Introduction: Reading the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty

Part 1: Sejo, the magnanimous ruler who dreamed of becoming a virtuous king

Love the people, love the officials,
-Danbi and Giuje
-The king who beats his subjects
The incident of attempting to restore the former king
-The imprisoned king
-Ming Dynasty envoys from Joseon
-A fateful act
- Harsh political retaliation
-The exiled king
-The former king was murdered
There are no people in the country of the meritorious subjects.
-A petition to the reform bureaucrat Yang Seong-ji
-The country of meritorious subjects
-The murder of Lee Seok-san by public official Min Bal
- Meritorious subjects are never punished, Hong Yun-seong
-The officials who devour the flesh and bones of the people
-Jeong In-ji calls Sejo 'you'
-I can do it like Suyang, Bong Seok-ju.

Northern Whirlwind
-Did Lee Jing-ok call himself the Emperor of the Golden Age?
-The Sejo regime that turned the Jurchen people into enemies
-Yang Jeong being executed
-Ishiae's uprising and the birth of a new meritorious subject
Leaving behind legacies that could not be dismantled
- Original and original scenery allowed

Part 2: King Yeongjong, the young king who aimed his sword at the group of meritorious retainers

Should the throne be shared?
-Crown in a Comet
-Power struggle between the old and new meritorious subjects
-Nam-i's death, the downfall of Shin Gong-shin
King Yeongjong's restoration of royal power and downfall
-Yeongjong's unstoppable offensive
-Conflict between the Queen and King Yeongjong
- King Yeongjong, the reformist monarch who suddenly passed away

Part 3: King Seongjong, the tightrope walk between the meritorious retainers and the scholars

The throne that fell from the sky
-Collusion between Queen Jeonghui and her meritorious retainers
-The growing controversy over King Yeongjong's suspicious death
-Operation to eliminate Lee Jun of the Gwiseong Army
-The emergence of the royal officials and the Sarim faction
The natural history of the nine meritorious retainers and the advancement of the Sarim faction
-The challenge of the censors to the country of the original people
-Why did the Sarim oppose the Hun-gu?
-Sarim advocating for the restoration of the tomb of King Danjong's mother
-Lee Sim-won, a relative of the royal family who became the vanguard of the Sarim faction, and Im Sa-hong, a relative of the royal family who became the vanguard of the Hungu faction
-The world of Han Myeong-hoe is collapsing
-The debate between the scholars and the old officials
Leaving behind an unstable legacy
- Drive the mother of atoms to death
-The end of a life of compromise

Three different leaders create different histories.
Chronology
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The bloody revenge of Prince Yangnyeong, who was stripped of his throne

Prince Yangnyeong (李?) was the eldest son of King Taejong and was in line for the position of crown prince.
However, Taejong's choice was his third son, Prince Chungnyeong, Lee Do (李?), that is, Sejong.
In China, if a person was pushed out of the position of crown prince, he would immediately face death, but Sejong thoroughly protected his older brother, Prince Yangnyeong.
However, Prince Yangnyeong thought differently.
To Prince Yangnyeong, Sejong was not a benevolent king who protected his life, but rather a younger brother who had usurped the throne.
When Grand Prince Suyang killed Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In and pushed Danjong from the throne, Grand Prince Yangnyeong took the lead in killing Danjong.
In addition, they attempted to kill Sejong's descendants, including Prince Geumseong, Prince Hannam, and Prince Yeongpung.


It was a desperate revenge for having the throne taken away.
Not only Prince Yangnyeong, but also Prince Hyoryeong, the second son of King Taejong, set out for revenge.
He also participated in the assassination of King Danjong and exploited the people's tribute.
The royal relatives who killed Danjong and the six loyal ministers, as well as Jeong In-ji and Shin Suk-ju, coveted not only the lands of Danjong's subjects but also their women.
Even the new host requested that Danjong's queen be made a slave.
King Sejo could not stop those who committed unfilial acts that a Confucian scholar could never commit.
Not only did he seize the throne with the help of his retainers and royal relatives, but he was also afraid that some of them might covet his position, just as he had usurped the throne by force.
In reality, the perception that anyone could become king if they had the power was widespread, so Bong Seok-ju, who was a contributor to the Jeongnan Rebellion, plotted a treason together with Kim Cheo-ui, Choi Yun, and others.
In order to keep the power of the meritorious retainers in check, Sejo appointed Lee Jun, who had suppressed the rebellion of Yi Si-ae, as new meritorious retainers and placed them in the court, but he was unable to bring down the power of the old meritorious retainers.


Why did he abandon his eldest son, Prince Wolsan, and choose Prince Jaulsan?

When King Yejong, who succeeded King Sejo, died under suspicious circumstances after only one year on the throne, the successors to the throne were either King Yejong's eldest son, Prince Jean, who was three years old, or King Sejo's eldest grandson, Prince Wolsan, who was fifteen years old.
However, the person chosen as king by King Sejo's wife, Queen Jeonghui, and the nine meritorious retainers was Prince Jaulsan, the younger brother of Prince Wolsan.
Why did he abandon his eldest son and eldest grandson and choose Jaulsangun? The reason lay with King Yeongjong.
King Yejong, the eldest son of King Sejo, unlike his father, boldly took steps to purge the meritorious subjects.
King Yeongjong prohibited the buying and selling of official positions by royal relatives and meritorious retainers, and declared that if anyone violated this, the entire family would be punished.
King Yeongjong also took part in the tax payment system.
At that time, the public officials openly practiced tax payment, paying the taxes on behalf of the people and later receiving three or four times the amount in return.
King Yeongjong declared that anyone who paid the tax on his behalf, regardless of whether he was a meritorious subject, a relative of the royal family, or a prime minister, would be severely punished and his property would be confiscated from the government.
This bold measure even extended to Queen Jeonghui's maternal home.
When King Yeongjong died under suspicious circumstances, his body discolored within a day.
It was a typical symptom that appeared when poisoned.
However, Queen Jeonghui and her loyal subjects ignored this.
And they nominated the twelve-year-old Jaulsan-gun, who had weak legitimacy and whom they could handle well, as the next king.


King Yeongjong also made a painful mistake.
Nam Yi, a key figure in the Shin Gongshin faction, was killed on charges of treason after falling for Yu Ja-gwang's secret plan.
This was also due to the ill feelings that King Yeongjong had towards Nam-i.
King Yeongjong did not realize that it was a strategy of the old meritorious retainers to eliminate the new meritorious retainers.
Because of this, the balance between the new and old meritorious retainers was broken, and King Yeongjong lost the allies who could eliminate the old meritorious retainers.
And he died under suspicious circumstances after only one year on the throne.

King Seongjong, tightrope walking between the public officials and the scholars

The old officials thought they could control the twelve-year-old Seongjong as they pleased, but they were mistaken.
Seongjong knew how to wait for the right time.
The suspicious death of his uncle, King Yeongjong, was a mirror of negative lessons for him.
Seongjong initially followed the opinions of the old meritorious retainers, including allowing the sale of official positions through the use of Bungyeong and eliminating the new meritorious retainer, Gwiseonggun Lee Jun.
The old officials were a force that could replace the king at any time if they did not like him.
However, when Queen Jeonghui announced her intention to resign from the post of royal inspector due to the anonymous letter incident, he formally declined and immediately went to his hometown.
Seongjong was nineteen years old and the old meritorious retainers were passing away one by one.
Seongjong employed Sarim to keep the Hun-gu forces in check.
The Sarim faction, centered around Kim Jong-jik, was negative about Sejo's usurpation of the throne and petitioned for the restoration of the tomb of Danjong's mother.
Although the restoration of Soreung was not carried out, Nam Hyo-on, who advocated for it, was not punished.
He also ignored Han Myeong-hoe's request for a large tent to invite Chinese envoys to Apgujeong, and ordered all pavilions along the Han River to be destroyed.
The world of Han Myeong-hoe, who had wielded absolute power from the reign of King Sejo to the reign of King Seongjong, was ending.
Meanwhile, regarding the issue of Kim Jong-jik's posthumous name, it was changed from Mun-chung (文忠) to Mun-gan (文簡) in accordance with the opinion of the Hun-gu faction.
The old guard argued that his contributions were not great enough to deserve the posthumous title of Mun-Chung.

Seongjong, who displayed such flexibility in politics, was not able to do so when it came to women's issues.
Seongjong, who was as much a womanizer as he was a man of letters, had affairs with many women, and this led to conflict with Queen Yun, the mother of the Crown Prince.
Queen Insu and Queen Jeonghui, as well as other women of the royal family, took the lead in deposing Queen Yun and driving her to death, and King Seongjong passed away, leaving behind an unstable legacy called Yeonsangun.

The collapse of the constitutional order and the different choices

When Prince Suyang usurped the throne from King Danjong, the constitutional order of Joseon collapsed.
This was not the beginning of the founding of the country, as it was when Yi Bang-won started the Prince's Rebellion.
It was a time when the order of succession to the throne by the eldest son had already been established.
That is why King Sejong's eldest son, King Munjong, succeeded to the throne, and King Munjong's son, King Danjong, was able to become king.
When Joseon's constitutional order collapsed, Shin Suk-ju and Seong Sam-mun, who had been best friends, made different choices.
Shin Suk-ju participated in the assassination of King Danjong along with Jeong In-ji and others, and Seong Sam-mun met a tragic death while trying to restore King Danjong to the throne.
Agaji, Buldeok and other commoners risked their lives to restore Danjong to the throne, and slaves such as Dokdong and Yunsaeng risked their lives to protect Danjong.
On the other hand, Han Myeong-hoe, Kwon Ram and other meritorious retainers shared not only the property of the six loyal ministers but also their women.
Meanwhile, there were those who chose a third path, striving to appease public sentiment and reorganize the legal system even in situations where the constitutional order had collapsed, like Yang Seong-ji.
King Yeongjong also tried to restore royal authority by abolishing the buying and selling of official posts and the right of officials to pay taxes on behalf of others, but died a suspicious death.
Historical figures who made different choices at such crucial crossroads make us ponder how we should live our lives.
I recommend readers to read it.