Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 826

Episode 826: Famous Sweets Japan – Internal Strength and Expansion (5)

When Wan mentioned the Record Office, all the ministers looked at Wan with nervous faces. The same was true for Kim Jong-seo, who first mentioned the Record Office.

Looking at the ministers, Wan got to the point.

“The governor of Shinji sent a letter and said he would like to create an archives office in Shinji as well.”

In response to Wan’s words, Hwang Bo-in asked a serious question in a firm voice.

“Are the native officials in Xinji already causing trouble?”

It was Hwang Bo-in, who had long experience in the law-related department of the Ministry of Justice after the previous punishment. As is typical for him, as soon as he heard the words ‘establishment of a new record office’, he thought of corruption among officials.

At Hwang Bo-in’s words, Wan smiled lightly and shook his head.

“ha ha ha. no.”

“Is that so?”

In response to Wan’s answer, Hwang Bo-in showed a relaxed expression. The same was true for other ministers.

“So, are you going to select people from among those working in white clothes at our archives office?”

“exactly.”

At Wan’s answer, Kim Jong-seo smiled slightly and crawled in.

“Because the history of Shinji is short, there will be little to record, and if so, there will be many people who want to go to Shinji.”

The other ministers also nodded at those words. Seeing the ministers like that, the smile on Wan’s face deepened.

“Is that really the case?”

At Wan’s words, all the ministers in Daejeon shouted inwardly.

‘I got hit!’

‘It’s a trap!’

‘I forgot whose blood I inherited!’

Wan continued, enjoying the looks on the ministers’ faces.

“Isn’t the Record Office only in Seoul now? The situation is worrying about this. “It would be a big problem if an unexpected disaster occurred and problems occurred at the records office.”

“Ah…”

The ministers all nodded at Wan’s words. In fact, there was a big fire in Seoul early in King Sejong’s reign and it suffered great damage.

Wan continued speaking.

“That is why we are planning to create a record office in Shinji to safely store all the records of the empire.”

“Then, those who receive document records and serve their sentences at the record office will have twice as much work to do.”

“Maybe so.”

At Wan’s calm answer, the ministers all had the same thought.

‘There will be a sound of crying.’

Wan continued speaking.

“We will request it from the Legislative Review Office, but we will also legislate compensation measures for those who work in white clothes at the Record Office.”

“If you say it is a compensation measure….”

“If we look at the examples so far, those who faithfully serve their sentences are pardoned and reinstated. Of course, it is not the original rank, but a rank two levels below. “We will change this to reinstatement to one level lower.”

Hwang Bo-in responded to Wan’s words by bowing his head.

“Even those who work in white coats will like it.”

But the other ministers were all mumbling the same thing to themselves.

‘The problem is that very few people are involved…’

‘How many people have been pardoned and reinstated so far? ‘It was a number you could count with your fingers, right?’

* * *

Recorder.

It was a ‘place of fear’ for officials of the Korean Federal Empire, and indeed for everyone in public office.

-Find, organize, and preserve administrative records not only from Joseon but also from past dynasties.

-By examining the records kept in this way, we create better policies to bring peace to the people and prosper the country.

The Record Office was created for this purpose.

The problem was finding people to work at the records office.

-Those who can read and write Chinese characters properly.

-Those who are good at biceps.

This condition alone was a headache, but what was even more problematic was the enormous workload.

It was truly an enormous amount of work to find and organize the records of not only Joseon, but also its predecessor, Goryeo, and even previous dynasties.

The people who caught the eye of Sejong and Hyang, who were struggling to find people to take on jobs that boasted enormous labor intensity, were ‘officials’.

-He can read and write Chinese characters properly and is also good at biceps.

Sejong found the optimal ingredients and started using them right away.

Starting with officials who had performed the royal ritual, which was prohibited by law, all officials whose misconduct was discovered were imprisoned in the records office, regardless of their status.

The most representative example was Jo Mal-saeng.

Jo Mal-saeng, who was involved in the ‘Kim Do-ryeon incident’, had all his assets confiscated and had to serve in white clothes at the Records Office.

Later, after faithfully serving his sentence, Jo Mal-saeng was able to return because the national defense needed talented people.

However, Jo Mal-saeng returned and became a completely different person.

He returned as a person with integrity and innocence and unconditional loyalty to the king.

Afterwards, the record office’s notoriety among officials grew.

-Decades have passed since it was created, but the workload shows no sign of decreasing at all.

-The perception of those around us pouring in on those who received document records and their families.

People around me said I couldn’t help it, but the problem was the incredible amount of work.

It was fortunate that the documents were written as genuine letters or sentiments. It was difficult for even officials who were familiar with calligraphy and Chinese characters to immediately recognize documents written in Haengseo or Cursive.

If I made a typo while transcribing it, I had to rewrite it from scratch.

-It is a document that future generations should see, but if there are traces of modifications, problems may arise regarding its authenticity. If a typo occurs, rewrite from the beginning.

Because of this, white-robed officials had to be always on edge.

However, working slowly also had problems. This was because if the amount of output was small, the period of imprisonment was not reduced.

* * *

As time passed, the enormous workload began to decrease little by little.

It was thanks to the desperate struggle of the officials who served in white clothes.

“Now there is hope!”

But their hope turned to despair.

This was because King Sejong had promulgated the Hunminjeongeum.

– All records are interpreted again in Jeongeum and recorded again!

“Ahh….”

Fortunately, with the invention of the typewriter and its widespread use, work became a little easier.

However, Hyang and Wan pointed out the problem to the ministers.

“What the hell! Why is it that there is no end to the number of people receiving written punishment?”

“I’m sorry!”

“I told you not to create anything to apologize for!”

The reason why Hyang and Wan expressed such dissatisfaction was because people who received written punishment continued to come forward.

This was because among the female officials who were now starting to establish themselves stably, there were those who received document records, as well as eunuchs and court ladies.

And those who were caught in this way were punished and thrown into the records office.

At first, there were concerns that an unfortunate incident might occur as the man and woman were together, but that did not happen.

“In the archives, men and women have no time or energy to share affection.”

And on the main beam of the archives was a proverb whose author was unknown.

-Typewriters are fair.

* * *

Because they knew about the circumstances, the ministers reacted negatively even after hearing Wan’s compensation plan.

But Wan’s words weren’t over.

“Jim and Sang-tae talked about many things, and we plan to actively use Shinji and Bukji to preserve records. “First of all, I plan to build additional buildings in Shinji and Bukji to store the Annals.”

“This is a truly appropriate sentence.”

The ministers responded positively to Wan’s words.

As Wan said, increasing the number of accidents was a good way to prepare for possible disasters.

However, the ministers were taken aback by Wan’s subsequent words.

“And since the record office is being created in two places, I also plan to take care of it.”

“If you say you will look at my hands…”

“Do you know about the great library that was in Alexandria?”

Wan explained his and Hyang’s plans to the ministers.

-It is said that there used to be a great library in Alexandria.

-It is said that all the historical records of knowledge in the West at the time were gathered in the great library.

-We want to make the Archives a great library of the East, or even the Empire.

-In the future, the Archives will collect and preserve not only the administrative records of past dynasties, but also all books and records related to the knowledge and life we have today, including historical books and Biblical trivia.

-Of course, we will not simply preserve it but also restore it, and we will make copies so that people who want to can see them.

“….”

The ministers who heard Wan’s plan all opened their mouths and said nothing.

After some time had passed, Hwang Bo-in barely came to his senses and spoke to Wan.

“Your Majesty. This is truly a beautiful meaning. However, in order to carry out such a great project, a huge budget is needed.”

“I know you too. Of course, I have no intention of seeing its completion during my reign. “Wouldn’t it be possible to do this without putting a big burden on the budget if we anticipate a time horizon of about 100 years?”

Hwang Bo-in, who thought about Wan’s point for a moment, nodded.

“I think that’s okay.”

“Okay. Please write a plan regarding this. And…”

Wan paused for a moment and continued with a wry smile.

“Shouldn’t this be enough to reduce negativity? “Where on earth does that reckless confidence that you won’t get caught come from?… Tsk!”

At the sound of Wan clicking his tongue, everyone in Daejeon had similar thoughts.

‘I guess I’ll have to crack down on my children once again!’

‘I heard strange rumors around my nephew…’

In this way, the ‘records office’s transformation into a great library’ proceeded as Wan and Hyang had intended.

It was a large undertaking with the reputation of being ‘not finished even after 100 years.’

A huge amount of records were produced every year, and organizing and preserving them was an impossible task.

Thanks to this, the records office buildings located in the main and new locations had to be constructed additionally every 10 or 20 years.

It was a record office that came to be called ‘a treasure trove of human knowledge’, ‘dungeon’, and ‘magul’.

* * *

“Hmm… Let’s leave the matter of Ming and Records like this, what about Japan? “It’s been a while since the Ouchi family became kings of Japan, but are you still making noise?”

Hwang Bo-in stepped forward and answered Wan’s question.

“I think things have been sorted out now.”

“Then I think the burden on the South Sea Navy will be reduced.”

“First of all, yes, but I have some concerns.”

“worry? “What is it?”

Hwang Bo-in answered Wan’s question.

“It looks like Japan has finally decided to advance south.”

“Going south already? “Does Japan have that level of capability?”

“It’s still too much, but I think we’ll start moving in earnest soon.”

“Do you have any physical evidence other than your heart?”

Hwang Bo-in answered Wan’s question.

“They say they sought out shipbuilding engineers from Europe and brought them over.”

“A shipbuilding engineer…”

Wan trailed off with a serious expression on his face.

* * *

Wan as well as the local government officials were confident that Japan would definitely choose to expand abroad.

One of the reasons was that it was difficult for Japan to become self-reliant with its own internal resources, but the biggest reason was that Japan thoroughly followed the steps of the empire.

-Both the empire and we, Japan, lack what we have. Just as the empire grew greatly by looking outward, we, Japan, must do the same!

This was the motto of the Ouchi family, now the king of Japan, and many Japanese intellectuals were shouting similar claims.

The problem was the relationship between the empire and Japan.

Both countries advocated good-neighborhood diplomacy with each other, and there was considerable human and material exchange.

However, Japan also knew well that the empire would never give more than a certain amount.

In the end, the alternative Japan chose was Europe.