Chapter 147: That Autumn. (2)
Upon seeing their earnest memorials, filled with heartfelt devotion, return as written refusals stamped by the Office of Royal Decrees, the local gentry soon enacted their next method.
"Who among us has relatives who have entered government service at court?"
The second method chosen by the local gentry was 'connections.'
A tile-roofed house in Bukchon, Hanseong. In the sarangchae of a moderately sized house among the many tile-roofed homes in the Bukchon area, two scholars were conversing.
"Listen here, nephew! What I mean is, can't you speak directly to His Majesty!"
At the elderly scholar's words, the owner of the house, Gang Cheongsu, answered with a troubled expression.
"Uncle, that is not as easy as it sounds. Though this humble nephew may be a lower official attending the royal audience, I am among the lowest of the low!"
"So are you just going to stand by and watch the family's crisis? Are you not one of our family!"
At the words 'family crisis,' Gang Cheongsu's face stiffened.
No, it wasn't just his expression that stiffened. Even his voice and the way he addressed his uncle changed to become rigid.
"Family crisis... Uncle. Let me ask you one thing. Apart from my late father and us brothers, how many have entered government service?"
"Huh? Well, that's..."
At Gang Cheongsu's question, the uncle evaded with a slightly embarrassed face. Gang Cheongsu continued to press.
"How many in my generation and above passed the Jinsa examination, and how many passed the Saengwon examination? Just from what I know, there are over twenty! Yet how many have actually taken government posts, excluding my late father and us brothers? Hmm? No one! No one at all!"
"That is..."
At Gang Cheongsu's pointing out, the uncle's words trailed off with an embarrassed face. Gang Cheongsu continued pressing.
"If one becomes a gentry and passes the civil service examination, it is proper to enter government service. What has everyone been doing instead? Didn't they just sit rooted in their hometowns? And what did they do while sitting there? Knowing only how wide the land was without knowing how high the sky was, didn't they just keep acquiring more land?"
"That was for the revival of the family..."
"There is a proper path even for revival! I hear that within a hundred li in all directions from where our family is located, one cannot take a single step without stepping on our land. Is that an honorable thing?"
"That is..."
"Exploiting the special privilege His Majesty granted to continue studying if one's learning is insufficient even after passing the examination, and now you speak of family crisis!"
"Your words are a bit harsh..."
At his uncle's complaint that his words were too harsh, Gang Cheongsu exploded.
"What do you mean harsh! Because of that, do you know how much the court is struggling with the mismatch between revenue and expenditure! When a crisis comes, those who caused the crisis should take responsibility! Don't come bothering me like this for no reason!"
"Look here, nephew! Aren't you also a member of our Gang clan!"
"Don't speak of family only when you need something!"
At Gang Cheongsu's words, the uncle shouted with a bright red face.
"I've never seen such an insolent fellow! That one who ignores his own roots is His Majesty's subject! I will not let this pass! I will report you to the Office of Inspector General!"
At those words, Gang Cheongsu also raised his voice to counter.
"Go ahead and try! Do you think I have nothing to say? Let's examine whether it is right or wrong that despite it being proper to enter government service and become a pillar of the nation after passing the examination, you exploited the benefits granted by His Majesty to enrich yourselves!"
"Bah! Ptoo!"
At Gang Cheongsu's words, the uncle immediately rose from his seat, spat on the floor, and turned away.
"I will never speak with the likes of you again! No, I will have you expelled from the clan!"
At his uncle's words, Gang Cheongsu also countered without backing down.
"Please do! I too have no desire to be pointed at as belonging to the same clan as unprincipled people!"
With those shouts marking the end, the uncle left, and Gang Cheongsu called for his servant.
"Maksoe! Go to the storage and sprinkle some salt in front of the gate!"
"Huh? Yes!"
The argument Gang Cheongsu had with his uncle symbolized the division between the gentry residing in Hanseong—those who had built the bureaucratic society—and the local gentry.
* * *
At the end of Goryeo, the new gentry who emerged as a new power class split significantly with the founding of Joseon. One side was loyal to Goryeo—or rather, wanted to fix the broken parts and maintain the Goryeo system—while the other supported the dynastic revolution by Yi Seong-gye and Jeong Do-jeon.
When the dynastic revolution succeeded, the new gentry who had supported Goryeo went into seclusion in the provinces. Meanwhile, the new gentry who helped Yi Seong-gye and Jeong Do-jeon succeed in the revolution created a new power group centered on Hanseong.
This was the first fracture among the new gentry.
As time passed and Joseon's government organization was established, another fracture began to form. The reason for this new fracture was that the Joseon government, which championed royal way politics, was an extremely small government.
"The problem was that this became a symbol of 'good intentions, but reality was a sewer.'"
When preparing for the policy announcement that would become the starting point of Gyeongjang, Hyang had pointed out this problem.
From the perspective of 'royal way politics,' the essence of Neo-Confucianism or rather Confucianism, politics based on 'Benevolence' and 'Virtue' did not require a large government. Rather, a large government easily interfered with governing the people through benevolence and virtue.
Therefore, the early reformers of Joseon made the government extremely small.
And to widely seek and employ talent, they implemented the civil service examination system.
Up to this point, things were good.
However, problems arose from the fact that positions in court were limited, while those who passed through the triennial examination and special examinations were produced almost every year.
To guarantee the livelihood of those who could not enter the court and to induce a steady stream of those with aspirations for government service, what the court created was precisely the tax exemption system.
'To bring in even more outstanding talent to the court by devoting themselves to study without being pursued by livelihood concerns.'
This was the original intention, but before long, this deteriorated into a means of enrichment.
As this happened, people emerged who didn't even consider government service and took the civil service examination for the purpose of enrichment. These were people who aimed for the tax exemption benefits symbolized by the white certificate and red certificate obtained through passing the Saengwon or Jinsa examinations.
When the tax exemption benefits of those who had enriched themselves were about to end, their sons would pass the examination and receive tax exemption benefits, and the land inherited through property division became capital to acquire even more land.
But this doesn't mean the central bureaucrats were without fault. They too enriched themselves through various meritorious subject lands and bribes, and used the protection privilege system to inherit power.
As this happened, the central gentry began taking the civil service examination to aim for monopoly of power, while the local gentry began taking it for the purpose of enrichment.
It wasn't only power and economic issues that divided the provinces from the center.
Another reason was that those who had served as bureaucrats in the center and retired to their hometowns were rejected in their home regions.
This was a mutual fault.
Those who retired to their hometowns frequently dismissed the local gentry—despite being their own relatives—as 'country bumpkins.' Conversely, the local gentry disparaged those who retired as 'snobbish people with only high noses.'
As these processes accumulated, a wall formed between the gentry centered on Hanseong and the local gentry.
"And that in just a little over thirty years."
While preparing for the policy announcement, Hyang had to mutter with a bitter smile.
"Did teacher Samcheonpo say that? The reason Joseon became a mess with sedo politics in its later period was because the power structure was an extremely small pyramid."
-Regardless of era and history, power structures are pyramids. And those at the very top of that pyramid are all occupied by people with the same interests as the highest authority.
The problem with sedo politics was that the sedo noble families and those who leech off them didn't just eat the top of the pyramid, they ate the entire pyramid. Because Joseon's court as a power institution itself was too small, that disaster unfolded.
To solve this problem, what Hyang included in the policy and what Sejong adopted and actively implemented was the quantitative expansion of the central government symbolized by the court. Additionally, opening doors to the Northwest region and to secondary sons was a measure to block the problem of power monopoly by specific groups.
* * *
While Hanseong and the south were noisy with conflicts between the center and the provinces, the north—specifically the Northeast region—was equally noisy.
The noise in this region arose from resolving all sorts of trial and error occurring in the process of settling the Joseon people who had gone up through the migration policy and the Jurchens who had submitted.
Crash! Bang!
"You bastards! I'll kill you all!"
Almost simultaneously with the noisy sound of furniture being overturned, the door of the administrative deputy's office flew open as if torn off.
The one who burst through the door was Kim Jong-seo.
Kim Jong-seo, who descended into the courtyard as if flying, reached where the horses were in just a few steps and mounted one.
"Block him! Block him!"
"Catch him! Catch him!"
When Kim Jong-seo mounted the horse, those nearby urgently surrounded him.
"Open the way!"
"Oh my! Deputy Commander! What is it this time?"
"These bastards sent the documents all messed up again! I gave up on the spelling long ago, and I even gave up on the must-write fields! But getting the numbers wrong too, what are they trying to do! I'll kill them all!"
On both sides of Kim Jong-seo's chest, two cavalry firearms were hanging and shining viciously.
At Kim Jong-seo's appearance, having come out fully armed with determination, not only the civil officials but even the soldiers nearby rushed to block him.
"Hey now! Endure it! Endure it!"
"Please endure it!"
"If you're going to go, at least leave the firearms behind! Leave the firearms! I'll assign you guards!"
The chaotic scene that unfolded came to a complete halt at a sudden gunshot.
Bang!
At the sudden sound of a gunshot, Kim Jong-seo and those trying to stop him froze and looked toward where the sound came from.
Standing where the gunshot sounded was Hwang Hee, who had come out of the administrative office.
Hwang Hee looked at Kim Jong-seo with a deeply hardened face.
"Where?"
"Nokdun Island."
"I will send a dispatch, so you come inside."
"But..."
"Shut up! Come into my room right now!"
"Yes..."
At Hwang Hee's shout, Kim Jong-seo, shrinking like a turtle, quietly dismounted and entered Hwang Hee's administrative office.
A soldier who saw this scene spoke to his colleague standing nearby.
"Even the tiger Kim Jong-seo becomes docile in front of Minister Hwang?"
"The hawk catches the pheasant. Anyway, today's dispatch duty falls to you and me, Dong-soo, right?"
At his colleague's words, Dong-soo cursed.
"Damn it! Going all the way to Nokdun Island, my ass is going to catch fire!"
* * *
As the 'Northeast Frontier Development' progressed, such words began to circulate among the newly migrated Joseon people and the submitted Jurchens, especially among the Jurchens.
A pack of tigers had come from far away Hanseong.
Among those tigers that came swarming, there were two most terrifying tigers—one was Kim Jong-seo, and the other was Yi Jing-ok.
Those the Jurchens referred to as the 'tiger pack' included not only the Joseon military but also the civil officials.
The initial appearance of the civil officials who came up to the Northeast frontier with Hwang Hee was typical of civil officials. However, as time passed, the disposition of these civil officials became very rough.
To put it more precisely, they transformed into 'Jurchens in official robes.'
As the civil officials conducted administrative work in the Northeast development sites, their horsemanship improved day by day.
Initially, the civil officials quietly sat in the development headquarters and the government offices of new development sites to conduct their work. However, the problem was that while the number of personnel remained the same, the development sites grew increasingly larger, and the number of Joseon people and Jurchens within the development sites kept increasing.
Eventually, the civil officials had to ride horses and go around in all directions to conduct their work. That was how their horsemanship improved dramatically.
However, it wasn't just their horsemanship that increased and made them become like Jurchens.
While many Jurchens submitted, there were also Jurchens who refused submission and resisted, and there were Jurchens outside the development sites who pounced on the development site residents.
Thanks to this, situations where civil officials had to participate in combat occurred frequently.
When told in Hanseong to receive firearms training, the civil officials had said this:
'If a civil official needs to use a firearm, doesn't that mean everything is finished?'
However, in the Northeast region, such situations occurred frequently, and the civil officials adapted to the circumstances. Not only did they become familiar with using armored firearms and cavalry firearms, but when bullets ran out, they used the bows and arrows they had brought just in case to catch Jurchens.
"Good heavens..."
After submitting, a Jurchen from the Oryanghap tribe who had been assigned to guard the civil officials alongside the Joseon military asked a Joseon soldier nearby.
"Are those gentlemen really civil officials? How do they shoot bows so well?"
The Joseon soldier answered with a dry expression.
"In Joseon, even the women all shoot at least that well."
One of the basic qualities of scholars was archery, and one of the hobbies of women from affluent families was archery.
"Good heavens..."
The Jurchen who heard the answer couldn't close his open mouth.
"As expected of the country of the great elders!"
Through such experiences, the civil officials became like Jurchens. And among those transformed civil officials, the most formidable one was Kim Jong-seo.
Meanwhile, Hyang, who had confirmed the contents of the reports coming from the Northeast region, clicked his tongue slightly.
"Is this the Wild Wild West..."