Joseon Ironworks (7)

The foundation of industry is iron.

Joseon, despite being quite ignorant of commerce, knew this fact very well, but practical circumstances had prevented it from producing much iron.

All the kings of Joseon, including Taejo Yi Seong-gye, Jeongjong, Yi Bang-won, and Sejong, had considered this a great regret, however.

But that was all a thing of the past.

"To think that the ironworks we built in Jeryeong can now produce 50,000 geun of steel (refined iron) and 100,000 geun of wrought iron (pig iron) every year. This is a great joy for the state."

The amount of iron produced at the ironworks Kim Dae-bung had built in Jeryeong in only a few months exceeded twelve times the amount produced at the place known until then as Joseon's largest ironworks (a place responsible for producing iron).

Even the memorial Kim Dae-bung submitted said this could be doubled next year, and if ironworks like this were established in various places throughout the country....

He had sent up a very hopeful memorial, saying that producing more than two million geun of iron every year was no mere dream.

At that level of iron production, if only the manufacturing capacity of the workshops around Hanyang, including the Military Supplies Office, could keep up, we should be able to equip every soldier with at least a breastplate.

Those who mainly engaged in close combat, such as shield bearers and long-spearmen, could even be given full-body armor...