Chapter 6

Winter, 1859 — Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence in Hanseong

I brought out a plate, filled it with salt water, and placed it beside the window.

After three days, the water had been reduced by half.

After five days, almost all of it had disappeared.

And after seven days, nothing remained but white powder at the bottom of the plate.

I wrapped the plate in a cloth.

Gaksim had been watching from beside me.

“Young Master, what is that?”

“The most expensive plate in the world.”

Gaksim’s eyes widened.

But she did not ask anything further.

---

Winter, 1859 — Daejojeon, Changdeok Palace

I had everyone leave except for one court lady who remained standing near the wall.

Inside Daejojeon, there were only Grand Queen Dowager Jo, me, and the court lady standing by the wall.

Grand Queen Dowager Jo spoke first.

“What have you been studying lately?”

“I have finished the Four Books and Three Classics, and I am now reading Gyeongseyupyo.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo’s eyebrows rose slightly.

Gyeongseyupyo was a treatise on reforming Joseon’s institutions written by the Silhak scholar Jeong Yak-yong.

It contained an enormous amount of material covering the overall administration of the state, including government offices, land, taxation, and military affairs.

It was a heavy book for a twelve-year-old to be reading.

“What have you learned from Gyeongseyupyo?”

“I learned that if a country is to become wealthy, its people must become wealthy first.”

“And I also learned that if we want to make the people wealthy, salt must come first.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo set down her teacup.

“Salt must come first?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo tilted her head slowly as she looked at me.

Her eyes said she wanted to hear more.

“Your Majesty, what happens if you put salt water into a plate and leave it there?”

“When the water dries, only the salt remains.”

“Yes.”

“One day, I put salt water into a plate.”

“The water disappeared, leaving behind nothing but white powder.”

“Seeing that, I began to think.”

Joseon’s salt had long been produced through a method called jayeom, in which seawater was boiled in large iron cauldrons.

The process consumed enormous amounts of firewood and required a great deal of manual labor.

Production was also inconsistent.

But if seawater were trapped behind embankments in broad, shallow areas such as the tidal flats along the western coast, sunlight and wind would naturally evaporate the water, leaving salt behind.

There would be no need to burn even a single piece of firewood.

No cauldrons.

No fuel.

This method did not yet exist in Joseon.

But a single experiment with a plate had proven the principle.

“The tidal flats along the western coast are broad and shallow.”

“If we build embankments and trap the seawater, sunlight and wind will dry the water.”

“Salt will form without burning even a single piece of firewood.”

“If the entire western coast’s tidal flats could become plates containing Your Majesty’s abundance, what would be impossible?”

Silence filled Daejojeon.

The way Grand Queen Dowager Jo looked at me changed.

It was no longer the gaze of someone looking at a clever child.

She was calculating something.

“How do you know that this is possible?”

“The plate proved it.”

“You would discuss matters of the state based on a single plate?”

“I learned that small things must be proven first before large things can be moved.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo remained silent for some time.

“There is someone from the Punhyeon Jo clan who owns land along the western coast.”

“I know, Your Majesty.”

“Was that land what you had in mind when you said those things?”

“That is for Your Majesty to decide.”

“I merely spoke about the plate.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo gave a small laugh.

It was the first time I had seen that expression on her face.

“You are clever.”

“I am deeply honored, Your Majesty.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo called for the court lady standing by the wall.

“Send ten bolts of silk used by the Inner Court and twenty gama of rice to the Heungseon-gun household.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I bowed deeply.

Inside, my calculations were already complete.

If I sold ten bolts of silk and twenty gama of rice, it would be enough to buy the land in Gahak-ri.

---

Spring, 1860 — Daejojeon, Changdeok Palace

Grand Queen Dowager Jo summoned two elders of the Punhyeon Jo clan.

The two clan elders entered with their backs bent respectfully.

“Your Majesty, did you summon us?”

“Sit.”

Grand Queen Dowager Jo took a sip of tea.

She did not hurry.

Keeping the other party nervous was part of Grand Queen Dowager Jo’s way of doing things.

“Does our clan own any land around the tidal flats along the western coast?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“We have several plots near Incheon.”

“Acquire more.”

The elder of the Punhyeon Jo clan raised his eyes.

“What is it about that land…”

“It is land that produces salt.”

Silence descended upon Daejojeon.

Grand Queen Dowager Jo slowly told them about the plate.

She explained, one point at a time, that if seawater were trapped behind embankments, sunlight and wind would dry the water and produce salt.

That not even a single piece of firewood would be needed.

And that the tidal flats along the entire western coast could potentially become salt fields.

The expression on the face of the Punhyeon Jo clan elder hardened.

That hardening meant the calculations had begun.

“Your Majesty, is it truly possible?”

“The plate proved it.”

“A plate, Your Majesty?”

“Try it yourself.”

“Put seawater into a bowl and leave it under the sunlight.”

The two elders exchanged glances.

Then they bowed once more toward Grand Queen Dowager Jo.

“Move before the Haedong Kim clan notices.”

The two elders bowed even more deeply.

---

Spring, 1860 — Servants’ Quarters, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence in Hanseong

Kang-soe, one of the household servants, came carrying a sheet of paper.

“Young Master, the land deed.”

I unfolded the paper.

It covered three plots of hillside in the Gahak-ri area of Siheung County, Gyeonggi Province.

The land had been purchased under Kang-soe’s name.

The money had come from selling the gifts bestowed by Grand Queen Dowager Jo, combined with the profits from the lignite business.

Kang-soe looked over the land deed.

“Young Master, what’s on this hillside?”

“There’s nothing here.”

I folded the deed and placed it inside a drawer.

“But when the time comes, there will be everything.”

Kang-soe tilted his head in confusion.

But he did not ask anything more.

The plan was falling into place one piece at a time.

But I could not stop here.

I still had not fully figured out why Kim Ja-geun, the leader of the Haedong Kim clan, had sent a letter to Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

Was it merely an attempt to win him over?

Or was Kim Ja-geun trying to obtain something from Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung?

I needed to know.

Only then would Kim Ja-geun’s weakness reveal itself.

Three years remained until King Cheoljong’s death.

Kang-soe spoke again.

“Young Master, we’re out of shell briquettes.”

“We need to make more.”

“Go dig out more lignite from Gahak-ri.”

“Every stone on that land belongs to us now.”

A light flashed in Kang-soe’s eyes.

“Yes, Young Master.”

It was a hillside that appeared to contain nothing.

But beneath that hillside was lignite.

And the shell briquettes made from that lignite were gradually changing the Hanseong market.

---

Summer, 1860 — Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence in Hanseong

Gaksim came running in before the morning was even over.

“Young Master, there’s been a disaster.”

I closed my book.

“What happened?”

“It’s the epidemic.”

“They say people have begun collapsing around Chilpae Market.”

“Three people have already died just this morning.”

“And rumors have spread that people have been suffering from diarrhea and vomiting since last night.”

An epidemic.

The cholera.

The disease that had begun spreading in the autumn of 1859 was raging through the following summer.

It would eventually claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

A horrific period was approaching, with hundreds dying every day.

I knew this was coming.

The memory of my thirty-two-year-old modern life clearly remembered how the British physician John Snow had discovered the connection between the Broad Street water pump in London’s Soho district and the cholera outbreak in 1854.

Cholera spread through contaminated water.

Dirty well water.

Streams polluted by human waste.

Unwashed hands.

These were all part of the problem.

Boiling water killed the bacteria.

Burying human waste in the ground prevented contamination from spreading.

These simple facts were unknown to the Joseon court.

They had not even attempted to learn them.

Then I’ll be the one to tell them.

“What is the court saying?”

“They say they are going to call a shaman and perform a ritual.”

“They say a ghost has possessed the people.”

I stood and looked at Gaksim.

“Gather everyone in the residence.”

“Servants, slaves, everyone from the servants’ quarters.”

“Everyone.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

---

Summer, 1860 — Courtyard of Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence in Hanseong

People gathered in the courtyard.

About twenty of them.

I stood before them.

At first, they all wore bewildered expressions.

But their expressions changed once I began to speak.

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“You all know that an epidemic is spreading through the market, don’t you?”

Heads nodded here and there.

“The epidemic isn’t caused by ghosts.”

“It’s caused by dirty water.”

Murmur! Murmur!

A wave of unease passed through the courtyard.

“Do you know that sewage is flowing into the stream near Chilpae Market?”

“If you drink contaminated water, you become sick.”

“No one from the households that didn’t use that well has collapsed.”

One middle-aged servant cautiously spoke.

“Young Master, how can it not be caused by ghosts?”

“People who were perfectly healthy suddenly collapse, clutch their stomachs, and die…”

“It looks like they collapse suddenly.”

“But before that happens, they must have drunk dirty water or eaten something contaminated.”

“If no one in this residence falls ill three days from now, that will be the proof.”

“You don’t have to believe me right now.”

“Just follow my instructions.”

Everyone fell silent.

“Draw water from the well right now and boil all of it.”

“Do not drink even a single sip of unboiled water.”

“Human waste from the latrines must be buried deep in the ground.”

“Do not go near the streams.”

“Always wash your hands.”

“If you follow these four rules, you will not contract the epidemic.”

Their expressions showed that it was impossible to tell whether they believed me.

But I was the young master of the household giving them a direct order.

They had no choice but to obey.

“Understood?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

---

Summer, 1860 — Men’s Quarters, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence in Hanseong

That afternoon, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung summoned me.

He was sitting in the men’s quarters, repeatedly opening and folding his fan.

The look in his eyes was anything but ordinary.

“I heard you gathered the servants in the courtyard today.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them how to prevent the epidemic.”

“I heard you said that boiling water would prevent it.”

“What evidence do you have for saying such a thing?”

“Are you a physician?”

“Have you read medical texts?”

“No.”

“Then?”

I looked straight at Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

“Father, do you know where the people who died around Chilpae Market had been drinking water?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“They drank from wells near the stream.”

“Human waste from the latrines is flowing into that stream.”

“Every person who died had drunk from those wells.”

“And no one from the households that did not use those wells has collapsed.”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung stared at me silently.

His fanning stopped.

“Dirty water is the cause.”

“If we stop the cause, we can stop the disease.”

“How does a thirteen-year-old child know such a thing?”

“I observed it, Father.”

Tak!

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung placed his fan on his knee.

He did not seem convinced.

But he did not stop me either.

And that was enough.