There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 185

“What are you doing?”

Ju So-hwa popped her head out from behind me.

Since summoning Lee Cheon, I had been focusing solely on developing a certain item for the past few months.

Each project was on track, so there wasn’t anything specific for me to participate in.

Lee Bang-won was handling all the urgent matters.

I originally planned to postpone it, but since it was difficult to go outside the East Palace anyway, I started the research while I was at leisure.

“Experimenting.”

I replied curtly.

It was a clear indication that I was concentrating, but Ju So-hwa didn’t leave.

She peeked her face over my shoulder and said,

“A toy?”

My face instantly stiffened.

“Does this look like just a toy to you?”

“Then isn’t it?”

Ju So-hwa asked, tilting her head.

‘It might look that way to her.’

But she was wrong.

What I made was not a simple toy but the world’s first battery.

“This is what we call electricity.”

“Electricity… the energy of lightning? That lightning that strikes from the sky?”

I nodded at Ju So-hwa’s question.

It was the Voltaic pile.

The one from the textbook.

‘I suffered so much to make this thing.’

The method of making a Voltaic pile is simple.

Place copper and zinc plates in dilute sulfuric acid, which acts as an electrolyte, and connect them.

If all the materials are available, there is no battery that can be made more simply than this…

‘But where do I get sulfuric acid?’

It wasn’t that there was no sulfur.

We were constantly sending ships to Japan to bring in large quantities to make gunpowder.

However, extracting sulfuric acid from sulfur required an additional process.

‘Sulfuric acid can be made by burning sulfur in a large earthenware or glass container and exposing the smoke to water…’

Among the Ortok merchants I brought, there were also glass technicians, so it wasn’t impossible to make such containers, even if they were expensive.

However, glass containers were expensive and too easily broken.

So I had no choice but to switch to using lead containers instead of glass.

Making containers with lead was much cheaper, easier to adjust the size, and not easily broken, so it was much more advantageous.

Once the container is complete, mix sulfur with a small amount of saltpeter [potassium nitrate, used as an oxidizer in gunpowder], ignite it, and place it on a tray inside the lead container.

The water at the bottom of the container absorbs the smoke, and by repeating this process several times, an acidic liquid containing about 35-45% sulfuric acid can be recovered.

‘Once I get to this stage, I can boil it down to concentrate the sulfuric acid.’

It’s a description that ended in a few lines, but the effort Lee Cheon and Jang Yeong-sil put in to complete it was enormous.

In fact, most of the time and cost spent completing the Voltaic pile was consumed in manufacturing this sulfuric acid.

‘Still, once it’s made, it can be used in many ways, not just for batteries.’

I consoled myself like that.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to bear my empty wallet.

When I connected the copper and zinc plates, bubbles began to rise from the zinc plate.

I brought a compass I bought from Ming China to the wire inserted between the plates.

Then, the needle of the compass, which acted as a galvanometer [an instrument for detecting and measuring electric current], turned sharply towards it.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

‘This level of magnetism in a place without magnets?’

I expected the same reaction, but she was indifferent.

“So what do you use this for?”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless.

This work had many meanings.

In that I succeeded in generating continuous current, not just static electricity, I had essentially invented current at this moment.

However, looking at this Voltaic pile alone, it was not particularly useful other than being interesting.

“I, even if it looks like this now, if I develop it further, I can use this to send news to distant places.”

I argued.

With a battery, galvanometer, and electromagnet, the basic conditions for making a telegraph were met.

It was impossible to develop something like a telegraph right away because there was no wire coating to prevent short circuits.

‘Where do I get rubber?’

I remembered that rubber was mainly imported from Southeast Asia in modern times.

Joseon had started exchanging with Majapahit [a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire], but I wasn’t sure if the origin of rubber was there.

‘I’ll have to order my uncle to look for it.’

That’s what I thought.

If I told Min Mu-gu, who was in Majapahit, he would somehow get it for me.

If not, I can’t help it.

‘If that doesn’t work…’

Should I develop polyethylene?

I smiled bitterly.

I invented one thing, and a mountain of tasks piled up, but I didn’t feel too bad.

Even though there was still a long way to go, I had finally taken the first step in utilizing electricity.

‘Even if it’s weak now, what this will become…’

The industrial revolution in the world I lived in started with the invention of looms, spinning machines, and steam engines.

However, history doesn’t necessarily flow that way in this world either.

Maybe I’ll see the results while I’m still alive.

The corners of my lips slowly went up.

‘I should remember this day for a long time.’

I celebrated alone in the East Palace’s backyard, where no one paid attention.

===

‘He’s too focused, leaving people alone.’

Ju So-hwa sighed as she watched the Crown Prince, who was lost in his thoughts.

‘Don’t look at those strange things, look at me.’

When her hesitating fingers were about to touch the Crown Prince’s cheek, she heard a strange noise from behind.

“Huh, you two are doing something fun!”

Grand Prince Chungnyeong, Yi Do, who was walking in the backyard, pointed at them and shouted.

“Quiet, kid. Don’t bother me and go away.”

Ju So-hwa said, turning her head away.

However, Crown Prince Yi Je’s reaction was faster than that.

He raised his head sharply and said,

“Who said this looks fun?”

Then Grand Prince Chungnyeong answered with sparkling eyes.

“Me!”

“As expected, you’re my brother! Come and try it!”

Grand Prince Chungnyeong cheered as a weak current began to form as His Highness was separated.

“Wow, the needle is pointing this way? It’s not like there’s a magnet attached here, what’s the principle?”

“Electricity and magnetism have the same properties. Hahaha!”

“Electricity? Are you saying this is lightning?”

“That’s right. If you observe the lightning rod installed in the East Palace on a day with lightning, you’ll be able to see it.”

“Only my brother and the woman from the Great Ming are doing such fun things!”

“I’ll show you something even more fun soon!”

“Hahaha!”

“Haha!”

“…”

‘What’s so fun about it, you idiots.’

Ju So-hwa sighed once again as she listened to the two brothers talking.

===

It seemed that the country’s finances were comfortable enough that I wasn’t being bothered while I was making the Voltaic pile.

Seeing that the officials who would have made a fuss about extravagance in the old days were silent, it seemed so.

“It’s not that, but the officials who opposed His Highness have all met bad ends. Now they pretend they don’t see it even when they do.”

Lee Cheon said with tired eyes.

Saying that makes me sound like a bad guy.

It’s strange that people are meddling when I’m being extravagant with my own money.

“And, sulfur is not as precious as it used to be.”

“That’s true. Except for saltpeter.”

The reason I was able to pour a huge amount of sulfur into making one sulfuric acid was thanks to the active trade with Japan.

Ouchi [a powerful Japanese clan] didn’t know what he was thinking inside, but he was continuing trade without any problems on the outside.

Since the cavalry we sent accounted for a large part of their power, they couldn’t openly resist.

It wasn’t just Ouchi who wanted to trade with Joseon. Other lords in Japan were also starting to reach out to us.

However, this was not good news.

“It seems that the Shimazu clan of Kyushu, Japan, who were once divided into two but recently reunited, are trying to start exchanges with us, taking advantage of their regained power.”

“Those guys suddenly?”

I deliberately showed a negative attitude.

Trading with Shimazu was not an urgent matter.

The more important fact was this.

‘Did they even notice the secret agreement we made with Ouchi?’

I muttered.

Wouldn’t Shimazu also be vaguely aware that we were in cahoots with Ouchi and be rushing to get involved?

If so, what about the shogunate [the military dictatorship of Japan]?

“They probably don’t know that we are importing gunpowder and horses. The Daenei clan originally said that Joseon was their hometown, so there wasn’t much exchange, was there?

It seems that they are also trying to pay tribute and gain some profit.”

Lee Cheon hurriedly explained.

“Hmm.”

Well, Ouchi wouldn’t want to die at the hands of the shogunate either, so he would be desperately putting up a smokescreen.

I believed that it wouldn’t be easily exposed,

“If the shogunate notices, our silver mine will also be in danger, right?”

They would not let go of their surveillance of the local lords.

I was currently working with Ouchi, but how long would that last?

“The current shogunate is using the strategy of ‘using barbarians to control barbarians.’ Right now, they are supporting the Daenei clan to defeat the Soi clan, but if one side collapses, they will quickly try to clean up the other side as well.

The Daenei clan is not completely on good terms with the shogunate either.”

Honestly, I didn’t care if Ouchi fell, but would the shogunate leave our silver mine and various rights invested there alone?

Even if that situation happened, should I start looking for ways to salvage as much as possible from now on?

Thinking this way, I suddenly came to a conclusion.

‘But… wouldn’t Ouchi know what we know?’

Come to think of it, the amount of gunpowder and horses they were asking for was quite large for dealing with the Shoni clan.

‘If Ouchi gradually leaked the remaining strategic materials to the lords from the former Southern Court to strengthen their friendship?’

“The current lord is a hero who revived the family that had collapsed due to the rebellion, so he is likely to do so.”

Lee Cheon replied after hearing my concerns.

– Only those with virtue can take the world! Overthrow the corrupt shogunate and avenge the clan’s enemies!

The image of Japan being divided into two and waging a civil war came to mind.

And what if the winner was the shogunate?

– The Ouchi guys have Joseon behind them? What grudge does Joseon have against us that they are meddling in another country? We can’t leave them alone!

– All the lords of Japan must respond to the shogunate’s summons!

I shook my head, imagining a Japanese invasion that was 200 years too early.

It was too far-fetched of an imagination at the moment.

‘Well, it’s not like we’re going to lose if we fight.’

Commander-in-chief Lee Seong-gye would lead the Training Squad armed with muskets to the battlefield.

‘Still, it’s best not to fight.’

That’s what Sun Tzu’s Art of War says.

So Ouchi shouldn’t get involved in the struggle for world domination and ruin everything, but should trade with us for thousands of years and bring us silver and sulfur.

“Can our officials in Japan keep a good grip on the Daenei clan’s reins?”

Then Lee Cheon looked at me carefully.

“I, this humble person, have no confidence at all, Your Highness.”

He was lying flat, afraid that I might tell him to go back to Japan now that he had served his purpose.

There’s no need to be so humble.

“I have no intention of sending Chief Lee back.”

I couldn’t keep a technical talent like Lee Cheon stuck in Japan.

The Iwami Silver Mine was now established and running well on its own.

End