Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Spear and Shield (1)
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I hadn't just been mindlessly calling for strikes either.
Something was bound to happen in the Imo year, one way or another.
If things went south and the Qing army—or even some European force—invaded Joseon, I'd need a plan too.
Thinking it over, what I really needed to keep afloat until then was King Yi Hwon and his government, not the nation itself.
In case of emergency, I'd whisk the king away and pull a "founding ancestor" act. With the Quickest Sovereign skill, it was doable.
Even if I only claimed the Four Garrisons and Six Forts as my territory, wouldn't that still make it a country? I'd set up a "founding ancestor-tier" quest and squeeze out as much tuition as possible. As a Guardian of the Holy Merits, they'd have to give me Chief State Councillor sooner or later.
Joseon existed for me to become Chief State Councillor. It absolutely could not vanish before then.
I started liquidating my assets in various forms. What an interim government needed most was a massive pile of cash.
Even if it didn't come to total collapse, it wasn't a bad move for the future. When the situation looked dicey in Korea, rich folks snapped up dollars first, didn't they? Wars drive prices sky-high.
In the old days, it'd have wrecked Joseon's precious metals market, but now with all the trade flowing in gold and silver, it wouldn't hit that hard.
Sehwa, who'd been watching, asked,
"Where are you planning to send this?"
Do you think I'm just pulling money to grease some palms? Better to brush it off vaguely here.
"Not sending it anywhere. There might be big trouble ahead for the country, and scrambling after it hits would be too late. As they say, prepare for the rainy day."
Sehwa tilted her head for a moment, then nodded.
"You must have some grand plan. But please don't sell the three hundred plots of mulberry fields in Cheonan and Yangju here, or the sesame fields scattered about, or the cotton fields down in Yangnam."
"Why not?"
"Come on. We're supplying mulberry leaves for the palace's silkworm rearing, and for the past two or three years, I've had the capital's female artisans weaving silk and ramie cloth. Raw silk and cotton fabric are as good as gold and silver right now—they'll come in handy even in a pinch. We need multiple fallback plans."
Classic Joseon-style wealth management from Sehwa. Except she outsourced broadly instead of using slaves.
Our household oddly had hardly any female servants, and this way produced higher-quality cloth anyway.
True enough, going all-in on one investment was taboo in a portfolio. Plus, unlike gold or silver, fabric was vital in its own right. Even an interim government needed silk for the Chief State Councillor's robes.
Once I agreed, Sehwa seized the moment to pitch another idea.
"And you got permission this time to cut timber in Gwanbuk, right?"
Technically the Training Guard got it, but she meant the Citizen's Army, so whatever.
"I hear Gwanbuk's got thriving silkworms too—folks there even fight pitched battles over mulberry groves with the Hu barbarians. The Training Commander's duty is defending the capital, sure, but as a general who's risen to the ranks of the meritorious, how can I neglect the frontiers? I should inspect it myself."
Got it. Cut timber for warships, sure, but slyly claim those ambiguously owned mulberry hills. Was this a trick Pioneer Raider Chae Je-gong knew better?
With the Training Commander's authority, seizing Hamgyong mulberry fields didn't even need reporting the hassle.
For even bigger gains, Kim Unhaeng prepared an extra "policy memo."
Joseon silk couldn't really outshine Chinese imports. That was why one of King Yeongjo's silkworm promotion policies banned importing and using Chinese silk outright.
For Kim Unhaeng, aping that policy would boost Jangdong Kim clan silk prices.
But bans like that—administrative conveniences all—were never properly enforced. And Kim Unhaeng had to account for Gilsang's household smuggling demand too.
So he broke his strike for once and skimmed the New Military Arts Compendium. Looking for any excuse.
Then, as Training Commander, he submitted a memorial.
"Your Majesty's new statutes include a formation where matchlockmen line up and volley-fire to annihilate the foe—a brilliant strategy indeed. But the powder consumption worries me."
This era, even Britain couldn't afford live-fire drills freely. Yet Kim Unhaeng acted like toy guns were beneath him.
"Our national resources can't sustain it. Allow the Pyeongan silk traders' imports to be government-sanctioned, collected, and sold to the Japanese on Ulleungdo. The luxury-loving Japanese will buy, and it'll keep patterned Chinese silks out of circulation, upholding the late king's ban."
Worried Chae Je-gong might block it, Kim Unhaeng had dug up the guy's corruption from favors to the Irregulars and blackmailed him. The memorial went straight to the top.
The ploy suited Yi Hwon's tastes, but more than that, he was thrilled Kim Unhaeng had come around.
The ministers' frets were shortsighted, as usual. Yi Hwon was convinced he knew Kim Unhaeng best.
"Frugal yet prosperous—unprecedented counsel. Send it to the Border Defense Council for immediate execution."
Merchants preferred sanctioned trade over risky smuggling, naturally.
Chinese silks shipped right to Gyeongsang's Liberation Divisions, who traded them for heaps of gunpowder they'd been churning out.
Even at war, luxury mattered. Tsushima's Huchi Domain—barely sent any troops to Satsuma on purpose—was stockpiling silk, betting on postwar Sino-Japanese trade cutoff.
From then on, Kim Unhaeng oversaw drills.
Screw up Dutch 42-step loading and spill powder, or fire blanks and waste powder, and you'd face the Training Commander's wrath—no escaping it. He couldn't siphon and sell the leftovers otherwise.
Of course, Kim Unhaeng had never touched a matchlock. His modern auto-aim skills barely handled controller inputs.
But who'd dare question his prowess?
Doubly so after the Training Commander's "demonstration" post-drill.
"Whoa... Hitting every target at a gallop, not a miss in sight!"
"Look at that! It's straight out of the Romance—Zhang He's backflip shot from horseback! They say the commander read it a hundred times, and damn if it isn't true!"
"Then someone's gotta step up like Xiahou Yuan, twisting fully backward to fire. We've got drill instructors who saw mounted archery with the Tsushinshi, right?"
"Fail and you're a fool or humiliated; succeed and if you were commander, would he let it slide face-wise? Wanna get booted from the Training Guard tomorrow? Be my guest...."
Archery wasn't all. When powder-hyped troops clamored for Dog-Beating Stick demo, Kim Unhaeng gazed wistfully at them.
"Too early for you lot. Typhoons spare no wheat or nightshade. Fearing harm, my elite guards—who inherited a sliver of the technique—will show a bit instead."
Eoji stepped forward, now a proper armored cavalryman since Namhansanseong redemption under Kim Unhaeng.
Proper uniform silenced his commoner roots, radiating awe. Even Yeon-i, tying his hat strings, teared up at his rise.
Yi Hwon had repeatedly coveted Eoji for palace guard captaincy, but Kim Unhaeng never yielded him. Now on state payroll? Even better.
A true martial prodigy the king coveted, his might matched the hype.
Eoji hefted his custom flanged mace—all iron, absurdly pricey.
With a roar, the armored straw dummy shattered.
Tougher than archery or musket test dummies, yet one blow erased any human shape.
Troops buzzed in shock.
"That's the pinnacle of Eastern Pure Kung Fu!"
"Hold on, I heard Eastern Pure masters go bald at attainment. I've skipped it for that, but this guy's got a full head!"
"Half-knowledge fool. Don't old folks regrow black hair and teeth in rejuvenation? Eastern Pure transcends to regrow hair too. Requires cleared meridians—Chun's Armor and Kim Rejuvenation Pills excel there. That officer, the commander's adopted kin, earned freedom through merit; of course he's reaped the benefits since."
No one clamored for Kim Unhaeng's cannon skills. Martial arts converged to one peak anyway.
Amid troops' awe, the drill wrapped successfully.
Many hit Jangdong Kim Pharmacy after, chipping in to clear Kim Jeokhaeng's debts.
This "martial display" hugely aided Kim Unhaeng's wealth-building.
Without being warehouse keeper himself, embezzlement needed voluntary aides—leaning hard on authority.
Like 21st-century cults, militaries, corps. With clout, underlings fabricate excuses to offer crimes—even as victims.
But it didn't weaken the Training Guard.
Contemporary East India Companies—British, Dutch, French—thrived on near-total staff corruption rivaling state power.
Joseon's central army doubled as merchants and soldiers too.
Unlike the proficient Companies, Joseon's were bumbling at both, but proved corruption and combat weren't mutually exclusive.
The ironclad Training Guard soon showed rapid combat growth.
Anyway, only Kim Unhaeng in Joseon pondered escape.
To most oblivious folk, the arms buildup felt routine.
It'd been consistent since Kim Chunsik's rise and Liberation Divisions push. Joseons kept working unfazed.
This included VOC armorer Uyst Naal, proudly "Joseon."
Uyst connected with Chae Je-gong's siphoned Brits during Training Guard line infantry training.
If even part-true, VOC was toast.
Home insurance? No payout likely. Uyst ditched regrets for a second career.
Like Shunwai, first Shunhong case inspired.
King named him Yusannul after early merit peer—sound-alike, favoring Western returnees.
Naming rites universal East-West.
Dutch saw Joseon king as protector. Led by Uyst, deserters married locals, settling in.
Thus, Irregulars sub-officer and Arsenal special aide Yusannul traveled from capital to Imjin River.
Water weighs more than it looks.
A 1-meter cube—eight feet side—full weighs a ton.
Mass means force. Even calm rivers sweep you helpless on plunge.
That "force" spun heavy waterwheels effortlessly; linked rods and gears turned rotation to vertical thrust.
Energy—wasting some in roar—fed Joseon's longest, thickest saw. Twin blades hungered for logs.
They waited little. A stout man's half-day axed oak split like magic.
Yusannul bowed humbly.
"Looks like it's working right, General. With northern timber incoming by decree, we can scale up."
Jeolla Right Naval Commander Hong Yak-su, ashore after ages, stroked his beard in awe.
"Your Redhairs' ingenuity is uncanny. Waterwheels promoted since our founding, yet mostly flops—yours so refined."
Dutch mechanized shipbuilding backbone: hydraulic sawmills key.
Scouted thaw-proof rivers near Liberation Divisions; Hong's reaction meant no Brit trust theft worries soon.
Yusannul pitched boldly for points.
"For endless timber, trade Java—what we call Jawaguk. Vast forests there."
VOC or Liberation—trade meant trade. Hong recalled Jawaguk from Dutch lips, pondering warship routes.
Then a nearer land popped up.
"Kim Chunsik mentioned endless forests in Naseon too. How about there?"
"Siberia, you mean. Mostly needle-leaves there, I know. Europe favors broadleaf from tropics. Not all woods equal."
Mid-sentence, Yusannul fretted Kim Unhaeng mocking his ignorance—paranoia valid against "that bastard."
"Of course, Joseon ships use pine plenty, so Training Commander likely tailored. Russian wood's fine too."
"Makes sense. Good work. I'll report this merit."
Yusannul withdrew pleased.
But Hong Yak-su eyed his exit deeply.
Hong's Russia query wasn't idle.
High admiral with overseas ties knew the king's secret intel naturally.
By now, Russia neared China—scale dwarfing Naseon conquest.
Unlike Britain, Russia had no real China business.
Border talks wiser than war; Joseon red ginseng mere emperor whim.
Even if Qianlong bruised Yelizaveta's ego, she wasn't dumb enough for all-out war over it.
But risking Ottoman Turks for massive dispatch echoed Seven Years' War motives.
Then, Russia sought not Germany crush, but nearer Latvian coast—Baltic access.
Got it; now, with Turk-checkable "victor" Austria momentum, Russia eyed "nearer" dominance over China fringes.
Volga southeast to China's west? Nominally Russian—like Qing's.
Kalmuck and Kazakh khans held own law, admin; Russia influenced via endorsements, marriages.
Yelizaveta used China expedition pretext to fold Russian south under absolute modern admin. Unlike sharp Yeongjo, two grandson gens were idiots—empire could die otherwise.
First step: demand "loyalty proofs" from all southern powers.
Astrakhan ex-governor puppet Dunduk Daashi dead; new Kalmuck khan Ubashi key target.
Ultimatum: lead 170,000 kin to Qing exile per history, or send aid as ordered.
No more China pacts after. Yelizaveta's ploy. All southern elites same.
Prussia-vet Imperial core but fraction.
Central Asian nomad hordes—clan-migrating for logistics/tactics—Amursana's Junggar rebels, Tibet/Uighur survivors: "100,000 strong" massed near borders.
While this "shield" distracted Qianlong, history's vilest-honed "spear" would pierce his gut.
Author's Note
1. Reports of Joseon and Qing folk forming huge mobs—"raising troops"—over mulberry ownership near Tumen River in Hamgyong exist in Yeongjo 3rd year Border Defense Council records.
2. Yeongjo keenly backed sericulture. First post-Gwanghaegun revival of royal silkworm rite; banned Chinese luxury silks, pushed thrift and domestics.
But execution faltered; state silk output token throughout reign. Farmers even chopped mulberry near ponds for fields.
3. Weaving was top Joseon elite ladies' investments (other: flower-fighting). Sehwa's was 19th-century observed outworker specialist home-weaving; earlier, self/slave done.
Early Industrial Revolution Britain too: yarn to homes, cloth collected. Full factory/machine took longer than thought.
4. Water-powered sawmills from Roman times. Dutch built chains along Delaware etc. Americas.
Joseon pushed under Sejong, but terrain limited spread. Story's is small prototype; narrative skips geographic hurdles intentionally—apologies.
5. This era, Russia properly subjugating Volga nomads. Kalmuck khan Ubashi—like Junggars—clashed Catherine, led great march to China; Qianlong settled them in depopulated Ili core.