Chapter 187
The compilation of the new geographical gazetteer and the introduction and implementation of the myeon-ri system are progressing at a rapid pace, as if sailing with the wind at their backs.
That is because I personally went to Jinhae and demonstrated an appropriate example of how to implement it, making it relatively easy to resolve any difficulties that arose during the process.
“The work is hard, but since we aren't working overtime, it's still manageable...”
Last time, when we went on an expedition to subjugate that bastard Yi Man-ju, who had tormented Joseon from beyond the Pajŏ River, there was so much work to do calculating the amount of supplies the expeditionary force would consume and arranging their transport according to constantly changing circumstances.
Consequently, all the officials of the court had no choice but to work overtime frequently.
This time, however, the work was not the sort of thing that had to be handled with such urgency, so there was no need to work overtime.
So I did not feel that it was unbearably difficult.
A few officials were even setting aside their yangban dignity and wolfing down their meals to save time, but since they were spared the overtime that exhausted people the most, everyone was holding up well.
Come to think of it, what if we made and sold rice balls or triangle kimbap for those who did not have much time to eat?
‘The yangban may not buy them, but low-level clerks and the like would buy a great many.’
I might even go and get some myself from time to time.
“Let's see. Icheon's specialties are strawberries, peaches, pottery, astragalus root, and cornelian cherries. In that case, it might also be a good idea to encourage the people of Icheon to plant fruit trees, such as peach trees, around their homes so they could harvest the fruit and supplement their income.”
If I instructed the magistrate of Icheon to encourage people to plant fruit trees in their yards or on scraps of unused land, it would certainly help supplement the household incomes of Icheon's people.
In Jeju during the 1960s and 1970s, even a single tangerine tree in a home's yard was said to be enough to put a child through university, so people sometimes called tangerine trees “university trees.” They would surely be a great help in Icheon as well.
‘It should help improve their standard of living and economic strength.’
“I don't think we need to go so far as to offer merchants tax reductions or deductions to encourage specialty production.”
If we told them that their taxes would be reduced by as much as they invested in specialty production, merchants, whose hearts were always filled with the desire to pursue profit, would certainly act like this.
If the taxes they would have to pay next year amounted to roughly three hundred seok of polished rice, they would buy land worth that amount and invest in whatever was necessary for specialty production.
After all, investing for the future would benefit them more than paying it in taxes.
‘If left idle, it is money that would be stripped away as taxes, but if invested, it will return later as an even greater profit.’
And what is more, there is nothing inherently bad about this system.
In exchange for reducing taxes, it would encourage them to expand the scale of their businesses, thereby increasing the income of the country as a whole from a macroeconomic perspective.
However, I did not think Joseon needed to offer merchants tax reductions to increase specialty production at this point.
Once we distributed the geographical gazetteer, which would soon be completed, to the merchants, they would easily be able to tell what to buy in each region and what they could profitably sell.
The production and distribution of local specialties would increase dramatically.
“With specialty production increasing, and with us finally collecting taxes from the merchants properly starting next year, the court's budget will grow even larger... Above all, let us use that increased budget to reform the military-service system.”
Since I had finished the work I needed to handle immediately, I would now have to use my spare time to draft a conscription system suited to Joseon's actual circumstances.
Given Joseon's current productive capacity and budget, we should at least be able to imitate the Roman army.
Just as I was about to draw up a plan for reforming Joseon's military-service system with the Roman army as a reference, the Minister of Taxation suddenly appeared at Jiphyeonjeon and hurried over to me.
"Kim Eung-gyo, have you heard the news?"
"What news?"
Historically speaking, this was not a period when any particularly serious problems had arisen in China, Japan, or Joseon...
What on earth had happened for the Minister of Taxation to come running breathlessly all the way to Jiphyeonjeon to find me?
However, when I heard the next words from the Minister of Taxation, Jo Gye-saeng, the concern that had briefly arisen in my mind vanished like melting snow.
"A silver mine has been discovered in Dancheon. And quite a large one, at that."
"Joseon does have silver mines, but there haven't been any large ones yet, have there?"
"That's right."
When Joseon was founded, the Ming bastards caused an uproar in every way imaginable, demanding that we hand over silver. Since the amount mined was so small that the court could not provide all the silver they demanded, it even took the drastic measure of closing the gold and silver mines entirely.
Later, when the silver-separation method was developed, the silver mine discovered in Dancheon was quite large, and it was possible to mine around five thousand nyang (2 kg) of silver there every year.
Although mining output would later increase greatly once the seoljeom-suse system—in which mine operations were entrusted to wealthy merchant magnates, or chaebol in modern terms—was fully implemented...
‘That is a story for the future. What matters now is that we found the Dancheon silver mine earlier than in the original history.’
"From what I hear, they discovered this silver mine while searching for their town's specialties and mines as part of the investigation for publishing the geographical gazetteer. In the past, they would never even have dreamed of mining silver, and even if they had decided to mine it, they would have used forced labor to mobilize the people nearby. If we rely on forced labor, could the people mine properly?"
As commerce flourished and capitalist ideas gradually took root, Joseon's social climate changed greatly.
In the past, the prevailing attitude had been that if something could be done by working the people for free, then they should be worked for free.
Thanks to this change, projects such as reservoir construction being carried out in districts throughout the eight provinces had changed.
Previously, although the people acknowledged that such projects were necessary, they regarded them as terrible labor they were forced to perform because there was no other choice...
Now, people said that as long as they were not ordered to work during the busy farming season, some of them even waited for the opportunity to be assigned such work.
‘The agricultural off-season is relatively idle, but there is nowhere to earn money, so naturally, if they can make money by working on reservoir construction during that time, they will try to do so.’
As a result, when I visited Jinhae County not long ago, I saw that so many reservoirs had been built that there was enough water for double-cropping.
"According to the investigation conducted for the geographical gazetteer, there are many people in the districts near Dancheon who have been unable to find proper work. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we paid them fair wages and hired them as miners?"
"The court's coffers will be filled, and the people will also be given a livelihood (a job), so it would benefit both sides."
"So whenever mines are discovered in the future, shouldn't we do things this way so that everyone can benefit? Now, using the Dancheon geographical gazetteer as a reference, draft a plan for how Kim Eung-gyo should develop the area around the Dancheon silver mine."
"Isn't that something the Ministry of Taxation or the magistrate of Dancheon should handle?"
"The magistrate of Dancheon is already being worked to the bone and working overtime every day. The people have said they will catch herring and other fish, make them into gwamegi, and sell them, while also working hard to develop and cultivate various local specialties so they can afford to eat white rice. How could I hand a task that would be very simple for you to someone who would not have enough time even if he had two bodies?"
Hamgyong and Pyeongan were extremely poor regions.
They could make money by selling tiger skins, but tigers were not animals that could be caught every day...
Although the terrain there was so harsh that men and women alike were tough enough to take on a hundred men apiece if they were soldiers, only a very small number of people made their living as hunters.
In other words, most ordinary people were farmers or fishermen who made their living in the harsh regions of Hamgyong and Pyeongan.
Their harvests could not help but be small, so how difficult must their lives have been?
Yet now that commerce was flourishing, rumors had begun circulating that people would no longer need to worry about starving if they sold plenty of local specialties...
So the people there had no choice but to devote themselves to developing local specialties.
"I understand. It is good that the people are working hard, but... I am a little worried about whether the work will actually proceed properly."
"In Dancheon, the development of gwamegi is being led by yangban serving as myeonjangs and ijangs. I hear they are spending their own fortunes to hire people skilled in fishing, so it will probably succeed."
This was truly a variable I had never anticipated.
When I created the myeon-ri system, I wanted to narrow the distance between the yangban and the people in the same region.
Even so, I had thought it would take quite a long time before they became partners in cooperation on some project...
A yangban-led enterprise like that had already begun...
"It certainly is an admirable and commendable thing, but I do not quite understand how something like this happened."
"After you first implemented the myeon-ri system in Jinhae County, didn't you recommend several people who had comforted the people and worked hard to cooperate with the survey? And two of them, though they only received minor posts, entered government service."
"Yes, my lord."
Kim Namjo, the most powerful man among the yangban of Jinhae County, had made a major contribution to compiling the geographical gazetteer and was highly respected among the people.
I reported to the court that it would also need talented people like him and recommended him for appointment...
He was now a scholar at Jiphyeonjeon, serving the king and showing loyalty to his country.
"According to the magistrate of Dancheon, they are working extremely hard because they believe that if they distinguish themselves, they too will be able to enter government service."
Pyeongan and Hamgyong were the two regions with the lowest proportions of successful candidates in the civil service examinations among Joseon's eight provinces.
Throughout Joseon's history, Pyeongan's successful candidates had accounted for only 2 percent of the total, while Hamgyong's accounted for just over 1 percent.
Given that they were yangban from Pyeongan and Hamgyong, they seemed desperate not to miss this opportunity to enter government service.
"As it happens, Joseon currently needs many officials who can understand and comfort the people. If they produce good results, we should ask the magistrate of Dancheon to recommend capable ones among them."
Suffering is halved when shared.
Joy is doubled when shared.
Work is no different.
When several people divide up a task, they can finish it more quickly, and the more heads they put together, the richer the ideas they produce, resulting in a much better outcome.
"Even Jiphyeonjeon needs many people who understand the lives of the people and can lead them through moral instruction, so I am truly glad to hear this news."
Sharing in that joy, I adjusted the magistrate of Dancheon's workload to a realistic level and sent him some kind advice on how he could escape working overtime in the future.