Great Fire of Hanyang (3)

In the English-speaking world, firefighters are called 'fire fighters.'

That is, people who fight fire.

Just like the firefighters of twenty-first-century Korea, every firefighter is said to face firefighting with the resolve and attitude of a warrior entering battle—prepared either to die or to put out the fire.

Firefighters are, quite literally, warriors who risk their lives to fight fire.

But this is Joseon, an era without fireproof clothing, oxygen tanks, or fire hoses, so just how dangerous will suppressing a large-scale fire be...

“If we cannot contain the fire here, both your homes and mine will burn to the ground.”

If everyone merely fled in fear of the fire, all of Hanyang would become nothing but ashes, countless people would die, and

even those who survived would certainly lose their homes and livelihoods.

Therefore, I had to drive the people gathered here into a war against the fire so that I could contain it as quickly as possible and save as many people as I could.

They had to be prepared to die fighting rather than die while fleeing.

“Putting out a fire is dangerous and frightening. But if you all follow my orders, every one of you will survive and receive a generous amount of rice from me.”

When I, dressed in official robes, shouted this in a loud voice, the confused crowd fell silent and stopped milling about.

“The fire is spreading on the east wind. So we will destroy and clear away every combustible thing to the west of the burning area.”

“You mean we are really going to tear down every house and warehouse?”

“We have to destroy everything. Once the fire reaches those things on the wind, they will all burn anyway, won't they? In that case, it is better to tear down one house and stop the flames from advancing, thereby saving several others.”

When we think of firefighting, we imagine pouring water over the burning area to extinguish it.

But in a world without fire engines or hydrants, obtaining the amount of water needed to put out a fire this large is effectively impossible.

So the best course of action is to take advantage of the nature of fire and eliminate every ‘combustible material’ in its path, blocking the route it would otherwise take.

Sometimes people start a backfire, but... even professional firefighters use that only as a last resort.

If a novice like me tried something like that, I would simply end up burning all of Hanyang down and doing something terrible.

“I will compensate you for the cost of rebuilding any house destroyed on my orders, even if I have to borrow the money myself.”

“...... What?”

“As a servant of the state who lives on the country's salary, this is only natural.”

In any case, if I ended up in debt, I trusted that the Ministry of Taxation, now flush with funds, would somehow come to my rescue and keep me from becoming completely penniless.

And if the worst-case scenario occurred and that failed, Iron-Mace King Yi Bang-won would surely use the royal treasury to make up my losses.

But if the royal treasury had to be mobilized, I would effectively be shackling myself to the position of lifelong chancellor... I hoped matters would not grow that serious.

“Able-bodied men, find and take up whatever tools are good for breaking things, whether hammers, hoes, or anything else. Tear down the houses I point out, then scatter and cover the remains with earth.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“We are doing this to protect the homes, property, and families we depend on for survival. We must risk our lives now.”

Since being born in Joseon, I had never once held a tool like a hammer.

But in a situation like this, I could not cower behind the excuse that I was a yangban and merely issue orders with my mouth.

If I did not lead by example, this firefighting effort would not proceed properly.

I picked up the large hammer we used at home.

“I will lead the way. Everyone, let's go!”

I was frightened too, but what else could I do?

If I drove these people into the jaws of death without entering them myself, the firefighting effort could not succeed.

If people died because of something I could not do, I could accept that as unavoidable...

but I could never stand by and watch people die because I had failed to do something I was capable of doing.

Besides, I had no intention of becoming a shameful husband or father in the eyes of Gyeoul and the child who would soon be born.

Having steeled myself, I pointed to a house that seemed to lie in the fire's path.

“The houses around here will catch fire before long! We must tear them down before the flames reach them! Afterward, cover the remains with earth so they cannot catch fire. Hurry!”

After pointing it out, I immediately joined in, swinging my hammer against the wall of the house.

At the same time, I pointed out several more houses, and each time, people came rushing over and began tearing them down.

With dozens of people, perhaps more than a hundred, tearing down houses together, several buildings collapsed in an instant.

“Those who brought shovels, cover the rubble with earth! After covering it with earth, draw water from the nearby wells and pour it over everything! Hurry, hurry!”

Even as I shouted at the top of my lungs, the fire crept closer to us little by little.

If the flames looked likely to reach where people were working, the best course was to finish up as much as possible, move elsewhere, and keep tearing down more houses to weaken the flames as much as we could...

“This is how you protect your homes, property, and families! I know it is hard, but keep up your strength!”

Even while saying this and giving orders to the others, I continued hammering away clumsily whenever I was not directing them.

I smashed through one wall, then another, and another.

My official robes, made from cheongdan imported from Ming and worth more than ten seom of white rice, were being reduced to rags... but was this really the time to worry about something like that?

People were dying before my eyes, while their homes and property burned away.

“We have to contain the flames somehow!”

Damn it, in the original history, Queen Soheon had concentrated the entire military force on preventing the fire from spreading to Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung...

I had gone this far—shouldn't someone have come to support me by now?

“Lord Jegum! Look over there—the flames are gradually weakening!”

When I looked in the direction indicated by an unnamed commoner, I could see that, just as he said, the flames were gradually weakening.

As the fire passed through the areas we had demolished, covered with earth, and drenched with water, it gradually lost its force because there was nothing left to burn.

This insanely difficult work was having an effect.

I felt as though a little strength was returning to my body, which had been on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

“Let's keep going just like this! If we continue, we can put out the fire!”

I continued the firefighting effort without knowing how much time had passed.

During the process, I was injured and bled, and flying embers left me with burns.

Compared with the people who had burned to death in those flames, what did injuries like this matter?

Compared with those left dazed after losing everything when their homes were destroyed and burned down, this could not even be called suffering.

So, as long as I still had breath in my body, I would continue struggling to save even one more person.

As I briefly looked around, I noticed an exceptionally tall man standing stiffly like a statue, fear written all over his face.

A man like that had to be removed from the scene as quickly as possible.

Fear was highly contagious, after all.

"Hey, you tall one!"

The man I singled out jumped in surprise and answered.

"Y-yes? My lord!"

"Go to the palace as quickly as you can and deliver this message! Kim Daebung, Jegum of the Directorate of Warships, is putting out the fire in Anguk-bang, but we are short on men and having difficulty containing it. Tell them to send some people! Hurry, run!!"

The moment my words ended, he began running as though his life depended on it.

As I continued leading the firefighting effort with a do-or-die resolve, a military officer approached me.

Chungmuwi was stationed closest to Hanyang among the ten military commands, so was he an officer from Chungmuwi?

No, he could have been from the Naegeumwi or the Gyeomsabok.

"I am Kim Samyeong, Deputy Commander of the Naegeumwi! Her Majesty the Queen has sent a hundred men, including this humble officer, to reinforce you here."

Looking past Kim Samyeong, I saw more than a hundred able-bodied men following behind him.

We had been desperately short of people, so this was an enormous relief.

I felt as though I had died and come back to life.

Not that I had actually been in immediate danger of dying.

"But why are your clothes...? Surely you did not participate directly in the firefighting effort?"

"Isn't that only natural? If I had not led from the front, would the commoners have followed me in putting out the fire?"

"I'm sorry, my lord."

"I became too sensitive and lost my temper over something that did not warrant it. I apologize. But, Deputy Commander Kim, please deliver this message to Her Majesty the Queen."

"What message?"

Judging from everything that had happened so far, the person who started the fires was not an arsonist satisfied with merely setting things ablaze.

The arsonist was clearly a vicious criminal who intended to use the confusion to steal or kidnap people and sell them as slaves.

Therefore, if anyone was not participating in putting out the fire but was wandering around busily collecting valuables, that person was almost certainly the arsonist.

"If anyone in this chaos is wandering around collecting valuables instead of helping put out the fire, that person is the arsonist. And please ask Her Majesty to issue military orders to the citizens of Hanyang requiring them to participate in suppressing the fire, and to have anyone who refuses despite hearing those orders punished under military law."

"Yes, Lord Jegum."

"You go alone and hurry there. I will keep putting out the fire and have the reinforcements you brought join the firefighting effort."

When you promise a reward for participating in firefighting, you should, of course, provide that reward.

But ordinary people would not risk their lives in a dangerous task merely for the promise of compensation.

Rather, threatening them with the power of the state—that a knife would be put to their throats if they disobeyed the order to participate—would help put out the fire more quickly.

"You've worked hard."

"I'm only doing what I must. Hurry and run!"

"Yes, my lord."

Kim Samyeong hurried to Gyeongbokgung with my message.

In the Great Fire of Hanyang recorded in the original history, they managed to catch only some of the culprits. This time, I hoped we could somehow capture every last one of them.

Punishing them would not bring the dead back to life, nor would it restore the property that had been lost, but...

I simply could not bear to see those bastards, less valuable than the trash born of a dog-pig crossbreed, set fires, rob a huge haul, and live in comfort.

'In this era, arson is murder.'

I led the firefighting effort until sunrise, pouring every ounce of myself into it.

The physical labor I had never done in my life—building demolition, no less—had drained every last bit of energy from my body, and my throat had long since gone hoarse to the point that no sound would come out.

Still, if I stopped because I was tired, the firefighting effort would slow, so I had to endure somehow.

"Everyone, hang in there somehow!"

As we continued to hold on, someone approached me and spoke.

"My lord, the fire is completely out."

"Is that really true?"

"Yes, my lord."

At those words, I immediately collapsed.

I had no regrets.

And when I opened my eyes, I saw a very unfamiliar ceiling.