< Chapter 36: Laughing and Crying Over Fandom (1) >
Chapter 36: Laughing and Crying Over Fandom (1)
In particular, Ryu Jeong-hyun was a civil official who lived through the tumultuous period at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. He was also appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies and led the expedition to conquer Tsushima Island, with Yi Jong-mu under his command.
He was highly regarded for laying the foundation for the cultural prosperity during King Sejong's reign. However, unlike in the original history, he met his end as a traitor accused of plotting a military coup.
This was a bitter example of the butterfly effect created by an unexpected existence named Hyang.
However, the most unfortunate person was the Right Minister. On October 21 of the previous year, which was the fifth year of King Sejong's reign, Jeong Tak, who was the Right Minister, died at the age of 61. He had been appointed to the position on the recommendation of Ryu Jeong-hyun. Just a few months after ascending to the position of Right Minister, he lost his power and wealth and was exiled.
* * *
King Sejong, who had seized complete control of the government through the execution of Ryu Jeong-hyun and the exile of the old ministers, gathered the high officials in March and declared:
"I will implement a major reform for this Joseon!"
With King Sejong's declaration, the Great Reform, which took ten years of preparation and five years of implementation, began. This reform, which would later be described as "completely changing the nature of Joseon," started on that day.
Scholars marked the day of King Sejong's declaration as the beginning and named it the "Gapsin Reform" or the "Gapsin Great Reform."
* * *
The base of the reform that King Sejong declared he would implement was Hyang's work.
Long before King Sejong's declaration, when he was preparing smallpox inoculations for the people of Hanyang, a deep night came, and King Sejong visited Hyang.
"Bring me the chart you made."
"Yes? As you wish."
"Thank you. Sangsun, take care of the chart."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Sangsun, following King Sejong's order, took care of Hyang's chart.
"Ah, and don't tell anyone that I took this."
"Yes? Yes."
After King Sejong took the chart, Hyang realized he had dug his own grave.
After the council ended and some time had passed, King Sejong visited Hyang.
"About this part here..."
"Yes, that is..."
While examining the chart, King Sejong, who had a question, visited Hyang and asked, and Hyang answered the question.
"Let's go then. Good work."
"No, it's nothing."
After seeing King Sejong off, Hyang buried his head on the table and sighed.
"Haah~. I dug my own grave..."
King Sejong's visits had become a routine part of daily life. That was fine. The problem was that the depth and sharpness of the questions King Sejong asked increased almost vertically over time.
As a result, Hyang's daily life became a continuous cycle of overwork. In the morning, he attended the royal lectures, in the afternoon, he discussed with the guests of the Crown Prince's Study or observed the administration during the council, and in the evening, he had to prepare for King Sejong's visits by cleaning up the sources.
"Who would believe if I said, 'Everything came from my head?' I wouldn't believe it either. Or I could be split from morning to night."
Just as he finished cleaning up the sources, King Sejong would arrive. After a long session of Q&A with King Sejong, it would be well past the third watch (11 PM to 1 AM) and approaching the fourth watch.
Hyang only learned the full extent of the matter when King Sejong declared the reform.
King Sejong, who had taken Hyang's chart, began to create a master plan to reform the entire system of Joseon based on it.
"The main purpose of the reform is to realize 'Wangdo Politics' and 'Hongik Ingan.'"
While skillfully using the punctuation marks he learned from Hyang, King Sejong created a plan for the reform.
Starting from the reform of the administrative organization and expanding to education, King Sejong built the framework and fleshed out the plan. Whenever he had a question or encountered a roadblock, he would visit Hyang at night.
When the plan reached about 80% completion, King Sejong tossed it to the Jiphyeonjeon.
"This is the reform plan I created. Examine it deeply and look for points to improve or problems."
"We will follow your command!"
"If there are points to improve or problems, submit them to me in writing immediately."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Also, keep this confidential until I officially announce it. If anyone leaks it, they will be punished for high treason."
"We will engrave this in our hearts!"
The scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, who received the reform plan from King Sejong, began to analyze it with all their might. However, they immediately encountered a hurdle. It was the punctuation marks, known only to King Sejong and Hyang.
"Your Majesty, what are these symbols?"
"Ah, those are..."
The scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, who learned the punctuation marks from King Sejong, began a concentrated analysis of the reform.
From that point on, the level of the questions King Sejong asked Hyang increased almost vertically in difficulty.
When the Jiphyeonjeon reported problems to King Sejong, he pondered the solutions. If he couldn't find an answer after much thought, he would discuss it with Hyang. Once a good answer was found, King Sejong would toss it back to the Jiphyeonjeon, and they would apply the solution and analyze it again.
When the reform was announced and Hyang learned about it, he complained to King Sejong.
"Wouldn't it have been more efficient if you had me work with the scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon?"
Smiling, King Sejon replied to Hyang's complaint.
"You know, there's a big difference between doing something knowingly and doing it unknowingly, right? Changing the entire country is a big task. If the king doesn't understand it properly, he would just be a figurehead who says, 'Do it' and stamps the seal."
"If you had explained it in advance..."
"Is it better for the king to directly get involved, think, and understand, or just to listen and understand?"
Hyang deeply bowed his head at King Sejong's words.
"I am in awe of Your Majesty's insight."
This was Hyang's sincere feeling.
While the basic idea of the reform announced by King Sejong was Hyang's, the influence of Hyang was so diluted that it was hard to call it Hyang's. The reform was deeply infused with King Sejong's thoughts.
The reason it took ten years of preparation before the reform was announced was because King Sejong had put so much effort into it, almost to the point of obsession.
* * *
Although King Sejong declared the reform, he didn't immediately overhaul everything. He started with the finances, gradually preparing and making adjustments as various issues arose.
When he thought the preparation was complete, King Sejong gave orders to the high officials.
"Select personnel from the Six Ministries."
King Sejong created a scaled-down model of the new administrative systemâspecifically, a scaled-down model of the central governmentâand began the experiment. He observed the division of labor and operational efficiency in real-time with the high officials, based on reports and petitions from local areas.
After the experiment with the central government's restructuring was successfully underway, King Sejong moved on to the experiment with local administrative organizations.
"Select five counties in Hwanghae Province, seven in Gyeonggi Province, and five in Gangwon Province."
The selection process was not random.
- Choose areas in Hwanghae Province, which is the northwest of Joseon, Gangwon Province, which is the northeast, and Gyeonggi Province, which is the central and southern regions of Joseon, with similar environments.
- The areas must be within one or at most two days' travel from Hanyang using relay horses.
After selecting the counties, the experiment began in earnest. New personnel were assigned according to the local administrative organization created by King Sejong, and a large-scale team of inspectorsâscholars from the Jiphyeonjeon and officials from the central governmentâfollowed to observe their actions. It was an enormous experiment.
As the experiment began, relay horses carrying reportsâwritten by those directly responsible for administration and by the inspectorsâraced to Hanyang every day. King Sejong, Hyang, and the high officials continuously adjusted based on these reports.
Despite such meticulous adjustments, when the reform was actually implemented, various problems emerged from all directions.
Ultimately, it took five years to resolve these issues, fine-tune the system, and establish it.
However, at this point, the reform was just beginning, with the first step taken after the declaration.
* * *
As King Sejong ordered the nationwide implementation of smallpox inoculations, relay horses carrying his orders raced to the eight provinces of the country.
Following King Sejong's orders, all local officials began preparing for the inoculations. However, some noise began to arise, with the local gentry at the center.
"Pay the inoculation fee?"
"Here is the emperor's handwritten order. The local gentry, the scholars, are being asked to pay the inoculation fee."