

“His Majesty, I hear that Kim Dae-bung cherishes his concubine so dearly. How much must he have treasured his concubine to open a path to government office for his father-in-law who was merely a merchant?”

The process by which Kim Dae-bung made Kim Man-deok a yangban official went through strictly legal procedures.

Just as there were cases where even slaves like Jang Yeong-sil and Park Ja-cheong were granted high offices if they had talent, it was natural for a merchant to enter government service when the Royal Court needed merchants.

Rather, it would have been strange if it hadn’t happened that way.

Therefore, while this wouldn’t serve as grounds to thwart Kim Dae-bung’s resignation, King Sejong was able to develop this fact and find the following method.

“Moreover, Kim Dae-bung has already passed his coming of age and is now 22 years old, yet he has not properly held a wedding ceremony and has no legal wife. According to rumors circulating in society, the reason is that his concubine has not even produced a son, and he feels that if he takes a legal wife, it would make his concubine’s position uncomfortable.”

“They must love each other even more than Queen Wongyeong and I do.”

Lee Bang-won was someone who was extremely fond of women, and Queen Wongyeong was a woman with strong jealousy, so they often fought because of this.

However, separate from that, whenever Lee Bang-won faced crisis, Queen Wongyeong always stepped forward before anyone else and threw herself into protecting Lee Bang-won, loving him to that extent.

For this reason, Lee Bang-won would also reminisce about how much he owed to Lady Min when he was young.

“I hear that the reason Kim Dae-bung took his beloved as a concubine was because her father was not a yangban, but now the situation has changed. That concubine’s father Kim Man-deok has long since become a yangban, and Kim Dae-bung still has no legal wife, so…”

A smile formed on Lee Bang-won’s lips.

Both by etiquette and social hierarchy, it would be impossible for Kim Dae-bung himself to directly make his concubine his legal wife.

Moreover, petitioning the king to do so would also be a difficult matter.

However, if he as king knew that those two loved each other and used his royal authority to elevate Kim Gyeoul to the status of legal wife…?

Kim Dae-bung would receive an irrefutable royal favor… which would give him reason to serve the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State like Hwang Hee and Jo Mal-saeng.

He could solve the problem caused by the status difference between the loving man and woman, and also chain down a retainer who must work like a slave for Joseon’s endless development so he cannot resign…

Wouldn’t this be good for Joseon, good for Lee Bang-won, and good for King Sejong?

“His Majesty, how about elevating Kim Dae-bung’s concubine to the status of legal wife?”

A smile formed on Lee Bang-won’s lips.

He had always wanted to repay the man who made his son healthy, enriched Joseon’s finances, and greatly improved the people’s livelihood.

But since he was someone who had little interest in wealth and no ambition for advancement, Lee Bang-won had been frustrated at not finding a way to generously reward him.

With King Sejong’s suggestion, he could finally solve the problem that had been troubling him, so he was very pleased.

“Since you are so wise, this father truly has nothing to worry about.”

Lee Bang-won found his son, who had solved a major concern on his own, extremely admirable.

So he thought that from now on, he just needed to take better care of his son’s health.

“And now that you’ve built a foundation of physical strength to some degree, starting tomorrow let’s train not only in mountain climbing but also horsemanship and archery. We can alternate between them. I’m saying this not because I want to take you hunting, but for the sake of your health.”

“Really?”

Instead of answering, Lee Bang-won climbed the mountain with quick steps.

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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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