Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1037: That thrilling name… Biography. (4)

The empire’s publishing and printing industry had grown enormously. Around the time King Sejong started making sutras, he started by printing and distributing books such as ‘Nongsajikseol’ and ‘Hyangyakjipseongbang’ in large quantities. Afterwards, textbooks from various educational institutions, including the Social Democratic Institute, were distributed, and the printing press and printing technology developed once again.

-This makes money!

Merchants who smelled money here petitioned the government to allow the printing business. With King Sejong’s permission, the empire’s publishing and printing industry began to grow rapidly. And the government made a lot of profit by selling type and printing presses.

And printing-related technicians emerged as a new profession. However, the biggest reason for the explosive growth of the empire’s publishing market was intellectual property rights and Jeongeum paper. As intellectual property rights were recognized for individual works, illegal copying such as copying became a crime, and people began to think that books can be bought with money.

And as Jeongeum became popular, people in the empire began to look for things to read. To meet this demand, all kinds of rumors were poured into the stores. In order to survive in the non-fiction market that has already become a red ocean, business owners have begun to include illustrations. As time went by, illustrations that were black and white began to contain more and more colors, and some artists began to make a name for themselves with their illustrations.

Of course, most illustrators used pseudonyms to avoid the criticism that they were ‘drawing pictures worthy of a vulgar story.’ Lastly, ‘yellow paper’, nicknamed ‘lime paper’, played a leading role in growing the market.

Traditional white paper and colored paper were expensive because they were made using paper mulberry as a raw material through a labor-intensive process. However, the yellow paper made by Hyang was of lower quality than white paper, but it was cheaper because it could be mass-produced.

For publishers who rely on simple materials, yellow paper was the best material.

-It’s only a short story, so there’s no need to use good paper, right?

The publishing market was not just about stories. Jobo (朝報) came into the sights of printers looking for a new market. The report prepared every morning at the Seungjeongwon and distributed to the king and high-ranking officials meticulously contained appeals, personnel changes in the government, and news from neighboring countries.

Before Gyeongjang, official gazettes that copied this report were delivered to retired officials and influential noble families living in Hanseong. However, as the station was organized and the railroad was laid, the first thing in the morning was delivered to government offices throughout the main and northern districts on the iron horse. In areas such as Daeseoldo and Shinji, a week’s worth or several months’ worth was bundled up and transported on a regular basis.

As the report was delivered every day, it became a new custom among the people of the empire to read the new report posted on the bulletin board and wall of the government office every morning. However, there were many people who were dissatisfied with this.

“I have face! How dare I cling to the wall and read without any shame!”

The people who were acting like they were acting in the neighborhood were dissatisfied with this. In particular, those who manage funds through investment safes had reasons other than Chetong. It was necessary to carefully read and analyze information related to economic affairs, such as reports from the Ministry of Finance and Economy or news from neighboring countries, but it was not easy to read while stuck to the wall.

Printers, seeing a new market, once again petitioned the country. As their petition was accepted, a copy of the report was delivered to licensed businesses every morning at dawn. And private newsletters printed with the contents of this report were delivered to all directions on iron horses.

As time passed, this jobo market also became a red ocean. This was because the government did not allocate regions to jobber printers. Therefore, job printers competed fiercely to sell even one more copy.

The first thing they tried was to add content. The goal was to encourage the selection of investors, who are major consumers, by adding content such as news of startups and business closures, investor recruitment news, and public construction announced daily by the Ministry of Finance and Economy and investment funds. To do this, printers hired additional people.

They compiled newsletters published by investment safes in the area where they lived and sent them to business owners. And others have distilled this information into attractive pieces. As more local information was included, more people subscribed, allowing printers to hire more people.

And this was also Hyang’s trick.

* * *

It was when Xiang was emperor that printers petitioned to print and sell Cao Bao. The subjects who confirmed the permission given by the township immediately pointed out the problem.

“If we do not allocate areas to businesses, it could lead to excessive competition.”

Hyang responded firmly to his subjects’ comments.

“Competition is necessary. If the government allocates areas to businesses, it will become a monopoly. If that happens, listening to their petitions will become toxic. All the officials have to do is make sure that they translate the contents of the report properly. .”

‘They will become the mother of media organizations. You have to compete. ‘You can’t just let yourself become complacent.’

As Hyang intended, newspaper printers made various attempts to win the competition, and through those attempts, editorial newspapers evolved into a kind of comprehensive newsletter. As private news reports evolved like this, even high-ranking officials began to subscribe to private reports.

* * *

As the publishing and printing market grew, books, the main product, began to take on various forms, or even become polarized. Most books were still printed on yellow paper. However, books began to appear that used the highest quality white paper, covered with sheepskin or cowhide, had straps made of high-quality cotton or silk thread, and wrapped around the edges of the covers.

Most of these books, with their titles stamped in gold leaf, were books with a strong purpose of collection and display, such as law books or scriptures. Other expensive books were major textbooks from various research institutes and academies. It was inevitable that they were expensive.

Textbooks for majors, which were overflowing with Latin and all kinds of mathematical symbols, as well as Chinese letters and Chinese characters, had to be worked by professional typewriters and inspected by those who were familiar with the subject. And whenever I had time, I unfolded it. Because it had to be folded and folded repeatedly, durable materials had to be used generously. Because the market was small, mass production was impossible.

In other words, major books were products that could never be priced cheaply. And the highlight of these major books was medical books, especially anatomy and herbal medicine. These were major books with few comparable books in terms of the amount and precision of illustrations.

* * *

As timeless scientific discoveries were made and Europe was once again struggling as an empire, the empire once again shocked the world.

-We will accept immigrants!

-Those who have learned Jeongeum and know the imperial language to some extent will be allowed to immigrate.

-If you swear to follow the laws of the empire and pay your taxes faithfully, we will allow you to emigrate!

-I will allow you to immigrate if you pledge not to force your faith on others.

-Scholars and engineers are preferred.

The imperial announcement above was delivered to each country where the imperial embassy or imperial military base was located. Leaders of countries, especially European leaders, who confirmed the announcement delivered by the Empire, responded cynically.

“With so many things to discuss, who would want to go?”

“Immigration is about going to enjoy a better life. But preferential treatment for scholars and engineers? Do you think scholars and engineers who have already established themselves, as opposed to peasants, will want to immigrate?”

However, there were some who expressed concerns about this.

“I don’t know about others, but I think there are quite a few scholars. Look at the flock of scholars every time a notice is posted about the empire recruiting international students or researchers.”

“Scholars and engineers are important talents to us, so we need to come up with a preparedness plan.”

After confirming the empire’s announcement, the leaders of each country devised their own countermeasures. Although a considerable amount of time had passed since the empire’s announcement, there were surprisingly few people wishing to immigrate. This was the result of half of his own will.

No matter how widely the name of the empire was known, it was still an unknown country located far away. Regardless of country, for people in remote villages, the empire was a country where dragons flew in the sky and all kinds of monsters were installed. Additionally, the empire was a pagan state, regardless of whether it was Catholic or Islamic.

There was a prerequisite of ‘as long as you do not force your faith on others’, but this could change into a situation where ‘you can be forced to follow someone else’s faith’ at any time. The response from scholars and engineers was not very positive. There were measures put forward by the leaders of the countries in question, but they also could not be confident of successful immigration.

‘Will my knowledge – or skills – allow me to go to the Empire and immediately settle down?’

The level of learning and technology of the empire, which everyone acknowledged was at least one step ahead, actually prevented them from deciding to immigrate. As the results were lower than expected, imperial officials analyzed the cause. What they were particularly interested in were the Ming and Japan

. As it was a neighboring country, the empire expected that there would be many people wishing to immigrate from Ming and Japan, but instead, it had established an active control plan. This

was because of the past of the three countries.

“Japan is at least better. Ming is the most important issue.”

However, contrary to expectations, there were very few Ming people applying for immigration. The reasons why Ming people were not interested in immigration were as follows: -It is

possible to make a living even within the Ming country.

The wounds of the war have healed and physical strength has been recovered. The Ming Dynasty was able to live a comfortable life with its own domestic economy. In such a situation, there was no need to choose immigration with an uncertain future. However, even among the lower class who were desperate for such an uncertain future, no one was interested in immigration.

The country to which they immigrated was not. It was because it was an empire. A large number of the people of the Ming Dynasty – at least more than half of the ordinary people – still harbored hostility towards the empire. In this situation, if it was known that they were immigrating to the empire, they could have suffered a misfortune before they even got there.

” Well, it would be good for us if people from famous countries don’t come, but….”

The imperial officials who analyzed the cause wrote a report with the expression that what is good is good. However, as time passed, unexpected people began to immigrate to the empire in large numbers. They

were Jews.

* * *

Most of the Jews who immigrated to the empire settled in Seoul and nearby areas.

“If you go to Jinji, you will receive better benefits.”

They went to Shinji in response to the suggestion of the imperial immigration officer. The Jews were from the rural areas of Eastern Europe. On the other hand, many of those who did not respond to the invitation and settled in Seoul and nearby areas were merchants or moneylenders. These people led to the emergence of new powerful people in the empire and the capital and investment markets. .

Hyang, who received reports through various channels, had a strange expression on his face.

“It’s Jewish capital… this is so…”