Chapter 1520: A Small Country, a Small Population — No Master of Its Own Fate

"Has the Celestial Court responded to the proposal about the concubine?" Kim Jin-guk's heart tightened, and he immediately asked.

He of course knew that Yi Gwal was the head of the Goryeo mission stationed at the Celestial Court, and had recently been entrusted with a secret task: conveying King Yi Hon's wish to offer a daughter of the royal clan to the Han Crown Prince as a concubine. Kim was a state councilor, and the King had consulted his opinion before making this decision.

"The Celestial Court neither agreed nor disagreed." Yi Hon shook his head slightly, though his expression remained unreadable. "But through Yi Gwal, they told Us something else."

"The Celestial Court has another matter to inform Your Majesty of?" Hearing that the proposal had not been accepted, Kim Jin-guk could not help feeling disappointed.

"Indeed. When We first learned of this from Yi Gwal's letter, We were also very surprised." Yi Hon nodded woodenly. "The Celestial Court intends to attack Japan and wishes to use our country's Busan Harbor as a base. At the same time, the Han Crown Prince will personally come to Goryeo to oversee the rear... And Yi Gwal will accompany him on this journey as the liaison between the Crown Prince and Goryeo. It is expected that in one or two months, when sea conditions are favorable, the journey will begin."

Though the King's tone was exceedingly calm and measured, every word struck Kim Jin-guk like a thunderclap.

The Celestial Court actually intended to conquer Japan? Not a whisper of this had been heard before! And... the Han Emperor was even sending the Crown Prince!

The Crown Prince of China personally visiting Goryeo — this was something unheard of in all the dynasties.

For a moment, Kim Jin-guk's mind raced, too busy pondering the implications and consequences to even respond to his sovereign.

"My minister must be in great mental disarray. This matter is indeed deeply unexpected." After a brief silence, Yi Hon remained utterly composed. "When We first heard this news, We too were thrown into confusion. That is why We summoned you here to consult you. Please, devise a response."

Indeed, since the matter was already decided, there was no point in alarm or panic. As a state councilor who managed the country's affairs, Kim Jin-guk quickly regained his composure.

"Has the Han Emperor's decision been finalized?" he asked first. "Is there still room to reverse it?"

"Yi Gwal has made it explicitly clear that the Han Emperor has firmly resolved on this. He was informed of it precisely during the New Year's Day court assembly, and it brooks no refusal."

"Brooks no refusal..." Kim Jin-guk unconsciously clenched his fists, his voice growing slightly hoarse. "This Han Emperor is truly overbearing and tyrannical! A matter touching the very foundation of our Goryeo state, and he allows not the slightest room for discussion. Where is the bearing of a Son of Heaven of China!"

"Ah..." The King did not answer, only letting out a long sigh. All his helplessness lay in that unspoken breath.

In all honesty, Kim Jin-guk did not like the Han in the slightest. This new dynasty was militarily supreme, waging war on all sides, and its entire court had been infected with the martial brutality of soldiers, acting with extreme crudeness. From the reports sent back by their envoys stationed in the capital, the Han founding monarch, Zhao Jin, was utterly boorish and unlettered, yet deeply disrespectful to Confucian scholars, often acting with high-handed tyranny — clearly a despot. And the Han court itself was utterly absurd, with countless illiterate peasants, peddlers, and menial laborers ascending to the court and becoming officials.

The Confucian ministers of Goryeo, who had long since carved the debates of righteousness, principle, and orthodox teachings into their very bones, held these uncultured displays of the new Han dynasty in deep contempt. In their hearts, they felt not the slightest affinity for the Han. The tide of longing for the old country of the Great Ming rose and fell ceaselessly — and Kim Jin-guk himself was among those whose hearts yearned for the fallen Ming.

But the Great Ming was finished now. No matter how much they yearned for it, they had to accept reality. Even though he, like so many others, had repeatedly muttered in private that this Han dynasty, like the tyrannical Qin, could not possibly last, for now, they still had to bow their heads before it. All the more so since Goryeo still hosted Han missions and Han troops.

Yet this feeling of living at another's mercy was simply too bitter. Not only did the Han court act with overbearing arrogance, but even the ambassadors of the mission lorded it over Goryeo, frequently meddling in Goryeo's state affairs, using their past services to bully and humiliate the Goryeo court from top to bottom, acting as if they considered themselves the power behind the throne. This kind of insolent arrogance was unbearable not only for ministers like Kim Jin-guk, but even for Yi Hon, who owed them his restoration.

The reason the King and Kim Jin-guk had previously devised the idea of offering a royal clan daughter to the Crown Prince was precisely to draw closer to the Crown Prince, and thereby win the Han imperial family's goodwill toward the Goryeo royal house. This, they hoped, would at least make the Han mission in Goryeo think twice before acting, no longer daring to interfere in Goryeo's state affairs at will.

Though they both felt it deeply humiliating to proactively propose offering a clan daughter as a concubine to the Han court, at this juncture, they could no longer afford to care about face or humiliation.

And yet, even after humbling themselves to this extent, the Han side remained utterly indifferent to Goryeo's feelings, issuing orders to Goryeo as they pleased. It was truly unbearable.

"Since things have come to this... Your Majesty, we can only swallow the humiliation and agree. We can only hope that when the Han Crown Prince arrives, he will not impose too great a burden on our country..." Kim Jin-guk also let out a long sigh.

"His coming is inevitable; no one can stop it. However, according to Yi Gwal, the Han Crown Prince is of a benevolent disposition and dislikes lording it over others. That is at least some good news." Yi Hon gave a faint, bitter smile. "Next, my minister, you will likely have much toil ahead. Goryeo must make thorough preparations; we cannot afford to slight the Han Crown Prince."

"Does the mission know of this news?" Kim Jin-guk suddenly asked.

"Naturally, they know. As soon as the messenger arrived in Goryeo, he went first to the mission, and only afterward delivered the letter to the royal palace." Yi Hon answered in a low voice.

"Ah..." Kim Jin-guk clenched his fists again, his heart full of resentment, but in the end, it all turned into another long sigh.

Things having come to this, they had to endure what could not be endured.

"My minister need not be too angered. That the Celestial Court can attack Japan and avenge the humiliation of the Imjin year is, after all, a good thing." Yi Hon's tone remained very calm. "Back when the Japanese pirates ravaged our country, We ground Our teeth in hatred, but lacked the strength to take revenge. Now... at last, there is a chance for vengeance."

"But with the Celestial Court's great army massing in Goryeo, our country is exhausted — how can we possibly supply them? When the time comes, I fear the provinces will know no peace, and the people's grievances will fill the roads..." Kim Jin-guk did not see it that way. "Moreover, the Han are wolves and tigers by nature. With a great army entering the heart of our country, I fear there may be peril for the state altars..."

"They wish to borrow Busan Harbor — that is hardly the heartland. Letting them use a single port cannot be said to shake the foundations of the state." Yi Hon gently shook his head, then smiled bitterly again. "Besides, given the might of the Han military, even if they wished to do something, what could Goryeo do about it? It is better not to think in that direction."

Refusing to think about something because it is too terrible — what difference is there between that and burying one's head in the sand? As the ruler of a nation, when great matters loom, to know only helplessness and willful avoidance — how can that possibly be acceptable?

Kim Jin-guk could not help grumbling inwardly, but he dared not voice it aloud. He merely lowered his gaze.

"My minister, though We cannot see, We can imagine what you are thinking." Just as Kim Jin-guk was stewing in frustration, King Yi Hon suddenly raised his head and fixed his clouded eyes directly on him. "But still, We say: what can We do even if We are unwilling? We are now a solitary man, and a cripple at that. The ministers resent and despise Us; the people hold no love for Us in their hearts. Can We, by Ourself alone, resist the celestial troops of Han? Better to sit quietly at home and await the day death comes."

Kim Jin-guk wanted to answer, but a blockage of air caught in his throat, so that no words could come out. In the end, he could only choose silence.

He understood: the King was both lamenting and venting his resentment.

The resentment was not only toward the Han, but also toward his own ministers. The wounds left by the factional struggles and the succession conflicts of those years were too deep. They existed in everyone's heart, and likely could never be forgotten in this lifetime.

Because of the fierce struggles for power among the various factions within the ruling class, from the very founding of the Yi Dynasty, Goryeo had been engulfed in a tumultuous, nearly two-hundred-year-long factional war. Throughout this time, the scholar-officials and the aristocracy had been locked in bitter internal strife — one side would exit the stage as the other entered, the king's banner atop the city walls ever changing. Curiously, over these two hundred years, every time Goryeo's internal factional struggle produced a victor, the winning faction would soon split again over the division of the spoils, turning once more into two factions locked in fierce internal conflict.

This long history of internal strife, even in broad outline, could probably fill a thick book. The palace intrigues and court machinations within it — how could they ever be fully counted? And who knows how many courtiers, nobles, and even royals died in this long and unimaginably cruel internal struggle?

At the founding of the dynasty, the struggle was between the Meritorious Old Guard, led by the founding meritorious officials and nobles, and the Scholar Faction. After the Meritorious Old Guard triumphed, they were in turn eliminated by the faction supporting King Injong. That faction soon split into the Greater Yun and Lesser Yun factions, led respectively by the ministers Yun Im and Yun Won-hyeong, who used different forces within the court to wage their struggle. After the two Yun factions gradually declined, the court ministers coalesced into the Westerner Party and the Easterner Party to continue the struggle, backing different princes of Goryeo's King Seonjo.

After a series of events, including the sudden death of Prince Shinseong, who was backed by the Westerner Party, the Easterner Party literati who supported Prince Gwanghae and Prince Imhae (Yi Hon's elder brother Yi Jin, then the King's eldest son born of a concubine) achieved political victory.

But after their victory, the Easterner Party ministers split over how to deal with the Westerner Party. The faction advocating harsh treatment became the Northerner Party, while the faction advocating leniency became the Southerner Party. The two factions continued to inherit the style of their literati predecessors and carried on the internal struggle.

While the court was thoroughly absorbed in its internal strife, the Japanese pirates seized the opportunity to invade. In this great calamity known as the Imjin Japanese Disturbance, the deeply corrupt Goryeo court, preoccupied with factional infighting, was no match for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great army. In a very short time, vast swathes of territory were lost. The monarch and his ministers fled the capital and sought aid from the Great Ming.

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