He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 93

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

Sowing Discord in the Ming Dynasty (9)

A report sent by the Joseon diplomatic mission that went to the Ming Dynasty arrived at the Royal Court.

Although it’s called a report, it was written in abbreviated form, so the detailed contents would only be known after formally receiving the diplomatic mission records written by the Secretary.

However, after confirming all the brief main contents written in the report, King Sejong was so overjoyed that he couldn’t remain seated on the Dragon Throne and had to spring to his feet.

“Is everything written in this report truly fact? It feels as if I’m dreaming.”

King Sejong knew very well that unless all the chief envoy, Deputy Envoy, Secretary, and interpreters dispatched as the diplomatic mission had a death wish, there was no way they would fabricate the report.

Moreover, reports sent to the king, especially those sent by diplomatic missions, are sent only after being reviewed internally at least six times…

There wouldn’t be even the slightest error in the contents written within.

So even though he knew that everything written in the report would be true, he was so overjoyed that he ended up saying such words.

The ministers present in Pyeonjeon Hall also knew this fact, so they didn’t say mood-breaking words like ‘Don’t worry. It’s all true, Your Majesty.’

“Joseon has served the suzerain state (Ming Dynasty) with utmost sincerity until now, but His Imperial Majesty has always demanded excessive tribute goods from Joseon. Because of this, the Common People suffered greatly trying to procure Gold and Silver, and War Horses from their meager means.”

When the Ming Dynasty received Gold, Silver, and War Horses sent from Joseon, they would multiply by more than three times according to their own market rates and return them as Luxury Goods and various items.

However, the market rates of the Ming Dynasty, which produced large amounts of Gold, Silver, and War Horses, differed from Joseon’s market rates by more than three times even in simple comparison.

Therefore, the more tribute goods Joseon offered, the more severe losses continued.

It was so severe that in the Early Joseon Period, to avoid offering Precious Metals as tribute goods, they strictly prohibited mining Gold and Silver at the national level…

“However, such circumstances are only matters of the past. Now we no longer need to offer Gold and Silver, and Joseon can certainly handle about three thousand War Horses.”

Three thousand War Horses is definitely not a small number.

From a 21st-century perspective, horses used as War Horses are not simply ‘passenger cars’ but can be compared to tanks.

If we were to assign value to them, they would be precious items worth at least 300 million won each, like supercars.

However, in the current era, though undervalued because of the Ming Dynasty, Joseon has superior national power compared to France and England, the strongest powers in Europe, so handling three thousand sports cars wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

‘Now I can finally expand the cavalry more.’

When Hwang Hee tactfully shouted long live, the other ministers followed suit and all chanted long live three times together.

“Long live! Long live! Long live forever!”

Instead of thanking the Emperor who reduced the tribute goods, the Joseon ministers showed their defiance against the Ming Dynasty by praising the King of Joseon.

King Sejong found this quite pleasing to see.

King Sejong resolved to give these admirable and loyal subjects even more of his favorite work piles and meat in the future.

After all, sharing what you love makes it even better.

“Your Majesty, while the reduction of tribute goods is indeed something to celebrate greatly with all the people, according to the report sent by the envoy, Kim Dae-bung who went as Secretary has formed a deep friendship with someone named Wang Jin who will become a powerful figure among the eunuchs. Isn’t this another great achievement accomplished by the diplomatic mission?”

Even in Joseon, eunuchs hold very important positions as they serve as the king’s secretaries.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs not only serve as the Emperor’s secretaries but also possess powerful authority including military inspection rights and the ability to execute officials.

Particularly, the Ceremonial Directorate, which could be considered the core department among eunuch departments, could decide whether to accept diplomatic documents submitted by Joseon as they were, and could also attach opinions to them.

Those opinions were generally accepted.

“Since Kim Dae-bung is not someone who handles affairs clumsily, this Wang Jin must certainly be someone who will achieve great success as a eunuch and wield great influence in the Ming Dynasty. However, I’m curious about the reason why he made such a judgment.”

“According to the official report submitted by Maeng Sa-seong, Wang Jin not only has the finest writing skills among the eunuchs, but also serves as a teacher at the Inner Palace Academy where eunuchs are educated.”

In the 16th century age of Sarim, simply becoming someone’s teacher or becoming someone’s disciple would grant great influence in Joseon.

In the early 15th century, during the age of the government school faction, it was impossible to become a minister or wield influence solely based on being someone’s teacher.

However, separate from that, it was considered natural to regard and serve one’s teacher as importantly as one’s parents.

Considering that eunuchs, due to their castration, cannot even form families and thus regard the eunuch organization as their family and stick together closely…

“Wang Jin will become the Director of Ceremonies in the future. And if he becomes the Director of Ceremonies, he will try to repay Joseon, which showed him great favor, by reducing the various hardships that Joseon suffers.”

“Indeed it is so. Furthermore, according to Maeng Sa-seong’s words, Secretary Kim Dae-bung, like Han Xin who endured the humiliation of crawling between a ruffian’s legs… highly praised this Wang Jin, and he also wrote his opinion that His Imperial Majesty, recognizing the hidden intention behind this, came to trust Joseon more and thus reduced the tribute.”

“Bring me the official report that Maeng Sa-seong wrote.”

King Sejong hurriedly read through the contents and passages.

The more he read, the more he felt a heart-wrenching pain.

Court eunuchs in Joseon are beings that even mere interpreters, medical officials, and even common people point fingers at behind their backs.

Eunuchs are not much different.

Yet Kim Dae-bung, knowing that he could be pointed at with fingers in Joseon at any time for his actions, sacrificed his own honor thinking only of Joseon’s national interests.

He requested calligraphy from a lowly eunuch without any court rank, praised him greatly, and bowed his waist and lowered his head to show he was nothing.

Seeing his attitude, the Ming Emperor must have firmly believed that Joseon had no will to resist the Ming Dynasty.

“Indeed, this is Kim Dae-bung. He was a great man who didn’t fear even death for the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State, and now he has even thrown away his honor, saying he would endure being pointed at by others for Joseon.”

In fact, Kim Dae-bung himself didn’t think of honor as heavily as other Joseon people did.

As long as he wasn’t branded and buried socially, he wasn’t someone who cared greatly about honor.

However, in Joseon where honor was more important than life, Kim Dae-bung’s actions shown in Ming would be considered loyal behavior that touched everyone’s hearts.

“I will not forget Kim Dae-bung’s loyalty. The court historian shall record his loyalty without missing a single word, and no one living in Joseon should belittle his dedication and sacrifice.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Prepare a grand banquet to comfort the hardships of the Diplomatic Mission.”

**

When I returned to Hanyang, I wanted to go straight home.

Because I missed Gyeoul-i so much, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.

However, the official duties of the Diplomatic Mission only end after attending the banquet that His Majesty graciously provides…

I had no choice but to attend the banquet.

‘Couldn’t you let me rest a bit to see Winter today, and hold the welcome banquet tomorrow?’

While thinking such thoughts and sitting eating Palace Food, suddenly a Court Eunuch appeared and sought out our Diplomatic Mission party.

Following his guidance, we were called in a line and stood before King Sejong, and after bowing, I felt King Sejong looking at me with a very profound gaze.

It was a gaze that even conveyed sorrowful emotions.

Like Liu Bei’s eyes watching Xu Shu being inevitably dragged away to Cao Cao because his mother was taken hostage in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

“You have all suffered much traveling the long road to Beijing.”

“Your grace is overwhelming, Your Majesty.”

“I have heard that Secretary Kim Dae-bung endured even the humiliation of praising eunuchs for the Royal Ancestral Shrine and State and Joseon. Was it not painful to bow your head to an eunuch without any court rank?”

Of course it was humiliating.

However, I have not a single regret about my actions.

This was for Joseon’s sake, and it was a strategic move to tear apart the Ming Dynasty.

Kneeling to gain momentum is not humiliation but strategy.

“As a subject of Joseon, what would be difficult about abandoning personal honor and a beautiful reputation for Joseon’s sake? Even a single commoner doesn’t hesitate to do all kinds of difficult and dirty work for their family.”

The truth is, when a person dies, that’s the end.

What good would it do to leave behind a name after death?

Whether anyone curses my name or not, I won’t be able to hear it anyway.

So suddenly, I recall a case I personally judged when I was the Jinhae County Magistrate.

“When I was the Jinhae County Magistrate, there was an incident where a tenant farmer named Kim Mal-soe was severely beaten by a wealthy man in the county.”

Mal-soe had been beaten so badly that his entire body was covered in bruises.

“The incident occurred because Kim Cheomji told his tenant farmer Mal-soe that he would raise the tenant fee from the existing 50% to 60%. Mal-soe pleaded for mercy, saying that even the current 50% was breaking his back, and if it was raised to 60%, his wife and children would starve to death. However, Kim Cheomji threatened him to leave if he didn’t like it, berated him, and beat him.”

Wherever you go in this world, there are bastards who abuse their power.

In my opinion, even a 50% tenant fee seemed too much, but to raise it by another 10% to 60% was truly unreasonable.

“I ruled on this case by ordering Kim Cheomji to receive 20 lashes and pay a fine for arbitrarily beating a commoner and attempting to collect 60% tenant fees despite the law prohibiting more than 50%. Furthermore, I ordered him to lower the tenant fee to 30% according to the law. After making that judgment, I asked Mal-soe why he had bowed his head before Kim Cheomji’s unreasonable demands.”

“What did he answer?”

“He said that as the head of his household, if he refused to bow his head to protect his pride and quit tenant farming, his wife and children would immediately starve to death, so he had to do it. He said he had no choice but to bow his head. When even a mere commoner would do such a thing for his family, I thought that as someone who receives the nation’s salary, I should not fear abandoning my pride and being pointed at for Joseon’s sake.”

King Sejong’s eyes reddened.

And he instructed me to come closer.

He handed me a wine cup and personally poured the alcohol.

In Joseon, Choi Yun-deok received such special treatment when he achieved a great victory against the Jurchen tribes at the Battle of Pajeogan, and since this is described with great emphasis… it’s an extremely exceptional honor.

“I will never forget your loyalty. Furthermore, I will bestow 30 bolts each of sara silk and silk damask, one saddled horse, 100 nyang of silver, and other gifts… and I will specially promote your rank from junior 5th grade to junior 4th grade lower class.”

“Your grace is boundless, Your Majesty.”

“And I appoint you to the official position of Assistant Director of the Warship Construction Office, so use the craftsmen you brought from the Ming Dynasty to build ships needed by Joseon and benefit the common people.”

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