Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 036
Chapter Title: Open Joseon (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone knew it—I knew it, Prince Heungseon knew it, even a three-year-old child knew it.
Joseon was poor.
Dirt poor.
A salesman isn't just some peddler hawking his wares for profit.
If you're an Englishman like me, darting across nations and even spanning time itself, you have to pinpoint exactly what your buyer needs and guide their growth along the way.
Joseon can't buy our products because they're broke? That's downright tragic, isn't it?
So I'll make Joseon rich, sell them my goods, and boom—profit!
Ginseng monopoly rights.
Joseon's most vital revenue source.
I daresay I know far better than King Heonjong himself just how hard Joseon's merchants work at smuggling instead of honest exports, slipping bribes to the powerful clans along the way.
So we'll plug that smuggling with the rifles and cannons of the British Empire, funneling the revenue straight to the Joseon court instead of the clans. And in the process, I can skim a modest "consulting fee."
Mining development rights.
No dynamite yet, but Europeans have always been mad for mining. Bring in some developers, introduce Western tech, and Joseon's mineral output will explode. Just the Unsan gold mine alone would rake in a fortune.
Of course, I'll take a small finder's fee and commission here too, but the Joseon court is so strapped for cash they're already outsourcing to private operators. Better to hand it to me and tax the hell out of it.
Salt shipping. In other words, maritime transport.
Joseon's ships are a pathetic sight not worth a second glance.
Replace them wholesale with British vessels—ones built by shipwrights obsessed with the craft—and later upgrade to steamers. That'll end Joseon's chronic logistics nightmares. And Leigh & Gladstone Company will monopolize the whole operation.
The more you look at it, the more it's a win for Joseon. This is 21st-century symbiotic ethical business right here!
Wait, seriously? Why does this bastard's vicious scheme sound so plausible?
Dead serious.
19th-century Joseon is full of malnourished wrecks—you slap a slave brand on them and work 'em half to death, they won't even cover their keep. Not even slave overseer wages.
First, you gotta fatten up these starving patients, tuck them in nice and proper, turn them into functional humans. Then they can earn money or do whatever.
I laid out this rough plan to Prince Heungseon, and to my surprise, he agreed without hesitation.
"It'd be best to slot Your Highness in as the middleman."
"You mean His Majesty the King of Joseon?"
"Exactly. Routing your rights through the Royal Household Management Office would make the picture look much prettier. How about taking an official post?"
This was an idea I hadn't even considered. The Royal Household Management Office, huh.
In a nutshell, it's the king's personal vault and wallet.
"Planning to smash the clans to pieces?"
"If we don't, is there any hope for this country?"
"None whatsoever."
Redirecting the clans' honey pots to the Royal Household instead of the court proper?
It screamed absolute monarchy on steroids, but if we're modeling reforms after Britain, no need to play democracy from the jump. Better to have a iron fist to crush the entrenched interests and conservatives clinging to the pre-modern order.
If King Heonjong dreamed of reform, it wasn't wrong at all.
Our negotiations on my white horse commission wrapped up happily for both sides. If Heonjong buys into my blueprint, it'll happen; otherwise, reshuffle the board.
Next came haggling over the actual treaty.
[The Kingdom of Joseon is a sovereign independent nation possessing equal rights with the British Empire.]
"But we're a Qing tributary, aren't we?"
"Not anymore. The Qing's getting their ass handed to them too—they'll have to recognize Joseon as a sovereign independent nation. Don't worry about it."
Yi Ha-eung soured. He could tell that even without Joseon's agreement, the environment would force them to build an army and shut up.
The clauses that followed were all beauties, one after another.
[Both governments shall dispatch diplomats with full authority to the other's capital and may station additional diplomats permanently in areas with large populations of the other's nationals.]
Standard embassy and consulate setup.
[Henceforth, official documents between the two nations shall be written in English by the British Empire, with Korean translations attached for the next 10 years. The Kingdom of Joseon shall use Literary Chinese.]
Your typical clause. See how considerate we are?
[Incheon, Nampo, Wonsan, and Busan shall be opened to trade.]
[British Empire citizens may reside permanently in the opened ports, lease or purchase land, and construct houses, warehouses, and other buildings.]
[If a British Empire citizen commits a crime in an opened port, British Empire officials shall punish them according to British Empire law.]
[Navigators of the British Empire may survey Joseon's coasts and waterways to produce maps.]
[Citizens of both nations may trade freely, and officials of both nations shall not interfere, restrict, or prohibit this.]
[Most-favored-nation treatment.]
Up to here, I might look like the vanguard of vile imperialist aggression.
That's exactly what it is? Ungrateful scum of an empire repaying kindness with enmity?
No, listen. We're the victors here. If the British army wanted, we could drag Heonjong to London right now.
Opening ports was the goal from the start, obviously.
Rights to secure real estate and reside in those ports come with the territory.
Surveying is non-negotiable—Joseon's charts are so godawful, ships would run aground left and right. The Yellow Sea and South Sea are a nightmare.
Isn't that extraterritoriality? The infamous poison pill clause?
Without it, chaos. A British citizen getting flogged and starved in some magistrate's kangaroo court under Joseon law? Trust a bribe-stuffed local yokel governor? Want another war?
Watching Yi Ha-eung's face rot in real time, I dangled candy before the crying child.
[Merchants of both nations are prohibited from transporting or selling opium, and violators shall be severely punished.]
Opium ban.
I'm not busting my ass opening Joseon just to let opium smugglers run wild.
[British Empire merchants may sell cold weapons, gunpowder arms, shells, ammunition, and all other weaponry exclusively to Joseon Kingdom officials.]
Weapons sales restricted.
[In cases of domestic emergency, the Kingdom of Joseon may temporarily prohibit grain exports after notifying the British Empire government to resolve food shortages.]
Grain embargo option.
[Citizens of both nations traveling for the purpose of studying language, scholarship, law, or technology shall receive all possible protection and assistance.]
Joseon students incoming.
[Joseon merchants visiting the British Empire for trade purposes shall pay duties and other taxes according to British customs regulations. British merchants visiting the Kingdom of Joseon for trade purposes shall pay tariffs set by the Joseon government. Tariff authority resides with the Joseon government.]
Tariff rights.
"What are tariffs?"
"Taxes levied on foreign goods imported or Joseon goods exported. Through tariffs, European governments grew enormously wealthy and protected key domestic industries."
"If we slap a 100,000 nyang gold tariff on every British good, we can keep isolationism forever?"
Look at that bastard's face twisting uglier by the second.
"Just an example."
Obviously. Granting tariff autonomy doesn't mean true independence. As I've said a million times, if it stings, you shoulda beat the British army.
"Station customs officials at the opened ports and levy taxes per set procedures. Joseon lacks customs men versed in international regs, so I'd like to recommend some personnel."
"That was your angle all along."
Obviously.
But in original history, Joseon didn't even know what tariffs were and got fleeced duty-free by Japan? Pay me a modest fee, and even this ragtag Joseon government can collect tariffs and become overnight millionaires.
There were a few more minor clauses, but let's call it negotiation—what it really was me schooling Yi Ha-eung. If there's a kinder, better instructor than me, step up.
And Yi Ha-eung was a remarkably quick study—one lesson in, he grasped ten.
"Something's off."
"...What do you mean?"
"Why no mention of that cult you lot follow, your so-called Western Learning—not Christianity?"
"The British Empire doesn't wage war over freedom of faith."
Right now in Joseon, Christianity's seen as a cult blocking ancestor rites 'cause they got no parents, worshipping foreign spirits—nothing more, nothing less.
We're wrapping talks smoothly to ink the treaty ASAP—why toss in religion bait? Headache. Plus, missionaries will inevitably screw up, and we'll clean up the mess.
"Once this trade treaty's signed, Western nations will demand theirs too."
"...With warships and cannons in tow?"
"Can't deny it."
And the nation dead serious about proselytizing isn't us.
"Mark my words: in the end, you'll have to recognize Christian missionary work and freedom of faith."
"......Understood."
"In exchange, study hard on how much you can squeeze out of them for granting it."
Frogs.
Wanna see how much they'll spread to Joseon?
Just three weeks.
The war ended in three weeks.
[With the treacherous Kim Ja-geun—who had hijacked state affairs—out of the picture, our goal of aiding Joseon is achieved.]
[The British Empire shall withdraw from Joseon.]
The Joseon people were baffled.
Not taking the head of Kim Ja-geun, the war instigator?
Not even decapitating him—leaving the body intact?
But they didn't stop there. The British army donated massive quantities of their surplus military supplies to the Joseon government.
"No proper port facilities here—cheaper to leave it than ship it back. Costs more than buying new."
"Isn't it a waste to just give it away?"
"Put it on the books. Force-selling would piss them off, but call it a gift, and it'll weigh ten times heavier on the Joseon psyche."
Pure Anglo-Saxon golden-rule pragmatism—no blood, no tears—but the Joseon folk were stunned.
Didn't we just fight a war?
"War? When did we ever do that?"
Strictly diplomacy—no war occurred!
Zero count!
"The nation called the British Empire... so mighty, yet possessed of true gentlemanly virtue."
With Heonjong laying down the intro, the ministers hurriedly bowed and scraped, piling on the hype.
"Indeed it is!"
"Kim Ja-geun's folly sparked unfortunate clashes, yet they neither subjugate us as tributaries nor demand tribute—bestowing such riches as they depart. How could we, as hosts, mistreat our guests?"
"We beseech Your Majesty to swiftly conclude the treaty for eternal peace and friendship with Britain."
October 1851.
Inspector-General Kim Heung-geun proceeded to Ganghwa Island and signed the Joseon-Britain Mutual Defense and Trade Treaty.
"Appoint Jo Byeong-hyeon as Special Envoy Plenipotentiary to Britain and dispatch him to London."
"Your command is received."
"Prince Heungseon Yi Ha-eung has rendered great service in this crisis—promote him to Minister of Rites."
The Andong Kim Clan was half-destroyed.
Kim Heung-geun, Kim Byeong-gi, and most of the Kim heavyweights resigned en masse after stamping the treaty, bearing full responsibility. Kim Ja-geun's colossal fortune was entirely confiscated.
Heonjong reclaimed royal authority.
But it wasn't by his own power.
"I shall meet privately with Arthur."
At last, the old well crumbled.
Joseon escaped the Sinocentric world order, thrust into a realm of imperialism and colonialism.
For Joseon, peering into this pitch-black unknown where even a step ahead was invisible, options were few.
They had no choice but to follow their one tenuous guide.