Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Commercial City Hanyang (1)
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In pre-modern societies, even the slightest improvement in living standards triggers a massive population boom.
A classic example is China.
Back in the early Qing Dynasty, China's population hovered around just 100 million or so, all things considered. But once peanuts and sweet potatoes spread far and wide, it skyrocketed to 400 million almost overnight.
Seeing cases like that, I'd half-expected Joseon's rising standards of living and better food supply to swell our population too...
"Minister of the Treasury, what did you just say? Hanyang's population is how many now?"
"Until two years ago, Hanyang had just shy of 120,000 people. But the latest census puts it nearly at 140,000. You know better than anyone why that's happening, no need to spell it out."
To put it in terms we'd learned in our social studies textbooks, this was the classic capital migration phenomenon unfolding before our eyes.
Short of steam engines popping up and sparking an industrial revolution in Joseon...
No matter how much commerce booms, the proportion of farmers will never drop below those in other trades outside agriculture.
Even in the Edo period, when commerce reached extreme heights and merchants used their 'financial might' to overshadow daimyo and the shogunate itself.
Merchants and artisans made up a mere 6% of the total population.
Even the samurai—our equivalents of yangban and jungin—were just 7%.
Meanwhile, farmers accounted for 84%.
So, the nightmare of rural depopulation from overconcentration in the capital region won't happen here.
'That said, if we just sit back and watch Hanyang's population keep ballooning unchecked, it'll turn into hell on earth.'
"Yes, my lord."
"Hanseong Prefecture predicts it'll top 200,000 within the next decade."
"Folks who can't find land to tenant-farm would rather head to Hanyang for a fresh start and a proper life than slave away as day laborers or thugs back home forever. That's why so many are flocking to the capital, and it'll keep going."
"Hanyang's walls can hold 200,000—hell, maybe even 300,000 if we're lucky. The real issue is whether they can all land steady jobs with reliable income."
Right now, with Hanyang's population exploding, internal consumption is surging, and commerce nationwide is centering on the capital...
There are far more jobs in Hanyang than available workers to fill them.
That's the situation, so even without minimum wage laws, every trading house and workshop pays laborers enough for a comfortable life.
Otherwise, they'd struggle to hire enough hands.
But if labor supply outstrips demand...
'The specter of communism starts haunting us.'
"That's a serious problem indeed."
"The ironworks situation..."
"Then we should start by opening workshops and trading houses in the major towns across the eight provinces."
"Would that solve it?"
"It'd resolve a good chunk of it."
Transportation in Joseon-era is brutally inconvenient.
In modern Korea, Seoul to Busan takes as little as three hours. But even rushing it now from Hanyang, it's a minimum three-day trek.
That makes moving goods or people incredibly tough.
As a result, most commoners in the provinces— who make up the bulk of Joseon's population—never leave their hometowns in their entire lives.
This'll hold true for centuries to come, so if trading houses and workshops set up shop targeting them, business is guaranteed to thrive.
Those who establish there will hire locals, and the new hires will naturally be folks who've always lived in that town.
"Why else would people bother coming to Hanyang now? No land to tenant-farm, so they figure they'll at least porter for a trading house. Right?"
"Exactly."
"A yangban like you or me, who passed the exams, might not get it. But for poor commoners, leaving home is no small hardship. Most who come to Hanyang do so because they'd starve otherwise. Even if it means never seeing family, relatives, friends, or neighbors again—they have to eat."
Even in the 1980s, folks in the same apartment building in Seoul would share food and babysit for each other.
How much thicker must bonds be here, where rice paddy farming hasn't spread yet and mutual aid isn't fully routine...
But come planting season, when fields demand extra hands, villages band together to rotate labor. Neighborly ties in Joseon run deep.
Deciding to abandon all that for an unknown life in Hanyang? That's a monumental, life-altering choice.
"These folks make that tough call to come to Hanyang purely for survival... If we set up trading houses and workshops in towns and county seats nationwide, even those pondering the trek to the capital might stay put."
"Yes, exactly. Though the town seats are a bit removed from their home villages. Still, holidays let them walk back to family. Less resistance than Hanyang."
"Good. Let's do that—put the brakes on the Hanyang influx a bit."
"Rural folk's lives will get a tad more prosperous too."
With incentives to root trading houses and workshops locally, production of regional specialties and goods will boom.
Supply will catch up to chronic shortages against demand, driving prices down.
'If cartels stir trouble, a good crackdown with the iron fist will sort them out.'
"We'll handle the Hanyang issue that way. In a recent report I received, they mentioned rice transplanting took off in Jinhae—where I started my career—last year. Commoners' incomes have surged as a result."
"Any idea by how much?"
"Barley in spring, rice in fall... Edible grains effectively doubled. Local yangban aren't taxing barley as rent either, so tenant farmers benefit even more."
Barley and rice yield about the same per area.
A tenant farmer used to harvest barley twice and rice twice a year. With half-crop rent on both, they'd keep barley 1, rice 1.
No rent on barley means barley 2, rice 1 now.
That's triple the food compared to pre-transplanting.
"Thanks to it, commoners are singing work songs in the fields and urging the magistrate to petition higher-ups. His report says not a single young woman in the county isn't pregnant. They're overjoyed, knowing they can feed and raise kids without worry."
"Population's gonna explode."
"Jinhae County's current residents: 21,457."
......Compared to before I arrived, that's a whopping 1,200 more.
Roughly 6% growth. What's the birth rate behind that?
"Everywhere transplanting spreads will see similar booms. In 20 years, Joseon might hit over 7 million."
Current census puts Joseon at about 6 million.
100,000 more in just 20 years?
This happens because lives get easier, births rise, and famine or disease threats fade. We should celebrate...
'But unchecked growth dooms the nation.'
"Too fast."
"With transplanting, new fields opening, commerce expanding—should be fine for now."
Even pre-chemical fertilizers, Joseon's eight provinces supported 20 million.
6 to 7 million won't cause starvation.
"People are wealth, but we need plans."
Hanyang's the most urgent issue.
Rapid growth breeds hygiene woes and all sorts of problems.
One epidemic could kill thousands...
'If I know, I have to stop it, right?'
"Hanyang's top priority."
"Fair enough."
"And hygiene matters most."
"Hygiene? Keeping clean? What does that have to do with population growth?"
"Poor feces management pollutes water, spreads epidemics."
The Minister's face paled at "epidemic."
"And beyond that, Hanyang needs a lot of fixing in my view."
If we're doing this, might as well do it right.
Half-ass it, and people die by the droves. Do it properly, like in Jinhae, and save thousands, tens of thousands...
So, I suffer a bit, everyone thrives. Win-win.
"Please recommend me to Hanseong Prefecture."