Chapter 811: Moving Joseon

This really is a case of building being worse than buying, and buying worse than renting!

Dodo also felt something was very wrong. This Pacific Fleet of the Great Qing, apart from its banners being Qing's, had not a single thing that actually belonged to the Great Qing.

The ships were rented, the captains and sailors were leased along with the ships, and even the harbor serving as the fleet's main camp had to be rented from the Joseon people!

Of course, the laborers and materials for building the harbor facilities and fortresses also had to be rented from the Kingdom of Joseon — this was truly humiliating!

The mighty Great Qing was about to become a tenant farmer to the Joseon people.

Such a fine matter was now laid before Song Siyeol, the envoy of the Kingdom of Joseon.

At this, Song Siyeol was utterly dumbfounded!

Although he himself had proposed letting the Great Qing's warriors attack Tsushima from a Joseon harbor using the Hispanian ships, he had never said anything about leasing Joseon's harbors to the Great Qing!

A lease — did it mean borrowing with repayment, or borrowing with no repayment?

Moreover, was leasing a harbor a commercial act? Or did it involve the transfer of national sovereignty?

If it was a commercial act, the Kingdom of Joseon would not agree. Joseon maintained a policy of seclusion!

Previously, only Ming merchant ships had been allowed to come and go — in earlier times, the Ming was in theory Joseon's father state, and a son could not shut his father outside the door; that would be unfilial! Later, although the Joseon kingdom had acknowledged the Great Qing as its new suzerain, the pro-Ming atmosphere still lingered, and with Shen Tingyang's Northern Ocean Fleet being rather persuasive, Joseon had not revoked the Ming's "trade privileges."

Once Songgotu and the others brought back the Japan-Mongol Agreement, the Kingdom of Joseon had no choice but to allow Hispanian merchant ships to enter its harbors to purchase supplies — for now Hispania and the Great Mongols were brother states! So the Joseon kingdom had to call them "Uncle." Could they shut Uncle outside the door? What about family affection and all that?

But Joseon's scholar-officials truly loathed "Uncle Hispania" from the bottom of their hearts. This "Uncle" was far too fond of spreading heretical doctrines, seizing every chance to spout nonsense like "We are all children of God, all brothers and sisters."

Over in Joseon, never mind whether the yangban and the poor could be brothers — even real brothers differed greatly depending on whether they were born of the principal wife, a concubine, or a mistress. A concubine's son was a seoja; one born outside to a mistress was an illegitimate child. Those of seoja or illegitimate birth could not even sit the civil examinations, so how could they dream of being equal to a legitimate son?

In the Ming, a son of a concubine or an illegitimate son merely inherited a little less property, or ranked lower in the order of succession for noble titles (in Joseon, a concubine's son usually could not inherit a title at all, even if there was no legitimate son, unless he was the king's son). Taking examinations for office or winning office by killing people was unaffected. But in Joseon this would not do! Although the country had instituted civil examinations, its rigid hierarchy had not changed in the slightest.

Therefore Joseon's yangban scholar-officials detested Catholicism and Western learning to a degree far surpassing those Ming scholar-officials who held that "the mind is principle, and one must extend innate knowledge."

Thus when Song Siyeol heard Dodo speak of "leasing" a Joseon harbor, the greatest trouble that came to mind was not national sovereignty or anything of the sort, but that Catholicism would gain a foothold on Joseon soil.

"Your Highness the Imperial Uncle, how large exactly is the land the Great Qing wishes to lease? Will any commoners be living on the leased land?"

Dodo seemed not to have expected Song Siyeol to ask so many details. His mind was not so meticulous in matters of governance, so he cast a glance at Gang Lin, the Prefect of Fengtian, who was accompanying him at the audience.

Although Dodo had become the Imperial Uncle Regent and moved into the Shengjing palace, he had not established in Shengjing a set of state organs comparable to the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers. He had merely made Gang Lin of the Gūwalgiya clan, the Prefect of Fengtian, the head of the civil officials — in effect the chancellor — while making Nikan and Bolo the commanders of all the armies. As for the localities, it was still one prefecture, four amban, and nine gūsa; apart from the "one prefecture," the rest were all military-civilian combined administrations.

"The leased land certainly cannot be too small," Gang Lin said. He had already discussed the details of the "Mongol lease" with Caballero, so he now spoke readily. "Our Great Qing combines military and civilian administration. Since we are to station troops, we must open military farms. There must be at least 5,000 large mu (15,000 mu) of flatland, and in addition some land will be enclosed for building fortresses, a naval harbor, shipyards, and a market."

"A market as well?" Song Siyeol already sensed something was amiss.

"Of course one must be opened," Gang Lin said. "Henceforth the tribute rice that Joseon sends to Haishenwai will all be shipped from the Ulsan concession. In addition, merchants of the Great Qing, Joseon, and Hispania may also reside and do business in the Ulsan concession."

This was entirely the Westerners' way of enclosing land to establish concessions!

"Th-this..." Song Siyeol was completely thrown into confusion.

His purpose in coming to Shengjing had clearly been to draw the four sources of disaster — the Ming, the Great Qing, Japan, and Hispania — together, so that they would all ruin one another. How had it now turned into the Great Qing leasing Joseon harbor land? This was a humiliation and a betrayal of the nation!

"What? You refuse?" Seeing Song Siyeol hemming and hawing, Dodo was on the verge of turning hostile. "When our mighty Great Qing rents your Joseon land, it is as if we have become tenant farmers to you Joseon people, paying rent every year. This is your good fortune! How can you, a Minister of Rites of Joseon, still try to decline? What exactly are you scheming?"

What was he scheming?

Regret, that was all!

When great powers struggle, any small state with a sound mind must hide — hide far away, ideally become invisible. Those who think there is profit to be made and rush in to join the excitement may well end up getting themselves destroyed.

"I dare not, this small subject dares not." Song Siyeol naturally did not dare say "no" to Dodo. "It is only that leasing a harbor is too great a matter for this small subject to decide; I must seek instructions from our king. Moreover, Ulsan is too close to Busan. If it becomes the fleet headquarters of the superior state, I fear it will immediately be attacked by the Japanese navy. Therefore this small subject suggests that Your Highness the Imperial Uncle choose another fine harbor."

Gang Lin said, "Then let us enclose land and build the harbor at Guryongpo in Daegu Prefecture!"

Guryongpo was the area of the later city of Pohang. The southern and western parts of the Korean peninsula had many natural harbors, but there were not many on the eastern coast — apart from Ulsan, there was Guryongpo, and beyond that one would have to go to the northeastern coastline of Joseon.

Therefore the "Imperial Uncle Regent regime," which held maps of Joseon's eight provinces, had from the start selected two targets: one was Ulsan, the other Guryongpo.

So the Joseon king and his ministers still had a choice. The Great Qing was, after all, reasonable!

At the southern part of the Korean peninsula, a large island called Geojedo was at this moment also being invaded by the "Japanese invaders"!

Geojedo was very large, with many harbors all around. On the eastern side of the island there was an ideal natural sheltered harbor called Okpo. The harbor was enclosed between two projecting peninsulas, and its entrance was very narrow, less than four li across. As long as artillery was placed on high ground on the two peninsulas and the mouth was sealed with chain-linked ships, the fleet within the bay could be made absolutely safe.

Moreover, the inner area of Okpo Bay was very large. From the entrance to the innermost point it was nearly six li, and its width was around four li, giving an area of about twenty-four square li, or six square kilometers — enough to hold over a hundred warships.

In addition, this harbor faced the open sea, making it relatively convenient for the fleet to enter and leave, and not easily ambushed by the enemy. The bay was surrounded by mountains, so as long as a slightly larger force was committed, it would be very easy to defend.

Therefore Zheng Jiangong, the Admiral of the Ming's Eastern Ocean Fleet, had chosen this place from the very beginning as the home port and main base of the Eastern Ocean Fleet in the southern Korean peninsula.

The earlier dispatch of the fleet to attack Jeolyeongdo at Busanpo had merely been to attract the Joseon people's attention and create political influence.

So after making a fuss at Jeolyeongdo and playing pirate on the seas for a while, Zheng Jiangong led his seven Western-style sailing ships, twenty sand ships, and one bird ship (the Taipingyang) with all the marine forces, and transferred them all to Okpo Bay on Geojedo.

After a round of intimidating bombardment, this practically undefended bay smoothly fell into the hands of the landing Japanese troops — real Japanese troops, several hundred Japanese ronin mercenaries commanded by Saiga Hiroshi. They were the ones who had thrashed the Joseon navy on Jeolyeongdo. A Japanese Combined Fleet had to have a few Japanese in it, after all.

(End of Chapter)