Chapter 5
King Seonjo found the situation far more dire than he had anticipated.
'I need to prepare this beautifully before meeting Seong-wong…'
Looking at it now, that seemed impossible.
Even inside Gyeongbokgung, the heart of Joseon, a short walk beyond the residence of Gangnyeongjeon made the stench of excrement rise like thunder.
There were so few places named Heuso-ra, the palace restroom, that anyone desperate for relief seemed to do it anywhere.
'I need to bring in water immediately and build a flush toilet. The stench is driving me insane.'
Given the hot and humid summer, a breeze would carry a pungent, overwhelming odor that pricked the nose—reminiscent of childhood.
'I changed the poultry farm to the latest facilities because I hated that stench, and now I’m back to it. Damn it!’
It wasn’t just that.
Every person you looked at carried a rancid scent.
Though their appearance was splendid, the odor could not be hidden.
'I should create very strong perfumes.'
Even the maids carried fragrant sachets, yet they rarely bathed, and a strange scent still wafted from them.
But what was more urgent was something else.
The odor grew familiar as time passed.
The real problem lay in what they ate.
The court meals, called Gucheopban-sang, were no better than ordinary neighborhood rice shops, and the taste was mediocre at best.
Only the heavy brass tableware gleamed.
So they decided to solve the issue of food first.
'It’s tiresome, but I miss it.'
I’ve eaten fried chicken and chicken so much since childhood that even after becoming an adult I never looked at them again.
Now their taste was keenly missed.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
'To develop commerce, we must first circulate currency.'
But circulating currency in the current situation seemed like a dream.
Given how poverty-stricken it was, there seemed to be no leeway.
'I need to pull manpower away from farming.'
Since Joseon lived on rice, every able hand was devoted to rice cultivation.
Although the transplanting method had been introduced long ago, various reasons had led to its prohibition, resulting in severe waste of labor.
That was why they had come up with a solution: raising chickens.
'If we raise plenty of chickens that eat everything, we can cut down on rice rations.'
The people of Joseon, who lived on nothing but rice—pure carbohydrates—worked endlessly.
'So they never felt full even on high-rice meals.'
Without changing that, no amount of currency circulation or other plans could succeed.
'But that’s a blessing.'
Though Japanese pirates and Jurchens might occasionally cause trouble from the south and north, the next twenty years or more would see no major wars.
Still, they could not afford to relax.
Since becoming King, the person he had most wanted to meet was Seong-wong, and because he wanted to savor the world with him, there was simply too much to prepare.
'We can’t greet him empty-handed.'
So Yi Yeon suppressed the timid memories of King Seonjo and immediately set to work.
Upon hearing his suggestion to raise chickens, the two elder brothers looked at him in surprise and bewilderment.
“Our Joseon land is peculiar. When it’s time to sow seeds, droughts frequently occur. Unlike Ming China, we’ve banned the transplanting method because of that, which is why rice yields are extremely low.”
There was another reason they had forbidden the transplanting method: its yields would be far higher and labor far less, but it would force everyone to work together, gather in crowds, and allow local strongmen to organize rebellions.
Yi Yeon omitted that part in his explanation.
It was not the time to dwell on the deeds of the ancestors, nor was there anything to be gained by analyzing them.
“Furthermore, if a famine strikes one area while another enjoys a good harvest, the roads are in such disarray that aid is impossible. So I’ve been thinking—how can we overcome this?”
Yi Yeon fell silent and glanced subtly at his two brothers.
They lowered their heads, as if to say, “What method?”
They had never thought of such a thing, so they had avoided it.
Yi Yeon looked at the scribe and spoke clearly, as if urging them to listen and spread the word.
“Actually, what I mentioned about my headache was because I needed time alone to find a way to solve this problem. Now that I’ve found it, I’ve called the two of you.”
“Ah…”
“Is that so, Your Majesty?”
Both brothers were bewildered by the actions their newly crowned younger brother had taken.
Since such a thing had never happened before, they assumed he must have fallen gravely ill.
Now that they understood why, they sighed in relief—but they asked no questions about the method.
That was how things were done in Joseon, after all. They had no interest in the matter.
'Damn it. It sounds like he’s talking to the wall.'
Yi Yeon muttered inwardly and opened his mouth again.
“There is one method. Are you not curious?”
Yi Yeon asked outright, and the younger brother—more lively than the elder—hesitated before he could contain himself and spoke up.
“Surely you don’t mean raising chickens, do you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it.”
“How so? Eggs are already difficult to come by.”
Yi Yeon smiled brightly.
The younger brother looked at him with an expression of incomprehension, and only now did it feel like they were actually conversing, easing the frustration in his chest.
They had not lived together long, yet palace life was like a convent.
He had never attended evening parties under the excuse of illness, so the only conversations of substance were the morning greetings paid by Queen Insun.
Even that had not been entirely satisfactory.
Yi Yeon asked again in hopes of genuine conversation.
“That’s an excellent question. Do you happen to know about it?”
“What exactly?”
“How to make chickens lay more eggs.”
“Is there such a method?”
The younger brother blinked in amazement at Yi Yeon.
Yi Yeon answered without hesitation.
“Chickens stop laying eggs once they have laid as many as they can. To make them lay more, you simply remove the eggs frequently. That way, to replenish what they’ve laid, they’ll keep producing.”
“Is that true?!”
The younger brother let out a startled cry.
The elder brother pinched his thigh.
“We are deeply honored, Your Majesty.”
“We have committed a grave sin, Your Majesty.”
“No, no. It’s fine. If you have any doubts, feel free to ask me now, just as I’m asking you.”
Though Yi Yeon assured them it was all right, they bowed their heads repeatedly.
It was an absolute taboo for the supreme ruler of the land to question his younger brother.
Yi Yeon knew it was useless to protest and continued as planned.
“Anyway…”
Yi Yeon calmly explained everything he knew about chickens to his brothers.
Given his caution against any slip in word or deed, he spoke in the most gentle tone possible.
Gradually the atmosphere lightened, and their tone softened.
“Your Majesty, I am truly astonished. How did you come to know such things?”
“Your brothers probably wouldn’t know, but when I was young, I found it miraculous that a chicken egg turned into a chick. So for a time I closely observed chickens laying eggs. At first I couldn’t understand the principle, but after watching them often enough, I grasped the truth.”
“That’s amazing, truly.”
“The supreme being of this country must be him.”
The brothers nodded at each other, shedding the jealousy they had harbored toward their younger brother who had seized the throne ahead of them.
'The seed of a king is different from birth, it seems. It was true.'
'There was a reason why Vice Minister Lee Jun-gyeong supported me.'
They were far apart in age, so they had never discussed such matters together.
Because of that, they believed every word Yi Yeon said and understood why he had to become king.
“Thank you for telling us. Now, besides the two of us, no one else can be trusted. There’s no one capable of doing the job either. So I ask for your help. Please assist me, brothers.”
“We will, Your Majesty.”
“We will follow any order, Your Majesty.”
The sincere answers from his brothers brought relief to Yi Yeon’s heart.
'Damn it! I was too nervous.'
He hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly.
He had assumed the Joseon royal family and yangban would all be skilled in scheming and deception.
But they weren’t.
They could recite passages from the Four Books and Five Classics, yet they knew nothing of scientific phenomena.
The position of king seemed to have played a part as well.
Anyone else who raised the topic of chickens would have been ignored, no matter how extraordinary the content—until the royal family members themselves spoke of it.
Even if they had dismissed the lowly topic, the concern for starving subjects year after year would have earned him praise.
'This is my chance to truly capture their hearts.'
They might outwardly seem impressed now, but who knew how it would change later.
Therefore, he had to prove to them the immense benefits of the plan.
“Right now, Joseon has only one commodity with high purchasing power: rice. Cloth is traded, but its value seems far lower than rice’s. You can do without cloth, but without rice you die. Yet rice prices fluctuate constantly. So I’ve been thinking—how can we stabilize rice prices?”
“Ah! That’s why you’re planning to raise vast numbers of chickens.”
“Correct. After the harvest, we can make feed from the leftover rice straw and rice bran, and feed the chickens. That will provide vital food during the spring famine. We can also use eggs from chickens for nutritional supplementation during the cold winter.”
At these words the younger brother unconsciously gave his thigh a sharp clap.
“Truly amazing. With just chickens we can solve the people’s hunger and even stabilize rice prices. There’s no greater sage than a sage king.”
Joyfully, the younger brother turned to the elder and asked.
“Elder Brother, isn’t this a one-stone-two-birds situation?”
“Why one-stone-two? One-stone-three or even one-stone-four would be more appropriate.”
“Why so?”
“Think about it. If we, the royal family, take the lead in raising something as valuable as currency itself—chickens—what do you think would happen?”
“Ah… I was shortsighted.”
The younger brother scratched his head awkwardly.
The elder brother clicked his tongue, then looked at Yi Yeon and spoke in a grave voice.
“Your Majesty, this is an exceptionally fine plan. If it succeeds, we may never need to look over our shoulders at the yangban again. With chickens alone we could flood the treasury. In that case…”
Yi Yeon immediately reached out to stop the elder brother’s words.
Then he shifted his gaze toward the scribe.
His feet were numb, so he couldn’t see, but the scribe was frantically scribbling something.
Only then did the elder brother notice and cover his mouth with his hand.
Although he was twenty-three, having no experience of palace life had led to the mistake.
'Oh no! The scribe couldn’t have imagined that.'
In ordinary times such a remark would cause no problem at all.
Even the royal uncles said similar things often.
But now he was with the king.
It could easily be construed as treason.
Yi Yeon gave the sweating elder brother a quick glance, then cleared his throat and spoke in a stern tone.
“Enough of that. We have many years left to live, don’t we?”
No reply came, yet Yi Yeon paid it no mind.
Those who would willingly risk their lives for him were the scribes.
'They’re not the type to refuse a command.'
Instead, he changed the subject.
“Anyway, the very first task is to find a successor to Jeon Soon-ui.”
The elder brother answered quickly, as if trying to deflect the remark.
“Jeon Soon-ui? You mean the physician who served as Head of the Bureau of Medical Affairs since King Sejong’s time?”
“That’s probably who it is.”
Yi Yeon mentioned him as a potential foundation for building an artificial hatching chamber.
Surprisingly, the elder brother knew him.
“I know Jeon Soon-ui well. But I don’t believe a successor exists. I tried to find one when I heard rumors of his illness, yet I never heard that he had one. Why do you wish to find his successor?”
“Because the Mountain Home Essentials records contain a method for creating a greenhouse to artificially hatch chicken eggs.”
“Ah… I see. Then what about that physician who is rumored to be skilled these days? Why not bring him here? He could probably build the greenhouse Your Majesty desires after studying the records. He said he learned medicine by reading books, didn’t he?”
The elder brother had once asked where the renowned physician learned his art, because it was miraculous that a court physician had healed his daughter with just a few sips of water.
If Jeon Soon-ui, a famous doctor, had taught him, he might even be able to recommend the man despite his low birth.
But he had claimed to have studied medicine on his own.
Because that saddened the elder brother, he recommended the physician to Yi Yeon.
He was not an inner palace physician but someone who would manage chickens and eggs, so status mattered little.
Yi Yeon felt a strange premonition.
He had never had such an experience, yet it felt as though it had.
'Could it be…?'
He also sensed that things were about to go well.
“Do you know this physician’s name?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. His father was the Governor of Gyeongsang, and he himself is the illegitimate son of Heo Gon—Heo Jun.”
“What?! Heo Jun?!”
“You know him?”
“Hmph…”
Yi Yeon covered his startled expression with a cough and took a long sip of tea.
'Wow… Heo Jun!'
* * *