Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 — Sprout.... Sprout of Cancer? (3)

When the ‘tender briefing of the golden brush' ended, the merchants left the Ministry of Taxation one by one. Just before he passed the gate of the Ministry of Taxation, an oldish merchant started a conversation with an official.

“Excuse me, My Lord.”

“What is it?”

“How old is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince this year?”

“It is eight.”

“Ho~.”

As the merchant couldn't hide his surprised expression, the young official of the Ministry of Taxation talked with a voice filled with pride.

“He is an amazing person. The reigning His Majesty the King is not an ordinary person, and even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also very brilliant. This is such a great fortune for our Joseon.”

“I see.”

After the merchant said goodbye courteously to the official, suddenly a raging fire burned inside him.

“Someone's child is that polite at eight years old! But, my grandchild is, hah!”

At the same time, East Palace.

Hyang, who had come back to his room, was talking face to face with a man. The man was the one who had been kicked out by the officials earlier.

“Good work, Eunuch Jo.”

“It’s nothing, Your Royal Highness. But, do you really have to do this?”

“I have no other choice since I am too young.”

Eunuch Jo thought over Hyang's age and nodded. Then he rose from his seat and spoke courteously.

“I will go back to change my clothes.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

* * *

As the production of the golden brush made by Hyang came under private management, the golden brush spread across the nation. While the golden brush became a one-time hit, an unusual scene began to happen.

At a noble house in Naju, Jeolla Province.

An old nobleman was waiting for someone in the big living room of a large tile-roofed house that looked at least 40 units.(1)

Not long after, a peddler with a rather big wood crate in his shoulder entered the yard. The peddler put off the crate in the ground, then bowed to the nobleman.

“My Lord, are you looking for me?”

“That’s right, I summoned you. Do you bring the golden brush?”

“I brought it this time.”

“O-oh, really!”

When the nobleman rejoiced, the peddler laid out a piece of cloth in the yard, then took out a luxurious nacre box from the crate and carefully put it on the cloth.

After putting down the nacre box, the peddler bowed down to the box, then stepped up to the big living room where the nobleman sat while holding the box carefully. When the peddler put down the nacre box on the table, the nobleman made an exclamation.

“O-Oh! This is!”

When the thrilled nobleman reached out his hand, the peddler immediately stopped him.

“My Lord! You should pay your respect.”

“Ah!”

At the peddler’s comment, the nobleman quickly tidying up his clothes then politely bowed in front of the box.

“The grace of His Majesty the King is so deep that he has given me such a precious item. His grace is immeasurable.”

The nobleman carefully opened the box after expressing his gratitude to the King.

There were ten shiny pen barrels with lacquer and golden pen nibs inside the box that was covered with soft silk inside.

The silk that covered the ceiling of the box and the pen nib was clearly stamped with plum flower patterns.

“You put the golden brush to the barrel....”

While listening to the peddler’s explanation, the nobleman fixed the nib to the barrel, then dipped it in the ink that had been grounded nicely, and wrote in the paper.

He wrote a phrase from his favorite scripture in one stroke. The nobleman then exclaimed.

“This is really a precious item.”

* * *

Because the golden brush had become a big hit, smiles never left the face of the Minister of Taxation.

“The budget, the budget is increasing!”

It wasn’t only the Minister of Taxation that couldn't stop smiling. The officials of the Ministry of Taxation also couldn't erase the smile from their faces.

Since the day Joseon was founded, no, since the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, the national budget had never been in an abundant state—not even once.

When Joseon was founded, the royal family reduced their salary to 1/6 and the government officials to 1/4, but the budget was still insufficient.

In this kind of situation, the profits that came from selling the golden brush were a very welcomed thing.

“I already have the books in this list, so please find me the other books.”

“.... I understand, Your Royal Highness.”

Thanks to that, the envoys had to work hard to find the books. It was because even though Europeans and Arabs had entered China since the Yuan Dynasty, their books were something that wasn't common.

* * *

“This will solve the reference problem.”

Hyang smiled as he looked at the bookshelves made on one side of the room, which was three-quarters full.

While confirming the industrial technology of Joseon during King Sejong’s period, more and more ideas were available for Hyang to apply.

“The problem is that if I come up with all of these, there are a lot of people who will look at me with prejudiced eyes. Not to mention the medical field, in this case, it's better to give a reference.”

Before he came to this conclusion, Hyang had obtained not only Chinese books but also European books that had been introduced to China through envoys to Beijing.

Through the envoys, Hyang had collected books from Europe late of Middle Age and the early Renaissance and also books from the Middle East. He also had collected the Chinese translation of those books and began to read them meticulously.

“I need to know roughly what's in which book. So I can make it plausible when I talk about it later. Isn’t there’s saying that you need to know to trick?”

The reason Hyang thought of this was because of the hardships he had to go through when he offered the golden brush to the King.

“This is indeed a good item, but how did you come to think about this?”

Hyang quickly answered King Sejong’s question.

“It was because I saw something unusual in the process of applying ink to the brush.”

“Something unusual?”

“I saw the ink rising between the brush hairs. The thing called water is supposed to move from the top to bottom, but this one contradicts it, so how can I find it not to be amusing? About this....”

Hyang made a plausible reason why he made the golden brush and talked about it.

After hearing the explanation, Sejong slapped his knee and expressed his admiration.

“Until this time, there were many people who used the brush, but there is no one who thinks like you! If this is not an example of perfecting knowledge by studying the logic of a real thing, then what is this?!”

With that, the golden brush issue had safely ended, but Hyang really knew that it was hard for this kind of luck to continue.

“The big reason I made the golden brush and offered it to the King was to let him know that I, the Crown Prince, have this kind of skill. Because it is something that can’t be put out of the blue. But, ‘by chance’ only works a few times. I need a reference to make it more plausible.”

* * *

“Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come.”

King Sejong, who was looking at the state affairs through appeals and reports at the little chambers he used during King Taejong’s funeral, put down the appeals he was reading and answered.

“Let him in.”

Hyang entered the chamber and greeted King Sejong.

“Dear father, your face doesn't seem good. Have you eaten your dinner?”

“I ate because the ministers keep annoying me.”

‘This guy!’

King Sejong's answer made Hyang enervated inside.

‘A meat lover who can't live without meat! Even though you can’t eat meat because this is a mourning period, you should eat properly!’

Hyang insulted him inside before talking in earnest.

“Father is the pillar of this nation. Even if you’re in the midst of mourning, you have to eat.”

“I will do so. So, what’s happening?”

“This son has collected miscellaneous books of the west people through the envoys.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Is there anything I could help with?”

“Father, I need you to give your judgment.”

King Sejong, who was smiling comfortably as if he were looking at his son acting cute, straightened his posture and made a serious expression.

“Tell me.”

“Yes, father. I plead you to use their number.”

“The west people’s number?”

“Yes. To be exact, it is Hindu numbers. To elaborate, this number first started in India, then....”

T/N

(1) The house was around 193 m2. Sorry if my calculation is wrong.↻

(2) Four occupations(사농공상): The traditional four classes of society (scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants). The merchants were said to be low since they were seen as a social disturbance for excessive accumulation of wealth or erratic fluctuation of prices.↻

(3) 서이 (西夷): In the past, a word used in China that meant ‘the western barbarian', which was used as a low-key word for the people living in the western regions.↻

(4) 색목인(色目人): During the Yuan Dynasty in China, it was used to refer to foreigners from Europe, Western Asia, and Central Asia. It refers mainly to Turks, Iranians, and Arabs, but the name is given because the color of the skin and eyes are different.↻

(5) If three people go together on a trip, one of them must be a teacher. It means that if three people do something, they need someone who can differentiate between good and evil.↻

(6) Jade can be polished with stones from other mountains. Even the insignificant words and deeds of others can help one to sharpen their manners and virtues by taking those words and actions as a lesson.↻

(7) The Analects, Mencius, Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Classic of Changes, The Three Ritual Classic, Erya, Classic of Filial Piety, The Three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals.↻