It Became a Symbol of the Bronze Age - Chapter 306



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Episode 306. Gongmilre Gongmilre (1)

Seorabeolbu.

One of the four hearts of Asadal.

Even the aliens that ride around in blue boxes have two hearts, so what does it mean to have four hearts? Anyway, the current Asadal has four hearts.

And this area is the place where the largest number of people live in Asadal.

“These are the new sailors who enlisted in the Odo Islands.”

“Asadaaaaaaaal! Asadalasadalasadala!”

“Tell me who to kill! My axe is crying!”

Even today, the islanders are eagerly enlisting in Asadal. In any case, Gori is a stable officer, and for those who have seen Gori like that, the ‘Asadal Odosu Byeongdae’ is one of the best paths to success.

“Let’s farm! Farm!”

“Kehehehehe! Look at that swamp! With just three shovel strokes, it’ll turn into rice paddies!”

“Hahahahahahaha! You’re right!”

The Zhongyuan people have now become masters of measurements, and are able to feel the changes in coastlines and river tributaries in real time.

“What is a pirate?”

“The enemy comes from the sea.”

“…Do you think I asked because I didn’t know?”

“Then why did you ask?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Do you think you’ll come? I wonder if those who come here after seeing our Nalssundol and Pungbaekseon are crazy.”

Asadal’s soldiers, yawning and squeaking on the castle walls in preparation for the pirates that would never come again, were talking nonsense for no reason.

Hmm, I guess I’ll have to ring the 5th bell sometime soon.

I think it would be a good idea to change the training that is done once a year to twice a year.

“…Is it worth playing around with?”

“Haha, now I find these ‘Surians’ heretics much more comfortable than the old Asadal ones.”

The people of Seorabeol are still learning how to row the Dromon. Five ships have already been completed and five more are under construction.

“But why do the Surians say that we row like beggars when they see us? We’re perfect.”

“I might be nagging for no reason.”

The Seorabeolbu nojabis say that they have become ‘perfect’ in their own way, but the Sur people’s eyes are not satisfied.

Dalvi and I side with the Surians on this one. It’s always right to listen to the experts.

It seems like it will take some more time to get to Taiwan. At most, it will take about a year.

Of course, from my perspective, it feels like a year has suddenly disappeared… Well, how you spend that time makes all the difference.

And I know countless ways to make the most of a year.

“Uljiya, this is something called rubber. It comes out of a yellow rubber band.”

I showed him a rubber band hanging from the end of a stick.

Eulji nodded.

“I heard about it. It sounds quite interesting. What can I use it for?”

“It can be used for sealing.”

“Isn’t glue and beeswax enough? If price is an issue, there’s also pine rosin.”

“The materials you mentioned can be used to seal things, but they will break when they dry. However… this can be used over and over again. For example, think about the large bellows we use. What is their structure?”

Eulji answered quickly.

“It feels like you’ve created a huge box and then you’ve forcefully opened and closed the lid.”

“Why don’t you make the trees interlock and push and pull them together? That way you can use more air.”

“It will fall apart in no time.”

Eulji answered.

“Even if you design them to fit together perfectly, the input and output of force is not constant. The wooden barrel will soon break. On the other hand, if you design them so that they do not fit together, the wind will all escape along the side, so it is useless. That is why we use an opening and closing method, not a push-pull method (piston method).”

“That’s right. But it’s okay if you use this rubber.”

I took out one more item.

A barrel made of bamboo.

And then you put a rubber piece attached to the stick there… and it ends up looking like a 21st century ‘syringe.’

“Look.”

I grabbed the back of the syringe and pulled it out.

And I kept pushing.

I repeated that over and over again. Chuchuchuchu… .

“How is it?”

“…I see what you mean.”

Eulji said.

“This rubber is elastic, so it won’t break easily even if it rubs against a wall. If you did something similar with wood, it would start to make a grinding sound after a few times.”

The principle of a hydraulic (water pressure) device or pump is the ‘piston’. This piston concept existed even in the distant Mesopotamian era.

However, this piston was developed after the discovery of rubber in the 19th century. Before then, there was no material that could keep the piston for a long time.

“But if you’re thinking of improving the furnace with this… unfortunately, it won’t work.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Look.”

Eulji lightly pressed the end of the rubber.

Then, a little rubbery liquid appeared on my fingertips.

“It’s too weak to heat. Since it’s a tool used near a fire, it has to be resistant to heat.”

“Yes. Rubber is weak to heat, easily deforms, and is a weak material. However… if you mix it with sulfur, its properties change and it becomes resistant to heat.”

Eulji didn’t say anything like, “How did Master Poongbaek know that?” At first, it was surprising, but if something like this happened repeatedly, people would just let it go and let it go.

That’s why Eulji pointed out something different.

“…But you only figured it out with your own knowledge of things, don’t you know the exact cost of materials? So, from now on, I’ll mix the sulfur and rubber dozens or hundreds of times to find the exact ratio, and then I’ll finish the process together with the craftsmen of Seorabeolbu. Then, at the receiving department… Oh, that’s not it. Since it’s made with rubber from Heukgak Island and sulfur from the archipelago, Seorabeolbu will actually have the advantage.”

They say that if you study at a private school for three years, you will be able to recite poetry.

Eulji also worked under me for thirty years, so now he is very stubborn.

“So please tell me where to use it. It will help me with my research if I know where to use it.”

“…First of all, there’s the pool I mentioned earlier.”

“I understand that. If so, may I ask. Can this ‘rubber’ thing only be used in clumps?”

“It can be stretched out long.”

“Like leather?”

“right.”

“Then… even if it’s not necessarily a ‘push-pull’ pulley, just changing the material of the existing leather pulley would be quite efficient.”

I nodded. Even that much would be as powerful as a 21st century tube pump. (This is the amazing thing about technological advancement. In the 21st century, a ten-thousand-won kitchen knife from Daxo is likely to be a more famous sword than King Arthur’s Excalibur.)

“We are also considering adding padding to the wheels instead of leather.”

“It sounds like you’re saying that anything made of leather can be replaced. What about clothes?”

“It might be possible.”

“Besides, it would be even better if men’s golmud was made with this.”

“Ah, are you talking about the J-golmu?”

J-golmu? When did it get that name?

Aha, this is a nation of humor.

Indeed, our people have historically enjoyed adding sexual metaphors, whether long or perforated… (You can still find traces of this in names like 巖나사 and 岫나사. In the first place, the name 巖나사 itself means ‘valley and mountain range.’)

Moreover, since this is something that is really used in such a place, it is not strange for it to be given such a name.

“Yes, you can use it to make that too. No, you could even use the dried powder.”

It’s a fruit-flavored condom.

Do you think it will likely sell well?

***

So I decided to run the craftsmen for the remaining year, and I ran them happily. And the craftsmen of the current Seorabeolbu are not just Eulji.

“…Let’s make a boat.”

“…How is Hongikju’s manufacturing business?”

“It’s almost done.”

“Raising a newbie?”

“It’s going well. The people of Seorabeol really learn quickly.”

“Okay, then… what about the dye?”

“…I have to do that too. Oh.”

If I had to pick the busiest among them all recently… it would definitely be the Sur people.

Because I intended to suck every bit of knowledge these Surians had.

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That is why they are put to work in shipbuilding, in the liquor manufacturing business, and recently, even in the dyeing business.

“I understand you guys dye your hair a bit?”

“…Dani, who are you hitting?”

The Sur people were now accustomed to Asadal, but they were not accustomed to this kind of language, just as those who learned English were not able to use slang.

In the first place, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this kind of expression is used not by Asadal as a whole, but only by me.

“He asked me if I knew how to dye my hair.”

“Dyeing… right?”

The Sur people were worried. They already had a lot of work to do, and they were afraid that if they said they knew how to do it, they would be asked to do more work.

So they decided to be stupid.

“Dyeing…what is this?”

“…?”

I reviewed the historical knowledge I had.

And the result was simple.

‘Look at these kids?’

The Surians were masters of dyeing. Until the Roman era, purple dyeing was called ‘Phoenician dyeing’, and purple cloth dyed with this Phoenician dyeing was sold at a very, very high price.

And this era was not much different. One of Phoenicia’s main exports was dye.

Moreover, the Phoenicians who have come here now are not just any Phoenicians, but are the best craftsmen and talents that Shum personally selected to present to Sennacherib.

Above all, Shume herself confirmed it by saying, “That’s right. They’re good at dyeing hair. I was taking them there to have them make dye after cutting off their ankles.”

“…There’s no need to lie in front of me.”

“Haha, that’s a lie.”

“I know you are good at dyeing. Although you may be somewhat inferior to those of Aegyptus and Hela….”

“No, what did you just say?”

At those words, one of the Surins suddenly stood up.

“What are you talking about, saying we’re worse at dyeing our hair than those country bumpkins? Those guys… Ugh!”

And then, at that moment.

They realized they had made a slip of the tongue.

But that’s just the way it is. No matter how hard you try to wear a mask, you’re a person who can’t help but react to such words.

Isn’t that the same for 21st century men? Even the most mature adults would jump up when they hear, “You’re so bad at games.”

Moreover, these Surians are proud of themselves as the best in the Mediterranean, so it is natural that they would react like this.

“You can do it.”

“…yes.”

Margo also realized that she could no longer hide it. From the beginning, it was obvious from her expression that she had known everything.

“So, what color do you want?”

“purple.”

“Look… what color is it?”

A method to make purple comes to Margo’s mind. First, catch a palm-sized conch, also called a purple snail or purple conch.

After boiling and drying it, only the internal parts are removed. Not even fingernails, just boogers and ears. If you repeat this 2,000 times, you will get a purple dye that can dye a handkerchief.

… It’s a crazy job. There’s a reason purple is considered the most noble color. In the Mediterranean world, it’s worth its weight in gold.

In other words, a person who wears purple clothes is like someone who wears gold.

“…But aren’t there any purple snails or purple conches here?”

“No. But there is something else.”

“If it’s something else… Are you talking about chacha (grapes)? Chacha is one thing, and there are also purple fruits from the trees around here… But if you dye it with those, it won’t last long. It might be purple at first, but if it’s exposed to the sun and over time, it’ll turn brown. In the first place, if purple could be made that way, purple wouldn’t be considered expensive. The same goes for purple flowers.”

“I don’t plan on using flower water or fruit water. I think it’s better to just show it to you.”

I had people bring me a plant in a pot. It had white flowers.

“This is a purple plant.”

“…yes?”

For a moment, Margo looked at me as if she was wondering if I was crazy.

“Isn’t this white?”

“I’m not telling you to look at the flowers.”

I pulled out the flower. Only then did Mago and the other Surians exclaim, “Ah!”

“The roots…?”

“Yes. It’s called purple grass. The people of the Central Plains make purple clothes out of this purple grass.”

***

According to the Spring and Autumn Annals, there is a record that purple clothing was already popular around 600 B.C. This means that purple dyeing using purple licorice was quite common in East Asia.

Of course, even so, this dye is not cheap. In the West, as well as in the East, purple was a symbol of nobility and was an expensive dye.

There are many stories about ‘purple clouds’ in folk tales and other sources. In Baekje, it was the color of the king, and in Silla, only the Seonggol and Jingol families were allowed to wear purple clothes.

And in this regard, if you look at China, which always creates amazing things… it is said that the nobles of the Western Jin Dynasty showed off their wealth by stretching purple silk.

There is a famous anecdote that when Wang Gae hung a curtain with 16 km of purple silk, his rival in luxury, Seok Soong, hung a curtain with 20 km of purple silk and ate rice cooked on beeswax in a golden bowl washed in honey water.

This 20km long purple silk is enormous.

Probably not even the richest man in Rome during its heyday could have done this.

Because purple is precious and silk is precious.

However, it is possible in the East. Both silk and purple are precious crops in the East, but they are not at the level of the West. There is no silk technology there, and to make purple, you have to catch a magic conch and make it.

So, I came up with an idea here.

‘Purple dye, wouldn’t it make money if sold?’

There is no need to use only purple. In the West, blue dye is also made by grinding lapis lazuli, but in the East, a blue color called ‘indigo’ has been widely used since ancient times.

‘The spice route is good, but you shouldn’t filter out other trade routes either.’

First of all, the Central Plains trade route is still selling kelp powder, soju, and copper very well, and if you add fruit-flavored condoms, it seems like there’s no need to worry for the time being.

‘Pig intestine condoms are selling well these days.’

I heard that it is used more for the purpose of preventing the deterioration of the succession plan than for the purpose of contraception, like in the 21st century. Pig intestines are bad enough, so what about a rubber condom with grape flavoring? Isn’t that game over?

And although on a smaller scale, the trade route via Stepro is also worth keeping an eye on.

The technologies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece are worth adopting, and for that reason alone, it is good to maintain trade relations.

This trade route not only serves to supplement Asadal’s wealth, but also functions as a political tool to deal with the tribes on the grasslands. It is a route that can never be abandoned.

‘Besides, as time goes by, the steps are becoming more and more stable.’

Deulguljurak… The general of Asadal, who has been called ‘Turkjurak’ more often since some time ago, is still working hard to increase his influence in the north and solidify the Steppe.

I plan to take this opportunity to sell purple and indigo dyes to the West in a very profitable manner.

No, even the word ‘now’ sounds strange.

‘It’s already happening.’

There was a time when he operated a merchant network by purchasing dyes in the Central Plains and selling them to the Western Regions to make a fortune.

But the results were not very good.

‘There was a shortage of supplies. At that time, the dye technology in the Central Plains was quite ambiguous.’

At present, the dyes of the Central Plains are roughly extracted by the hands of artisans. It is difficult to expect standardization. Before the advent of Qin Shi Huang, the weights and measures of each region of the Central Plains were not unified.

Naturally, productivity is bound to be poor.

But it doesn’t matter.

In Yuan history, around 850 AD, or roughly 1500 years from now.

Emperor Daigo of Wa compiled a code of laws called the Yeonhishiki, which contained detailed instructions on how to dye purple silk.

You may wonder why dyeing is in the law code… As I said, in this era, clothing was used to distinguish status. The dyeing method is about how to make such clothing, so it is worthy of being included in the law code.

To put it into context.

“Put thirty pounds of purslane roots, two ounces of vinegar, and two sacks of ash in a pot and heat it with 360 pounds of firewood. Then, a purple color will come out. If you reduce the firewood to one-sixth and the purslane roots to five pounds, a light purple color will come out.”

If you put in a lot of perilla leaves and heat it, it turns purple.

If you reduce the amount of perilla leaves and cook over low heat, it becomes a light purple color.

“And as for the blue dye, pick the indigo flower petals, put them in a jar, press them down with a stone, and wait for three days. Then, the water will come out. At that time, strain out the petals, add oyster shell ash to the flower water, and stir until blue bubbles form. Then, pour out the top water and mix in lye water to obtain a blue color. This dye is also very helpful in repelling poisonous insects and snakes.”

This recipe appears in , a book that records Joseon customs from 1844. Since it is written in Korean, it is something that anyone majoring in historical materials should look at at least once.

“What do you think? Is it worth it?”

“…But if the manufacturing method is so detailed, why are you telling us? If there is a manufacturing method to this extent, then there must be existing craftsmen.”

“There’s no such thing?”

“…Then where did this recipe come from?”

“In theory.”

In the 21st century, it is natural to produce after the theory… but in this era, it is actually more natural to establish the theory after production.

“…Does that make sense?”

The Surians were confused, though.

“Okay.”

What can I do if it works?

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