Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 473

Episode 473 Ki Beom-seon (???) (1)

February, the 24th year of King Sejong’s reign (1442, Imsul year).

A sudden storm struck the Saeokwon (???).

It all started with complaints from Foreign Ministry officials.

“no! “Why are the interpreters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worse at speaking foreign languages than the officials at our Ministry of Foreign Affairs?”

“I can’t use it properly!”

Complaints from working-level officials even reached the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heo Hu.

“Are the qualifications of the ministry’s interpreters poor?”

“That’s right, sir.”

“Hmm…”

In response to the Vice Minister, Heo Hu snorted and became lost in thought. After pondering for a moment, Heo Hu checked the situation with the Vice Minister once again.

“If the quality of interpreters was such a problem, wouldn’t it have been said a lot even when the former minister was in office?”

“That’s right. Even then, word continued to enter the Saejeokwon.”

“But it’s still the same?”

“That’s right.”

“Why is Captain Hanjae…. Ah, with his noble personality, I would have assumed that good things are good things.”

The Vice Minister nodded silently at Heo Hu’s words.

* * *

Lee Maeng-gyun, who was in charge of Joseon’s diplomatic affairs with the start of the Gyeongjang, resigned last year due to old age.

When the resignation was first submitted, King Sejong rejected it. However, because Lee Maeng-gyun’s condition was so bad, King Sejong had no choice but to accept Lee Maeng-gyun’s resignation.

And according to the news heard this year, when the year changed, Lee Maeng-gyun was lying down and doing his best today. After hearing the news, King Sejong sent a royal doctor, but the doctor who returned reported to King Sejong that there was no longer any hope for Lee Maeng-gyun.

“We are like a lamp whose wick has already burned out and its oil has run out.”

“It’s really unfortunate.”

Sejong muttered with a face full of sincere regret.

King Sejong was disappointed, but compared to the history before Hyang intervened, Lee Maeng-gyun lived a truly peaceful last year.

In history before the intervention of Hyang, Lee Maeng-gyun’s later years were not very good.

In the 22nd year of King Sejong’s reign (1440), Lee Maeng-gyun’s wife, out of severe jealousy, beat her female servant to death. Lee Maeng-gyun, who was dismissed as a reprimand, went into exile in Hwanghae-do, was released, and died on his return.

However, when Hyang intervened, this history went wrong. As part of the religious order, a large number of Sanobi were exempted from service, and among them was the female servant in question.

In addition, he was overworked every day because of his intestines and had no time to make his wife jealous.

Finally, thanks to the medicine exchanged among ministers, he was able to hold out for two more years.

* * *

Heo Hu lightly clicked his tongue when he remembered the attitude of Lee Maeng-gyun, who moved like a blade in diplomatic battles with the Ming or Japanese countries, but handled his work smoothly in other matters.

“Tsk! “That guy… is the situation serious?”

“Yes, it is being said that it is faster and more accurate to use Shin Suk-ju as a translator than to communicate or translate through interpreters.”

“It’s serious.”

Heohu, who was muttering while stroking his beard, came to a conclusion.

“Okay. I’ll try my hand. On your way out, please call Master Dojo.”

“yes.”

After a while, Saekwon Dojejo Shingae visited Heo Hu’s office.

“Did you find it?”

“exactly. There’s a lot of talk these days. “The interpreters are of poor quality.”

Shin-gae responded to Heo Hu’s criticism with a perplexed face.

“That’s because the interpreters’ morale is not good….”

“The morale is not good?”

“Yes, with the creation of the Jury, the awareness of the officials has greatly improved. However, interpreters are still treated as a miscellaneous profession, so the morale of the interpreters is not good. In addition, unlike in the past, the ways to profit from envoy travel were blocked, so many skilled interpreters with long experience moved to the top of the private sector.”

“Due to your Majesty’s actions, the interpreters are also receiving preferential treatment as professional technical officials?”

“Although my salary has increased, it is somewhat inferior to the benefits I gained from my previous envoy travels.”

“So you beat him up and left?”

As Heo Hu’s expression turned fierce as he asked the question, Shin Gae quickly answered.

“However, the interpreters who came in later are faithfully carrying out their duties and are satisfied with their treatment! If you’re just good at translator, doesn’t that open the way for you to move up to Danghagwan? “The current problem is simply that the newly produced interpreters still have limited experience!”

Heo Hu, who glared at Shin Gae’s answer without paying attention to it, came to a conclusion.

“Please think of countermeasures regarding this and write a report.”

“Yes…”

Shin-gae answered in tears at Heo Hu’s work instructions. Writing a report meant making it into an official document, and the document created in this way was passed down a path all the way to King Sejong.

* * *

After leaving Heo Hu’s office, Shingae looked at the ceiling of the hallway and let out a long sigh.

“Whoa~. By any chance, when I was serving as a provincial governor….”

Shin-gae, who was lamenting his suddenly miserable situation, gritted his teeth.

“okay! Let’s die together! “I can’t just die!”

Heo Hu, who was in the office at the same time, also said something similar.

“I’m sure I’ll be criticized for this, but I can’t just die…” *

* *

So, February 24, the 24th year of King Sejong’s reign. A report from Saeokwon Dojejo Shingae was sent to King Sejong.

-Currently, there are not many people in the ministry who are fluent in Chinese, and even if they are, their pronunciation is not accurate, so there are not many suitable interpreters who can interpret without difficulty whenever envoys from the Ming Dynasty come.

-There are many things in which a person who has stayed in the Ming Dynasty for a few months is more skilled than someone who has worked as an interpreter in a ministry for several years, so a policy is needed.

-To solve this problem, interpreters working at Sayeokwon suggest banning the use of the Korean language within Sayeokwon.

-If you violate this, you will be charged with the crime and dismissed.

-And this plan applies not only to Chinese, but also to Jurchen language, Mongolian language, Japanese language, Latin, etc. (Note 1)

Shingae’s proposal was submitted to King Sejong through Heo Hu.

After reviewing Shingae’s proposal, King Sejong handed the proposal to Hwang Hee and said,

“I think it’s okay, but let’s discuss it with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then implement it.”

“I follow your orders!”

According to King Sejong’s decision, a difficult path was opened for the interpreters of Saeokwon.

It was an incident that later came to be called the ‘Shingae’s Water Ghost Incident’ within the Saekwonwon.

* * *

May, 24th year of King Sejong’s reign.

A report from the shipyard in Wonsan was sent to King Sejong.

-An experimental ship equipped with a steam engine has been completed.

After checking the report, King Sejong looked back at his ministers with a bright face.

“It’s a great event, so shouldn’t we go and see it?”

“That’s right.”

The ministers all agreed with King Sejong’s words. They too were well aware of the importance of the issue.

Exploration of distant new lands was still slow. This was despite the fact that as the voyage continued, more and more optimal routes were found and more ships were moving at once.

The biggest reason for this sluggish situation was that the ship was too slow. To be more precise, Shinji was too far away.

Therefore, the need for a new ship that could travel longer distances quickly was urgent.

In that situation, a report came from Wonsan.

Sejong read the report once again and looked back.

“It took quite a long time this time?”

Hyang slightly bowed her head in response to Sejong’s question.

“It started in the year of Gyechuk (1433), so it has been almost 10 years.”

‘I didn’t know it would take this long! Of course, we have gained a lot so far…’

* * *

Developing a marine propulsion system was a series of trials and errors.

First, the ‘Archimedes’ screw’ method proposed by Jang Young-sil was too inefficient. We experimented with improving it in numerous ways, but it was not very efficient, either absolutely or relatively.

In the end, Hyang made a decision.

“It’s unfortunate, but let’s give up on this method!”

“yes.”

Jang Yeong-sil looked very disappointed in Hyang’s decision, but it was an inevitable result.

‘Even in the 21st century, if you see something that isn’t being used, there’s a reason for it!’

“Since this is the situation, let’s study pinwheel propulsion devices.”

“yes.”

All researchers, starting with Jang Yeong-sil, agreed with the Hyang’s decision.

From then on, it was again a series of trial and error.

We began the experiment keeping in mind everything from the shape, size, and number of pinwheel blades to the materials.

After experimenting with all kinds of alloys, from steel alloys to bronze and brass, with different composition ratios, we were able to find the most economical and high-performance material possible at the current level of shipbuilding technology.

After finding the material, various experiments were conducted to find a more efficient shape.

Just when we thought the material and shape had been decided and the research team was done, they faced a new problem.

The researchers floated a model ship that had been accurately scaled to scale on the waterway and activated the steam engine. After confirming that the pressure of the steam engine was properly raised, the researchers activated the propulsion device.

“What is this vibration!”

The researchers who activated the propulsion device were shocked. This was because the model ship caused unexpected vibrations.

Thanks to this, researchers began to study the cause of this vibration.

While researching day and night in the laboratory and Area 51, Hyang muttered to himself.

“Usually in cases like this, it was a resonance problem between the shaft and the propeller engine… The problem is that this is the part where I am the worst at advanced mathematics…” Since it was the

part where I was weakest, the scent was a subtle hint. It ended with just giving away.

However, the monsters in the lab who heard the hint – Princess Lee Soon-ji, Kim Dam, Jeong Jeong, etc. – immediately took direction and started digging in.

“We have named this part resonance. And if we express this with a formula…”

Hyang screamed inwardly as she looked at Lee Sun-ji explaining things by writing down formulas on a chalkboard and Princess Kim Dam-jeong looking proud next to her.

‘You solved this with only a mountain branch and an abacus? Without a computer? Are you people?! ‘They’re monsters!’

The scent cried out like this, but there was something it forgot.

Neither Newton nor Galileo nor Einstein had a computer. No, not only in the 1950s, but also when making the first stealth aircraft, they even used a slide rule to calculate logarithms.

In any case, researchers and craftsmen who found a solution to some extent through these formulas went straight to remodeling.

Meanwhile, the profits gained by shipbuilding through the development process of steam engine propulsion for ships were enormous.

“This is the real benefit.”

While reporting to King Sejong, Hyang added: Sejong, who heard Hyang’s words, nodded.

“I see. The things I have learned in that way are the most precious treasures. “They need to be properly documented and taught.”

Hyang immediately responded to Sejong’s words.

“That’s right. We will have to gather gifted students from all over Joseon.”

“I agree.”

In this way, the foundation of the ‘Chosun Dynasty Society’, the most powerful authority in the world, was created.

It took nearly 10 years to hit that wall, tear it down, and digest what I gained in the process. And later, historians evaluated these 10 years as follows.

-The 10 years that marked the most brilliant period in the history of Joseon’s science and technology.

* * *

Note 1) This is a true story.

Source – Annals of King Sejong, read in one volume. Written by Park Young-gyu. Woongjin Knowledge House.