Victory Dispatches Shake Injeong Hall
King Jeongjo sat upon the jade throne in Injeong Hall of Changdeok Palace, gazing down at the assembled ministers. It had been a mere three days since Yi Si-woo had led the elite Jangyongyeong southward. As if on cue, the Noron hardliners erupted in unison.
Breaking the silence, Noron leader Sim Hwan-ji stepped forward slowly, clutching a thick memorial in his hand.
"Your Majesty! In just three days since Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo emptied the barracks, ominous rumors have spread through the capital!"
Sim Hwan-ji's voice echoed through the hall. The Noron ministers behind him bowed their heads in perfect synchronization, chiming in as one.
"With heretics seizing military command, this shakes the ancestral shrines and state foundations of our 300-year Joseon to the core!"
Buoyed by the ministers' murmurs, Sim Hwan-ji pressed on.
"Your Majesty, we have heard vile slanders too shameful to utter. They say Yi Si-woo has abolished ancestral rites in the barracks and colludes with Western devil-worshipping heretics of Catholicism!"
Jeongjo's brow furrowed instantly. Other ministers rushed forward in Sim Hwan-ji's wake.
"He dines without ceremony with Jangyongyeong soldiers, ignoring rank and status—what else could this be but infection by the Western delusion that all men are equal!"
"Your Majesty! Entrusting the elite Jangyongyeong to one tainted by this pernicious cult is like giving wings to a tiger! Dispatch the Capital Garrison at once to arrest Yi Si-woo and interrogate him harshly!"
The Noron ministers bowed as if rehearsed.
"Your Majesty! Abolishing rites and wielding gunpowder like Western sorcery—what is this if not Catholicism? Arrest him now and uncover his true nature!"
At Sim Hwan-ji's shout, the Noron faction prostrated themselves in unison. Frenzied cries shook the hall's floor.
"Then do you know where in the Confucian classics the gunpowder technology that saves the nation is written?"
A voice pierced the chamber. It was Right State Councillor Chae Je-gong. He strode forward rigidly through the Noron ranks, followed by grim-faced Nam-in officials.
"Uijeong, are you defending these heretics now?" Sim Hwan-ji growled.
Chae Je-gong smiled coolly. "Heretics? The Gigi-cheong Director's gunpowder is the flame guarding Joseon's soil, and his ledgers spare the people's hard-earned blood. Branding it Western magic is just confessing your own ignorance, isn't it?"
"Your words go too far! If even you aren't in league with him—"
"In league?" Chae Je-gong fixed Sim Hwan-ji with a stare. "Prime Minister Sim, with enemies trampling our land, think again whose neck you're trying to sever."
At Chae Je-gong's rebuke, the Nam-in faction bowed toward Jeongjo as one.
"Your Majesty! Yi Si-woo is the pillar of the Jangyongyeong, handpicked by you. Shaking a general fresh to the field with baseless rumors aids the enemy as surely as treason!"
Yet even the shouting Nam-in harbored their own tangled doubts. They too wondered at Yi Si-woo's futuristic innovations and bold moves. Is he truly tied to Catholicism? But now was not the time to probe.
Jeongjo gripped the throne's armrests. "Enough."
"The Uijeong speaks truly. I have seen Yi Si-woo's loyalty with my own eyes. Speak of this no more."
"B-but Your Majesty..."
At Jeongjo's warning, the Noron faction swallowed their rage and retreated. Silence gripped the court, the tension thick and unbroken.
Then Injeong Hall's doors burst open. A dust- and sweat-caked messenger collapsed on the floor, gasping.
A messenger from the Yeongnam coastal road has arrived!
Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo, en route to Busan, ambushed and clashed with 150 lurking Japanese pirates near Gyeongju—slaying 110 and capturing 40 alive! Interrogation reveals their main force is on Tsushima; they've already raided and seized the Busan harbor area, blockading sea routes as a forward base!
The hall buzzed. Not mere pirate sightings, but a vital chokepoint sealed—ministers paled.
Jeongjo's eyes sharpened. "Where is this Gigi-cheong Director now?"
"He pressed on to Busan without delay!"
The Noron ministers exchanged glances before Sim Hwan-ji spoke. "Mere mopping up of stragglers, Your Majesty! Catching roadside bandits can't cover Yi Si-woo's great crimes!"
Sim Hwan-ji advanced, spitting venom. "Yi Si-woo is a Catholic heretic! No merit excuses handing military command to one who denies the nation's foundations. Your Majesty, summon him to Hanyang now and expose his disloyalty!"
At Chief State Councillor Sim Hwan-ji's words, the Noron ranks bowed in chorus.
"Your Majesty, arrest him! Leaving this heretical beast on the battlefield is more dangerous than loosing a tiger!"
Sim Hwan-ji's forced roar echoed, but the court's air had subtly shifted. Contemptuous certainty gleamed in Chae Je-gong and the Nam-in eyes.
Three days later, another messenger arrived in Hanyang, reeking of East Sea brine and horse sweat. He kicked open Injeong Hall's doors and collapsed, shouting urgently.
Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo has reverse-enveloped and annihilated the enemy vanguard of 1,000 sealing Busan harbor! He burned their supply depots and recaptured the Busan coast!
Of the 20 enemy ships blockading off Gadeok Island, 16 were sunk or captured! And at this very moment... the Director has landed on Tsushima to strike their main base!
Chaos erupted in the hall. They'd reclaimed in days what seemed impregnable.
"Landed?!" Sim Hwan-ji cried in horror, shifting to war as pretext.
"Your Majesty! Yi Si-woo has botched the great affair with reckless folly! Your command was to expel invaders from our soil and secure the coasts—not ravage Japanese shogunate territory! This is blatant overreach, defying Your Majesty's orders on personal whim!"
Sim Hwan-ji turned, rallying Noron nods.
"Striking Tsushima invites full war! What madman courting national ruin acts so blindly! Your Majesty, if this escalates, Imjin-scale calamity will engulf us anew—who bears the blood of our eight provinces' people? Recall Yi Si-woo now and punish him severely!"
Noron ministers rose as one.
"Recall Yi Si-woo! We cannot entrust the nation's fate to heretics!"
"Punish Yi Si-woo!!"
Jeongjo ignored them. Chae Je-gong pierced the din.
"Your Majesty, these foes already trampled our land and staked Busan. The Gigi-cheong Director's Tsushima strike isn't reckless provocation—it's the decisive cut to end such humiliations forever."
Chae Je-gong turned slowly, his shrewd gaze skewering each Noron.
"Is Yi Si-woo bringing victory reports more frightening than our soil under Japanese boots?"
Contempt filled Chae Je-gong's eyes. "While that general sheds blood abroad to open the path, what are you guarding here? The nation's safety?" He paused. "Or just your petty faction's?"
"Wh-what blasphemy...!" Sim Hwan-ji flushed, staggering back.
But Chae Je-gong thundered on. "Busan was already an enemy foothold, endangering the southern three provinces. Without striking their Tsushima lifeline, how end this crisis?!"
Chae Je-gong's voice shook the hall. "If waiting for another Imjin holocaust is loyalty, I'll gladly join the Gigi-cheong Director as a traitor!"
The court froze in stunned silence. Only then did Jeongjo stir, tightening his grip on the armrests.
"Enough."
His low voice resounded. "Yi Si-woo has not defied my command."
"I ordered him to uproot Yeongnam's scourge. If the enemy bases in Busan, strike Busan; if their lifeline lies across the sea, cross the sea—that is reason."
Jeongjo's gaze stabbed Sim Hwan-ji. Overwhelmed, he bowed mutely.
Jeongjo extended a hand to the messenger. "Hear this, messenger."
"Relay to the Gigi-cheong Director: I await you here in trust. Without hesitation, carve out the enemy's heart and return."
"I-I obey!"
A week after news of the Tsushima landing, another cry rang out.
"Victory report! From Tsushima!"
The messenger tumbled in before the doors fully opened, his clothes stained with horse blood and brine. The red seal on the raised dispatch box gleamed brightest.
Tsushima Conquest Force—Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo's personal dispatch! Sasu Castle fallen in triumph!
Jeongjo himself opened the box and unrolled the dispatch. A fresh blood speck marred the end.
Jeongjo read aloud, word by word.
Your servant Yi Si-woo has pacified Tsushima's heart, Sasu Castle. Enemy leader So Yo-shi-to-shi captured alive and confined to the castle dungeon. Secured irrefutable evidence and secret pacts proving his collusion with southern daimyo like the Shimazu clan to invade Joseon. Humbly present these to Your Majesty.
Sim Hwan-ji and the Noron ministers, plotting to brand Yi Si-woo a Catholic and kill him, stood petrified like statues.
Jeongjo flung the dispatch to the floor. It unfurled with a rustle, Yi Si-woo's bold script gleaming.
"See this. Who here sought to label as traitor the general clutching the enemy's throat across that savage sea—while you idled in Hanyang, twirling brushes on the floor? If you still have words with those vaunted mouths before this victory dispatch, speak them now!"
Sim Hwan-ji trembled, slamming his head to the floor. "Y-Your... Majesty, execute me!"
Noron ministers prostrated in a chain.
Chae Je-gong and the Nam-in spoke. "Your Majesty! Gigi-cheong Director Yi Si-woo's feats merit report to the ancestral shrines. Dispatch envoys at once to negotiate Tsushima's disposition and crush the Japanese spirit utterly!"
Jeongjo's gaze slowly swept the Noron.
"...So be it."