The Commercial City of Hanyang (2)

By the most generous description, Hanyang is currently undergoing rapid growth. Put less charitably, its size is expanding rapidly without any plan whatsoever.

When I was first appointed to office, Hanyang had a population of roughly one hundred thousand.

But Hanyang's population has now surpassed one hundred and forty thousand.

By the Western calendar, I began my career in government in 1422.

It is autumn of 1427 now, so Hanyang's population has increased by forty percent in a mere five years.

No, come to think of it, the population only began increasing in earnest two or three years ago.

“This is insane, absolutely insane. It's not as though people are being stamped out in a factory.”

Every time I thought about it, my head began to throb.

The one fortunate thing was that although the population was increasing at a mad pace, not a single epidemic had broken out, thanks to my expanding the Chitogun sanitation corps and having them diligently collect night soil and the like.

In this era, it was perfectly normal for an epidemic to kill people by the thousands.

“Still, life has improved considerably now that the population has grown and commerce has developed along with it.”

Several restaurants had sprung up near Six Ministries Street, while shops selling gukbap and all sorts of other dishes had increased throughout the rest of the city as well.

Government officials considered eating food from outside in front of others undignified, so they had whatever food they wanted delivered to their homes.

But members of the jungin class, such as clerks and military guards, had no qualms about buying food from restaurants, and they ordered deliveries frequently as well.

Places like Noryangjin, Yongsan, and Gwangjin had even acquired something resembling workers' mess halls.

“Shall we eat a bowl of rice here today?”

Until just a year ago, dining out in Hanyang had essentially offered no choice beyond gukbap, but these days, the options had become fairly diverse.

There were baekban set meals with mackerel, various grilled fish, or meat side dishes; all kinds of gukbap; and taverns that sold both drinking snacks and alcohol, among other things.

Seeing all this naturally made me wonder whether I could open a sashimi restaurant in Hanyang if I put in a little effort, or perhaps make and sell Chinese food.

Taking it a step further, I even found myself thinking that once Hunminjeongeum was created, I should increase the production of cheap paper, advance printing technology, and sell books containing all sorts of recipes.

“Gapseok.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“I’ll have the mackerel baekban. What will you order?”

“May I have the same, my lord?”

“Very well, then order two mackerel baekban meals. And a bowl of takbaegi each.”

In Joseon, makgeolli was treated as a beverage rather than as alcohol.

Thus, when the government issued a ban on alcohol, ijangju (twice-fermented makgeolli), samyangju (thrice-fermented makgeolli), soju, and various premium liquors were prohibited, but...

Unless some great famine occurred, they generally did not go so far as to ban the brewing of makgeolli as well.

Ah, of course, the dreadful era of King Yeongjo was an exception—the king declared a ban on alcohol while drinking songjeolcha that reeked of alcohol and was unusually fond of horsehair crabs and dried persimmons.

"Thank you, my lord."

"The saddest thing in the world is being hungry and having to sit there watching someone else eat, wouldn't you agree?"

In fact, I hear that during special forces training, instructors and assistants sometimes grill samgyeopsal and eat it while hungry, exhausted trainees are made to watch, all to strengthen the trainees' mental fortitude.

Although the act was planned as mental conditioning, special forces veterans unanimously say that it was truly the most painful moment of their training.

I had to feed Gapseok on time while making him work. If I merely made him watch while I ate alone... that would be something no human being should do.

If I made him miserable over something like that, I might end up taking a bamboo spear in the back someday.

The mackerel baekban arrived not long afterward.

In Joseon, dining with people of a different social status—or, for that matter, sharing a table at all—was socially forbidden, so the two of us were served separate meals.

"Thank you for buying me such precious food, my lord."

"Grilled mackerel may once have been terribly expensive in Hanyang, but now icehouses have been built all along the route from Incheon to Hanyang, making fish easy to transport. Surely it is no longer such a precious food, is it?"

Until water transport became active, fresh fish in Hanyang was, with only a slight exaggeration, a precious food on par with medicine.

Salted and cured mackerel was not quite as precious as medicine, but it was still more valuable than ordinary pork because transporting it was so difficult.

But now, thanks to the icehouses, maintaining its freshness was no longer difficult, and it had become something even Hanyang's commoners could buy if they made up their minds to do so.

"Let's eat before it gets cold."

I said that and was about to lift my spoon when a strange smell wafted from the rice and side dishes.

It was a slightly sour smell, different from that of vinegar.

"This smells strange."

Yet everyone eating there was carrying on with their meals as though nothing was wrong.

Could it be that only the food I had been served smelled this way?

"Gapseok."

"Yes, my lord."

"Does the food you're eating smell sour to you?"

Gapseok cocked his head when he heard me.

"The food certainly isn't especially fresh, but... I think it's fine at this level."

"...... I see."

"You always eat only the finest food, my lord, so I suppose you're not used to food with a slightly sour smell like this. I can eat something at this level without any problem."

I was born with a golden spoon in my mouth, so I had never eaten rotten food, much less rice that had gone sour.

And as soon as I learned to speak, I made a request of my father.

I asked him to make sure that even the lowliest servants were never made to eat stale rice or sour-tasting makgeolli.

Because if I got food poisoning after eating that sort of thing, it could easily become a matter of life and death.

'If food poisoning causes dehydration, you're simply dead.'

Koreans had indeed eaten whatever was available since childhood, without being picky, and considered slightly questionable food perfectly acceptable, so perhaps their stomachs were stronger and their immunity higher, allowing them to eat food that had gone a little bad without trouble, but...

What would happen down the road if the food-service industry did not think twice about serving food like this?

It was horrifying just to imagine.

"Let's get up."

"My lord, wouldn't it be wasteful to leave all this food?"

"What if you get an upset stomach from eating this? You could even die. You're going to be a grandfather soon, so how bitter would it be to die from eating sour food like this without ever seeing your grandchild's face?"

Just seeing our Jangsaeng's face made me smile, and merely thinking about how he grew a little more every day put me in a good mood.

How wonderful would it be if that tiny Jangsaeng grew up, married, and showed me my grandson or granddaughter?

My heart began to pound just imagining it.

That was how much I looked forward to it: if King Yama grabbed me and asked whether I would rather resign upon reaching retirement age without ever seeing my grandchildren, or suffer a Jo Mal-saeng in exchange for seeing them...

'Even if it means suffering a Jo Mal-saeng, I have to see my grandchildren.'

After forcing him to his feet, I took a sip of the makgeolli in my cup before we left.

The makgeolli tasted sour and bitter, and even smelled sour. Taking everything together, it seemed it would soon begin to rot.

"...... There can't be only one or two taverns or eateries like this."

And yet, the reason Hanyang had not suffered a food-poisoning crisis was probably that people did not regard it as a serious matter.

In the Middle Ages, getting food poisoning after eating food that had gone slightly stale like this must have been extremely common.

Well, what's done is done, but...

From now on, I absolutely had to prevent people from eating spoiled food and dying of food poisoning because government offices had failed to supervise and manage such hygiene issues.

"Gapseok, let's go."

"You must be hungry, my lord. Are you sure?"

"I don't think hunger is the issue right now."

Hanyang was now seeing a rapid increase not only in day laborers, but also in the number of single men working regular jobs for merchant guilds or in workshops.

Accordingly, meals served in the form of street-food stalls would increase, and the number of restaurants would continue to grow as well...

What if the number of people running restaurants without observing even the most basic standards increased exponentially like this?

An epidemic of diarrhea could sweep through Hanyang, leaving hundreds or even thousands of people mourning their dead all at once.

"After I report for duty at Hanseongbu, go home and eat. On the way back, buy about ten chickens. Eat two of them yourself."

In Korea, people often say one chicken per person, but Joseon people ate far more than twenty-first-century Koreans.

So he would need two chickens and an additional bowl of rice to fill his stomach.

"Thank you, my lord."

Then I hurried to report for duty at Hanseongbu.

I had to solve this food-poisoning problem as quickly as possible.

**

Shortly before Kim Daebung reported for duty, Yi Ye, the newly appointed Hanseongbu magistrate and a foreign-relations expert, was taking care of his work at a leisurely pace.

His work had piled up like a mountain, but he had no great worries weighing on his heart.

"Minister of Rites told me that once Kim Seoyun arrives, I can leave all the difficult or complicated work to him."

Yi Ye himself was a living 'legend of diplomacy' renowned throughout Joseon, having traveled back and forth between Wae and Ryukyu (Okinawa) many times...

He had never even taken the civil service examination, however, and was merely a former clerk.

Therefore, the court appointed him Hanseong Pan-yun as a stepping-stone, since he would need a 'higher rank' before he could be placed in charge once diplomatic affairs involving Wae became important....

In other words, Yi Ye's appointment as Hanseong Pan-yun was merely a position he was meant to pass through.

"My lord, Kim Seoyun has reported for duty."

"Ah, has Kim Seoyun already arrived? Heh heh. Now that Director Kim is here, Hanseongbu can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Heh heh. Good to see you."

His happy little circuits were whirring at the thought of dumping the complicated work on Kim Daebung, so he had no inkling that Kim Daebung was about to grind his teeth and turn Hanyang's food hygiene upside down.

Thus, he greeted the good subordinate who would take over his work with the utmost cordiality.

"I'm glad I can work with you, Kim Seoyun. Come, I'll personally show you what sort of work you need to handle at Hanseongbu. Follow me."

But Kim Daebung shook his head and said firmly.

"My lord, if things continue like this, countless people in Hanyang will die of diarrhea."