Chapter 15
January 1, 1568 (Year 1 of King Seonjo's reign).
"I have heard that all the people praise their sovereign. The Sovereign is so healthy and so famous, and for that reason I, this mother, am filled with boundless joy."
Queen Insun received Yi Yeon's New Year's greeting with a radiant smile and offered her customary words of comfort.
"It is all thanks to Mother."
Now, when Yi Yeon was with Queen Insun, he did not use the palace's formal court terminology.
He did not know it well, and he found the words somehow irritating, so he avoided using them.
Still, Queen Insun said nothing about it.
On the contrary, she seemed pleased that he had grown so close to her.
"Where could it be, thanks to me? It is because the Sovereign has taken such good care of the people. By the way, what do you intend to do?"
"I do not quite understand what you mean, Mother."
"I had the palace ladies convey something to you earlier…"
Queen Insun let her words trail off.
She had made up her mind not to involve herself in politics, which was why the term "Suryeong Cheongjeong" (direct management and clear governance) was difficult to bring to her lips.
Queen Insun, who knew little about these matters, found the endless memorials and the difficult words that the ministers submitted through the palace ladies to be tantamount to torture.
In that situation, when she saw that Yi Yeon was handling things better than expected, she informed the palace ladies through them that he would step down from Suryeong Cheongjeong three months earlier than originally planned.
"Ah, I see. That is all right. I had planned to discuss it at the next grand council meeting anyway."
Yi Yeon, upon receiving Queen Insun's message, immediately informed his ministers.
He thought that was exactly what she wanted, since she was reluctant to speak out herself.
"I am glad to hear it. I had been wondering what you would do, since I heard nothing. But you have already prepared everything. Thank you, Your Majesty."
"It is only natural. I was simply doing what I had to do."
Queen Insun looked at Yi Yeon's face, dotted here and there with pimples, and felt a pang of heartache.
Yet she smiled with pride.
"Truly, you are managing the kingdom quite well, even as a young lad."
"Yes, Mother."
"What an extraordinary child. That is why I have been hoping. If Your Majesty is not inconvenienced, I would like to place this child under my care. Would that be acceptable?"
"You already decided that, did you not?"
"Still, I must have Your Majesty's approval."
Though Joseon was a strict bloodline society, adopting children from other families was a relatively common practice.
Although they bore many children, they also lost many, so they needed successors to carry on the line.
However, in the royal house, this practice was normally forbidden.
It was unavoidable because it concerned succession to the throne.
Yet there was no such restriction on adopting a daughter.
Because it had no bearing on succession to the throne.
Therefore, Queen Insun had decided to adopt Heo Nanseolheon.
Because she was so clever and bright, and because her temperament was so gentle, Queen Insun wanted to keep her close.
Still, such cases were rare, which was why Queen Insun had hesitated.
She wanted to hear Yi Yeon's answer.
Yi Yeon, knowing of Heo Nanseolheon's unfortunate life, answered immediately.
"Mother, I am in favor. To have such a clever and beautiful younger sister is something I cannot refuse."
"I am deeply grateful, Your Majesty."
Queen Insun was truly grateful for Yi Yeon's quick answer.
Though she had adopted him as her own son, she had raised him with utmost care, and she felt she was being rewarded for the times she had hidden and lived beneath the cruel Moonjeong Queen.
Moreover, she had heard that he was looking after his troubled younger brother Sim Ui-gyeom, so Queen Insun often went to the temple to pray for Yi Yeon's sake.
Leaving Queen Insun's residence, Yi Yeon stopped in his tracks as he made his way back to the Gangnyeongjeon.
He had been reminded of the words spoken by Gi Dae-seung, the Hanmun Gwanjeon and Yeomun Gwan Eungyo, after seeing young Heo Nanseolheon.
'Sovereign, during the reign of King Jungjong, the Hyanggyo taught the young scholars "Xiaoxue." Thanks to that, this subject also learned Xiaoxue when he was a young scholar. However, after the Yi-mao Japanese Invasion, that custom disappeared. It is truly a most regrettable matter. This subject earnestly requests that Your Majesty select teachers worthy of the task and entrust the matter to them once more. With that, the scholarly atmosphere of this country should be able to rise again.'
In short, he was asking the sovereign to support the Hyanggyo.
Therefore, Yi Yeon had refused.
He knew the corruptions of the Hyanggyo far too well.
Yet it was not something he could ignore.
'If we nurture geniuses like Cho-hui properly, this country will go in the right direction…'
To do so, Xiaoxue was essential.
It taught etiquette for daily life.
It provided maxims for self-cultivation.
It contained the historical anecdotes of loyal ministers and filial sons.
'Innate moral education is indispensable.'
If the plans he had been devising succeeded, Joseon would undoubtedly become a society overflowing with material wealth.
That was why Yi Yeon was paying attention to the necessity of innate moral education.
'Otherwise, conflicts will deepen and the world will become impossible to live in. No, the world I created might even collapse.'
If everyone were wealthy, there would be no cause for worry.
But the gap between rich and poor would only widen.
Those who worked in industry rather than agriculture would inevitably grasp greater wealth.
'History has proven this.'
Therefore, he had not even glanced at those who, like Yi Hwang, coveted the land.
It seemed obvious that they would fall.
But Xiaoxue was far too vast and difficult to learn, so no one wanted to study it.
'Translating Xiaoxue would be no easier.'
During the reign of King Jungjong, a translation of Xiaoxue had been published to make the difficult text easier to understand.
Yet it had errors, and the content was incomplete.
'It is not as if I can do it now…'
Time was short, but other problems seemed to exist as well.
His "Hangul First Steps" was nearly complete.
So he would simply revise Xiaoxue in Hangul to make it easier to read.
But the sheer volume would make it difficult to produce, and it would seem too difficult for young children to learn.
'Cho-hui, who can recite the Analects by heart, has no problem, but for ordinary children it would be like reading the smallest print.'
Yi Yeon sighed.
'In the end, I have no choice but to do it.'
Having made his decision, Yi Yeon resolved to modify the contents of his "Hangul First Steps."
He would incorporate a simple version of Xiaoxue's teachings on etiquette.
Yet not all problems would be solved by that.
'I wish Big Brother would return soon.'
His older brother, who had gone to Ming, would not be able to return until spring.
Because of that, there was no one to discuss these matters with ease.
Yet he could not discuss them with his younger brother either.
His younger brother had gotten into trouble and was now completely devoted to mining.
'Still, it is fortunate.'
When his younger brother appeared as the representative of the Joseon royal family, mining development was being promoted everywhere.
Thanks to that, not only copper and zinc for the coins, but also gold and silver ingots were piling up in the Naesisa warehouses.
The effect was tremendous.
When word spread that the royal treasury was solid, not only the ministers but also ordinary people volunteered to support the royal family.
It was because they feared losing their jobs if they did not.
'That is why, when I quit the company, the people around me rushed over.'
Only now did Yi Yeon understand the psychology of the masses, which people called "the will of the people."
He also understood why those around him had acted the way they had when he quit the company.
'Besides Park Bu-jang, no one even contacted me.'
In the end, it had been money.
He thought that love and friendship were all tied up with money.
"Right! That's exactly it."
Yi Yeon suddenly snapped out of it.
The problem he had been worrying about for so long seemed to be solved in an instant.
Yi Yeon paused in his steps and organized his thoughts.
'Make it so that only Joseon people can do finance, like the Jews. Then, even without me, our Joseon people can rule the world.'
Yi Yeon's goal was to unify the entire East Asia under Joseon.
Because of that, he worried that a Joseon with relatively few people might be swallowed up.
'I cannot kill the chicken to get the eggs.'
But if he developed and monopolized the finance industry, that would not be a problem.
Arriving at the Gangnyeongjeon, Yi Yeon spread out a sheet of white paper and began writing things down.
While doing so, he carefully identified each problem and drew up a detailed plan.
'Building a bank is obviously the first step.'
'Only those who have been granted permission may engage in finance.'
'It is also necessary to set an interest rate ceiling.'
'Those who violate it with usurious loans must be punished without mercy.'
'It would be wise to consider a donation system that offers tax benefits.'
Yi Yeon methodically listed the harms and problems of modern finance one by one.
That way, the Joseon people working in finance could be respected socially and wield influence.
There was a reason Yi Yeon had already been thinking this way and drawing up such plans.
'Now that I have made the slamfire shotgun and can mass-produce endless bullets, there is nothing to fear.'
It was because he had already made the core of the bullets, the percussion cap.
* * *
A few days earlier, Yi Yeon, together with Hwa Gye-ju, had succeeded in manufacturing mercury fulminate in the laboratory he had built at the royal palace site.
It was an extremely dangerous task, and a top secret that could not be exposed at all, so the two of them had worked on it alone.
"All the technologies I am about to pass on to you must be kept secret until I give permission. Understood?"
"I will keep it in mind, Your Majesty."
Yi Yeon had received Hwa Gye-ju's solemn oath many times.
The ability to move from matchlock guns to wheel-lock guns and to create guns that use cartridges had been possible because of the existence of percussion caps.
Therefore, if the method of making percussion caps were to be exposed, it would be hard to gain the upper hand even if slamfire shotguns could be turned into full-auto shotguns.
'I might be outclassed in skill.'
That was why Yi Yeon had given Hwa Gye-ju the method of making the most basic percussion cap, mercury fulminate, only after teaching him black powder and sulfuric acid production and watching him carefully.
Fortunately, he never spread or passed on that method to anyone.
He only gave fair instructions to the Hwa Gye-won and never explained the principles.
Yi Yeon wrote chemical formulas on the blackboard in the laboratory using chalk made from limestone.
If he could, he would have made chalk from eggshells, which are mostly calcium carbonate (CaCO3), a less harmful substance to the human body, but he had given up because it was troublesome.
(Hg) + (HNO3) + (C2H6O) = (Hg(CNO)2
Hg + 2CO + N2 → Hg(CNO)2
"To make what is called mercury fulminate or mercury fulminate according to the above chemical formula, first dissolve mercury in nitric acid and pour ethanol on top, then wait until the reaction is complete."
Yi Yeon taught Hwa Gye-ju the alphabet and wrote chemical formulas in alphabet letters for one reason.
To prevent anyone from understanding the principles even if it were exposed.
'No one besides me would be able to understand this chemical formula.'
Yi Yeon drilled a hole in a leather sheet.
He wore a mask padded with cotton.
He demonstrated it with the mercury, nitric acid, and ethanol he had already prepared.
Hwa Gye-ju's eyes, wide with wonder, were filled with awe.
"What is the most important thing here?"
"The proportion. Your Highness."
"Correct. When making black powder, the most important thing is the proportion."
Therefore, all the proportions known to our Hwa Gye must be treated as top secret, and those who violate them must be removed without mercy. Understood?"
"I will keep it in mind, Your Highness."
Yi Yeon often emphasized that those who did not keep secrets must never be allowed to live.
Most reactions could not be duplicated even if exposed, but if people were not punished for leaking secrets, the organization would collapse.
Once the reaction was complete, gray particles began to spread across the bottom.
"Wash this with water and dry it, and it becomes mercury fulminate. But it is so dangerous that you must always keep it submerged in water when not in use. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yi Yeon carefully scooped up a tiny bit of the still slightly damp mercury fulminate and threw it toward the granite wall.
"Watch closely."
—Pukwang!
With a tremendous explosion, smoke and flames erupted, then vanished in an instant.
Hwa Gye-ju was trembling and shaking.
He had often burned black powder, so he was not tense, but what he had just called mercury fulminate was on a different level.
Unlike Hwa Gye-ju, Yi Yeon smiled with satisfaction.
He had worried about the purity because it was made with ethanol from alcohol, but unexpectedly, the performance was excellent.
"As you can see, even a slight touch of this will cause it to explode. Therefore, before filling it into the cartridges you will make, it must be safely stored at all times. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness. I will keep it in mind over and over again."
Yi Yeon, who had produced mercury fulminate faster than he expected, was greedy.
'If I am lucky, I could make grenades too?'
Yi Yeon saw the fist-sized pottery that had been nearby break from the explosion and grinned.
* * *