Chapter 171
Humanities majors suffer from a bad habit.
More specifically, it is the habit of thinking that anyone who studied the sciences—especially engineering—can make anything as long as they have a solid idea.
Even while acknowledging that they are not gods and have limits, somewhere deep down they mistakenly believe that, because they are engineers, they can make something like this with just a little effort.
One of my classmates even thought that anyone studying computer science naturally knew how to repair a computer motherboard.
I am not quite that bad, but... honestly, whenever I look at Jang Yeong-sil, I cannot help thinking that he could make anything.
"Couldn't he make a steam engine, at least?"
If I merely supplied him with rubber and worked him hard, I feel like he could produce a steam engine within ten years.
This is a truly bad habit of humanities students, but the real problem is that we cannot fix it even when we know about it.
"Military Officer Jang, have you been well?"
Jang Yeong-sil greeted me with a face that was clearly worn out from work.
"I have been well, thanks to the special consideration of the Minister of Works."
"I'm glad to hear it."
When I first met Jang Yeong-sil, he had terrible dark circles under his eyes from exhaustion caused by working overtime...
But these days, thanks to His Majesty King Sejong's slogan, "Working overtime is filial impiety," Jang Yeong-sil was always guaranteed to leave work on time.
Perhaps thanks to that, there was not a trace of dark circles on his face, and he looked very healthy as well.
However, the disappearance of overtime did not mean that his workload had decreased...
'He must have no choice but to throw himself into his work during working hours if he wants to leave on time.'
"These days, thanks to His Majesty's grace, all officials have to leave the office on time unless something extremely urgent comes up, so even I have somehow been able to sleep about three and a half shijin (7 hours) a day."
In my experience, science students—especially engineering students—often failed to get even three or four hours of sleep a day in severe cases.
However, after King Sejong was caught by Yi Bang-won and forced to exercise, His Majesty said that since even I did not work overtime, his subjects should not either, and thanks to that, the artisans benefited as well.
"And thanks to you, my lord, I have accomplished quite a lot, have I not? So now no one looks down on me anymore for having once been a government slave."
"I merely thought of useful devices; was it not Military Officer Jang who actually made them? If you had not made those things for me, Joseon would not have developed as it has. That is why I am deeply grateful to you, Military Officer Jang."
Even without Jang Yeong-sil, I would have managed to create things such as blast furnaces, reverberatory furnaces, and matchlocks.
However, it would have taken several times longer to make them, and I would have had to go through far more trial and error.
Moreover, the quality of the finished products after going through the entire process would have been far lower than it was with Jang Yeong-sil.
"I am so humbled by your saying that I do not know what to do with myself. But I know better than anyone that none of this was possible through my meager talents alone. It is all thanks to you, my lord. I am truly grateful. Ah, and please come this way for a moment."
Jang Yeong-sil led me to a warehouse in a corner of the Ministry of Works' offices.
The warehouse was piled high with all sorts of machines and tools, but two machines among them immediately seized my attention.
“Have you already made a cotton gin and a spinning machine?”
“Since these two machines do not have particularly complicated structures, they were not too difficult to make. This morning, I wrote a report to the Minister of Works explaining how to make these machines and what they were used for. He was extremely pleased and said that, once he received the budget from the Minister of Revenue, he would mobilize the Seongonggam and the artisans of the Gongyasa to begin mass production.”
“If obtaining the budget proves difficult, tell me. I will help as much as I can.”
“I do not think it would be necessary for someone as busy as you, Lord Seoyun, to help with something like that. I am deeply grateful for the thought alone.”
Even just having a cotton gin and a spinning machine would make producing cotton cloth much easier.
The reason clothes were so damn expensive in this era was that weaving cloth required an enormous amount of labor...
If the cotton gin handled removing the seeds from cotton—the main material of cloth—and the spinning machine handled spinning thread from it, the labor required to make fabric would be greatly reduced.
That meant the labor needed would decrease by that much, making production easier as well.
It was a shame that he still had not created a weaving machine (loom) for turning thread into cloth, but Jang Yeong-sil had made the cotton gin and spinning machine far faster than I had expected.
As expected of Jang Yeong-sil.
He was like a genie in a magic lamp who could produce anything on demand when entrusted with a task.
‘If only the shuttle (flying shuttle) were introduced, the production cost of clothing would plummet.’
“Enough with the small talk. The actual reason I came to find you today, Military Officer Jang, is that there is something I would really like you to make.”
“Yes...?”
Jang Yeong-sil opened his eyes wide, then tilted his head.
Then he lowered his eyes to avoid my gaze.
“I am sorry, my lord. I have so much work to do at the moment that it is difficult to start another new task. I am having trouble because I have not yet made the shuttle, a key component of the loom, and need to focus on solving that as soon as possible. I also need to resolve the issue of improving the farming tools...”
A supervisor from a humanities background could never imitate the manual dexterity of those trained in engineering, and it was difficult even to understand their technical abilities.
However, by looking at an artisan's tone of voice and body language, I could roughly tell whether he could take on a little more work.
If Jang Yeong-sil had truly been so pressed by urgent work that he had no time to spare, he would have waved both hands and shaken his head from side to side as he refused...
Judging from the way he was vaguely hedging, I thought he could probably draw up the blueprints needed to build the one public bathhouse I was commissioning in four or five days.
“Military Officer Jang, what kind of relationship do you and I have?”
“You are like a benefactor to me. But I have a mountain of work to do, my lord...”
“If you would just put in a little more effort, you could benefit countless people. Think of it as work for the sake of the poor and ignorant people, and at least take a look at the blueprints I brought.”
“...Then I will only look over the blueprints.”
As I had expected, he definitely had some time to spare for handling another task.
Otherwise, even when I said he only had to look at the blueprints, he would have shaken his head and said it was impossible even if the sky split in two.
“Here, take a look at these blueprints.”
“There is a very large water tank, and two water tubs smaller than the tank.”
“We will draw river water or well water and put it in one of the tubs, while the other tub will continuously boil the water placed in it. Then we will make holes in the bottoms of both tubs so that the water can flow into the large tank.”
“The construction itself does not look particularly difficult. However, we will need a way to control the amount of cold and hot water entering the tank. Otherwise, the water in the tank will be too cold or too hot.”
Jang Yeong-sil immediately brought over another sheet of paper and copied the tub of cold water, the tub of hot water, and the tank from the rough blueprint I had drawn.
He then drew a faucet-like device at the holes where the water flowed out, but erased it and replaced it with a board that could be opened by pulling it.
“I wanted to apply the kind of screw used in matchlocks so that we could control the amount of water flowing out by simply turning it. However, that would make the structure too complicated. So I think it would be better to adjust the amount of hot and cold water entering by pulling this board by hand.”
“As expected of you, Military Officer Jang. That would certainly be more convenient.”
“Also, if water is left standing in a tank where several people enter to wash themselves, they will end up making themselves even dirtier by going there to bathe. Therefore, it would be best to make a hole beneath the tank so that the dirty water can drain out.”
"Then the water would flow into the nearby river—or no, first we should build a settling basin beside the bathhouse to collect the water used for bathing. We can lower the water's temperature there and let the dirt mixed into it settle, then send it through a channel to a nearby river or stream."
In fact, books and articles about saving water often said that bathwater left over after bathing could be put in a washing machine and reused.
Therefore, releasing used water straight into the Han River or a nearby stream would not cause any major problems, but...
Still, you never know what might happen. If we let the water used for Joseon people's baths flow straight into the river without passing through a settling basin, I could not be certain that water pollution would never become a problem...
“But heating the bathwater will require a great deal of firewood...”
“Coal is being mined in coal mines throughout the eight provinces, is it not? I intend to have us use that.”
When people hear the word coal, they easily associate it with London's smog and think of it as the culprit behind massive air pollution...
That idea was half right and half wrong.
It was true that burning coal caused air pollution, but the phenomenon known as “London smog” occurred because, after the Industrial Revolution, people ran enormous numbers of steam engines that devoured coal like monsters in confined spaces...
If it was used merely as a substitute for firewood, as it was now, air quality would worsen somewhat, but the problem would not grow into anything serious.
“That is an excellent idea. But will people actually want to bathe?”
They would be asked to do something they had never done before: ‘You must pay to bathe.’
If things were done that way, the people would not come to the public bathhouses to bathe.
However, it was not as though there was no solution.
"I will take care of that, so you only need to make what I ordered."
"Yes, my lord."
"Since these will need to be installed throughout Hanyang, once you have finished all the blueprints, hand them to Assistant Director Jeong of the Ironworks Office (Jeong Bun), and tell him to come find me at Hanseongbu."
Jang Yeong-sil was an expert in design, while Jeong Bun was an expert in civil engineering.
Therefore, it would be more efficient to leave the construction of the bathhouses to Jeong Bun.
Now that I was going to have bathhouses built as well, I intended to begin spreading the importance of hygiene among the people in earnest.
"By borrowing the power of music and performances."
And while I was at it, it would be good to make and sell various foods as well.
Things like rice balls, ttukbaegi bulgogi, and seolleongtang.