Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 183

Episode 183: Social Democratic Institute. (1)

The Jurchen tribe’s true words and rumors about various true products led to a nationwide competition for loyalty. Fruits, seafood, herbs, etc., which were considered valuable, were brought up from all over Joseon, and in areas where such items were not available, monuments to King Sejong were erected to commemorate King Sejong’s merits. As memorial monuments were erected one by one, competition for memorial monuments took place throughout Joseon and even in the northern frontier.

How intense was this competition? King Sejong was so quick to give orders.

-The busy farming season has begun, so the people should focus on their livelihoods!

Hyang, who saw all this from the side, looked dumbfounded and muttered.

“There was a reason why that family in Pyongyang in the 21st century was called a dynasty…” A

question came to Hyang’s head as he grumbled about a phenomenon that was so passionate that it could even be called ‘fanatical.’

“But you said that the Jurchen people also erected a monument to Songdeok?”

Suddenly curious, Hyang diligently gathered related information.

Hyang displayed the information he had gathered on the map and whistled lightly.

“Hwiyu~ I guess it could be the Donggando region? “It is unclear how much Joseon’s territory will expand through the East and West Jins and how long it will be able to protect that territory, but at least certain physical evidence will remain up to the Gando region.”

* * *

Even while the commotion was going on, the government officials quietly concentrated on their work.

No, I had no choice but to do it.

“If you don’t meet the deadline, it’s overtime! “Do you want to attend school on holidays?”

“no!”

They were government officials who were burning brightly with the goal of ‘defending the holidays’.

As the year of Gyeongsul entered, officials belonging to Yejo were added to the list of officials suffering from overwork.

The reason that kept the officials under the royal family busy was the ‘Social Democratic School’.

* * *

It was the Social Ministries School that materialized the item ‘expansion of education’ written in the scriptures. At the beginning of the plan, only boys were allowed to enter the Social Democratic Institute. However, when the Giyu Rebellion was suppressed, King Sejong added an order.

“We, Joseon, lack talent! Even though there is a lack of talent, restrictions are placed on learning, and this unholy thing has happened! Therefore, allow girls to enroll in social democratic schools that provide the most basic education!”

Although it was a firm order from King Sejong, the royal decree could not be easily accepted.

“Is there a need for girls to learn academics?”

King Sejong briefly answered the question of the royal court.

“So the Lord’s wife’s diet is illiterate?”

“… I follow your orders.”

In response to King Sejong’s question, Yejo Panseo had no choice but to immediately bow his head. At least for the children of a half-family family, even if they were girls, it was essential to have basic academic knowledge, starting with the thousand-character script.

King Sejong, who was looking at the royal decree with a pitiful expression, looked back at the ministers.

“It is said that children grow up imitating their parents. But in a way, if your mother, with whom you spend the most time until you become an adult, is uneducated, can you be a role model?”

All the ministers had to bow their heads to King Sejong’s criticism.

“Your Majesty the Lord’s words are sound!”

* * *

Although they received King Sejong’s royal command, the royal officials had a headache.

“It’s good that Your Majesty even said to invite girls who are overflowing with virtue… Will parents really send them? In the current situation, there would be quite a few people who would not even send their boys…”

The ordinary people they had seen put their children to work as soon as they grew up to a certain level. If we didn’t have enough strength to farm together, it was common practice to make them raise cows at the very least.

Because they saw that, the officials under King Yejo reacted negatively to King Sejong’s orders.

This was a mistake of the officials, or even the noblemen.

When the middle and lower-level executives in charge of practical work saw the people, it was before they passed the civil service examination – the end of King Taejong’s reign and the beginning of King Sejong’s life.

As I mentioned before, at that time, Joseon was experiencing a series of severe famines. At that time, Joseon farmers prioritized survival over their children’s education.

However, as soon as they had some spare time, ordinary people devoted themselves to their children’s education.

The reason they put so much effort into education was also for survival.

“You have to know what is written on the door attached to the coffin to avoid any loss.”

“cancer. By the way, is it only the door attached to the coffin that is the problem? “Do you know what tricks landowners can use to sign contracts even when renting?”

“Did you hear? “Go and study!”

Because of this situation, most farmers knew at least half of the thousand characters.

And even in such difficult times, when a child showed talent, the people who went through all sorts of hardships to educate the child were the ordinary people of Joseon whom they looked down on.

This could be seen from the fact that among those who passed the civil service examination every year, there were a significant number of people from the Yangin class, not from the gentry. It was just that people from the nobility were unconsciously ignoring it.

* * *

In any case, because the commandment was a solemn one, the officials of Yejo had to struggle to find a solution.

In the conference room set up in the Rites government office, senior officials of the Rites and Ministers of the Rites were meeting and exchanging opinions.

“Let’s tackle the easy ones one by one first.”

“jam?”

“Let’s start with the choice of a place to build the academy.”

“You decided to use Hyanggyo, didn’t you?”

When ‘Hyanggyo’ was mentioned, one of the teachers asked a question with an expression of not understanding.

* * *

After the suppression of the Giyu Rebellion, King Sejong issued an order to abolish Confucian schools throughout Joseon.

“It was a building built for noblemen to gather, hold rites for saints, and form friendships! “They gather together in groups and form a vicious cabal, so it would be better to get rid of them!”

According to King Sejong’s order, all Confucian schools across the country had to close. All the memorial tablets of saints enshrined in Hyanggyo were moved to Sungkyunkwan in Hanseong, and rites for saints were held only at Sungkyunkwan.

In this way, it was a courtesy to block the demolition order for Hyanggyo, which was to be closed.

At that time, the royal court judge risked his life to entreat King Sejong.

“It would be a waste to demolish the Hyanggyo that was built with so much effort! We must use this in a good way!”

“What do you think is a good direction?”

In response to King Sejong’s question, Panseo Yejo revealed what he and the officials of Yejo had thought together.

“It should be used as a social democratic school! To run an academy, you need a building. “It is better to utilize Hyanggyo than to spend money to build a new building!”

“Hmm?”

Ye Fan’s proposal stimulated King Sejong’s interest. In response, King Sejong asked the ministers for their opinion. To King Sejong’s question, the ministers – especially Hojo Judge Kim Jeom – responded positively.

When the ministers agreed, saying it was a good idea, King Sejong accepted Ye Pan’s request.

Thanks to this, most of the Confucian schools’ buildings survived, except for a few that had already been destroyed.

* * *

“I know very well that we decided to use Hyanggyo. But hasn’t there been a new commandment to educate even female children? So, we need to find a new place. “It would be a big problem if there were no distinctions between men and women, and it would be a big problem.”

Everyone became serious about the explanation given by Jeongrang, who first raised the issue.

When ordering the establishment of the Social Democratic Institute, King Sejong particularly emphasized something.

“Think carefully why I named it ‘Four People’s School.’”

The officials of King Yejo, who were concerned about King Sejong’s order for a moment, were soon able to understand King Sejong’s intentions. ‘Samin (四民)’ sometimes referred to the status of farmers, merchants, merchants, and merchants, but it also meant ‘all the people.’

In the end, what King Sejong wanted was for everyone to learn and compete in one place, regardless of division.

In such a situation, there was an order to open the door even to girls, so it was not unreasonable for the officials of the royal family to be worried.

As I was deliberating to find a good solution, one of the most senior members of the family spoke up.

“Do you think I can continue to use Hyanggyo?”

“yes?”

“Hyanggyo is not a small building, is it? If we divide it appropriately, there will be space to teach boys and girls separately.”

“Hmm…”

At the words of the house doctor, the officials thought about the Hyanggyo in their hometown and did some math.

“Sure…”

No matter how poor the town was, there was no single-room Hyanggyo. The officials who were counting all nodded.

“I think it’ll be okay.”

“The problem is that there is no local Confucian school and there is no Confucian Confucian school nearby, and such places will need to build buildings. “If we only educate boys, we can tell them to come and go even if it is a bit far, but girls can face difficult times.”

“That’s right.”

“Then let’s organize this agenda like this. Anyone have any objections? “No?”

No one raised their hand in response to the words of Chamui, who presided over the meeting.

This was because it was a plan that did not allow for any particular faults, and I wanted to avoid having to find faults and only waste time working overtime.

After overcoming this difficult time, the meeting began to gradually speed up.

The meeting that went on so smoothly faced another challenge: ‘How will we get the children to gather at the school?’ was on the agenda.

As soon as the agenda came out, one member of the left came forward and raised an issue.

“The biggest problem is the busy farming season. Unless they are very young, they have to help with farm work.”

“And for children who are too young to help with farm work, going to and from school would be difficult. According to the principle, children can come to school from the age of five, but in reality, isn’t that too much?”

“That’s not true.”

“Therefore, the training period should be avoided during the busy farming season. “Only then can we increase attendance.”

“That too. “Then you should definitely avoid summer, right?”

“yes. In addition to being a busy farming season, summer is also a problem with heat. “How much did we suffer from the heat when we studied writing?”

When the words ‘studying and the heat’ came out, all the officials gathered in the conference room nodded. It was because I remembered all the hardships I had endured while sitting in the sweltering heat trying to study. It was a daily routine for my butt to be covered in sweat, and to be scolded by my teacher for losing concentration due to the heat.

“But if we leave out summer, the flow will be cut off, right?”

Another left raised his hand at Chamui’s point.

“That’s why. What if we set the class period to start after the harvest and end before the planting season?”

“huh?”

After hearing that opinion, the officials thought about it for a moment and then all nodded.

“That’s a good opinion!”

* * *

After so many meetings, the written plan was submitted to the Presiding Officer.

After reviewing the thick plan from beginning to end, Ye Jo Pan-seo nodded.

“It’s okay. I will report this to His Majesty the Lord. great job.”

“thank you.”

“If nothing else happens, I think I can leave the office on time today.”

A big smile appeared on the face of Chamui, who posted the report at the words of the royal inspector.

“thank you!”

* * *

“Hmm….”

King Sejong, who was looking at the plan posted by Yejo Panseo, nodded.

“It seems like a good plan. Since men and women are different, it is right to educate them separately, and it is also okay to set the class period from the end of the harvest until the planting season to avoid the busy farming season. You can see how hard the officials of Yejo worked. “Thank you for your hard work.”

“I am devastated.”

In response to King Sejong’s praise, Ye Fan bowed his head and sighed softly.

‘One critical juncture has been overcome!’

“But… this part here says, ‘To increase attendance, we provide meals to those who attend.’ “I think this part needs some explanation.”

‘This is the expected range!’

Since King Sejong’s question was something he had expected, Ye Fan was rather relieved and immediately began to explain.

“yes. Even after the harvest is over, the food situation in each household is bound to worsen as winter approaches. Even though fewer people are suffering during the spring crisis, it is still a burden. Therefore, parents will be willing to send their children to school if at least one meal is provided.”

“It’s a good opinion, but… wouldn’t it be easy to prepare food to feed the children who come to school?”

“So the meals provided by the academy will be centered around the dry portions distributed to the military.”

“Dry weight?”

“yes.”

“Hmm….”

Sejong thought for a moment. The dry food developed by Hyang and used by the military was quite a good food. It was not just dried grains made into powder, but also contained enough dried meat, making it a good item for a meal.

“It would be worth it if each school had a talented teacher.”

After organizing his thoughts, Sejong made a decision.

“Proceed as planned.”

“I follow your orders!”

‘Ahhhh! Today is the scheduled dismissal!’

Ye Fan answered happily.