Chapter 808: Your Highness, Why Not Turn Their Own Scheme Against Them!

The life of Batur Khong Tayiji of the Dzungar tribe had already reached its end, with little time remaining, yet in the final moments of his life he accomplished two great deeds sufficient to alter the ultimate fate of the Dzungar Mongols.

The first was defeating the Kazakh Khanate, the Dzungars' old enemy, winning vast living space for the Dzungar tribe.

The second was leading the Dzungar tribe to submit to the Great Ming and return to the embrace of the motherland! Ah, this matter is no small thing — its significance is even greater than defeating the Kazakhs!

Because submitting to the Great Ming, accepting investiture as Grand Protector of the Northern Court, and securing for Sengge the post of Deputy Grand Protector meant establishing an absolute authority within the Dzungar tribe.

And a few months later, when the lama Tseren, who had accompanied Galdan to Nanjing, brought back the agreement reached with the Great Ming and the half-year's military funds issued by the Ming court — silk, cloth, ironware, firearms, and gunpowder worth 125,000 taels of silver — traveling by the grassland route of the Silk Road and finally delivering them to the fortress of Dorbet Oirat, Choros Sengge, who had just taken over the Dzungar tribe from his late father Batur Khong Tayiji, immediately won the support of the tribesmen. After all, no one would turn against goods worth 125,000 taels of silver!

Since Sengge could swindle goods out of the Ming court, then everyone would support him as Grand Protector!

Of course, Emperor Zhu's fine goods were not given for free. After the goods were distributed, the Dzungar warriors had to march out and help the Ming court recover its sacred territory held since ancient times.

After Sengge returned laden with spoils from the Anxi territory south of the Tianshan, his position within the Dzungar tribe became even more secure.

While the Dzungars in the Western Regions were busy with their internal transition of power and the cause of safeguarding the motherland's unity, on that peninsula six or seven thousand li away, they too were at that moment facing the upheaval brought by the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang.

Changdeok Palace in Joseon was a shabby palace "restored old to look old." The reason it was called "restored old to look old" was that this palace, built in the Yongle era of the Great Ming, had been burned down twice — once during the Imjin War and once during the Injo Restoration. King Injo, Yi Jong, who came to power in the Injo Restoration, saved money for half his life wanting to restore Changdeok Palace, but because of the Qing invasion he could not fulfill this wish, and in the end had to settle for second best, using materials obtained by demolishing Ingyeong Palace to restore part of Changdeok Palace.

Because old materials were used to restore Changdeok Palace, naturally it was "restored old to look old."

Yet even so, Yi Jong never lived to see the completion of the Changdeok Palace restoration. Because there were no funds, and because the craftsmen and laborers deliberately delayed since they could not get their wages, the restoration of part of Changdeok Palace dragged on until the second year after Yi Ho's enthronement before it was barely completed.

However, Yi Ho, having fulfilled the dying wish of his father Injo, was not satisfied — he still had his own grand ambitions!

In his view, the Kingdom of Joseon, a land of rites with a long history and deeply steeped in Confucian culture, should not always be the object of bullying by neighboring states. Joseon should strengthen itself, should rise up, should become a superior state comparable to the Great Ming.

And helping Joseon's former father-state, the Great Ming, defeat the Qing caitiffs and recover the Central Plains was, in Yi Ho's view, the shortcut to Joseon's rise.

Therefore, after ascending the throne, Yi Ho reversed his father Yi Jong's state policy of resting the people, and accelerated the implementation of the Uniform Tax Law, which unified all manner of miscellaneous tribute into a tax system paid in rice and grain. In addition, he issued a royal decree requiring all Joseon men, even monks, to pay taxes in order to be exempted from military service.

But the foundation of this Joseon state was simply too weak, and most of the land and population within the country was in the hands of the yangban aristocracy. No matter what revenue-increasing measures Yi Ho tried to implement, he could not tax the yangban great families.

Therefore, in the more than three years since Yi Ho's enthronement, all his efforts to expand the military and prepare for war had achieved little. The Royal Guard Command troops and the Capital Garrison together numbered no more than 22,000 men, and they were poorly equipped, insufficiently trained, and especially lacking in cavalry. The army was also permeated with an atmosphere of fear of the Qing and dread of battle, so much so that Yi Ho did not even dare to openly mention a northern expedition, only daring to expand the military under the pretext of preparing against the Japanese pirates.

But were the Japanese pirates not fearsome? Were the Japanese pirates not ferocious? Were the Japanese pirates easy to deal with?

So when the urgent report from Kim Gwang-hyo, Naval Commander of Gyeongsang Left Province, arrived at the Joseon capital, the assembled ministers were immediately terrified, and no one knew what to do, nor did anyone dare to step forward and volunteer to go to the front to resist the Japanese pirates. After much deliberation, the ministers could only reluctantly put forward a suggestion to seek help from the Great Qing.

A northern expedition against the Great Qing was clearly impossible now; begging the Great Qing to come save their lives was the proper business!

Besides begging for rescue, of course, they also requested that King Yi Ho personally lead the troops northward to resist the Japanese pirates.

Just as Yi Ho was pondering going north to resist the Japanese pirates, his teacher, the current Minister of Rites Song Siyeol, finally returned from the Great Ming, and he brought back a piece of secret intelligence!

Outside Seonjeong Hall, Yi Ho's personal attendants guarded every passageway; no idlers or miscellaneous persons were allowed anywhere near!

Inside Seonjeong Hall, the just-returned Song Siyeol was kneeling and sitting opposite Yi Ho, speaking with a worried and indignant expression about what he had seen and heard on this visit to the Great Ming.

"Your Highness — Joseon must strengthen itself and stand on its own; we can no longer count on the Great Ming! They now pursue wealth and power single-mindedly, and have abandoned benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Now, in order to strike at the Qing state, they even want to sacrifice our country's interests, using our country as fragrant bait to lure the Tartar cavalry. The Japanese pirates now occupying Jeolyeong Island at Busan are actually their men in disguise. Furthermore, as for the so-called Zilun Gewu Pian, from what this subject has seen with his own eyes, it is fundamentally a forgery by later generations. Although it proposes some methods of investigating things and extending knowledge, it lacks the rectitude of mind and sincerity of intent required for true scholarship, and many of its principles easily disturb people's hearts — it is not worth studying!"

Yi Ho listened attentively, but his expression grew increasingly dark. He had originally thought that the Ming Emperor would very warmly accept Joseon's renewed submission, immediately bestow rich rewards, and send large quantities of muskets and cannons — although he, as King of Joseon, did not look at the world, he kept his eyes on the Great Ming at all times, and of course knew that Nanjing and Shanghai were now full of workshops producing firearms and cannons. The firearms and cannons produced there were abundant in quantity and excellent in quality, and could certainly spare some to give to Joseon.

But the Ming Emperor had no intention whatsoever of letting Joseon return, and moreover wanted to send people disguised as Japanese pirates to invade Joseon, in order to create a pretext for Qing troops to be stationed in Joseon.

This was simply trying to divert disaster into the Kingdom of Joseon!

"Master Song," Yi Ho asked, "the Great Ming, without waiting for our consent, sent out a fleet pretending to be Japanese pirates, occupied Jeolyeong Island, and killed and wounded our soldiers! How should we respond?"

This matter was actually Song Siyeol's fault. He had dawdled too much — instead of returning by ship immediately after reaching Shanghai, he traveled overland north to Shandong, and from there took a ship back to Joseon. Along the way he never forgot to inspect the conditions of the people and learn about the Great Ming's reforms.

So he had delayed, and as a result the Japanese pirates invading Joseon arrived first!

Because Joseon was unprepared, the fake became real, and many Joseon naval officers and soldiers were killed.

"Your Highness," Song Siyeol said, "the Great Ming has not only lost its benevolence and righteousness, but has also become a country of tigers and wolves that cares only for its own interests. If we expose their impersonation of Japanese pirates, I fear it will make them furious with shame and launch a massive invasion!"

Yi Ho's brows furrowed tightly: "Then what is to be done?"

"Your Highness, why not turn their own scheme against them!"

"Turn their scheme against them? How?"

"We shall treat the invaders of Jeolyeong Island as genuine Japanese pirates. Are the Japanese pirates not currently at war with the Great Qing on Sakhalin Island? The Japanese pirates are in a disadvantageous position on Sakhalin, so they have sent troops by sea to Joseon, wanting to use Joseon's coastal islands as a springboard to attack Vladivostok."

Yi Ho's brows furrowed even tighter. "Would that not be playing right into the Ming's hands?"

"Your Highness, we can also drag the Hispanians into the water!"

"How?" Yi Ho asked hurriedly.

This Hispania was also an existence that gave Yi Ho a great headache!

Because this country always liked to send missionaries (Dominican friars) onto Joseon soil, spreading heretical and wicked doctrines opposed to Confucianism.

In the past, when Joseon kept its doors closed and locked, directly expelling or even killing missionaries was no great matter.

But now the Hispanian missionaries had the backing of the Great Qing, and Joseon did not dare do anything to them, so a whole host of Joseon scholar-officials were deeply troubled.

Song Siyeol lowered his voice: "Your Highness, we can let Hispanian warships come to our ports to load Qing troops and transport them to land on Tsushima Island!"

(End of Chapter)