Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 367

Episode 367: Stagnation – Stillness (1)

Joseon, which had entered a period of stagnation, was busy in its own peace.

Many merchant ships were busily traveling between Shandong and Jemulpo, and in Dongnae, merchant ships were busy traveling to and from the Joseon Dynasty on the Japanese mainland as well as Tsushima Island.

And from the Mokpo side, merchant ships were coming and going to the fiefdoms of Ouchi and Wondojin. The merchant ships coming from Ouchi were loaded with silver ore, and the ships coming from Wondojin’s territory were loaded with cotton.

Wondojin, who joined forces with Ouchi and attacked the Shoni clan, was able to recover the lost territory.

Won Do-jin, who restored the territory, accepted Joseon’s offer and began growing cotton to cover the war expenses and raise funds to rebuild the territory.

And starting this year, commercially significant quantities of cotton began to enter Joseon.

Cotton imported from the Japanese country was transformed into cotton through the hands of merchants in Joseon and sold not only to the Ming, Jurchen, and Japanese countries, but also to Arab countries and Europe.

This was the opportunity for the creation of the phrase ‘Florence’s wool, Joseon’s cotton’ in Europe.

* * *

In this process, Mokpo Suyeong broke away from being a simple military port and began to develop into a trade port.

Challenger-class front lines traveling between Alexandria and Mokpo were constantly coming in and out, and merchant ships belonging to the Mansour Merchant Marine were also busy coming in and out.

In addition, merchant ships from Yugu and Seomra (Thailand), who heard the rumor, also visited Mokpo Suyeong.

During this process, what caught my eye were the merchant ships of Seomra Gokkuk (暹羅斛國), to be precise.

Although it was visited once during the reign of King Taejo, it was a country that did not communicate with the country because it was thought that there would be no significant benefit. (Note 1)

Thailand’s main products were logs and resin of cedarwood and agarwood.

Cattlewood was used as a raw material for red or purple dye, agarwood logs were used to make incense, and its resin was used in perfumes and medicine.

In the meantime, it was mainly obtained through intermediary trade through famous merchants, but direct trade was accomplished by sending a merchant ship directly from Seomla.

Foreign merchant ships visiting Joseon were good prey for pirates. However, at least there were no pirates approaching within two days of Joseon or Kyushu.

Inside was the area of influence of the sea emergency high-speed wires.

Therefore, pirates looked for opportunities on the outskirts of that sphere of influence. However, the captains who operated merchant ships were not easy.

They moved together according to the time when Joseon’s challenger class sailed.

As long as the challenger-level battle line held, pirates could not tamper with merchant ships.

* * *

While the West and South Seas of Joseon were busy, the East Sea of Joseon was relatively quiet.

Built on Dongbing Bay (called Vladivostok before the township intervened), challenger-class and sea emergency cables were built using timber cut from nearby coniferous forests.

The coniferous trees nearby were hard and dense, making them the optimal material for building ships.

In addition, since most of the trees grew upright, they were the best building materials.

Soon, the first mission of the newly built Challenger-class battleships and sea emergency battleships was to head to Wonsan with a full load of lumber.

In this process, Joseon recorded another ‘world first’.

-The world’s first country to start a ‘systematic’ afforestation project.

“The scale of that coniferous forest is enormous, but if it is cut down indiscriminately, it will soon come to an end. Therefore, you will need to grow healthy saplings to fill in the cut space. “This is for our future generations, so it should never be done in vain.”

Following King Sejong’s orders – of course, Hyang laid the groundwork – a systematic afforestation project was started.

There was no afforestation project even before Sejong.

Efforts have been made to preserve forestry resources since the Three Kingdoms period. It was an artificial afforestation area called Imsu (林藪). (Note 2)

However, the reason why King Sejong’s policy received the title of ‘world’s first’ was because he was the first to proclaim that its purpose was to preserve resources.

* * *

Aside from the active movement between Dongbing Port and Wonsan, the East Sea was quite quiet.

In order to prevent the entry of Japanese fishermen or Japanese pirates, except for the patrolling of marine emergency fronts in the vicinity of Mureungdo (武陵島 Ulleungdo) and Usando (于山島 Dokdo) (Note 3), Daeseoldo (大雪島) – History before the township intervened There were only regular ships going between Hokkaido and Hokkaido.

Exploration to the north and east was temporarily suspended due to a lack of personnel.

“First, let’s focus on completely assimilating Daeseoldo Island into Joseon’s territory.”

With a face full of regret, King Sejong came to a conclusion, and there were no ministers who opposed it.

* * *

There was considerable pain before the name Daeseoldo Island was named.

The name that was first nominated was ‘Apwae Island (壓倭島)’ claimed by Heo Jo.

‘Suppressing the heads of the Japanese people.’ The name was meant to mean, but soon other ministers expressed their disapproval.

“It’s a cool name, but it’s diplomatically problematic. Let’s give it a different name.”

“Why do we have to keep an eye on them?”

“I’m not saying that because they aren’t the kind of people who will just be quiet!”

“Huh~. “Why do I have to pay attention to what they think now?”

“When the time comes, you should fix your short hair, but I’m not saying don’t give it an excuse!”

After such an intense war of words, King Sejong came to a conclusion.

“I also don’t like the Japanese, but there are many Japanese who maintain good relations with Joseon, so I think it’s best to avoid names that are too extreme.”

According to King Sejong’s decision, the island was named ‘Daeseoldo’ as a kind of appeasement.

* * *

In order to completely integrate Daeseoldo into Joseon’s river area, what Joseon chose was ‘monopoly’.

The Ainu, the indigenous people living on Daeseoldo Island, lacked everything.

Primitive agriculture of hunting and gathering alone could not meet all needs.

Therefore, the monopoly located in the Korean residential area was a dream place for the Ainu.

An official dispatched from Joseon explained the conditions for using the monopoly to the Ainu people who could speak in writing.

-It can be used when you become a citizen of Joseon.

-What does it mean to be a citizen of Joseon?

-All you have to do is obey the orders of His Majesty the Lord and follow the laws of Joseon.

-Are there any other conditions other than that?

-Customs that violate etiquette are prohibited.

-I will talk to my blood relatives.

Through this process, a small number of Ainu people gradually became citizens of Joseon.

Ainu people who became wealthy in Joseon were given status badges, and in this process, many funny things happened.

This was in the process of recording the names of the Ainu people.

It was not easy to transliterate a name created in the native Ainu language into Chinese characters.

* * *

In any case, the absorption of the Ainu through the monopoly went smoothly.

This was because not only did the wealthy Ainu not suffer much damage, but other Ainu people who saw them freely using the monopoly also began to become wealthy in Joseon.

Hyang, who heard the report from Sejong’s side, smiled evilly and muttered in her room.

“They say that what is better than virtue is prohibition… It’s not what the Chinese call ‘capitalism of all evil.’”

* * *

What the Ainu bought at the monopoly was not luxury goods, but daily necessities such as cloth, grain, salt, and sugar.

In the process of obtaining these daily necessities, the Ainu experienced a strong culture shock, and the item that caused that shock was salt.

“I want to buy some salt…” When

the Ainu who visited the monopoly office explained his business in stammering Korean, the official at the monopoly office asked a question.

“Are you looking for salt? “What kind of salt?”

In response to the official’s question, the Ainu asked back with a puzzled expression.

“What kind of salt?”

The official, seeing the Ainu’s expression, guided him to one side.

The official, who moved to a stand on one side, stretched out his arms and asked again.

“What kind of salt do you want?”

“to?”

The Ainu blinked his wide eyes and looked again at the scene before him.

There were at least 10 different types of salt on display. Looking at the Ainu like that, the official continued.

“If you are simply looking for a salty taste, you can buy the cheapest sea salt over there. If you want a more luxurious taste, you can buy this local salt. There is everything from the most basic celadon salt to the medicinal salt used in porridge to be fed to patients suffering from colic or stomachache. “What do you want?”

He was an Ainu who gaped at the official’s explanation and the true scenery before his eyes.

* * *

As expected, the virtue of incense was hidden in the diversification of Joseon’s natural dyes.

In the early days of his reign, King Sejong decided to change all private salts to public salts and was strongly pushing for it.

This was because the profits that saltmakers made from selling salt, one of the necessities for human life, were enormous.

Therefore, the purpose was to secure finances by converting private salt to public salt.

Naturally, the backlash from salters was fierce.

It was common for many saltmakers to run away from their assigned workplaces and secretly make and sell salt.

However, King Sejong continued to pursue public affairs.

Hyang, who was watching this scene from the side, had to worry with a perplexed expression on his face.

“It’s a cliché after all. “I also have an aversion to sea salt?”

When Jinho lived in the 21st century, refined salt and rock salt were used in Jinho’s house.

In some cases, such as making kimchi, refined salt was used, and in other dishes, rock salt was used.

When Jinho asked the reason, Jinho’s mother smiled humbly and told the reason.

“Well, that’s it? These days, for some reason, I can’t seem to get enough of sea salt. There was a lot of talk for a while about being a salt farm slave or something, right?”

Perhaps because of that, both when he lived as Jinho and now as Hyang, he felt a great deal of resistance to Cheonil-yeom.

“But there are a lot of problems with native salt, too…”

According to what Hyang found out, native salt was being made all over the coastal areas of Joseon.

The West Sea and the South Sea were made by trapping seawater in a mudflat and boiling the evaporated mudflat soil back into seawater to increase salinity, while the East Sea was made by simply mixing seawater taken from the sea with dirt or sand, going through a similar process, and then boiling it. .

The problem was that it was difficult to avoid the problem of impurities when using mudflat soil.

In particular, in the case of the West Sea, as water from the Yellow River flows in, impurities increase and salinity decreases, making it a product that requires a lot of work.

However, the East Sea was freer from the problem of impurities.

If you take a boat and go out just one way (about 15 minutes), you can get plenty of clear sea water.

No, even if you didn’t go out by boat, you could get clear, high-salinity sea water just by going out a short distance.

The biggest problem with the native salt grown in the East Sea was that it had to cross the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range to be sold in large markets.

Naturally, it was expensive due to the transportation fee, and in other regions, only those who could afford it used the native salt from the East Sea.

“There are many problems, but as expected, Ja-yeom is more palatable. Using coal also solves the fuel problem. Of course, when it comes to cost-effectiveness, sea salt wins by a landslide, but…” I

trailed off, as if I didn’t like something about the scent.

“This cost-effectiveness takes a toll on me… Should I also go for a two-track version? oh! You can make money by entrusting the sea salt to the right person to make it, then selling it to people who are really struggling at a very low price and selling it to other places. With the money I earned, I dyed my own hair… with second-hand and high-quality goods. also…. “This would be good.”

Hyang, who planned to make sea salt and sell it overseas and use the money to focus on natural salt, smiled as if he was satisfied.

The truth is that I liked the scent of natural salt because it has more virtues than sea salt.

* * *

Note 1) Historical consideration of exchanges with Thailand before and after the founding of the Joseon Dynasty. Cho Heung-guk. Assistant Professor, Pusan National University Graduate School of International Studies.

Note 2) Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture. Forestry items.

http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Index?contents_id=E0047546

Note 3) This data was referenced for the basis for calling Usando Dokdo.

The truth about Dokdo. Sejong University Dokdo Research Institute.

http://www.dokdoandeastasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Dokdo-Truth-1_Usan-guk-Usan-do.pdf