Chapter 631: The Whale-Swallowing Plan

"Since you already know, this matter is easy to handle." Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Yu and said with a smile: "Everything we need to discuss next is all in this document. Take a good look."

As he spoke, Zhang Weixian picked up a document pouch from beside him and placed it directly in front of Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu took the pouch and glanced at it, and his expression immediately turned serious.

On the front of this document pouch, written in red cinnabar ink, were two especially large characters:

Top Secret.

Although Zhang Yu had not served in the Staff Office, every official department throughout the court had studied the confidentiality laws.

Even at the Imperial Academy, the confidentiality laws had been incorporated into the Great Ming Code, and like all other laws, every student was required to study them — there was simply no room for negotiation on this matter.

After the confidentiality laws were promulgated, some officials had not taken them seriously, and the court had responded by ruthlessly punishing a batch of them.

By now, no one was unaware of what these two characters meant. Top Secret was the highest classification level under the confidentiality laws. Never mind leaking the contents — even revealing that such a document existed was a grave crime.

Anyone who dared to leak this document would essentially be tried for treason. No one could withstand that charge.

In the Great Ming, once someone was convicted of treason, even if it did not mean the execution of the entire clan and confiscation of property, it came close.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Yu could hardly fail to be serious — though it had not reached the point where he dared not read it.

He reached out, undid the cord, and took out the document inside.

Glancing at the title of the document, Zhang Yu's pupils contracted sharply.

Written on the document were a few simple characters:

The Whale-Swallowing Plan.

Though only four characters, they were four characters of extraordinary significance.

Looking further at the contents below, Zhang Yu felt as though his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

Within this document, the contents of the Whale-Swallowing Plan were explained in detail. The so-called "whale-swallowing" referred to the entire process of the Great Ming annexing Joseon and Japan — a plan to draw Joseon into the Great Ming through the war with Japan.

Throughout the entire plan, he himself would be the one carrying out this mission in Joseon, occupying what could be called the most critical foremost position.

What he needed to do was actually very simple — win over the ministers of Joseon and make them heed the words of the Great Ming.

The reason Prince Fu was being sent this time was precisely to increase that level of trust. After all, he was merely an official of the Great Ming — the Joseon ministers would not necessarily believe what he said. But if it were him, together with the current Emperor's uncle, then that would be easier for people to believe.

Although Prince Fu was only going over as a figurehead, he was still extremely important.

Besides befriending and winning over the ministers of Joseon, he had another very important matter to handle — gathering intelligence on the various factions within Joseon.

This time, the Staff Office would send people to cooperate with him. In a word, the task had to be carried out thoroughly.

The first approach the Staff Office proposed was exchange — having the Joseon ministers and great clans send people to the Great Ming to study, sending over their sons and nephews; the Great Ming court could even arrange for these young men of the Joseon great clans to hold official posts in the Great Ming.

Once these young Joseon men arrived in the Great Ming, dedicated personnel would receive them, teach them knowledge, and provide them with money and grain — everything was arranged by others. Of course, they themselves would certainly not know this.

When the time was ripe, these people would be sent back to Joseon.

Zhang Yu flipped through the plan, which spanned dozens of pages in total. This Whale-Swallowing Plan covered every aspect and had clearly not been produced in a short time — the Staff Office must have poured their hearts and souls into it.

But one glance made it clear — this was definitely His Majesty's intention.

Zhang Yu had never imagined that His Majesty would devise such an enormous plan, and moreover, that this plan would be entrusted to him to carry out.

Within the entire plan, the region of Joseon was extremely critical.

After a long moment, Zhang Yu set the document down from his hands.

At this time, Zhang Yu's face was full of shock, and it took him a long while to calm his emotions.

Turning to look at the Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian, Zhang Yu said with an apologetic smile on his face: "I've kept you all waiting."

"It's no matter." Zhang Weixian said with a smile: "Actually, we already think you were quite fast."

The people around him also nodded in agreement.

When they had first seen this plan — or rather, when they had first heard of this plan — none of them had been as composed as Zhang Yu.

Originally, everyone had some doubts about the person chosen to carry out this mission, but since the Emperor had designated him, they could only obey.

Some had even made up their minds to meet this heaven-chosen man first before deciding — and if he proved inadequate, they would still submit a memorial to the Emperor. Judging from the present, this man had performed rather well.

"You've roughly read the contents, and you roughly understand the situation within. You must also understand the specific course of action." Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Yu and said: "Once you arrive there, you have the authority to mobilize all of the Great Ming's resources in Joseon — including our people here, the people in charge from the Imperial Household Department, and the people of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

Upon hearing these words, Zhang Yu was taken aback, then said with some disbelief: "You all have people everywhere in Joseon?"

"What's so strange about that? Back when the Great Ming fought in Joseon, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had already sent out spies, and they've never stopped in all these years. The Embroidered Uniform Guard's strength in Joseon is now fairly formidable."

"Besides the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Imperial Household Department ranks second. In recent years, trade between the Great Ming and Joseon has been very frequent, and the Imperial Household Department has planted and bought off quite a number of people in Joseon. On the one hand, they move about on their behalf, bribing Joseon officials to facilitate their business; on the other hand, they also collect some intelligence — their focus differs."

"As for us, we went in at the same time as the Imperial Household Department. But what we probe is different — mainly mountains and rivers, terrain, cities and passes, population and waterways. You should already know all this, since you're also a graduate of the Imperial Academy."

Of course Zhang Yu knew — these things were, plainly speaking, preparations for an invasion.

Throughout the military college of the Imperial Academy, matters of intelligence had always been ranked as the top priority.

The military college also had another term for it — military intelligence studies. In this field, many talented individuals had been brought into the Staff Office.

He had never expected the Staff Office to have made their move in Joseon so early — Zhang Yu could not help but sigh inwardly.

And what excited him even more was that this time, going to Joseon, he could actually mobilize so much strength.

But Zhang Yu also knew that he could only mobilize these people for official business. If he used them for private matters, he estimated that before long, they would report him to His Majesty. It was entirely possible that these people also had the duty of watching him — he simply did not know about it.

"Aside from that, we will also assign you an assistant." Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Yu and said.

Zhang Yu was startled. He hesitated and asked: "Who?"

"The woman accompanying you to Joseon this time will nominally be your concubine." Zhang Weixian said with a smile: "I know you want to bring your wife along, but I still wouldn't advise you to do so. There could be some danger along the way — doing so would not be wise."

In truth, Zhang Yu had already made up his mind long ago.

Originally, he had not wanted to bring his beloved wife, because the journey was simply too dangerous — the hardships of travel and the unfamiliar climate could easily lead to trouble. After seeing this classified document, he wanted even less to bring his wife along.

He had originally thought this was merely a simple diplomatic mission — he had never imagined it carried such a great secret. If there were the slightest misstep, everything would be ruined.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Yu had no desire to deal with all that messy business. Bringing his wife along would cause problems.

"This woman?" Zhang Yu said with some hesitation.

"You need a woman by your side. There are some matters that are inconvenient for you to handle — this woman will be responsible for contacting the wives of Joseon officials and working through the womenfolk. You should know that this approach makes it very easy to accomplish things."

After hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded.

But he was still somewhat hesitant, raising his head to look at Zhang Weixian and saying, "Then what about my relationship with this woman?"

"You two can figure that out yourselves." Zhang Weixian said with a smile, "We've already sent all your information to her, and her information is all here too. You can get to know each other first. As for whether you'll cooperate with each other, or end up making the fake real in the end, we don't care."

"His Majesty personally instructed us that we are not allowed to make a mess of things in this regard. In His Majesty's words, as long as you don't betray the Great Ming and work for the Great Ming, everything else you can let take its natural course."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu was caught between laughter and tears. He raised his head and looked at Zhang Weixian, asking, "So does that mean we have to announce to the outside world that I'm taking a concubine?"

"Of course." Zhang Weixian nodded and said, "This news naturally has to be spread."

"But how am I supposed to explain this to my wife?" Zhang Yu said with some helplessness.

Although taking a concubine was still a perfectly normal thing at this time, especially for officials, he had only been married for a few years, and the couple was as close as glue and lacquer, practically like honey mixed with oil.

At a time like this, going to tell his wife that he wanted to take a concubine—what kind of business was that?

This wouldn't do at all!

"You can solve it yourself. If you can't, you can also let us help you solve it." Zhang Weixian looked at Zhang Yu and said, "There's no big problem."

"Alright." Zhang Yu nodded and said, "I'll go back and give it a try."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu picked up the woman's information file, quickly flipped through it, and his expression turned somewhat strange.

He raised his head and looked at Zhang Weixian, asking, "This is the identity you arranged?"

"Of course." Zhang Weixian nodded and said, "Is there something unsuitable about this identity?"

"Of course there is." Zhang Yu said helplessly, "The granddaughter of the Marquis of Xining? Are you kidding me? Would the granddaughter of a marquis become my concubine?"

"She's born of a concubine." Zhang Weixian said with a smile.

"That still won't do." Zhang Yu shook his head.

"Why not? In our plan, you are the Son of Heaven's most trusted subject among the younger generation, the grandson-in-law of the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and an outstanding graduate of the Imperial Academy. Adding the granddaughter of the Marquis of Xining as your concubine fits perfectly."