Black Corporation: Joseon

“The writings of the Western Barbarians is truly fascinating.”

“Pardon?”

“Come here and take a look,” King Sejong beckoned Hyang over to his side and pointed to the Latin script, tracing the lines with his fingers.

” Considering that these words keep appearing everywhere, they seem to indicate the grammatical case of the subject of the sentence. Based on the words written here, this part represents the initial sound of the word, this part here represents the medial sound, and this part represents the final sound of the word. So, they come together to form a single character. It seems that these characters, which represent the medial sound, are these ones. Looking at the way they create words and sentences, Westerners have phoneticized pronunciation rather than meaning. Am I right?”

“Yes, that is absolutely right!” Hyang stammered in response, half out of breath.

‘He’s a real genius! No, a monster!’

In just a short amount of time reading the book, King Sejong had grasped not only the articles and indefinite articles of Latin but also the structure of words and the use of phonetic symbols.

It was at this moment, that Hyang realized King Sejong’s ingenious mind that he had only known through textbooks up until now.

King Sejong returned to his book and continued to read, then turned to Hyang. “Do all the Western Barbarians use this kind of writings?”

“No, they all use this writing as a base, but it differs slightly.”

Hyang then selected books in French and German and placed them on the writing desk.

“Hmm… let me see…” King Sejong stroked his beard as he alternated between books in French and Germany languages, while comparing them to the previous book in Latin. “The forms of the characters are generally similar, but there are some variations in the characters that determine pronunciation… hmmm…”

With a nasal sound, King Sejong turned to face Hyang with a serious expression. “Prince.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What do you think about creating our own language for Joseon?”

‘He’s asking me!’ Hyang inwardly cheered and promptly answered, “I believe that creating our language for Joseon is absolutely necessary! How many people know the Chinese characters that the literati revere as true texts? And how many of those who know them actually write them properly? If Chinese characters are true texts, then why are we using a ‘phonetic’ system?

“Did you have difficulty writing sentences?”

“Hehe!”

Seeing Hyang’s childish behavior, King Sejong chuckled and nodded his head.

“Haha! I too remember struggling when I first wrote a sentence. I spent over an hour pondering and writing a poem, but my father and grandfather burst into laughter when they read it.” King Sejong, reminiscing about his childhood, looked at Hyang, “Indeed, the Chinese language and our Joseon language are completely different, and this is a problem. It is not easy for the common people to submit their grievances, even if they want to. The problem is that creating language system is not an easy task.”

“Your Majesty has many wise people around you, so if you decide to do it, it will become an easy task.”

At Hyang’s words, King Sejong lowered his head, “If I publicly declare that I will create a language system, the ‘Hall of Worthies’[1] scholars will become my enemies at that moment.”

“Your Majesty.”

Seeing King Sejong’s face full of things to say, Hyang called out to him. However, King Sejong did not continue speaking and stood up from his seat.

“The night is deep. It is time for us to sleep.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Please get some sleep, Your Majesty. Only when Your Majesty is in good health can Joseon be stable.”

“You little rascal…”

King Sejong, who was about to leave the room with a chuckle, stopped in his tracks and looked back. “I hope you grow up quickly and reach the age of 15, when you can devote yourself to learning.”

“Pardon?”

“Go to sleep.”

After seeing King Sejong off, Hyang prepared to go to bed. As he lay down on the blankets that the palace maids had prepared, he suddenly got up and murmured. The words that King Sejong had said before leaving the room lingered in his mind.

“Ah, that gives me the chills.”

◈◈◈

As preparations for vaccinating the palace residents and the people of Hanyang against smallpox were underway, the palace, especially the area around the Inner Palace, was bustling.

The head of the Inner Palace, the Chief of the Inner Palace, checked the situation with the medical officers.

“Are the needles for vaccination prepared?”

“100 have been prepared.”

“100 is not enough! Prepare 200 more!”

“What about the cows?”

“5 cows are ready!”

“How many people can be vaccinated with 5 cows?”

“As expected, even after vaccinating everyone in the palace and the six ministries who has not contracted smallpox, there will still be plenty left.”

“Good! Make sure to accurately record how long the pus collected from the infected cow can last!”

“Understood!”

“And how much ethanol for disinfection has been secured?”

“We are still in the process of distillation.”

“Make sure there is enough prepared, as we can’t afford to run out.”

“Yes, sir.”

After organizing the situation to some extent, Jeong let out a small sigh. “Whew~ Disinfection… the work has increased manyfold. His Highness the Crown Prince guaranteed it, but will there really be any benefits?”

◈◈◈

At that time, the concept of disinfection was hardly established. Not washing hands when attending to patients was the norm, and reusing needles was a common practice. However, these practices were completely overturned with the implementation of cowpox vaccination.

“Wiping the cow? And boiling the needle?”

Upon hearing the question, Seodori immediately replied while scratching his head, “Yes, that’s right. As you can see, cows are covered in feces, aren’t they? If you’re not careful, you could get fecal poisoning.”

“I understand the fecal poisoning, but why boil the needle?”

“When the cowpox vaccine was first administered, there was a person with a severe pus-filled infection. After using the needle on that person, it was used on another person and the infection was transmitted. Since then, needles have been boiled in hot water after each use, and they were also wiped with thoroughly dried cotton cloth that had been boiled.”

“I see.”

Hearing Seodori’s words, Jeong nodded his head and recorded the relevant information. Hyang, who had been watching from the side, sprinkled MSG[2].

“May I add something?”

“I will attentively listen to Your Highness’ words.”

“I’ve looked at some of the Western medical texts. They were collections of knowledge from military physicians of a great empire called Rome.”

In response to Hyang’s words, Jeong dipped his brush in the ink and prepared to write. It was a well-known story that there were many valuable medical books that they did not have among the prince’s possessions. He wanted to see those books, but there wasn’t a single high-ranking official who dared to ask the prince to hand them over or borrow them. They all just sucked their fingers, but when Hyang spoke up, they couldn’t miss the opportunity.

“In those books, it says… ‘All tools used for treating patients must be boiled in water and then wiped clean with a clean cloth before being used on the next patient. Both the cloth used to cover the patient’s wounds and the one used to wipe the wounds should be boiled in water and dried thoroughly in strong sunlight before being used again.'”

“Dried thoroughly in strong sunlight?”

“Oh! And another thing, ‘Physicians must always keep their hands clean when touching patients. When touching one patient and then another, they must wash their hands thoroughly and wipe them clean with a clean cloth. When treating patients’ wounds, they must clean the wound area with alcohol.'”

“…Wipe them clean. Is this really effective?”

“According to the author of the book, it’s very effective. So, if we follow the same methods, there shouldn’t be any harm.”

“Your Highness’s words. I will deeply consider them.” Jeong bowed his head in response to Hyang’s words.

The members of the courtiers who saw the documents recorded based on Hyang’s words were divided in their opinions.

“It’s nice to be clean, but isn’t this too excessive?”

“No, I’ve experienced it myself. When bedding and other things are clean, the recovery is much faster.”

“Can we really trust Western medicine?”

“They are also people who exert effort to save others. There seems to be no need to deny them absolutely.”

The members of the courtiers who were divided into two sides finally reached a tentative agreement: “First, since these are the words of the Crown Prince, let’s prepare as much as possible and confirm the results on-site.”

While these people were making such a decision, Hyang classified books full of Latin and played a small whistle.

“I added a little MSG, but the books of the Eastern Roman Empire were unexpected.”

Among the Western books that came through the envoys, a considerable number were books of the Eastern Roman Empire. However, the surprising thing was that while many other field books were translated into Hanja, almost none of the medical books had been translated. The reason was written at the end of the barely found Hanja translation.

‘The Western medicine does not consider the mutual generation and mutual restraint[3] of the Five Elements[4] in using herbal medicine and is not afraid to use a knife when treating external and internal injuries. Therefore, there is no need to be interested in Western medicine as their method is too extreme.”

Upon reading a sentence that made a definitive assertion, Hyang burst out laughing. “Just wait 500 years and see.”

Contrary to the evaluations of the Chinese, Hyang held the books of the Eastern Roman Empire in high regard.

“The quality is higher than expected. Is it because they are descendants of the Roman Empire after all?”

What particularly caught Hyang’s attention was a book about public hygiene. As he perused the book, which was filled with information about installing sewage systems, preventing fires, and organizing urban areas, he murmured quietly to himself, “Since the urban area of Hanyang is still incomplete… should we try creating a SimCity?”

It was a remarkable coincidence that during the reign of Prince Jeong when he was still a crown prince, he had improved the urban areas of Hanyang.

“That’s beside the point…” Hyang mumbled to himself as he looked through the many books that filled the room.

The Western books that the envoys had brought back were quite diverse and not few in number. Since there were not a few Confucian classics among them as well, Hyang converted one of the rooms in Eastern Palace into a study. Bookshelves lined the walls of the room, and a large desk and chair were placed in the center.

What Hyang was curious about was how there were so many Western books in China. Considering the size of the Chinese continent, the books in that room were sure to be only a very small portion. There is no need to be interested in Western medicine.

“To be precise, there are so many books, but it doesn’t seem like they have had a significant influence on China’s industry or science and technology.”

Hyang, who was pondering “why,” recalled the review of a book she had read before.

“Is it China’s pride?”

Hyang’s speculation became certain when the people who went as envoys returned.

“These are new books that have been newly acquired, excluding those on the book list you gave me.”

The books that Minister of Taxation brought in response to Hyang’s request amounted to three large wooden boxes.

“That’s quite a lot. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Not at all.”

“Looking at the number of books, it seems that the Hui[5] believers are steadily coming into Ming Dynasty?”

“If you go south of the Yangtze River, there is still some exchange, but publicly there is none.”

“Still, there are many books.”

“Most of the books are made by Ming Dynasty’s enthusiasts.”

“Why do they make these books?”

“They’re doing their best to rid the remnants of the Yuan dynasty.”

Hyang nodded at the Minister of Taxation’s explanation and said, “Is that so? Thank you for your hard work.”

After seeing off the older man, Hyang muttered quietly while looking at the books on the wooden shelves, “As expected, it’s not without basis.”

During the reign of King Sejong, explosive growth was not something that fell from the sky! It was the result of absorbing the technologies that flowed out during the transition from the Yuan to the Ming Dynasty! The problem was that everything went downhill from there.

Hyang nodded repeatedly, recalling the words of Teacher Samcheonpo, the great scholar.

◈◈◈

As the winter solstice approached, preparations for the smallpox vaccination targeting the palace and the residents of Hanyang were entering the final stages.

“Let’s double-check that all the preparations are well done!”

“I have checked each item twice.”

“We can finish it before the start of the spring hardship[6] period, right?”

At the question of the chief physician, the medical officer nodded his head. “We can finish it!”

“Then I will report it to Minister of Personnel.”

◈◈◈

“Can we definitely finish it before the start of the spring hardship period?”

“The medical officers are confident.”

At the answer of the chief physician, the Minister of Personnel stroked his beard.

“Alright. Then I will report to the king.”

◈◈◈

“Until the beginning of spring, we must not forget to complete the inoculation without fail.”

Upon receiving the report of the Minister of Personnel, King Sejong issued a similar order.

Minister of Personnel nodded his head in agreement with King Sejong’s command, “I will do my utmost with all my heart and soul.”

◈◈◈

Footnotes

[1] Jiphyeonjeon (집현전, 集賢殿), also known as the Hall of Worthies, was a royal research institute established during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea (1392-1897). Founded in 1420 by King Sejong the Great, it was a place where the most talented scholars and experts gathered to research various fields such as literature, science, and philosophy. The Jiphyeonjeon scholars played a significant role in the development of the Korean Hangul script and various cultural and scientific advancements during the Joseon Dynasty.

[2] Literally in the raws

[3] 상생상극 (相生相剋) (sangsaengsanggeuk): means “mutual generation and mutual conquest.” It is a concept in East Asian philosophy that describes the complex relationships between the Five Elements.

[4] 오행 (五行) (Ohaeng): means “Five Elements,” which is a concept in East Asian philosophy that categorizes everything into five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth.

[5] Historically, Hui people are a Chinese ethnic group of predominantly Muslim faith that dates back to Tang dynasty.

[6] 춘궁기(春窮期): spring hardship period, refers to the period from late winter to early spring, when food was scarce and people suffered from cold and hunger.

History Time!

What happened during the transition of Yuan to Ming dynasties?

During the Yuan-Ming transition, Ming dynasty experienced significant political turmoil, including wars and rebellions, which resulted in the displacement of many skilled workers and scholars. As a result, many of them fled to neighboring countries including Joseon for safety in order to avoid Ming’s persecution. This in turn, led to significant impacts on Joseon in terms of the advancement of various fields, including science, medicine, and technology.

Translator’s Notes

Hello readers!

With the vaccinations underway, what do you think Hyang has in mind for his next plans? I would love to hear your comments below!

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