Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Breaking the Cartel (10)
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Prime Minister Hwang Hui also served as the Hanseong Governor, the mayor of Hanyang, Joseon's capital.
So, with the ongoing development of Hanyang, it was only natural for him to make inspections from time to time, check on progress, and point out areas for improvement.
"Kim Sai-in, you young folks have it good. Your knees won't ache even if you walk everywhere on your own two legs."
If Prime Minister Hwang Hui were walking alongside me right now, I would've chimed in with agreement.
It's taken for granted that elderly gentlemen feel back pain and knee aches with every step they take.
But right now, Hwang Hui was making use of a special privilege for high-ranking officials.
He was riding in a palanquin—and not just any one, but the top-of-the-line Chohon, renowned for the smoothest ride.
Meanwhile, I was on horseback.
"Still, riding a horse is far more comfortable."
"Ah, I see. Then hurry up and become a high-ranking official. Once you reach that level, no one will bat an eye if you go around in a palanquin."
Prime Minister Hwang Hui nagged me to become a high-ranking official every three days or so, exaggerating just a bit.
Like some guy covered head to toe in blue tattoos yelling, "You, become a high-ranking official!"
I had no intention of climbing the ranks that fast.
Kim Jong-seo, who had passed the civil service exam twenty years ahead of me, was still at junior fifth rank. Sure, I'd topped the exam, but jumping straight to "senior fourth rank" already? That would be utter madness.
And if I shot up to junior third-rank high official? The whole seniority system would go straight to hell.
"Wouldn't Inspector Kim secretly resent a young whippersnapper like me getting senior fourth rank?"
"Jeol-jae is a talented man, that's true, but he can't hold a candle to you, Kim Sai-in. He's a bit jealous and stubborn, sure, but he wouldn't dare complain about your promotion."
Come to think of it, after I became their superior, neither Kim Jong-seo nor Hwang Bo-in ever uttered a peep of complaint to me.
The only time was when I personally roughed up one clerk who brought up the initiation hazing upon my arrival at the Royal Secretariat.
In yangban society norms, initiation hazing was something even low clerks and slaves could join in on to humiliate new nobles, and you weren't supposed to complain about it.
"This is my first time visiting the newly developing Yongsan area because I've been so swamped... I'm really curious to see how it's changed."
"According to the reports, it's transformed so completely that not a trace of the old look remains."
In modern Korean terms, it was like deciding on 'new city development' for a spot that only had highway toll gates, rest areas, and inns—suddenly filling it with apartments, shops, and department stores...
I'd heard that Yongsan's ferry landing had expanded into a full harbor, packed with inns, stores, and workshops, turning it into a completely different place.
"You haven't been to Yongsan yet either, Kim Sai-in?"
"I rush home to see my wife after work..."
"Heavens, that's a sickness, a real sickness—the kind with no cure."
As we chatted back and forth with Hwang Hui, we arrived at Yongsan before we knew it.
It used to be a tiny ferry landing with just a few boats passing through, but every trace of those days was gone.
Dozens of hanseon—small boats designed for the Han River—were moored at what was once the landing site, and easily over a hundred vessels plied the river.
All sorts of goods—fruits, crafts, luxuries, meat, dried fish—were being unloaded in heaps, and the place buzzed with all kinds of people.
Just looking at it made your chest swell with grandeur.
Watching the scene, Hwang Hui muttered in astonishment.
"They say money draws people, but who could've imagined desolate Yongsan turning into this."
"From now on, it'll be even more crowded with people, my lord Chief State Councillor."
"Seeing this makes me think those merchant guilds are utter scoundrels again. If they'd monopolized all this logistics, Joseon would've fallen right into their hands."
"But that didn't happen, so isn't that what matters?"
Hwang Hui chuckled at my words.
"True enough. We sniffed out their wicked schemes early, forced them to donate their wealth, and kept Yongsan out of their grasp. Plus, that money lets us feed the soldiers suffering up north properly. In a way, it all worked out for the best."
As we talked, the Noryangjin harbor master hurried over to us.
What could a lowly ninth-grade harbor master do when a fourth-rank-plus Chief State Councillor showed up?
This was a busy public spot, so no funny business like mixing lime powder in the roads, but he'd have sharpened the creases on his military uniform and made his soldiers wash and wear their crispest outfits to shine as bright as possible.
"I am Kim Hang-gu, harbor master of Yongsan Station, my lord Chief State Councillor. It's a true honor that you've come here."
"Good work. It looks like you're managing things well... Tell me about the current state of Yongsan Station."
"Yes, my lord."
A Yongsan harbor master was typically a former constable who could write, or a clerk who'd pulled strings to pass as an official and snag ninth-grade status, barely scraping into the yangban fringes.
If he caught the eye of the Chief State Councillor here, he could get promoted and aim higher, like my father-in-law. He'd prepared desperately for this.
"Currently, 400 to 600 hanseon dock daily at Yongsan Station for unloading. The main goods are silk, fruits, rice, crafts, dried fish, and fresh fish. Once unloaded, the ships load up with cotton cloth, farm tools, machinery and implements, luxuries, and such produced or imported into Hanyang, then ship them nationwide."
"A single hanseon can carry 50 to 100 seom of white rice on average, so that's at least 20,000 seom of goods traded daily. Incredible—a year ago, this was unimaginable."
"Harbors like Noryangjin are probably seeing similar volumes."
Hwang Hui turned to me.
"Just as you said, if we hadn't expanded Hanyang further and made more livable areas, we'd have shantytowns popping up everywhere, causing major headaches."
Shantytowns—in terms we can grasp—were like ramshackle huts.
And drifters living in those places were poor, making them easy prey for crime's temptations, just like the butchers had been.
To prevent that as much as possible, we had to build tons of housing in Hanyang and let them rent affordably.
"Alright, that's enough here... Kim Harbor Master."
"Yes, my lord."
"How are the workshops? I heard from Kim Sai-in here that the workshops are the most crucial..."
At Hwang Hui's words, Kim Hang-gu led us to a nearby workshop.
It was one bustling with farm tool production.
Dozens of artisans inside worked under a thoroughly divided labor system.
They were making plows, hoes, sickles, and the like...
Even just the sickle production line was meticulously specialized.
One hammered the iron core into shape, another sharpened the blade, another fitted the handle, and so on.
"As far as I know, this workshop can produce up to 100 sickles a day."
In a mechanized factory, they could churn out 5,000 a day, but for Joseon-era standards, 100 per day was an enormous output.
With every process done manually, even a solo smithy might struggle to make two sickles a day.
"This one workshop alone makes 100 sickles a day?"
"Yes, my lord Chief State Councillor."
"If they made weapons like curved swords instead... 20 a day wouldn't be impossible."
For reference, the Military Armory hadn't adopted division of labor yet, so even mobilizing all its artisans, 20 swords a day was the limit.
But this small workshop could do 20?
That meant the Armory could produce 200 or 300 a day with enough steel.
Hwang Hui toured the workshops, marveling nonstop.
How impressed must he have been for the lofty Chief State Councillor to personally pat the artisans' shoulders and praise them?
He'd never do that unless he was genuinely excited.
"Splendid! Some look down on artisans as lowly, but I say Joseon runs because of people like you. Keep up the great work."
After the praise, Hwang Hui turned to Kim Hang-gu.
"You're doing an outstanding job, Kim Harbor Master. With nearly 50 workshops already in Yongsan Station, and you memorizing exactly how many sickles each produces daily. Your reports have been excellent too."
"I am humbled, my lord."
"In three days, I'll bring you good news."
Joseon was desperately short on "officials" right now.
Especially ones with real practical skills.
So that guy would soon be snatched up by the Ministry of Finance or Works.
In old Joseon, sending a lowly harbor master straight to a Six Ministry post would've sparked cries of overreach...
But now, such talents were like rain in a drought—everyone would welcome it.
"Alright, Kim Sai-in... Let's look around a bit more and head back."
"Yes, my lord Chief State Councillor."
That day, I toured Yongsan Station thoroughly with Hwang Hui before returning.
And I drafted guidelines for other districts to follow suit.
Normally, Hwang Hui would set the broad framework and I'd fill in the details, but this time he dumped even the framework on me.
Being at the bottom of the bureaucracy is tough.