437. The Emperor Emeritus, Yi Je (3)
Bulno.
It had been decades since he began spreading the Buddha’s teachings in the north.
Once, he suffered through unfamiliar cold winds, but now he was treated as a respected elder in the Buddhist community.
Those who had only heard this high priest’s fragrant name and benevolent face invariably mistook him for a *Bulno* [Buddhist slave or servant], a devout follower of the Buddha since birth.
Few now remembered the trouble he had caused in his younger days, and even then, most of it was only known in the capital.
People often took the words of a high priest with great spiritual power and influence as truth, or close to it.
Even when they offered advice in areas outside their expertise, it was the same.
People often assumed that someone who was enlightened in one area was knowledgeable in others as well.
When Bulno encouraged the cultivation of corn, they believed his words implicitly.
Indeed, the corn harvest that year was bountiful, greatly exceeding the expectations of the Manchus. Naturally, praise for Bulno, who had bestowed virtue and filled the bellies of the people, increased even more.
“As expected, listening to the Great Monk’s words has brought a great harvest!”
“Corn! We must plant corn! There is no better crop for this barren land!”
“No matter how much millet or sorghum we plant, we barely harvest twelve grains for every ten we sow, but corn is different!”
“Plow it all up! Our tribe will now only grow corn!”
Thus, when the Emperor Emeritus, Yi Je, one of the few who knew Bulno’s past, arrived in Manchuria,
the great corn farming craze was already sweeping across the entire region.
* * *
“They’ve covered… the fields entirely with corn…”
Listing all the troubles Bulno caused in his youth would be endless.
What was the biggest one among them?
Claiming to be a prince without fear? Sneaking into the capital and leading a gang?
Of course, from a general perspective, that was the biggest crime.
Politically, he had been removed from the family register and even denied his parentage, yet he claimed to be a prince.
That could be considered treason and insulting the royal family. If I had to add one more, there was also the ‘heart-harming crime’ of driving a stake into his grand uncle’s heart.
However, from my perspective, having to clean up after him, another incident was more deeply etched in my mind.
‘I will bring the rice seeds from the south and try to grow rice!’
He had already ambitiously tried to grow rice in Manchuria, only for all the seedlings to freeze to death, nearly causing a great famine among the Jurchens.
We had to urgently transport and distribute food, and then introduce Manchurian farming methods to get through it, but it was a truly perilous moment.
Why was that memory so vividly coming back to me now?
Seeing Bulno’s confident expression, my unease doubled.
Corn has many advantages in many ways.
The growing period is short, and no other crop has as much yield per unit area as corn.
It grows well even in land where rice or wheat cannot be grown, making it a very useful crop.
However, there was a reason why crops like potatoes and sweet potatoes were prioritized for distribution in the former Joseon territories of the Eight Provinces [the northwestern region of Korea].
Corn sucks up an enormous amount of soil nutrients.
‘It’s not a plant you can just grow carelessly.’
Because of this, Native Americans farmed by planting corn, beans, and squash together… or so Jeonghwa says.
As expected of a veteran of navigation and expeditions, he brought back not only the seeds but also the cultivation methods.
Even I think it’s a pretty successful farming method.
Beans help restore soil fertility by fixing nitrogen, and corn provides a support for the beans to climb.
Squash maintains moisture in the soil and prevents weeds from growing.
However, there were limits to this traditional farming method.
When planted in such a mixed way, the yield of corn is lower than that of rice or wheat.
If that weren’t the case, the Native Americans would have had a population of hundreds of millions before we crossed the New World.
Naturally, the people who had already tasted the jackpot of corn once would not want to do such small-scale farming.
“We’re too busy harvesting corn to do that kind of farming!”
“We have to plant corn even on the smallest patch of land left!”
Even if they don’t know the principle that beans fix nitrogen, Joseon people now know that it enriches the soil.
However, there were many who were blinded by greed and planted only corn, even in spaces where they should have left the land fallow or planted beans.
It was only a matter of time before all the arable land was covered with corn.
Thanks to the corn sucking up all the massive soil nutrients that had accumulated over decades, this year’s harvest is great, but what about the next crop?
‘Are you trying to turn Manchuria into a desert…’
I thought in dismay.
‘Why is corn farming so popular?’
If there’s a crop that seems like it’s going to skyrocket, they just jump on it.
Who said farmers are the most conservative people?
I don’t know if they’re farmers or coin addicts?
I wondered if Bulno’s influence was that strong, but wasn’t it possible that Bulno himself was blinded by seeing corn farming around him?
However, after hearing the story, it was half my responsibility.
“Since Your Majesty is particularly interested in the distribution of new crops, the governors and magistrates are encouraging people to plant them first,” they said.
“It’s good to get the king’s attention, and if you follow His Majesty’s words, you won’t fail at least, so everyone is eager to plant new crops.”
‘Is this my fault?’
I just actively instructed them to distribute sweet potatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, and other crops that I had dreamed of, but I didn’t expect it to come back like this.
We did go through a preliminary process of trial introduction and farming on the royal land, *Jeokjeon* [land reserved for royal use], but the ambitious result of distributing new crops nationwide was already determined.
The Ministry of Agriculture, having received my imperial order, only worried about how to import New World crops and spread the seeds as much and as widely as possible, within that scope.
And the grassroots organizations, which had been carrying out state-led campaigns for decades since I was the Crown Prince, received and carried out the orders from the central government as they were.
The government also had no hesitation in introducing new crops.
In the meantime, I evaluated scores according to the extent to which they increased the income of the county or achieved national projects, and spared no support, such as sending propagandists to congratulate the observers and magistrates or giving them silver coins when they exceeded the target.
Conversely, those who lacked performance would have had no choice but to fret.
In particular, I often pushed national projects in the direction I thought was right, rather than through serious discussion and persuasion.
And each time, I succeeded, and the ministers who raised objections were often branded as incompetent people who failed to follow the king’s foresight.
In such a situation, a project pushed by the emperor was not particularly doubted, and should not have been doubted.
After running the country like that for decades, side effects were bound to appear.
This huge bureaucracy, without any consideration, put its life on the line for the new crop distribution campaign, based on one VIP’s interest.
I was sweating profusely.
‘Is this all my karma?’
It was right for me to step down around this point.
Dahn doesn’t have the overwhelming authority that I have yet, so even though he inherited the throne, he can’t wield the God-Finger that can cover Manchuria with corn with just one cough, without asking or questioning.
‘No, I didn’t particularly issue such an order either.’
When you think about it, the problem lies with the subordinates who jumped the gun and the people who covered Manchuria with corn, aiming for a farming jackpot. This is unfairly frustrating.
Anyway, it was necessary to make a soft landing during Dahn’s reign.
My body trembles at my own insight.
Now, even in places I’m not aware of, I’m able to twist cause and effect to make decisions that are most beneficial to the national interest.
Well, enough with the nonsense, the problem is the solution….
“There’s nothing but fertilizer, after all.”
* * *
The first method that comes to mind is to simply turn existing arable land into fallow land.
After all, Manchuria is vast and wide.
Above all, the fact that you don’t have to do anything in the case of this method was attractive.
From my point of view, all I have to do is gesture once, saying, ‘Now, go farm over there,’ and it’s over.
For me, who came out on vacation disguised as a family tour, there was no more attractive option.
Originally, I thought that since there was a lot of idle land in Manchuria, it wouldn’t be a big deal to let it lie fallow for a few years.
However, there was one minor problem.
‘Manchuria is no longer a no man’s land like it used to be.’
Compared to the Eight Provinces south of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers, the population density is still low, but the population is not that sparse.
The Joseon people who have been constantly flowing in, hoping to become landlords with large lands, the Jurchens whose population has increased several times during my reign, and the Han Chinese who were brought in en masse as ‘workers’ during the two wars.
The fact that the sparsely existing settlements have increased considerably is welcome from the standpoint of leading the development of Manchuria, but that is why it is not easy to leave the land idle.
The Manchurian cities that are appearing one by one are supplying their food from the nearby hinterland, and unless we are going to tear down and move the entire city, we want to avoid such collective fallowing.
‘Above all, those damn corn plants have sucked up all the soil nutrients that have accumulated over the years.’
I wonder if there’s an answer to just letting it lie fallow for a while now.
As a result, the choice naturally narrowed down to one.
“It must be fertilizer.”
If you don’t want to see the next crop of corn seeds die and a great famine strike Manchuria, you have to pour in a lot of fertilizer to restore the land.
“Can we apply compost to the land in Manchuria?”
Joseon is basically an agricultural country.
In order to increase agricultural productivity in any way possible, Joseon was focusing all its efforts on developing farming methods.
One of them is the development of fertilizer.
The compost I developed was the most common form, but fish fertilizer made from fish scraps and soybean cake were also used as compost.
Even among the items imported from Mongolia, there is even dried animal dung for use as fuel and fertilizer.
‘If I had tried to solve this problem with Joseon alone, there would have been no answer.’
Fortunately, Joseon has the Central Plains [historical region of China] in its hands.
As befits the Central Plains, where everything is large in scale and volume, if I just give the order, I can bring in a huge amount of compost material.
In addition, if we unconditionally enforce soybean crop rotation, we might be able to prevent Manchuria from flying away as a whole.
Bulno, whose face had turned white as he heard that Manchuria might become a practical desert, was relieved to hear my words.
It seems that the memory of freezing the rice seeds to death back then is now overlapping.
I almost caused a huge disaster at the end of my life.
No, I’m retired, so it doesn’t matter, but Dahn was about to face a huge accident from the beginning of his reign.
“But… will the Manchus willingly follow the government’s orders?”
The problem was that the amount of corn produced in Manchuria was greater than expected.
Until now, the people of Manchuria had been living by farming millet, which people in the Eight Provinces wouldn’t even eat if you gave it to them because of the barren farmland.
However, there is no guarantee that those who have seen the great taste of corn will not cause another accident.
From the country’s point of view, they are painting a rosy picture that Manchuria can be used as another rice container… no, corn container of Joseon.
However, we can’t cause a great famine to make them realize the reality.
“After all, is this the only way to blow away all the problems at once….”
I muttered, looking down at the drawing I was scribbling like a doodle.
There was a huge pressure cooker drawn on it.