Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Dogfood Beggar Star (3)
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The luck of James Flint—the only Englishman who could speak Chinese, serving as interpreter for the East India Company—lay precisely in the fact that he was with Richard King, captain of the Argo.
With his deft command, Captain King had seized a Ryukyu ship and threatened the crew into sailing south.
Unlike Hyde Parker, who had been forced to flee from attacks with no time to think, King had a bit of breathing room.
To the north lay only China (and probably Joseon). He had to head south, even braving headwinds. A major factor was that the entire Chinese fleet had chased after Admiral Parker northward.
Thus, while Kim Unhaeng's honeyed words to Viceroy Li Shiyao of Liangguang were being reported to the emperor, Flint and King were able to leisurely make their way back to Guangzhou.
From there, it was Flint's expertise at play. He quickly located an East India Company ship and secretly boarded the entire group. Simultaneously, they liquidated the assets from Yuehaiguan at rock-bottom prices for gold.
Captain King tilted his head.
"If we're fleeing, shouldn't we warn the Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch here too? The Chinese emperor will sweep through all the Europeans in Guangzhou soon enough."
Flint held a finger to his lips in front of him.
"That's exactly why we slip away quietly. If word spreads now, it'll cause chaos in Guangzhou, and the Chinese officials might get suspicious and block our departure."
Captain King was impressed by this quintessentially British idea of tossing fellow Christians into the Qianlong Emperor's maw.
"I hadn't thought that far. Let's hurry, then."
Flint took it one step further.
He might not have known the Qianlong Emperor's Ryukyu war plans, but no European in Guangzhou could be ignorant of the massive conscription of江南 ships lately.
So Flint spread a false rumor: "Japan, which had closed Nagasaki, is now opening it on a massive scale to China instead of the Dutch, relocating江南 merchants."
After James Flint and Richard King fled like bats out of hell, the VOC—shocked by the rumor—scurried about Guangzhou.
If Japan was reopening, it should be to them, their original partners. The time had come for "consultations" with Chinese officials.
The Iberians, eyeing the gap in the Japanese market long monopolized by the Dutch, went into a frenzy gathering intelligence. As long as they didn't send missionaries, it might work this time.
And such "suspicious activities" provided even stronger grounds for Viceroy Li Shiyao—returning on imperial orders—to drive them out with empty fists.
However, even so, James Flint had been right about one thing.
Japan was planning a massive opening to China.
Whether they wanted it or not.
Troops had already assembled in Hangzhou and Shanghai even before the Ryukyu naval battle.
Yangzi merchants were on high alert from the soldiers alone devastating Zhejiang Province just by camping. They had to ship these guys off to Japan ASAP somehow.
It wasn't entirely negative.
Japan held a huge share in the江南 maritime economy.
But this incident would inevitably sever Sino-Japanese relations.
In the end, they'd have to jump into the emperor-guaranteed Jejudo trade—but to do that, they needed to stay in the good graces of the officials.
No matter how much clean Jejudo ignored visas and such, large-scale trade required departure permits from China first.
But in this warlike atmosphere, trade was impossible. From any angle, only a "swift end to the expedition" was the answer.
Thus,江南 merchants mobilized local networks and wealth to back the expedition.
By the time the Qianlong Emperor's self-composed poem praising the "loyal subjects' hard work" arrived as reward in江南, other nations were buzzing in response to this unprecedented crisis.
After Kim Sang-ro—deemed senile by Kim Unhaeng—was exiled to an island and died there, the Noron Namdang faction had hunkered down for a while, but it hadn't vanished.
The generation after the now-retired Yi clan's row was the Chi clan.
The Chi clan were collateral brothers to Joseon's golden boy Kim Chi-ryang. Because Kim Unhaeng had publicized Kim Chi-ryang's crimes, most had resigned en masse, though many had recently returned.
Public scorn was one thing, but the whispers in the shadows asking if there were no remnants left made showing their faces impossible.
Finally, Kim Chi-in—Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites (son of Kim Jae-ro), thinking he'd regained his footing—submitted a lengthy memorial. This was back when Kim Unhaeng was still on Geomundo.
In summary: This mobilization was mere capitulation to Qing pressure, yet Kim Unhaeng had excessively aided the Qing and even earned the emperor's praise—betraying our cause.
He argued that failing to block the British fleet was dereliction of duty.
Kim Chi-in demanded Kim Unhaeng's immediate arrest, and using the war as excuse, sealing off Jejudo to block Qinglings' influx.
Having just returned after so long, he clearly hadn't gauged the mood.
For starters, being sixth cousin to the king's enemy Kim Chi-ryang was a massive strike against him. Who says it matters most.
For such a man to slander Kim Unhaeng—while obstructing the king's long-cherished overseas trade and national strengthening—was begging to unleash the white-clothed executioner.
But the king didn't need to wield his mounted fury himself.
Chief State Councillor Park Mun-su smashed Kim Chi-in's head first.
Park Mun-su harbored a different grudge against the Cheongpung Kim clan from the king. After three years' effort, copper for minting coins was finally trickling in—yet Kim Jae-ro's son was sabotaging the Joseon coin operation. Unforgivable.
"Kim Chi-in's words are utter nonsense. If we expel the Qinglings now and punish the South Sea Vanguard who earned the emperor's commendation, where will that massive army strike first? Rash words from one useless in battle if the barbarians invade! Use Kim Chi-in as example to warn the realm."
It wasn't just Qing invasion fears.
By Park Mun-su's insight, Kim Unhaeng had surely negotiated underwater (with bribes) the best deal minimizing Joseon's losses.
Given the hellish difficulty of a maritime expedition, the Qing naturally wanted to use Joseon as advance corridor.
Yet Qianlong emphasized "gracious accommodation" and fretted over "the people's hardship," proclaiming the emperor would bear the loss. That was the qualitative difference elevating the Great Qing above the Yuan.
Park Mun-su knew imperial edicts were empty posturing.
Qianlong couldn't end as a monarch failed in foreign policy. So he hadn't ordered the Jeongwae Island Path as propaganda showcasing Joseon as proof that "he'd spread virtue everywhere, but barbarians treacherously rebelled." Joseon had to be held tight.
Park Mun-su didn't know about General Hong Yeom's lobbying—fearing his smuggling routes' devastation—but it didn't matter.
What losses for Joseon? War profiteering was pure honey. Japs dying? Fine. Jurchens? Fine. Both? Best.
Of course, Park Mun-su didn't say it that bluntly. Scholar-officials stuck to righteous rhetoric.
But that sufficed. Chundang and the Haeng clan—bound to protect Kim Unhaeng—took over.
They were already his clones. Having ditched principles from the start, their black propaganda and ad hominems flew mercilessly.
"You bastard, yapping about cause? Saying King Hyeonjong was just 'honest with his body' or what?"
"Between Byeongja and Imjin, which got looted worse? Kim Chunsik wasn't Jurchen friend—he was foe to the Saemaul pirate scum!"
"What if that prick's pro-Japanese? His brother Kim Chi-ryang importing savage Japanese porn—wasn't that family business? Explains it!"
Fearing unrest, Yi Hwon—before Kim Unhaeng's return—sent Kim Chi-in to "triple-speed exile."
A skill inherited from his father. Kim Chi-in earned awed gasps from the Chunsik Delivery Men as he bolted.
Meanwhile, most Britons just arriving at Ganghwa Island were still aboard ship.
Ganghwa's magistrate had desperately blocked them. A thousand barbarians wandering for lodging would doom Ganghwa. Lucky it wasn't winter.
Still, the "important ones"—overriding Kim Unhaeng's trash tier, handpicked by Yi Hwon as "Western scholars"—got off onto land, sparing seasickness.
Greenwich Observatory head Neville Maskelyne was one.
Unlike Kim Unhaeng's trash rating, astronomers were vital to Yi Hwon's Northern Studies cause.
Even Ming China had imported Westerners for astronomy. Yi Hwon of the Northern faction wouldn't miss that.
But Maskelyne could hardly thank his luck. Looking the epitome of pathos, he spooned potato gruel into his mouth.
Once finished, Maskelyne hugged his knees and sobbed.
Stripped of clothes on Geomundo and draped in Joseon garb, face hidden, he truly resembled a local.
"No one told me the Orient was like this. I came to observe Venus—why must I suffer this...?"
Admiral Parker—bearing major blame for that "why"—awkwardly offered a fix.
"W-Well, Tahiti or here, both remote isles in vast seas, no? Can't you observe from here?"
Maskelyne bellowed like a professor scolding a grad student.
"You ignorant soldier! If so, we'd have just taken Jesuit Venus data from China! Without observations from both hemispheres (excerpt) to clearly compare mean time differences (excerpt), differentiating inclination shifts requires not just east-west distance but (excerpt) do you even know this place's latitude or longitude? No, can you even identify Venus in that sky?"
Admiral Parker rebutted only the last bit he grasped.
"No coords since ship and gear vanished whole. And a seaman not know Venus?!"
"That's it? Huh? Just pointing at Venus—any shepherd boy can!"
James Cook—who understood both—intervened.
"Focus on surviving first. Worst case, return in 1769."
Cook shared chicken—buttons swapped for meat—and the spat ended.
But gloom descended instead.
They spoke assuming return to Europe for new voyages—but who knew if possible.
No one voiced it. Silence blanketed the expedition brass.
And insiders don't let silence linger.
A hand landed on Neville Maskelyne's shoulder.
Hong Daeyong, with Jang Yong-oe from the Office of Diplomatic Correspondence. He smiled softly.
"Hong Mojeok says 'Venus' must mean the Dogfood Beggar Star. Rushed here hearing Western stargazers arrived—it's you lot. No worries. I'll help; it'll be fine."
They couldn't understand the words.
But Britons, well-exposed to Joseon by now, knew that smile well.
It was the face of a con man about to fleece them.
Meanwhile, Qianlong's edict raced unimpeded to Edo.
Ryukyu's Sho Boku King—ever devout to the Son of Heaven—now haughtily relayed it via Satsuma with reversed stance.
And Satsuma—usually most disdainful of the shogunate—begged shogun aid in crisis, dispatching top couriers nonstop.
Edo erupted in mad debate.
"What nonsense? Avenge Ming? Suicidal?"
"Idiot. That's from Toyotomi's Bunroku rant; 'offenses' include bullying Ryukyu!"
"We didn't know! Satsuma did it!"
"Ignorance end it? Keicho era—Satsuma conquered Ryukyu, dragged king to Edo for bows. Can't wriggle free!"
"Sugar, tribute—we knew (shogunate skimmed too)—but diverting Ryukyu's Beijing tribute? Madmen sane?"
"Sink their ships first! Ronin start, then gokenin; if not, daimyo split!"
"Who blocks Qing then? Need Satsuma as shield at least!"
Shogun Tokugawa Ieshige—lacking intellect for fear—sat it out.
Thus, bearing the burden was current shogunal chamberlain Danuma Okitsugu, the Osobagyo Toritsuki.
As the title suggests—like Joseon's Do Seungji if shogun were king—a role overlapping much.
Not just post, but man too.
Qing had incarnation; Joseon, Kim Unhaeng; Japan, Danuma.
His open creed—"Bribe size measures loyalty"—explains all.
Even handsome fame matched. 18th-century regents needed looks.
But this crisis defied Danuma's gold or face.
He'd checked Kyoto court—ever whining powerless—but emperor and nobles instantly praised model shogunate rule.
Deferring to "wise lord commander" as always. Danuma glared hatefully at that paragon of wisdom's seat.
No need asking where. "Piss factory" nickname meant another bathroom break. Nearing death, worse lately.
"Wait—nearing death?"
Ieshige indeed died months later; illness now obvious. Danuma seized the hint.
Japan's edge: island, so lie freely. Joseon overseas IP; Japan intranet.
"The King of Japan has died suddenly of illness. How righteous to raise arms in mourning? Ryukyu matter harbors grave suspicions. May Your Majesty reconsider twice, lest innocents perish unjustly."
Roughly such Confucian missive dispatched. Hard to conceive for non-Confucian Japan.
But Danuma overlooked one fact.
Qing wasn't strictly Confucian either.
Japan or Qing feigned Confucian zeal, but societies barely ran on it.
Explanations abound. Kim Unhaeng's clearest: "Barbarians lack rites and music." Rites dwell solely in Zhonghua Joseon.
Thus, Confucian amateurs' final exchange yielded naught.
As Hong Daeyong dragged Brits into the observatory at will, Qianlong's 30,000 "vanguard" in Zhejiang crossed East China Sea via familiar trade routes.
Veer right from Nagasaki route: Kagoshima, Satsuma. 18th-century expedition feasible that way.
Amid hordes of江南 single- and double-masted ships, plus Joseon bird boats, suspiciously Great Warship-like grain transports—20-30 vessels—mixed in.
Yi Hwon's new ventures—like feeding 1,000 Brits—strapped Joseon court coffers, prompting quick sale.
Liberation Squadron welcomed. Excuse to scrap old warships for new. British ships perfect study.
Thus, early June 1761 Gregorian—as Venus transited sun—Jin soldiers invaded the Land of the Rising Sun.
Europe's grand scientific project failed.
Not just equatorial south Venus transit, but Endeavour's discoveries—Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, Hawaii—lost entire.
But Joseon cared little.
Instead, observing novel "Venus transit" from southern seas netted fortunes.
Thus astronomy ever deemed heaven's will.
Author's Note
1. Kim Chi-in was actually not Vice Minister of Rites then, but earlier (higher) Vice Minister of Personnel. Office changed due to hiatus. Historically competent minister praised for deeds matching words. Succeeded father Kim Jae-ro as Chief State Councillor.
2. English/Dutch "Venus" sound alike, so Hong Daeyong caught it. But as Maskelyne said, dubious if meaningful data from his "help." Venus called Dogfood Beggar as it rises around evening when dogs bark for dinner.
3. Danuma Okitsugu key in mid-Edo. Appointed senior councilor 1767, dominated 20 years. Praised for mercantilism, but excessive bribes/corruption sparked inflation, moral decay; bad end.
Indeed handsome; rose as page to current shogun Ieshige. But in-story post Osobagyo Toritsuki insufficient for solo shogunate rule.
4. Tokugawa Ieshige not fully incompetent, but unfit for governance. Speech hard to understand; frequent urination from illness required bathrooms everywhere on his routes. "Piss factory" real nickname.
In-story Japanese terms/posts use Japan/Korea pronunciations per nuance. Complex politics/clans abbreviated to avoid tedium.