There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 38

“Ouch, my whole body aches.”

I ended up getting struck by lightning out of the blue because of Heo Jo.

To think that I, who was planning to just use a megaphone and boss around my cousins, would end up getting drenched in saltwater myself.

Something’s not right here.

The saltiness soaked into my skin, causing a stinging sensation. I’m just a baby with delicate skin, yet I’m being subjected to this pain.

I’ll never forgive Heo Jo.

I muttered while washing my body with hot water.

Apart from that, my maternal uncles, Min Mu-gu and Min Mu-jil, seemed deeply impressed by the solar salt farm.

“If we just use people, unlike with traditional salt-making, there’s no need to burn firewood to boil seawater, which is truly excellent.”

“That is the advantage of solar salt.”

Solar salt may taste bitter, but with the absolute shortage of salt in the country, that’s not a significant drawback.

With Han Sang taking charge of the solar salt supply, salt will soon be easily available throughout the entire nation.

The amount of salt produced right here in Bupyeong alone was enormous.

I shouted to my cousins through the megaphone.

“Now, you all have come to understand the hard work of the salt farm workers.”

I also learned it, incidentally.

Though I didn’t really want to know.

My cousins, who had finished several days of hard labor, looked exhausted, but their eyes seemed more to my liking now.

You could say they had a kind of fierce determination.

“Now that you have properly grasped the principles of solar salt production, we will properly organize your sections and calculate costs and profits through proper paperwork…”

I explained slowly.

Then, Yi Gun-saeng raised his hand and shouted.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Speak.”

“I don’t know how to read well, what should I do?”

There are no schools to teach the royal relatives.

There isn’t anyone who forces them to study; rather, if they are highly learned, they are viewed with suspicion, so their knowledge and refinement are often inferior to other scholars.

But not knowing how to read at all was a serious matter.

Well, considering Yi Gun-saeng, who seems a bit dim, it might be too much to ask him to learn difficult Chinese characters.

“Not even knowing the ‘ㄱ’ [Gieok, the first letter of the Korean alphabet] with a sickle in hand.”

As I grumbled, No-bun asked with a puzzled expression.

“Gieok, are you referring to?”

Come to think of it, Hangeul [the Korean alphabet] doesn’t exist in this world yet.

I waved my hand and said.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

No-bun replied with a look that said I was talking nonsense.

“Even if you don’t know how to read, try to do it yourself with the help of your brothers.”

Isn’t there a song that says you should do your own work yourself?

I emphasized that to fix their rotten mindset.

“The skilled instructors from the Hanyang Construction Bureau will help you!”

Hwang Hee, with dark circles under his eyes, stepped up beside me.

===

I entrusted the management training to the friends at the Hanyang Construction Bureau, and I headed to the Bupyeong silver mine.

I couldn’t just focus on salt when I had come all the way down here.

This place also produced a considerable amount of silver during the Japanese colonial period, but it had not yet been developed in this era.

I enthusiastically ordered the development of the Bupyeong silver mine, but I realized that it was not as easy as I thought.

The workers who were digging the tunnel began to rush out.

“Oh no, the rocks are falling!”

“The mine is collapsing!”

“What’s going on?”

“The pit props have collapsed, and the inside is buried in dirt!”

At the workers’ words, I put my hand on my forehead.

Developing a mine was not as easy as I thought.

I don’t know well because I didn’t directly involve, but I guess the Geumju mine must have experienced similar things.

Looking around the Bupyeong silver mine, which was buried in dirt, I realized that the most basic work was inadequate.

I had repeatedly told them to pay special attention to safety when digging the silver mine for the first time, but the workers didn’t pay much attention to it.

“The reason why soil and stones keep falling and the mine collapses is because the pit props are not properly installed. Install more pit props than now to prevent the roof from collapsing.”

However, Choi Hae-san, who was in charge, had a lukewarm expression even at my words.

His expression said that there was no need to do that because the cost of workers was cheaper than the cost of pit props.

I felt frustrated and beat my chest.

“If the mine collapses, we can’t mine ore and all the work stops, so the damage is enormous. Considering that, we must firmly support the ceiling with pit props to prevent the mine from collapsing.”

Only when I used the authority of the Crown Prince to pressure him, he was able to start additional pit prop installation.

‘The cost has increased due to the additional installation of pit props, but there are no proper results yet. This is because the workers manually mine and transport the ore…’

“I have already created a type of cart to save a lot of manpower in transporting materials.

Since the utility of the cart is the same as this, carts should be actively used in the mine.”

“Are you talking about inside the mine? However, unlike outside, it will not be easy to use carts inside the tunnel…”

Choi Hae-san asked.

Of course, that’s right, but I had a way.

“That’s why we need to install tracks. First, make the ground inside the tunnel even.”

I said.

What I was planning was a wooden track that could be used in the mine.

It was to have carts with wheels that matched the width of the track pulled on wooden tracks installed at regular intervals.

As I expected, the mine track was not a difficult technology, and it was not so different from this era in terms of timing.

Using carts inside the mine is not easy as Choi Hae-san said, but this way, the wheels will not get stuck in the ground and it will be easy to move the ore.

‘The disadvantage is that the track is made of wood, so it is easily damaged and needs to be managed from time to time. But let’s use it first.’

The advantages of installing the mine track were greater than the disadvantages.

By installing this track, it was possible to transport up to 9 tons of ore with just one horse.

“Start installing the track as soon as possible.”

After installing additional pit props, there were no more accidents, and the Bupyeong silver mine began to be developed in earnest.

The installation of wooden tracks dramatically increased the mining speed of silver ore, and with the technology of the Parkes process [a method for separating silver from lead], the production of silver soared beyond comparison with the past.

I touched the silver scraps from Bupyeong and thought.

‘Can’t we make currency with this?’

I wondered if we could make silver coins, or if the court could accumulate silver and provide payment guarantees, but I immediately thought that it would be absurd in the current situation.

‘The production of silver is still insufficient to implement a silver standard, but that’s not the only reason.’

In the first place, Joseon [historical Korean kingdom] lacked experience in using currency even before trust.

Even silver bottles during the Goryeo Dynasty [another historical Korean kingdom] were only used among the upper class, so the monetary economy would not be established just by accumulating silver.

Unless commerce and industry develop further in the future and the need for currency becomes strong.

For now, it will be difficult to replace rice and cotton cloth.

‘For now, I have to be satisfied with using it for overseas payments.’

Since a considerable amount of materials needed for the construction of Hanyang [old name for Seoul] are imported from Ming [Chinese dynasty].

‘Joseon is really a small country.’

We have to develop the country quickly.

I made that resolution firmly.

===

“Now, you have completed the salt farm management training today and will return to society as excellent members of society.”

By the time I returned from the silver mine, the royal relatives had mostly completed their practical training under Hwang Hee.

Their eyes were bloodshot, probably because they had been worked so hard.

‘Isn’t this a bit too much?’

I glanced at Hwang Hee and thought.

Even if they are royal relatives, how could he work them so hard?

‘I was like an angel compared to Hwang Hee.’

He must have developed a strange habit while being confined to the Donggung Training Center [Crown Prince’s residence].

Otherwise, there’s no way he would work everyone so hard.

But the cousins seemed to have felt something in the process.

One of them stepped forward and said.

“We had to be mindful of the court because we were the sons of the former king.”

They were all illegitimate children, so they received less scrutiny from Yi Bang-won [King Taejong], but that didn’t mean they didn’t receive any.

Especially when their uncle was on the throne, they would have felt that implicit threat even more.

The reason why they lived like idlers was probably because of that.

It may be less so now that Yi Bang-won is on the throne, but habits are hard to break.

“So, even now that everything is over, we may not be able to break that habit and are living like idlers.”

It is rather encouraged for royal relatives to live like idlers.

However, being an idler is different from being a pushover.

A person with a lot to be taken advantage of must be more alert than anyone else.

Even for their own sake.

“It is fortunate that many cousins have realized this meaning. The reason why I brought you here and did today’s work was to make you realize all those principles.”

I cleared my throat and puffed out my chest.

Come to think of it, there was something I promised.

“The two teams have competed for the past few days and earned 700 and 800 points, but since you have all excellently realized those principles today, I will give you all an additional 1,000 points.”

I had promised to give a prize to the side that reached 1,000 points first.

I took out a piece of paper from my pocket.

– Macheoncheollyeon (磨穿鐵硯) [An idiom meaning to study so diligently that you wear out your iron inkstone]

It is a calligraphy that I wrote with all my heart.

It means to hone your studies until the iron inkstone wears out and has a hole in it, and it meant to continue to strive forward.

As expected of the work of the infamous master calligrapher Yangnyeong Daegun [Crown Prince Yangnyeong], even I could see that it was so beautiful that it was beyond words.

It seemed to be the same in the eyes of the other royal relatives.

“Today, you have successfully completed the training course. This Crown Prince is truly moved.

I bestow these four letters to you with the meaning of not forgetting and cherishing the heart you have realized this time, so that you may recall today’s work whenever you see this.”

My cousins responded to my shout with cheers.

They seemed to have been rewarded for their hard work with this.

From my point of view, it was nothing special, but I was inwardly pleased that they liked it so much.

Then, No-bun, who was standing next to me, clicked his tongue and said.

“Tsk, tsk, how much have they been exploited that they are so happy to receive just one piece of calligraphy…”

“Be quiet.”

If you keep that for a few hundred years, it will become a cultural asset, so you should like it.

At that time, Heo Jo kept tilting his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s just that there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Highness doesn’t study, but you write and bestow Macheoncheollyeon, which is truly a contradictory thing. I’m curious why you used those letters.”

“…”

“Are you saying that even if Your Highness doesn’t strive forward, the other royal relatives should?”

Heo Jo asked with a truly curious expression.

“Haa.”

Why are all my subordinates only these kinds of people?

===

“So, it seems you had fun playing around.”

“Yes?”

To think that it looks like I had fun playing around.

I frowned at Yi Seong-gye’s [King Taejo’s] words as soon as I entered the Taesang Hall.

“So, how many cousins do you have?”

“Don’t you even know the number of your grandchildren?”

“I have eight sons. Those sons keep having children without distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate, so how can I remember each and every one of my grandchildren?”

No, our father took care of two of the eight sons before they even had children.

But it seems like it would be counterproductive to say these things, so let’s be quiet.

I went straight to the point.

“So, what brings you here?”

< Age of the Underperformers (3) > End

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