Chapter 227
Yi Bang-won issued the court ministers a rather unreasonable order: increase paper production tenfold.
However, although he ordered them to increase production tenfold, he did not pressure them by threatening severe punishment if they failed.
Producing 20,000 sheets of paper every day at the Yanggu Paper Mill was already an astonishing feat, and he was demanding ten times that amount.
It was an exceedingly difficult task, bordering on impossible.
"I ordered them to make ten times as much, but in truth, I expected them to increase production by only two or three times. I never imagined they would actually find a way to fulfill my unreasonable demand... Heh heh, this was not what I expected."
Yi Bang-won had ordered them to produce ten times as much paper in the hope that his officials would devote themselves desperately to increasing production.
If he set an impossible goal of tenfold growth, the ministers would gauge the king's mood and report the level of production that would be possible if the court mobilized all its capabilities...
Then he intended to graciously accept their frank advice, presenting himself as a benevolent king.
Although Kim Daebung had completely shattered that scheme, Yi Bang-won was still pleased.
"Who would have imagined a way to cover the court's budget using rice that had been stored too long and gone rotten? Who other than Kim Daebung could have thought of something like this?"
It was a novel method that neither Yi Bang-won nor any other official in Joseon had ever considered.
Even more astonishing was that he had not stopped at covering the budget; he had also devised a way to use the rotten rice to raise chickens and feed the people well.
"If poultry farms are built throughout Joseon, not only the people but also the soldiers will be able to eat all the chicken they want at a very low price. Now that the state's budget has become so abundant, perhaps with only a little effort, we could even provide the soldiers in the north with one chicken every seven days—a chicken a week."
Unlike in the past, soldiers serving in the cold north were now given twenty seok of polished rice as a lump-sum payment when they completed their three-year term and were discharged.
As a result, many young men who had just reached adulthood began volunteering for service in the north, setting themselves the goal of enduring three years of hardship and earning a lump sum, since they had to perform military service anyway.
They even say that fierce competition had arisen among those seeking posts in the north.
Although people had indeed stopped being reluctant to perform military service in the north, the work remained brutally cold and arduous once their service began.
In truth, the only way to ease those soldiers' hardships was to feed them well.
"And instead of building more paper factories and increasing production ourselves, we are going to purchase paper from merchants to meet demand. What an interesting idea."
This was similar to the principle behind the Bang-won Method that Kim Daebung had introduced.
The state had people pay rice in place of tribute.
In truth, the state needed local specialty products at that point, not rice, so it offered to pay merchants in rice in exchange for procuring those products.
The merchants would then build orchards in order to supply specialty products for profit, and freely build fishing boats to increase their catches.
As a result, the state could obtain specialty products at lower prices, while the merchants, obsessed with money, would increase supply as they distributed all sorts of local products.
Thanks to this, even poor commoners were gradually developing the custom of buying precious foods such as meat and fruit to offer in ancestral rites during major holidays like Chuseok and New Year's Day.
"Naturally, there is no reason to oppose a policy that uses rotten rice to benefit the people."
Yi Bang-won immediately ordered Uijeongbu to actively implement the policy proposed by Kim Daebung.
**
After Kim Daebung's policy was implemented, a considerable change took place in Hanyang.
At the center of that change were Hanyang's sijun merchants, while its benefits went to the ordinary people living in Hanyang.
Naturally, Kim Deoksoe, who worked as a lowly shop hand at Hanyang's rice market, was able to enjoy those benefits as well.
“Mal-dong, how about a drink of makgeolli today?”
“That sounds good, but do you have any rice to buy it with?”
“I brought about two doe. I had a hard time sneaking the rice out without my wife noticing.”
“Then are you buying a chicken today?”
In the past, they could not have told a colleague to buy them a chicken, even as a joke.
That was because a single chicken was so expensive that it cost four doe of rice.
According to Kim Daebung's calculations, a chicken had cost the equivalent of thirty to forty thousand won.
Even though the people's circumstances had improved, chicken was still a precious food they could not afford except on special occasions.
But now, the value of a chicken had fallen considerably compared to before.
It had fallen enough that even Mal-dong and Deoksoe, mere shop hands at a merchant guild, could afford one if they set their minds to it.
“Cut the crap. You lousy bastard, trying to get a chicken out of me for nothing?”
“Chicken prices have gotten cheaper lately, haven't they? So you should buy one.”
“If you want me to treat you to a chicken, you should buy one first and then talk. You shameless bastard.”
Mal-dong and Deoksoe kept bantering back and forth, saying, “If you buy one first, I'll buy one later,” until they reached the tavern.
Once they arrived, they immediately found seats at a low platform table.
“Give us two bowls of dakgomtang and one makgeolli!”
“Do you really like dakgomtang that much, Deoksoe?”
“It's much better than soup rice boiled with soy sauce, doenjang, and vegetables. Dakgomtang is boiled with chicken bones and meat, after all. At least I get a taste of meat for cheap.”
“Aww, you really are a miser.”
At that moment, Deoksoe beckoned the tavern keeper over.
After leaving his hometown for Hanyang, Deoksoe had come to live almost like family with Mal-dong. As he passionately talked about dakgomtang to his friend, who had been unable to eat much meat in the past, he suddenly felt a pang of sympathy.
“Tavern keeper, give us one more whole boiled chicken!”
“One whole boiled chicken costs one doe of rice.”
“Wasn't it one doe and two hop until last month?”
The tavern keeper chuckled and replied.
“Haven't chickens become very common since the Mandeok Merchant Guild began buying up the grain-loan rice that was rotting away and raising chickens with it? That's why chicken prices keep falling. If I charged the same price as last month, you might not say anything, sir, but the other customers would make a fuss, accusing me of overcharging them.”
Deoksoe and Mal-dong were dumbfounded by the tavern keeper's words.
Until recently, buying a single chicken from a market merchant had required four doe of rice.
That was why it had been only natural to pay six doe when buying a whole boiled chicken at a tavern or another restaurant...
Just how much had chicken prices fallen for a whole boiled chicken to cost only one doe of rice now?
“Have chicken prices really fallen that much?”
“Do I look like some crazy woman who would run a business at a loss? And a bowl of dakgomtang costs one and a half hop of rice. If you add another half hop, I'll crack in an egg for each of you.”
“Then crack an extra egg into each of our two bowls of dakgomtang.”
Before long, a small dog-legged table was set down in front of Deoksoe and Mal-dong.
On it were rice heavily mixed with barley, dakgomtang, a whole boiled chicken, several vegetable side dishes, and white kimchi.
In the past, the two of them would have had to pay six or seven doe of rice to eat this much...
“Can we really eat this much food for just one doe and five hop of rice?”
“I'm looking at it too, but I still can't believe it...”
And Deoksoe and Mal-dong were not the only ones reacting that way.
Just as the two of them had been shocked by how cheap chicken had become, everyone else there had been struck by the same shock.
“We can eat a whole boiled chicken at this price? Does that make any sense?”
“The world is changing so quickly that even keeping up with it is incredibly difficult.”
Mal-dong let out a quiet laugh as he saw that the other customers had reactions similar to theirs.
Then he picked up two chicken legs and placed them in Deoksoe's bowl.
Eating the chicken legs as well when he was being treated felt a little shameless.
‘The one paying should get the tastiest parts.’
“At least you haven't completely forgotten your manners, Mal-dong.”
“When I get my wages next month, I'll treat you then.”
“So when that time comes, will I really get to eat one of those precious chickens you buy?”
Mal-dong pulled apart his portion of the boiled chicken and ate the breast meat.
For some reason, it tasted much better than the chickens they had eaten in the past.
“This chicken tastes much better than the old chickens, even though it's much cheaper.”
“I heard from Ggaettong, who works at a poultry farm, that they keep chickens confined in coops these days. Apparently, that makes them grow plump and gives them tender, delicious meat.”
“Eating this reminds me of something. Chicken has gotten so cheap lately, so how about I feed each of my family members a chicken when I get paid this time? If I really set my mind to it, it's not as if I can't afford it.”
Now that chicken prices had fallen this much, feeding each family member a chicken on payday every month was no longer particularly difficult.
“That sounds good.”
When time passed and the next payday arrived, the two of them stopped by the market district on their way home from work.
They bought as many chickens as they had family members and returned home with both hands weighed down.