or Cancerous Growth?
(9) 16: Sprouting…
or Cancerous Growth?
(9) ***ANNOUNCEMENT*** New Novel Event for the entire week.
“The king struck the Crown Prince with a switch” and “The ministers were cursed out by the king” gradually began spreading throughout the capital.
The ministers ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut out of fear of losing face, but unless something was an actual state secret, it was only a matter of time before gossip-loving people started talking.
As a result, the rumors spread through Hanyang at almost the speed of light.
Within less than five days, there was not a single resident inside the capital walls who did not know about the affair.
And among those who heard the story, aside from the conservative scholar-officials, most ordinary people sided with Hyang completely.
“Of course the Crown Prince was right!
Every time those damned Ming envoys come through, the crying never stops!” “Exactly!” “Innkeeper!
Bring over another jug of makgeolli!
A day like this deserves drinking!” As countless people across the capital voiced support for Hyang, an entirely unexpected group suffered collateral damage.
Boys around Hyang’s age.
From the grandsons and great-grandsons of high ministers all the way down to farmers’ sons, boys of similar age everywhere suddenly found themselves being scolded and beaten.
“The Crown Prince is already debating ministers over matters of state, yet you only just finished memorizing the Thousand Character Classic?
What kind of disgrace to the family are you?!” “I-I’m sorry!
This grandson will study harder…” “Silence!
Son!
Bring the switch!” “The Crown Prince is making even the great ministers shut their mouths, while you’re running around smashing the neighbors’ jars?
Fine!
Today I’ll beat some sense into you!
Wife!
Bring the thickest switch we have!” While fathers and grandfathers beat their sons and grandsons senseless, the women of noble households, beginning with the titled ladies of high-ranking families, found their attention drifting somewhere else entirely.
“I wonder how Her Majesty educated the Crown Prince.” “We are curious as well.” “I would ask directly, but after the recent treason case, Her Majesty no longer has many relatives we can approach…” Searching for some connection to Queen Soheon, the noblewomen eventually turned toward Royal Noble Consort Yeongbin Kang, one of Sejong’s consorts.
“As far as I know, the Crown Prince largely educated himself.” “Really…” Seeing the disappointed expressions on the women’s faces, Lady Kang continued.
“However, while the Crown Prince is exceptional at learning, he is equally exceptional at teaching.” “Pardon?” “The way he taught the younger princes was truly remarkable.” While thinking about how to handle his younger brothers, especially the future Grand Prince Suyang, Hyang eventually reached a conclusion.
“Purging them before they become threats would lack justification, so instead I’ll work them to death.
No, I’ll work them to death and then work them some more.” Having made his decision, Hyang immediately put his plan into motion.
“If I’m going to grind them down properly, I need to make them properly educated first.” Then he checked their actual academic level and immediately grabbed his forehead.
“They still haven’t even finished the Thousand Character Classic…
what am I supposed to do with these idiots?” After hearing rumors that Hyang had lamented the younger princes’ academic performance, Queen Soheon summoned him.
“Crown Prince, it is only because you are extraordinarily gifted.
Your brothers are not lacking.” “Mother, my brothers also carry Father’s blood.
No one denies that Father is a genius unmatched in ages.
If they continue showing such pitiful performance, it dishonors Father’s reputation.
I absolutely cannot tolerate that.” ‘If I leave these idiots alone, all they’ll do is raise my blood pressure.’ Having steeled his resolve, Hyang began devising methods to improve his brothers’ education.
“At minimum, they need to master the Thousand Character Classic first…” While worrying over the education of the two younger brothers who would one day become Grand Prince Suyang and Grand Prince Anpyeong, Hyang eventually discovered a solution.
Flashcards.
Hyang ordered the Bureau of Painting to produce educational cards.
Thick wooden boards were covered front and back with paper.
One side displayed four-character phrases from the Thousand Character Classic, while the opposite side contained illustrations visually depicting the meaning of the phrase.
Alongside the flashcards, Hyang also introduced “rewards,” mostly snacks, and “competition,” constantly pitting Suyang and Anpyeong against each other.
Combined with carefully timed punishments, the results were astonishing.
Within forty days, both princes completely mastered the Thousand Character Classic.
And Hyang’s educational methods did not stop there.
Using illustrated scenes from the Confucian classics, he explained the texts through a storytelling format that kept the younger princes focused and engaged.
“The younger princes seem to respond well to this approach, so for now I believe it best to continue teaching them this way.” “We can only marvel at Your Highness’s methods!” The royal tutors, who had struggled endlessly educating the two princes, especially Suyang who had spent much of his youth outside the palace, bowed their heads in admiration.
“Then until what stage should we continue using this method?” “The Four Books and Three Classics require the proper mindset before approaching them, so continue until that point.” “We understand.” Meanwhile, after hearing reports that Hyang had invented entirely new educational methods greatly benefiting the younger princes, Sejong struck his knee in delight.
“Truly worthy of a Crown Prince!
Truly worthy of the eldest son!” After hearing about Hyang’s educational methods and their incredible results through Lady Kang, the noblewomen became desperate with excitement.
“Is there any possible way to obtain the teaching materials created by the Crown Prince?” “I heard the Crown Prince ordered them carefully preserved for teaching the younger princes.” “Ahh…” “Surely there must be some way to acquire them?” Lady Kang hesitated awkwardly, and the impatient women immediately began tormenting their husbands.
“My lord!
Please ask the Crown Prince personally!” “Haaa…
I have my dignity to consider…” “My lord!
Is your dignity more important than your grandson’s education?!
He is the future head of the family!” “Ugh…
even so…” “My lord!” Unable to endure their wives’ nagging any longer, officials great and small eventually sought out Hyang directly.
“What matter brings you here?” “Well…
actually…” After hearing the full explanation, Hyang smiled bitterly.
‘What am I, some kind of schoolteacher?’ Still, after listening to the ministers’ pleas, Hyang made a decision.
“I can sell the teaching materials for the Thousand Character Classic.
But beyond that requires someone capable of teaching according to my methods, and such people are rare.
Therefore I will only provide materials up to the Thousand Character Classic.
Is that acceptable?” The ministers thought briefly before nodding.
Most of their grandchildren were currently at exactly the right age to study the Thousand Character Classic anyway.
“Even that alone would make us deeply grateful.” “Very well.
The price is three seok of white rice.” “Three seok?!” The ministers nearly fainted at the unexpectedly steep price, so Hyang calmly explained.
“One seok goes to the Bureau of Painting for materials and compensation to the artists.
Another goes to the state treasury.
The final seok is for my personal use.” “And what exactly does Your Highness intend to use it for?” “Books are surprisingly expensive.” Three seok of white rice was by no means a small amount.
But the noblewomen obsessed with their children’s education paid without hesitation.
As a result, the painters of the Bureau of Painting unexpectedly received bonus income and celebrated enthusiastically, while Hyang smiled warmly at the growing pile of rice sacks accumulating in one corner of the Eastern Palace.
“Now I can pursue my hobbies with a little more peace of mind.” While the chaos caused by Hyang continued shaking the court, time steadily passed and the mourning period for Taejong gradually neared its conclusion.
September 6th.
Taejong was buried at Heolleung.
September 18th.
Sejong and the ministers gathered at Gwanghyodang Hall to perform the concluding mourning rites.
And for the first time since Taejong’s death, meat once again appeared at Sejong’s table.
After the final mourning ceremonies concluded, Sejong, Hyang, and the ministers exchanged their white mourning robes and black headgear for normal court attire once again.
September 20th.
An owl cried, prompting ritual ceremonies to ward off evil.
September 21st.
Sejong and the ministers finally returned to the royal council hall and resumed governance in full.
With the return to normal administration, the court slowly regained stability.
Sejong and the ministers busied themselves restoring order to state affairs, which had loosened somewhat during the mourning period, by introducing precise standardized scales, strengthening regulations regarding entry into palace gates, and countless other reforms.
But the ministers were not the only ones kept busy.
As promised, Sejong also permitted Hyang to participate directly in the royal lectures.
And Sejong’s royal lectures were no mere recitations of Confucian texts.
“Regarding the Book of Songs…” Beginning with a single passage from the classics, Sejong and the ministers launched into fierce debates.
The arguments intensified not merely because of differing interpretations of the texts, but because the true topic was how Confucian ideals should actually be applied to real governance.
“Your Majesty!
The teachings of the sages are as precious as gold and jade!
They must absolutely be upheld!” The ministers generally maintained positions like the above.
Since the classics contained the teachings left behind by Confucius and Mencius, the king, they argued, must devote himself fully to following those teachings exactly.
“The duty of the state is to morally transform the people!
And righteous virtue must come before all else in educating the populace!” While the deeply Neo-Confucian ministers endlessly argued “virtue first, profit last” and “value righteousness over profit,” Sejong, Hyang, and the practical-minded officials pushed back fiercely.
“In the Great Yu section of the Book of Documents, the ancient sages themselves spoke of governing the world and relieving the people as the ideal of virtuous rule.” “Confucius himself spoke first of enriching the people before educating them, while Mencius declared that stable livelihoods formed the foundation of the kingly way!” The twin pillars crushing the ministers’ rigid doctrinaire Neo-Confucianism were Sejong and Crown Prince Hyang.
Whenever a true debate erupted inside the royal lectures, even the elderly veteran ministers left drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted.
“I thought the Crown Prince only excelled at miscellaneous practical studies…” “You still think that after what happened last time?” “In all my years, this is the first time I have feared attending royal lectures.” “At this point, perhaps we should simply petition to reduce their frequency.” The situation had completely reversed.
Under Taejo and Taejong, ministers constantly chased after kings trying to avoid royal lectures.
Now the ministers themselves desperately wanted fewer of them.
Unlike the exhausted ministers, Sejong’s face constantly carried a smile.
Ever since ascending the throne, Sejong had endured endless pressure from the scholar-officials.
“As the saying goes, one hand cannot fight two hands.” Even for Sejong, renowned for his intellect, facing swarms of ministers simultaneously was exhausting.
Sometimes he governed through compromise.
Sometimes through intimidation.
But overcoming the ministers’ sheer numbers remained difficult.
“If only there were more officials who shared my views…” Every time another exhausting debate ended, Sejong muttered the same complaint.
Men like Hwang Hui and Maeng Sa-seong still occupied relatively minor positions, while reform-minded officials remained far too few.
Under such circumstances, Hyang’s brilliance truly felt like Heaven’s blessing.
Though still only nine years old, nowhere near the age of formal scholarly maturity, his academic accomplishments already rivaled Sejong’s own, while his arguments were even sharper.
The very ministers who had once exhausted both Taejong and Sejong alike became silent the moment Hyang opened his mouth.
Perhaps because Hyang eased so much of his mental burden, Sejong’s physical condition also began improving.
The painful boils that had plagued him steadily disappeared.
Even his chronic headaches and shoulder stiffness gradually faded.
“People really were right when they said children are treasures.” “Hahaha!
If others heard Your Majesty speak like this, they would call you a hopelessly doting father.” “Then let them!” Whenever speaking with Queen Soheon about Hyang, Sejong became exactly that.
A completely shameless doting father.
However, there was exactly one moment when even Sejong found Hyang unbearable.
Mealtime.
“Father!
Stop eating only meat!” “You brat!
Even dogs know not to bother someone while they’re eating!” “People leave dogs alone because dogs bite!
Balanced nutrition is the beginning of good health!” To protect Sejong’s health, Hyang nagged him relentlessly during every meal.
And every single time, the historians faithfully followed behind recording the entire thing.