Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Age of Great Navigation (3)
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During the Imjin War, at Myeongnyang, Yi Sun-sin charged with a single ship against 133 Japanese warships.
The sight that greeted the Joseon navy was that of their flagship commander single-handedly slaughtering the enemy fleet.
One couldn't help but wonder why they'd even gathered troops in the first place.
That's when a crystal-clear mathematical logic crystallized in the minds of the Joseon sailors, who had hung back at a safe distance, leaving only their commander to fight.
If one ship could match or exceed 133, then adding their own 12 vessels would yield a total force equivalent to over 1,729 ships.
It was a prognosis for certain victory.
The minor detail that the other ships' commanders weren't Yi Sun-sin was tolerable under the uncertainty principle.
Leading the charge with the quickest calculation was Geoje County Magistrate An Wi, at the head of the Joseon forces.
They unleashed energy far surpassing what their 12 ships' mass could account for, and the Japanese fleet, swept up in that explosion, was routed.
This is the misconception that the Joseon army always vanishes from the material world, born of literary scholar Kim Unhaeng's knowledge gaps.
According to the latest research, vacuum energy realized through quantum fluctuations can conversely create something from nothing.
That was exactly the change Kim Unhaeng wrought upon the pirate fleet with his arrows.
He'd sacrificed his muscles to such muscle pain that even lifting a spoon would hurt for the next five days, making it hard to shoot targets, yet he performed the divine feat of severing the rigging with a flesh-and-blood catapult.
The navy of the pirate fleet—Collection Fleet 1—was as shocked as any pirate would be.
Joseon people have traditionally revered archery.
Even conservatively estimating, it had been 150 years since the firearm era began, but the pride of Elf Joseon remained unchanged. These were the people who loaded arrows into cannons and fired them.
Thus, the sailors knew full well how difficult a feat that was.
"The rumor that he shot down a tiger with a single arrow... it wasn't a lie after all...!"
When they deem a fight unwinnable, the Joseon forces grow stronger than anyone.
They awakened.
But the one at the forefront of the awakened Joseon navy wasn't Kim Unhaeng.
Kim Unhaeng knew better than anyone in all of Joseon how precious his own life was. No matter how tempting the loot and merits, he wouldn't charge in with just a ranged weapon.
The man leading this assault at the vanguard was someone else entirely.
The biggest reason Se-hwa hadn't clobbered her husband over the head to stop him: Eoji.
"Raaargh!"
Eoji swung a club so massive it seemed he'd ripped an oar straight off a ship.
One pirate's head crumpled like paper. He missed his dodge window because the speed exceeded what that mass suggested was possible. Its power and range rivaled a natural disaster.
Eoji knew nothing of martial arts, but then again, an adult doesn't need technique to handle a child. Just as an elephant crushing a lion needs no claws or fangs.
"W-what the hell is that guy?!"
The pirates thrust out their swords in panic.
But the notion that steel fells wood only works in books.
The pirates learned firsthand why, throughout countless histories of sword-and-spear warfare, those spearmen with wooden shafts never had their formations pierced despite fancy sword slashes, and they were pulverized.
The government troops, emboldened, shouted.
"As expected of the staff techniques passed down from the Dog-Beating Stick himself!"
"That's the secret family art of the Jangdong Kim clan we've only heard tales of!"
"Follow that man!"
Despite scant training and being a ragtag bunch of soldiers, Collection Fleet 1 of the Joseon navy executed a magnificent shipboard assault and seized the pirate vessel.
It was a scene unseen for 150 years since the Japanese invasions.
There was one more reason Kim Unhaeng had been so desperate to capture that ship.
About a month prior, in early August of the 28th year of King Yeongjo's reign, a noteworthy incident occurred.
In Nojang-myeon of Kimpo County (near modern-day Geomdan), "hundreds of mounted bandits" had rampaged, "firing cannons from horseback."
Fortunately, a Chun-sik Delivery errand boy passing nearby reported it swiftly, and soldiers from the Jangyong Yeoyeong who were collecting taxes near the Han River mobilized immediately, preventing it from escalating into a major incident.
King Yi Geum framed this not as "security weakening due to military reductions," but as "the shining foresight of establishing the Jangyong Yeoyeong." Strictly speaking, since it happened even in the original history without reductions, Yi Geum was right.
Chuseok passed peacefully, but it left unresolved issues for officials in the relevant agencies like the Ministry of Military Affairs.
The question of where these bandits got their cannons.
The Privy Council debated harshly punishing quartermasters and commanders for "delayed reports," but this was a gravely serious breach of military discipline.
Even Kim Unhaeng, a mere junior official in the ministry, focused intensely on this issue that could unravel the military reductions entirely.
And the moment he tasted the pirates' cannon fire, his attention shifted for the first time from personal gain to affairs of state.
Kimpo is bordered by sea to the west, and rivers to the north and east. Given Joseon's geography with obvious land routes, these bandits likely received weapons by sea.
To ensure the collection fleet's success, he needed evidence right here.
The man the pirates had singled out as their leader was a certain Jo Beom-su, going by the name Jang Jin.
He was obviously fluent in late Joseon Korean. Yet Jang Jin shouted in unmistakably deliberate Chinese.
"We are mere fishermen from Liaodong, adrift on the waves. How can you slaughter the subjects of the suzerain state without even hearing our side? There will be severe repercussions later!"
I knew you'd pull that line first thing.
Whether 18th century or 21st, why do you think Chinese fishermen trawled the West Sea so freely?
Because both the Joseon and Korean governments responded similarly.
On-site, they risk life and limb to capture or chase them off.
I'd just been in near-death danger myself, almost eating cannon fire.
But since Qing is the suzerain, Joseon repatriates them; Korea does too, for inscrutable reasons, without execution.
Not me, though. I have zero intention of that.
My scenario's already locked in. Once I extract weapon-related confessions and evidence from that boss, the rest is set.
I'm recycling the wisdom of the old Samdo Naval Commander Won Gyun, First-Class Meritorious Retainer for Pacification, whom I referenced heavily back in Jiksan.
On paper, as long as they're not Chinese, right? Just like Won Gyun's bright idea: lop off heads, and all East Asians look alike.
These guys only smuggled weapons. The loot? That's my performance bonus... and慰勞金 for the hardworking troops.
Not hush money, no. If the state won't support the navy, I will.
For that, step one: he cooperates nicely. I demanded in a high-handed tone.
"What fisherman plies the waves with cannons and spears? Your intent is surely nefarious; confess truthfully, and I'll strive to lighten your sentence."
As expected, Jang Jin resisted.
"I don't understand. Call an interpreter. In a formal interrogation at the yamen, I'll say anything."
I was genuinely impressed. That'd fly in the 21st century.
But this is the 18th—problem is the era.
He figures he'll be fine once ashore, but Joseon's legal services are far more advanced than he thinks.
Truth is, our lawyer Jang's quite the scholar. Chinese is child's play.
Even if Qing's suzerain, we've got authority for summary bastinado on pirate scum like this. In that sense, Joseon's better than Korea.
So, under the gaze of hundreds of live CCTV body cams, I unhesitatingly ran an express Joseon language course.
Like most primitive AIs, Jang Jin at first misheard or garbled outputs.
But deep learning thrives on feedback.
After Eoji's fists calibrated his neural net several times, Jang Jin's translation skills updated in a flash. No top IT corp could build a better app, I guarantee.
Sure enough, Jang Jin spoke Joseon Korean more fluently than a native.
"S-sir, we're truly not pirates. We carry cannons because the seas are rife with bandits; we never meant to harm anyone."
NRA rhetoric right there.
Never meant harm? You just tried to kill me. Nearly plunged Joseon's future into darkness.
Catching my glare, Jang Jin quickly added.
"The cannon shot was panic too. The underlings went mad with fear and acted on their own. Had we known you were government troops, we'd have prostrated ourselves at once!"
I didn't even bother with the obvious: 'We were beating drums, blowing horns, flying flags—how'd you not know?'
Instead, I had Eoji sock him once more. Jang Jin's pitiful scream scattered over the West Sea.
Then Palgeum climbed up from below.
Having somehow become my de facto adjutant, Palgeum glanced at Jang Jin and reported.
"In the live water tank below, we found two women and three children locked up. It's not meant for people, so we nearly missed them without hearing voices. Starved so long in that beastly hold, it's touch-and-go if they're alive; I've had the men massage their limbs and feed them hot water for now."
"In the live water tank? People?"
The live water tank is exactly what it sounds like: a tank for live fish, filling with water.
Think of it as ballast tanks on Chinese junks.
Used actively since the Zheng He voyages; now mostly obsolete for blue-water but fragments lingered.
Locking people where seawater fills in emergencies? Same twisted thinking as those Anglo-Saxon slaver races doing it on a massive scale right now.
"Sell the kids, rape the women, and if need be, drown 'em when the tank floods—job done?"
"Exactly. Utterly heinous pirates, no doubt. Checked the opposite tank too, just in case: packed with matchlocks and ammo."
Jackpot.
No, wait—rescuing people is the real brag. Yeah, of course.
I rolled my eyes at Jang Jin with a Joseon-style grin.
If you speak the language, you'll get this cultural cue: you're fucked now.
Sure enough, Jang Jin's face drained to a shade unmistakable even here.
Park Mun-su skimmed the drafted report.
Then he looked up at Kim Unhaeng.
"The Seaboard Defense Detachment, while collecting tribute, spotted a pirate ship from Baengnyeongjin, fought fiercely, took 29 heads, and rescued captive women and commoners. The captured leader died under torture, but interrogation shows they were Japanese disguised as Chinese. With 189 matchlocks, 4,233 rounds, and 3 cannons, it's clear they colluded with Kimpo's mounted bandits. Anything missing?"
Seaboard Defense Detachment was the official name for Kim Unhaeng's Collection Fleet 1.
Thanks to interference from Minister of Rites Jo Jae-ho, no promotion, but by royal decree for "repelling the Japanese," Kim Unhaeng got a散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階散階