Chapter 30
Today, the atmosphere in the main office of the Hojo was peaceful and cheerful.
It wasn't because birds were chirping and flowers were in full bloom or anything like that... but everyone had smiles on their faces.
Despite the deluge of work from King Sejong, whom twenty-first-century university professors admire most for having turned all Joseon's officials into 'graduate students,' they had somehow managed to clock out on time for almost ten days straight.
Just how good was the mood? Hojo Minister Hwang Hui even chuckled when he saw a senior official commit the grave sin of not greeting him.
Normally, he would have had to scold the man for violating propriety, saying, “Looks like you've turned into a real loyal subject, thinking only about work all day,” and then throw a work bomb at him.
“Come on, everyone, let's work hard today too so we can clock out on time.”
“Yes, Minister.”
“Kim Jeong-rang, have you finished calculating how much budget we'll need for the officials who will supervise the markets set up in each district?”
“Yes, Your Excellency. And I've also made a rough estimate of how much tax will be collected.”
“Then this evaluation period will let all the Hojo officials receive Sangsang, the top grade. Very desirable.”
All this was possible because they had handed the difficult and complicated problems over to Jiphyeonjeon GPT Kim Dae-bung and ordered him to come up with a solution.
Hwang Hui decided to send precious ingredients like ginseng and dried abalone to the Jiphyeonjeon drudge working in his stead.
You even feed octopus to oxen as a nourishing tonic sometimes, so why should people be any different?
While everyone was happily smiling like that, a low-ranking official in green robes came to find Hwang Hui with a serious expression.
“Minister, something terrible has happened.”
“Heh heh, what kind of trouble is it? What, did the rats eat the rice piled up in the warehouse? Losing a few sacks of rice is a regular thing...”
“It's not that... Kim Suchan of Jiphyeonjeon and Jang Byeoljwa of the Sanguiwon have newly devised as many as seventeen farm tools.”
Hwang Hui collapsed into his chair when he heard that. He wondered if he'd misheard.
Seventeen new farm tools.
And this was barely any time after he'd said to park Kim Dae-bung in Jiphyeonjeon and have everyone take turns using him.
But if that junior official wasn't out of his mind, he wouldn't deliberately lie just to break this cheerful mood...
At the thought that the on-time clock-out he had assumed would happen today had suddenly flown away, Hwang Hui's face darkened.
“Tell me more.”
“Accepting Kim Suchan's proposal, Jang Byeoljwa of the Sanguiwon and the craftsmen worked through the night and came up with as many as seventeen new farm tools. Their effectiveness is said to be excellent.”
If you make good farm tools, agricultural output goes up. If agricultural output goes up, the people's standard of living naturally rises too.
The people, who had been eating only two meals a day, could now eat three, and the landowning yangban could become rich by getting more rice. So the creation of new farm tools was good news for everyone here.
There was only one problem, and really only one.
The budget needed to distribute those new tools, the methods for distributing them, and the policies for doing so would all have to be drafted by the Hojo.
So Hwang Hui was shocked not by the benefits the tools would bring, but by his own future of endless overtime.
“....... Show me the memorial first and let me see what kind of thing it is.”
Hwang Hui snatched the memorial from the junior official, and as he read through each line, a smile bloomed on his face.
With things like these being made, agricultural output would rise quite a bit. He didn't know by how much, but Hwang Hui himself was a landowner with vast fields, wasn't he?
That meant his wealth would increase tremendously. He wasn't exactly a corrupt official, but Hwang Hui liked money very much, so he couldn't help but be delighted.
“Heh heh, that's truly excellent. If tools like these are made, farming will become much easier.”
If you use Yongmi, a water-powered pump, you can bring water even to places where irrigation channels couldn't previously be dug. That will increase the amount of land that can be reclaimed.
Even a device described as a foot-treadle waterwheel will be a great help in drawing water up from low to high places.
In particular, the thing called the geojungi, which Kim Dae-bung had only described while building the weir as 'something that makes it easier to lift dirt or stones,'...
It can also be very useful when building fortresses.
Most of the losses from people getting injured while building fortresses happen when heavy stones are lifted to a certain height... and this can be reduced? This is a tool that absolutely has to be adopted right away.
“If we adopt these tools, that would be wonderful... I should immediately have the tenant farmers on our estate use them too. And since they are so simple in design, the craftsmen attached to government offices should be able to make them easily. It really is great, but...”
The last thing that came to mind was that the budget needed to make so many kinds of tools and the policies needed to introduce them would have to be devised by the Hojo.
Hwang Hui couldn't even imagine how quickly the Grand King, Yi Bang-won, would order their immediate introduction after reading that memorial.
“So this is the end of clocking out on time.”
Though it was nothing more than a muttered remark to himself, the declaration that "on-time clock-out is over" was heard loud and clear by everyone.
The faces of the Hojo officials, clerks, and state slaves all stiffened at once.
“What are you all standing around for? Get ready for overtime!”
After the declaration to prepare for overtime, a eunuch came to the Hojo to relay Sejong's command.
“The Grand King was greatly satisfied to see His Majesty and the royal family using the new farm tools together at Jeokjeon, the place where the king personally performs the royal plowing ceremony and tests various farming methods.”
When the Hojo officials heard that, they really thought they were dead.
Several new farm tools had been made, and His Majesty and the royal family had tested them right in front of the Grand King, who had been delighted by what he saw?
Good heavens, this absolutely had to be rushed.
If they didn't hurry, they'd end up committing an irreverent offense, and who knew what sad thing might happen to them.
“And furthermore, His Majesty graciously bestowed a royal meal on the Hojo and the Gongjo.”
It meant: I'll set out a feast, so work yourselves to death.
Hwang Hui and the other officials prostrated themselves and bowed in gratitude to the king.
So grateful were they that the officials' eyes all turned red. These were absolutely not tears shed because on-time clock-out had gone out the window.
They were tears of gratitude for the king's grace and for their resolve to remain loyal to the king and to their country.
At the same time, Hwang Hui realized one more thing.
If you work Kim Dae-bung too hard, he'll throw a work bomb back at us too.
**
Meanwhile, Yi Bang-won was enjoying himself, forcing Sejong, who normally didn't move around much, to get some exercise.
“Father, after doing farm work, which I don't usually do, my waist and shoulders ache.”
Yi Bang-won chuckled.
“That's because you don't exercise enough. Didn't the sage Confucius also regard archery and horsemanship as important among the six arts a scholar-gentleman should naturally possess?”
“That may be true, but...”
“That is precisely because you need to move your body diligently in order to have the stamina to read books for long hours. Do, you have the virtue of cherishing the people and valuing your ministers... but your body is another matter.”
People in Joseon didn't know what lifestyle diseases were. But they instinctively knew that being fat wasn't good for your health.
In Yi Bang-won's eyes, Sejong was far too fat... so he thought he needed to drag him out like this every so often and make him move around.
“It's good to put effort into state affairs, but also walk around the rear garden, ride a horse, and sometimes use your body by taking part in military drills that include hunting.”
“Yes, Father...”
Joseon is a land of filial piety. So when your father, the Grand King, tells you to exercise, you do it.
So Sejong had been fairly plump so far, but not to the point of becoming seriously obese.
“The plow you're using right now is a new plow devised by Kim Dae-bung. Is it any good?”
“It seems to plow the soil better than the one we used for the royal plowing ceremony last year.”
“I see. If it can lessen the people's hardship, then that is truly fortunate.”
It wasn't fortunate for Sejong, though. Since even the royal physicians and eunuchs agreed with the Grand King's opinion and didn't tell him to stop, Sejong had to keep plowing until he was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
Only then did Yi Bang-won chuckle and stop him.
“You may stop now.”
“...... Thank you.”
“By the way, is Hyang (Munjong's given name) still looking at the Yongmi?”
“Yes. He seems to like the Yongmi very much.”
Yi Bang-won went to where Hyang, later King Munjong, was.
There, Hyang was staring at the water pump that drew water up from low places, watching the gears mesh and turn.
“Wow, keep going! Keep turning!”
Yi Bang-won chuckled when he saw his grandson take an interest in farm machinery.
Normally, as crown prince, he would have had to focus only on studying, so it must have been hard to bear that pressure.
But today, he looked exactly like a child his age, smiling while watching a new machine turn.
“Hyang.”
“Grandfather! According to what I heard from Kim Sang-on, if that Yongmi is installed on the Han River, it can pump up a great deal of water and fill the canals. Then farming would be much easier.”
“Indeed, you really are smart, just like your father.”
“I also want to be a king who can look after young subjects, just like Grandfather and Father do!”
A smile appeared on Yi Bang-won's face.
To think that the spirit of caring for the people had already taken root in the heart of his five-year-old grandson Hyang. And that went without saying for his third son, Ido.
Ido is a king who loves the people more than anyone, and is wiser than anyone... he will greatly benefit the people of Joseon.
Even if Bang-won himself could no longer protect Joseon, Joseon would enjoy peace and prosperity.
So Bang-won even found himself wanting to rest a little now.
But Bang-won still couldn't rest yet.
“Doya.”
“Yes, Father.”
Yi Bang-won made up his mind and said.
“The Yuan Dynasty became tremendously prosperous by using bocho—paper money like jeohwa. Since Joseon already uses pohwa, cloth currency such as Osungpo, there isn't any reason we couldn't use bocho too, is there?”
“...... Yes, that is correct.”
“And if markets were established in every district across the country, and hwamaeso, places where jeohwa is exchanged for rice, were set up... wouldn't the people want to use jeohwa instead of rice, which is hard to carry around?”
Sejong agreed a little reluctantly. If currency were used widely, the yangban would no longer store their wealth only in "rice."
Then the rice that had been piled up and rotted away in the yangban's warehouses would pour out and go into the mouths of the people, and the people would become even more prosperous.
Besides, paper money only had to be printed...
“No, jeohwa had already failed before...”
“Father, then how about using coins, as the Song Dynasty did?”
Jeohwa is just scraps of paper, so its credibility is low.
So if you melt down copper, which has a tangible form and is treated as a valuable item among the people, you can make coins out of it.
Sejong thought so too.
“Indeed, you are wise. Very well, let us make coins widely used and benefit the people.”