Black Corporation: Joseon Chapter 330

Episode 330: Those who wait, those who move. (7)

“I want to know what the officials think about the business brought by Daenae’s envoy.”

At King Sejong’s words, the ministers searched their memories and reviewed the contents of the manuscript.

After organizing their thoughts based on what they had reviewed, the ministers soon opened their mouths and began to express their opinions.

“How could it not be beautiful to say that they want to gather talented people from the realm and learn the way of sage? “I believe it is appropriate to support them.”

“That’s right. I think we should accept Daenae’s request and provide support to teachers. “If we educate the Japanese by teaching them the virtues and etiquette of Joseon, we will be able to protect the safety of Joseon, which will kill two birds with one stone.”

What the envoy of Ouchi requested was to send teachers to educate talented people selected from the territory.

-Currently, 50 people have been selected in the first round. Going forward, we plan to select talent on a similar scale every year.

-Therefore, Joseon should support teachers who will educate them. Joseon has been famous for its civilization and courtesy since ancient times, so I want to learn about its civilization and courtesy.

The contents of Ouchi Morimi’s handwritten letter brought by the envoy were roughly the same as above.

The opinions of the ministers were generally towards accepting Ouchi’s opinion.

“I listened carefully to your opinions. However, the Ministry of Education, which has the most to say on this matter, has not spoken yet. “What are the Minister of Education’s intentions?”

In response to King Sejong’s question, Minister of Education Jo Gye-saeng bowed his head.

“I am responding to a question from His Highness Jo Gye-saeng, the new Minister of Education. It is truly a good thing that Daenae realized their shortcomings and asked Joseon for guidance. However, it is not possible to know to what extent Ouchi wants from this document alone. “If you do something based on guesswork without really knowing what the other person wants, it’s worse than not doing anything at all.”

“Your words are correct.”

Sejong nodded at Jo Gye-saeng’s answer. Jo Gye-saeng, who saw that King Sejong’s reaction was not bad, continued talking a little more.

“There is also a problem with sending teachers to Daenae’s territory. This is because we cannot know the level of the 50 selected talents. I can’t tell whether their level is at the level of former Sungkyunkwan Confucian students or at the level of current middle school students. To be more precise, there is currently not enough teacher talent to dispatch teachers above the middle school level.”

King Sejong’s complexion worsened at Jo Gye-saeng’s remarks.

“Is the ‘lack of talent’ holding us back again?”

“I apologize. The gods are incompetent…”

In response to King Sejong’s complaints, Lee Jik bowed his head as representative.

“It’s not something to blame the police officers for.”

King Sejong summarized the situation by briefly replying to the ministers’ words.

If responsibility for the current talent shortage situation in Joseon was to be held, the blame would be placed on the previous kings – especially King Taejong.

Heo Jo, who heard the words ‘talent shortage’, asked Jo Gye-saeng a question.

“How many noblemen are there throughout Joseon, but is there a lack of talent?”

Jo Gye-saeng sharply responded to Heo Jo’s scolding.

“Don’t you think that the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications also mentions the phrase ‘lack of talent’ every day?”

“….”

Heo Jo’s mouth was tightly shut due to Jo Gye-saeng’s scolding.

Kim Jeom, who was listening to the story of Heo Jo and Jo Gye-saeng next to him, expressed his differing opinion.

“How about choosing the right people among those who committed the sins of the past years and are working in the mines?”

As soon as Kim Jeom finished speaking, shouts from ministers poured in from all directions.

“Say something that makes sense!”

“Great! “You’re senile!”

“You’re the kind of person who’s going to be in big trouble!”

When the commotion subsided, King Sejong asked Kim Jeom.

“For what reason did the Minister of Finance and Economy decide to select among criminals? The minister must also know full well that they are criminals. “I want to hear an explanation.”

Sejong’s hard voice revealed that he was quite angry right now.

Kim Jeom swallowed dry saliva and carefully explained the reason.

“Among those who committed unscrupulous acts in the past year, all who will die have already died. Most of those who work in the mines now are punished by association. Therefore, I have told you this because I believe that if we select a suitable person among them and send him to the Japanese country, we will be able to save face in Ouchi and at the same time, let your Majesty’s generosity be known to the public.”

As soon as Kim Jeom finished speaking, Maeng Sa-seong opened his mouth.

“According to the law of death, those who were implicated would also not have escaped death. However, the law of our Joseon Dynasty states that even if a person is implicated, he or she is exempt from the death penalty depending on the extent of his or her blood relatives. That’s why they made them slaves and made them work. This alone is enough to demonstrate your generosity. Any further generosity could actually be detrimental to your authority.”

The ministers nodded at Maeng Sa-seong’s words.

Following Maeng Sa-seong, Lee Maeng-gyun opened his mouth.

“Although the Daenae clan is making peace with our Joseon Dynasty, they are also of the same race as the Japanese. They are a group that can point their sword at our Joseon Dynasty if they feel even the slightest loss. And those who committed sins in the year of Giyu are those who rebelled against Your Majesty. Even if they are not the instigators, there are those who agree with the idea. If these disloyal people teach the Japanese, will the Japanese who learn from them show favor to our Joseon? “That will never be the case.”

As Lee Maeng-gyun finished speaking, Jo Gye-saeng, the head of the department, spoke.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs’ words are correct. The current lack of talent to become teachers is not a matter of knowledge, but a matter of character. “What you have learned and mastered may be excellent, but if you cannot keep up with the character, you should never become a teacher.”

In the end, the agenda proposed by Kim Jeom was deemed ‘absolutely impossible’.

“There is something I would like to ask Soja Abama.”

“oh! okay! “Ask!”

When Hyang, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, opened his mouth, King Sejong was delighted and the ministers grumbled inwardly.

‘Why did you say it was quiet!’

‘What kind of story are you trying to upset me with again?’

* * *

Hyang observed the situation from a third party’s perspective and then expressed his opinion, and each time, King Sejong and the ministers were able to find out what they had missed in the relevant agenda.

Looking at it up to this point, it was a very thankful thing, and King Sejong was proud of his son’s intelligence. However, it was stressful for the ministers knowingly or unknowingly.

‘I can’t believe I couldn’t find this problem! ‘Aren’t you lacking in ability as a servant to assist the king?’

It was because of those rumors that popped up knowingly or unknowingly.

* * *

After receiving permission from King Sejong, Hyang immediately asked a question.

“It is good that the Japanese of the Daenae clan ask us for guidance. How could it be a bad thing to learn the way of a sage and know the way? But what Soja is curious about is why he asks Joseon for guidance.”

“Are you saying you don’t know why we ask Joseon for guidance?”

Hyang nodded at Sejong’s point and continued speaking.

“yes. I heard that in the Japanese country, in addition to the King of Japan, who rules the shogunate, there is a person called the Emperor, and there are civil servants called Gongga (公家) who work under the Emperor. “Why doesn’t Daenae ask them for help?”

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

In response to Hyang’s point, Sejong stroked his beard and nodded.

Hyang continued speaking.

“Hundreds of years have passed since the preaching of the Buddha was introduced to the Japanese kingdom, and hundreds of years have passed since the words of the sage, although not Confucianism, were introduced. Even if the Japanese are ruthless people who only rely on the sword, there are quite a few of them who know the ways of sages, so it makes no sense to ask Joseon for guidance.”

“That’s right.”

Sejong repeatedly nodded at Hyang’s point.

* * *

“What do you think?”

‘As expected…’

‘You’re here!’

The ministers who accepted the proposal thrown by Hyang and tossed by King Sejong grumbled inwardly. However, since there was nothing wrong with what Hyang pointed out, the ministers worked hard to get their heads around it.

While we were trying to piece together the information about the Japanese nation that we had acquired so far, Lee Maeng-gyun was the first to open his mouth.

“It is already a well-known fact that the Daenae clan and the King of Japan keep each other in check. In particular, it appears that Mr. Daenae is also ambitious, as he keeps the silver mine developed in cooperation with Joseon a secret. The Japanese royal families are based in Gyeongdo and are on good terms with the King of Japan. Therefore, it appears that they were worried that if they were invited as teachers, secrets would be leaked to the King of Japan.”

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs has a point.”

“So what does the Foreign Secretary think about us sending teachers?”

In response to King Sejong’s question, Lee Maeng-gyun kept his mouth shut and thought hard. Lee Maeng-gyun, who had been pondering various cases, finally opened his mouth.

“I don’t think it’s good for Joseon to send teachers.”

“The reason is?”

“first. Since the Japanese shogunate and Joseon are communicating with each other, there is still deep distrust between them. In this situation, we send teachers and it is known? The King of Japan may think that we instigated Daenae’s actions.

second. If Mr. Daenae does something wrong, the teachers he dispatched could become hostages. Eunkwang has our Joseon soldiers and a naval port nearby, so they can escape by force, but the teachers cannot do that. “If we do something wrong, they could take the teachers hostage and demand that we participate in the war.”

Sejong nodded at Lee Maeng-gyun’s words.

“I guess so. In a sense, they are only a few hostages, but there will be problems with justification and the people’s faith…”

“That’s right.”

Lee Maeng-gyun and the ministers all nodded. If the teachers were taken hostage by Ouchi, it would be a headache to decide whether to save them or not. If he helped Ouchi in the name of rescuing these hostages, he would be criticized for interfering in the internal affairs of another country using only a few hostages as an excuse, and for being a ‘chimsobongdae (針小棒大)’.

On the contrary, there were many people who would say that if they joined forces with the shogunate and attacked Ouchi for this reason, they would have betrayed their faith.

Lastly, if he ignored the life and death of the hostages, King Sejong would be criticized as a ‘tyrant who trivializes the lives of his people.’

“Then do you think it is right not to accept Daenae’s request?”

Lee Maeng-gyun came forward again in response to King Sejong’s question.

“That is not true. Since they are talented people chosen by Daenae, they will be in charge of Daenae’s events in the future. If such people can make us admire our Joseon, it will be an extremely good thing for our Joseon. “It makes sense if you consider the location of Daenae clan.”

Lee Maeng-gyun’s words reminded King Sejong and the ministers of Ouchi’s geopolitical location.

The territories that Ouchi controlled through the battle that took place in Kuju last year were areas that faced Joseon, whether by chance or necessity. Therefore, the stronger Ouchi’s control became, the safer the coast of Joseon would become.

* * *

After hearing Lee Maeng-gyun’s explanation, King Sejong organized the situation.

“If we summarize the opinions of the officials, it is as follows.

one. It is also in the interest of our country to teach talented people from the Daenae clan.

two. However, it is dangerous to send our teachers to Daenae’s territory.

Is that right?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Then there is only one answer. “I am asking you to send Daenae Clan’s talented people to Joseon.”

The ministers immediately bowed their heads at King Sejong’s decision.

“Your words are truly right.”

“This is the best solution given the current situation.”

“This is a truly wise decision.”

King Sejong, receiving praise from his ministers, smiled as if he was embarrassed.

“They are painting my face with gold.”

“No!”

If we look at the reality, the ministers were already thinking similar things. However, the reason he did not say those words out loud was because the target was the Japanese people.

They insisted on allowing the Japanese, who were a symbol of ferocity as much as the Jurchen people in the north, into the country, but they could not avoid the problem of liability if the Japanese brought in that way caused an accident.

Similar problems had already occurred in Waegwan more than once, so the ministers kept their mouths shut as much as possible.

However, because it was something that King Sejong said, even if something happened, the first censure could be avoided.

Hyang, who was watching this scene from the side, muttered to herself.

‘Public servants’ evasive behavior is both now and in the 21st century…’

* * *

Author’s words.

Hello, this is Gukppong, the serial writer of ‘Black Corporate Joseon’.

Due to none other than nursing issues, the weekend series will be on hiatus until this week.

As we were urgently looking for a caregiver, a guardian had to stay at the hospital on weekends.

However, it looks like this problem will be resolved starting next week and weekend serialization will be possible.

Sorry for the frequent absences.

I will write harder in the future.

Posted with soup.