He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 99

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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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Transportation Reform (6)

Kim Man-deok, who was selected as a 9th rank official and became an 8th rank official just a little over a year later.

His eldest son Kim Man-seok is sailing Kim Man-deok’s Chinese Treasure Ship Manseokho toward Uiju.

“Brother-in-law, you damn bastard. Go step on some Dog Feces on your way.”

Thanks to Kim Dae-bung, he was able to inherit all the foundation his Father had left in Jinhae, becoming the top Merchant in Jinhae County at a young age.

His Father, who had advanced to Hanyang, went beyond being a Merchant with a position in the Sijeon to even entering government service, so the family’s influence expanded like crazy in just 4 years.

So Kim Man-seok, though he hadn’t frequented the Buddhist Temple much before, began visiting faithfully once a week from some time ago, praying for Kim Dae-bung’s peace and promotion, as well as for the family’s business and Father’s government service to prosper even more, generously offering donations.

However, now he wasn’t entirely grateful to his brother-in-law.

Without even getting his Father’s permission, let alone informing him, he had promised before the king to spend the family’s entire fortune on a national matter.

Of course, he knew it was because Kim Dae-bung was confident it would return as enormous profit later…

Still, promising before the king to spend his family’s entire fortune without even informing his Father on Jeju Island made him quite displeased.

‘That brother-in-law bastard using our family’s entire fortune as he pleases.’

“I understand it’s a chance to make big money, and I know it’s good to have many Chinese Treasure Ships for maritime transport… but why are you spending our family’s money like it’s your own?”

While Kim Man-seok was cursing Kim Dae-bung, the Captain approached from the side and spoke casually as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“Master Do, what’s troubling you so much?”

“It’s nothing much.”

The Captain had heard everything about Kim Man-seok cursing Kim Dae-bung.

However, after hearing the response that it was nothing much, he decided not to pry further.

Kim Dae-bung in the distance was scary, but the merchant group owner right in front of him was scarier.

“Still, didn’t you make a huge profit by buying fans, brushes, inkstones, silk and such from Hanyang and taking them all at once on this big ship? When you bought the goods, they were worth 1,500 seom of White Rice, but when you took them to Jinhae, they immediately became worth 2,000 seom, didn’t they? In one business deal, you almost recovered the cost of the ship we’re riding on, so anyone would say this was excellent business.”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

“This time when we go to Uiju to buy Tiger Skin, Leopard Hide, Deer Antler, Deer Hide and such, and pay with the White Rice we’re bringing, there will be another huge profit. So please calm your anger and think positively.”

“That’s true. You’re absolutely right.”

This was exactly why Kim Man-seok, despite finding Kim Dae-bung detestable, didn’t immediately rush to Hanyang to confront him.

Still, convincing Father to invest our entire family fortune hasn’t been completely forgiven yet.

However, after experiencing the Chinese Treasure Ship’s enormous cargo capacity and fast speed, it seems that if we buy and sell goods using this ship, it won’t be long before our invested family fortune is quickly recovered.

Besides, he had also received through Father the reason why he needed to monopolize the Chinese Treasure Ship.

‘I’m grateful for increasing the family fortune, but he should give me a separate hint for things to be in proper order.’

“And actually, Father and brother-in-law are looking at something even bigger.”

In front of King Sejong, Kim Dae-bung had said he would use his ‘private funds’ to build ships.

Thanks to that, Kim Dae-bung and Kim Man-deok became the only two Chinese Treasure Ship owners in Joseon, excluding the Royal Court.

Of course, this advantage would disappear immediately once others gradually acquired Chinese Treasure Ships as well.

However, if they utilized this brief ‘advantage’, they could make money like crazy in a short period.

Because they would monopolize an extremely valuable market, even if only temporarily.

“According to the letter Father sent, if we make enormous profits with the Chinese Treasure Ship, others will line up wanting to buy Chinese Treasure Ships like us.”

“… When people see others doing well, they follow suit even if it makes their stomachs ache with envy.”

“If we go to Uiju and buy various precious things including Tiger Skin in large quantities at cheap prices, then take them to Hanyang to sell, how much profit do you think we could make? And how long do you think it would take for news of our success to spread widely in Hanyang?”

One of the stories that catches people’s attention in the world is something like ‘someone did this and made a fortune.’

Let’s say someone accidentally discovered a Ginseng colony on Samgaksan, made a fortune, and bought a whale-back-like Tile-roofed House in Hanyang.

Then as that story spreads, the number of people going to look for ‘Ginseng’ on mountains nationwide including Samgaksan would surge in the short term.

Most people would just listen to the story with interest and not actually climb mountains to look for Ginseng colonies, but a few gullible ones would rush there in droves.

What if they showed something a million times more certain than finding Ginseng colonies, and made tons of money too?

Merchants crazy about money wouldn’t be able to help but covet Chinese Treasure Ships even if they didn’t want to.

“Ha, truly remarkable. People who want to make big money will rush to buy them even at high prices to get Chinese Treasure Ships faster than others.”

While these two were exchanging conversation, the ship’s crew suddenly moved faster.

“We’ll reach Uiju soon! Uiju!”

“Prepare for disembarkation! Get ready to unload all 2,000 Seom of White Rice!”

“Yes, Captain!”

Before long, the Chinese Treasure Ship docked at a harbor near Uiju.

Although it was an enormously huge ship shaped like a Ming Dynasty vessel, since the people aboard were Joseon citizens, there was no problem with docking.

As soon as Kim Man-seok disembarked, he took out documents proving that they were Joseon people and that this ship was clearly a Joseon vessel made by the Warship Construction Office.

“We came sailing a newly built ship from Jemulpo not long ago, so please don’t bother reporting this to the Uiju Magistrate.”

The Harbor Master who confirmed the documents nodded and granted permission to land.

Then people from the surrounding area flocked to the front of the ship and stared at it with curiosity.

“Wow, what kind of ship carries this much rice?”

“It didn’t sink even with all that cargo loaded?”

The displacement of Large Ships traditionally used in Joseon was about 140 tons, but the Chinese Treasure Ship that Kim Man-seok arrived on had a displacement of over 200 tons.

This ship was much larger than any big ship Joseon had used until now.

So it was natural for the people of Uiju to be surprised.

“I’m buying one Tiger Skin for 3 seom of White Rice, so please sell quickly. I also buy things like Deer Antler and Ginseng. Please hurry and bring them to sell.”

By Jeolla Province or Hanyang standards, this was an absurdly low price.

But this was the northernmost region of Joseon where rice was extremely precious.

This was a fact known to all Joseon people, so they had tried to sell rice to this region somehow.

The problem was that sticking to coastal navigation made travel time long, and using small ships meant the effort and cost of transportation was extremely high.

Because of that, rice prices had to be high.

However, that common sense had just been shattered.

By Kim Man-seok, who had arrived with a new ship called the Chinese Treasure Ship.

And before long, Hunters near Uiju heard news that someone was buying Tiger Skin at much better prices than before, and quickly brought their stored Tiger Skin to sell to Kim Man-seok.

Kim Man-seok was able to exchange all his White Rice for Tiger Skin and Leopard Hide in a short time.

And he immediately headed for Incheon.

It was to sell the most important ‘right to receive a Chinese Treasure Ship before others’ at a high price.

**

Kim Man-seok headed to Incheon Magistracy to sell precious goods like Tiger Skin.

As soon as he arrived at Incheon Magistracy, the local merchants who sold Luxury Goods like Tiger Skin let out heartbreaking cries.

“Come, one Tiger Skin for 9 Seom of White Rice.”

In Hanyang, you need to pay at least 10 Seom of White Rice to buy one Tiger Skin.

That’s barely enough to break even, and usually you need to pay 11 Seom of White Rice for a deal to go through.

Some crazy bastard appeared selling at 9 Seom, a 20% discount, which would completely screw over all the competing merchants.

Therefore, the Incheon merchants who had very close ties with the Hanyang Sijeon Merchants considered grabbing that bastard at night and beating him up as education.

However, they realized that if they messed with the person who received the first new ship from the Warship Construction Office, they would be much more likely to end up floating in Incheon Waters themselves, so they decided to abandon that method.

The existing Tiger Skin merchants just clicked their tongues while looking at him.

“Damn bastard.”

Then they hurriedly approached Kim Man-seok.

Regardless of hating that bastard, if the fact that he was selling at that price became widely known, Tiger Skin prices throughout Hanyang would drop significantly…

As a result, the value of their inventory would also fall, and it was obvious they would suffer major losses.

“Give us everything.”

“What will you pay with?”

“We’ll pay with silk. Lately, a lot of Ming Silk has been coming in, so it’s become common.”

Kim Man-seok agreed to the deal and instantly secured a massive amount of silk.

Having turned 2,000 Seom of White Rice into 6,000 Seom in just 3 days, he couldn’t help but hum a tune.

The merchants also noticed from his attitude.

This bastard probably made as much profit as they did even selling at this price.

Everyone put their heads together and desperately investigated what method that bastard used to sell Tiger Skin so cheaply before reaching a conclusion.

By operating that ridiculously large ship and moving quickly, he minimized the ‘costs and effort involved in transportation’ and thus made huge profits.

Also, being merchants with a keen eye for money, they realized they could make significant profits by conducting similar trades in regions other than Uiju.

And quite strangely, the fact that they didn’t want to spread around – ‘that they made huge profits even while selling tiger skins at low prices’ – ended up spreading throughout all of Hanyang.

This was Kim Dae-bung’s doing.

If this fact became widely known, those selling tiger skins would suffer losses, but for him selling Chinese Treasure Ships, it would lead to an increase in demand.

**

Right now in front of me, Master Kim from the Silk Shop (the highest position in Sijeon), who is said to conduct the largest business in the market guild, is kneeling and desperately pleading.

“Oh my, Inspector Kim, My Lord. Please sell those Chinese Treasure Ships to us as well.”

I chuckled at his words.

“I’ll sell it for 1,500 seom of white rice.”

“… Pardon?”

Business isn’t something to be ashamed of.

What’s shameful is committing fraud to maximize profits.

For example, putting in imported chicken meat to save on costs while labeling it as 100% domestic chicken, or altering manufacturing dates to sell ingredients that can’t be sold.

“I’ll sell you the Chinese Treasure Ship that comes out in seven days for 1,500 seom.”

“… Doesn’t it cost 550 seom to commission the Warship Construction Office to build one Chinese Treasure Ship?”

“That’s right. But then you’d have to wait at least six months. Do you think you’ll be able to make such large profits as easily as our brother-in-law does now, six months from now?”

By then, Chinese Treasure Ships will become relatively common, and ocean voyages will be widely available.

In other words, the honey pot that only I enjoy will disappear.

Since the honey pot will have to be shared, naturally the profits I can take will drastically decrease.

“If you don’t want it, forget it. There are plenty of other people who want to buy it besides you.”

“… Will you really sell the Chinese Treasure Ship that comes out in seven days for 1,500 seom?”

“That’s right. Oh, and if you’re thinking of making money through business, how about buying three ships altogether? All three will be completed within this month. If you buy them together, I’ll give them to you for 3,900 seom of white rice.”

“…I’ll buy them.”

“Good.”

I’m being sincere about this.

If this fellow works hard at ocean voyages and skillfully navigates his ships to focus on trade, he should be able to recover his initial investment before too long.

Once he recovers his investment, the ships will still remain, so from that point on it’ll be pure profit.

Of course, his profit will be less than mine, since I bought them in advance at 550 seom of white rice per ship and just succeeded in selling 3 ships for 3,900 seom.

“It will be a choice you won’t regret.”

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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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