Chapter 75
In the private audience hall, Sejong was dumbfounded after hearing the new memorial.
I found myself thinking, "What am I even hearing?" and then, "Is this really happening?"
That was only natural, because what he had just heard was a novel idea he had never even imagined himself.
“Chief Royal Secretary, read aloud the key parts of the memorial submitted by Kim Hak-ji, the assistant military scribe, once more.”
The Chief Royal Secretary read the key parts of the memorial again.
“Your servant Kim Hak-ji, the assistant military scribe, tested the new saltpeter-making method proposed by Kim Daebung, the junior secretary of the Ministry of War. Before we began, I could not shake the doubt that we could really obtain saltpeter this way, but if the junior secretary's words were true, we could gather only filth rather than latrine earth and obtain saltpeter easily and in great quantity, so I applied myself fully to the experiment.”
Kim Hak-ji wrote the memorial as though he had thrown himself into the work because he somewhat agreed with Kim Daebung's proposal, but the truth was a little different.
In truth, Kim Daebung had threatened Kim Hak-ji, telling him that if he did not cooperate, something very unfortunate would happen to him.
Some of the process was omitted and some of it was beautified, but no one cared about such things.
Because this was a crucial moment as Joseon was being reborn as a gunpowder-powered Joseon, the personal affairs of some nobody assistant military scribe who had barely scraped into office through hereditary appointment were of no interest.
“Kim Daebung, the junior secretary of the Ministry of War, told us to pile up feces, urine, ash, mountain soil, and straw like a compost heap and leave it there as if making soy sauce, sprinkling urine on it from time to time to keep it from drying out. After following his instructions for three months, saltpeter began to bloom white across the heap.”
Sejong and the ministers had already heard this once through the Chief Royal Secretary.
They already knew everything written after that as well.
But just as a university acceptance letter or a job offer never got boring, even when read two or three times in a row, and felt fresh and pleasant every time you looked at it...
Hearing the same thing again should have been dull, but instead it felt newly fascinating, incredibly astonishing, and thrillingly joyful.
“As a result, from a compost heap measuring three cheok in length, width, and height, we were able to obtain fifteen geun of saltpeter. According to the method proposed by Kim Daebung, the junior secretary of the Ministry of War, it should originally be left to age for at least half a year and up to two years, so if we follow it as is, we believe we can obtain even more saltpeter.”
Feces, leaf mold gathered from mountains or forests, straw, urine, ash.
It is no easy task to gather even that much of these things.
But compared to collecting latrine earth, which until now had been painful to gather and a nuisance to the people, gathering these things is far easier.
And not only is the amount of saltpeter obtained from the same volume incomparably greater than with the saltpeter-field method Kim Daebung proposed, but if you let it mature longer, you could get even more than the amount obtained this time?
Sejong, having heard the report once more, smiled with satisfaction.
“Isn't all of this possible only because I have capable subjects serving me?”
Jo Mal-saeng did not miss the timing and flattered him.
“Jiang Taigong was once nothing more than an ordinary fisherman, even a drifter abandoned by his wife. But when Taigong saw his talent and put him to work, his true worth came to light. Kim Daebung's brilliance is hardly fit to compare to Jiang Taigong's, but Your Majesty's brilliance and insight are no less than his, which is why such great results were achieved, are they not?”
In Joseon, a Confucian realm, Confucius was a sacred figure beyond reproach.
To exaggerate a little, insulting Confucius was practically the same as denying the state's founding ideology.
And yet the dynasty Confucius praised endlessly was the Zhou Dynasty, and Taigong was the father of the Zhou Dynasty's founder.
In other words, Jo Mal-saeng's flattery was essentially putting Sejong on the same level as the Zhou Dynasty's founder, whom even Confucius sincerely revered.
Sejong did not dislike the flattery.
“The Minister of War's words seem a little excessive.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“However, Kim Daebung has devised a new saltpeter method, and at a time when we must fight the Jurchen barbarians in the north and the Wokou pirates in the south, he has greatly reduced the labor and cost involved in making the gunpowder we so desperately need... I shall value that achievement highly and grant a great reward. Have the State Council discuss what reward would be best for Kim Daebung and report back, and have the Ministry of War quickly inform the gunpowder makers that from now on all gunpowder is to be made by the method Kim Daebung proposed.”
“Your Majesty's grace is beyond measure.”
A smile appeared on Jo Mal-saeng's lips.
At the same time, he looked toward Hwang Hui.
Hwang Hui was a fine retainer—slightly more incorruptible and slightly more capable than he was.
So until Hwang Hui retired, it would be hard for him to take the position of Chief State Councilor...
But if he could keep riding on Kim Daebung's coattails like this...?
He could probably aim as high as Left State Councilor or Right State Councilor.
“Order the Ministry of Taxation to give generously whenever the Ministry of War requests funds, and have the Ministry of Public Works cooperate with the Ministry of War's affairs as much as possible as well.”
Jo Mal-saeng, the Minister of War, smiled once more at Sejong's words.
It felt like his time had come.
**
This was the first time I'd seen the Ministry of War officials this happy since I transferred here.
Though I'd only been here a little over half a year...
While I don't care whether others are pleased or not and stay focused on my own work, the other officials are gathering in groups of three or four and talking about the good things to come.
“Associate Councilor, you seem to be in especially high spirits today.”
“I was always troubled by the Jurchen barbarians in the north and the Wokou pirates in the south. But now that we've secured so much saltpeter... when those bastards invade, we'll be able to rain gunpowder down on them without stint, won't we? Just thinking about it makes me smile.”
“It's just us here, so be a little more honest. Is that really all there is to it?”
“Ho ho, you rascal, there is actually one more reason, though how did you know? A classmate who passed the civil service exam in the same year as I did used to tease me, saying he had become a councilor at the Ministry of Taxation while I had gone to the Ministry of War as an associate councilor. But now the situation has completely flipped, hasn't it? Thinking of that makes me laugh.”
A dangsanggwan is a post the king fills with someone he deems suitable.
In other words, so long as there are no major moral blemishes, the person who achieved the greatest results during his term becomes Chief State Councilor.
And thanks to my success in mass-producing gunpowder, the associate councilor at the Ministry of War could now legitimately take some credit for my accomplishments... which meant his chances of promotion had risen sharply.
Well, honestly, I don't care how those political details shake out.
If I'm capable, I will be promoted when the time comes.
And even if I don't get promoted all that much, what really matters is carrying out public service in a way that leaves no regrets after I retire.
“How can we collect feces efficiently in Hanyang?”
The success or failure of the new gunpowder method I have created this time depends on how well we collect feces.
Since we're gathering feces anyway, we should also push to improve the sanitary conditions of the people throughout Hanyang and the Eight Provinces of Joseon.
I still had a long, long way to go.
It would be far too soon to be satisfied with this and sit down here.
While I was turning things over in my head to move on to the next step, Jo Mal-saeng approached me.
A suspicious smile was on his face.
“All the Ministry of War officials are delighted, saying they'll get promoted thanks to Secretary Kim, or that this year's performance review will be stamped with top marks. Yet you, Secretary Kim, don't seem all that pleased. Is it because you think there is still a long road ahead?”
“As Your Excellency well knows, even if I've devised a new gunpowder method... if the system for operating it isn't properly established, it won't be of much use. And as an official, one should naturally work with a public-first mindset, focusing on one's duties rather than promotion or wealth and glory.”
In my previous life, at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, I could have walked a path strewn with flowers—no, if I'd only closed my eyes once, I could have taken the sure road to success.
But I could not abandon the duties I was supposed to uphold as a civil servant, so I gave up on advancement.
And because of that, I was suddenly shunted off to some strange post while on the road to success.
When I was demoted, people around me criticized me and asked why I had done it... but I have no regrets.
I will keep living in Joseon with that same heart.
Here, the monarchs I serve are Yi Bang-won and King Sejong, so as long as I walk the righteous path, promotion and wealth and glory will follow at the same time...
'For being an administrative official, this place is better, though.'
“Minister of War, have you ever thought about how much feces and urine are thrown away in Hanyang every day?”
At my question, Jo Mal-saeng tilted his head.
But soon he grasped my intent and broke into a broad smile.
“Collecting latrine earth had been a great nuisance to the people, but gathering the waste from households in Hanyang, where there is no need to use dung and urine as fertilizer for farming, would be no problem at all.”
“Yes, that's right. To get the maximum effect from the method I created, we must gather all the feces in Hanyang that don't need to be used as fertilizer. No, actually...”
There are several fairly large cities in Joseon besides Hanyang.
Places like Pyongyang, Gaeseong, Uiju, Jeonju, and Naju.
If we gather dung and urine there as well, we could make an enormous amount of gunpowder.
“Shouldn't we turn all the excrement from the major towns of the Eight Provinces of Joseon into gunpowder? In truth, it wasn't as if Joseon couldn't make gunpowder because it lacked sulfur, was it?”
“Exactly.”
And then I pulled out the magic words that would stir Jo Mal-saeng, who was as capable as Hwang Hui but liked promotion and bribes just a little more.
“If we can produce more than ten thousand geun of gunpowder every year, Your Majesty will value Your Excellency's skill very highly. Then the Three... ah, never mind.”
After hearing me, Jo Mal-saeng said.
“Secretary Kim, do whatever you want. From now on, anyone who opposes Secretary Kim is opposing me, Jo Mal-saeng, and anyone who lays a hand on Secretary Kim will be considered as having disrespected me, Jo Mal-saeng.”