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Chapter 4




There was a small confusion over the unexpected doljabi, but the first birthday party continued.
“Hahaha!”
“My Lord! Let me pour you a cup!”
“You too, My Lord! Have a cup!”
Those who attended the banquet laughed and poured each other drinks and continued to have fun.
“I never expected that I would be this happy to have a brilliant nephew.”
Grand Prince Choong-nyeong smiled at the Crown Prince’s words before replying.
“My wife said he always smiled whenever he heard me read a book.”
“Hahaha! Both father and child are full of talent!”
“It’s a great joy for parents to see outstanding children. Congratulations, Choong-nyeong.”
“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
Hyang was in the crown prince’s arm while words of blessing were exchanged between the brothers. He had been there ever since he touched the crown prince’s earring. As he stayed in the arms of the crown prince, Hyang continued to daydream alone.
‘It’s better for me to sneak in the Korean alphabet which will eventually be created, anyway. Even if it comes out earlier than historical records, it could expand my range of activities. And after that, I could get my hands on firearms….’
Hyang, who was making his own plans, grumbled in his mind when he suddenly felt sleepy.
‘D*mn this weak body! If I was this weak, I could only start my goal in three years.’
While Hyang was grumbling because he couldn’t perceive that his body was the body of a baby that just passed its first birthday, a subtle shift began to occur where the crown prince and his brothers sat around.
The first birthday party was coming to its end. The bottoms of people attending the banquet moved slightly, but they kept on waiting for the one seated at the top seat—the crown prince.
“Why don’t you go back now? Don’t you have to attend the office early tomorrow?”
“Shouldn’t Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince also return to the palace?”
“I need to talk a little more with my brothers. You guys should go ahead.”
“Then, excuse….”
Following the crown prince’s words, those who attended the ceremony greeted each other one by one and began to leave.
* * *
“It’s a little stuffy.”
When the guests—including Hyang’s maternal grandparents—had all left their seats, whether it was because the fever was rising because of tipsiness, the crown prince untied his dopo knot. When he was about to untie the jeogori knot as well, Choong-nyeong immediately stopped him.
“Your Royal Highness, please dress properly.”
“What’s the problem? Humans should live comfortably.”
“Your Royal Highness is this nation’s pillar. You should not forget about this.”
“Huft~.”
The crown prince let out a breath filled with tipsiness at the words of Choong-nyeong before he fixed up his clothes.
Choong-nyeong bowed his head and expressed his gratitude when he saw the crown prince follow his words.
“Thank you for hearing this little brother of yours, Your Royal Highness.”
The crown prince was pouring alcohol into a glass as he started a conversation with Choong-nyeong.
“Choong-nyeong.”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
“I said to our mother, that you—Choong-nyeong—aren’t an ordinary person. You already have academic accomplishments at that age, don’t you? This older brother couldn’t even reach your level.”
“You flatter me immensely, Your Royal Highness. It’s just that Your Royal Highness did not come close to the scripture. With a little effort, Your Royal Highness would quickly surpass the humble achievement of this little brother.”
The crown prince burst into laughter as he heard Choong-nyeong’s answer. It was as if he was in a good mood.
“Hahaha! Choong-nyeong, I don’t know that you have a knack for flattery too!”
“This is not flattery. If only Your Royal Highness comes a little closer with scripture-.”
“Choong-nyeong, do you believe in Virtue Politics and political ideology that a virtuous person should rule over a morally dark person?”
“Isn’t that the just path, Your Royal Highness?”
The crown prince shook his head at Choong-nyeong’s answer.
“That is only utopia. Our Joseon, or that Ming, is in the age where we are ruled by force. If I ascend to the throne, I will reclaim those stolen lands of old Samhan* and make Joseon into the Great Joseon.”
“Your Royal Highness!”
The frightened Choong-nyeong warned, but the crown prince was confident.
“Do not worry. When I ascend to the throne, I will definitely accomplish great work.”
Choong-nyeong continued to argue despite the crown prince’s confidence.
“Your Royal Highness, that is impossible! Ming is a great nation! The current Joseon would definitely be defeated! You should not forget the reason King Taejo retreated from Wihwa Island and why our father severely punished Jeong Do-jeon!”
“Are you a prince of Ming?”
“I am not! What I mean is that the current Joseon is impossible to accomplish such a dream! We need to build up our capabilities!”
When Choong-nyeong pointed out his mean, the crown prince answered with his right hand slightly raised.
“Ah-ah. I am aware of that fact. I also don’t plan to start great work right away. Likewise, I was thinking of spending 10 years as a preparation period.”
“10 years is too short!”
“10 years is enough! Most of the bright-star-like generals who were with Zhu Yuanzhang disappeared due to old age and Zhu Yuanzhang’s purges; on top of that, all the remaining generals also disappeared because of the civil war made by the current emperor, Yongle. And the generals raised by Emperor Yongle disappeared as well because of civil war and subjugation. Hence! Once again, 10 years is enough!”
As if the crown prince’s answer was frustrating, Choong-nyeong abruptly rose from his seat.
“Oh, f*ck! Hyung! Do you have something called thoughts, or not? Have you forgotten how many troops Yongle mobilized after he rose to power to defeat the remnant of his enemies? It was 500 thousand—500 thousand! It’s not like there had been only one subjugation. Even though every time he did subjugation, a thousand to ten thousand of his soldiers were dead, wounded, or even lost, he kept sending 500 thousand to carry out the subjugation! It was terrifying to see him mobilized such an army, but what is even more terrifying were the administration and supply systems that made such mobilization possible! Meanwhile, what about us, Joseon? The census hasn’t been done properly, and the rice field survey had not yet started! But you said 10 years is enough? Stop dreaming!”
“This kid! It’s enough to do the field survey in one year and the next one for the census. And considering our father’s age, the time when I rose to the throne—in 10 years, that so great Ming’s generals would have disappeared.”
“You don’t think that middle-ranking officials who had gained merits through the subjugation would fill their positions, do you? If we also calculate until they’re out of politics, we will need 30 years! That too, on the assumption that the next emperor will not create any war!”
The crown prince and Choong-nyeong had already stood up from their seats before they knew it. They were on the verge of grabbing each other’s collar as they created a menacing atmosphere and continued their verbal battle.
Hyo-ryeong quickly hugged Hyang and moved back, then he sighed while emptying his cup.
“Huft~. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, apparently… They really are sons of a military general….”
While Hyo-ryeong was grumbling, the verbal battle between the crown prince and Choong-nyeong was coming to its end.
“Once the army maintained, the first thing that needs to be taken care of is private soldiers and Japanese pirates! You have to protect your back first!”
“The private soldiers had already taken care of by our father! The Japanese pirates have also been calm lately. The ones that are still active and as troublesome as Japanese pirates are Jurchens! If we think about the future, we have to clean up the Jurchens first!”
“So, have the private soldiers gone? I said the first priority is to take care of private soldiers and Japanese pirates!”
“Shut up! I am the crown prince! I acknowledge you are smart, but the one who will rise to the next throne isn’t you but me! All you need to do is help me!”
Choong-nyeong clenched his teeth at the crown prince’s loud exclaim and stared at him.
Meanwhile, Hyang, who was watching the situation from Hyo-ryeong’s arm, opened his eyes wide and examined Choong-nyeong’s face.
Hyang confirmed there was a flow of subtle feeling in Choong-nyeong’s face before he broke out in a cold sweat inside.
‘Wasn’t this man pushed to be king?’
In his previous life, this was what was commonly known.
[The reason Choong-nyeong became the king was that Yang-nyeong’s behavior was a mess; Hyo-ryeong was absorbed in Buddha’s teaching; and so Choong-nyeong unavoidably became the king which was rather a divine move.]
Choong-nyeong’s subtle expression was a shock to Hyang, who had this common knowledge.
In Hyang’s head, an OST of a famous historical drama could be heard as he stared at Choong-nyeong’s face,.
‘Holy sh*t! So this is not a fusion historical drama, but an authentic historical drama? Don’t tell me just because I had reborn, the butterfly effect would take place!’
Despite being full of worries, the body of Hyang that just passed its first birthday couldn’t win against fatigue. Hyang grumbled as he gave strength to open his eyes that kept closing.
‘Ah! This d*mn weak body! Poor physical strength!’
Hyang didn’t know, but the rivalry between Yang-nyeong and Choong-nyeong was gradually rising to the surface.
* * *
One day in December, two months after Hyang’s first birthday party, Choong-nyeong visited Nam Jae’s house with a lot of people—but Hyang didn’t know about this.
As the meeting continued, Nam Jae praised Choong-nyeong’s deep learning and said:
“In the old days—when His Majesty has not yet ascended to the throne, I advised him to learn and said to him, ‘A mere prince has no place to take part, so why don’t you just take part in learning?’; and His Majesty said, ‘Who said the king’s son couldn’t be a king?’. Now, seeing that Your Highness loves to learn like me makes me happy.” (AN 1)
It was a very meaningful story.
Nam Jae did not explain what he meant by telling that story, but because of his position and the content of his words, this news immediately reached King Taejong. However, when this news reached King Taejong, he said the following and laughed it away.
“That old man was exaggerating.”
King Taejong laughed it off, but the competition about the next throne owner between the supporters of Crown Prince Yang-nyeong and the supporters of Choong-nyeong began to pick up its speed.
The definite cause of this competition was King Taejong’s ambiguous response. In principle, he recognized Yang-nyeong—his oldest son—as the crown prince, but he continued to pay attention and favorable reviews towards Choong-nyeong.
“Look at Choong-nyeong!”
Whenever there was a report that Yang-nyeong, the crown prince, was lazy in his studies, King Taejong mentioned Choong-nyeong and scolded the crown prince.
Once, the crown prince, who could not stand this comparison, criticized Choong-nyeong in his private audience with King Taejong.
“Choong-nyeong is weak-hearted!”
King Taejong openly refuted the crown prince’s rebuttal.
“Although he is weak-hearted, there is no one comparable to him in facing big problems and deciding it for a great cause at this time.”
Apart from this evaluation, because Choong-nyeong felt pity and showed his benevolence towards people’s misery, he became Yang-nyeong’s strongest competitor.
Even though King Taejong was the one who caused such fierce competition, he continued to recognize Yang-nyeong as the crown prince.
Eventually, whether it was based on King Taejong’s will or if it was a voluntary move by his vassals to prevent another ‘prince rebellion’, Park Eun warned Shim On—the head of those who supported Choong-nyeong.
“Because Grand Prince Choong-nyeong is a kind-hearted that he focused his heart on everything, the right thing for you is to ask him and conduct yourself properly.” (AN 2)
Park Eun warned him, but Shim On ignored those and didn’t deliver that warning to Choong-nyeong. Finally, Park Eun, who was tired of holding back, visited Choong-nyeong in his private residence.
That day’s event was one of the events which Hyang remembered. Even though he was in a situation where he had to sleep more than half a day like a normal child that just passed his first birthday, the commotion that happened outside was enough to wake Hyang up.
“Lord Shim! Do you have thought or not!”
“Hoho. Lord Park. This is not like-.”
“You cannot do this, Lord Shim! Would you like to once again experience the bloody tragedy that happened in the reign of King Taejo?”
“There is no way, isn’t it?”
“Then what would you call the conduct you’re doing right now?! Move over now! I have to meet His Highness the Grand Prince!”
“Last time, I only forgot to tell him. This time, I’ll tell him for sure. So, please go back for now.”
“Look, Lord Shim!”
“Now, now…. Please go back for now.”
Even though Hyang didn’t see it with his eyes but ears, he knew that the situation was very serious.
‘Isn’t this really a problem?’
“Huft~.”
Shim On let out a long sigh after sending back Park Eun from the front gate. Shim On watched the back of Park Eun got farther away for a while before turning his body with a stiff face.
“The die is cast, anyway.”
Shim On’s faint voice was full of determination. The current crown prince, Yang-nyeong—was not lacking. However, many people were questioning his qualifications due to his behavior. There was also the second prince—Hyo-ryeong, but he was known to have no interest in the throne. After eliminating the two, Choong-nyeong—his son-in-law was the only one of the king’s legitimate children that remained.
‘Grand Prince Choong-nyeong is the only answer for the future of Joseon!’
The determined Shim On pushed Choong-nyeong to be the crown prince. It was a move with his life on the line, but Shim On believed there was a chance of winning. The reason was because King Taejong’s reaction was lukewarm. As the number of people supporting him increased, Shim On’s confidence became stronger.
“Although His Majesty doesn’t like maternal relatives, everything will be solved when the Grand Prince becomes the crown prince! I just need to stay low for a while until His Highness becomes the crown prince and ascend the throne!”
And on the day the Grand Prince ascended to the throne, he would rise to the position of the king’s father-in-law, the maternal grandfather of the crown prince, and the most influential person after the king.
* * *
AN 1: Annals of King Taejong, Year 15 of reign, December 30th
AN 2: Annals of King Taejong, Year 17 of reign, October 6th
TN:
* Samhan: Before the Korea Three Kingdoms Period, three countries were in the middle and south of Korea. Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan.
The author’s note was to tell that he took the passages from the Annals of King Taejong. I’ve tried to find the English version, but can’t. I want to apologize in advance if there are mistranslations.