There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 215

< Love is a Slave to Chaos (6) >

Generating a weak electric current on the level of complete knowledge was insufficient for meaningful industrial development.

However, there was something that could be done even at the current level.

‘That’s electroplating.’

It was plating using electrolysis.

Copper and zinc are soaked in vinegar, the metal for plating is connected to the copper, and the object to be plated is connected to the zinc.

And if you continue the experiment…

“Gold leaf is applied.”

People marveled at the beautifully applied gold leaf.

“I have never seen anything plated so beautifully.”

“Nor have I.”

It’s not that plating technology doesn’t exist in this era.

Previously, the method of placing gold leaf on applied mercury and heating it for plating was mainly used.

Since there has been little development in plating methods since then, even the more advanced Ming Dynasty than us would be using this method.

‘That would cost a lot of money and effort.’

There was a reason why electroplating became mainstream.

Moreover, plating is not as uniform compared to electroplating, so we can compete with Chinese products in certain plating products.

I swallowed hard at the thought of selling the plated products.

There was also a more important meaning to this experiment.

‘This should prove that electricity is useful.’

The reason why making a Voltaic pile [an early type of battery] didn’t cause a big stir was simply because it was seen as just a toy to other people.

‘Of course, this is also quite expensive.’

Without mass production of electricity, it is difficult to overturn the opinion of ‘Let’s just apply mercury.’

We are currently setting up facilities to mass-produce sulfuric acid, but at present, it cannot be said that the price has an incomparably superior advantage.

Therefore, we have no choice but to focus all our efforts on securing more electricity.

“Is the next step a generator?”

I muttered to myself.

===

Now that the plating experiment was successful, rewards should follow.

Since it was an invention with industrial significance, the court was not stingy.

“We bestow upon Jang Yeong-sil the title of Gun-gi-gam Pan-gwan [a military post], along with the rank of Gong-in [a government rank].”

Both Pan-gwan and Gong-in are official posts and ranks of Jong 5-品 [a classification in the Joseon Dynasty’s ranking system].

Jang Yeong-sil had been staying in the job of Gong-jo, so this was a great success, but this invention was worth it.

“Jang Yeong-sil was originally a Cheonmin [the lowest class in Joseon society] from Dongnae, and His Highness bringing him and freeing him from slavery would be enough compensation for his past services. However, it is difficult for me to understand why you are trying to appoint him to an important position.”

Whether you understand it or not.

Since when have I cared about these stories?

If I had, I would have been quietly reciting Confucian words.

Their opposition rather gave me a hint.

‘Should I solve the slave problem all at once at this opportunity?’

The slaves were released, but the social perception remained the same.

Then shouldn’t we break that down first?

“Tell them to put this personnel change in the Jobo [a government gazette].”

If so, we must first spread this fact widely.

The Jobo is limited to current and former managers, so there are limitations, but let’s start with this first.

Then I called Jang Yeong-sil back.

“Your, Your Highness. What is all this?”

Jang Yeong-sil, wearing a Samo Gwan-dae [official attire] like Lee Mong-ryong who passed the state examination with the highest score, asked awkwardly as if he was dressed up as a nobleman.

“I’m going to give you a vacation because you’ve finished a big job this time.”

“Yes? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?”

Anyone who hears it will think that I didn’t give him a vacation and made him work.

I said with a good-natured smile.

“Go back to your hometown. You have to see your mother too.”

“My mother is in Hanyang…”

Was that so?

Come to think of it, it seems like that was the case.

“Oh, then just see the neighborhood elders and come back.”

When I urged him, Jang Yeong-sil nodded and replied.

“Then I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“There’s nothing urgent, so you can come slowly. Come back as leisurely as possible.”

I said that and handed him a piece of paper.

I said to Jang Yeong-sil, who was looking at me as if asking what this was.

“This is a story that you have to memorize from now on and spread to every village you go to.”

Even if Jang Yeong-sil’s success is promoted through Jobo, it is difficult for ordinary people to hear such news.

Then I have to send the person himself down to make a fuss all over the neighborhood.

‘I’ve created an irregular from Cheonmin, but what’s the point if I don’t promote it?’

Isn’t it the perfect sign that anyone can succeed if they are loyal to the country and show off their talents, regardless of their status?

‘If you think about it this way, it’s like sending him on a business trip instead of a vacation.’

I shook my head to erase such absurd thoughts.

I told him to go and brag to his hometown people, but what a great business trip this is.

===

The news that a government official from Gwanno [government-owned slave] was going to his hometown arrived in the village he was passing through a day or two before Jang Yeong-sil arrived.

It was because the beggars next to him were making a big fuss to the extent that even a successful candidate wouldn’t be so noisy.

It was natural for bored people to come out to see a stranger in a quiet village, especially someone who was going home after succeeding.

“Lord Jang Pan-gwan is a confidant of our Crown Prince, so if you have any grievances, come out and tell me!”

“Lord Jang Pan-gwan wants to talk to his old colleagues, so those who were Cheonmin should come to the post station tonight and listen to him!”

Jang Yeong-sil’s face turned red at the words of the beggars shouting like that with a megaphone next to him, but this was the order of His Highness the Crown Prince.

He didn’t have the courage to tell him to stop.

In the end, Jang Yeong-sil had no choice but to hold meetings with the people and former slaves in every village he stayed in.

“Is it true that anyone can succeed under His Highness the Crown Prince if they have talent?”

“Of course. I was just a Gwanno in Dongnae-hyeon, but His Highness immediately said he would take me after seeing me improve the Kim farming equipment.”

“Where do you learn such skills?”

“Even if you don’t have such outstanding talent, there are ways to contribute to the village and the country by studying hard.”

“Don’t they discriminate against us slaves in Hanyang?”

“What kind of world is it these days! In Hanyang, even former slaves like you are fully recognized as Yang-in [commoners] and are working happily.

Even I, a Gwanno who originally inherited Cheonyeok [hereditary servitude] for generations, was freed from slavery and had the honor of obtaining a government post, so how can it not be the grace of His Majesty the King and His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Jang Yeong-sil sincerely thought so.

In this country, Joseon, the class discrimination was deeply rooted.

No matter how outstanding your talent is, who would pay attention to the talent of a Gwanno like himself and give him importance?

‘Unless it’s a wise monarch who will be remembered in history.’

Jang Yeong-sil, who was deeply grateful for the Crown Prince’s grace, felt a little guilty for calling him a wise monarch without hesitation, but still, he wondered if he could barely call him that.

“The only way to escape Mushi [disregard or contempt] is to study hard or hone your skills and enter the world!”

“Yang-in don’t even include you in Pumassi [cooperative labor]? The slaves in the next village were saying the same thing, so create a Gye [mutual aid society] among the slaves to help each other!”

“Under the king, people are equal! How can you think of yourself as inferior to Yang-in and live!”

“Wow!”

Even with the large-scale Myeoncheon [manumission, or freeing of slaves], they were already tired of subtle ostracism and discrimination.

At this time, a government official who had risen to prominence as a Gwanno gathered them together and encouraged them, so the heat soared in their hearts.

“That’s right! What’s wrong with us that we can’t be better than those Yang-in bastards!”

“We can do it!”

“We finally got the Yang-in status!”

Jang Yeong-sil, who had been talking enthusiastically, suddenly came to his senses when he saw the scene.

‘I’m doing what His Highness told me to do, but… Am I going to get stabbed somewhere?’

His actions were seen by anyone as inciting slaves – not anymore – and shaking the upper and lower order.

Thinking about it, sweat dripped down his back.

He missed his mother in Hanyang.

===

Of course, Jang Yeong-sil was not lynched by the intellectuals who were trying to establish order in the countryside.

“Should we just disguise it as something done by a tiger and bury it?”

“No. If he dies while passing through this village, the magistrate will jump up and down, and there is no guarantee that the truth will be hidden until the end.”

“These days, not to mention the Ginin-born Hojang [local officials] and Saekri [clerks], even the lowly ones are staring at us with their eyes wide open, so we don’t know through which route the news will be known.”

Originally, they would have pretended not to hear or see, but these days, the lower ones were not as polite as before.

Where is the guarantee that they will not run and tell on us?

The magistrate, who will leave in just three years, will never be our backer.

“Besides, there are many escorts, so it will be difficult to touch him easily.”

“Ugh, what is going to happen to this country.”

This was no ordinary sense of crisis.

From the fact that the sons of Ajeonbachi [low-ranking officials], who were dragged to the capital and worked in construction sites, were strutting around as new village leaders, it was unpleasant, and if the slaves started forming unions and associations, what would happen to the country?

“These days, the lowly ones are gathering together to do Pumassi among themselves.”

“Oh! Isn’t it like the old days when Manjeok gathered people on the back mountain of Gaegyeong and plotted to kill all the owners!”

In reality, there was no reason for these liberated slaves to ruin their lives by killing their owners, but they were not really believing and talking about it.

“I hope you will submit a petition to have that slave immediately return to the capital.”

“His Majesty approves everything that Donggung [the Crown Prince’s residence] does without asking, so will he listen to that story?”

“Huh, with the channels of communication blocked like this…”

“…”

It wasn’t that the channels of communication were blocked.

If that were the case, would they have left the Confucian scholars who were talking about slave sovereignty alone?

‘It’s just that the passage is open, but you don’t agree with our words.’

So they closed their mouths to that word.

“If the King does not listen to our voices, shouldn’t we convey it to someone higher than that?”

“Are you talking about the Emperor [of Ming]?”

Then a barrage of criticism was poured on the person who brought it up.

What great interest does Emperor Yongle [of Ming] have in looking at the petitions of the nobles of his brother-in-law’s country?

“Don’t you know who is higher than the king?”

Originally, there could be no such being.

However, due to the absurd and twisted political situation in the early Joseon Dynasty, there are two such people in this country.

One is the Supreme King Yi Seong-gye,

The other one is…

“So, why are you telling me this story…”

“Please, Your Majesty the Sangwang [retired king], please step forward. Should the elders of the royal family just stand by and watch?”

“The elders of the royal family… can’t do that… this shouldn’t be happening…”

Sangwang Yi Bang-gwa’s eyes lit up.

===

“Jang Yeong-sil is in Dongnae now, right?”

“Yes. On the way back, he will come up through Yeongnam-daero [a major road in Joseon].”

Jang Yeong-sil goes down through Chungcheong-do and Jeolla-do, passes through Gurye, and crosses over to Gyeongsang-do.

Of course, it takes more time to go to Dongnae by taking Yeongnam-daero, but the purpose is not to send Jang Yeong-sil to Dongnae in the first place.

He is campaigning while touring the Samnam region [the three southern provinces], where there were the most slaves.

When he comes up, he will continue to campaign while passing through Yeongnam, so most areas will be covered with this route.

‘Now that I’ve even given them Myeoncheon, I can’t leave them dividing their identities among themselves.’

A world where everyone is equal under the king.

Isn’t that a country that has become right?

It was when Yi Bang-won was chatting like that.

“His Majesty the Sangwang is looking for Your Majesty.”

“His Majesty the Sangwang?”

“What’s going on? Tell him to come in.”

Before Yi Bang-won could answer, the door opened with a creak.

“I heard… you’re plotting… something these days…”

Yi Bang-gwa strode in and said.

“Let me… put a spoon… on it too…”

< Love is a Slave to Chaos (6) > End

ⓒ Pitkong