Hyeon explained in more detail to Woo, who was expressing doubt.

• It is the law that the Crown Prince learns practical affairs by overseeing the Research Institute and Area 51, and finally gains experience in overall state administration through regency.
• However, it is also true that someone who has just become Emperor tends to show excessive enthusiasm and start too many projects. This is proven by history, East and West, past and present.
• To prevent mishaps caused by this, the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Vice Ministers examine the various policies the Emperor wishes to pursue even more strictly.
• The most severe area is the budget. The Ministry of Finance and Economy, the department in charge, starts by cutting its own budget and then makes a super-strong move to reduce the budgets of all ministries.
• This situation continues for three years.

“That is why we intends to organize the budget before abdication. Once a budget has been finalized, they tend not to touch it easily.”

“Ah…”

At Hyeon’s explanation, Woo nodded. Meanwhile, Hyang and Wan, who were listening from behind, wore expressions as if hearing this for the first time.

“Huh? Grand Emperor. Did you experience such a thing?”

“No? Did you experience it, Emperor Emeritus?”

“Me? Do you think there was anyone bold enough to do that to me?”

Exchanging these words, Hyang and Wan simultaneously expressed their doubts.

“Why didn’t the Emperor mention this before?”

“That’s one thing, but it’s even stranger that those guys who love to gossip didn’t talk about it.”

Finding the story incomprehensible, Hyang and Wan approached Hyeon.

“I ask the Emperor. Even if the Grand Emperor couldn’t know because he went to the New Frontier, I never heard of such a thing.”

At Hyang’s question, Hyeon answered briefly.

“I stopped it.”

“Why? When subjects were doing something presumptuous like suppressing their lord?”

“Have you forgotten the ‘Imprisonment of Kang Sang-in’?”

“Hmm…”

When Hyeon mentioned the ‘Imprisonment of Kang Sang-in,’ Hyang and Wan stopped speaking and nodded. When Taejong abdicated to Sejong, Taejong held onto military authority and did not hand it over. At that time, Kang Sang-in criticized this in private, but the problem was that his conversation partner was a relative of Sejong’s in-laws.

Taejong, wary of the growing power of Sim On, Sejong’s father-in-law, used this as a pretext to frame Kang Sang-in, Park Seup, Sim Jeung, and Sim On for treason and purged them.

“It was certain that the Emperor Emeritus would step in out of worry for me, or send word. Naturally, talk criticizing the matter would have circulated, and an incident similar to the ‘Imprisonment of Kang Sang-in’ would have occurred.”

“But wouldn’t that secure imperial authority firmly?”

At Wan’s question, Hyeon responded with a negative expression.

“As the Grand Emperor says, doing so would easily secure imperial authority. However, then I would have to continue ruling with an iron fist. The losses from this outweigh the gains. Think about after Woo inherits the throne here. The ‘Abuse of Power Incident by the Ryu Jeong-hyeon Faction’ would happen again.”

“Hmm…”

At Hyeon’s words, Hyang and Wan nodded again.

***

The ones who waged a political struggle against Sejong over the ‘expansion of cowpox vaccination’ and were purged after losing were the elder meritorious subjects, including Ryu Jeong-hyeon. In a way, Ryu Jeong-hyeon and those who shared his views were the first to be affected by the changes created by Hyang’s intervention. In the history before Hyang’s intervention, they were veteran and renowned officials who had dominated an era.

However, the problem was that Sejong, influenced by Hyang’s intervention, tried to implement reforms more and more actively. For them, it was hard to accept that the anomalous value of ‘pragmatism’ was rising to the mainstream at the crucial moment when their lifelong aspiration, a ‘society based on Neo-Confucian values’ and a ‘state ruled by the Way of the King,’ was just about to take root.

Furthermore, with Taejong’s death, his reign of terror had just ended. For those dreaming of a ‘Republic of Ruler and Subjects’ and ‘Weak Ruler, Strong Subjects’, Sejong’s actions were unacceptable. Defeated in the ensuing political struggle, Ryu Jeong-hyeon and his faction had to bear the charges and stigma of ‘Deceiving the Ruler and Disdaining Superiors’ and were purged.

***

Hyeon continued speaking.

“I thought that something like the ‘Purge of the Ryu Jeong-hyeon Faction’ happening again would not be good for the Empire. In particular, I thought losing those who had gained experience while working in the court for decades would be an even greater loss.”

“But subjects trying to suppress their lord is not something to be taken lightly.”

At Hyang’s words, Hyeon answered with a smile.

”Even so, it’s only the budget and policy review parts. Since I was already familiar with these from my time as Crown Prince, thinking of it as a warm-up for about three years made it comfortable. And…” Hyeon continued, wearing not the gentle smile from before, but a cynical sneer. “A few years after the warm-up ends, won’t the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Vice Ministers all be replaced? No matter how long a career they have built, they are bound to be clumsy when they first become Prime Ministers, Ministers, or Vice Ministers. When that time comes… Huhu…”

Watching Hyeon trailing off with a meaningful laugh, Hyang and Wan let out similar chuckles.

“Huhu…”

“Hehehe… That is true. Indeed, it is.”

Watching the three generations behave like this, Woo broke out in a slight cold sweat. And the scribes and historians recording this behind them sweated profusely.

***

The introduction event for the new power system ended like that. Hyang and Wan, who sat together after the event, chatted about this and that.

“By the way, Grand Emperor, you look quite tired?”

“I am already seventy. Isn’t it natural for everything to be taxing when one gets old?”

“Only seventy, what a fuss…”

At Hyang’s scolding, Wan shut his mouth and looked at Hyang.

• Are you unable to think that you are extraordinary, Emperor Emeritus, or do you choose not to?

“Hm? What do you want to say?”

“Ah, it is nothing. By the way, Hyeon’s judgment was exquisite.”

“Judgment? Ah, you mean that talk about Myeonsinrye?”

“Yes.”

“It is true, but it seems the subjects are trying to raise their spirits again these days. This is a problem. While it is beautiful for the monarch and subjects to unite in running state affairs, isn’t putting the cart before the horse something to be avoided?”

“That is true. Such things didn’t happen in our time…”

Trailing off while pondering the reason, Wan looked at Hyang sitting in front of him and felt he knew why.

“I think I know the reason.”

“Hm? What is the reason?”

“It is because of the Venerable Emperor and you, Your Majesty, the Emperor Emeritus.”

“Hm?”

Wan shared his thoughts.

• Those who were responsible for the court during the reigns of the Venerable Emperor (Sejong) and the Emperor Emeritus were those who saw the purge of the Ryu Jeong-hyeon faction right before their eyes. They are people who stopped dreaming of strengthening sovereign power. No, they became unable to.
• The Venerable Emperor was a wise and sage king to the people. But to his subjects, he was a harsh exploiter.

“Aren’t Hwang Hui and Maeng Sa-seong representative examples?”

“Tsk.”

“And the you went one step further.”

• If the Venerable Emperor laid the foundation of the Empire, the Emperor Emeritus created the framework. In the process of refining this framework, countless officials were filtered out.
• If the Venerable Emperor and the Emperor Emeritus had been mediocre or lacked ability, the subjects could have found plenty of exits. But because they weren’t, the subjects had no opportunity.

“It was so bad that among the officials at the time, this backtalk circulated: ‘If the head is bad, the hands and feet suffer, but if the head is too good, the hands and feet suffer like dogs.'”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult…” Hyang, responding with a perplexed expression, argued with Wan. “But Grand Emperor, why do you exclude yourself? You also never suffered such nasty things, did you?”

“I benefited from the shadow of you two and the war.”

“I know what the shadow means, but why the war?”

At Hyang’s point, Wan continued his explanation.

• He himself is also someone who has experienced two wars.
• In the Liaodong War, which opened the path for Joseon to become an Empire, he was young and only watched, but in the Yellow Sea War, he assisted the Emperor Emeritus in practical affairs.
• The experience and spirit gained from war are different in texture from those in peacetime.
• Furthermore, from the perspective of the subjects, those who served when the Venerable Emperor and the Emperor Emeritus ruled saw everything with their own eyes, from the Imprisonment of Kang Sang-in in the distant past to the Giyu Rebellion more recently.
• Those who took charge in the next generation. For example, people like Han Myeong-hoe didn’t see it right in front of their noses, but they saw it from a distance. And they tasted all sorts of spicy and bitter experiences under the Emperor Emeritus. They became people who couldn’t even dream of strengthening sovereign power.
• However, those who will assist Woo from Hyeon’s era onwards, and the Emperors after Woo, are people who have heard of such events as rumors or have no experience at all.
• For them, who haven’t experienced the Venerable Emperor and the Emperor Emeritus, it is certain that they will seek ‘Weak Ruler, Strong Subjects’ again under the pretext of preventing ‘Imperial Dictatorship’.

“I consider it a reasonable thought.”

Agreeing with Wan’s opinion, Hyang shared his own thoughts.

“It is true that if the Emperor’s arbitrary decisions become frequent, it is easy to flow into dictatorship. And if dictatorship continues, it is easy to become a tyrant. Therefore, a republic is ideal. However, looking at history East and West, past and present, when it becomes ‘Weak Ruler, Strong Subjects,’ it is common for the people to become impoverished. Saying that a tyrant is a problem and ‘Weak Ruler, Strong Subjects’ is also a problem means, in other words, that power leaning to one side is not good. So, I created the Board of Audit and Inspection and the Judiciary, and made the Three Offices independent as the Board of Audit and Inspection. However, the ultimate measure is to divide power into three. This was the conclusion the Venerable Emperor and I reached.”

“Are you speaking of what you told me before?”

“And what was put into the Constitution.”

Pausing, Hyang glanced at the scribes and historians typing furiously on their typewriters and subtly raised his voice.

“Hmm… This part is a story everyone who ascends to Emperor knows… But isn’t the truly important part separate? There are insolent fellows who dare try to tame the Emperor?”

As Hyang raised his voice, Wan, catching the hint, also raised his voice in response.

“Indeed! And that’s not all! It seems, it seems the officials in Seoul have become very comfortable these days!”

“Come to think of it. According to rumors I hear when I occasionally go undercover in the market these days, there are those who are doing Myeonsinrye again, which was strictly blocked.”

“Is that so? Oho~. I believe we shouldn’t stay still about this! I should conduct an inspection after a long time! Discussing state affairs might be overstepping authority, but inspection is something I, the Grand Emperor can do, isn’t it?”

“Right! Two hands are better than one, so I will join you!”

“If the Emperor Emeritus adds his hand, wouldn’t it be icing on the cake!”

The scribes and historians recording Hyang and Wan’s conversation turned pale.

• We’re in trouble! Huge trouble!
• Inspection! Inspection! And an inspection conducted directly by the Emperor Emeritus and the Grand Emperor!
• Which crazy bastard did Myeonsinrye! If you want to die, die alone, why drag innocent people into it!

The scribes and historians screamed internally.