After various events, the long-awaited day of imperial proclamation and King Sejong’s ascension to Emperor finally arrived.
A grand Circular Mound Altar was erected east of Gyeongbok Palace, near Jongmyo Shrine.
However, Joseon’s Circular Mound Altar differed significantly from Ming’s. It bore the spirit tablets of Hwanin, Hwanung, and Dangun, the celestial spirits of the Five Stars and Twenty-eight Constellations, and the spirits of the Wind Earl, Rain Master, and Cloud Master.
***
Joseon’s finest master builder was summoned to construct the Circular Mound Altar.
“I pledge my all to this task!”
Master Builder Park Gi-ju truly poured his entire being into the construction, knowing his name would go down in history as the builder of this historic structure. The court provided all materials and personnel the master builder requested.
With numerous carpenters, stonemasons, and laborers mobilized, the Circular Mound Altar was completed in just one month.
It was a record achievement to complete everything in a month: the massive foundation, the altar atop it, the golden roof covering the altar, the Imperial Vault[1] as an auxiliary building, and finally the stone gates leading to both structures.
Every step of this process was meticulously documented. Not only the measurements of buildings, but the methods of joining structures, the shapes, dimensions, and materials of required components, and even construction techniques were carefully recorded, along with a complete list of all participants in the construction.
These records were mass-copied and stored in the Office of Records and royal archives[2] throughout the country.
All this was done under Hyang’s direction.
In the future, there will surely be those who try to nitpick about origins and such. We need proper documentary records to shut their mouths!
Following this decision, all records regarding the Circular Mound Altar’s construction were mass-copied and preserved in multiple locations.
***
The combination of Neo-Confucian scholars’ obsession with documenting everything and Hyang’s memories of 21st century Chinese and Japanese nonsense turned Joseon into a ‘nation of records.’
While the Office of Records in Hanseong functioned like a searchable ‘database,’ the royal archives across Joseon served literally as backup storage.
As the Reformation progressed and territory expanded to Sinji, Joseon’s archives increased from five to seven locations. One was established in Daeseoldo, and construction was underway for another archive site in Sinji.
With the Liaodong region becoming Joseon territory, another location was planned.
This wasn’t just for safety.
It was evidence to support the claim that ‘Where there are royal archives, there is Joseon land. No, because it is Joseon territory, there are royal archives.’
***
The archives didn’t just store chronicles. Like the Circular Mound Altar records, they preserved documentation of all ceremonies conducted by the Joseon court. Additionally, copies of all historical texts available in Joseon at the time were stored.
Amusingly, this was proposed by Hwang Hui before Hyang even mentioned it.
Even Hyang had only thought about copying and storing privately held historical texts. He’d only considered it because there were both economic and political issues.
One concern involved Goryeo, while another involved the issue of serving the great.
The former risked reducing Joseon’s founding to a usurpation of royal authority, while the latter could cause trouble with Ming over Liaodong.
Fortunately, the latter was resolved with victory over Ming, but the former remained awkward.
Thus, while Hyang only considered it, Hwang Hui stepped forward.
When the Basic Law revision was complete and mass printing began, Hwang Hui proposed to Sejong:
“Looking at the beginning of the Basic Law, specifically Article 1, Section 3, Your Majesty has used surviving historical texts as its basis.”
“That’s right.”
“The problem is that unlike classics, many undervalue these historical texts. In other words, they could be lost at any moment of carelessness. If that happens, future generations won’t be able to examine the Basic Law’s foundations even if they wish to—we need countermeasures. Therefore, we should print multiple copies of these historical texts and store them in the Office of Records and archives.”
“Hmm…”
At Hwang Hui’s words, Sejong glanced at Hyang. Their present situation existed because Hyang had done much work on his behalf. Thus, Sejong passed the decision-making authority to Hyang.
Receiving this silent command, Hyang asked Hwang Hui:
“How will you resolve the previous dynasty’s issue?”
Hwang Hui answered as if it were nothing:
“What’s the problem? If the previous dynasty had followed the right path, how would our Joseon have come to be?”
Though Hyang nodded at Hwang Hui’s words, he couldn’t make an immediate decision. Seeing this, Hwang Hui added:
“This will greatly benefit future generations. Not only will it preserve the Basic Law’s foundations, but it will also prevent those who would deceive people by manipulating history, both domestic and foreign.”
As soon as Hwang Hui finished, Hyang looked at Sejong.
“The Prime Minister’s words are truly appropriate. I believe we should proceed as suggested.”
“I agree.”
Thus, not only the historical texts used as basis for the Basic Law, but also those circulating among private households were collected en masse, organized, printed, and stored in the Office of Records and archives.
Notably, they even created a catalog recording when and where each book was collected, and returned originals to those who wanted them back, preventing any potential complaints.
***
As a side note, whenever historical debates arose between the three East Asian nations in later years, Korea’s historians—the official name was the Great Han Federal Empire, but it was shortened to Korea or Federation due to length—would subdue their opponents with knowing smiles.
“Stop with the stories and show evidence. Artifacts are fine, documents are fine. We have definitive records, so let’s compare—which archive version do you want? We have fifteen versions.”
And if anyone crossed the line, the government would step in.
“Would you like to perish? Die? Or expire?”
Thanks to this aggressive stance, ‘Federation’ became the most commonly used term for evil alien governments in other countries’—especially Japan’s—science fiction media.
Additionally, these expanded external archives played a significant role in nature conservation.
To safely preserve the historical texts, villages and various industrial facilities were prohibited from being established in areas surrounding the archives.
The issue was that the volume of books stored in the archives exceeded imagination, requiring enormous sites, and consequently, the preservation areas were incredibly vast.
***
Countless people from Hanseong, nearby regions, and those who arrived by steam engine from the provinces formed long lines in front of Jongmyo to watch the heavenly ceremony proclaiming the empire.
“Buy rice cakes~”
“Taffy! Taffy!”
As vendors’ cries selling snacks echoed from all directions amid the gathered crowds, numerous police officers sweated profusely trying to prevent people from crossing the sacred ropes.
“Hey! Don’t cross the rope there!”
“You there! Don’t cross the sacred rope!”
“I said don’t cross the rope!”
“Hey! The line!”
While this chaos continued, loud musical sounds began to be heard.
“They’re here!”
***
Following the military band playing the Daechweeta, Royal Guard soldiers escorted the palanquins carrying King Sejong, Hyang, Queen Soheon, the Crown Princess, and the royal consorts.
Seeing King Sejong in the palanquin, the people uniformly bowed at the waist. Though traditional etiquette required full prostration, Sejong had replaced it with a simple bow.
Meanwhile, the envoys who had arrived early at the Circular Mound Altar watched this scene with curious eyes.
“The people are quite obedient.”
Henry and Giovanni nodded at Mehmet II’s assessment. Though it had been deafeningly noisy just moments before, now only music could be heard.
“Not fear, but truly willing obedience?”
“An enviable situation.”
The three couldn’t hide their envy at the people’s high level of loyalty.
***
The ceremony began with ceremonial cannon fire.
Bang! Boom!
As seven mountain guns continued firing ceremonial shots, Henry asked the interpreter beside him:
“Do the ceremonial shots and their number have special meaning?”
The interpreter immediately answered.
“Since ancient times, loud noises have been used to drive away evil spirits. They fire twenty-one shots in total, representing three times seven. Traditionally, three is an auspicious number representing the first union of yin and yang, while seven is a sacred number representing the Big Dipper. Together they make twenty-one.”
“Ah…”
While Henry nodded at the interpreter’s explanation, Giovanni whispered to him.
“Did you see?”
“See what?”
“Those cannons. The breech-loading method.”
“Oh? Was that so?”
At Giovanni’s words, Henry fixed his gaze on the firing cannons. Having just finished their second volley and preparing for the third, Henry nodded.
“Indeed.”
“What do you think? If these cannons aren’t just ceremonial but weapons used in actual battle?”
After pondering Giovanni’s question briefly, Henry slightly shook his head.
“Well… Such small cannons wouldn’t be very useful in siege warfare.”
“Battle isn’t just siege warfare, is it? Especially in our current war, aren’t most battles fought in open spaces?”
“Hmm…”
While Henry tilted his head at Giovanni’s point, Mehmet II’s eyes gleamed.
***
As this continued, the ceremony proceeded and was nearing its end.
“With this, I declare our Joseon has become the Great Han Federal Empire!”
Following Sejong’s proclamation, Choi Yoon-deok, waiting below, shouted loudly:
“Raise the imperial flag!”
At Choi Yoon-deok’s command, soldiers began raising the imperial flag on poles installed at the Circular Mound Altar and outside Jongmyo’s main gate.
The yellow background flag bearing the Three-Taeguk and Eight Trigrams slowly rose. The wind that happened to blow made the imperial flag flutter vigorously, and seeing this, the people began shouting cheers at the top of their lungs.
“Hurrah!”
“Hurrah!”
***
After completing the heavenly ceremony, Sejong’s party returned to Gyeongbok Palace by palanquin.
“Hurrah!”
“Hurrah!”
“May you live ten thousand years!”
Amid cheers and blessings pouring from all directions, Sejong’s party, the officials, and the envoys passed through Gwanghwamun toward Injeongjeon Hall.
The enthronement ceremony had begun.
With all court officials gathered in front of Injeongjeon, the enthronement ceremony for Sejong and Hyang continued.
This meant that Sejong wasn’t ascending as Emperor but as Emperor Emeritus.
In other words, Hyang was officially ascending as Emperor.
“I would have liked to hold a separate abdication ceremony on an auspicious day, but the nation’s situation is urgent. I hope you don’t feel slighted.”
“Not at all.”
Seeing Hyang’s slightly smiling expression, Sejong continued with a stern face.
“Wan’s wedding is coming up soon, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t even think about carelessly passing things to Wan. There’s still promised time remaining. Until then, stay put and work.”
“Yes…”