Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 369

Episode 369: Stagnation – Jeongjungdong (3)

It was decided to use Hunminjeongeum in earnest from the fall semester of the following year, but there were many people who used it in advance.

Those who pioneered the use of Hunminjeongeum in this way were officials of the Ministry of General Affairs and the Ministry of Education, as well as those working in research institutes and Area 51.

The reason why officials from the Ministry of General Affairs and the Ministry of Education learned and used Hunminjeongeum was to prepare for the case when it was officially promulgated and used in education next year.

“We have to prepare people to train local government officials, and we have to check in advance for problems that may arise during use and make corrections….”

“The problem is that thanks to this, there are more things that don’t have to be done….” “

“It’s really hard to live while receiving a bonus…”

“It’s fortunate that it’s easy to learn and use. If even that was difficult, I submitted my resignation. Really…”

Despite the complaints and complaints, the officials made up for the problems that occurred while using Hunminjeongeum.

Of course, it was inevitable that exclamations and swear words would come out during the process.

The admiration was that King Sejong had already predicted that such a problem would occur, and the insults were that he had left the choice of solution to the management.

The easiest example was the problem of ‘homonyms’.

When writing official documents, there were many cases where words with the same pronunciation but different meanings were grouped together. Or, there were cases where the meaning of a sentence was completely different depending on how you understood it.

“How should we solve this problem…”

In order to find a solution, officials searched through annual reports or racked their brains.

Officials who were looking through the Haerye book just in case, saw the table of contents written on the page right after the cover – there had never been books like this before – and swore at them.

“shit!”

‘Chapter 4. ‘Problems with writing and comprehension’

and right below it, ‘homonyms’ was written in plain English.

The officials who quickly found the item had to frown once again.

-Hunminjeongeum is a sound-letter system, so there is a problem of homonyms. As a simple example, even if ‘advance’ is written, the meaning of the entire sentence changes depending on whether it is ‘moving forward’ or ‘changing course’.

There are several ways to solve this.

However, it is always written in Chinese characters.

Both Hunminjeongeum and Chinese characters are used side by side.

three. The meaning can be found by looking at the before and after of the sentence, so only use Hunminjeongeum.

Choose one of these three options or consider whether there is a better option. I, the one who came up with a better plan, will remember this.

The officials who saw the last sentence shouted at the same time.

“You fucking idiot!”

This was because they were shocked by the words written down by the king, who they did not even think of as a human being like them.

‘No, find all the problems, make options, and come up with a new solution?’

The frustrated officials muttered without realizing it.

“What sin did I commit in my past life…”

The officials, who were so exhausted and grumbling, suddenly brightened their eyes and began transcribing documents.

‘At least once! If you get it right, it will turn your life around!’

* * *

However, no matter how hard he tried, King Sejong the Great made it with the utmost determination – including scents – and even prepared for expected problems and appropriate options.

Officials who encountered Hunminjeongeum desperately tried to use their heads, but they could not escape the scope envisaged by King Sejong.

“In the end, do we have to choose one of the alternatives your highness has proposed?”

“Maybe…”

The conclusion was reached, but the officials could not make a choice easily.

This was because they could not be confident that the alternative they chose was the ‘correct answer’ that King Sejong had in mind.

This was the same for ministers as well. This was because it was certain that if I chose the wrong answer due to poor judgment, I would hear that unpleasant clicking sound.

In the end, the ministers found the incense.

After hearing the business from the ministers who came to visit her, Hyang clicked her tongue without realizing it.

“Tsk!”

The ministers were momentarily shocked by the sound of incense hitting their tongues, but there was nothing they could do.

‘Ah-oh! That damn tongue-clicking sound!’

‘The rich man… I think he’s really going to beat me up!’

Although they were swearing all kinds of things on the inside, on the outside they were bowing their heads.

“No matter how much I think about it, they all seem to be correct.”

“Are they all correct?”

“yes?”

After hearing Hyang’s answer, all the ministers opened their eyes and looked at Hyang.

Looking at the ministers like that, Hyang continued speaking.

“Hunminjeongeum is a script that has just been created. So I don’t know what is the right answer and what is the wrong answer. Various ministers and officials should use it and the people should use it to make changes. The problem that Abamama pointed out was expected to arise in the process of moving away from the Chinese characters that we have been accustomed to, and is only an alternative. So will there be a right answer?”

“Ah….”

“If you try and use all the given alternatives, the most appropriate method will be chosen on its own. Or, a completely unexpected new alternative may appear. “Abamama wrote that because she wanted officials to do their best to learn and use Hunminjeongeum.”

“Ah…”

‘Was it bait? ‘Did you get caught?’

Hyang seemed to know the feelings of the ministers and immediately added.

“Of course, if someone actually finds a new alternative or problem, Abamama will be deeply interested.”

In the end, the ministers who learned about what King Sejong wanted through the scent bowed and withdrew.

“Wait a minute, I may be being arrogant as I am still young, but they say there is a saying among those proverbs. ‘What you should fear is not failure, but not learning anything from failure.’”

The ministers bowed their heads and responded to Hyang’s words.

“Thank you for your truly valuable advice.”

The ministers who left Hyang’s office all sighed.

“Ha~. “That rich man…”

Anyway, the ministers shared Hyang’s advice with their subordinate officials. Officials who listened to the advice began to use Hunminjeongeum more actively. As I actively used Hunminjeongeum, my understanding rapidly increased, and measures to address problems that occurred in the process of transcribing Chinese characters were gradually developed.

* * *

As the Hunminjeongeum system became established, places began to use Hunminjeongeum more actively than Chinese characters.

One was the military, the other was the Jurchen tribe, and the last one was the research institute.

There was a reason why all three places had to do that.

First of all, the military was the place with the lowest level of humanities literacy. Of course, there were people like Choi Hae-san and Icheon who, in addition to their military capabilities, had significant humanities knowledge – optionally even science or engineering knowledge – but, except for those who moved from civil service positions – Jo Mal-saeng as a representative example – their humanities knowledge was poor.

Of course, the high-ranking military officers who started out by passing the military service exam were okay because they had to read military records, but the humanities knowledge of middle- and lower-level military officers, such as Gapsa (甲士), who joined through reporting (selection based on talent) was miserable.

Therefore, to these people, Hunminjeongeum was a very welcome presence. There was almost no inconvenience in writing or reading orders, let alone writing reports.

In the end, those who had been receiving various complaints due to the text message problem – especially in the promotion area – looked towards Hanseong, raised their arms, and shouted for Cheonse.

“Your Majesty the Lord, live forever! A thousand years! “A thousand years!”

In addition to alleviating the sorrow of military officers with limited training, Hunminjeongeum showed its power in another area, and that was in the field of communications.

The combination of the light-emitting communication network and Hunminjeongeum, which were installed thanks to the virtue of the former Hyang, became ‘the equivalent of giving wings to Cheollima.’

The amount of information that could be conveyed using existing numerical codes was limited.

However, as soon as Hunminjeongeum came out, Hyang created the Hangul code. The luminous signal, which was combined by assigning 4 digits to the initial consonant, 4 digits to the middle consonant, and 4 digits to the final consonant, was able to convey more detailed information more quickly than before.

Of course, the dispatch was in charge of providing detailed and accurate information, but I was still able to receive urgent information in more detail than before.

* * *

The case of the Jurchen tribe was somewhat unusual. The Jurchen people had a Jurchen script created during the Jin Dynasty.

However, because it was based on Chinese characters, it was not a character that could be used comfortably. In the end, only a small number of Jurchen nobles were familiar with Tang Jin.

Because of that situation, ordinary Jurchen people found Hunminjeongeum easier to use and had no hesitation in accepting it.

“After all, we are Joseon people!”

In the process of recording the Jurchen language using Hunminjeongeum, a chain reaction occurred, and the noble Jurchen people learned the Korean language more quickly.

It was a chain effect brought about by the advantage of being able to read with the eyes rather than simply listening and speaking.

* * *

This was the same in Daeseoldo.

The situation of the Ainu people on Daeseoldo Island was worse because their history and myths were all passed down orally.

Of course, there were attempts to record documents using the hiragana and katakana Chinese characters used by the Japanese, but most of them ended in failure.

It was not possible to accurately record the pronunciation of the Ainu using hiragana or katakana. Using Chinese characters ended in failure because there were no people with good Chinese character skills.

Meanwhile, Hunminjeongeum, which was used by the Joseon people for some time, was the best script for recording their traditions in writing.

They were able to write down their own words with almost no errors, and the Ainu who knew the Hunminjeongeum could understand the sentences properly just by reading them.

Thanks to this, the Ainu people who had become wealthy in Joseon had no choice but to show even more favor to Joseon.

* * *

“They are such interesting people.”

Hacumakkur came out after buying salt and some medicinal herbs at the monopoly and muttered as he looked at the Koreans passing in front of him.

After Joseon set foot on Daeseoldo Island, the number of Koreans on Daeseoldo Island was increasing.

Most of these were soldiers, miners and their families.

Joseon learned that the natural environment of Daeseoldo Island was formidable and paid careful attention to the civilians.

After observing that the Ainu were capable of farming, the Joseon Dynasty government received support for military service as Dungeon soldiers on Daeseol Island.

‘Income from the Dungeon that was built while working at Daeseoldo Island is not recognized as compensation, but as additional income.’

Following the government’s announcement, many soldiers applied to serve on Daeseoldo Island. Since Daeseoldo Island had become a stronghold of Joseon anyway, military deployment was essential, so the goal was to generate additional income.

They could have lived as Dunjeon soldiers on Daeseoldo Island during their mandatory military service and then returned home or settled on Daeseoldo Island. If they settled down, they could receive not only tax benefits but also leases of land that were overwhelmingly larger than those who lived in the Jurchen region. After the Giyu Rebellion, Joseon nationalized most of Joseon’s land based on the idea of a royal land.

While the soldiers and their families dispatched in this way formed one axis, the other axis was the miners.

The miners who entered Daeseoldo Island collected sulfur and coal.

Hyang, who confirmed the information about sulfur hot springs among the information obtained from the Ainu people on Daeseoldo Island, immediately ran to King Sejong.

The investigation team that began the investigation by order of King Sejong was able to find a large sulfur hot spring in a place that the Ainu called Hell Valley.

The investigation team, who saw a lot of sulfur congealed on rocks near the hot springs, quickly wrote a report and returned to Joseon.

King Sejong, who confirmed the investigation team’s report, recruited miners without hesitation and sent them to Daeseol Island.

This was because it could solve the problem of sulfur shortage, which had not been answered until then.