Daebung-Style Printing Press (4)

A company has various departments, such as planning, human resources, accounting, sales, production, purchasing, and public relations.

Although their work differs, they all cooperate toward the common goal of generating profits for the company.

Likewise, to mass-produce paper and print books in large quantities, the Ministry of Works cannot get anywhere by simply running itself ragged.

Above all, the cooperation of the Ministry of Taxation, which handled the court budget, was absolutely essential.

“To keep the worker drones running, we have to supply them with fuel called a budget, along with raw materials.”

Jang Yeong-sil, Joseon’s greatest machine tool—or rather, human 3D printer—also needed raw materials to build new machines.

And, of course, a budget was needed to purchase those raw materials.

Therefore, the Ministry of Taxation’s cooperation was essential for mass-producing paper.

Next, we also had to obtain the cooperation of the other departments, including the Ministries of Rites and Personnel.

“Thanks to the Lord Chief State Councillor and the other two elders, I was suddenly promoted to a dangsanggwan and felt absolutely miserable. But after changing my mind and sharing with every official, myself included, the happiness of working hard for the dynasty and state, I’ve gradually started feeling better. I’m in a very good mood today, too.”

So this was why the elders said that sharing misfortune made it smaller.

No, perhaps it wasn’t because I had shared my misfortune. Maybe my happiness was doubling, tripling, and so on because I was sharing the joy of working for the young people of Joseon.

And since my father-in-law, who had contributed greatly to giving me the opportunity to serve the dynasty and state with utmost loyalty, was at the Ministry of Taxation...

I would have to take especially good care of the Ministry of Taxation.

The thought of sharing happiness made me hum a tune without even realizing it.

When I arrived at the Ministry of Taxation, the first person I saw was my father-in-law, who had been promoted to senior sixth rank and become a cham-sanggwan.

“Father-in-law, are you enjoying your work at the Ministry of Taxation?”

“Since I’ve been told that we need to give the Ministry of Works as much of the budget as possible, I’m trying to figure out where to cut it from.”

“I see. In Joseon, the land of Confucian learning, encouraging scholarship is the same as strengthening the foundation of the nation, is it not? You should grant the Ministry of Works’ requests as fully as possible.”

“Things have already become so busy lately that all the officials at the Ministry of Taxation have been eating delivery lunchboxes from Manduk Lunchboxes instead of the five- or seven-dish meals their household slaves bring them for lunch. Now people are even saying that they will have to eat rice balls while working to save the time it takes to eat lunch.”

As the number of wage laborers in Hanyang increased, so did the demand for dining out.

Having recognized that trend, I suggested to my father-in-law that he make rice balls and lunchboxes, and he created Manduk Lunchboxes and Manduk Rice Balls.

The convenience-food business he started in response to the changing times naturally became a huge success.

“Isn’t all this for the sake of the country?”

Kim Manduk asked while carefully studying my face.

“You’re not dumping an avalanche of work on the court because you’re angry that I had you promoted to a dangsanggwan, are you?”

“Anyone who heard that would think I was a very bad person, Father-in-law. I’m simply working hard at what needs to be done because I want to serve the dynasty and state and the people of Joseon. His Majesty also recognized my sincerity, which is why he has me pushing so actively for the mass distribution of books.”

I was not that petty.

I was simply making every effort to pursue the things I believed I had to do now that I was in a position to work more proactively than before.

Bluntly put, this was compulsory education for all the people of Joseon. How could I possibly hold myself back?

Just thinking about it made my chest swell as grandly as the Manchurian plains.

“Where is the Minister of Taxation now?”

“He’s inside, over there.”

When I looked in the direction Kim Manduk indicated, I saw Minister of Taxation Jo Gye-saeng personally chewing out the cham-sanggwan officials of his ministry.

“Why on earth are you saying that you’ll build the papermaking factory in Yongsan?”

“Well, Yongsan is the most convenient place to build a factory...”

“Wouldn’t it be much better to build the papermaking factory in a place like Yangju or Yanggu, where the Han River flows and timber is plentiful? Land is much cheaper there, too. Just as Deputy Director Kim built a city around Jeryeong, if we built the papermaking factory on some vacant land in that area, we could provide jobs for nearly a thousand local people. Shouldn’t you be thinking properly while you work?”

“My apologies.”

“Look for the factory site again, and review the budget proposal from the beginning. His Majesty is eagerly waiting for the papermaking factory to be built quickly so that books can be mass-printed, so you must hurry.”

“I’ll bear it in mind.”

Jo Gye-saeng motioned for the cham-sanggwan officials to leave, then greeted me.

“Deputy Director Kim, congratulations on becoming a dangsanggwan.”

“Thank you, Minister.”

“Now you can finally display your abilities properly. From now on, contribute even more to the dynasty and state, like a Daebung spreading its wings. In doing so, you should raise the names of your family and parents and leave a fine name in the annals. That must be the greatest happiness a scholar can possess, must it not?”

“That is why, in my capacity as Deputy Director of the Hall of Worthies, I brought a few documents outlining what the Ministry of Taxation needs to assist with.”

At my signal, the Hall of Worthies’ biological AI—or rather, the government slave Dolsoe—placed the pile of documents I had organized on the Minister of Taxation’s desk.

Jo Gye-saeng’s eyes trembled when he saw it.

“What are all these piles of documents?”

“At present, the artisans of the Gongyasa, including Hogun Jang (Jang Yeong-sil), are working in perfect unity to design the machinery needed for a new type of papermaking factory. But simply making a huge amount of paper does not turn it into books, does it? Something has to be written on it—sayings of the sages, history, medical knowledge, anything—for it to become a book.”

“That’s true.”

“And we need to make type in order to print books.”

To print books, we had to make a wooden or metal forme bearing type.

Only after applying ink to it and stamping the letters onto paper would it finally become a book.

“Making type costs a fair amount of money.”

Jo Gye-saeng swallowed hard when he heard that a budget was needed.

“At the very least, the Four Books and Three Classics—or rather, the Thirteen Classics—are the foundational scriptures of Confucian learning, so shouldn’t we make them as quickly as possible?”

“You intend to print all thirteen classics...?”

“In any case, several times more money than the initial investment will eventually return to the court budget.”

A single copy of the Mencius currently cost roughly twelve seom of polished rice.

But once Joseon had completely established a mass-printing system, we would probably be able to lower the production cost of one copy of the Mencius to about one seom.

Of course, its paper quality would be much worse than that of a twelve-seom book...

But let’s say we sold it for about three seom of polished rice.

The court would be making a profit of two seom per book, so what an enormous and profitable business it would be.

"If you intend to print all of them, the cost of making the type alone will require at least tens of thousands of seom of polished rice."

"With copper now being imported from Japan, the price of copper in Joseon has fallen by one-tenth (10%) from what it was before."

"That’s true."

In the middle of the conversation, I excused myself and called my father-in-law over.

"Father-in-law, if you went to Japan and bought copper there, how much cheaper do you think you could acquire it than the current market price?"

"Even if Japanese merchants overcharged me, I could buy it for about half the current price in Joseon. If someone well versed in copper prices went on behalf of the court and made the purchase, we could cut another thirty percent—no, perhaps as much as twenty-five percent—from that half-price figure."

Even in the twenty-first century, when logistics were highly developed, imported fruit—or, for that matter, petroleum, which was imported so steadily and in such enormous quantities—had an enormous price difference between its place of origin and Korea.

In Saudi Arabia, a liter of oil cost less than 300 won, while in Korea it cost more than 1,600 won.

But in an era when even cargo ships did not have a carrying capacity of more than 1,000 tons, how much greater would the difference have been between the price at the source and the price of imported goods?

Jo Gye-saeng’s ears perked up as he listened to our conversation.

"So you’re saying that if merchants step in, they can negotiate terms that are that much more favorable. In that case, it would also be a great help if people who understand commerce drew up the budget for the labor costs and materials needed to make the machinery."

"Isn’t that obvious?"

Joseon commerce was, when you got right down to it, a sector so rife with chaos that it made Yongsan Electronics Market look cute.

If you bought something without knowing the market price, you were liable to be hit with an absurd markup, and merchants were the sort of people who would cheat you no matter who their customer was—even if it was the king.

Therefore, if a group of expert merchants directly handled the court’s purchases, we could greatly reduce its budget expenditures.

"Minister of Taxation, that is what he says. Therefore, please entrust the task of drawing up the budget for supporting the Ministry of Works to the officials from merchant backgrounds whom His Majesty specially appointed last time."

"We’ll do that. Then let’s assign the accountant (a department directly under the Ministry of Taxation, equivalent to a bureau in a central ministry) to your father-in-law..."

"The Hall of Worthies will have to coordinate the budget for building the factory, and I need my father-in-law’s wisdom for that. So, although I know this may run afoul of the sangpije rule..."

The Minister of Taxation immediately accepted my request.

"I’ll permit him to be sent to the Hall of Worthies for the time being to help with your work. I have known Deputy Director Kim’s incorruptibility for a long time, so I see no need to be bound by some regulation saying that relatives cannot work in the same department."

"Thank you, Minister."

Hearing Jo Gye-saeng’s words, my father-in-law’s complexion rapidly darkened. He looked at Jo Gye-saeng and pleaded with him.

"No, the sangpije is a strict law of the court and must be observed without fail! Minister, please withdraw that order! Stop, Minister!"

"Isn’t this all for the sake of the country? Go to the Hall of Worthies for a while and work hard for king and country before you come back."

I took my father-in-law from the Minister of Taxation and returned to the Hall of Worthies in high spirits.

Watching our backs, Jo Gye-saeng muttered to himself.

"You reap what you sow... You hateful bastard, go work overtime..."

The officials of the Ministry of Taxation also watched my father-in-law being dragged to the Hall of Worthies with satisfied smiles.

After that, I toured the Ministries of Personnel, Rites, War, and Justice and succeeded in securing their cooperation as well.

Before long, construction began on a gigantic papermaking factory near Yanggu County, my hometown.