Suwon Hwaseong (1)
At Changdeok Palace's Heojeong Hall, the night dragged on longer than usual. The Noron heavyweights surrounding King Jeongjo bristled like a pack of starving wolves. In their hands, they clutched petitions condemning Yi Si-woo's Hwaseong blueprints and economic reforms, bundled together like weapons.
"Your Highness! Have mercy and see reason! The Hwaseong construction plan submitted by Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo is a mad scheme to uproot the very foundations of our nation!"
Sim Hwan-ji, the Noron hardliner leader, slammed his forehead against the floor as he shouted. The Chief State Councillor seized the baton without missing a beat.
"A fortress must embody the rites of the yangban, aligned with feng shui and imperial dignity. Yet look at these drawings from Yi Si-woo. He plans to carve battlements for cannon mounts and layer outer walls to let merchants' carts trundle through. Is this a king's citadel or a den for vulgar peddlers? This is an act that tarnishes the dignity of our Neo-Confucian Joseon!"
Heojeong Hall filled with murmurs of agreement from the Noron officials.
"Worse still is the economic folly of Hwaseong. To deny the guilds' monopoly rights? Your Highness! The Six Guilds are the lifeblood of this nation. If market order crumbles, the hierarchy of scholar-officials, farmers, artisans, and merchants will shatter, and even the bonds between lord and vassal will fade. Turning Hwaseong into a free-trade hub is tantamount to abandoning the yangban's loyalty for the grasp of lowly merchants!"
King Jeongjo's face darkened gradually. But at the eye of this storm of denunciations, Yi Si-woo didn't flinch. Instead, he stifled a yawn as if bored, pulling a worn ledger from his robe and tossing it onto the table with a thud that shattered the hall's tense silence.
"My lords, I've heard your words loud and clear."
"You spoke of national dignity and hierarchy just now. So let me ask: In that dignified capital you praise, must the people toil like slaves their whole lives to buy a single seom of rice? Is that Joseon's rite? Under the banner of guild monopolies, when Six Guild merchants tore open peddlers' packs and flogged them, did you lords recite the Four Books and Three Classics while pocketing bloodstained profits?"
"Y-you insolent cur! How dare you insult the court!"
"Insult? I'm merely stating facts."
Yi Si-woo tapped the ledger with his finger and slid it toward King Jeongjo. It was densely packed with records of bribes and privilege flows harvested by Noron families from the Six Guild merchants.
"Your Highness, behold. There's one reason alone these lords howl for monopolies. A free market in Hwaseong would shatter Hanyang's cartels and dry up the secret coffers they hide behind. What they defend isn't the nation's core—it's their own purses."
Yi Si-woo closed the ledger and fell silent. A heavy hush descended on Heojeong Hall.
"Are you worried for the nation's future? Or for the guild chests due at your estates next month? Let me ask plainly, here and now: Do you fear the kingdom's fall, or just that you won't be able to rethatch your roofs?"
"Yi Si-woo! Do you truly court death?!"
One Noron minister could hold back no longer and shot to his feet. Yi Si-woo didn't blink. He stepped closer, staring impassively at the man's flushed, purple face.
"I've heard your sage counsel well, my lords. Yet Your Highness has already peered a century ahead and resolved on this great undertaking. Why can't you grasp that profound intent? Why hide behind outdated customs, constantly slowing His steps?"
Ignoring the trembling minister, Yi Si-woo bowed deeply to King Jeongjo with perfect decorum.
"Your Highness, great endeavors always bring the pains of shedding old flaws. Whether this clamor is true loyalty for the realm or selfish screams against a changing world—only Your wise eyes can judge. This humble servant seeks only to aid in building the new Joseon You envision."
By framing the Noron opposition not as principled debate but personal greed, Yi Si-woo's words turned the ministers' faces ashen in an instant. To persist now would brand them as disloyal wretches blocking the king for family gain.
King Jeongjo spoke.
"My will is set. Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo, descend to Hwaseong and design Joseon's new century. Any who hinder this shall be deemed challengers to Me, regardless of rank."
Yi Si-woo swept his gaze over the Norons once more, then turned on his heel.
Beneath Paldal Mountain in Suwon, the construction site was pandemonium. Noron overseers dispatched from Hanyang had halted hundreds of laborers, mocking Yi Si-woo and Jeong Yak-yong. Before them loomed a granite boulder weighing thousands of geun—one that a hundred men couldn't budge.
"Gigi-cheong Director! You've failed to shift that rock for four days. And you think that rickety contraption of wooden beams will lift it?"
The Noron supervisor sneered, pointing at the gantry crane.
"Si-woo, does their prattle bother you?"
Jeong Yak-yong wiped sweat and stood by the lever. Yi Si-woo checked his pocket watch impassively.
"No. They're not mocking physics—they're just proving their ignorance. Yak-yong, ready?"
"Calculations complete. Eight pulleys, compound ratio exactly sixty-fourfold. A child could wield the force of sixty-four men."
Yi Si-woo raised his hand high, signaling.
"Operate!"
Jeong Yak-yong pulled the main lever. The stacked pulleys atop the gantry meshed and turned slowly. Kiiiiiik— Steel gears screamed. Taut ropes quivered in the air.
"Impossible... it's moving!"
The granite that a hundred men couldn't shift rose from the earth as four scholars turned the handles.
"Wh-what sorcery... the ghosts must be wailing!"
The jeering supervisor's face drained to clay.
Yi Si-woo went further, shifting the gantry along pre-laid rails.
"Yak-yong, commence lateral transfer."
"Connect steam assist!"
Chiiiik— The steam cylinder hissed pressure. The gantry's axle spun smoothly, delivering the rock precisely to the wall foundation.
"Set it down!"
Thud—! A ground-shaking boom, and the boulder locked perfectly in place without a hair's deviation. A week's labor for the crew finished in thirty minutes.
The site fell silent as if doused in ice water. Yi Si-woo approached the dazed supervisor and whispered,
"My lord, did you see? While you lords recited rites and wasted time, Gigi-cheong never rested."
Turning to the scholars, Yi Si-woo bellowed,
"Don't stop! Finish the west outer wall foundation by tonight!"
The site's mood flipped instantly. Laborers who mocked now gazed in awe at the machine; scholars resumed surveying with theodolites and rods.
Jeong Yak-yong drew a red line on the blueprint.
"Si-woo, at this rate, the fortress won't take two years—half a year."
"The sooner, the better."
As the gantry-raised walls took majestic shape, an unprecedented banner unfurled before Hwaseong's south gate.
Free Commerce Within Hwaseong
Gigi-cheong New Carts — Free Rental
Peddlers flocked on rumors, but the gate approach was barricaded by rough men. Six Guild enforcers and Noron retainers ransacked merchants' packs, hired to blockade the path.
"What is this outrage? This is His Highness's sanctioned free market!"
A guild head smirked, blocking them.
"His Highness's will? Whatever He decreed, ten ri beyond the capital falls under guild monopolies! No rootless wares enter Hwaseong on our watch!"
Then, Yi Si-woo descended the wall steps slowly, holding a golden edict stamped with King Jeongjo's seal.
"Guild head, you know His Highness declared Hwaseong under Gigi-cheong direct control and granted me full authority. Blocking this path—is that defying an imperial decree?"
A Noron official stepped forward boldly.
"Defy the decree? We're enforcing national law to protect capital commerce! His Highness may have empowered Hwaseong, but He never ceded control of this approach!"
It was a ploy exploiting legal gaps—to isolate Hwaseong like an island and starve it slowly.
Yi Si-woo raised his hand sharply. From inside the gate, Gigi-cheong soldiers hauled out hundreds of carts fitted with steel bearings that gleamed in the sun.
"Guild head, money ignores rites. It flows to profit alone. Block the road? We'll make a new one."
Yi Si-woo commanded his men.
"Distribute Gigi-cheong carts to the merchants! Arrest any obstructors for impeding official duties!"
"Y-Yi Si-woo! You've lost your mind!"
Guild thugs tried to body-block, but the steel-reinforced carts shoved them aside, clearing the way. Merchants cheered, following the carts; the guilds' barricade shattered in moments.
"No need to fear their threats! Hwaseong's laws are sterner than their greed! Merchants entering today get free cart loans and half-off tariffs! All who chase profit—come to Hwaseong!"
Merchants poured in like a burst dam. The stunned Noron official wailed.
"Yi Si-woo... you'll truly choke Joseon's money veins!"
"Not choking—clearing rotten channels. Making way for fresh flow."
Yi Si-woo watched the dust trail of their retreat, then turned to Jeong Yak-yong.
"Yak-yong, east gate construction tomorrow. If they block the road, we carve a bigger one."
Jeong Yak-yong laughed hollowly amid the bustling market.
"You truly... are beyond Joseon's common sense."