Chapter 216
Chapter 216
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: Engraving the Beat of Treason (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To give courage to Jeong Hu-gyeom, who lacked the experience and vibe, I needed a powerful beat.
I decided to use a method proven by history.
What was the biggest factor that allowed me to complete the "Citizens' Revolution" during the Seoul Spring?
It was that Yeongjo wasn't in Seoul.
This time, it wouldn't be empty talk like back then—I had to actually bring the rice-chest king to Pyongyang.
Even if the rice-chest king was a total degenerate who loved revelry, he was the king now, so I couldn't seduce him with courtesans.
Just in time, with all those military enthusiasts gathered around the king he loved so much, a military parade—which was a greater thrill switch than women or alcohol (plenty of dictators shun vice, but none skip parades)—seemed worth trying. But the court ministers would never allow it.
So, as I scanned for a suitable excuse, something perfect popped up on my radar.
The Qing dynasty had something called the Five Great Generals.
It sounded like something out of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but it was real. They were the five commanders overseeing militarily vital regions, handling administration and diplomacy just like Joseon's military officials.
Among them, the Ili General, in charge of the Dzungar War, and the Uliyastai General, overseeing the current Mongolian territories, had nothing to do with Joseon.
The truly important posts were the three big shots guarding the sacred homeland of Manchuria—the "Manchu Headquarters" elite forces.
The Jilin General for Hamgyong Province, the Shengjing General for Pyeongan Province, and the Heilongjiang General for Russia.
They divided up the over twenty cities in Manchuria where the Eight Banners were garrisoned, placing deputy commanders in each area. These deputies handled frontline diplomacy with Joseon.
The current Shengjing General, Myeongbok, wasn't from the Yi clan, but his name suited him—he was something of a pushover. That's why I'd been secretly dealing with the Xiuyan Deputy Commander, Eunbi, under him.
Eunbi was a key partner in the customs office I ran in Uiju.
Xiuyan sat along the core Dongpalcham route through Phoenix City like a rest stop, but more importantly, it was famous for its high-quality jade.
The spring-powered devices made in Joseon got encased in brutal jade shells in Xiuyan before being shipped to Beijing. It was indispensable for producing the Yulong Jade (the Qing version of the dragon wood) that was all the rage in Beijing right now.
Anyone could guess from these connections, but Eunbi was the branch manager of the adult toy shop planted by Darugwa Air Force King Hong Yeom. He and I were bound to be close.
One day, Eunbi sent me a secret message.
Envoys came every two years on average, so I hadn't dealt with one yet. Receiving them was the Pyongan Governor's top duty, so his tip-off didn't feel out of place.
But I instantly read between the lines of what he really meant.
Pay the premium membership fee, and he'd spill more details. With Darugwa Air Force King as his backing, he had to know the envoy's intentions.
I had a rough guess, but confirmation was needed. For this moment, I pulled out a secret new product I'd prepared.
A future Chief State Councillor couldn't keep peddling porn doujinshi forever. Japanese imports were shameful to the barbarians anyway, and not something to push long-term in Joseon.
So this item was pure "Sinicization"—no grounds for criticism.
The top-grade gift that Ming General Mo Munryong had presciently sent to King Injo for his hip movements: "Spring Intent" (sexual desire).
Activate the ivory male and female figurines, and they moved in ways no record could describe. It was the pinnacle of Joseon mechanical engineering, honed from carving countless boy dolls and adult toys.
The follow-up to "Hwaebi Pervert Doujinshi": "Sinicized Hentai Figures."
A mere Xiuyan Deputy Commander couldn't resist my Sinicized power.
"This is what they mean by splendid culture and etiquette residing in the East!"
No exaggeration. Only SIT's technology, which could craft pocket watches, made it possible—Beijing couldn't even imitate it. Pre-Yanglan War, even the Jurchens who imported plows couldn't touch this.
And ivory itself was precious. It came smuggled from Southeast Asia via Jeju by southern rebels funding their army, but Jeju Governor Park Jiwon, blinded by ambition, tried to offer it to the king. I blocked it with my scholarship and virtue.
"Little brother, didn't you hear how in ancient times, when King Zhou made ivory chopsticks and jade goblets, Ji advised against it? Extravagance is the quickest path to ruining a nation!"
Park Jiwon argued something, but I've forgotten. What was it? Insisting on fine porcelain fosters potters, and loving silk boosts sericulture? Realist nonsense.
So I turned it into Sinicized hentai figures. Such luxuries couldn't stay in the country—they were for export.
Eunbi paid handsomely for exclusive first dibs on the figures and gladly revealed the emperor's envoy intentions.
As expected. The emperor was starting to suspect Joseon.
No matter how much I'd dried up the Qing border population with mine recruitment or hit Beijing via White Lotus confessions, leaks were inevitable.
With countless smugglers crossing by land and sea, perfect prevention was impossible (that's why I hated international trade). The captured White Lotus prisoners, now getting wrecked, would badmouth Joseon in unison.
But those were all low-credibility channels, so the emperor couldn't act beyond suspicion—or reveal it. Like owning an apartment in your spouse's name; blow the whistle on an affair, and you only hurt yourself.
So Qianlong was prepping an unprecedented envoy: "praising Joseon for faithfully serving the great empire." For surveillance, crackdown, and appeasement.
What's the best way to reassure Qianlong then?
Fill the Qing's inferiority complex as ethnic inferiors.
Treat them like the Ming—or better.
Money? No. They already took ten times what the Ming gave.
What barbarians crave is always the civilization and etiquette they lack. Joseon's specialties.
As Eunbi said, show "utmost sincerity"—bring the king to Pyongyang to receive the envoy.
To make Jeong Hu-gyeom commit to rebellion easily.
But Kim Unhaeng didn't need to risk political suicide by formally petitioning the king to "leave Seoul to pay respects to the barbarians"—a disastrous move.
As always, he manipulated by stirring the desires buried in Yi Hwon's heart.
The petition was straightforward, but Yi Hwon thought he'd caught the hidden meaning.
Nothing said he had to rush back to Seoul after sending off the Qing envoy. He could stay in Pyongyang, boost troop morale, and inspect training.
With the Qing at ease up north.
Chae Je-gong, back as Military Supervisor after his mourning, and Right Councillor Seo Myeong-eung tried to object to Kim Unhaeng's petition. As partial heirs to Park Mun-su's will, they sensed the sinister undertones.
And Yi Hwon was the king who never betrayed his ministers' expectations.
"If I personally go to Pyongyang and make a show of receiving the envoys, even if they harbor doubts inwardly, how dare they say otherwise? This is the strategy of feigned reality amid deception—Kim Unhaeng's scheme aligns perfectly with my own plan."
The Qing envoys wouldn't dare speak out, but the ministers could. Chae Je-gong and Seo Myeong-eung frantically tried to dissuade the king.
They supported northern conquest in principle, but why did the king need to go to Pyongyang?
They could think what Kim Unhaeng thought. If he hadn't emptied the capital, even Upper King Yi Geum wouldn't have ended up like that.
But officially, Yi Hwon had never rebelled. They couldn't say, "You want to get couped like the Upper King?"
So their petitions devolved into scattered rants like "stop with the military novel bullshit." Park Mun-su's absence loomed large.
Yi Hwon shut them down by pointedly referencing one key difference from the Seoul Spring.
"The Dragon Troops and Long-distance Elite Battalion have labored training soldiers in Pyeongan, so this time I'll take the Capital Guard and Royal Guard."
Chae Je-gong was first to grasp it and shut his mouth.
Why was Seoul important? Joseon's military power (i.e., finances) and its controllers were all concentrated there.
But with a Pyongyang parade, the king, Kim Unhaeng, tens of thousands of troops, and their financial backbone would all be in the north.
In a sense, the north was safest for the king.
Chae Je-gong shuddered, recalling foolish friends who'd visited during mourning and cheered that Kim Unhaeng was being sent to the provinces.
Being sidelined from power's center meant nothing politically to Kim Unhaeng.
Where he was was the center of power.
But "traditional rebels" like Jeong Hu-gyeom and Princess Hwa-wan couldn't keep up with the era's changes.
Jeong Hu-gyeom and his pal Hong Guk-yeong were, at best, cronies of Prince Yongdu Yi San—not central politics players. Princess Hwa-wan, the king's sister, was their pipeline to court news.
Princess Hwa-wan secretly summoned Jeong Hu-gyeom and Hong Guk-yeong.
"The royal palanquin will soon head north."
Even she distinguished public from private, so she'd sent Kaoru away. Jeong Hu-gyeom could whisper.
"I'll lead the 'righteous army' and hold Namhansanseong. Kim Chunsik wrecked the fortress, so a small force can occupy it."
"Kim Chunsik's son is there—what if?"
"Given Kim Chunsik seduced this unfilial son (Yi Hwon), his boy likely follows his father's orders and sides with us. If not, what's the problem? I met him once—he's just a kid basking in his dad's glory."
Like rags-to-riches upstarts, Jeong Hu-gyeom fancied himself self-made, so he looked down on noble-born Kim I-hwan with excessive inferiority.
And birds of a feather: Hong Guk-yeong too.
"Kim Chunsik's stance is ambiguous, but grab his son as hostage, and he'll have no choice. Even if unwilling, he'll have to detain the royal palanquin in Pyongyang. Princess, you manage the palace and reassure the ministers."
They weren't just dancing to Kim Unhaeng's beat. They had other cards.
The Queen Dowager and Queen died under Yi Geum; even Lady Yeongbin Yi was gone. Jeong Sun Wanghu Kim, who should have been step-queen, never got sealed due to Yeongjo's death.
The only one left was Lady Jo, but hardly top palace rank. Princess Hwa-wan, who'd lived in the palace forever despite being "outside," had secured real influence.
Hong Guk-yeong, loyally serving Prince Yongdu like in history, said passionately.
"Meanwhile, I'll round up Hanyang friends to capture the remaining Jangdong Kim clan and so-called Chundangdae members."
"Remaining Jangdong Kim clan" meant more than just Kim Yong-gyeom's family in Jangdong. It included Crown Princess Kim Suk-yeong—the most vital Andong Kim in Seoul—detaining the crown couple.
True to form, her mindset transcended gender, craving Prince Yongdu's child. Rebels needed such types.
Princess Hwa-wan gazed approvingly at the two pretty boys.
"Though but a woman, if I can right the royal line, how could I hesitate as Yi descendant? I rely on you greatly."
"Leave it to us."
This envoy dispatch was involuntary for Qianlong too.
Informal channels fed him info as Kim Unhaeng thought, but he could've ignored it—he who liked Kim Unhaeng could believe what he wanted.
Unlike Kim Unhaeng's assumptions from Eunbi's vagueness, official channels raised Joseon's betrayal risk, so Qianlong couldn't dismiss court advice outright.
That winter Kim Unhaeng carved Sinicized figures, Britain bared its teeth for a spring campaign.
The grand fleet from Manila crossed to Taiwan. Interpreter James Flint drafted demands fiercer than before.
Formal cession of Taiwan. Opening a dozen ports like Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin. Unlimited free trade including opium. Massive reparations for expelling Europeans and blocking trade. A fantasy setting unto itself. Truly Tolkien's realm.
Then George Washington, whose pride took a slight hit before, intervened. He itched to prove his Indian pacification worked in East Asia.
"Europe sees American Indians as one blob, but on the ground, my view differed. They had complex tribal ties, ripe for division. Why face Qing main force head-on? Declare Joseon our ally in the ultimatum."
"Lie in diplomatic documents?"
"Colonel, you've fought savages—why the fuss? Asians only lie in diplomacy. Fight fire with fire."
Robert Clive couldn't rebut.
Even if he wanted private trade with Kim Unhaeng, failure voided it. Win first—divide the enemy best. He'd used wedges in India.
But he hadn't here for good reason.
"Joseon has hundreds of Europeans. If official docs say that, and fear makes Joseon prove loyalty by massacring them to dodge war?"
"Didn't you say kill thousands of Joseonites then?"
"Look, sailors aside, there're influential nobles and protégés. If someone killed your family and offered savage hide compensation, would you accept?"
"I don't want that either. Depends on how you talk to that 'Dog-Beater[Dog-Beating Stick]' of yours. Tip him off beforehand? You said that power player wants war with China anyway."
Clive, the only Brit to meet Kim Unhaeng on the expedition, couldn't shake a grim foreboding.
But Commander Henry Potter agreed, so Clive dropped pointless stubbornness. With France, Russia, Netherlands, Joseon and Japan joined Britain's "allies."
Viceroy Ishiyo was a wise subject.
He knew life's value. So he didn't relay Britain's "demands" to the emperor.
But Joseon's betrayal risk? He had to hint cautiously. Beijing wasn't a no-think zone; the court didn't swallow British words whole, but as Kim Unhaeng foresaw, verification and checks were needed.
Thus, Qianlong ordered King Yi Hwon of Joseon to receive an envoy soon.
And Joseon King Yi Hwon obeyed with suspicious loyalty. The king going to Pyongyang for the envoy? A once-in-a-lifetime top-tier vassal platinum service.
The treasonous beat, unpredictable in its flow, echoed everywhere.
Author's Note
1. History had Qing's Five Great Generals, but the Ili General (Chief Commander of Ili et al.) was created post-1762 Dzungar pacification, differing from the story's purpose. Kim Unhaeng didn't know real history, so he assumed from the start.
2. Shengjing General Myeongbok (明福) was real, serving around then. Different characters from Emperor Gojong's childhood name Myeongbok (命福).
Not all Three Greats' cities had deputy commanders; per Qing Veritable Records, Xiuyan (modern Manchu Shuen Autonomous County, famed for jade) was often under Jinzhou Deputy in the 1760s. Eunbi was real, serving as Jinzhou Deputy then, but listed as Xiuyan to avoid confusion. Unrelated to Darugwa Air Force King Hong Yeom.
3. Ming General Mo Munryong sent Injo "Spring Intent"—an ivory nude statue, per records. Beyond lewd shape, per contemporary Park Yang-han's Maeonghanrok, some mechanism made it "depict intercourse when activated."
4. Park Jiwon's counter was classic market theory: consumption spurs economy—from Park Je-ga’s Northern Studies, not Park Jiwon.