He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 153

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Joseon Steel Mill (5)

In history, one of the standards for measuring a nation’s civilizational development is steel production volume.

They say that countries producing more steel have higher industrial capacity and superior productivity.

I think that’s not wrong either.

During every period of rapid human development, what always appears is ‘a surge in iron production.’

“Iron Works Minister, molten metal will soon pour out from the blast furnace!”

While there probably isn’t a single project or business in this world that’s allowed to fail…

As for me right now, I don’t know about other things, but I really hope this steel mill succeeds.

If a steel mill is built here in Jaeryeong, Hwanghae Province and operates successfully, then from that point this place will become the starting point for similar or even larger scale steel mills to be built throughout the nation.

Then steel production will continue to increase, and after exactly 20 years like this…

It will be possible to outfit all of Joseon’s soldiers not with paper-stuffed scale armor, but with proper plate armor that can block guns and arrows.

Just thinking about it makes my heart race.

Even though running tanks across the Manchurian plains and China is impossible due to current technological limitations…

Imagining Joseon legions heavily armed with plate armor conquering the Central Plains puts me in a very good mood.

“Open the blast furnace!”

Not long after hearing those words, molten metal began pouring out from the blast furnace.

When we first succeeded at the steel mill near the iron mine built in Pocheon, both Jang Yeong-sil and Jeong Bun shouted “Long live!” at the top of their lungs in joy.

But today, somehow both of them are quiet.

Since this success is the second time, the same tremendous emotion as the first probably isn’t washing over them.

No, even so, those two’s eyes have somehow turned red.

I should pretend not to notice, just for today.

“Once that molten metal cools, we’ll need to put it straight into the reverberatory furnace. By doing so and removing the iron’s impurities once more, we’ll be able to obtain steel or wrought iron.”

At my words, the craftsman who was the site supervisor nodded and said.

“Yes, My Lord. We have pig iron specially prepared in advance for experimenting with the reverberatory furnace newly installed at Jaeryeong Steel Mill. We’ve coordinated the timing so that smelting will be completed when molten iron pours out from the blast furnace. Please come this way and see for yourself.”

The place the Site Supervisor Craftsman guided us to had a reverberatory furnace shaped like a giant furnace.

In fact, its actual structure is similar to a furnace or ondol.

There’s a separate place for putting in charcoal, and a separate place where iron melts.

The interior of the reverberatory furnace is designed so flames don’t directly touch the iron, and it’s a system that melts iron only with the heat generated from combustion.

There, four craftsmen were taking turns operating the bellows, continuously adding charcoal while working diligently.

If we wanted to minimize manpower, it would be possible for 2 people to do this work…

But if we made 2 people work in shifts like that, they would have to repeat only bellows operation and adding charcoal for 15 hours without any rest at all.

‘That would kill people.’

For this reason, we assign four people to each reverberatory furnace – two skilled craftsmen and two unskilled workers.

They work in shifts of 2-person teams.

“Even with 4 people handling one reverberatory furnace, they seem extremely exhausted.”

“This really isn’t ordinary work.”

The craftsmen in charge of the reverberatory furnace worked while pouring sweat from their entire bodies.

“The iron has completely melted!”

When one craftsman said this, molten iron immediately poured out from beneath the reverberatory furnace.

This process is decarburization – when charcoal burns, surface carbon oxidizes into carbon monoxide, minimizing the carbon content within the iron.

When that cools down, it will probably become steel.

At that moment, all our gazes turned to Jang Yeong-sil in unison.

Since Jang Yeong-sil was the one who designed the blast furnace and reverberatory furnace, judging success or failure was also his responsibility.

“It’s a success. Congratulations, Iron Works Minister.”

“Very good. Then from now on, we need to make 2 more blast furnaces of the same size as now, and about 60 more reverberatory furnaces.”

“Yes, did I hear that wrong…?”

“You heard correctly. I said we need to make 2 blast furnaces and 60 reverberatory furnaces. We need to make at least that much so we can provide chest armor to soldiers serving in Pyeongan Province and Hamgyeong Province by the year after next.”

“Then the amount of wood needed for firewood will be enormous, but will that be alright?”

In fact, England also cut down trees for industrial development within their own country, and they say the nation nearly reached the brink of collapse from all that cutting.

Joseon also experienced tremendous increases in natural disasters including landslides after the 18th century due to excessive logging that nearly dried up the supply of trees, leading to various side effects one after another… so measures must be taken.

That’s why I’ve been arguing that we need to find bituminous coal to use instead of firewood in the Southern Manchuria region where Joseon can exercise some degree of influence.

Within the next 3-4 years, bituminous coal will be used here instead of charcoal or coal.

“I’ve heard that very high-quality coal comes from the northern part of Hwanghae Province, that is, the Liaodong region near the border area. Even the Jurchen prisoners say that black stones that burn well in fire come from there, so I’m thinking of trying to use those. And what’s important right now is to produce a lot of iron first. Since we can’t use coal as is, Colonel Jang will need to research how to process it well.”

Right now, Joseon can’t properly supply weapons and armor to soldiers due to lack of production capacity, not because the budget is insufficient to properly arm them.

So anyway, if we supply a lot of iron and utilize the various workshops in Hanyang and Gungi-si where division of labor has been introduced…

In about 2 years, we should be able to provide chest armor to soldiers serving on the front lines.

The Minister of Taxation will obviously foam at the mouth when he hears this plan, but what can we do.

I, who understand the flow of the Ministry of Taxation’s budget from last year and this year, judge it to be sufficiently possible, and King Sejong and Lee Bang-won, who grind their teeth at the mention of Jurchen tribes, will support it.

“…”

Jang Yeong-sil became dazed like someone who had fainted while standing.

“And since Deputy Commissioner Jeong (Jeong Bun) will handle the steel mill construction site management, I don’t think Colonel Jang needs to be tied down to building blast furnaces and reverberatory furnaces. Just come to the site for about 2 and a half shi-jin (5 hours) a day to oversee and discuss with the craftsmen making the blast furnaces and reverberatory furnaces. And use the remaining time to make things like spinning machines, looms, and cotton gins.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

When a person takes on too many tasks at once, they tend to fall into shock and become depressed.

In such a state, they can’t work properly, so efficiency drops drastically.

Besides, it’s not like Jang Yeong-sil is serving a life sentence for taking bribes like Jo Mal-saeng…

If he’s shocked and depressed with his spirits dampened, I need to give him new motivation to revive his energy.

“Colonel Jang.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“I heard that Colonel Jang was very poor in his youth. Do you still remember those days?”

“How could I forget those times?”

“When I was serving as Jinhae County Magistrate, the poor people all said in unison that the pain of hunger is unbearably difficult pain that those who haven’t experienced it can never understand, and that there’s nothing more heartbreaking than shivering from cold and trying to sleep in winter without proper clothes to wear.”

When we think of the Industrial Revolution, the first thing that comes to mind is the steam engine, but we don’t know well that the first thing made using that steam engine was ‘clothing’.

In pre-modern times, clothes were so precious that if an entire family could buy new clothes once a year, they were classified as middle class.

So just by mass-producing clothes with the help of steam engines, various European countries including France and Germany would unconditionally purchase them.

Even with overflowing supply, there was even greater demand, so they sold like crazy.

“If Colonel Jang can properly create the cotton gin, spinning machine, and weaving machine, the number of common people shivering in winter cold will truly decrease greatly.”

“Won’t it disappear completely?”

“In this world, there exists poverty that no country can remedy no matter how hard it tries. Not everyone will be able to wear warm clothes and get through winter. However, while we now accept it as natural for common people to freeze to death in winter, once those three tools I mentioned are created, from then on we will come to view common people freezing to death in winter as something deeply shocking. Because even the poor will be able to wear cotton clothes in winter.”

The reason clothes were precious in pre-modern times was mainly due to labor issues.

Raw materials like wool and cotton were relatively abundant, but the labor required to make clothes was excessive.

To be precise, the labor required to spin thread and make fabric was insanely excessive.

This problem will be greatly resolved once the spinning machine, weaving machine, and cotton gin are invented.

“I understand, My Lord.”

I could see motivation burning again in Jang Yeong-sil’s eyes.

Indeed, when assigning work, explaining why you’re assigning it and how important that work is proves to be this crucial.

“How much Colonel Jang suffers and what excellent work he does – heaven knows, earth knows, and His Majesty knows very well too. This time as well, I will submit an official report stating that the work Colonel Jang has undertaken will be capable of saving tens of thousands of common people.”

Having praised him like this, next it was time to give him ‘money’ that would bring peace of mind.

Frankly speaking, anyone can say nice words, so that alone doesn’t provide much comfort…

But money has the power to justify even the most notorious holiday meddling.

If you create atmosphere with words to move someone emotionally and then give money on top of that, no one can resist.

“Take this.”

“What is this?”

“Silver fragments. The Lord of Tsushima sent them to me… Use them to supplement your household.”

In present-day Joseon, silver is extremely precious.

So precious that while we could endure tribute of 10,000 war horses, we couldn’t endure tribute of gold and silver.

So receiving this would be deeply moving.

“Is it alright for me to receive this?”

“Since I know that none other than Colonel Jang has suffered, I’m giving this privately – what problem could there be?”

Oh, and our house has much more silver fragments than this.

Because the Lord of Tsushima often sends them through our Brother-in-law Trading Group that has a base in Jinhae.

I merely shared some ‘information that Joseon could never know’ with that Lord of Tsushima bastard, yet seeing how he still bows his head so diligently like this…

Information really is the best.

“Assistant Secretary Jeong (Jeong Bun) may leave for the day. Director Lee (Lee Soon-ji) should only calculate the number of workers needed here today, their wages, and the costs required for building houses before leaving. As for the craftsmen, except for those who must immediately watch over the blast furnace, everyone should go to Mandeok Tavern. Since I’ve already promised to pay, eat and drink as much meat and alcohol as you want there. And report to work the day after tomorrow.”

When spending, spend generously; when putting people to work, it’s important to encourage them to grow beyond their limits.

When you do this, people end up demonstrating capabilities beyond their own abilities.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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