Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Corrupt Officials (1)
"Ahem."
With a deliberate clearing of his throat, as if to announce his presence, a man with a catfish mustache, wearing a narrow-brimmed gat, walked into the courtyard of the Village Chief's bark-roofed house.
His swaggering gait was unpleasant to look at.
"L, Lee Bang (Clerk), what brings you here in person...?"
Ignoring the villagers who stood anxiously, paling with fear, the catfish mustache immediately roared at the Village Chief.
"Hey, Village Chief! When are you going to pay back the Defense tax money?"
"L, Lee Bang (Clerk). If... if you could just give us a little more time..."
The Village Chief rushed out into the yard and bowed so low he was almost groveling, but the catfish mustache's eyes remained cold.
"Every time, it's wait, give us more time! Does the Village Chief think the Defense tax is a joke?Defense tax.
Even Ji-young, a modern person, had heard the word in Korean history class.
In Ji-young's memory, the word was never used alone in textbooks.
It usually appeared mixed with other words, and the most frequent combination was the expression:
'The evils of Defense tax.'
'It was said to be a representative evil law of the early Joseon Dynasty.'
Ji-young vaguely recalled her knowledge of the tax system of the Joseon Dynasty.
Tax payment in the Joseon Dynasty was largely divided into three categories.
'Tribute, Labor, Tax' were the three.
First, Tribute was a tax levied on land. The people had to pay a certain amount of grain as tax, depending on the size and quality of the land they owned.
Second, Labor was an obligation levied on people. The people had to perform military service or provide labor for public works such as building fortresses and reservoirs.
Third, Tax was a tax levied on households. They had to offer local specialties produced in the area to the country as tribute goods.
None of them were easy burdens for the people, but the third, Tax, or Tribute goods, was particularly problematic.
'I think it was often the case that the actual products produced in the area did not match the items that had to be offered as Tribute goods...'
Ji-young cautiously asked the Village Chief's granddaughter, who was looking anxiously outside.
What are the tribute goods imposed on this village?"
"......Pardon?"
"What do you have to offer to the government office that they're acting so violently?"
"There are many, but the most difficult to obtain is... abalone."
"What? What did you say? That abalone that's harvested from the sea?"
As soon as she heard that, she burst out laughing in disbelief.
Where in the world would abalone come from in this remote mountain village that lived by slash-and-burn farming?
Abalone was added to our village's tribute goods after the new prefect took office."
"...What happens if you can't offer the abalone?"
Yeonsangun, who had been listening silently, slowly opened his mouth.
There was a subtle anger in his voice.
The Village Chief's granddaughter shook her head and waved her hands as if she couldn't even imagine it.
"I, if we can't offer the Tribute goods, we'll be dragged to the government office and flogged half to death." But we can't go anywhere to get abalone... so we have no choice but to use 'Defense tax (payment for defense)."This is where the expedient called 'Defense tax' came in."
The act of a broker, so-called 'Defense tax agent,' paying tribute goods to the country on behalf of the people and receiving compensation for it.
In other words, since abalone doesn't come from this village, the Defense tax agent gets abalone on their behalf and presents it to the country, then charges them for it.
Naturally, they charge several times the market price.
Officially, it's an act forbidden by the country, but as long as this absurd Tribute goods system exists, it was an evil that couldn't disappear.
There was a reason why this village was so impoverished.
'It's truly an evil practice that squeezes the people dry...The Defense tax agent was taking huge profits from the people by using this ridiculous system, and the officials were again taking their bribes and maintaining the evil law, so this was truly a vicious cycle of political-economic collusion in the Joseon Dynasty.
After a period of silence, Yeonsangun slowly opened his mouth again.
"Who makes such an absurd decision to impose abalone as tribute goods on this mountain village?""
"I heard that the country makes that decision."
"Don't the people here even protest properly?"
"Th, that's... if you complain about the country's decision, you're a traitor..."
In that moment, Yeonsangun's head seemed to spin.
That was what he often said to his subjects.
Moreover, did the signatures he had been scribbling and the seals he had been stamping haphazardly create such absurd policies?
He had only chewed, tasted, and enjoyed the Tribute goods coming up from the eight provinces, but he didn't know where or how they were made.
No, it was right to say that he didn't even care.
'I heard that the Tribute goods coming up from each region represent the harvest of the eight provinces of Joseon, but was that all nonsense...?'
While Yeonsangun's head was in turmoil, he heard the unpleasant voice of the catfish mustache, raising his voice again.
The Defense tax money is one thing... but what about the other Tribute goods?"
"Wh, what are you talking about..."The animal skins and medicinal herbs you offered as tribute goods last time were all useless, low-grade items and were rejected!""
The Village Chief's face turned white again.
Rejection stamp.
This word, which is still commonly used today, originated from the practice of stamping the character 'reject' on tribute goods that were below standard and sending them back.
This was called Rejection stamp, and the local government's Finance Department had the sole authority to make that judgment.
That means the local officials can reject tribute goods as they please before they are sent up to the court.'
Yeonsangun's expression hardened once again.
The system for managing the quality of local specialties had become so corrupted that it had reached the point where they were arbitrarily rejecting anything that wasn't from a Defense tax agent with whom they had a collusive relationship.
"E, Elder. Please give us a little more time. A bear appeared in the mountains yesterday, and Soon-yi's father was seriously injured, so we can't get the Tribute goods again right now."
"Ugh, I don't want to hear it! A bear? What kind of frozen bear are you talking about at a time like this!"
The catfish mustache ruthlessly brushed off the Village Chief, who was pleading and clinging to him, as if he were brushing off a bug.
The Village Chief fell to the dirt floor, and his granddaughter rushed out in a hurry.
"Grandfather!"You can't pay the Defense tax, and you can't pay for the proper local specialties, so what are you going to do!" Do you really need to be flogged by the government office to come to your senses!"
"E, Elder! No, you can't!"
The granddaughter desperately shielded the Village Chief with her body.
If the elderly man, who was already suffering from malnutrition because he couldn't eat properly, was flogged, he wouldn't survive.
The catfish mustache's Lee Bang (Clerk) then wore a sinister expression and slowly began to reveal his true intentions.
"Then, as I said before, we'll have to take this house's granddaughter. If this child just serves Night duty for the Prefect, he said he'll make it all as if it never happened."
"Lee Bang (Clerk), no! You can't do that!"
"Ugh, shut up!"
The catfish mustache kicked the Village Chief, who was grabbing his leg and clinging to him.
Then, he roughly grabbed the Village Chief's granddaughter's sleeve and dragged her away.
The granddaughter shed tears like beads, but she let herself be dragged away without much resistance.
No, it would be more accurate to say that she had already been deprived of the strength and will to resist.
"That son of a bitch..."
Gong-gil, who was watching this scene from inside the room, spat out an expletive and tried to get up, but Su-hyeok, who was sitting across from him, reached out and stopped him.
"Have you forgotten that we are traveling incognito with the King? You must not move rashly."
Su-hyeok was also filled with anger, but as a bodyguard protecting the King on a secret mission, he couldn't rashly step forward, so he was trying his best to hold back.
Ji-young was also frustrated by this unfair situation.
'What an absurd situation...!'
What's worse, it's not the first time she's seen such a sight.
Only the scale has become a little smaller, but isn't the same thing that Yeonsangun had been doing to women all over the country happening right in front of her eyes?
Moreover, when you think about it, Ji-young herself had been forced into the palace in a similar way.
Suddenly, the thought that the root cause of all this was that psycho-like King made her feel resentful.
'Since the King is like that, there's no way the subjects can be in their right minds...'
Ji-young turned around, wondering how Yeonsangun was taking this situation, but
There was no one in the place where Yeonsangun had been sitting a moment ago.
'Huh?'
Ji-young looked around, and Yeonsangun was already bursting out of the room and running out into the yard.
"You piece of garbage!"
With a single scream, the Village Chief's eyes widened as if they would pop out.
Yeonsangun, who had run out of the room, kicked the catfish mustache's Lee Bang (Clerk) in the chest.
- Thwack!
As the Lee Bang (Clerk), who had been kicked nicely, rolled around on the dirt floor, Yeonsangun shouted in a voice full of anger.
"Why are you exploiting my people!"
He had a point, in his own way.
If you had to interpret it, it would mean:
[Why are you exploiting my (to be exploited by me) people!]
...or something like that.
But to others, Yeonsangun, dressed in plain clothes, was not the King but a passing traveler.
Such a person had suddenly kicked the local official who had come to collect the Defense tax money and Tribute goods.
Even with the Village Chief next to him, frozen like ice with his mouth open, Yeonsangun's erratic behavior continued.
He grabbed the catfish mustache by the collar, pulled him up, and then slapped him hard across the face.
"And how dare you talk about serving Night duty!""
- Smack smack!
As he continued to slap him until his anger was relieved, the catfish mustache, who had been grabbed by the collar, was foaming at the mouth and had fainted.
And Ji-young, who was watching the scene, felt a strange mixture of catharsis and discomfort.
What should I say? In modern times, they call this 'double standard.'
When you think about it, the extortion that had been happening right in front of her eyes was all something that Yeonsangun himself had been doing, but he couldn't stand it when others did it.
Soon, the Village Chief, who had rushed to Yeonsangun, trembled and barely managed to speak.
"I, I am grateful for your help, but please leave this place quickly. If the government finds out, it will be a big problem."
"...Leave? Why?"
When Yeonsangun asked back with a carefree face, as if he was about to take a nap, the Village Chief continued in a voice full of fear.
"The Chuncheon Dohobusa (Prefect) who governs this area is not an ordinary cruel person. He never lets anyone who offends him in the slightest get away with it. Moreover, that... that person..."
The Village Chief pointed to the catfish mustache, who was foaming at the mouth and lying on the floor.
"That man is like the Dohobusa (Prefect)'s right-hand man. But you've made such a mess of him, so if the Dohobusa (Prefect) finds out, your bodies won't be safe. Leave quickly!"
Yeonsangun nodded casually as if he understood.
"...Ah, then we can do this. I have a good idea."
Yeonsangun, who turned to Shin Su-hyeok, Gong-gil, and Ji-young in the room, smiled triumphantly as if he had come up with a brilliant plan.
And from his mouth came words that were, as always, self-centered.
"Since it has come to this... we will strike the Dohobusa (Prefect)'s office."
...Pardon?
