Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 1036

1037. That Thrilling Name… Electricity. (4)

The Empire’s publishing and printing industry had grown immensely. It began when Sejong initiated the Gyeongjang [a large-scale printing project] and mass-printed and distributed books like “Nongsajikseol” [Explanations of Agriculture] and “Hyangyakjipseongbang” [Collection of Native Korean Prescriptions]. Subsequently, the printing press and printing technology advanced once more while supplying textbooks to various educational institutions, including the Samin Academy.

-This is where the money is!

Merchants who smelled money petitioned the country to allow the printing business. As Sejong permitted this, the Empire’s publishing and printing industry rapidly expanded. The court then profited handsomely by selling movable types and printing presses.

And technicians related to printing emerged as new professionals. However, the biggest factors that explosively grew the Empire’s publishing market were intellectual property rights, Jeongeum [the Korean alphabet], and “Aekji” [cheap paper].

By acknowledging intellectual property rights for individual works and penalizing illegal copying like transcription, people began to recognize that ‘books are something you buy with money.’

And as Jeongeum was disseminated, the Empire’s people began to seek reading material. To meet this demand, all sorts of popular stories flooded the stores. To survive in the popular story market, which had already become a red ocean [a hyper-competitive market], vendors began to insert illustrations. As time passed, the black and white illustrations gradually began to incorporate various colors, and some artists began to make a name for themselves with illustrations.

Of course, most illustrators used pseudonyms to avoid criticism such as, ‘Drawing pictures that only go into lowly popular stories.’ Finally, ‘Hwangji (黃紙),’ nicknamed ‘Aekji (厄紙),’ was the main player in growing the market.

Traditional white or colored paper was expensive because it was made from mulberry and required a labor-intensive process. However, the Hwangji made by Hyang was of lower quality than white paper, but it was cheap because mass production was possible.

For popular story publishers, where selling a lot at a low price was the basic principle, Hwangji was the best material.

-It’s just a popular story, so there’s no need to use good paper, right?

Popular stories were not the only part of the publishing market. What caught the eye of printers looking for a new market was the Jobo (朝報) [official gazette or daily report].

The Jobo, which was written every morning by the Seungjeongwon [Royal Secretariat] and distributed to the king and high-ranking officials, contained detailed information such as memorials, personnel changes in the court, and news from neighboring countries.

Before the Gyeongjang, official gazettes copied from this Jobo were delivered to retired officials and influential Yangban [aristocratic] families residing in Hanseong [old name for Seoul]. However, as the postal stations were reorganized and railroads were laid, the Jobo was delivered to government offices throughout the mainland and Bukji [Northern Territory] on the first train every morning. Regions such as Daeseoldo and Shinji were regularly transported with bundles of weekly or monthly issues.

As the Jobo was delivered daily, reading the newly posted Jobo on the bulletin boards and walls of government offices every morning became a new custom among the Empire’s people. However, there were also many who were dissatisfied with this.

“I have my dignity! How can I stick to the wall and read without any decorum!”

The influential figures in the neighborhood were dissatisfied with this. In particular, those who managed funds through investment banks had other reasons besides decorum. They needed to carefully read and analyze the reports from the Ministry of Finance and news from neighboring countries related to economics, but it was not easy to do so while sticking to the wall.

Printers who had identified a new market once again petitioned the country. As their petition was accepted, one copy of the Jobo was delivered to the licensed vendors every morning. And private Jobos, which printed the contents of this Jobo, were delivered in all directions by train.

As time passed, this Jobo market also became a red ocean. This was because the court did not allocate regions to Jobo printers. Therefore, Jobo printers engaged in fierce competition to sell even one more copy.

The first thing they tried was to add content. They added news of startups and closures, investment solicitations, and public construction projects announced daily by the Ministry of Finance and investment banks to induce the selection of major consumers, investors. To this end, printers hired additional people.

These people organized the newsletters issued by the investment banks in their respective regions and sent them to the vendors. And others selected this information in an easy-to-read format. The more information from more regions was included, the more people subscribed, so printers hired even more people.

And this was also Hyang’s trick.

* * *

It was when Hyang was the Emperor that printers petitioned for the printing and sale of the Jobo. After confirming the contents permitted by Hyang, the officials immediately pointed out the problem.

“If you do not divide the regions among the vendors, it may cause excessive competition.”

Hyang replied firmly to the officials’ criticism.

“Competition is necessary. If the country allocates regions to the vendors, it will become a monopoly. If that happens, granting their petition will become poison. All the officials have to do is check whether they are properly transcribing the contents of the Jobo.”

‘They will become the foundation of media organizations. We have to make them compete. We must not let them rest on their laurels.’

As Hyang intended, Jobo printers made various attempts to win the competition, and through these attempts, private Jobos evolved into a kind of comprehensive newsletter. As private Jobos evolved in this way, even high-ranking officials began to subscribe to private Jobos.

* * *

As the publishing and printing market grew in this way, the main products, books, began to take on various forms, or rather, become polarized. Most books were still printed on Hwangji. However, books using the highest quality white paper, covering the covers with sheepskin or cowhide, weaving the book straps with high-quality cotton or silk thread, and bordering the edges of the covers also began to appear.

Most of these books, with titles stamped in gold leaf, were books with a strong purpose of collection and display, such as legal codes or scriptures. Other expensive books were textbooks for various research institutes and academies. It was inevitable that these were expensive.

Textbooks, which were full of not only Jeongeum and Chinese characters, but also Latin and all kinds of mathematical symbols, had to be worked on by professional typesetters and reviewed by those who were also proficient in the subject. And they had to be opened and folded repeatedly, so durable materials had to be used generously. In addition, mass production was impossible because the market was small.

In other words, professional books were products for which a low price was absolutely impossible. And the epitome of these professional books was medical books, especially anatomy and herbal medicine. These were professional books with almost nothing comparable in terms of the amount and precision of the illustrations included.

* * *

While Europe was once again suffering from the Empire due to scientific discoveries that transcended the times, the Empire once again shocked the world.

-We will accept immigrants!

-We will allow immigration to those who have learned Jeongeum and know the Empire’s language to some extent.

-We will allow immigration to those who swear to abide by the Empire’s laws and faithfully pay taxes!

-We will allow immigration to those who swear not to force their faith on others.

-Preference for scholars and technicians.

The Empire’s announcements like the above were delivered to every country with an Empire’s embassy or Empire’s military base. The leaders of the countries who confirmed the announcement delivered by the Empire, especially the leaders of Europe, showed a cynical reaction.

“With so many conditions, who would want to go?”

“Immigration is about enjoying a better life. But, preference for scholars and technicians? Aside from tenant farmers, would scholars or technicians who have already established a foundation want to immigrate?”

However, there were also those who expressed concern about this.

“I think there will be quite a few scholars, at least. Look at the scholars flocking to the postings recruiting international students and researchers in the Empire.”

“Scholars and technicians are also important talents for us, so we must also prepare countermeasures.”

The leaders of each country who confirmed the Empire’s announcement devised their own countermeasures. Although considerable time had passed since the Empire’s announcement, the number of people who wanted to immigrate was surprisingly small. This was the result of both voluntary and involuntary reasons.

No matter how widely the Empire’s name was known, it was still an unknown country far away. Regardless of the country, to the people of the remote villages, the Empire was a country where dragons flew in the sky and all kinds of monsters roamed. Also, regardless of Catholicism and Islam, the Empire was a country of pagans.

There was a prerequisite of ‘as long as you do not force your faith on others,’ but this could change to a situation where ‘you could be forced to accept the faith of others’ at any time. The response of scholars and technicians was also not very good. There were also countermeasures put forward by the leaders of the countries concerned, but they also could not be sure of successful immigration.

‘Can I immediately establish myself in the Empire with my knowledge – or technology?’

The level of scholarship and technology in the Empire, which everyone admits is at least one step ahead, rather prevented them from deciding to immigrate. Faced with lower-than-expected results, the Empire’s officials analyzed the cause. They were particularly interested in Ming and Japan.

The Empire, which had expected many people from Ming and Japan, which were right next door, to want to immigrate, was instead establishing an active control plan.

It was because of the past of the three countries.

“Japan is better. Ming is the biggest problem.”

However, contrary to expectations, there were almost no Ming people applying for immigration. The reasons why the Ming people were not interested in immigration were as follows.

-It is possible to make a living even in Ming.

Ming, which had healed the wounds of war and recovered its strength, was able to continue a sufficiently comfortable life with its own domestic demand alone. In such a situation, there was no need to choose immigration with an uncertain future. However, even the lower classes, who were desperate for such an uncertain future, were not interested in immigration.

This was because the country to which they were immigrating was the Empire. Still a large number of Ming people – at least more than half of the general public – had animosity towards the Empire. In this situation, if the fact that they were immigrating to the Empire became known, they could suffer an accident even before they went.

“Well, it’s good for us if the Ming people don’t come…”

The Empire’s officials, who analyzed the cause, wrote the report with the expression that good things are good. However, after a little more time passed, unexpected people began to immigrate to the Empire on a large scale.

They were Jews.

* * *

Most of the Jews who immigrated to the Empire settled in Seoul and the surrounding areas.

“You can receive even better benefits if you go to Shinji.”

The Jews who responded to the proposal of the Empire’s immigration officer and went to Shinji were from rural areas in Eastern Europe. On the other hand, a significant number of those who did not respond to the recommendation and settled in Seoul and the surrounding areas were merchants or loan sharks. And because of them, new powerhouses appeared in the Empire’s capital and investment market.

Hyang, who received reports through various channels, had a strange expression.

“Jewish capital… this is…”