Black Corporation: Joseon

The Medical Academy was one of the higher education institutions that King Sejong decided to establish through the reforms.

As the reforms entered their later stages, Sejong, after reviewing the process so far, once again publicly expressed his intention to establish official higher education institutions.

***

Until then, being “someone’s disciple” or “someone’s child” was what proved a person’s level of education and ability. However, this lacked objectivity to become an official certification standard.

Of course, people were filtered through the civil service examination, but those who entered through hereditary privilege were a problem. Simply trusting and appointing someone because they were “someone’s disciple” or “someone’s child” was becoming increasingly problematic. As the reforms progressed, the work of the government running Joseon became incomparably more difficult in both quantity and quality compared to the past.

In this process, Sejong and the ministers trained by him began to strictly evaluate the work performance of officials.

This came as an enormous burden to both those who appointed middle managers through hereditary privilege and the appointees themselves. Those who had appointed people lost points in their personnel evaluations for not properly judging people, and those who had taken on positions without proper practical experience received painful deductions along with evaluations of insufficient ability.

Being able to enter through hereditary privilege meant that one’s father was a high-ranking official. However, the ministers who had witnessed what happened to Hwang Hui because of his sons had to evaluate work more thoroughly than anyone.

Therefore, as mentioned before, cases of entering official positions through hereditary privilege gradually decreased.

As such cases arose, Sejong decided to establish higher education institutions.

“Entering as a disciple of a famous scholar is not fair from the start, and it’s not easy to say that the result is universally acknowledged. Therefore, we need a certification that anyone can recognize as proof of learning.”

According to Sejong’s strong will, higher education institutions were created.

The higher education institutions created in this way were primarily the Academy of Mathematics, the Academy of Engineering, the Medical Academy, and the Military Academy.

The Academy of Mathematics, which the ministers decided to establish first, was to meet the needs of the government.

As the reforms progressed, the government’s work broke away from old practices in both quantity and quality.

In this process, arithmetic ability was most strongly demanded from officials.

More important than that was writing ability, but Sejong and the ministers all had the same opinion on that part.

“Hah! If you can’t write properly after passing the civil service exam, you should just submit your resignation and go back to farming!”

In Hyang’s terms, writing ability was the most basic passive skill.

Therefore, the most important ability that officials had to hone was mathematics.

From the ministers at the top to the lowest officials in local government offices, mathematics became important as numbers became indispensable in all policies implemented by the government.

Even in the reports on the trends of neighboring countries submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – formerly the Ministry of Rites before the reforms – physical information expressed in various tables and numbers was never missing.

While the content of reports submitted before the reforms was written in abstract sentences like “Their power has strengthened” or “The disparity between our and their abilities is clear as day”, reports after the mid-point of the reforms had to be written precisely like “They showed * times growth compared to previous years” or “Compared to our Joseon, there is a gap in the ratio of about * : *”.

As the content of reports changed like this, officials began to be strongly required to have mathematical calculation and analytical abilities.

However, as there was a shortage of both personnel and capacity to solve this problem immediately, researchers from the research institute had to be drafted.

“We already have a mountain of work to do! And if you drag us away to work, shouldn’t you pay us! Why is the budget still the same!”

Hyang, as well as Jeong-cho, Jeong Inji, and Lee Chun, all rose up in protest. Of course, they couldn’t say such things directly to the ministers – especially Kim Jeom – but long petitions were submitted to Sejong.

“Hmm… They’re not wrong…”

Given Sejong’s opinion after reading the petitions and the ministers’ weariness of relying on others – especially the Crown Prince’s – hands, they immediately began to promote the establishment of the Academy of Mathematics.

***

Thus, the Academy of Mathematics, whose establishment was decided, opened its first academy in Hanseong.

The plan was to nurture mathematics specialists and faculty through this Academy of Mathematics and gradually establish more academies.

And the faculty of this first Academy of Mathematics to be established in Hanseong was initially set to be recruited from the research institute.

When the establishment of the Academy of Mathematics was announced, officials’ interest was focused.

And the official document delivered to the officials gave them confidence.

-Although mathematics is included in the civil service examination, its level is insufficient for immediate practical application.

-Therefore, mathematics education is included in the training course for successful candidates, but it is still insufficient as it is a short-term course.

-Therefore, officials with aspirations are encouraged to challenge the entrance examination conducted by the Academy of Mathematics and enter.

-For officials who take classes at the Academy of Mathematics, working hours will be adjusted from 5 half-days to 3 half-days per week.

-However, if one fails the tests given at the Academy of Mathematics more than 3 times, they will be immediately expelled.

-Officials who successfully complete the 3-year course at the Academy of Mathematics will receive additional points for promotion.

-Officials of senior 6th rank or above who have completed the Academy of Mathematics and have worked with excellent performance evaluations for more than 2 years will be granted the qualification to take the entrance examination for Sungkyunkwan.

It was at this point that the officials’ eyes began to sparkle fiercely.

Sungkyunkwan had strengthened its characteristics since the early stages of the reforms.

After passing the lower civil service examination, those who successfully passed the curriculum at Sungkyunkwan were given the qualification to take the higher civil service examination.

And those who passed that higher examination received the privilege of starting at the 6th junior rank.

As the reforms progressed, this part was greatly strengthened. First, those who could enter Sungkyunkwan were those who had received the senior 5th rank and had excellent performance evaluations.

Sungkyunkwan’s new mission was to rigorously educate and filter out those with solid practical experience to nurture the next generation of high-ranking officials.

In other words, it was an upgrade of the mission that Sungkyunkwan had been carrying out from the beginning.

Therefore, being given the qualification to enter this Sungkyunkwan meant that one could get ahead in the competition to reach the pinnacle of power, which was only a handful of high-ranking officials.

***

As the establishment of the Academy of Mathematics was announced like this, officials belonging to local government offices across Joseon began to submit petitions.

-Although academies of mathematics will be established in other regions besides Hanseong over time, unfair competition will occur during that empty period. An alternative is needed to solve this.

“Their words are not wrong. It’s natural for dissatisfaction to arise if one is pushed back just because they went down to the provinces despite passing the same examination. Then, what do you think would be a good alternative?”

At Sejong’s question, the ministers put forward various proposals.

“How about establishing academies of mathematics across Joseon from the beginning?”

“If we do that, there won’t be a single person left in the research institute and Area 51.”

“For the provinces, how about providing intensive education using the vacation periods of the Academy of Mathematics or the officials’ holidays?”

“Are the mathematics instructors made of iron bodies? They need time to rest too!”

Whenever the ministers put forward various alternatives, Jeong-cho and Jeong Inji vigorously refuted.

In the midst of this fierce debate, Hyang put forward a new proposal.

“How about printing and distributing textbooks and lecture notes?”

“Print textbooks and lecture notes?”

As Sejong showed interest, Hyang explained in more detail.

“Yes. Although it may be inferior to learning directly by seeing and hearing at the Academy of Mathematics in Hanseong. With textbooks and lecture notes, and with their own efforts added, they won’t fall far behind in the competition. Of course, it will be necessary to reduce their work schedule to alleviate excessive burden.”

“Let’s say lectures are possible that way, no, they will be possible. But how should the exams be conducted?”

“We should distribute pre-printed exam papers and conduct them. Like when taking the civil service examination. However, the grading will be done collectively in Hanseong.”

“Hmm, wouldn’t that take a lot of time?”

To Heo Jo’s point, Hyang immediately answered.

“We should use the express courier system.”

“The express courier system, you say?”

“Yes.”

At Hyang’s answer, Heo Jo nodded, and Jo Mal-saeng’s face turned pale.

Seeing Jo Mal-saeng’s face, Hyang continued his explanation a bit more.

“If we actively operate the express courier system across Joseon, we can continuously monitor the condition of the road network we’ve developed so far, which will help with maintenance. Also, in the process of operating the express courier system, we can find and quickly improve any deficiencies. Lastly, while operating this express courier system, we can select horses with excellent qualities and raise even more superior breeds of horses.”

“Hmm… Are there any other objections?”

At Sejong’s question, the ministers closed their mouths. It seemed clearly better than the proposals they had put forward.

“Then, I hope you will organize a plan based on the Crown Prince’s proposal and submit it.”

“We receive your command!”

After ending the meeting like this and coming out, Jo Mal-saeng looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

“Sigh~. Delivering court gazettes, census registers, documents from the treasury and investment funds, and now even the Academy of Mathematics… Ah~.”

Seeing Jo Mal-saeng sighing, Kim Jeom, who was passing by, lightly patted Jo Mal-saeng’s shoulder.

“You’re working hard, Your Excellency. Instead, I’ll take responsibility and pay attention to the budget, so I’m counting on you.”

At Kim Jeom’s words, Jo Mal-saeng’s face brightened.

“Make sure you keep that promise!”

And so, express courier horses began to run frantically on all roads across Joseon – from newly built roads to small paths.

Later, it would reach the point where people would feel uneasy if express courier horses weren’t passing by on the roads.

And thus, the world’s first correspondence education and systematic postal service were born.

***

As these higher education institutions were created, the research institute and Area 51 became frantically busy.

This was because the research institute and Area 51 were where people with the highest level of knowledge – not just in Joseon, but in the world – in mathematics and engineering were gathered.

“Just endure for a few years! And by doing so, won’t your work become easier once you discover new talents?”

“Yes…”

Although the researchers responded weakly to the encouragement from Hyang, Jeong-cho, and Jeong Inji, they did their best when it came to teaching.

As one of the ‘Three Pleasures of the Gentleman’ was ‘the joy of teaching excellent disciples’, there was fulfillment in teaching students who were trying hard to learn.

Especially, the researchers who lectured at the Academy of Engineering watched for talents with burning eyes. This was because it wasn’t just the research institute and Area 51 that were aiming for those learning at the Academy of Engineering.

Merchant groups that were gradually growing in size, especially those with manufacturing industries, began to target those attending the Academy of Engineering.