Chapter 96
There’s a joke that if you drop someone who can barely speak English somewhere in America with no Koreans around, they become fluent in just three months.
But since it’s a joke, you can’t simply dismiss it as nonsense...
Even someone with severe English phobia, if thrown alone into America where not a word of Korean is understood, has to earn money right away, buy food, and find lodging just to survive.
Whether by using body language or cobbling together survival English from single words, they have no choice but to use English.
So, as they struggle to survive, they gradually get used to English.
The craftsmen who came over from Ming are people just like us, so this process and method will work on them too.
“Congratulations on voluntarily crossing over from Ming to Joseon. By His Majesty’s grace, you are now Joseon people.”
The gathered craftsmen tilted their heads in confusion.
What I said was something they had heard countless times during the process of coming over from Ming to Joseon, and again several times after arriving in Joseon.
Having heard the same words so many times, they must be wondering what I meant by saying it again myself.
“His Majesty gave you rice instead of the gruel you could barely afford to eat in Ming, and he gave you roofs over your heads as well. As human beings, should you not always be grateful for that and strive to repay his grace?”
The shipwright craftsmen who came over from Ming had probably done every sort of hard labor before coming to Joseon,
or else were people who barely managed to scrape by.
Having been pushed to the edge like that, they bet their lives on fleeing at the promise of food.
Even if they couldn’t know for sure whether our promise to take care of them in Joseon was a scam or not, they had no choice but to come.
Life in Ming must have been hell.
I pointed at the oldest man among the gathered crowd and asked,
“Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, it is. I will work hard so that I can repay Your Majesty’s grace.”
“Good. You came over to Joseon of your own accord, and now you’ve even come to feel that you’ll repay His Majesty’s grace without being told. It is indeed pleasing to see. However, regrettably, you are still not ready to repay His Majesty’s grace.”
If I handed them plenty of tools and materials right now, these men could knock out a Ming-style ship in no time.
But the reason I had Hwang Susin go to the trouble of bringing them here was not merely to make Ming-style ships.
Then what was the real purpose?
It was to spread the know-how for building Ming-style ships throughout Joseon.
But in their current state, that know-how couldn’t be spread.
To achieve the goal I had set, the Ming craftsmen would have to teach the Joseon craftsmen themselves, but...
How could they possibly teach the skill when they couldn’t understand each other?
This wasn’t some university where foreign-language major classes are taught from the start in that language—how on earth were Joseon craftsmen supposed to understand Ming speech?
These guys need to speak Joseon.
In Ming, it is basic to follow Ming law and use the Ming language. Then, now that you have come to Joseon, shouldn’t you naturally use Joseon speech and follow Joseon law?
Yes, that’s correct.
Joseon is a nation that is extremely generous toward foreigners.
Park Yeon (Weltevree), who had worked for the Dutch East India Company, came to Joseon, learned Joseon speech, and adopted Joseon culture as it was.
Injo gave him an official post, and everyone in Joseon regarded him not as a naturalized foreigner but as a Joseon man like themselves.
But if you look at the matter the other way around, it becomes this.
If you live in Joseon but can’t speak Joseon and don’t follow Joseon culture, you’ll be treated as a barbarian.
In particular, King Sejong even once forced Arab settlers who had settled in Joseon, still believed in Allah, and refused ancestral rites, to adopt Joseon culture by force.
“And yet you say you have become Joseon people, but you can’t even speak Joseon. Do you really think that makes sense?”
My words left the Ming craftsmen speechless.
After all, it is only common sense for a Joseon person to speak Joseon.
“Right now you are Joseon people, but since you cannot speak Joseon, you are only half-Joseon people. So I will cut your pay in half as well and give you only 8 mal of white rice each month.”
8 mal of white rice was still far more than what they had received in Ming.
But that still wasn’t enough to feed their wives and children properly.
At the very least, they would need twice that amount to eat three meals a day.
In other words, even to support their wives and children, these guys would have to learn Joseon speech as quickly as possible.
Compared to life in Ming, this was still better treatment, so they wouldn’t even dare complain.
“However, once you are able to converse in Joseon speech, I will give you 1 seom 6 mal of white rice each month, 19 seom of white rice per year, and houses near the shipyard by the Office of Naval Ships.”
In both Ming and Joseon, an annual income of 19 seom of white rice was absolutely not a small amount.
At that level of income, it would be fair to compare it to the salary of production workers at one of Korea’s top conglomerates.
Even when the Yongle Emperor was doing Zheng He’s great voyages and whatnot, I doubt he paid this much.
“You really mean 19 seom of white rice?”
“There will be differences depending on your skills and experience, of course... but the one who receives the most will get as much as 30 seom. In addition, those who quickly master Joseon speech will receive 2 seom of white rice, and those who teach the Joseon craftsmen well how to build ships will receive 10 seom of white rice...”
I brought Jang Yeong-sil, who had been standing beside me, forward.
“No matter how well you build ships, Ming does not give out official posts, but Joseon is different. If you truly work with all your heart and soul, you could even hold office in Joseon like Jang Byeoljwa here.”
“Really?”
“Why would I lie to you? All of this is His Majesty’s grace.”
The Joseon craftsmen shouted “Long live His Majesty the King!” in Chinese without me even telling them to.
As expected, money is the best way to win people’s hearts.
“But there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If you want to enjoy His Majesty’s grace, you must become true Joseon people. So from now on, I will forbid you from using Ming speech.”
The fastest way to make someone learn a foreign language is to not let them hear or speak anything but that foreign language at all.
It is an extreme method, but in the case of Koreans, if you slap subtitles on Japanese anime and make them watch it day and night for a full year while cutting Korean conversation and Korean use down to the extreme, their Japanese ability really does improve a lot.
There are some individual differences, but if you study this way after learning hiragana, you can easily reach a level where you can do part-time jobs locally.
Everyday conversation becomes more than possible, too.
At JLPT N1 test centers, there are quite a few examinees who build their basic Japanese this way, study a little more, and then come to take the exam.
There had even been tough-looking folks who came wearing merch with anime characters on it.
The Joseon Bureau of Interpreters also uses a similar method when training interpreters.
“From now on, except when comparing Ming words with Joseon words in order to learn Joseon speech, you are absolutely forbidden to use Ming speech.”
In fact, during the training process for interpreters at the Bureau, if candidates are caught speaking Joseon among themselves, they are punished.
So the educational method I’m giving them would count as advanced training that in Joseon is only given to interpreter candidates.
“Now then, what happens if you get caught using Ming speech instead of Joseon speech? There will be no beating you or cutting your wages so your families starve. However, I will make you bitterly regret that you carelessly used Ming speech. I’ll show you exactly what kind of experience you’ll have. Military drill instructor Kim Jeong-hwa, step forward.”
At my words, the stiffly disciplined drill instructor stepped out in front of us.
“Prepare for Chunggun calisthenics.”
I named it Chunggun calisthenics, but in truth this is guerrilla calisthenics.
I mean that terrible calisthenics routine made up of the various movements that first come to mind when you think of guerrilla training.
Every time they use Ming speech once, they’ll have to do this Chunggun calisthenics once as collective punishment.
That way, they’ll develop a hatred for Ming speech and struggle with all their might to use only Joseon speech.
“Begin Chunggun calisthenics, movements 1 through 13.”
At my command, Sergeant Kim executed the guerrilla exercises flawlessly, with knife-sharp precision.
The Ming craftsmen stared as if it were something amazing.
Yep, you’re the ones who’ll be doing it soon.
And once they experience it, they’ll freak out at even the “ch” sound in Chunggun calisthenics.
“Now then, this is Chunggun calisthenics. Everyone lie on the ground. Prepare for movement 1.”
Someone who has never eaten a lemon doesn’t know it’s sour even when they see one.
So even if you show them a lemon, their mouth won’t water.
But someone who has eaten a lemon even once knows just how insanely sour it is... just seeing one makes their mouth water.
They’ll have to experience it for themselves too.
Ah, I mean that Chunggun calisthenics is godawful.
“Begin the movement.”
In Joseon or Ming, having a high social status is the best thing in this era.
These craftsmen have no choice but to follow my words.
If they don’t, they’ll go through something very sad.
And so I gifted them movements 1 through 7 of the calisthenics routine.
They’re all dying, and movement 8 is still ahead.
After the drill instructor demonstrated it once, I had them do movement 8.
“Begin movement 8.”
As I gave the command, they all started cursing in Chinese, despite my having told them not to use Chinese.
Poor, pitiful souls.
I clearly told them not to use Chinese...
Since words didn’t get through to them, I had no choice but to teach them with their bodies.
“I told you, now that you’re Joseon people, you are not to use Ming speech. But looking at how you’re ignoring my words like this, I suppose your loyalty and patriotism are still lacking.”
“No!”
“You still don’t even know the Joseon word for ‘no,’ so I’ll teach you specially. In Ming speech it’s ‘bushi,’ and in Joseon speech it’s ‘no.’”
“Am I lacking loyalty and patriotism to the country?”
“No!”
“I think the reason you’re using Ming speech is that your loyalty and patriotism are lacking!”
...... They would only throw away Ming speech if I created an environment where they had no choice but to learn Joseon speech and pushed them into it.
This is something I have no choice but to do for the sake of the country.
It’s absolutely not because I’m trying to vent the grudge I built up while serving as a basic branch officer and going through guerrilla training.
“Repeat movement 8 thirty times!”
That day, the craftsmen from Ming learned with their own bodies why they had to speak Joseon.
And in just two months, they were able to communicate in basic Joseon speech.