Chapter 207: Dilemma – Odori (4)

Chapter 207: Dilemma – Odori (4)

April, 12th year of King Sejong’s reign (Gyeongsulryeon, 1430).

Byeon Gye-ryang died.

Byeon Gye-ryang, who was born in the 18th year of King Gongmin (1369), was renowned as an outstanding literary scholar and was favored.

However, while he was on his way to becoming a monk, he was falsely accused of being a traitor or suspected of murder by his older sister and her daughter, and suffered from gossip.

Fortunately, King Taejong used his talent to conduct a thorough investigation, and the defense was accepted, resulting in an acquittal. However, his position was greatly damaged, and King Taejong had to rebuild his position.

Even after that, Byun Gye-ryang’s life was not smooth.

He was accused by his father-in-law of abusing his wife. According to the complaint posted by the father-in-law, the mental and physical abuse inflicted on his wife by Byeon Gye-ryang was very serious.

In the end, Byun Gye-ryang wrote a long letter defending himself to King Taejong.

However, in that article, there were only a few sentences that reflected on oneself, and most of them were sentences that showed off one’s own writing.

In the end, King Taejong, who highly valued Byeon Gye-ryang’s outstanding literary talent, stopped the impeachment of Byeon Gye-ryang. (Note 1)

* * *

Because of these incidents, Byeon Gye-ryang was ridiculed by the educated class, but he was recognized for his level of scholarship and literary talent and was respected by King Taejong and King Sejong.

However, as Hyang intervened, his life began to change little by little.

In history before the intervention of Hyang, he was highly regarded by King Sejong until his death, and was treated as the head of Jiphyeonjeon and as the ambassador of Sungkyunkwan.

Even though his private life was in trouble, his scholarly status never collapsed.

However, the great purge of powerful officials triggered by Hyang’s intervention, and the sudden execution of Gyeongjang that followed, greatly reduced Byeon Gye-ryang’s position.

* * *

It started with King Sejong handing over the draft of the scriptures.

“Review this strategy.”

At King Sejong’s order, Byeon Gye-ryang and Jiphyeon-jeon’s scholars gathered in one place and began to look at the draft.

“This is the Crown Prince’s... .”

“Right.”

The strategy named ‘Gyeongjang (更張)’ was the crown prince’s political opinion.

To be precise, although a lot of King Sejong’s thoughts were put into it, we could see that the basis was the crown prince’s political views that he had announced not long ago.

“I told you to review it, so I guess I should review it.”

At Byun Gye-ryang’s words, the scholars began to review the contents of the sutra.

But soon enough, all the bachelors had the same reaction.

“This is ridiculous!”

“This is not the Confucian way!”

The scholars, for whom Neo-Confucianism was the center of everything, rebelled fiercely.

Seeing that, Byeon Gye-ryang sighed.

“Keep in mind that the Lord’s heart is contained within it.”

“No matter how harsh it may be... .”

“If you don’t like it, find the problem! “I think you’re doing this because you like me!”

Hearing Byeon Gye-ryang’s words, the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon immediately began to find the problem.

As I mentioned before, Joseon’s government was an extremely small government.

Most of the officials held two or three official positions concurrently.

However, this did not mean that the salary was doubled or tripled, and bribery became a routine matter for officials due to the drastically reduced salary compared to the Goryeo Dynasty.

Therefore, the scholars at Jiphyeonjeon were familiar with practical work, and it was easy to find problems.

Whenever a problem was found, Jiphyeonjeon’s academics prepared and submitted a long report.

The end of the report was almost identical.

“... “Considering these issues, it is better not to do it.”

Every time such a report was posted, King Sejong soon came up with a solution to the problem.

“The problem can be solved this way, so take this into consideration and make improvements.”

Because the king gave an answer and it was a clear answer, the Jiphyeonjeon scholars dug deeper and deeper and pointed out the problem.

From then on, it began to take time for Sejong’s answer to come.

“at las!”

The scholars of Jiphyeonjeon, who felt that they had been exploited by King Sejong, dug deeper into the scriptures, found problems, and reported them.

“Well, you are such an unusual person... .”

Many Jiphyeonjeon scholars thought of the research institute as nothing more than an excursion.

On the contrary, there were even people who felt sorry for those who were taken as officials of the research institute.

“I can barely believe I have to work in industry or academia or making various objects... . “I felt pitiful.”

“I feel sorry for the Chief of Staff of Jeongcho and the old man, Inji Jeong.”

There were many people who felt pity for those who had suddenly switched affiliations to the research institute, and there were also many who felt relieved.

The representative of these people was Byeon Gye-ryang.

“I feel relieved because there are no people who only bet on everything!”

It was very frustrating for him that Jeong Cho, who criticized him, was dragged into Hanjik.

However, contrary to their expectations, the research institute quickly grew into the strongest competitor.

The research institute, which gained recognition for creating amazing objects, expanded its human resources with the full support of King Sejong and the crown prince.

As the number of talented people increased, the research institute accumulated performance in more diverse fields.

He renovated the Joseon military’s weapons, and subsequently produced a tremendous result called ‘revision of the calendar’.

“Okay, that’s trivia!”

The scholars of Byeon Gyeryang and Jiphyeonjeon consoled themselves and hid their anxiety, but this was just the beginning.

In an audit of the research institute for the purpose of ‘monitoring the use of the budget,’ the research institute came up with an unimaginable plan called ‘railway’.

No, the railroad wasn’t the problem.

The research institute came up with something ridiculous called the ‘Comprehensive National Development Plan’.

The plan presented by the institute attracted the attention of King Sejong and ministers.

“It is truly full of good content, so please refer to it in the sutra.”

“You are truly right!”

As King Sejong and his ministers continued to receive favorable reviews, the institute’s position became increasingly solid.

Thanks to this, the frequency with which the research institute is assigned the task of creating and evaluating various policies began to increase.

Sejong openly competed.

Thanks to King Sejong’s competition, the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon had to desperately stick to their work.

However, it was not easy for bachelors whose only interests were Neo-Confucianism to expand their scope of thinking. Eventually, the bachelors turned to researchers at the institute for help.

Although they were rivals, there were many people who shared a meal together for a while, and in the end, they were subjects of Joseon.

“Whoa~. It’s not easy. “How did you expand your horizons so much?”

Researchers at the institute answered the questions of Jiphyeonjeon scholars with sad smiles.

“It’s easier to give up.”

“huh?”

“It would be easier if I gave up on leaving on time, gave up seeing my wife and children, and gave up on all these things. If you give up everything and do what you are told, you will realize the Tao.”

“ah... .”

However, competition was competition, and Jiphyeonjeon was gradually losing out to the research institute.

Even though Byeon Gye-ryang was supporting him as much as possible with his literary talent and authority as a background, anyone could see that Jiphyeonjeon’s status was not as good as it used to be.

In that situation, Byeon Gye-ryang died.

* * *

The scholars of Jiphyeonjeon who gathered at Byeon Gye-ryang’s house to pay their respects all spoke with gloomy expressions.

“Now that Master Dae has gone here, what should we do?”

“Shouldn’t we try harder?”

“Is that effort? “Isn’t this colluding with power?”

“Then what are you going to do? Should I beat him up and leave?”

“Anyway, we’re being criticized for being abusive... .”

“Are you saying that after hearing those words, you give up your morals and conscience in despair?”

“Then what if we go back to Choya? “Don’t you know what the current situation is?”

It was a group of people struggling to find a place to go after the large tree had disappeared.

* * *

Note 1) The Annals of King Sejong, read as one volume. Written by Park Young-gyu. Woongjin Knowledge House.