Tongryeong's Ambition (1)
The somewhat sermon-like business model explanation session finally came to an end.
They had explained everything at once—appropriate justification, benefits, and forward-looking business concepts—so both their heads were about to burst, and even the one doing the explaining felt dizzy in the head.
“Even if they have time to think, they need to think properly, otherwise good responses won’t come out. If you push too hard, you won’t get good reactions.”
Explaining the block economy in full detail would require talking for hours about currency-based economic blocks, differential tariffs, trade barriers, planned trade, import controls, foreign exchange management, and so on.
“And if I keep talking with my own mouth, it won’t look good.”
I backed off from the situation not because of something else, but because dragging on the two envoys until the end of the business explanation session and begging for promises from both governments or the parliament would be more unseemly than ruining the atmosphere.
Who would rush if provoked? Even the cult recruiters of the fake religion would come running after giving a day or two. Some who have already passed halfway through are deliberately bounced. It’s about the push-pull.
For that reason, with a pensive expression, I rested my hand on my chin and casually asked the man following behind me.
“Was the observation today not too bad?”
When I asked,
“Yes…? Ah, yes!”
The man answered quickly after slowly coming to his senses.
I smiled at him and led the way.
“Then that’s good.”
When I let out a small laugh, the man looking back with a bewildered expression bowed slightly.
Ah, if the readers are sharp-eyed, they might know the identity of the man I accompanied to meet the two envoys.
“Mutsu Ambassador.”
“Yes, Your Excellency the President.”
“Have you now figured out the path Japan should take?”
“...”
The man I secretly accompanied to meet the two envoys was Mutsu Munemitsu. He was the Japanese Special Envoy, and a future diplomatic pillar of Ito Hirobumi.
*****
Leaving the legation, I headed to my office. I hung my coat casually on the back of the chair, leaned my body against the chair back, and put both feet on the desk with a ‘thud’, then asked Mutsu.
“Since you’ve shown me a precious seat, now let’s hear some impressions.”
“Wh-what...?”
“Nothing special, just impressions. What emotions do you have regarding the expansion of the Tripartite Alliance?”
“...”
Mutsu the Ambassador, somewhat uncomfortable with my sudden question and atmosphere, lowered his gaze and fidgeted with both hands quietly, looking lost in thought.
By the way, the two envoys, Plancy and Foote, don’t know Mutsu Munemitsu’s true identity.
The reason is
‘Because the Japanese government has officially dispatched only Hayashi as the Japanese envoy.’
In fact, in our Ministry of Foreign Affairs records, Mutsu Munemitsu is listed as a mere tourist. And he should have entered via Nagasaki after passing through Shanghai.
This is the intention of the Japanese government, but the reason Mutsu entered the Korean Peninsula via Japan rather than directly from London to Shanghai receiving a telegram and assuming the special envoy post.
So, when Mutsu the Ambassador barged into the legation with me, the two envoys saw him as just my subordinate or secretary and didn’t even exchange proper greetings.
‘Considering the current Shanghai situation, the resident legations hadn’t even received any notice.’
This was to predict that the political situation in Qing was very unstable for some reason, apart from the Sino-French/Korean war issues, even the US consulate was cut off.
For that reason, Mutsu the Ambassador could intuitively see the raw behind-the-scenes stories. No one knew his true identity.
I looked at Mutsu the Ambassador engraving my character on his forehead while pondering the answer to the question.
‘Later, I should open a club in Myeongdong.’
For now, the first club in modern history is in Incheon Chemulpo’s Jeong-dong.
Not that, but the reason the diplomatic club was created in Chemulpo was because it was the most prosperous concession of various countries.
And the Jeong-dong club was a historically important place where independence activists and pro-Japanese who left their names in our modern history passed through.
‘Even Yi Sang-jae, and people like Park Yung-hyo need artificially created foreign concession areas inside Seoul to develop diplomatic and political senses. They need an environment to educate hands and feet for my grand plan to play international wars. And at the same time, our intelligence agency can create a stable environment to collect external information.’
For the above reasons, a diplomatic club and legation area to replace the Jeong-dong club was absolutely necessary in Seoul.
If planning the capital redevelopment project, I was considering where to set up the foreign legation area when a familiar voice came.
“Your Excellency, Your Excellency.”
“Hm? Ah, Ambassador. Has the observation report been compiled?”
I asked back, and Mutsu the Ambassador nodded silently.
I relaxed my expression and lowered the foot I had placed arrogantly on the table as if to say “go ahead and talk.”
Then, Mutsu the Ambassador, who had been sitting with legs modestly together, began to speak.
“First, I cannot stop admiring Your Excellency’s diplomatic and political sense.”
“Oh, I didn’t invite you to the observation just to have gold on my face.”
“It is not that meaning, Your Excellency! The ‘Pacific Alliance’ you conceived is truly a great scheme for our Asian peoples to independently liberate themselves from the Western powers led by Europe, is it not!”
“Oh.”
“It is not a new colonial business. This is, rather, a tremendous conspiracy to gather the second and third rate countries groaning under the current system from the existing colonial empires of the Western powers and confront them together, or to gather into a huge and loose power bloc to create a new empire!”
Mutsu’s passionate speech pierced to the core, and I couldn’t help but admire it a little.
Indeed, Mutsu was a great talent to lead the Japanese politics after Ito.
‘As expected, the ones who think of public benefit.’
I nodded without reaction and urged him to continue, and Mutsu stood up from his seat, bowed his waist, and continued.
“Also, drawing France and the United States, which are just starting to try overseas expansion, into Korea’s alliance is now understandable.”
“In what way?”
“Because originally those two countries were not countries competing under Britain in the Asian market, were they? Under Britain! But Your Excellency properly stimulated the common points of the two countries that traditionally have resentment towards Britain. Historical grudges and the wall of reality, yes.”
“Oh ho.”
“Britain expelled the French East India Company from India, seized China through the Opium Wars, and supported Muslims and others to suppress Russia from around the world.”
Although the saying “pulling the ladder” didn’t come out, Mutsu the Ambassador gave similar examples.
Continuing to check the answers and Mutsu’s fluent explanations, I shook my head slightly.
“Well done. Continue.”
“And the essence of the Tripartite Alliance itself was in its formation, or rather, the appearance of being united like it was formed was one of Your Excellency’s grand plans! The situation itself where France and the United States are tied together will reveal the discomfort of the British Empire and Russia as is!”
Then Mutsu added that the true value of the Tripartite Alliance is a crucial role in casting the deciding vote among the two major power blocs composed of Britain and Russia clashing around the world in the Great Game.
“If according to Your Excellency’s plan, a huge alliance power bloc encompassing Asia and other places, South America, Australia, and India fills the huge tank of the Tripartite Alliance, the existing power structure will be completely destroyed. No, a new international order! The rebirth of the Warring States period comparable to China’s Warring States period will be realized in this time and moment where we are living and breathing! And the Tripartite Alliance is itself the alliance that united against the past Qin state!”
“Excellent.”
I couldn’t imagine citing China’s Warring States period, but it was a fairly correct statement.
To pull down the old order of the British Empire and the grotesque shadow over the new world, and set up a new foundation with democratic republics to accelerate the history of the 21st century is in that sense a foot.
Mutsu the Ambassador, who had poured out passion for a long time, seemed a bit out of breath, apologized to me, drank water to moisten his throat, and continued talking.
“And the part I couldn’t understand at first was the role and value of Korea. Why could Korea insert itself between the great powers? How could Korea get its value and existence recognized by squeezing into the gap of that huge empire? Most of my country’s media will mention countless military exploits done by Your Excellency and the Republic, but I got a great enlightenment today! Diplomacy is truly the beginning and end of war in this era!”
“Clap clap clap!”
“Very good. Impressive. I didn’t expect that.”
“Thank you.”
I praised Mutsu the Ambassador who accurately hit the answer by clapping, stood up from my seat, and headed to the map hanging on the wall.
A world map where the Republic of Korea is located in the center of the world.
“Therefore, Japan’s role is also significant.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
Mutsu the Ambassador straightened his posture, followed my gestures with his eyes attentively, and took a posture of listening attentively.
“The Korean Peninsula is historically a collision point of the continent. And the Japanese archipelago is a shield of the continent. What I want is exactly this.”
On the map, I said dividing the two countries’ seas exactly in half starting from Tsushima.
“Japan is the sea, Korea is the continent.”
“!”
“I hope Japan replaces the Western Britain, and in the future our Korea replaces France.”
“I understand what you mean.”
Mutsu the Ambassador nodded up and down repeatedly, but had a troubled expression. And I also knew what his worries were.
“Are you worried?”
“Ah.”
But I knew that the most decisive way to realize all those worries and my absurd plans or my boasts like clouds was.
“Mutsu Ambassador.”
“Yes?”
I smiled at Mutsu the Ambassador asking me in a puzzled expression.
“Let’s find a clear day good for yachting. I want to visit the Constitutional Assembly where I’m preparing with all my heart. I heard Ito’s forehead is rising.”
At my shocking proposal, Mutsu’s eyes widened as if spring-loaded, and his mouth opened wide, looking like he couldn’t close it.
I just giggled like a mischievous kid.
*****
After that, while still not coming out of the shock, I saw Mutsu the Ambassador hurrying back to inform Hayashi the envoy as well, and I leaned against the backrest like a broken doll and pondered.
You might wonder why Mutsu Munemitsu, who was the vanguard of the Joseon invasion, more than Ito Hirobumi, and even heard from Emperor Meiji that he was a war maniac, shows such intimate tendencies.
“Realism, reality.”
But the answer is not far away.
Mutsu Munemitsu, he is a vicious realist.
Precisely, unlike Sakamoto Ryoma’s Haigun-tai, he has no samurai spirit.
That is, unlike most Haigun-tai who simply wanted to end the shogunate, he is an opportunist who accurately grasps the fiscal situation and knows how to read the world’s eyes.
Even now, the words coming out in front of me half-heartedly as if feeling good are the result of misunderstanding because our Republic has personally beaten the drug-addicted Qing who sucked the steam pack of the US and French Republic.
“Grand liberation plan, bullshit.”
I casually looked at the sofa where Mutsu was sitting and burst into a small laugh.
In front of me, I was talking about the ‘Asian liberator’, but...
“Instead, it was seen as an opportunity to create a breathing hole in Japan’s situation where the exit is tightly blocked.”
Japan’s current situation is a bit ‘dangerous’. Or maybe very dangerous. What does it mean? Literally.
“Stuck between advance and retreat.”
Japan was at an important crossroads where it had to choose whether the future Japan would awaken as a militarist fascism or a cult worshipping human gods, or just become a mere economic animal.
“The freedom and civil rights movement is about to turn into something.”
While looking at the Osaka Asahi Shimbun with liberal tendencies, I read the article with a satisfied expression.
The headline was ‘Strange Watara-se Ten’s Secret Code Mass Death!’
It was not a title that couldn’t warm the heart.