Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Commercial City Hanyang (5)
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Food poisoning is like a bomb.
Because when it goes off, dozens or even hundreds of people can suffer mass food poisoning all at once.
That's why I have no choice but to take a firm stand on this issue.
"Kim Seo-yun, what do you plan to do with the ones we caught this time?"
"For those who sold slightly spoiled food, I'll lock them up for a few days, give them a stern warning that next time they'll face severe punishment, and let them go. But for those who sold clearly rotten food, I intend to cane them."
"They might have sold the rotten food because it seemed fine when they ate it themselves, or maybe they just didn't know any better. Caning feels a bit harsh..."
"Aren't they the shameless scoundrels who sold rotten food? In my opinion, caning is too lenient—they deserve hard labor at the very least."
Joseon's penal code is divided into five categories: Tae, Jang, Do, Yu, and Sa.
Tae is a beating with a thick switch, Jang is caning, Do forces brutal hard labor, Yu is exile, and Sa is execution.
Up to Tae is like a minor offense or suspended sentence in modern terms—just bruises on the thighs after...
But caning? Even ten strokes means lying bedridden for a fortnight, and sometimes it even kills unintentionally. It's a heavy punishment.
Do is like throwing someone into the Aoji coal mine.
The labor conditions are so abysmal that deaths before the sentence ends are all too common.
It's a truly severe penalty, but when food poisoning hits one shop, victims number in the dozens or hundreds...
In the 21st century, even in Africa, deaths from dehydration like waterborne diseases have become exceedingly rare, but in Joseon, catching something like that carries a 10-20% fatality rate...
'The punished might feel wronged, but it's a necessary measure.'
"Caning is already harsh—hard labor seems excessive, don't you think?"
"The state never taught them how grave a crime selling rotten food is, so I have no intention of being overly severe. Thus, for those who sold rotten food, we'll stop at caning this time. But if it happens again, we'll shut down their shops entirely and impose harsh hard labor."
Punishing every crime with maximum severity isn't always the answer.
In late 18th-century England, they hanged people caught stealing goods worth more than one shilling—about eight bucks today.
Legislators at the time saw theft as something no human should do, deserving death.
But soon after, public backlash grew against executing petty thieves.
It wasn't just humane qualms; applying the death penalty to borderline thefts led to frequent cases where a thief who'd stolen a loaf of bread would kill any witnesses upon discovery, to avoid the noose.
'Blind severity is never right.'
Yet claiming severe punishment has no effect is also wrong.
In 21st-century Korea, restaurant owners meticulously follow hygiene standards partly because failing an inspection means brutal business suspensions and fines.
Likewise, the trash who fawn over female staff and pant after them refrain from using meager power or brute force for sexual assault.
Because getting caught means devastating consequences.
That said, even severity needs reasonable limits—which is why I'm not pushing for Aoji coal mine sentences right away for these guys who knowingly sold spoiled food.
Among those I had arrested, the "slightly spoiled" stuff would go straight into Korea's food waste bin, while the "rotten" had mold scraped off before selling.
"Still, they did sell rotten food..."
"My lord."
A sigh escaped me naturally.
As Yi Ye said, by current Joseon standards, the punishment I'm advocating could be called harsh.
His idea of fair justice would be a light flogging for knowingly selling spoiled goods, then caning if caught again.
Even King Sejong would likely say the same.
All Joseon officials, Yi Ye included, are Confucian zealots, and Confucianism itself holds that punishments should be minimized as much as possible.
"Would Your Lordship say the same if your beloved grandson died eating the rotten food those men made?"
"......What on earth do you mean by that?"
"Eating rotten food causes stomach pain and diarrhea. If it persists, the body dehydrates completely and death follows. Haven't I mentioned this several times? So we must consider the victims' side when sentencing those who sold it knowingly. That's why I make so bold as to ask."
In Joseon, rapists are executed.
Even though rape doesn't directly kill, no one questions or resents the verdict.
Annals record a case where a master tried to rape his female slave; she scratched his face defending herself and was acquitted.
This means rape is viewed as seriously as treason in some cases.
They consider it graver than rape.
Conversely, if a master tries to kill a slave without cause and the slave strikes back in self-defense, the slave faces execution with high probability.
Because harming a superior outweighs the master's attempted murder.
Why go that far? Simple.
The lifelong suffering of a rape victim is so severe that death seems preferable to anyone watching.
They apply empathy rigorously, mandating near-automatic execution for rape.
What I'm doing is just setting an example for those who ignored easily preventable hygiene in restaurants.
Had I applied 21st-century food standards, every food seller in Hanyang would be caned at least 50 times, with over a hundred exiled.
At my words, he fell silent.
"......"
"They didn't serve spoiled rice or veggies knowing it'd kill like some vicious murderer. We can't hold them to the same crime."
Modern law clearly distinguishes intentional from unintentional homicide.
The outcome is the same—innocent death—but intent makes deliberate murder far heavier.
"Yet plenty who ate their food must have suffered food poisoning like diarrhea. Some may have already died because of them."
In Korea, food poisoning deaths are virtually nil, but in Joseon, it's no exaggeration to say one in five victims dies.
So whether those sellers thought selling slightly spoiled food would kill or not...
'People can still die from it regardless.'
"That's why we must establish legal precedent."
If they were truly wronged, I'd have paraded them through Hanseongbu prison, lectured them, and released them.
But they kept selling rotten stuff knowingly.
Even a caning bloodying their backsides is fair.
"Hearing you out, even just caning the ones who sold outright rotten food and letting them go feels like leniency."
"And to prevent this ever happening again, we must give basic hygiene education to every food seller."
The 32 I arrested were blatant rotten-food peddlers...
But inspections revealed nearly half of Hanyang's operating shops are primed for mass outbreaks.
Ignore it, and a big one kills hundreds.
Food poisoning doesn't always spread as plague, but Joseon teeters on epidemics during famines anyway...
No guarantee a massive outbreak won't spark one.
"Must the yamen teach that themselves?"
"Isn't the duty of yangban scholars to guide the people toward righteousness and fulfill their human roles? Scholars earn universal respect from farmers, artisans, and merchants by upholding that grave responsibility. Shirking education is throwing a scholar's duty in the dirt."
"Understood. I'll submit a formal report to His Highness: severely punish those caught selling rotten food, and mandate basic hygiene training for all food sellers."
"Thank you, my lord."
With that, our talk with Yi Ye concluded, and as he turned to leave, I drew a book from my official robe's sleeve.
Seeing it, Yi Ye recoiled.
"What in the world is that book of yours?"
"It's a concise guide on how to conduct hygiene education. Give clear directives to get the job done right. Just saying 'teach them' won't make it happen properly."
My previous hygiene manual and this new education guideline aren't lengthy.
Detailed for understanding, but about 50,000 characters total.
Roughly ten A4 pages.
Outline the knowledge by table of contents, and it's done in a day.
"You're suggesting we assign one of Hanseongbu's vice magistrates solely to hygiene?"
"Yes. And not just policing food sellers—we need oversight of latrines in Hanyang, sewage disposal... and encouraging frequent bathing among the people."
"Bathing isn't some casual affair."
"Fetching water is secondary; boiling it for washing is the real hurdle."
But there's a solution for that too.
Coal mines dot Joseon, yielding plenty of coal.
"Coal is abundant across the eight provinces. Promote boiling water with it for bathing."
Right now, only bathhouses boil water with coal...
But ramp up mining, and spreading ondol floors nationwide might just be feasible.