Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 849

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849. The Empire’s Daily Life (8)

These changes in the Empire continued even after Hyang Yi passed the throne to Wan and moved to Shinji.

Before Hyang Yi took charge of Shinji, Sejong, who had been responsible for Shinji, created a new sport called Shinji Gyeokgu, or sometimes Singyeokbang.

Sejong originally liked Gyeokgu, and the political purpose of being able to quietly exchange secrets while two or three people moved around led to the birth of Singyeokbang.

The natives of Shinji, who didn’t have many special means of entertainment, quickly fell for Singyeokbang.

However, there was a big problem with Singyeokbang.

There was a limit to the number of people who could compete at once. No matter how hard they tried, the maximum was four people. If more people started competing at the same time, smooth progress was impossible. Even if they were to hold a tournament with many participants, they had to divide them into groups of four and enter the Gyeokbang arena sequentially.

Naturally, the problem of supply and demand arose, and applications to create Gyeokbang arenas flooded in, but Hyang Yi did not easily grant permission.

“There is plenty of land, so we can easily develop it, but we have to think about nature conservation and future events. Instead, let’s supply other things.”

Thus, Hyang Yi introduced equestrian polo and equestrian acrobatics as alternatives.

This also served a military purpose.

“Thanks to Jinpyeong, railroads are gradually being laid, but it is impossible to cover all of this terribly vast land with railroads. The conclusion is that the training of cavalry is essential. The environment is also the best.”

As Hyang Yi said, Shinji’s vast plains were the best environment for raising cattle and horses.

“If it weren’t for the transportation problem, herds of cattle would already be gathering.”

Hyang Yi was disappointed, but even now, the biggest source of income for the Shinji natives was the livestock industry.

To be precise, it was the processed meat industry represented by pemmican.

* * *

For the North American natives, pemmican was an essential food for survival.

Before the arrival of the Empire—then Joseon—agriculture was at a primitive level, and most people survived by hunting and gathering.

In order to endure the long winter with the food obtained in this way, a preservation method that could be stored for a long time was needed, and that is how pemmican was born.

When the imperial people first encountered pemmican while contacting the natives, they had strange expressions on their faces.

“This is subtle….”

However, the imperial people, who knew that pemmican’s greatest advantage was that it could be stored for a long time, began to mobilize all sorts of methods.

No matter what anyone said, the imperial people were more sincere than anyone else when it came to eating, especially meat. Even Europeans acknowledged this.

-The people of the ‘Land of Flowers’ love meat very much. More than we Europeans.

And the most representative person was Sejong. Therefore, Sejong devoted considerable attention to making pemmican and various types of processed meat, even while he was busy developing Shinji.

Of course, the first thing he did was bring in cows and increase their numbers.

This also had military and economic purposes hidden within it.

This was because food that could be stored for a long time was essential to solve the problem of supplying food to soldiers.

Economically, it was to establish a stable and permanent relationship between Shinji and the mainland.

Shinji was a land with infinite potential, but it required enormous funds to develop it.

For the time being, it was possible with the war reparations obtained from Ming. However, when these reparations were exhausted over time, the people’s taxes would have to be used to solve this problem.

If they failed to deal with it properly at that time, the people of the Empire would surely rebel against the Emperor and the court. In addition, discriminating against the natives of Shinji would become commonplace.

The same was true of Shinji. If it became subordinate to the mainland, the natives of Shinji would rebel at some point, and the alliance between the mainland and Shinji would collapse.

The best way to solve this was to ‘build a complementary relationship rather than subordination.’

The system that Kim Jeom, who had now become a historical figure, had dreamed of was the answer.

And the starting point was agriculture and the processed meat industry.

* * *

Thanks to Sejong, who had a deep understanding of meat and meat dishes, quite decent results were produced in the processed meat sector, including pemmican.

The imperial people who tasted these processed meat products that were released on the market gave them quite good reviews.

“It’s delicious?”

“It’s a different feeling from jerky?”

“If you boil soup with this, you’ll get an interesting taste?”

With such favorable reviews, Shinji’s processed meat products established themselves in the imperial market.

And, following the Empire’s trade routes, they began to expand the market more and more.

Conversely, the Empire began to import more and more spices, gradually building a stronger relationship with the Bengal Sultanate.

* * *

The story digressed for a moment, but railroads alone had problems defending Shinji.

To compensate for this, cavalry, and a large number of cavalry, were needed.

However, there was a limit to what the mainland and Bukji could handle, and the only answer was to train them in Shinji itself.

However, horses were unknown animals to the natives of Shinji, so it was difficult to approach them easily.

The best way to solve this was through entertainment, and Hyang Yi introduced polo and equestrian acrobatics.

And, over time, polo and equestrian acrobatics became the Shinji natives’ favorite entertainment.

It was human nature to want to do what they liked, and the number of natives applying to the cavalry began to increase.

No, even if they didn’t apply to the military, they would ride their pack animals at home and hold polo matches in units of villages.

“If the water’s in, row!” [A Korean proverb meaning ‘strike while the iron is hot’].

Hyang Yi, who received the report, soon organized a regular tournament.

They would connect the comprehensive entertainment centers that were now taking root in Shinji and hold polo matches in rotation, recording the wins and losses and ranking them.

The tournament organized in this way drew an enthusiastic response from the Shinji natives.

* * *

As polo became popular, Jangchigi [a traditional Korean game similar to field hockey] also began to gain popularity.

Jangchigi, which uses wooden sticks to hit a ball, was a familiar entertainment to the imperial people.

Equestrian polo was in vogue, but horses were still expensive animals.

Even well-established farming families usually had only one or two pack animals per household. It was impossible to take such precious pack animals out for matches every time, and those who came from the Empire began to play Jangchigi, which was also familiar to them.

And, the natives of the neighborhood who saw this scene also began to enjoy Jangchigi together.

In this way, Jangchigi began to spread among the natives even faster than polo. This was because they could participate in the game even without a horse.

The problem arose here.

Even those from the mainland had different rules depending on their hometown. In such a situation, as it spread among the natives, the situation became that having no rules became the rule.

As a result, the matches were quite rough, and it was common for big fights to break out when emotions ran high between each other.

In particular, since it was a match in which they held sticks that were perfect for beating people, when a fight broke out, it immediately turned into a bloody brawl.

And, as this happened frequently, the doctors and soldiers in charge of security had their work cut out for them.

“There’s no justification for stopping them from doing it….”

“We can’t just arrest them for getting hurt while playing….”

In the end, they had no choice but to write a memorial to Hyang Yi.

Hyang Yi, who checked the flood of memorials, sighed.

“Hoo~. It was notorious along with Seokjeon [a traditional Korean game involving throwing stones]… In some ways, equestrian polo is more docile….”

Even in the Empire’s mainland, Jangchigi was notorious along with Seokjeon.

However, he couldn’t just let it go, so Hyang Yi called together officials from the mainland and put their heads together to figure out how to make rules.

Officials from the mainland also had memories of seeing blood while playing Jangchigi in their youth, so they actively participated, and soon integrated rules were created and distributed throughout Shinji.

-Conduct Jangchigi matches according to these rules!

-Violators will be considered to have committed a crime and will be punished!

In this way, Jangchigi established itself as a kind of formal sport.

As an aside, ‘Ice Jangchigi’, which was held on frozen lakes in winter, was notorious for having the most remaining of its initial violence.

Because they were covered in protective gear from head to toe to prevent slipping or falling on the ice, violent physical fights became commonplace.

* * *

As rules were established in this way, an interesting thing happened: the rules of Jangchigi established in Shinji spread to the mainland.

The rules were different for each village, and brawls broke out when disputes arose, and the same was true of the mainland.

As these integrated rules were applied, Jangchigi also created its own framework, and established itself as one of the matches held at comprehensive entertainment centers.

As it established itself in comprehensive entertainment centers, Jangchigi grew explosively.

Unlike Singyeokbang, which required several types of sticks depending on the time and place, polo, which required horses that cost a lot to maintain, and archery, which became a crime if it was not a permitted archery range, it was possible with only a standard stick, a ball, and vests dyed to distinguish teams.

Thanks to this simplicity, Jangchigi grew explosively and became the first sport to hold tournaments targeting the entire Empire, regardless of the mainland, Bukji, or Shinji.

* * *

While the Empire was changing rapidly internally, the outside of the Empire was also changing busily.

The place that was changing the busiest and most anxiously was Europe.

As Hwangbo-in had predicted, the fire of the arms race had been ignited.

At the forefront of this fierce arms race were England, France, Portugal, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire.

The beginning of the arms race was the development of Bokeun [a type of advanced firearm].

As Bokeun, which the Empire had secretly hidden, was also developed in Europe, the countries recognized as the strongmen of Europe began to engage in a full-scale arms race.

And, behind the shadows were Milwi [the Empire’s intelligence agency] and Florence.

* * *

Milwi, who obtained intelligence about the ‘development of Bokeun’ at a Giru [a traditional Korean establishment similar to a tavern or inn] in Paris, immediately transmitted the information to Seoul.

After transmitting the intelligence, the executives of Milwi in charge of Europe gathered in one place.

The executive presiding over the meeting looked around at the executives present and opened his mouth.

“Do you agree that this matter is a ‘Class A situation’?”

All the other executives nodded at his question.

“I agree.”

In an era when rapid communication was impossible, Milwi, who had advanced overseas, was given several hypothetical crisis situations and corresponding sealed orders.

The highest grade among ‘situations that harm the Empire’s safety’ was Class A.

With the executives’ consent, the executive presiding over the meeting took out a small wooden box from one side and placed it on the table.

Then, the executives present took out small keys from their pockets and inserted them into the keyholes drilled in the box.

It was a box that would detonate the self-destruct device inside and burn all the internal confidential orders unless all the keys were inserted in the prescribed order.

Inside the safely opened box were several sealed documents titled with Class A situations.

And, there was also one that said ‘Bokeun’ in those situations.

The executives who saw the title could not hide their surprise.

“They said that His Majesty made all of these prediction documents….”

“It seems that the rumor that he can see a thousand miles away while sitting down is not an exaggeration….”

The executives, who were mentioning the rumors about Hyang, soon calmed down, tore open the sealed envelope, checked the orders, and could not hide their doubts.

“Huh?”

The first page of the order that came out of the envelope had only one line of order written on it.

-Leak it.