Chapter 154
No factory in this world can run without people.
No matter how advanced technology becomes, that fact will not change.
For that reason, the ironworks Kim Daebung built also recruited workers from every corner of the country.
Kim Deok-bae, who had spent his entire life working as a porter for a merchant guild in Hanyang, was one of those moved by the ironworks’ recruitment notice and who traveled all the way to distant Jeryeong.
“Several new workshops have opened in Hanyang lately. I thought those alone were astonishing, but after coming here, I see those workshops are nothing more than minnow fry. I can already see three chimneys towering like mountains.”
The “chimneys towering like mountains” he mentioned were the blast furnaces Kim Daebung had built.
The sight of black smoke billowing from them was truly spectacular, and the heat from the chimneys reached quite a distance, making their scale so astonishing that one could hardly believe one’s eyes.
The others who had come with him reacted much the same way.
“My uncle sometimes goes out to perform corvée labor at an ironworks, and he told me bloomery furnaces weren’t all that big...”
“Is this really a workshop?”
“You said something this big would run all day—or rather, without resting even for a moment? I really can’t believe it... When did Joseon get something like this?”
The bloomery furnaces used in Joseon could produce 90 kilograms of pig iron—about 150 geun by Joseon-era standards—each time they were fired.
But the blast furnace Kim Daebung had built in collaboration with Jang Yeong-sil could melt two tons of iron, about 3,300 geun, at once, and unlike a bloomery furnace, it did not need to be allowed to rest.
As a result, it could produce roughly ten times as much iron as the largest ironworks in Joseon had previously produced.
Kim Daebung still thought that was far from enough, but Jang Yeong-sil, Jeong Bun, and the others thought differently.
After hearing the projected output, they were so astonished that they could not close their gaping mouths for quite some time.
While the newly recruited workers were gathered together, murmuring among themselves, an artisan walked out from inside the ironworks.
“Attention!”
The booming voice, every bit as loud as that of an instructor for the military drills known as Chunggunch'ejo, made Deok-bae and the others feel as though their ears were ringing.
“Welcome to the Jeryeong Ironworks! I am Artificer Kim Gaenam, attached to this Jeryeong Ironworks. Although the official post I was assigned is merely a miscellaneous position, understand that I am still an official receiving a salary from the royal court.”
Artificer: a miscellaneous position of the ninth junior rank under the Ministry of Works.
A person holding a miscellaneous-rank position who was sent to a military camp could be assigned a post equivalent to a noncommissioned officer or junior officer.
In terms of the civil-service grades Kim Daebung used as a reference, that would put him at roughly Grade 7 at the lowest.
Moreover, King Sejong had hinted that he could become a regular official if he achieved results, so his motivation was burning even brighter.
“From the moment you enter this place, you will receive wages equivalent to those of a ninth-junior-rank official. That means fourteen seom of white rice a year. Once you have worked here long enough to advance in rank, your wages will rise accordingly.”
Nowhere else in Joseon did a place give a newly hired laborer fourteen seom of white rice a year.
As a result, smiles naturally spread across the faces of Deok-bae and the others.
When he had worked as a porter, even at best he had received only eight seom of white rice, and after paying rent in Hanseong, almost nothing remained, leaving him barely able to keep food on the table.
Here, they were giving him fourteen seom of white rice every year, which meant his pay would be enormously higher than at his previous job.
“In addition, you will each receive three seom of white rice at the summer solstice and another three at the winter solstice every year. That means six additional seom of white rice apart from your wages. And if you work here for ten years, we will give you a house free of charge. Those of you who marry and have wives and children will be allowed to rent a house here for free.”
It was utterly mind-boggling.
Not only were they giving a mere laborer no fewer than twenty seom of white rice, they were even giving him a house for free after ten years of work.
Kim Deok-bae was left speechless after hearing about welfare benefits so generous he had never even imagined them in all his life.
“Is that really true?”
“This ironworks was established by His Majesty the King. His Majesty does not tell lies.”
“Of course he would not. It is simply that I am overwhelmed by His Majesty’s grace...”
“Ah, there is one more thing. If you work here for three years, the state will even arrange a match for you.”
Although love marriages were the norm in the twenty-first century, in Joseon even poor commoners generally married through matches arranged by their parents.
The ironworks artisans were relatively well-paid by Joseon standards, so arranging matches for them was not particularly difficult, making this possible.
“But nothing in this world is free. The reason His Majesty is treating you so generously is also that this work is so arduous you would be unable to endure it without such benefits.”
Working at an ironworks was not beyond human ability, but it was undeniably extremely arduous.
Because the work involved being extremely close to fire and molten iron, even the slightest carelessness could get someone killed.
This was a place where a minor mistake by any one worker could at any moment lead to a major accident that killed several others.
“This place is completely different from anywhere you have worked before. A minor mistake could melt your entire arm away, and your whole body could burn up in an instant. Therefore, as long as you work here, you must obey the orders of me and the senior workers absolutely, if only to survive.”
At those words, the newly hired laborers gathered there swallowed hard.
“Because the work is so arduous, there will be a moment at first when you think, ‘I’m going to collapse!’ Every day, you will have to carry a hundred geun (60 kg) of iron ore and charcoal on your shoulders and haul it endlessly. Even when your arms feel as though they will come off, you will have to keep working the bellows and stirring the molten iron. And throughout it all, you must not lose focus for even a moment, because the instant you do, there will be an accident.”
Borrowing Kim Daebung’s assessment, all kinds of physical labor would be “like lying down and chewing gum” compared with work at an ironworks without automated systems.
In reality, having to carry all manner of heavy loads and keep working the bellows in a place where the internal temperature reached 50 degrees Celsius or higher was work in which it would hardly be surprising for someone to collapse and die of heatstroke at any moment.
“Hearing this a hundred times will do you no good. Learn and experience it in the field. From now on, you will be assigned to the blast furnaces and reverberatory furnaces. Treat what your senior workers say as you would your parents’ words, and obey them.”
Listening to his instructions, Kim Deok-bae steeled himself, and once he was assigned a workplace, he diligently performed the duties entrusted to him under the guidance of his seniors.
And while working, he came to understand firsthand what it meant for someone to die on the job...
Even so, everyone who found employment at the ironworks gritted their teeth and endured to the very end, thinking of the high wages.
**
The new town centered around the ironworks was built with spectacular success.
More than 300 artisans alone were attached to the ironworks, and including the lumberjacks, merchants, and their families, more than 10,000 people were expected to settle here.
No, perhaps it would become a city with an even larger population than that.
And ships were constantly coming and going from the newly built port as well, making me think that this place might eventually become a fairly large port city.
Like Pohang, where POSCO is located.
Perhaps it was because of this success that the magistrate governing Jeryeong came here to meet me in person.
“Goodness, Magistrate, what brings you all the way out to this remote place?”
“A city this large has been built in Jeryeong County, so I thought I ought to come at least once as its magistrate. I made time for a visit.”
“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule.”
During the construction of this ironworks, I had benefited enormously from the Magistrate of Jeryeong.
Although the court budget had paid the laborers’ wages, the magistrate had stepped forward to find people to mobilize for corvée labor during the agricultural off-season,
and he had also gone to great lengths to procure the countless supplies we needed.
“Until just half a year ago, this was nothing but a barren wasteland, but now that such a large ironworks has been built, it has instantly become a bustling city. Isn’t this what people mean when they say a place is developing by the day?”
“If you had not worked so diligently to help us, Magistrate, things could not have proceeded so smoothly.”
“Isn’t the business of the state something we officials must all handle by cooperating with one another? In any case, you have worked very hard to bring things this far. So, how much iron is the ironworks producing now?”
“At the current rate, it appears we will be able to obtain about 200,000 geun of pig iron and 50,000 geun of wrought iron each year. We intend to expand the ironworks to more than twice its current size, so perhaps we may eventually obtain around 100,000 geun of wrought iron a year alone.”
Two hundred thousand geun of pig iron amounted to only 120 tons a year.
Of course, even that was sixteen times more iron than the Dalcheon-ri ironworks in Ulsan County, which produced the most among the ironworks recorded in the Geography of the Annals of King Sejong.
‘The Dalcheon-ri ironworks produced about 12,500 geun a year, if I remember correctly.’
“And we plan to establish ten more ironworks of this size throughout Joseon. As the state’s finances improve, we intend to expand the scale of the ironworks even further.”
“That’s possible... No, if that is what our Ironworks Commissioner says, it must be true.”
If I increased iron production this way, His Majesty King Sejong would be delighted.
“I will soon hand over all ironworks-related affairs to the newly appointed Ironworks Commissioner and leave for Hanyang.”
I heard that the new Ironworks Commissioner would be Jeong Inji.
From what I heard, he had applied for this post because he thought that once I returned, I would likely be sent to the Hall of Worthies until I became chief secretary of a Seongjeolsa mission and departed for Ming...
Could King Sejong really do that?
“I will never forget the help you have given us, Magistrate. And I will show you around inside the ironworks, so please follow me.”
And after the Magistrate of Jeryeong finished touring the ironworks under my guidance that day, he looked at me and said one thing.
"Jeryeong County is going to become a very busy place... Work will be piling up like a mountain."