Chapter 7

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

It was on the morning of the third day that I called Gwi-dong over and had him sit down.

No one at the residence had collapsed, and Gwi-dong already seemed to have guessed why I had summoned him.

“Go to the marketplace and find out what is happening. See whether people are boiling their water before drinking it, how many people have died, and if you hear anyone talking about this residence, keep your ears open.”

“Yes, young master. May I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“There are still some servants who don’t believe you. How can you be so certain?”

“If no one at the residence collapses after three days, that will be the proof. Do you believe what you see with your own eyes, or do you believe in ghosts?”

“I believe what I see.”

“Then that’s enough.”

Gwi-dong nodded and left.

Gang-soe, one of the servants of the residence, had been standing beside the door. He asked,

“Young master, should I go with him?”

“It would be better for Gwi-dong to go alone. No one pays attention to a child wandering around the marketplace. But if a big fellow follows him around, people will notice.”

Gang-soe nodded and stepped back.

Gwi-dong returned around sunset.

Thud!

The moment he opened the door to the servants’ quarters and entered, he collapsed onto the floor.

He must have run all the way back.

“Young master, the marketplace is in chaos. They say twelve people collapsed just today. Everyone is terrified, and there were shamanic rituals being performed in three different places.”

“Did anyone mention this residence?”

“Not yet. But there was something strange.”

Gwi-dong’s eyes gleamed.

“What?”

“There was a stranger standing at the entrance to the marketplace. He wasn’t buying anything or meeting anyone, but when I passed nearby, I noticed that he kept looking toward the residence.”

“What did he look like?”

“He wasn’t a yangban. But he didn’t seem like an ordinary commoner either. He was wearing a paeraengi instead of a gat, but his hands weren’t rough.”

Hands that weren’t rough.

Someone who didn’t do manual labor.

It could have been a coincidence, but I had already been gathering rumors from the marketplace through my personal maid, Gak-sim, for more than half a year. There was no guarantee that someone hadn’t noticed.

“If you see that man again, follow him and find out where he goes. But don’t let him notice you.”

“Yes, young master.”

Gwi-dong withdrew.

Gang-soe quietly said,

“Young master, could this be dangerous?”

“Not yet. But don’t let your guard down.”

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

As the number of people collapsing from the mysterious disease increased throughout Hanseong, hundreds were dying every day. Yet the court was still holding shamanic rituals, while the physicians were powerless to do anything.

And yet, not a single person in this residence had fallen ill.

Gak-sim, my personal maid, came rushing in, gasping for breath.

“Young master, a servant from a neighboring yangban household came to ask something. They want to know why no one here has fallen ill.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That we boil our drinking water.”

“And what did they say?”

“At first, they tilted their heads in disbelief. But they said they would try it out of desperation. There are already five households doing it.”

“If more people come, tell all of them the same thing. Boil the water, wash your hands, and stay away from the streams.”

“Yes, young master.”

After Gak-sim left, I muttered to myself.

It’s done. Even if the court doesn’t act, the knowledge will spread.

If this residence survived first, people would follow.

The results would speak for themselves.

Two days later, someone came from Changdeokgung Palace.

Summer of 1860, Changdeokgung Palace — Daejojeon Hall

Queen Dowager Sinjeong, Lady Jo, was sitting in the audience chamber, but the way she looked at me was different.

Before, she had looked at me as though I were merely a clever child.

Now, she was looking at me as if she were measuring something.

Her eyes have changed.

“I heard that not a single person at your residence has died.”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

“How did you know? How did you know that boiling water could prevent this disease?”

I thought for a moment.

I couldn’t tell her that I had come from the future.

But I couldn’t pretend that I knew nothing, either.

“Your Majesty, while going back and forth to the marketplace, I came to realize something.”

“What?”

“There was something the people who died from the disease had in common. They had all drunk water from wells near the stream. Waste was flowing into that stream. But in the households that did not use those wells, no one died.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong slowly nodded.

“You thought the water was the cause?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I thought that if we stopped using dirty water, we could stop the disease as well. Just as I proved the nature of salt with a dish, I proved the nature of this disease through the wells.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong stared at me for a long while.

Then she slowly placed her teacup down and spoke.

“Are you saying that a thirteen-year-old boy knows something even the court physicians do not?”

I said nothing.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong called for one of the senior court ladies of Daejojeon.

“From this moment on, have all the water from the wells inside the palace boiled before it is used. Reinspect the disposal of waste from the privies as well. Restrict access to the areas near the streams.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The court ladies of Daejojeon hurried off to carry out her orders.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong looked at me again.

“Eldest son of Heungseon-gun.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You may be able to save the people of this country.”

“It is Your Majesty who is saving them. I merely offered some advice.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong narrowed her eyes for a moment, then gave a faint chuckle.

I lowered my head while smiling inwardly.

This is only the beginning, Your Majesty.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong had begun to see me as someone she could make use of.

The dish of salt had been the first pillar.

Today’s cholera outbreak was the second.

A few days later, Gwi-dong quietly entered.

“Young master, I saw that man wearing the paeraengi again.”

“Where did he go?”

“He went toward Bukchon and entered behind the walls of the Haedong Kim clan’s estate.”

I was silent for a moment.

As I thought.

“Did you see anything else?”

“After entering, he stayed there for about an hour before coming back out. He was carrying something in his hand. It looked like a letter.”

“Well done. From now on, if that man appears again, you must tell me.”

“Yes, young master. But, young master, if that man is one of Minister Kim Ja-geun’s men, couldn’t he have noticed me?”

“That’s why you are not to follow him anymore. If he appears again, just confirm his face and come back.”

Gwi-dong nodded and withdrew.

Kim Ja-geun, the leader of the Haedong Kim clan, had begun watching me.

For now, however, he was merely observing me, and there would probably still be an element of complacency in his thinking: What could a thirteen-year-old boy possibly do?

I have to move before that complacency disappears.

I opened a drawer and took out the land deed for Gahak-ri.

I unfolded it, looked at it for a moment, and then folded it back up.

There were three years left until King Cheoljong’s death.

Within those three years, I had to find a weakness in Kim Ja-geun, leader of the Haedong Kim clan.

But I still couldn’t see where that weakness lay.

Don’t rush. Wait until it reveals itself.

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

Gwi-dong returned the following evening.

He came in wiping sweat from his face and spoke immediately without even catching his breath.

“Young master, I found out.”

“Sit down and tell me.”

Thud!

Gwi-dong dropped onto the floor.

“That man in the paeraengi came to the marketplace again yesterday. I followed him from a distance. He went into Sajikgol and entered a tiled-roof house.”

“Which house?”

“I saw the name plaque. It was a household with the surname Kim, and the people coming and going were dressed unusually. I asked one of the servants who the master of the house was. He said the household belonged to people connected to Minister Kim Ja-geun, the leader of the Haedong Kim clan.”

I quietly set down my teacup.

It hadn’t even been a month.

It hadn’t even been a month since the residence had survived the epidemic, and word had already reached Kim Ja-geun. He had already sent someone to watch the residence.

“Well done.”

“Young master, aren’t you afraid?”

Gwi-dong asked the question directly.

“Is there any reason I should be?”

“Isn’t it true that the most powerful family in Joseon has begun paying attention to you?”

“Yes.”

“Then aren’t you afraid?”

I looked at Gwi-dong.

“It is more dangerous when the enemy doesn’t know about me. Once the enemy knows about me, I can see the enemy too.”

Gwi-dong thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

“Should I tell Gang-soe too?”

“Tell him. And both of you be careful. If you see that man at the marketplace, stay away from him. What we need to do right now is make sure we aren’t discovered.”

“Yes, young master.”

Gwi-dong withdrew.

I sat alone and thought.

The fact that Kim Ja-geun had begun watching me meant that he did not yet consider me a threat.

A thirteen-year-old royal child ordering his servants to boil water wasn’t enough to make him cautious. He probably regarded me as nothing more than a strange child.

That’s enough.

I haven’t even brought out my real weapon yet.

Autumn of 1860, Hanseong — Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence

Gang-soe returned from the western coast just as autumn was deepening.

He had clearly spent several days on the road.

“Young master.”

“You’re back? Sit down.”

Gang-soe did not sit.

He was not the sort of person who usually sat in the first place.

“Salt has been produced by the Punghyeon Jo clan.”

I closed my book and asked,

“How much?”

“Not much, since it’s the first harvest. Fifteen sacks. But the elders of the clan are in an uproar. They simply left seawater out to dry, and salt came out of it. They can’t believe it.”

“They’ll believe it once they see piles of salt in front of their eyes.”

It was the first harvest.

Without using a single piece of fuel, we had obtained salt using nothing but sunlight and wind.

Until now, Joseon had relied on the jayeom method, in which seawater was boiled to produce salt. The cost of fuel and labor was therefore included directly in the production cost.

Solar salt fields were different.

When the cost went down, the price went down.

And when the price went down, it captured the market.

The Haedong Kim clan controlled a considerable portion of Joseon’s salt trade.

But if the Punghyeon Jo clan took control of solar salt fields along the western coast, the balance of power would change.

Next spring, production could be doubled.

The year after that, it could be quadrupled.

The larger the salt fields became, the greater the production.

And the greater the production, the more the Haedong Kim clan’s boiled salt would lose the price competition.

The Haedong Kim clan’s grip on the salt trade is beginning to weaken.

“Send word to Her Majesty, Queen Dowager Sinjeong, through Gak-sim.”

“Yes, young master.”

Gang-soe withdrew.

Autumn of 1860, Changdeokgung Palace — Daejojeon Hall

The moment Queen Dowager Sinjeong saw me, her face brightened.

With only one senior court lady remaining against the wall, Queen Dowager Sinjeong spoke first.

“I heard that salt has been produced.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is the first harvest, so the amount is not large, but production will increase starting next year.”

“Does it taste different from salt made by the jayeom method?”

“No, Your Majesty. The method of production is simply different. Since no fuel is required, the production cost is lower.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong slowly nodded as she lifted her teacup.

It had been less than half a year since the elders of the Punghyeon Jo clan had purchased land along the western coast.

And already, salt had been produced.

Everything this child had said, beginning with that single dish of salt, had been proving correct.

“Eldest son of Heungseon-gun.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“There is something I wish to ask you.”

I placed both hands neatly on my knees and lowered my gaze.

“What do you think will happen to this country in the future?”

Was this a test?

Or was she genuinely asking?

Probably both.

I lowered my head.

“I am not in a position to dare speak of matters of state, Your Majesty.”

“I give you permission. Speak.”

I pretended to think for a moment.

“Qing China is shaking. It has not been long since we received word that Beijing was occupied by the Western barbarians. Japan, too, has been exposed to Western ships for some time. How long can Joseon continue keeping its doors closed?”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong put down her teacup and looked at me.

“Are those the words of a thirteen-year-old?”

“You gave me permission to speak, Your Majesty.”

A brief silence followed.

Then Queen Dowager Sinjeong gave a small laugh.

“Yes. I did give you permission.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong turned toward the senior court lady standing against the wall.

“Tell His Majesty that I have someone I wish to introduce to him tomorrow morning.”

The court lady bowed deeply.

I lowered my head, suppressing the pounding of my heart.

Finally.

I’m going to stand before King Cheoljong.