Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Commercial City Hanyang (3)
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Hanseong Magistrate Yi Ye thought to himself.
What kind of man was this fellow, who upon arriving in Hanseong Prefecture immediately spouted such insolence to him, a Jeong 2-pum Hanseong Magistrate, declaring he would personally tell him what Hanseong Prefecture needed to do...
And the first words out of his mouth were a dire warning that countless people in Hanseong could die...
Listening to him, one could understand why people called Junior Inspector Kim Dae-bung a madman who disregarded the ancestral shrines and the common folk.
The other Jeong 4-pum officials were always exceedingly cautious when reporting to him, the Hanseong Magistrate, or receiving orders.
But this Kim Dae-bung character offered only the bare minimum respect to his superior before blurting out harsh words like, "If we continue like this, we'll all die."
'Indeed, a madman.'
"Dysentery killing many people—what do you mean by that?"
Naturally, Yi Ye lacked the hygiene knowledge that Kim Dae-bung possessed, nor did he understand the mechanism by which waterborne diseases spread.
However, there was no one in Joseon who didn't know how fearsome dysentery was.
Though the reason was unknown.
Once contracted, even the healthiest person could be reduced to a half-corpse or dead within days—a horrific illness.
Sometimes it engulfed entire villages, sweeping away one or two out of every ten people, regardless of age or gender.
"Sir, the number of food stalls in Hanyang hasn't surged dramatically? I thought it wouldn't be much of an issue until recently... but after personally encountering them selling slightly spoiled food without a second thought, I realized we can't just let it slide, or disaster will strike."
"They wouldn't sell outright rotten stuff, would they? It's just slightly spoiled because food is scarce among the people. Even at home, eating a bit of spoiled food happens now and then, doesn't it?"
Yi Ye himself, back in his days as a lowly clerk in Uljin, had often been so poor that he soaked musty rice in water and ate it.
His stomach had ached afterward a few times, but it never escalated to diarrhea or anything serious.
Yet the commoners were even poorer than he had been then, so eating musty rice probably wasn't all that rare for them.
It could be a problem, but not one to take as gravely serious.
And his thinking aligned with common sense not just in Joseon, but across the contemporary world.
With no refrigeration techniques anywhere from Joseon to the West, keeping food fresh was simply impossible.
Thus, meat in particular—being rare and expensive—even high officials often ate it slightly spoiled.
"Sir, as the old saying goes, 'Never say never.' Eating musty rice at home is one thing, but vendors taking money to sell slightly spoiled or rotten food? That's unacceptable."
"You're right. Utterly unacceptable."
The poor eating spoiled food was because they had to eat something to survive.
But those who could afford to buy food didn't need spoiled fare; they could get by without it.
If poverty forced them to eat spoiled food, that was understandable.
But selling it for profit out of lazy complacency? That was downright outrageous.
"The makgeolli I encountered at a tavern during my inspection was half-spoiled. Not every Joseon commoner who eats half-spoiled food or murky brews will catch dysentery..."
Kim Dae-bung let out a sigh and looked Yi Ye straight in the eye.
"But once dysentery takes hold, it spreads across all of Hanyang in the blink of an eye. Mishandle it, and it could even reach the royal palace. Didn't King Nosang—King Jeongjong—suffer from dysentery? And didn't His Majesty once endure great hardship from an outbreak that spread from outside?"
What Kim Dae-bung said rang in Yi Ye's ears like this:
If dysentery sparked from those half-spoiled food peddlers, it could spread all the way to the palace.
Who do you think His Majesty would hold accountable then?
A frightening bastard.
A madman wielding irrefutable ethics, ironclad logic, and perfect justification for why you must handle this—threatening with it all.
"We must strictly prohibit food sellers from peddling spoiled food and liquor."
"Yes, exactly. But that's not the only urgent matter."
"Another problem?"
"Hanyang's population is booming too fast, and fecal waste management is falling apart. If this continues, dysentery will rage through the city before long."
"What connection do feces and dysentery have for you to say that?"
Kim Dae-bung knew that contaminants like diarrhea entering drinking water caused cholera.
But Yi Ye and the others naturally didn't grasp the link between drinking water and such diseases.
Not knowing the cause of waterborne epidemics made it a valid question.
Faced with it, Kim Dae-bung began explaining in a way even a 21st-century ignorant Yi Ye could accept.
"From reviewing various records in my spare time after finishing work, I reached this conclusion: places where dysentery spread all had reports in common saying 'the water is dirty.' For instance, two years ago in Jinju Mok's Janggye-ri, when dysentery broke out, the Jinju magistrate wrote in his report that the village well reeked foul."
"Was that in there?"
"Yes. But the court focused solely on relief measures for the people... overlooking the key factor. I'll continue with what I meant to say."
Yi Ye had never spoken or worked with Kim Dae-bung before.
But rumors about Junior Inspector Kim Dae-bung were known to every official in Joseon, and from stories he'd heard from various senior ministers and high officials...
They all agreed on one thing.
He was a work monster who handled several times the workload of other ministers all by himself.
Yet he still had spare time during work hours to review reports from dysentery-struck areas and even infer the cause?
Yi Ye began to see the Kim Dae-bung before him not as a man, but as some Herculean deity.
"Of course, just having such notes in reports doesn't prove dysentery is tied to drinking water. But consider this: back when I was at the Ministry of Defense, after we gathered and processed all of Hanyang's human waste for mass-producing gunpowder, there haven't been any mass dysentery outbreaks here since. It seems fecal waste, drinking water, and dysentery are deeply connected."
"...Indeed. The Jinju report alone wouldn't confirm a water link to dysentery. But with supporting evidence like that, Junior Inspector Kim's hunch would hold true."
"On that note, we must rigorously manage the shanty dwellings where people are throwing up huts willy-nilly in Seongjeo-sipri."
"Shall we provide them with thatched houses?"
Kim Dae-bung well understood the importance of welfare—and its side effects.
So he had not a speck of intention to build houses for them.
"That would leave those who bought land in Hanyang and built their own thatched homes feeling cheated. And aren't these squatters occupying empty public land in Seongjeo-sipri at will?"
"True enough."
"We can't just let them use state land for free. My plan is to conscript them into various corvees every ten days over the next ten years—making latrines, hard labor, that sort of thing. Or have them pay ten percent of their wages as tax over ten years."
"Isn't that a bit too harsh?"
"If word spreads across the eight provinces that you can build a shack in Seongjeo-sipri and claim the land for sure—later granted by the state—people will swarm like bees from everywhere to live there. The jobless among them will turn into nation-rotting thugs. And what of those renting in Hanyang or who scrimped to buy homes?"
Yi Ye was left speechless.
"Then how will we crack down on spoiled food and liquor sellers, and what standards will we set?"
"I'll draft a rough framework by end of day and submit it to you, sir."
"...You're saying you'll finish that today?"
"More than enough time. No need to worry."
"I'll give you ample time, so no rush. And as Hanseongbu's Seoyun, your duties are..."
Yi Ye spent about two hours personally instructing Kim Dae-bung on his responsibilities as Hanseongbu Seoyun.
All the while thinking.
With a mountain of duties as Seoyun, even Kim Dae-bung would need days to draft a new policy outline...
"Time to prepare to leave the office."
In the past, leaving on time drew plenty of side-eye, but nowadays, staying late earned a stern rebuke from His Majesty.
Not leaving on time was unfilial—neglecting one's body.
As he prepared to depart, Kim Dae-bung appeared before Yi Ye holding a single volume.
"Sir, it's all done."
Yi Ye immediately scanned the contents swiftly.
Not a single flaw; it was perfect enough to implement right away.
Utterly absurd.
In just one day, he'd established standards to manage every food stall across Hanyang and written a full guideline including future oversight policies.
"Dismissed. I'm heading out too."
Kim Dae-bung wrapped up and promptly left the Hanseongbu offices.
Once his figure vanished from sight, Yi Ye sighed and muttered.
"Indeed, that one is a Herculean deity."
And he resolved once more.
A thought he'd harbored before.
He absolutely must keep his grandson from entering government service.
One misstep, and he'd be crushed under Kim Dae-bung—spectacle he couldn't bear to witness.
The family honor might soar, but the suffering...