Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 75

Episode 75 Let’s make money! Let’s do business! (1)

“Keuung….”

Hojo official Lee Eun-taek was groaning with a book in front of him.

“It doesn’t work this way, it doesn’t work that way…”

Lee Eun-taek, who was making calculations while moving the branches spread out on one side of the desk, screamed as he scattered the branches he had spread out.

“I can’t find an answer! There is no hole in the budget! “Ugh!”

“Look!”

When Lee Eun-taek lost his temper and went wild, fellow officials nearby caught him.

“catch! catch!”

“Be patient! “Hold on!”

As soon as the commotion subsided, Lee Eun-taek was immediately taken to Kim Branch of the Hojo Office.

“Do you think you have any strength left? “I even turned the desk over.”

“I apologize, sir.”

“What the hell is the problem?”

“There is no budget, sir.”

At Lee Eun-taek’s answer, Kim Jeom’s face was crumpled.

“Damn it….”

* * *

The biggest problem in Sejong’s step-by-step progress was the budget.

After opening the country, Joseon significantly reduced the budget used by the government.

This was because he was well aware that the people were unable to live due to excessive tax collection at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty.

It was natural that expenditures were reduced in order to reduce various miscellaneous taxes as much as possible and operate the government with the resulting reduced revenue.

As a result, King Sejong set the period of Gyeongjang at 10 years.

Gyeongjang’s goal was to gradually change the revenue sector, reform central and local administration, and ultimately strengthen Joseon’s capabilities and expand them to the outside world.

Sejong was also well aware of the importance of the budget needed in this process, so it focused on conducting a resale business.

The monopoly of candy suggested by the crown prince at the right time was a boon that could significantly expand finances.

However, with the establishment of monopoly stores at the county level, a significant amount of assets were consumed for facility investment funds, reducing the room for budget management.

In addition, as it was decided to purchase major parts of the Gap-sikjang Chong-tong and Masang Chong-tong from the private sector, budget space was greatly lost.

In fact, King Sejong was also well aware of this problem.

Therefore, everything from purchasing major parts for the Fuhrer to building a national steel mill was always aware of the limitations of the budget.

However, King Sejong did not like the slow handling of issues directly related to national defense due to budget constraints.

To solve this problem, King Sejong mobilized bold measures.

King Sejong’s intention was to control the finances of the Naesoo Seongchae.

Naesu Byeoljwa was an organization created for the purpose of managing the wealth inherited from the Goryeo royal family and the private property of the Lee Seong-gye family in the Hamgyeong-do region. It also managed land and wealth going to the royal family, and King Sejong took control of this part.

At a gathering of royal relatives, King Sejong made the following request:

“For the rise of our Joseon, the sacrifices of many elders and brothers are necessary.”

There was no one who would oppose the king’s request, so all the royals who received King Sejong’s request agreed.

When all the royals agreed, King Sejong handed out a memorandum to them one by one.

The contents of the memorandum written by King Sejong in his own hand and stamped not only with the royal seal but also with the royal seal and head of state were as follows.

-For the next five years, 70% of the previously received salary will be paid. For the next 5 years, you will pay the same amount of bonus you received for the first time, and after that, you will pay 20% more.

Because the content was quite good, the royal family tolerated their complaints

, and this memorandum was recognized as the first national bond certificate of the Joseon Dynasty.

In this way, flexible funds were injected from the domestic budget, but overall, the situation was tight with little room to spare, and the biggest reason for this was the research institute in the township and the steel mill built in Pyeongan Island.

“Abama, give me a budget….”

“Get out, you bastard!”

Hyang’s research institute was an institution that sucked up its budget and consumed it like drinking cold water, to the extent that conversations like this occurred a couple of times a month.

But Hyang also had something to say.

“no! I’m not just spending money at random! “The budget itself is like that, so what can I do?”

As proven in the last audit, the fragrance never squandered its budget.

The only problem was that the budget of the Joseon government itself was too small in absolute value.

And the location of the steel mill located in Pyeongan-do was a problem.

The steel mill built under the direction of Kim Deok-su, the founder of the Anju Kim clan, was located about 200 ri (about 80 km) from the border.

Due to location problems, new defense units had to be organized and deployed, which was the main reason why the budget dried up.

* * *

The budget may have dried up, but the coffers were not literally empty.

Although the funds to move the government were prepared, all the reserves prepared just in case were exhausted.

After checking the situation, Kim Jeom quenched his appetite.

“Well, it can be resolved as long as the Mid-Autumn Festival passes.”

The subordinate officials reacted to Kim Jeom’s words.

“The question is whether we can get there safely until then. “If there’s a flood or a plague, it’s all over.”

Kim Jeom screamed at the words of his subordinate officials.

“The problem is that you are so pessimistic! “If I live a little more positively, what will happen?”

“I apologize.”

“If you apologize, don’t create something to apologize for! Go and do your work! “I can’t see the scrolls piled up over there!”

“Yes yep!”

At Kim Jeom’s displeased order, the subordinate officials quickly returned to their seats.

Kim Jeom, who was left alone in his seat, let out a long sigh.

“Ha~. “The problem is that there is not enough budget… but there is no answer.”

Kim Jeom sighed and complained again about the vague problem that was difficult to find an answer to.

“Ha~. Should I just file an appeal to have it sent to the local government?”

* * *

“Get out, you bastard!”

Hyang, who had requested additional budget and was kicked out, headed to the East Palace and complained.

“These days, you don’t even call yourself a crown prince… Damn, what is the budget…”

As Hyang was complaining about the situation where he couldn’t find an answer even after thinking about it, his eyes caught the sight of monks moving behind the eunuch.

“Why are you a monk?”

The eunuch who followed Hyang’s question answered immediately.

“I think he is going to give a sermon in the middle palace.”

“It’s okay to go around openly…” Hyang,

who had been saying a word, stopped walking as he thought of the ministers who cause trouble at the mere mention of the word ‘Bul’ in ‘Buddhism.’

“Lowering?”

“found! Let’s not attack Japan, let’s sell it to Japan!”

“yes?”

The eunuch’s head was twisted, but Hyang retraced the way he came and walked briskly towards Geunjeongjeon.

“What’s happening all of a sudden? “Again, there is no budget.”

King Sejong first drew the line on the return of incense. But I didn’t mind the scent.

“Abama! “How about starting a book business?”

“Book business?”

“You are selling Buddhist scriptures to the Japanese nation!”

“huh?”

Sejong’s eyes widened at Hyang’s words. No, the monks who had not yet left also had their eyes widened.

* * *

Looking at the relationship between Joseon and Japan at that time, it was not that bad.

In the case of Joseon in the early days of its founding, the first thing used to prevent damage from Japanese pirates was a diplomatic solution.

At that time, the Joseon Dynasty outwardly promised to sever relations with Japan, but inwardly strengthened diplomatic relations with Japan.

Diplomatic relations were established not only with the shogunate government, but also with local noble families such as the Daenai Clan, Soi-jeon, Dae-woo-jeon, and Tsushima Province.

As this policy of bridging the gap was slowly taking effect, we encountered an unexpected reef.

Yoshihiro Ouchi and Tsushima Lord Sou Kitashige had died.

And Joseon’s efforts were ineffective as Wada Saimon took control of Kuju and Tsushima Island and encouraged Japanese pirates to plunder Joseon.

However, the cord of friendly relations between Joseon and Japanese nobles still remained.

Just before the conquest of Tsushima in the first year of King Sejong’s reign, Joseon informed the Japanese nobles of the conquest of Tsushima.

When Joseon revealed its intention to conquer Tsushima Island, Guju Dodosa replied as follows.

“The Japanese are enemies of Japan (賊人 thieves), so we demand that Joseon punish them severely by force.” (Note

1

)

King Sejong and the ministers nodded to Hyang’s question.

“That’s right.”

“It was like that just a little while ago.”

In April of this year, an envoy from the King of Japan – to be more precise, Joseon, the shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, recognized the shogun as the monarch of Japan – requested a copy of the Tripitaka Koreana woodblock.

At the time, King Sejong rejected this request.

“There is only one quality of Tripitaka Koreana woodblock, and it has been handed down since our ancestors, so we cannot give it away freely.”

The King of Japan’s demands were very persistent, sometimes even calling for war, and in some cases envoys were detained.

However, that did not mean he could give the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks, and since severing the relationship would block the copper import line, the only option King Sejong had was to treat the envoy well and send him off.

In the end, in response to Japan’s demands, there was talk of making Buddhist scriptures and woodblocks in the royal rites.

However, making woodblock prints of Buddhist scriptures was impossible in Joseon, where ‘Sustaining Confucius and Epressing Buddhism’ was the national poetry.

“So, only 10 copies of the Tripitaka Koreana are being printed. So, one piece is given as a gift to the King of Japan, another piece is given to Gujujeoldosa, and another piece is given to Lady Daenae as a gift. “I don’t know about the King of Japan, but Gujujeoldosa and Daenae did a good job to Joseon.”

Sejong nodded at Hyang’s words.

“Not really. Then what about the remaining 7 qualities?”

“We need to compete with other Japanese noble families. “I will sell it to whoever will pay the highest price.”

“Hoo!”

“aha!”

King Sejong and his ministers exclaimed in exclamation at Hyang’s words.

Japan, which was quite behind in terms of culture, desperately wanted to acquire the cultural relics of Joseon and Ming.

In particular, since Buddhist sutras were so rare, the King of Japan requested Buddhist sutras and woodblock prints.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to take about 50 pictures instead of 10?”

“Tsk!”

King Sejong clicked his tongue in response to Maeng Sa-seong’s question.

“Have you forgotten that the rarer a coin is, the more valuable it becomes? “Why did the Crown Prince decide that there were 10 qualities?”

“Here comes the Emperor!”

“I told you not to do anything that would be embarrassing!”

After saying something to Maeng Sa-seong, King Sejong looked at Hyang with gentle eyes.

“Are you trying to sell 10 pieces like that?”

“yes. “With the name Tripitaka Koreana and the limited quantity of only 10 pieces, its value in Japan will skyrocket.”

“I guess so.”

“And tell the monks to make woodblock prints of Buddhist scriptures, stamp or copy them, and make books. The Buddhist scriptures are taken to the Japanese country and sold. In this way, Joseon can receive two benefits from within and three benefits from Japan.”

“Two gains, three gains?”

At Hyang’s words, King Sejong and the ministers’ bodies gradually tilted towards Hyang.

After quenching his thirst for a moment, Hyang explained what the benefits were.

“One of the two benefits that can be gained within Joseon is that the land still owned by the temple can be recovered once again.”

“ah!”

Since the founding of Joseon, the policy of pro-Confucianism and suppression of Buddhism was consistently pursued.

King Taejong consolidated numerous Buddhist denominations into seven orders, confiscated 80,000 temple slaves and turned them into government slaves, and took away 60,000 acres of land.

Following this, King Sejong merged the seven religious orders into two, the Seonjong and the Gyojong, leaving only 36 temples nationwide. In terms of land, 3,000 pieces of good land out of 11,000 pieces of land were confiscated, and most of the remaining slaves were also taken away.

“A certain percentage of the proceeds from the sale of Buddhist sutras is given to the monks to help them make a living. So that you can make a living even without land. “This is another benefit because it will help stabilize public sentiment.”

“Right.”

Sejong nodded at the explanation of the scent.

Although he continued to adopt a policy of suppressing Confucianism and Buddhism, the presence of Buddhism had not yet diminished not only within the palace but also among the people.

“Relaxing it in moderation can also help. So what are the three benefits to be gained from Waeguk? The first thing that comes to mind is that Gujujeoldosa and Daenae will become closer to us.”

“That’s right. It is a great benefit for powerful noble families like the Daenae clan or Guju Jeoldosa to become closer to Joseon. Another benefit is that if we sell Buddhist scriptures and bring in rice or silver from Japan, we can escape from budgetary pressure. The final benefit is that we can make the people of the Japanese country admire our Joseon by spreading the Buddhist scriptures that are clearly recorded as being made in Joseon to the Japanese country.”

King Sejong smiled and accepted the explanation.

“Other benefits are good, but I like the last one the most. “What do you think?”

“What a good idea!”

“Then we have to put it into action. “Please send someone to the main temple of Zen Buddhism and corrections immediately.”

“I follow your orders!”

* * *

Three months later, the Ouchi family in Suzhou was busy receiving envoys from Joseon.

“Thank you for your hard work in coming to Wonro.”

Moriharu, who became the lord of the Ouchi family after his deceased brother, politely welcomed the Joseon envoy.

“Thank you for being so welcoming. Fortunately, there was no typhoon, so I made it across safely.”

Moriharu’s courteous hospitality was greeted with polite courtesy by the envoy from the royal family.

After serving tea to the Shinigami, Moriharu got to the point.

“So, what are you doing here, all the way from Joseon? Have the thieves gone on a rampage again?”

“It’s still quiet. I have come here in compliance with the orders of His Majesty the Prime Minister. “Here is a personal letter from His Highness the Prime Minister.”

The Shinigami took the scroll out of his pocket and untied the knot. In front of Moriharu, who had a neat posture, the envoy read King Sejong’s personal letter.

“Daenae, the lord of the Japanese kingdom, please listen…”

After reading King Sejong’s personal letter, Moriharu bowed deeply.

“I am truly grateful that you are showing such interest. “I am even more grateful because my family has its roots in Baekje.”

“Here is a gift from His Majesty the Lord to your lord.”

At the envoy’s gesture, an official of the royal rites behind him came in carrying a large wooden box wrapped in silk.

“What is this?”

“Do you know Haeinsa Temple’s Tripitaka Koreana?”

“I know.”

“Here is a Buddhist scripture taken with the Tripitaka Koreana.”

“Oh oh!”

Moriharu untied the knot of the silk cloth with trembling hands.

When the knot was undone, a shiny lacquered wooden box was revealed. On the lid of the box was a Buddha statue carved in relief and covered with gold leaf.

Moriharu touched the Buddha statue with trembling hands and declared to the envoy.

“You have given me such a valuable gift… Our Ouchi will fully cooperate with Joseon’s affairs from now on!”

Something similar to this also happened to the envoy who visited the Savior.

Only Ashikaga Yoshimochi, who was the shogun of the Muromachi shogunate and was called the king of Japan, responded with a bit of disappointment.

Afterwards, fierce competition took place over the remaining seven editions of the Tripitaka Koreana. After such competition, the 7 quality Tripitaka Koreana were sold for a large sum of 500 crowns of silver (about 1.87 tons) per quality.

It was not just the Tripitaka Koreana edition. Buddhist scriptures printed or copied by other temples were also sold for at least 200 nyang of silver per piece.

“I know it is a precious Buddhist scripture, but isn’t it too expensive?”

“Do you think this is ordinary Buddhist scripture? Did you know that there are only 36 temples recognized in Joseon? The local monks wrote each word with a brush and carved it out of woodblocks! Just looking at it makes me feel bad! uh! “It’s not normal!”

It was a premium brought about by the scarcity of ‘only 36 locations’.

—–

(Note 1) Joseon Dynasty military strategy. Ministry of National Defense Military Compilation Research Institute.