There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 233

Some time later.

“I’ve never seen such a stupid bastard before.”

Lee Bang-gwa clicked his tongue.

“?”

The colt tilted its head at the former king’s grumbling, then buried its head in the flower bed, sniffing the fragrance.

When Lee Bang-gwa first started training it, there seemed to be no problem, but that quickly disappeared.

The guy who went where he was told and came when he was called suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the flowers.

Even when the former king pulled on the reins, it didn’t listen, and the colt was just playing as it pleased.

“What do we do in this situation?”

“How would I know…?”

In the end, he’s saying he doesn’t know either.

I lamented the former king’s uselessness.

Why does everyone become like this when they get involved with my granduncle?

“I can’t even sell this thing off…”

Lee Seong-gye spread the word all over town, so it’s difficult to transfer ownership.

Damn it, I feel like I got stuck with a flood-damaged car.

“Why? It’s cute, so it doesn’t matter.”

Joo So-hwa, who was playing with flowers next to me, said while stroking the colt.

She even made a flower crown and put it on the colt.

For the record, Joo So-hwa also has a flower crown on her head. I made this one, though.

“Damn colt, I should just hand it over to the Bureau of Horses and forget about it.”

“They kicked him out, though.”

Lee Bang-gwa sent him to the Bureau of Horses to learn from the other horses, but the Bureau of Horses didn’t want to include the clueless guy, so he was kicked out.

If only he had half the wildness and cunning of his mother.

“Hmm, it’s hard to keep calling him ‘colt’… What’s his name…?”

“That’s right.”

We hadn’t even given him a name yet.

Isn’t it enough to just call him the Dragon Horse’s son or colt?

“You can’t do that. Even if it’s a speechless animal, it’s still part of the Crown Prince’s family, so we have to give him a name.”

At my wife’s scolding, I sighed and pondered a name in my head.

For a moment, the names of famous modern racehorses and pretty girls flashed through my mind, but seeing his stupid eyes washed them away like a cold shower.

Before I knew it, my mouth opened.

“Let’s call him Ddaeng-gu.”

Then the faces of the former king and Joo So-hwa were filled with shock.

“W-What…?”

“It’s so corny.”

But I argued, listening to the colt’s reaction.

“I think he likes it?”

Ddaeng-gu turned his head this way as if he knew he was being called, and neighed with his tongue sticking out.

Perhaps such a straightforward name is easy for him to understand, since he didn’t inherit his mother’s cunning.

“Don’t you have any human feelings?”

“He’s so cute, why Ddaeng-gu?”

“Shut up.”

It’s enough if he understands.

===

I ended up driving around with a useless horse as my personal vehicle, and I let out a long sigh.

Okay, let’s think positively.

Who knows, maybe Ddaeng-gu will awaken the Dragon Horse’s genes like Oh-gong [Sun Wukong, the Monkey King], who turns into a giant monkey when the moon rises.

Maybe Ddaeng-gu, like Jeok-ro [Red Hare, a famous horse in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms], who was treated as useless but saved Yoo-bi’s [Liu Bei’s] life, will save my life someday.

With that, I held out food to Ddaeng-gu.

Originally, No-boon should be doing this, but I couldn’t help it because of my wife’s nagging.

Joo So-hwa squatted in front of Ddaeng-gu and waved a carrot.

– Crunch

“Why aren’t you eating? Eat more! There’s a lot!” Joo So-hwa shouted at Ddaeng-gu, who hadn’t been eating well since he came back from the Bureau of Horses.

‘Is it okay to feed a horse such luxurious things?’

I didn’t even know this, but carrots are the latest crop to be introduced to this era.

Joo So-hwa seemed to take it for granted, probably because it was quite common in Ming China.

“It’s because Ddaeng-gu likes it.”

I didn’t originally intend to feed a horse carrots or anything like that.

In modern times, carrots are famous as horse feed, but originally, they only fed them hay in this era.

This fact was revealed when Do took the carrots off his table and gave them to Ddaeng-gu as feed.

“Um, Hyung-nim [older brother/term of respect].”

“What.”

“I know I did wrong, but isn’t this diet a bit too much…?”

“You have to eat a lot of vegetables to be healthy.”

Do made a face at the Ddaeng-gu-level green diet.

“There’s no such thing in the medical books…”

Medicine to pharmacists, treatment to doctors.

Committing the error of modern people who self-diagnose by looking at intellectuals instead of going to the hospital, do you think that’ll work?

Of course, this is the punishment for lying in front of Hyung [older brother/term of respect].

‘It’s a shame there are no bell peppers in Joseon right now.’

Do poked the vegetables with his chopsticks, looked at my face, and quickly changed the subject.

“There are a lot of rumors that Hyung-nim [older brother/term of respect] obtained a divine artifact this time.”

“Hmm.”

The fact that I dug up the Golden Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner had a bigger impact than I expected.

As soon as the rumors spread, the governors of each province sent up reports one after another, saying, ‘Our Majesty’s virtue~’ and so on.

Even Choi Yoon-deok, the military commander of the Northern Frontier, reacted, which scared me.

That’s how much they regard it as a great event.

‘I’m uneasy because I’ve become a relic site excavator.’

Since the discovery site is the backyard of the shrine newly built by the Ouchi guys, I’m worried that they might dig around to see if there’s anything else.

‘Ouchi Mitsuyo is a friend who can talk, so he wouldn’t do that, right?’

I clearly gave the order, so I don’t want him to die from tomb raiding.

Just in case, let’s send him the skull of Soda Saemontaro, who was beheaded on the Han River in the old days.

Anyway, Do reacted immediately to the fact that the reaction to the Golden Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner seemed bigger than expected.

“Of course. If it were just the incense burner, I don’t know, but there’s also the Dragon Horse you got in Yeoheung. Coincidence can’t happen twice.”

“Do you think Ddaeng-gu is a real Dragon Horse?”

I don’t know about his mother, but Ddaeng-gu… honestly, he seems worse than a normal horse.

Lee Seong-gye, who used to sing about fine horses, is obsessed with his bloodline and keeps nagging me to ride a guy I can’t even use.

“The important thing is that people think so. That Hyung-nim [older brother/term of respect] has something invisible.”

Do’s eyes were blazing.

‘Huh.’

If I had to pick the smartest person I know, it would be my younger brother, Chung-nyeong.

This is a historically proven fact.

But if even a guy who has learned as much as he has is saying this, then really… is people’s expectations rising?

‘But even if that’s the case, what should I do?’

Is there anything else besides developing Joseon like I am now?

‘Then shouldn’t I just do what I’ve been doing?’

Whether it’s divine will or whatever, I’ll just do what I have to do.

I nodded heavily and said.

“I don’t know, but if you don’t eat all those carrots today, there’s no Chogye [Korean fried chicken] tomorrow.”

“Hmph.”

Do poked the carrots with his chopsticks and made a sullen face.

Hmm, but he doesn’t look that serious.

My suspicion is growing.

Is he really getting fried chicken through some secret route?

===

Like Do said, ever since I came back from the tour, my grandfather and father seem to be looking at me strangely.

It’s probably because of the divine will thing, but fortunately or unfortunately, I didn’t have time to figure out such abstract heavenly meanings.

This time, a report came up that an epidemic was spreading.

‘The thing I was most careful about in Africa was disease.’

I was dispatched to Africa, specifically to a newly established country that didn’t even have a proper national system, so it was difficult to expect proper vaccines or treatments.

That’s why I paid full attention to hygiene management in Joseon…

‘Damn it, last year it was floods and droughts, and this year it’s an epidemic? I told them to be careful that much.’

People don’t act according to reason.

More precisely, the rational explanations I give don’t resonate with the people of this era.

That’s why I brought in shamans instead of explaining the principles in detail.

Shamans were not doctors who had professionally learned medicine, but they had some knowledge of first aid and hygiene education, so in some ways they were better than the doctors of this era.

Anyway, thanks to the shamans’ efforts, people avoided direct contact with dirty things, washed their hands more often, disinfected their clothes and blankets, and sterilized water with sunlight before drinking it.

In addition, the sources of epidemics have been significantly reduced because feces and urine, which are the main causes of water and soil pollution, are not disposed of indiscriminately but are collected in one place in the village and fermented into compost.

‘Then why did it break out?’

I set up all sorts of preventive measures through the shamans spread throughout the country, but I couldn’t completely prevent the epidemic from spreading.

‘An epidemic, huh.’

I have no way of knowing what kind of infectious disease it is just by hearing this.

I’ve come up with so many measures, it can’t be a waterborne infectious disease.

“Smallpox?”

‘Phew.’

As soon as I heard the symptoms, I got a sense of it.

Fortunately, it was smallpox.

Yeah, if cholera or something like that had broken out after I had taught them so hard, I would have been so upset that I would have gone crazy.

At least with smallpox, I hadn’t set up any preventive measures until now…

‘No, it’s not fortunate.’

I slapped myself on the cheek without realizing it.

Rather, smallpox, which is transmitted through the respiratory system, could be a more troublesome disease.

If there were no countermeasures, that is.

‘But there’s always a way.’

I smiled slightly and thought.

Jenner and vaccination are known to elementary school students who read learning comics.

There was a reason why I unconsciously felt relieved when I heard that smallpox was spreading.

‘Let’s see… the comic clearly said that the vaccine was obtained from cows with cowpox, right?’

I think I heard that the cowpox vaccine can act as both a vaccine and a treatment.

So, if I find a cow with cowpox and squeeze out some pus, I can treat the infected people and give immunity to the uninfected people, right?

“Hmm.”

I admired myself for the clear answer and called in the doctors of the Royal Clinic.

“I have called you because of the smallpox that is spreading outside the capital this time.”

“Yes, I heard that the court is also worried about countermeasures.”

They must also be racking their brains in case it spreads to the capital.

But don’t worry.

I’ll finish the complete vaccination before smallpox flows into the capital.

“Just find me a cow with smallpox. Then we can save the people suffering from the epidemic.”

However, even at my words, the doctors just stood there blankly, rolling their eyes.

What are you doing? Why aren’t you running out?

“Your, Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

When I asked, looking at the hesitant doctors, the doctor standing at the front opened his mouth cautiously.

“This humble one has never heard of a cow having smallpox.”

Wait, what?

‘There’s no cowpox?’

The brush fell from my hand with a thud.

Then what do I do?

===

Originally, there are records that around this time, an epidemic (疫疾) broke out outside the capital (京外), and many people died young (夭死).

Since Crown Prince Lee Je twisted history, a considerable number of epidemics have been prevented, but those are mostly waterborne epidemics.

It was not possible to prevent the ever-present smallpox.

Since they are carrying out a large-scale hand-washing campaign, it won’t be completely ineffective.

Anyway, the doctors Yoo Hyo-tong (兪孝通), Noh Joong-rye (盧重禮), and Park Yoon-deok (朴允德), who were summoned before the Crown Prince, sighed at the Crown Prince’s reaction.

“I guess His Highness doesn’t have any other way either.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

They had placed a glimmer of hope on the Crown Prince, who had taught them the mysterious magic that had saved even the dead former king, for this situation as well.

However, the Crown Prince suddenly asked if there really was no smallpox in Joseon cows, and then he lost his mind and sank.

“As expected, smallpox is a disease given by heaven, so even the power of a divine being cannot do anything about it.”

When the foolish people heard the news that smallpox was spreading, they put up the jade face of His Highness the Crown Prince, who didn’t even look like him, in every house, calling him the Great King Shin Se-ja [a deified Crown Prince] and so on.

However, since even that Crown Prince has no answer, the doctors guessed that they would have to leave the patient’s fate to heaven as they had done before.

It was then.

A strange sight caught the eyes of the doctors who were leaving the East Palace.

“Why is this horse so weak? Ddaeng-gu, please get up and eat. If I don’t take care of you, I’ll die to His Highness!”

It was the sight of the eunuch No-boon kneeling in front of the stable and begging.

End

ⓒ Pitkong