Preface to the Revised Edition
At the beginning of the book
Introduction

Part 1: In the Land of Shaking Confucianism
How dare the peasants look down on the nobles?

Part 2: The Injo Restoration and the Roots of Its Tragedy
The tragedies of the Westerners' coup and the Injo Restoration
Prince Sohyeon, the frustration of his progressiveness and openness

Part 3: The Age of the Northern Expedition, the Age of the Great Eastern Law
Northern Expedition: Words or Actions?
I would rather lose the peasants than the scholars.
King Hyojong, a pro-mu advocate, and Song Si-yeol, a pro-mu advocate
The dream of the Northern Expedition has faded

Ascending to the throne does not mean inheriting the family line - Yesong Debate
Even if you are a king, aren't you a borrower?
The term "deficit" does not apply to the king.
What is the difference between the lineage and the direct lineage?
How dare you interpret it differently from the runner?
The fight that took place at Onyang Palace
Why is it different from 15 years ago?

Part 5: Party interests take precedence over national interests.
Only the teacher knows, but the king does not.
Is your father important or is your teacher important?
If you lose power, you lose everything.
How can we resolve the resentment of the men?
How can a prince born in Namin become king?
King Sukjong's anger

Outgoing post
Materials and books that directly helped me write this book

The most controversial work that delves into the myth of Song Si-yeol, the greatest taboo in Korean history.
“Is he the greatest saint Joseon has ever produced, or a narrow-minded politician who ruined an era?”

Song Si-yeol, the greatest factionalist of Joseon, the subject of the most heated controversy in history, mentioned more than 3,000 times in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
He conceived a tragedy in Joseon and Korean history.
What is the secret behind the Song Si-yeol myth, which has persisted for over 300 years? What is his true nature, caught between the extremes of praise and curses, as both saint and devil? The Seoin faction's coup, the Injo Restoration, was the root of this tragedy.
The frustration of Prince Sohyeon, the sudden death of King Hyojong, the Northern Expedition King, the controversy surrounding the rites and ceremonies, and the suspicious death of King Hyeonjong…
The era in which Song Si-yeol lived was one of the most intense partisan strife and a time when fundamental changes in the social system were needed.

Song Si-yeol died by drinking poison at the age of 83.
Except for the reign of King Sukjong, there was no precedent of executing a minister for anything other than treason, and in Joseon, where ministers were treated favorably to the point of not even being interrogated, he was put to death under the vague charge of being the “leader of criminals.”
However, after his death, with the return of the Noron faction to power, he was enshrined alongside Confucius in the Sungkyunkwan Confucian Shrine, the greatest honor for a Confucian scholar, and enjoyed the honor of being called Songzi, along with Confucius, Mencius, and Zhu Xi, becoming a legend in our history.
As with most myths, which are exaggerated or significantly fabricated, Song Si-yeol is no exception.

In this book, the author has stripped away the mask of the 300-year-old myth of Song Si-yeol, which had been previously off-limits.
Unlike the previous writings on Song Si-yeol, this is not the kind of writing that makes him a saint and thereby makes them both better off.
This is a history book that traces the tragic reality by bringing him down to the position of a human being and a politician who must bear the debt for the ruin of the era in which he lived, and making him the subject of objective analysis.
We also examined in detail the arguments of Song Si-yeol, who represented the interests of the literati and the Tang dynasty, and his political opponents Yun Hyo, Heo Mok, Yun Seon-do, Lee Gyeong-seok, and Kim Yuk, and what changes Joseon history was demanding at the time.

Song Si-yeol and the history of Joseon they created, and the shadow of Korean history that followed from them
“What is the true identity of a figure from 300 years ago who still exerts influence today?”

When I first said I would write this book, many of my acquaintances tried to dissuade me.
It was because I thought I could get hurt.
It was more than 300 years after the 15th year of King Sukjong's reign (1689), when Uam Song Si-yeol took poison and died.
Could the story of a person who died in the late 17th century still be so hurtful to a 21st-century person? Such events, unimaginable in any normal civilized nation, were, and still are, a reality in our society.
This also shows that the social structure of the 17th century is still being inherited in some parts of our society.
Since the book was first published, many things have happened that the author's acquaintances had feared, and the fact that it was even burned at the stake alone gives us an idea of ​​the various events surrounding the book.
However, the controversy surrounding this book is still ongoing.

As Confucianism degenerated into Confucianism, many tragedies occurred. This is actually the core of the controversy surrounding Song Si-yeol, and it was this issue that inspired the author to write this book.
The purpose was to examine the impact that Confucianism, which was transformed into Confucianism, had on our history and our current society.
As Confucius's learning degenerated into dogma, as he passed away in an unfortunate situation without ever having the opportunity to express his own ideas, numerous incidents occurred that Confucius would never have dreamed of.
To be more precise, it was not Confucius's thoughts that became dogma, but the thoughts of Zhu Xi (朱熹: 1130-1200, Zhu Xi), who interpreted Confucius' thoughts from the perspective of medieval Chinese, that became dogma.
Although Ju Hee was a scholar and politician who was unable to achieve his goals during his lifetime, he was deified in Joseon by the Zhu Xi scholars led by Song Si-yeol.
As Song Si-yeol deified Ju Hee, he himself was elevated to a similar status by his disciples.
The system of Confucianism as the sole ideology turned the late Joseon Dynasty society into a theocratic state that was out of touch with the times.

However, the purpose of this book is not to criticize Song Si-yeol, but to seriously reflect on the era he led and to look at the present era through him.
The countless praises he received from his comrades and the countless curses he received from his enemies are merely data for reading the times and assessing the influence he is having on our society today.
Was Song Si-yeol truly worthy of extreme praise, or of extreme condemnation? Was the era he led worthy of respect by later generations, or merely deserving of denunciation? Or was it somewhere between praise and condemnation? By shedding new light on the people and the state of Joseon at a time when fundamental change was being demanded, we can shed light on our own times, plagued by regionalism, irrational debate, and conflict.