Chapter 07

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

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 called him.

“Go to the market and see what is happening. Find out 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 one thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“There are still servants who do not believe you. How can you be so certain?”

“If no one in this residence collapses three days from now, 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 with my own eyes.”

“Then that is enough.”

Gwi-dong nodded and left.

Kang-soe, a servant of the residence, was standing by the door. He asked,

“Young Master, should I go with him?”

“It is better for Gwi-dong to go alone. No one pays attention to a child wandering around the market. If a big man follows him around, people will notice.”

Kang-soe nodded and stepped back.

Gwi-dong returned around sunset.

Thud!

The moment Gwi-dong opened the door to the servants’ quarters, he collapsed onto the floor.

He must have run all the way back.

“Young Master, it is chaos at the market. They say twelve people collapsed just today. Everyone is terrified, and there were shamanic rituals being performed at three different places.”

“Did anyone mention this residence?”

“Not yet. But there was something strange.”

Gwi-dong’s eyes lit up.

“What?”

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

“What was he wearing?”

“He was not a yangban. But he did not look like an ordinary commoner either. He was wearing a paeraengi instead of a gat, but his hands were not rough.”

His hands were not rough.

Someone who did not perform manual labor.

It could have been a coincidence, but it had already been more than half a year since I had been collecting rumors from the market through Gak-sim. There was certainly a possibility that someone had begun to notice.

“If you see that man again, follow where he goes. But do not let him notice you.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Gwi-dong withdrew.

Kang-soe spoke quietly.

“Young Master, could this be dangerous?”

“Not yet. But do not let your guard down.”

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

As people continued collapsing from the epidemic throughout Hanseong, hundreds were dying every day.

Yet the court was still performing shamanic rituals, while the physicians were powerless to do anything.

But not a single person at this residence had fallen ill.

Gak-sim came rushing in, out of breath.

“Young Master, a messenger came from a neighboring yangban household. They are asking how no one in this residence has fallen ill.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That we boil our drinking water.”

“And?”

“At first, they were skeptical. But they said they would try it as a last resort. There are already five households like that.”

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

“Yes, Young Master.”

After Gak-sim left, I muttered to myself.

Good. Even if the court does not act, the knowledge is spreading.

If this residence survived first, people would follow.

The results would speak for themselves.

Two days later, someone came from Changdeokgung Palace.

Summer, 1860 — Daejojeon Hall, Changdeokgung Palace

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo was sitting in the hall, and the look in her eyes when she saw me was different.

Before, she had looked at me as an unusually clever child.

Now, she looked as though she were measuring something.

Her gaze has changed.

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

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

“How did you know? That boiling water could prevent the epidemic?”

I thought for a moment.

I could not say that I had come from the future.

But neither could I pretend that I knew nothing.

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

“What?”

“There was something all the people who died from the epidemic had in common. They had drunk water from a well near a stream, and sewage was flowing into that stream. No one who used a different well had died.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo slowly nodded.

“You thought that water was the cause?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I thought that if we prevented people from drinking contaminated water, we could prevent the disease as well. Just as I proved the principle of salt with a plate, I proved the cause of the epidemic with a well.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo stared at me for a long time.

Then she slowly placed down her teacup and spoke.

“You mean to say that a thirteen-year-old knows something even the physicians of the court do not?”

I did not answer.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo called for a senior court lady from Daejojeon.

“Have all the wells inside the palace boiled before their water is used. Reexamine how human waste from the latrines is handled as well. Restrict access to the areas around the streams.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The senior court ladies of Daejojeon hurried into action.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo 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 brought the matter to your attention.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo narrowed her eyes slightly before giving a small laugh.

I lowered my head, smiling inwardly.

This is only the beginning, Your Majesty.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo had begun to see me as someone who could be useful to her.

The salt plate had been the first pillar.

Today’s cholera outbreak was the second.

Several 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 through the walls of the Haedong Kim clan’s estate.”

I remained silent for a moment.

Just as I thought.

“Did you see anything else?”

“He stayed inside for about an hour before coming back out. He was holding something, and it looked like a letter.”

“Good work. From now on, whenever that man appears, make sure to tell me.”

“Yes, Young Master. But, Young Master, if that man is one of Chief Kim Ja-geun of the Haedong Kim clan’s people, is it possible he noticed me?”

“From today onward, do not follow him anymore. If he appears again, only confirm his face and come back.”

Gwi-dong nodded and withdrew.

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

For now, however, he was merely observing.

There would probably also be a sense of complacency: What could a thirteen-year-old possibly do?

I have to move before that complacency disappears.

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

I unfolded it, looked at it for a moment, then folded it back up and returned it to the drawer.

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

Within those three years, I had to find Chief Kim Ja-geun’s weakness.

But I still could not see where that weakness lay.

Do not rush. Wait until it reveals itself.

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

Gwi-dong returned the following evening.

He wiped the 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 wearing the paeraengi came to the market again yesterday. I followed him from a distance. He went toward Sajik-gol and entered a tiled-roof house.”

“Which house?”

“I saw the nameplate. It was a house belonging to someone with the surname Kim, but the people coming and going were dressed unusually. I asked one of the household servants who the owner was, and he said the man was associated with Chief Kim Ja-geun of the Haedong Kim clan.”

I quietly set down my teacup.

It had not even been a month.

It had been less than a month since the fact that this residence had survived the epidemic had reached Chief Kim Ja-geun’s ears.

And he had already sent someone to watch the residence.

“Good work.”

“Young Master, aren’t you afraid?”

Gwi-dong asked the question directly.

“Is there any reason I should be afraid?”

“Hasn’t the most powerful clan in Joseon started paying attention to you?”

“Yes.”

“Then aren’t you afraid?”

I looked at Gwi-dong.

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

Gwi-dong thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Should I tell Kang-soe as well?”

“Tell him. And both of you be careful. If you see that man at the market, stay away from him. What we need to do right now is not get caught.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Gwi-dong withdrew.

I sat alone and thought.

The fact that Chief Kim Ja-geun of the Haedong Kim clan had begun paying attention to me meant that he did not consider me a threat yet.

A thirteen-year-old royal child ordering the servants of his residence to boil water was not enough to make him cautious.

He probably just regarded me as a strange child.

That is enough.

I have not even brought out my real weapon yet.

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

Kang-soe returned from the western coast as autumn deepened.

He had clearly spent several days on the road.

“Young Master.”

“You’re back? Sit down.”

Kang-soe did not sit.

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

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

I closed my book and asked,

“How much?”

“It is the first harvest, so there is not much. Fifteen sacks. But the clan elders are in an uproar. They cannot believe that simply leaving seawater to dry produced salt.”

“They will believe it. Once the salt starts piling up in front of their eyes.”

It was the first harvest.

We had obtained salt using nothing but sunlight and wind, without consuming even a single piece of fuel.

Until now, Joseon had relied exclusively on the jayeom method of boiling seawater to produce salt. As a result, the cost of fuel and labor had been directly added to the production cost.

Solar salt fields were different.

When the production cost fell, the price fell.

When the price fell, the market was captured.

The Haedong Kim clan held a considerable portion of Joseon’s salt interests.

If the Pungyang Jo clan took control of the solar salt fields along the western coast, the balance of power would change.

By next spring, production could be doubled.

The year after that, it could be quadrupled.

The larger the salt fields became, the more salt we could produce.

And the more salt we produced, the more the Haedong Kim clan’s boiled salt would lose out in price competition.

The Haedong Kim clan’s salt monopoly is beginning to shake.

“Send word to Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo through Gak-sim.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Kang-soe withdrew.

Autumn, 1860 — Daejojeon Hall, Changdeokgung Palace

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

Only one senior court lady from Daejojeon remained standing by the wall.

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo spoke first.

“I heard that salt has been produced.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Since it was the first harvest, the quantity is not large, but production will increase starting next year.”

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

“It tastes the same, Your Majesty. Only the method of production is different. Since no fuel is required, the production cost is lower.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo slowly nodded as she lifted her teacup.

It had been less than half a year since the elders of the Pungyang Jo clan had begun purchasing land along the western coast.

Yet salt had already been produced.

Everything this child had said, beginning with a single plate, was 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 asking sincerely?

Probably both.

I lowered my head.

“I dare not presume to speak of the affairs of the country, Your Majesty.”

“I grant you permission. Speak.”

I pretended to think for a moment.

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

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo set down her teacup and looked at me.

“Within the country, the Three Administrations are corrupt, while foreign ships roam outside our shores. I believe that what the court must rely on now is not the favor of the Haedong Kim clan, but the hearts of the people.”

Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo’s eyes narrowed.

“Is that something a thirteen-year-old should be saying?”

“You gave me permission, Your Majesty.”

Silence followed for a moment.

Then Queen Dowager Sinjeong Jo gave a quiet laugh.

“Yes. I did give you permission.”

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

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

The senior court lady bowed.

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

Finally.

I am going to stand before King Cheoljong.