Chapter 104: Hwang Hee, Overlapping Crisis! (2)
May of the 9th year of King Sejong's reign (1427, Year of the Fire Sheep).
An incident occurred where Seo Dal, son of Justice Minister Seo Seon, beat the glass artisan Pietro, inflicting serious injuries.
The beginning of the incident was truly absurd.
The reason was simply that Raphael and Pietro had passed in front of Seo Dal while he was walking down the road without showing any courtesy.
"Did you see such insolent fellows? Knowing who I am! Drag those bastards here immediately and make them pay!"
At Seo Dal's command, the steward attending him stepped forward to dissuade him.
"Young master, those are foreigners. Have you not heard the rumors? They are ones whom His Highness the Crown Prince treasures!"
"I don't want to hear it! No matter how much His Highness the Crown Prince treasures them, such rudeness cannot simply be overlooked! Bring them here immediately!"
"Young master."
"Hurry!"
At Seo Dal's command, the steward let out a small sigh and signaled to the servants following behind.
At the steward's signal, the servants grabbed clubs and chased after Pietro and Raphael.
"Stop!"
Pietro and Raphael, who had been heading toward District 51 without a care in the world, saw men with clubs running toward them and began to flee without even looking back.
Running for their lives, Raphael shouted at Pietro.
"You damned bastard! Which family's woman did you flirt with this time!"
As Pietro became familiar with the Korean language, he complained that the inside of District 51 was stifling and rented a house outside.
While living outside the district with Raphael, Pietro displayed the philandering nature of an Italian man without fail.
Thanks to this, there were several occasions where he was beaten or chased. That was why, as soon as men with clubs came running, they unconditionally fled, and Raphael demanded an explanation.
At Raphael's words, Pietro answered with an aggrieved expression.
"Not this time! Probably not!"
"Probably! What kind of bullshit is that!"
* * *
"Caught him!"
"I didn't sweet-talk her first...."
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
At the end of the chase, Seo Dal's servants who caught Pietro began to beat him savagely with their clubs.
Just at that moment, along with Raphael who had fled earlier, soldiers from District 51 rushed in.
"You villains! Who are you to beat an official wearing government robes! Seize them! Arrest all of these men!"
Upon hearing the report that Pietro had been beaten and seriously injured, Hyang let out a sigh first.
"Huu~. Which family's woman did he flirt with this time?"
"That is not the case. He says he was unilaterally beaten for failing to show proper respect."
"What does that even mean?"
Having received the report from the captain of the District 51 guard, Hyang dug into the incident in detail. Upon learning the whole story, Hyang slammed his desk.
"Such a damnable fellow! Where does he get off abusing his power! I will answer abuse of power with abuse of power!"
Hyang immediately rushed to King Sejong.
"Father, have you heard?"
"I have. A truly vile incident indeed."
"The criminal Seo Dal must be severely punished. To beat an official wearing government robes in broad daylight is a grave crime! Furthermore, reports continue to come in that the criminal, relying on his father's power, has committed all manner of evil deeds—this too is a grave crime!
We must root this out completely before the ways of 'the powerful are innocent, the powerless are guilty; with money innocent, without money guilty' take hold!"
"Hmmm...."
While King Sejong was pondering Hyang's words, Seo Seon, whose face had turned completely ashen, approached King Sejong with a scroll.
"What is this?"
"A letter of resignation. Since I failed to properly discipline my son and such an incident occurred, I feel deeply responsible and wish to resign in place of my son's punishment."
"Father, I wish to rebut the Justice Minister's words. Please grant me permission."
"I grant it."
With King Sejong's permission, Hyang denounced Seo Seon.
"Justice Minister, you are truly shameless! Does resigning make all crimes disappear? It is certain that even after resigning and returning to your hometown, you will live loudly with your wealth and power—is that a punishment? Father! I beseech you! Punish the criminal with the extreme penalty as prescribed by law!"
At Hyang's words, Seo Seon immediately prostrated himself on the floor and pleaded desperately.
"Your Majesty, the criminal is my only son! Please show mercy!"
In the end, Seo Seon was dismissed from office, and his meritorious subject certificate and noble title were revoked. And the criminal Seo Dal, who had caused the incident, was sentenced to 100 lashes of the paddle, demotion to commoner status, and a ban on holding office for three generations. Furthermore, for the crime of assaulting an official in government robes, Seo Dal's servants and steward were all given extreme punishments.
"We are innocent, Your Honor!"
"Silence! If they were not wearing plain clothes but government robes, you would know they are officials of the state—to assault such a person, what is there to claim innocence about! It is said that the fox borrows the tiger's might! It has been revealed that your usual misdeeds committed in Seo Dal's name are numerous—what is there to claim innocence about! Carry out the sentences immediately!"
On the day Seo Dal's paddle punishment was carried out, Hyang ordered the soldiers who would administer the lashes.
"Beat him with all your might!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
That day, Seo Dal received 100 lashes struck with full force and was crippled.
Seo Seon, receiving his son who had become crippled, returned home shedding tears of blood.
"Even if my son committed a crime, this is too much! Crown Prince! I will never forget this incident!"
* * *
Hwang Hee, who heard this news through a steward who had ridden a horse from Hanyang, let out a long sigh.
"So, what did your wife say?"
"Considering the grievances she has suffered all this time...."
"I understand what she means."
Was it Hyang's influence? The changed history was shifting subtly.
Hwang Hee's daughter, who had married into Seo Dal's family, was unable to produce an heir.
If Hwang Hee had not been a father-in-law, it would have been a situation where she could have been driven out with no words to say, but thanks to Hwang Hee, his daughter was able to maintain her position. However, when a son was born to Seo Dal's concubine whom he openly took in, she endured the grievances of harsh married life.
In the end, Hwang Hee had to write and submit a petition to King Sejong asking permission for his daughter's divorce.
After handing over the petition, Hwang Hee let out a long sigh.
"Heoh~, the incident has been settled, so why do I feel so uneasy?"
Unfortunately for Hwang Hee, an even bigger incident awaited him.
It was an incident involving his two sons.
* * *
That same year when the Seo Dal incident occurred, heavy rain fell during the summer rainy season. Due to the rain that poured like a deluge, contaminated water leaked from the Gahak-san gold mine and flowed into nearby rice paddies.
"Jang-ga! Jang-ga! Go to the rice paddy quickly! It's a disaster! A disaster!"
"What?"
At a neighboring farmer's shout, Jang the farmhand ran to his rice paddy and collapsed right there on the spot.
The paddy was filled with foul-smelling muddy water, and the rice plants that had been growing well were yellowing and withering.
"What kind of disaster is this...."
"Immediately dispatch investigators to determine the cause!"
Upon receiving the report of the incident, King Sejong immediately dispatched investigators.
For King Sejong and the court, the Gahak-san mine was an extremely valuable asset.
* * *
In the process of developing gold and silver mines, Joseon maintained maximum secrecy to avoid interference from Ming China.
Therefore, most gold and silver mines were located in remote areas, including Gangwon Province.
As a result, secrecy was maintained, but the transportation and storage of the mined and refined gold and silver became a problem.
The problem was that when there was a need to mobilize large amounts of funds urgently, meeting the timing was difficult.
To solve this problem, King Sejong ordered the prospectors.
"Focus your investigations on areas close to Hanyang."
Thus, the Bupyeong silver mine and the Gahak-san mine were discovered.
In terms of scale, the Bupyeong silver mine was larger, but precisely because of that fact, King Sejong decided to temporarily abandon Bupyeong.
"If Ming finds out that much silver is produced in our Joseon, they will pounce on us. Let us keep it concealed for the time being."
"An excellent decision, Your Majesty!"
Thus, the Gahak-san mine was selected. The quantity was smaller, but since gold, silver, and copper were all produced, it became the optimal mine for King Sejong to make appropriate excuses to Ming.
"We have found a mine, but as you can see, the extraction volume is too small! Ming need not concern themselves!"
* * *
Upon hearing the news of the accident near Gahak-san, Hyang immediately knew the cause.
"It was likely the mine's wastewater that was the problem."
In the process of refining gold, silver, and copper, strong acids were used, and accordingly, large amounts of contaminated water containing dissolved heavy metals were produced.
Moreover, the leachate gushing from the mine tunnels also contained large amounts of heavy metals mixed in.
In such a situation, during the rainy season, the enormous amount of rain that poured down mixed with the contaminated water and leachate overflowing from the tunnels, covering the nearby rice paddies.
Having gone to the site personally to check the situation, Hyang reported the circumstances to King Sejong along with the investigators and proposed a solution.
"We must purchase all the rice paddies and fields that were damaged this time."
"I heard the soil has been poisoned by toxins. Purchase... would it not suffice to cover it with fresh soil?"
"The cost of bringing in fresh soil is not insignificant either. Rather, it would be better to purchase the land and then build large-scale purification facilities. Is there any guarantee that something like this will not happen again?"
In the end, King Sejong ordered the Ministry of Taxation to purchase the contaminated rice paddies and fields.
* * *
During the process of compensating farmers and purchasing contaminated rice paddies and fields by King Sejong's order, Hwang Hee's sons conspired to scheme up something.
"Brother! Brother! Have you heard the rumor?"
Hwang Bo-shin, who came to find his older brother Hwang Chi-shin, brought up the rumor to catch his attention.
"What rumor?"
"The rumor that the state is purchasing the rice paddies and fields in the Gahak-san area!"
"It's not a rumor, it's a fact."
At Hwang Chi-shin's answer, Hwang Bo-shin looked around and then brought up the main topic in a low voice.
"Brother. Let's have some fun."
"Fun? What kind of fun?"
"I'm saying let's smell some money."
At Hwang Bo-shin's words, Hwang Chi-shin's expression showed interest.
"Smell of money? Good. But how?"
"The lands being compensated this time. The Ministry of Taxation has jurisdiction over that, right?"
"That's right."
"You should step forward and handle it, brother. They say the Ministry of Taxation is so busy these days that groans never cease—if you step forward, brother, how happy would they be?"
"For me to step forward... are you suggesting we tamper with the land registers?"
"You know it well! If we change low-grade to high-grade, we can increase it by at least double, no? Then how much would the compensation be?"
At Hwang Bo-shin's words, Hwang Chi-shin nodded.
Joseon collected land taxes based on the gyeol unit. Here, gyeol referred to an area that could produce 300 mal of grain. Because of this, the area of one gyeol had to differ depending on soil quality. Roughly, the area of one gyeol of high-grade land was 4/9 the area of one gyeol of low-grade land.
This was exactly what Hwang Bo-shin had targeted.
"We've had our field allotments taken away, and can't even take bribes... how long has it been since we smelled money? Even now, my concubine is asking for a gold ring, but I need wealth to give her one or not!"
After contemplating briefly, Hwang Chi-shin soon nodded.
"Alright, let's do it!"
In the end, Hwang Hee's two sons joined forces to forge the land register documents, changing low-grade rice paddies to high-grade, then received the corresponding compensation and pocketed the difference.
Hwang Hee's eldest son, who worked at the Ministry of Taxation, forged the documents, and the second son deceived the rice paddy owners to create receipts showing they had received proper payment.
* * *
The scheme was exposed because of Hyang.
"Stuck with work again today... I wonder if I'll end up needing to serve as regent at this rate...."
Grumbling as he checked the records submitted from the Ministry of Taxation, Hyang tilted his head.
"Why do the Gahak-san contaminated land purchase costs look like this?"
Gahak-san was a neighboring town to where Hyang had lived in the 21st century. Because of that connection and the fact that it was an important source of income for the court, Hyang knew quite detailed information about Gahak-san.
"This is strange... Attendant!"
Hyang called an attendant and immediately gave an order.
"Go to the Ministry of Taxation immediately and bring the land registers for the Gahak-san area. And the copies stored at the Records Office as well."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Cross-verifying the land registers stored at the Ministry of Taxation, the copies stored at the Records Office, and the land records submitted during this compensation process, Hyang confirmed that the documents had been forged.
"These scoundrels! I must inform Father!"
Upon hearing from Hyang that official documents had been forged, King Sejong was greatly enraged.
"Such an outrageous act! Someone! Summon the Chief Inspector immediately!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Having summoned the Chief Inspector, King Sejong immediately issued a royal command.
"If necessary, conduct a full investigation of all Ministry of Taxation officials to root out the culprits!"
"I shall obey your command!"
At King Sejong's order, the Office of Inspector General thoroughly shook down the Ministry of Taxation officials from top to bottom.
As a result, they found Hwang Hee's sons.
With both sons imprisoned at once, Hwang Hee's wife, who had turned pale with fear, sent a steward to Hwang Hee once again.
Upon hearing the news from the steward, Hwang Hee felt as if the sky was collapsing. Staring blankly at the sky, Hwang Hee began to write a letter of resignation.
"This won't be the end of it, but...."
Even in the history before Hyang's intervention, Hwang Hee's son had caused a major incident through forgery of official documents, and this time too, Hwang Hee's sons had committed a major offense.