Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Seven Years' War: East Asia Expansion Pack (2)
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Switching Joseon's popular trade from raw material exports to finished goods wasn't just Kim Unhaeng's doing.
On the opposite end of the peninsula from Pyeongan Province, where Kim Unhaeng held sway, a similar shift was underway in Jeju Island.
The reason boiled down to the similar governing philosophies applied to both Pyeongan and Jeju by the king.
Originally appointed as adjutant of Jeju's customs sub-bureau through Kim Unhaeng's blackmail and serving there for years before resigning to focus on ranching, Park Jiwon had been reappointed as Jeju Magistrate. It was a special commendation for his merits in horse and dog breeding.
Even setting aside his experience in the customs sub-bureau, which tangled him in various vested interests, Park Jiwon the rancher had already earned the sobriquet "Headless"—a nickname for Hallasan Mountain itself—and become one of Jeju's leading figures.
This risked turning him into another Kim Unhaeng, an administrative impossibility in Joseon, where officials were extremely wary of local entrenchment.
Yet King Yi Hwon's iron will was rooted in ancient histories.
"Rulers of old often discarded loyal retainers out of suspicion and met with failure. Had Xiang Yu trusted Fan Zeng and Ying Bu, the Han Dynasty's four centuries might never have begun. Ah, if only Liu Shan, the Last Ruler of Shu Han, had shared his heart with Jiang Wei—how could Chang'an and Luoyang have fallen to traitors' hands?"
With no room to curse the king, they heaped abuse on Kim Unhaeng, the one who had corrupted him.
Emperor Cheng of Han saw Wang Mang as a loyal minister, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang properly valued An Lushan's exceptional military talents and supported him. They just didn't make it into military tales.
Still, the ruling Noron-affiliated Chun-dang held their silence for now.
With founding meritocrat Park Jiwon—who had been with Kim Unhaeng even before Chun-dang formed—handling the north alongside him, the party's position would only grow more secure.
The opposition—Noron minority, Soron, and Namin—thought positively too (since blocking it was impossible anyway).
It was a plausible excuse for tying down two of Chun-dang's heavyweights in the provinces long-term. Positive vibes brought peace to the court.
Above all, with Kim Unhaeng's proven track record, there was no way to prove the king's appointments wrong.
In the end, courage and recklessness are names defined by results.
History would tell who was right.
The war with Britain had shrunk southern maritime trade overall, but Jeju felt the opposite—the volume had grown.
This was because trade with Japan, now effectively blockaded, had all been redirected to Jeju.
Hwapo Port, Jeju's gateway for popular trade, buzzed as if winter would never come.
If a horsehair or sickle peddler from ten years ago returned, they might say this couldn't be Jeju anymore.
Ferries and large merchant ships outnumbered even those at old Dongnae Japanese quarters, packing the harbor tight. Agile folk could hop from deck to deck and travel quite far.
Beans—one of China's key exports to Japan—piled into mountains that deserved the term "bean climb." Silken streams flowed between them, while rare southern herbs and woods thrust their scents high like deer antlers.
Piles of sugar, which no Joseon emperor had ever seen in such quantities, dotted the scene too. Thanks to the ongoing "Ryukyu relief grain" program following Kim Unhaeng Potato Prince's "famine relief," southern sugar prices had dipped somewhat.
But one question arises here.
Unlike Pyeongan, Jeju had too many eyes for smuggling firearms. Nor did Joseon have much to export to China.
What were they trading all these goods for?
The answer was right there, just invisible at first glance.
Hundreds of large and small fishing boats and ferries tied up at the harbor. That was Joseon's commodity.
Zhejiang merchant Ko San-hwi was a lucky captain who had drifted near the Pacific before surviving, fled pirates, and become the first Qing-Joseon maritime trader.
Whether tearing up the emperor's edict at a Shanghai guild hall and joining Heaven and Earth Society treason was luck too remained to be seen.
Regardless, his colleagues—impressed by his resourcefulness and luck—unhesitatingly named him chief negotiator for Joseon.
The guesthouses for foreigners at this port weren't particularly fancy. Under one such international innkeeper's mediation, Ko San-hwi sat face-to-face with Jeju Magistrate Park Jiwon.
Park Jiwon said,
"I heard the war and looting had devastated you, but this scale... As expected of southern tycoons who drop 20,000 laborers and 200,000 taels just to landscape a garden."
Ko San-hwi bowed his head.
"No, my lord, things are as dire as you say. We're squeezing out our last dregs of milk for just one 'fishing' venture. Thankfully, you've kept your promise, and we're deeply grateful."
Knowing Ko San-hwi's true identity, Park Jiwon could have seized his cargo, executed him, and pinned it on treason.
But Park Jiwon wasn't Kim Unhaeng, so he honored the deal.
Park Jiwon checked the timepiece and said,
"They've said 'southern ships, northern horses' since ancient times. I wondered why southern ships were scarce, but it makes sense for subduing the English ghosts."
The south certainly had plenty of ships. Even with Joseon's Dutch-style sawmills and shipyards, production couldn't keep up.
But now, merchants couldn't build freely. Any ship made would be seized by the military under the pretext of "English subjugation."
Yet merchants desperately needed ships—small ones, in quantity.
Not for trade.
"Joseon, with its 'sea ban,' won't need so many ships. Take what we have and guard them well."
From Park Jiwon's attitude, the Joseon government seemed reluctant to wade in deep, but Ko San-hwi and the Heaven and Earth Society hoped otherwise. So he tested the waters with a sensitive topic.
"The old 'Two Kings, Three Marquesses' laws still hold dear, so even former dynasties' descendants like the Zhu clan continue sacrifices as Marquesses Who Prolong Grace. Lately, a lost Fujian heir has surfaced."
Park Jiwon clicked his tongue inwardly. But Ko San-hwi plunged into the main point Park didn't want to hear.
"His looks—dark hair, blue eyes—like the great Emperor Sun Quan, extraordinary enough for southerners to rally behind. Soon, masses will petition him to head the Zhu line."
Park Jiwon bit back, "Are you Kim Chun-sik?" Obviously, they'd dredged up some Anglo-mulatto bastard resembling the blue-eyed Sun Quan from records.
But Jeju Magistrate Park Jiwon—a third-rank senior official higher in prestige than most magistrates—couldn't respond rashly.
This was more meteoric than even Kim Unhaeng's rise; at Park's age, Kim had barely snagged third-rank senior vice minister after saving the crown prince and ousting the king with acrobatics.
Not that Kim Unhaeng should feel hard done by. Park was paying for those feats in installments now.
The magistrate hadn't come to the harbor for chit-chat.
His mission: probe southern Chinese trends and respond on-site.
As Park Jiwon tightroped between hints and avoiding misunderstandings, a small stroke of luck arrived.
A young woman entered quietly, as if sensing his plight, and set down the drinks.
Kim Man-deok, the broker who had quietly sealed this deal beyond official eyes and the innkeeper here.
It had paid off pulling her from courtesan life, spotting her talent and ambition. Park Jiwon seamlessly handed off to her, having her pour.
"The emperor so prizes loyalty—how could he end a former dynasty's line? He'll surely heed the southern petition. We hope these ships carry brave soldiers to Dongning (Taiwan) to reclaim lost lands."
Reclaiming Ming's mainland territories. Anyone with a brain knew these ships would ally with Britain to hide in Taiwan.
Ko San-hwi wondered how much Park saw through.
Park tossed him words with double meaning.
"But the English ghosts are devious beyond measure—best stay doubly cautious."
Officially, a bland warning on attacking Britain.
Unofficially, a heads-up that Britain wouldn't just do southerners favors.
Britain's decision to let France keep Canada and western Louisiana had pros and cons.
Pro: fewer territories to defend, freeing troops for East Asia. Con: proportionally lower expected gains.
For British North Americans, the latter mattered more.
Taxes on sugar and iron were indirect, barely felt. But slashing promised lands for French and Indian War Virginia militiamen was intolerable.
America's economy mirrored Joseon's: land and slaves were prime assets.
Young Colonel George Washington, who led the Virginia militia, rallied his old comrades and subordinates politically.
But when he tugged British homeland strings, a bigger fish than expected rushed to Virginia.
Still a "subject of the British king," Washington paid respects to Earl of Loudoun, John Campbell.
"I've heard of your Edinburgh governorship. Congratulations. Thinking of debts from the war, I should've visited sooner, but as you see, I'm strapped."
During the war, Washington's relations with snobbish homeland officers were worse than with French-Indian foes.
Even courts-martial over command arose in wartime. Virginia commander Campbell had sided with Washington in the dogfight.
Washington expected backup again. Campbell smiled affably.
British humor followed.
"Strapped? I heard you swept a young widow off her feet at a ball for 20,000 acres and slaves. Your 'Town Destroyer' rep still scares Indians. Gluttonous prowess unmatched."
"Haha. Call it God's blessing for true love."
For this serial adulterer—already cheating in honeymoon phase, siring ten bastards eventually—blessing? More like a Ten Commandments headshot. But divine plans are subtle, grand, beyond mortal grasp.
Campbell cut to his errand.
"Got your letter. Shame, but with this China expedition, land grants won't fly easy. If any, worthless scraps."
Washington's face turned future rebel.
"Stingy on colonial dirt—how's that fill royal coffers? Is this how we honor veterans?"
"One man's shillings sustain the realm. And while I won't deny Virginia militia merits, we retreated north anyway."
"Blame politicians' schemes—"
"—Like what you're scheming now? I know."
Washington, Kim Unhaeng's age, wasn't seasoned enough for "You're using pull too" and flushed.
The wily earl soothed him.
"Farm-fresh a few years—no rust yet. Swap whip for sword, lead Virginia's brave youths again?"
Navy aplenty; army always short.
With homeland troops weary and anti-war moods rising, colonial militia had value.
Indian scalps too, but expendable colonials dying abroad minimized politics.
Campbell stressed merits, skipped cons.
"Perfect your war glory, seize eastern treasures, maybe snag a new colony governorship."
Not all Britons craved conquest. Washington grumbled,
"I dislike distant adventures. Land, slaves, cotton, tobacco—simple joys suffice. Fought last war for home and hearth. Baron Jeffrey Amherst would love it."
"How, when he's why we're here? He'd just fret spreading plagues to Chinese. No long-term trade or rule that way."
Current Virginia Gov. Amherst would've sulked. Neither cared for puppet governors.
"Want this America's vast estates? Fine. Finish expedition safe, I promise: no Virginia carriage travel without crossing your land."
Meaning: trade China concessions for Virginia soil post-victory. China rights far pricier.
Washington licked lips.
"Decide rewards after?"
"Naturally."
Shandong White Lotus, British opium, southern Heaven and Earth, Joseon's Kim Chun-sik—scorpions and vipers wriggling under Great Qing's robes hadn't surfaced yet.
Regrettably, this wasn't Guangxu or Xuantong era.
Popular apathy and bureaucratic rot had frayed regular surveillance, but Yongzheng Emperor's paranoid personal spy network endured.
Amid false reports, faked stats, delusions, Qianlong sensed shadows beyond his light growing.
Unknown culprits. But why? He guessed.
Tianshan Dzungars, Taiwan British, southern flies—byproducts while honing his Ten Complete Military Feats. Now annoying ones.
These petty masses thought such trifles could topple the realm?
In Zhonghe Hall of Forbidden City—emperor's changing lounge—Qianlong's hand snapped with a sharp crack amid attendants.
His favorite jade toggle shattered on impact.
Eunuchs swiftly offered alternatives. Every heavenly jade toy there (save brother Hong Yan's in harem).
Qianlong toyed with one.
Before sixth feat after Ryukyu, Satsuma, Britain, Russia, Dzungars—clean house first.
He rose, sleeve flourish, to Taihe Hall where ministers waited.
With Qing objectively secure, this was master-of-humanity intuition.
Not casual questing—total war loomed.
Qing's power wasn't just Green Standard, Eight Banners. Reserves aplenty.
Emperor sensing world anomaly? Seven Years' War East Asia DLC difficulty spiked.
Author's Notes
1. Kim Unhaeng blackmailing to keep Park Jiwon as Jeju customs adjutant appears in Ch. 183 "Burning World," Ch. 172 "Jeju in the Breeze." Ko San-hwi and merchants ripping Qianlong's edict with Heaven and Earth: Ch. 189 "Sword and Shield." Dutch sawmills/shipyards also "Sword and Shield" (Ch. 188).
2. The 20,000-man, 200,000-tael garden is real but different people: Wang Wulin (early Qing) for labor; Zheng Jiezhen (Qianlong era, Huizhou salt merchant) for silver over three years.
3. Qing did enfeoff Ming imperial descendants as Marquesses Who Prolong Grace for sacrifices, based in Nanjing under Zhengbaiqi Han Banner till late Qing.
Guangxu successor Zhu Yukun guarded Puyi loyally; ironically now Manchu-classified. Yuan Chonghuan descendants also Zhengbaiqi Han, fought Russians etc.
4. Kim Man-deok: famed Jeju heiress, ex-courtesan. Quit upon realizing stigma, became innkeeper/success, later donated life savings for famine relief. Chae Je-gong, Jeong Yak-yong etc. wrote her bios/eulogies.
5. Washington did hustle for Virginia militia lands.
6. Conotocaurius: Algonquian for "Town Destroyer/Devourer." From great-grandfather John massacring five chiefs; great-grandson George echoed in Indian slaughters, self-used nickname.
Widow: wife Martha Custis; friend's wife: Sally Fairfax. Washington, comfy on her estate, later invited widow Sally to live together.
7. Yongzheng exchanged letters with even low officials, ran multiple personal intel orgs. Grand Council (highest late-Qing decider) originated under him replacing ministers' council; early on, intel too.