Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 756

Episode 756 Encounter (1)

Imperial Year 18 (1466).

At Shinji’s temporary palace, Hyang was wrestling with documents.

After processing the mountain of documents, Hyang looked at the last remaining documents and sighed.

“Even though you wrestled like that, the

worry is still there…” Hyang, who made a pun, looked at the documents and swore.

“Damn it, this population problem is the same regardless of whether it is the original or new territory…”

* * *

As Hyang said, the population problem was a shackle holding the empire back.

And to solve this population problem, the empire actively pursued a policy of encouraging birth.

This policy to encourage childbirth has been in operation since the time when it was called Joseon, not the Empire.

Looking at history before Hyang intervened, there was a record that in the 16th year of King Sejong’s reign (1434), King Sejong issued an order to provide maternity leave to men as well.

– Recently, a pregnant woman died because she did not receive help during childbirth. It’s so sad. What good is a woman’s maternity leave if she doesn’t get help with childbirth and postpartum care? It is natural for a married couple to help, so the husband should also be given leave.

Of course, this was a benefit given to the lowest class, such as slaves. However, support for prolific families did not discriminate between classes.

There was no special support for twins, but for triplets or more, 10 pounds of rice and beans were provided.

And this became a policy passed down from generation to generation.

After the intervention of the township and its transformation into an empire, this policy was implemented more actively targeting a wider range of classes.

In the history before intervention, multiple births of triplets or more were limited to one birth.

However, after the intervention, support was provided when children had two or more children. 10% of the average salary of imperial workers was subsidized for childcare expenses. This ratio increased as the number of children increased, and if there were four or more children, childcare expenses were paid up to 40%. However, once the child reached the age of nine, the amount exceeded this limit and was paid up to 60%.

This support for childcare expenses was cut off once a child graduated from a social democratic academy, because according to the social conventions of the empire at the time, children were recognized as adults when they were 13 or 14 years old, which was the age at which they graduated from a social democratic academy.

The problem was that the birth rate, which had risen rapidly thanks to these active support policies, began to rise slowly at some point.

Township officials, well aware that the empire’s greatest weakness was its population, began to investigate the cause.

The county officials sighed after checking the results.

“Whoa~. “It’s because I started living well…”

Hyang’s face looked particularly serious as he checked the report.

‘Is it Korea in the 21st century already?’

As the empire’s governance developed, the average marriage age of its citizens began to get later.

If the household situation was as tight as it was in the past, people would quickly get their children married in order to save money as quickly as possible.

However, as the number of families with a certain level of economic power – although not middle class by 21st century standards – increased, the rate of early marriage gradually decreased.

And the delay in child marriage was due to the high enthusiasm for education.

“Was this high enthusiasm for education imprinted in your DNA?”

As Hyang said to himself after receiving the report, the enthusiasm for education among the people of this empire was great.

“At least I have to send my children to middle school!”

“cancer! “Shouldn’t my child be better than me?”

Parents who wanted their children to rise to a higher class than themselves put effort into their children’s education.

In addition, this was a time when the idea of male superiority over female was not yet fully established. Therefore, sending both sons and daughters to middle school has become the minimum duty parents must do.

Another reason for the slow increase in birth rate was, ironically, entertainment venues.

Until then, the entertainment of the people – ordinary people, excluding the upper class – was limited to drinking alcohol or watching wandering shrine troupes come to town.

Naturally, most of the entertainment that people could easily access was night life between couples, and this was linked to the birth rate.

However, the ability to enjoy a variety of entertainment at permanently operated entertainment centers slowed down the rate of increase in the birth rate.

The final cause was a medical problem. Pregnancy and childbirth place a serious burden on a woman’s body.

Even in the 21st century, dangerous situations in which the life of the mother and fetus are threatened during childbirth often occur, and despite advances in medical technology, there are many cases of tragic incidents.

This was also the case in the 21st century, but this time the risk was much higher.

Starting with Princess Jeongso, lawmakers who focused on women and children began to be produced, but in most cases, midwives were still responsible for receiving babies, and the risks that mothers had to take were very high.

Thanks to this, the rapidly increasing birth rate began to slow down little by little.

* * *

Shinji’s situation was a little different from the main paper.

First of all, most of the indigenous people lived in tribal units and still lived based on primitive farming and hunting. This was making the lives of the tribal people very difficult.

In addition, the survival rate of children born was very low due to the level of medical science, which was almost at the level of witchcraft.

In other words, the pace of population growth itself was inevitably slow.

But as people came in from the empire, things began to change little by little.

Under the influence of the empire, the number of indigenous people who broke away from agriculture and hunting, the traditional and only means of production, and devoted themselves to commerce, industry, and the military began to increase significantly.

The number of natives moving to the imperial residence for a better life increased significantly, and as they interacted with farmers who immigrated from the empire, the natives from the New Territories gradually became able to afford their lives, and the birth rate began to rise.

But just when it seemed like a good situation, a warning light came on. It was the disease that caused the warning light to come on.

* * *

As more and more imperialists from the Old World entered the New Land, contact with the natives of the New Land became more frequent.

During this process, the diseases that the imperialists had began to spread to the natives.

This was fatal for the New Territories, who had been cut off from the Old World after the Ice Age. There were many cases where what was a minor illness for the people of the empire became a life-threatening and life-threatening illness for the natives of Shinji.

Of course, Hyang, who knew this in advance, suggested it to King Sejong and sent a considerable number of lawmakers from the beginning.

However, the number of indigenous people in the new land who were struggling between life and death due to diseases brought by the imperialists often exceeded the capabilities of the lawmakers.

“If we do something wrong, all the natives of the new land will turn against us. “Even though it may be difficult, we must send more lawmakers and build educational facilities as quickly as possible.”

“You are right.”

King Sejong accepted Hyang’s advice and sent more lawmakers to Shinji.

The problem was the establishment of educational institutions. In a situation where proper communication was difficult, establishing an educational institution was unthinkable.

In the end, the establishment of a medical education institution became possible only after King Sejong arrived in the new land and began operating it in earnest.

Afterwards, Hyang arrived on behalf of Sejong and added seasoning.

He called together the shamans of the tribes who were noble to the empire, gathered and organized their knowledge – mainly about medicinal herbs – and established it as a proper academic discipline.

Herbal books that collected the knowledge of shamans soon began to be of great help to doctors and aspiring doctors working in the new world.

And taking advantage of this opportunity, a new occupation was created among the indigenous people of the new land.

It was Simmani.

* * *

Not only the natives of Shinji were in danger from the diseases brought by the imperialists.

There were also opposite cases.

The most representative one was syphilis.

In the 21st century, the theory of its existence from ancient times and the theory of its origin by Columbus were both popular, but it was a very unfamiliar disease to the people of the empire at this time.

The lawmakers who examined the syphilis patients shook their heads in embarrassment.

“Where on earth did they catch it?…”

The doctors who persistently tracked the infection route of the patients finally found the cause.

“The problem was the relationship with the native women…”

“Doesn’t that mean that there are many patients among the natives as well?” “Right. “Let’s investigate.”

Lawmakers who investigated the scope further confirmed serious results.

-Many people among indigenous people are infected.

-The fatality rate is very high.

-If an infected woman becomes pregnant or a pregnant woman becomes infected, the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth defects is very high.

After confirming the results, the doctors began to rush to find a treatment.

Clinicians searched through medical books to find diseases with similar symptoms and treatments, and applied them to patients who came in for treatment.

However, despite using various methods, no treatment was found that showed significant results.

Every time a report filled with despair was received, Hyang suppressed the itching in his mouth and consoled the lawmakers.

“I said it would work if the situation were to be difficult. Tell him to try a little harder. “The lawmakers are doing well now.”

Hyang, who was left alone after encouraging the lawmakers, sighed.

“Whoa~. I would like to say this, but if I say this, people will say that I am an alien in the future. surely.”

And as Hyang said, the doctors who tried everything to find a cure finally found the answer.

It was a clean bacteria liquid created under the leadership of Hyang.

With the mindset of ‘all or nothing’, the syphilis patients began to show definite remission when the bacterial solution was administered.

“This is it!”

“found!”

The lawmakers, filled with joy, submitted their report to Hyang.

“Tell them that it is truly magnificent. “And record the names of the lawmakers who discovered the cure and reward them.”

“I follow your orders!”

Left alone that night, Hyang looked over the report in question and sighed softly.

“The history of fierce challenge and response has finally begun.”

The ‘battle between antibiotics and bacteria’ was a battle with no end in sight. Every time a new antibiotic with greater efficacy is released, a super virus resistant to that antibiotic emerges.

Hyang’s face was not very bright as he looked at the report.

Compared to penicillin and other antibiotics of the 21st century, the bacterial solution used today was at a very primitive level. Although it is showing remarkable medicinal efficacy now, there will come a time when the bacterial solution becomes useless. And looking at the level of the disinfectant solution, it was likely that the time would be faster than expected.

“The problem is that the field of medicine was not my area of interest, and I cannot understand germs or viruses with current medical concepts. Phew~.”

Hyang let out a long sigh and looked out the window at the sky.

“There needs to be talented people in the medical field quickly… so we can solve the population problem more easily…”

Hyang, who was looking at the sky with a face full of worry, scratched his head and grumbled.

“Ah-oh! “Nothing is this easy!”