Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: Bursting the Shrimp's Back (1)
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The most crucial element in this operation was speed.
I had no idea when the British would set off or how long they would stay in Ryukyu if they did.
Since their goal was to secure their rear, negotiations with the Ryukyu Kingdom were necessary, but they wouldn't linger indefinitely.
Therefore, we had to report to the emperor as quickly as possible and convene the Satsuma investigation committee. The sooner, the better—without question.
But if we started now by drafting official diplomatic documents, sending them to Seoul for deliberation and approval at the Border Defense Council, then handing them to the relay officials to forward to Beijing, the British fleet (presumed) would have already torched Ganghwa Island by the time they arrived.
There was no helping it.
As a 21st-century civil service exam aspirant and an 18th-century high-ranking official, it was time for "proactive administration" unbound by rigid formalities.
Most of Joseon's Western-style warships, the Haeran ships, were based on the Dutch fluyt, Dunisvelt.
They were familiar to Joseon sailors as flat-bottomed vessels, relatively small, and inexpensive.
And the fluyt was designed with a focus on transport efficiency, especially speed.
After the Manchu and Qing invasions, as the likelihood of large-scale naval battles diminished, Joseon's navy shifted toward high-speed, lightweight ships—a trend accelerated by the Liberation Squadron's emphasis on raiding and trade. The fluyt was perfect for the Joseon navy's tastes.
The marines grabbed the ropes connected to the compound pulleys with excited shouts.
It was a familiar motion. Catching the last north wind before spring, the ship surged forward.
The South Sea Navy crew's ship-handling skills were now nearly indistinguishable from the Dutch.
And the flags flying on their ships were equally indistinguishable from the Dutch.
These "Red Hat Pirates" had thoroughly scouted the routes Satsuma officials took to and from Ryukyu via Japanese traders passing through Jeju Island. Not many Satsuma folk came to Jeju specifically, but plenty traded with them.
International trade was great for that—information leaked like a sieve.
A complex chain of islands lay between Ryukyu and Satsuma.
Ordinary sailors would shudder at it, but if Joseon infantry specialized in mountains and forts, the navy specialized in reef-strewn waters. Hiding in island shadows and ambushing was a tactic dating back to the Imjin War.
The Satsuma ship, suddenly surrounded, was a sekibune little changed from Imjin War days.
With large domains, the only thing big ships were good for was rebellion, so the shogunate had always suppressed large warship construction until Western incursions intensified.
When vicious clans like Satsuma or Choshu tried building such wicked vessels, the wise shogunate forced them into public works like irrigation far more beneficial to the people than warships, bankrupting them in the process.
Joseon's steady warship-building efforts were truly impressive. At least in Joseon, ideology and social strife rarely hindered weapons production. They just lacked the money.
The Liberation Squadron first showered the startled Satsuma ship with scattershot from their cannons. The fragile sekibune and even frailer human bodies shredded in an instant.
Then they boarded with thick blades or sawn-off muskets, roaring war cries. No document prescribed it, but plundering doctrine had taken root.
A samurai who looked fairly high-ranking hesitated between the Dutch flag and Joseon clothes before realizing the truth. Pale, he shouted,
"You lot... don't tell me... Joseon...!"
Of course, the Liberation Squadron wasn't generous enough to let him finish. A Dutch-style flintlock buttstock smashed the back of his head, dropping the captain in one blow.
The rest surrendered immediately. Not that they escaped beatings.
The Liberation Squadron scored a capture: the Shimazu clan's overseer of Ryukyu—a zaiban fukyo roughly equivalent to a Ryukyu commissioner—and his regular liaison ship to the mainland, plus a few low-ranking officials.
It had been less than ten days since Kim Unhaeng arrived in Tongyeong. Incriminating documents came with them.
Until then, the South Sea Navy had only targeted civilian ships, avoiding direct attacks on foreign Satsuma official vessels. No gains, just risk of exposure.
But now it was fine.
Satsuma wouldn't have attention left for Joseon anymore.
At the time, Zhejiang Governor Zhuang Yougong was a renowned scholar-official, particularly distinguished for his achievements in taming the Yangtze River's lower reaches—a long-cherished Qing goal.
He was also the man who captured and expelled British smuggler James Flint from Hangzhou (Flint, instead of returning to Guangzhou, headed straight to Tianjin for more smuggling).
As a capable minister, he instantly grasped the significance of the documents from Joseon trader Chai Ising—evidence of "rebels daring to defy the Celestial Dynasty" in the form of captured Japanese and clear proof of Satsuma's Ryukyu domination.
Anyone could see this was an urgent matter. The massive "express fee" Kim Unhaeng enclosed had no sway over the incorruptible Zhuang Yougong.
The news reached the Qianlong Emperor at top speed simply because the Grand Canal linked Hangzhou directly to Beijing.
The emperor's fury was about three times what Kim Unhaeng anticipated.
Kim Unhaeng didn't know it, but Ryukyu King Sho Boku enjoyed even greater imperial favor than he did.
Unlike Kim Unhaeng's mere words, Sho Boku had submitted a splendid Manchu memorial. Manchu script was tough even for Manchus, so his sincerity stood out.
When Naha harbor silted up, blocking Chinese envoys, he even mobilized commoners to dredge it. He seemed ready to shave his head next.
Yet it turned out his favored Ryukyu had been plundered for over a century by some seafaring thugs unknown to him.
Perhaps Ryukyu had been desperately seeking aid through those extreme gestures. Thinking of how Satsuma must have mocked him made his teeth grind.
The Qianlong Emperor summoned Grand Secretary Zhou Huang and flung his 1759 Brief Records of Ryukyu at him.
"You didn't know things even rural Joseon merchants grasp? Be ashamed! This book prattles on about trivial board games and customs!"
Zhou Huang could only prostrate and beg for death. It was like sending someone a North Korean situation report and getting a tourist guide's spiel in return.
The three-year Northwest Dzungar-Tibet-Uighur rebellion was already spiraling.
Qing troops chasing invisible rebels in vast deserts yielded nothing.
Only corpses littered the barren land, spewing plague amid scarce water and food. The aggrieved Western Mongol spirits struck back with the biological weapons Qing had wielded so well.
In the end, headquarters withdrew to Hami—or "Xiliang" in Kim Unhaeng's terms—as his ministers had advised. The world emperor was on the verge of demotion to Middle Kingdom ruler.
The Qianlong Emperor abandoned hopes in his Mongol and Manchu Eight Banners for land warfare supremacy.
Pent-up frustration exploded toward "non-land" foes.
"All northern, western, and southern barbarians conspire with petty tricks to deceive the Celestial Dynasty—a heinous outrage, worse than an ostrich hiding its head in bushes. Assemble all the war junks from Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian in Hangzhou at once!"
Kim Unhaeng, granted a quest change token recently, exercised his humanity lord privileges from the start.
The Qianlong Emperor resolved to resolve at least one of the Ten Great Merits quests in a way utterly divorced from history.
In this proactive push, Kim Unhaeng avoided targeting the British directly.
It would contradict Crown Prince Yi Hwon’s wishes. Instead, he was wrecking their path.
Thus, oblivious James Cook could savor malicious glee against Governor Li Shiyao.
"Ha! Did you see that governor's face? Wintering forbidden. 'Pack up and leave now!' he barked—right as Phaeton and Argo appeared. That pig tail dangling from the back of his head turned beet red."
Phaeton's Captain Hyde Parker and Argo's Captain Richard King mirrored Cook's grin.
East India Company interpreter James Flint laughed too, lest he stand out.
"Indeed. But the governor's demand wasn't unreasonable—it was an imperial edict from before."
That coastal defense regulation was Li Shiyao's own proposal, approved by the emperor. Defying it openly would cost face—more vital to Chinese than life—and hinder Company trade.
But the three captains, being transients, didn't grasp such nuances.
Just as they moved to dismiss "Asian savage dog shit laws," Flint cut in.
"We're embarking on a diplomatically sensitive expedition, so we must avoid petty pretexts. Have Phaeton and Argo slowly 'trade' for provisions as they arrived. I'll adjust Endeavour's papers for resupply and sickbay care."
Cook said,
"We can't dawdle. After Joseon to check on the missing, we head straight to the South Pacific. Venus transit is in June. It's February now."
"But the crews on those two warships aren't at full strength."
Parker and King grudgingly agreed, uneasy. Long voyages brought scurvy's curse; rest was needed.
Time-pressed Cook offered a technical fix.
"On the way here, I applied Dr. James Lind's old orange and cider trials. Sour veggies and fruits worked—no scurvy deaths. Except the whiners craving meat who got the lash; the rest are healthy."
But British didn't always mean scientific.
Parker, a typical field officer scorning non-combatants, politely declined (hiding aristocratic disdain for commoners showed restraint).
"Can't expose valuable sailors to dubious experiments."
Indeed, era medicine was "dubious experiments." Thames-side do-gooders toted kits for "emergency enema-resuscitation" via bellows up drowned men's anuses.
King echoed.
"Our goal's Joseon missing persons probe, maybe pry open trade. Go slow ourselves; Cook, head to Tahiti solo."
As Cook nearly shouted agreement, Flint mediated.
"That won't do. Endeavour's esteemed scholars are vital for the Joseon survey. We all cooperate."
The captains finally recalled their plight and shut up.
By next winter at latest, they'd invade Spanish Philippines—specifically, when Manila galleons laden with American silver arrived.
Infantry to seize empty Manila? East India Company troops from India. Antagonizing Flint risked ops.
Flint raised his glass.
"Winter makes fresh produce scarce; salting takes time. Agreed, Cook? Rest the men meantime, provisions in Ryukyu. Finish Joseon, done. Gentlemen, a toast to accord."
The captains, worldly enough to compromise, praised Flint's wisdom.
As glasses clinked, southeast China’s fleet swarmed the Yangtze estuary like ants.
As Kim Unhaeng and the South Sea Navy analyzed, Satsuma squeezed Ryukyu harder as Jeju trade drove up sugar prices.
Lord Shimazu Shigehide, freshly independent after his grandfather's death, needed results just as he began direct rule.
Satsuma's finances were dire.
Post-Sekigahara, the Tokugawa-hostile Shimazu and Satsuma were treated like North Korea's wavering class.
Alternate attendance, forced repairs—shogunate pressure piled debt to 700,000 taels.
Osaka merchants, resenting Satsuma's price hikes amid shrinking trade, hounded for interest.
Shigehide's genius fix: "Don't repay!"
Saying it outright would stun Japan into denying him loans forever.
Just don't pay. Buddhist-style, he mentally erased the ledger and focused on profit.
Then a Ryukyu liaison ship vanished.
Shigehide and retainers realized belatedly it wasn't storm or reefs.
Corpses—bloated, half-eaten by crabs and fish, but slashed and shot—washed ashore nearby.
First guess: common sense.
"Ryukyu scum rebelled over tribute?"
"Show 'em hell if so!"
Satsuma's brave sons raged. Time to boil top officials alive before the king, old-school.
Ryukyu palace denied vehemently. But Satsuma, set to flog them for more tribute anyway, saw denial or admission as crime.
Satsuma lacked fleet numbers, but less than Ryukyu.
And unlike Ryukyu, they trusted amphibious assaults.
"Sturdy" 150cm samurai with long swords assembled, backed by more arquebusiers.
Ryukyu would pray, boiling rice to dump in sea as before. Crushing weaklings was pure joy.
Conversely, fighting the strong? Less fun.
Like those British ships of the line or frigates anchored in Naha, staring blankly like "What're you?"
Arrogant Satsuma rushed in, then panicked at the floating hulks.
"What the hell? Hollanders?"
"Nah, flags different!"
"Turn back?"
"If Lord Shigehide were here..."
Western-learned Shigehide wouldn't know either.
Japan knew West only via Dutch till then—and barely now. Satsuma ships halted in confusion.
When the lookout spotted Satsuma ships, Parker glanced, chewed his pipe.
"Refugees fleeing in panic? Ignore 'em."
Struggling to light his pipe in the sea breeze,
as he inhaled—lookout yelled again.
"Flag signals from Endeavour!"
Parker spat lodged smoke irritably, bellowed upward.
"That chart-scribbling coward mistaking boats for warships and calling for rescue?"
Officers smirked savagely in agreement.
Luckily, Captain James Cook wasn't that craven. Lookout decoded.
"Junk fleet—looks Chinese—from northwest!"
So the northeast rabble was separate; new fleet.
Invisible from Naha's bottle-necked harbor, but Endeavour spotted them. Science ship—better gear.
Parker gripped his pipe tensely.
"Chinese? How many!"
"Stand by... Oh God. Over 100! Repeat: over 100!"
Parker's pipe slipped from his hand.
Author's Notes
1. Proactive administration means not mechanically applying contradictory rules as custom, but handling matters reasonably per official judgment for the people's benefit—not ignoring procedures for good results like Kim Unhaeng (as you noticed, distinguishing them in reality is tough).
2. Ryukyu King Sho Boku's Manchu memorial survives today. Others may have submitted, but Sho Boku clearly actively curried Qing favor.
3. Express fees are payments for expedited petition processing (bribes, yes). Rampant in 20th-century Korea.
4. Brief Records of Ryukyu (1759) and Sequel (1808) omit Satsuma's Ryukyu reality. Ryukyu's seesaw (like Joseon's) appears in Comprehensive Survey of Five Nations.
5. James Cook's fame includes first scurvy cure. From ship's surgeon James Lind's 1740s "first clinical trial" feeding crews foods—but took ~30 years to apply. Vitamin C cause unknown till 20th century; "sour taste" thought curative. Later boiled orange juice failed, etc.
6. That resuscitation kit was real. Mouth-to-mouth known but shunned as "lewd." So bellows up anus—non-lewd. Manuals stressed "don't inhale"—cholera risk, deadly (source: History of Quack Medicine).
7. Satsuma debt ~660,000 taels (1753); 1761 approximated. Shigehide direct rule 3 years later, but grandfather died 1760. His "slash debt" reform: 19th century, decreed 250-year payback on all (then 5M taels), waived interest. If upheld, still paying today.