Hello, hello! It's been quite a while since we've talked, and I'm delighted we could meet again.It's extremely difficult for people to respond when the OP addressed a general issue, then introduce a specific one much later on within the thread, as the questions at hand are not the same. It would have been better if you specified the situation during Jeongjo's reign in the OP to begin with, then requested examples from other countries in which the monarch managed to successfully purge factions of the government in a similar manner to the ATL scenario that you're looking for, in order to potentially gain inspiration.
Well, it's the interesting thing in Korean politics, don't you think? The hungu try so many times to down the sarim, but they don't and instead, they are wiped off like dust on the chessboard when Son-jo came to power. Then the sarim themselves begin to disintegrate....In any case, Korea's example is not particularly analogous with the ones concerning other states, as the court had already managed to severely constrain the monarchy by the late 18th century, if not earlier, making it extremely difficult for the latter to make independent decisions. As I already confided to you by PM, a similar purge occurred earlier within Korea from 1519-21 when Jungjong decided to execute Jo Gwang-jo, who had been one of his closest advisors, along with more than 200 officials. This incident was mostly due to the fact that the phrase "주초위왕 (走肖爲王)" appeared on a leaf, which supposedly referred to Jo's surname (趙), and was intended to be interpreted as a supernatural occurrence, although most of the officials and populace as a whole thought that the monarch went too far when he decided to systematically eradicate the Sarim faction. In addition, later records (created by successors of Sarim) essentially portrayed Jungjong as a dictator, suggesting that his image deteriorated in the long run.
alright, a reform suits me.(would you say that could include things like public education and hospitals?)The situation is significantly different once Jeongjo comes to power in 1776, as the conservative faction significantly restricted the monarch's ability to carry out widespread reforms, while competition also reduced corruption within the government, making it difficult to imprison them based on those charges. The government as a whole would also be aware of the chaotic precedent that had been set during Jungjong's reign, while Jeongjo would also be extremely wary of carrying out similar tactics, and would instead focus on balancing the factions, as occurred IOTL. Although the court's function during Joseon's existence gradually evolved over time, the general intent was to balance and/or counter the monarch's decisions, so an outright purge would signal to everyone else that the ruler has become excessively paranoid and unwilling to listen to anyone.
However,I fear the reform would end with Jong-jo's death. Then all would be reverted back to the pre-Jongjo arena.
you mention the "leaf incident" during the reign of Son-jo. There were numerous similar plots for "assassination" during Jongjo's reign- for example, even on the first year of his reign, he was almost killed. It is only a slight fetch of thought to believe a situation where the hungu tries again the kill Jongjo.In addition, the competition within the court would also mean that the officials would think twice before even considering a treasonous attempt against Jeongjo, as the other faction(s) would eventually win out if the plan fails. As a result, a systematic purge would be out of the question, as the people would lose confidence in the monarch, while the court would initially be severely affected, but later attempt to undermine the successor at every turn after Jeongjo's death, resulting in a zero-sum game. As I explained to you earlier within a different thread, it would be imperative to consider a significantly earlier PoD in order to significantly alter the social and political factors involved, causing widespread butterflies and leading to simultaneous reform within multiple areas. The alternative would be to consider altering conditions gradually from 1790-1850 so that more significant reforms can be pursued afterward, instead of attempting to drastically alter events with a extremely major PoD and potentially cause instability in the long run.
And I talked about the reforms earlier.