Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Expelling Evil from the Court (1)
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David Bollen, the Opperhoofd of the Nagasaki Trading Post who had arrived last December, was not a particularly remarkable man.
Even compared to his 162 predecessors and successors, he stood out in no way. He was the sort who would likely be replaced around next year and sent back to Batavia in Indonesia or to the home country, passing the time yawning while waiting for that day.
But from now on, things seemed likely to change a bit.
It was due to a message sent to him by Matsuura Nobumasa, who could practically be called the shogunate's agent in Nagasaki trade.
Bollen gazed out from the second-floor window where he sat, looking down at Dejima Island, which seemed like a clam compared to the vast trading post. Then he lit his pipe.
'Joseon.'
The Joseon authorities had banned trade at the Waegwan and driven out the people there.
This was no news to ignore lightly, given that most of Tsushima's purchases from the Dutch in Nagasaki were for export to Joseon.
The Dutch traded with more than just the Tsushima Domain, but the Tsushima Domain, granted izenjozi trading priority rights, required extra caution compared to others.
The most predictable demand would be something like, "Hold off on unloading the goods from this ship's cargo."
However, the hint hidden between the lines of the letter was a bit more hopeful—and intriguing.
'With the cooperation of an insider in Joseon, we can pioneer a new Joseon trade route unrelated to the Waegwan. The situation is under our control.'
And it wasn't just goodwill advising not to worry about disposing of the inventory from ships arriving from Batavia.
'So don't even dream of attempting direct trade with Joseon by using the delay in purchasing goods as an excuse.'
Like a monkey baring its teeth to threaten an enemy, Bollen curled his lips.
'No thanks.'
It was the smile of an imperialist.
Explanations about the Dutch don't need to be complicated. One word suffices.
The seniors of the British.
The black evil that sprouted in Spain was nurtured by the Dutch and brought to full bloom by the British.
Even if the Dutch Golden Age had passed, when it came to the "East Indies" alone, the Dutch were still at their peak.
Especially the countless atrocities they could commit in Indonesia hadn't even reached the end of the preface.
The fact that they would taste bitterness from the future French Revolution didn't break their spirits. The Dutch revived their villainy right after Napoleon's fall.
Organized massacres and violence, systematic agricultural exploitation that once accounted for thirty percent of the national wealth, cowardly assassinations of ethnic representatives disguised as independence negotiations—the list went on endlessly.
Belgium didn't suddenly pop out of nowhere to chop off Congolese wrists. The two were one country until the early 19th century. As Kim Unhaeng always insisted, you can't fool the roots.
And at the vanguard of that history stood the Dutch East India Company.
Their human resources were flashy, to say the least. Excluding high-ranking executives like the board of directors back home, captains, or Opperhoofds, most members were a collection of the dregs of society rejected everywhere else in the world.
Why would any sane person abandon their homeland and family to venture beyond the seas, like heading to an alien planet? Vagrants, criminals, debtors, gamblers, thugs—these were the "talents" the VOC proudly boasted to the world.
Thus, they excelled at one thing: spotting opportunities in others' misfortunes.
For Opperhoofd David Bollen, Joseon was no unfamiliar land.
Ever since the Dutch first extended their tentacles here over a century ago, Joseon had been included as a prospective trade partner—or rather, a target for invasion.
However, the inaugural Opperhoofd, Jacques Specx, prioritized Japan as a trading partner and abandoned plans to advance into Joseon to avoid offending Japanese authorities.
But now, it seemed possible.
In Bollen's judgment, who had some knowledge of Asian cultures, Tsushima had clearly violated some kind of taboo in Joseon that even Europeans couldn't comprehend.
As far as Bollen knew, in such cases, gaining easy forgiveness from the monarch or nobles was difficult. Matsuura Nobumasa's confident claim that he could restore the Joseon trade route was most likely a lie... or...
'An illegal method of pioneering a trade route.'
If so, then there was no need to adhere to Japan's "national law" forbidding the Dutch from trading with countries other than Japan.
Whether Joseon had anything worth trading was another question. Even Jacques Specx back then had assessed Joseon as having "no remarkable trade across its entire territory," and more recent Dutch castaways in Joseon hadn't viewed it positively either.
But one didn't need precise evidence to take action.
Cowards who insisted on solid proof before safely reaping rewards weren't the type to embark on mad ventures like long-distance voyages in the first place.
The Age of Discovery, after all, began with the drunken ramblings of sailors.
'Spices and gold? If you want them, I'll provide... Look well. I've left the whole world in the East.'
There was no more basis than that.
Columbus was a prime example. He hadn't conned the king out of money by arbitrarily shrinking the Earth's circumference in his calculations?
Considering the Earth's circumference had been known with high accuracy since ancient Greece, it was pure, backless bluffing. Even selling jade tiles would have required more honest preparation.
And the new generation followed suit: out of ten thousand such madmen, one survived by sheer luck and blazed the trail.
Tsushima's continued focus on Joseon trade suggested there really was something there.
The outpost had suffered blows from three Anglo-Dutch Wars last century, and nearly half a century of creative accounting had turned finances into an incomprehensible mess. The Nagasaki post was under constant pressure from the home country to shut down.
Even Batavia's Council of the Indies couldn't keep fooling the homeland forever. It was clear they needed one big win to turn things around.
Bollen made his decision.
As he pondered how to "play Columbus," Bollen soon came up with a good method.
As Dejima's Opperhoofd, he accurately grasped Matsuura Nobumasa's current problem.
To put it simply, it was a very Japanese, yakuza-like issue.
Nagasaki's magistrate or heads of each cho had the obligation to conduct business autonomously and offer fixed tribute to the shogunate. Unlike Joseon, it was feudal-style trade.
However, on the surface, his underlings—likely involving Nobumasa in substance—had breached a contract.
The yokogumi, a gang under Nobumasa's supervision (a semi-official, semi-private commercial self-governing body of local notables), had massively embezzled tribute payments.
In the underworld, messing with tribute was worse than killing one's parents—a grave filial impiety. No light matter.
Thus, Nobumasa risked ending up as crab bait in Tokyo Bay if things went south.
It was understandable that Nobumasa had fallen for Bollen's "gift of goodwill"—converting unsellable goods delayed in export into cash.
As a result, a small crack appeared in Asia's trade monopoly that Japan had desperately guarded against the Dutch for over a century.
Joseon's record-keeping culture was advanced, but when it came to "diaries," the Dutch had their own expertise.
The reason the Dutch, no better than Nazis, could face their past less shamefully than Germany in the 21st century was due to savvy promotion of certain diaries.
Dejima's Opperhoofd was also obligated to keep a log, which was sent to Batavia and used as key material for future policies.
Bollen opened his log. His quill glided across the paper.
The sea between Japan and Joseon (the East Sea) has an island (Ulleungdo) sufficiently distant from surrounding lands to evade people's eyes.
We shall begin there, undertaking the coastal survey of Joseon that we failed to achieve 150 years ago.
...
Until now, systematic vested interests, absolute monarchs, and feudal lords have held firm here, making completely free trade difficult to expect.
But now, it may be an opportunity to acquire a permanent, new 'Java Island of Northeast Asia' between Japan and China.
Matsuura, the young lord, was one of the "new Waegwan handlers" selected by Park Mun-su upon receiving my report. Thus, he could freely travel between Tsushima and the Waegwan.
After Matsuura presented "tribute," I met him privately under the pretext of hearing his circumstances.
Matsuura spilled reports to me alone that he hadn't told the Joseon government.
Things had gone more or less smoothly.
First, Tsushima Domain Lord So Yoshishige had urgently sent a petition to the shogunate for government subsidies. That side looked promising.
However, there was a slight issue in Nagasaki.
Were there really such clueless fools with no sense of hierarchy? To squeeze money, you squeeze from below, not above. No wonder these scripture-blind Japanese were like this.
I tossed out a question to quantitatively gauge the situation's severity.
"How much is the tribute they must repay?"
"Thirteen hundred kan. In silver."
"...That matches the Waegwan's annual revenue, doesn't it?"
"It's five years' worth, so it's not unreasonable. Shady underlings like the money changers have been colluding for a long time; even the magistrate (Nobumasa) seems unaware."
Unaware, my foot. Well, you lot even claimed two centuries later that the Emperor knew nothing and the Tojo Hideki cabinet started the war on its own. Should've given Tokyo a radiation steam bath.
"That's why they couldn't shake off the Dutch ghosts' foolish demands. I'm telling you everything openly, asking for your understanding of this matter."
It was a major problem among problems.
Unlike Chinese frequently found—suspiciously often, as if not smuggling but spontaneous—or Japanese, for whom proximity provided excuses like driftwood, Westerners stood out too much.
No need to research Joseon history separately; even 21st-century folk knew how much uproar a mere sailor like Hamel or Velthouver caused nationwide.
In exchange for bearing this risk, I tried to secure what I wanted more firmly.
"Can you definitely bring the Akamagaseki inkstone I mentioned?"
"Yes. Akamagaseki is much closer to Tsushima, so the domain will handle it, not Nagasaki."
Matsuura hesitated briefly before continuing.
"However, suddenly procuring so many items that Joseon scholars would use might raise suspicions about our initial report that Joseon banned trade. For the inkstone, could you wait until we receive the 'Joseon trade funds' from Tsushima...?"
This bastard's talking like a landlord in a rental dispute.
Only able to return the deposit when the next tenant moves in? Why should I wait to suit your convenience?
"Heavens, how frustrating. As you can see from me, Joseon scholars are frugal in all else but voraciously greedy for elegant books and stationery—delaying is impossible."
"Even so, it's too risky. We can silence our own people, but how do we seal the Westerners' mouths?"
Exactly—why drag Dutch thugs to the smuggling site, you idiots?
Don't you feel ashamed as representatives of Eastern civilization? Do I really have to deal with these clowns?
My yell, ready to storm out with roughly that content, swallowed back at Matsuura's added remark.
"But if we can truly seal their mouths, an inkstone would be no issue at all."
I instantly grasped Matsuura's—no, the "elders'" behind him—intent.
From the Matsuura family's position, they couldn't refuse Western involvement outright, nor risk blowing relations with the Dutch by half-hearted deception.
Thus, they were saying they'd trust me as a trade partner if I helped "resolve" this together.
"How could uniting the long-allied peoples of Japan and Joseon to block those demonic Westerners not serve the greater good?"
To me, a modern man, the proposal sounded ominous in several ways.
In Park Mun-su's "water buffalo horn import measures" report to the throne, two points were key.
One: Centering imports on Geoje Island and Uljin.
Second: Entrusting management of that naval detachment to Kim Unhaeng.
Park Mun-su first resolved the second.
"Kim Unhaeng was the first in the realm to form a naval detachment in Hwanghae Province and repel the Japanese invaders, making him the man who can ensure the dwarfish uglies harbor no foul intentions and handle naval defense duties adeptly. Extend his role as junior inspector: on one hand, establish regulations for buying and selling cattle sheds; on the other, crack down to prevent banditry and smuggling in Dongnae."
With Yeongseong-gun's prestige plus "Soron's Noron recommendation," no objections arose.
Lee Geum, eager to tout the detachment as a political achievement, approved readily. He didn't forget tangpyeong, of course.
"Though Kim Unhaeng is a literary official, famed as a master archer—here lies the solution to filling the nation's bows. Yeongseong-gun's endorsement of him beautifully transcends factional lines. Implement as is."
This extension also aimed to separate Kim Unhaeng from the heir apparent. Without him, the crown prince was bound to err.
With the king's approval secured, Kim Unhaeng could then resolve the first issue.
"As junior inspector, I observe that all detachments were valiant and swift in quelling the Waegwan riot, but especially Jisapo's Commander Kim Se-hyeong and Wolsong's Commander Han Jung-ryang's fleets guard vital areas with agile troops, unfit for change until the southeast stabilizes. Keep them stationed awhile, promote them, and grant silver bonuses as reward."
In short, solidifying and semi-privatizing the two detachments. True to Joseon tradition of local funding for troops and offices, some Waegwan spoils were reinvested there.
A month later, Han Jung-ryang, flaunting close friendship with Kim Unhaeng, set out for Ulleungdo.
With a grand fleet of 22 fully armed large warships.
Han Jung-ryang stroked his beard delightedly.
"Truly, Dog-Beating Stick master's wisdom is exquisite. Meeting west of Dongnae goes without saying; even Uljin risks eyes if Japanese land for trade. But rendezvous on the open sea makes prior agreement tricky—here fits all circumstances perfectly."
The reasons for choosing this smuggling rendezvous matched Han Jung-ryang's words.
Hardly wisdom, really.
This was where Han Jung-ryang had busted prior smuggling. Criminals repeat crimes with the same methods—fastest way.
Kim Unhaeng returned the obvious praise.
"Merely applying ancient precedents to the present. Without the commander's valor, success was doubtful from the start. I regret keeping so capable a man on the frontier."
"As civil officials shine in the Six Ministries and palace halls, military men's domain is the borders. When have generals held such sway as now? You're a decade younger than me, Dog-Beating Stick—with a long career ahead. Call me for any pressing matter; I'll give my all anytime."
"Your words alone earn my gratitude."
Han Jung-ryang felt more than camaraderie toward Kim Unhaeng.
In his view, Kim Unhaeng's motives weren't pure greed (though partly so).
For money alone, safer, surer paths existed than overhauling systems like a flat-rate officer or risking naval detachments. Especially for a prestigious literary official with guaranteed prospects like Kim Unhaeng.
Yet he chose otherwise.
Han Jung-ryang cautiously guessed Kim Unhaeng had his own plans for the nation's future.
Whatever they were, he thought them fundamentally unlike the factional strife or literati purges that had changed the country among scholars alone.
The military element played no small role—something they'd long heard as "politics is none of your affair."
Kim Unhaeng seemed to value factional orthodoxy or loyalty far lighter than scholars did.
As with himself and Jisapo's Kim Se-hyeong now, following Kim Unhaeng promised ample rewards.
And perhaps those rewards transcended the personal.
Ambitious young officer though Han Jung-ryang was, he wasn't foolish, as Kim Unhaeng assessed. He restrained his thoughts there. More was dangerous even to ponder.
Instead, he looked at Kim Unhaeng.
Kim Unhaeng's eyes gazed south toward the sea where Japanese and Dutch were due.
A gaze peering into grand futures others couldn't see, like a prophet.
Han Jung-ryang was convinced.
No doubt, in Kim Unhaeng's grand design, this petty smuggling was but one step on a thousand-league path.
At least one part of Han Jung-ryang's lofty imaginings rang true.
Kim Unhaeng envisioned a future no Joseon man could fathom.
Specifically, about 150 years hence.
He was thinking of Heungseon Daewongun Yi Ha-eung.
Author's Note
1. David Bollen was the actual Nagasaki Opperhoofd of this period. Dutch residents in Dejima typically lived on the second floor. Similar to modern piloti houses, the first floor was used for warehouses or inspection areas.
2. Matsuura Nobumasa's tribute issue is based on the real "Yokogyo Incident." Far more complex organized tax evasion than depicted.
3. Less known than Belgium's brutal Congo exploitation, but the Dutch-imposed 19th-century Cultivation System (cultuurstelsel) in Indonesia was a highly "successful" plantation slave agriculture model (from the planters' view).
Nominally 20%, but nearly all land was forced into cash crops like coffee and sugar for Europe; starvation from lack of grain fields was ignored. As mentioned, it once accounted for up to 30% of Dutch national wealth (post-Napoleonic recovery).
4. The Dutch East India Company fudged books mainly by manipulating copper-gold exchange rates to dupe shareholders and the home board; collusion between Batavia and Nagasaki is evident. But methods were so haphazard even they couldn't track... A case showing imperialism didn't run like clockwork.