Chapter 1579: A Hint to the Great Name

1579. Chapter 1579 — A Hint to the Great Name

"Your servant obeys." Kim Jinguk bowed. "Though I unworthily hold the post of Chief State Councillor, there are not a few courtiers who share my aspirations. So long as we all work together with one heart, I expect it should not stir up any great turmoil."

"That may be so, but we must still guard against the unexpected." The Crown Prince nodded, then looked toward Zhao Song. "Brigade Commander Zhao, it seems you will have to delay your departure by a few more days… I am not versed in military affairs. When the time comes, you shall be responsible for the security within Hanseong."

"Your servant obeys." Zhao Song, who had long been mentally prepared for this, immediately bowed and accepted the order. "The Great Han legation has over a thousand troops stationed inside and outside the city of Gaoli. They are all elite soldiers of the Liaodong Army, and some are even my former subordinates. Commanding them will be extremely smooth, and they should suffice to keep Hanseong under control. I only wonder whether, after all these years garrisoned in Gaoli, their discipline has slackened. I will still need to return and inspect them in person, and drill them thoroughly."

"On that point, Brigade Commander, please set your mind at ease. Although we have been in a submissive and peaceful Gaoli for many years, the garrison has never grown lax. Both Battalion Commanders are battle-hardened veterans, and they have drilled the troops every single day without interruption. Moreover, recently, because… because of the strained relations between Yi Hon and our country, to guard against any contingency, the officers and men have been on alert around the clock, to the point of sleeping with their weapons at the ready. The Brigade Commander is a famed general of our country and hails from the Liaodong Army. These officers and men will all wholeheartedly submit to you. At a single word of command from the Brigade Commander, a mere Hanseong would be nothing more than a trinket in the palm of your hand."

Eager to recover the impression points he had lost through his earlier performance, Shi Gaoyi deliberately fawned upon Zhao Song. Zhao Song, in turn, was highly gratified, and a smile surfaced on his face.

"On the road here, I observed that the soldiers of Gaoli are frail and feeble, and they drill very little. I imagine they are nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs. With a thousand men of the Great Han army, that is more than enough."

"We must still be mindful of the noise we make," the Crown Prince suddenly interjected. "We are doing this to select an heir for Gaoli, for the sake of Gaoli's dynastic fortunes. This is not a palace coup to depose a monarch. The reason we are deploying troops is merely to guard against contingencies, not to flaunt our military might. When the time comes, controlling Gyeongbokgung will suffice. There is no need to move through the city, lest we disturb the hearts of the people!"

"Yes!" The Crown Prince's stern expression made the group dare not be remiss, and they acknowledged in unison.

"Very well. You may return for now. Make whatever preparations are needed right away; do not delay any longer." The Crown Prince waved his hand, gesturing for them to leave.

"Your Highness… perhaps Your Highness should return to the legation with your servant…" Zhao Song suddenly proposed. "Your Highness is residing within Gyeongbokgung. If the King catches wind of this, I fear it would be to Your Highness's detriment… If any mishap were to occur then, who could bear the responsibility?"

"If I were to suddenly leave, it would be a breach of protocol, and it would also easily stir up public discussion outside, making us appear all the more guilty," the Crown Prince immediately rejected Zhao Song's suggestion. "At present, how could the King possibly know what we are preparing to do? Besides, even if he did know, how many men could he actually command? And there are so many guards here who accompanied me from the capital, all handpicked elite imperial guards. Are they not enough to protect my safety? I expect they would not dare do anything."

Zhao Song still hesitated, but the Crown Prince did not wish to say more. He waved his hand again, signaling them to leave, and in the end, these people could only file out one after another.

After they had left, the room was empty and silent again, leaving the Crown Prince alone. Without a word, he walked to the window and drew back the curtains. The daylight from outside swept before him, stinging his unaccustomed eyes, and it took him some effort to adjust.

Then, he raised his head and gazed out the window into the breeze.

As far as the eye could see, the pond outside Gyeonghoeru rippled with emerald waves under the morning sun, and the rockery and rugged stones cast swaying reflections of light and shadow in the water. Though the traces of decay visible among the silhouettes everywhere lent the scene a touch of desolation, it still possessed a certain natural beauty of lake and mountain scenery.

The mountains and waters were all still; only when the wind passed through the window lattices did it produce any sound. The Crown Prince stood before the window, staring outside in a daze. In the past, when he was studying, he could often sit quietly in his spare moments from his heavy coursework and look at the scenery outside. But ever since he left the capital, the opportunities to do so had grown fewer and fewer.

How could these pavilions and stubborn stones ever understand the complexities of the mortal world?

Yi Seok, Prince Gyeongpyeong, and his youngest son Yi Jing — he had not met either of them to this day. Yet with just a few words, he could make the latter the future monarch, ruling over thousands upon thousands of subjects. The power of authority was truly staggering.

And this seemed to be only the beginning. Later on, he would head south and become the chief sustainer of a great army's rear. Still later, perhaps he would shoulder great responsibilities in even more critical operations. Until at last, he would inherit the grand enterprise his Imperial Father had founded, and carry it forward to greater glory.

All of this was indeed somewhat overwhelming for a youth. Yet he endured it with tremendous willpower and began to play his assigned role as required. He truly worried he would not play it well, but he could only steel himself and press forward, because his Imperial Father's expectations and the court officials' hopes allowed him no choice but to perform.

Gaoli was a matter his Imperial Father had entrusted to him to handle, and it had been made clear that he could arrange things however he wished. So long as he did not cause any exceptionally huge mess, even if he designated an heir, the capital would only readily confirm it. But he also knew that he would not always be able to do as he pleased.

"Take it one step at a time," after a long silence, he murmured to himself.

……………………

On just such a bright and beautiful spring morning, on the island of Kyushu not far from Gaoli, Zhou Pu was also arriving, aboard a Dutch merchant ship, at their trading post in the Hirado Domain. Due to the relations established by the previous two domain lords, the Dutch had always been on good terms with the Hirado Domain. However, there were rumors that the shogunate had long intended to relocate them to Dejima in Nagasaki for easier oversight.

Perhaps to curry favor with the Great Han, the Dutch had indeed been very trustworthy. They brought Zhou Pu and his party to the Hirado Domain and also secured an opportunity for them to meet the domain lord.

Zhou Pu had not come alone. He was accompanied by his own retinue, as well as two retainers assigned to him by the lord of the Satsuma Domain — Tōgō Shigekata and Kōka Meikan. These two were disguised as guides and interpreters and had been following him everywhere recently, tasked with facilitating communication between the two sides.

At this moment, they had already emerged from the Dutch trading post and were walking toward Hirado Castle, the main castle of the Hirado Domain. Hirado was a small domain, limited in area and financial resources. Thus, while Hirado Castle was called a castle, it was in reality little more than a small market town piled up with earthen mounds and low walls.

It could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Satsuma Domain, where the Shimazu clan held sway. Satsuma, after land surveys, had an actual output of six hundred thousand koku, whereas Hirado had only sixty thousand koku. Moreover, Hirado's land was very barren, so agriculture did not flourish. It was precisely for this reason that they placed such importance on overseas trade, having established commerce with Western merchants very early on.

When this group appeared within Hirado Castle, they quickly drew ambiguous glances from the onlookers. Great Han merchants generally operated in Nagasaki; they rarely visited the cramped and narrow port of Hirado. Moreover, having several men clearly of samurai origin by their side made them seem rather suspicious.

Ever since the Tokugawa shogunate was established and launched two campaigns against Osaka, Japan had been largely at peace for several decades, and the population had steadily multiplied. As a result, the number of masterless samurai and ronin wandering the country had grown. Many of these ronin were also remnants of factions hostile to the Tokugawa, making them a factor of insecurity for public order everywhere and a subject of great wariness.

Seeing the men around Zhou Pu, the castle's residents assumed they were ronin hired by the merchant. Thus, they all kept their guard up discreetly and did not crowd around asking what goods they had for sale, as they would have in Nagasaki.

This, however, proved convenient for the group. They quickly passed through the streets of the castle town and arrived at the central tenshu. (Because the Tokugawa shogunate, after seizing power, issued the "One Castle per Province" edict, stipulating that each province could have only one tenshu castle, the tenshu in Hirado Castle, like those in some other places, had been renamed "Sankai Yagura" to avoid suspicion.) This served as both a fortress and the residence of the domain lord.

After the Dutch merchant leading the way presented their documents, the main gate in the outer wall of the tenshu was quickly opened. Zhou Pu's party then immediately crossed the bridge over the moat and entered.

Hirado Castle was not large, but it had been built during the Warring States period, at the height of the Hirado Domain's prosperity from trade with the Portuguese. In those turbulent times, one needed to defend oneself, and with money in hand, the tenshu was constructed with great care and on a considerable scale. Even after stepping inside the walls, one still had to look up at the multi-storied edifice perched high atop its steps and elevated ground. Its white walls seemed to merge with the sky in the background, forming a picturesque scene of beauty.

Once the war is over, I'll place the embassy to Japan in a similar spot, a thought suddenly flashed through Zhou Pu's mind.

But he quickly suppressed this thought to the bottom of his heart. Quietly, he ascended the steps with the others and, under the watchful eyes of the domain lord's retainers and samurai, entered the tenshu.

The ground and second floors of the tenshu were the domain lord's living quarters, while the top floor was an observation deck. Thus, they were soon led into the main hall, where they saw the lord of Hirado, Matsuura Takanobu, kneeling on a tatami mat.

He was a middle-aged man of about forty. Although he was very well maintained, his fair, clean-shaven face still bore quite a few wrinkles. His head was shaved into the sakayaki hairstyle common among samurai, and he wore a long beard on his chin. His complexion was somewhat pale, giving him a look of not being in robust health.

As soon as they entered, Matsuura Takanobu raised his head to scrutinize Zhou Pu, who was at the head of the group, and then swept the corner of his eye over the attendants beside him who were clearly natives of Japan.

"So you are that Great Han merchant who requested to see me?" the domain lord promptly asked Zhou Pu.

His attitude, though somewhat condescending, was not excessively arrogant. After all, nowadays, the shogunate was restricting the rights of the tozama daimyo in every aspect. Consequently, these daimyo's incomes were dwindling, their domain finances growing increasingly strained, and maintaining their original bands of retainers ever more difficult. Therefore, Matsuura Takanobu was also eager to expand his financial income by various means. So, upon hearing that a Great Han merchant wished to see him, he had immediately agreed, hoping to use these merchants to develop commerce and trade within his domain.

"Reporting to the Domain Lord, I am precisely the Great Han merchant Zhou Pu." Without waiting for anyone to translate, Zhou Pu immediately stepped forward two paces and knelt down. "I beg your pardon for my presumptuous intrusion, Domain Lord."

"It is no matter." Because his health had not been very good lately, Matsuura Takanobu did not wish to beat around the bush with this young merchant from the Great Han. "I received word relayed from the Dutch trading post that you wished to see me. May I ask what exactly this is about?"

"We are merchants. In seeking an audience with the Domain Lord, it is naturally regarding commercial matters," Zhou Pu hastily replied. "We ply our trade at sea and have for many years regarded Japan as the most lucrative market. We have toiled long and hard to build our business here, and can be said to have achieved modest success…"

"Then what exactly do you wish to obtain from the Hirado Domain?" Matsuura Takanobu interrupted Zhou Pu's pleasantries. "As far as I know, the Great Han merchants now have a trading post in Nagasaki and are operating it with great success. Why would you need to come all the way to my humble domain specifically to seek trade? Let me be clear upfront: my humble domain is extremely impoverished and does not have much surplus wealth to trade with merchants like you."

Then, he suddenly pointed a finger toward the window. "Since you walked all the way here, you should have been able to see for yourselves — the Hirado Domain is not prosperous. So if you have come here to peddle your Great Han goods, I fear you have come to the wrong place."

The Hirado Domain had no gold or silver mines. Its previous modest prosperity had relied on trade with Westerners. But ever since the shogunate began restricting maritime trade, Hirado's income had plummeted, never to regain its former vitality. To prevent further outflow of wealth from his domain, Matsuura Takanobu had also proactively restricted trade with Great Han merchants. The goods that sold well elsewhere in Japan were very rarely seen here — it was precisely for this reason that the residents had looked at them so strangely when they entered Hirado Castle.

Hirado's approach was actually quite similar to the shogunate's, except the shogunate was larger in scale and thus better able to endure this trend of gold and silver outflow, merely hoping to…

Zhou Pu had not expected this domain lord to be so direct, and for a moment, he was somewhat taken aback. However, he quickly regained his composure and once more revealed a smile.

"Domain Lord, in coming to seek trade with your domain this time, we do not intend to import Great Han goods into your territory. To be honest, our goods sell very well in Nagasaki; we have no need to come all the way to your domain for that. On the contrary, we have come to seek the Domain Lord's help precisely because we wish to export your domain's goods to the Great Han."

"What do we have that the Great Han needs?" Matsuura Takanobu was clearly somewhat puzzled, but his spirits were visibly lifted.

"I presume the Domain Lord is already aware that the shogunate has now halted the export of copper to the Great Han." Zhou Pu raised his head and looked at the other party. "The shogunate's sudden action has, frankly speaking, caught the Great Han somewhat off guard. I hear that the government authorities are extremely angered and are currently negotiating with the shogunate to restore copper imports as quickly as possible. However, such matters can be left to the officials to worry about. For us merchants, this is an unadulterated business opportunity… Therefore, we wish to import copper from your domain."

Upon hearing this explanation, Matsuura Takanobu's face immediately grew even paler. "We have no copper mines in our domain."

"Even if your domain has no copper mines, you could purchase it from other places and then resell it to us," Zhou Pu said, still smiling. "The Domain Lord is a daimyo of Japan. Acquiring copper would surely be far more convenient for you than for us Great Han merchants… Now, because the shogunate has cut off exports, the price of copper within the Great Han has risen considerably. If the Domain Lord were willing to purchase copper and ship it to us, you would certainly reap enormous profits. If the Domain Lord…"

This was a clear hint, and Matsuura Takanobu naturally understood it. He lightly tapped the soft cushion beside him, cutting Zhou Pu off. "You are proposing to smuggle copper?"

"…If the Domain Lord wishes to put it that way, it is not incorrect." Zhou Pu nodded with a smile. "Copper is the largest commodity in the trade between the Great Han and Japan. Since it has now been temporarily banned, naturally, a business opportunity arises."

This was, of course, not Zhou Pu's entire objective. He wanted to use this method to probe Matsuura Takanobu's attitude toward the shogunate, while simultaneously establishing an initial connection. Although Matsuura Takanobu bore a paternal blood feud with the shogunate, Zhou Pu had no detailed understanding of his character and disposition, so he dared not reveal his true purpose from the outset. He had no choice but to disguise himself as a merchant and test the waters first. In any case, the homeland was indeed short on copper. If he could secure some copper from this man to smuggle back home, it would count as a meritorious first achievement.

He and the personnel at the Nagasaki trading post had already inquired with the Dutch. The Dutch had indeed recently increased their copper orders, but not to the extent of clearing out all of Japan's stockpiles. Although he did not know the shogunate's true reason, they were certainly pursuing some other scheme, using a pretext to cut off copper exports.

"This is a violation of the shogunate's laws!" Matsuura Takanobu's voice rose involuntarily.

"And which law, may I ask, has been violated?" Zhou Pu immediately shot back. "The Shogunate issued us Great Han merchants a red-seal permit, allowing us to trade with your country's merchants — what crime is there in us purchasing copper? The Shogunate said that because they need to increase exports to the Dutch, their stockpiles are temporarily exhausted and they therefore cannot continue exporting to our country... they never explicitly prohibited the export of copper nationwide, did they? If the Shogunate's storehouses have none, and we merchants find it elsewhere, why can't we import it into our country? That being the case, we merchants seizing a business opportunity to profit from it — that's beyond reproach, isn't it?"

His utterly self-assured, righteous manner gave Matsuura Takanobu some pause.

"This is sophistry. The Shogunate will not accept it."

"Whether the Shogunate accepts it or not, the key question is — does the domain lord wish to seize this business opportunity?" Zhou Pu was not cowed by the other party's attitude. "An opportunity missed is lost forever. Although the Shogunate has temporarily halted copper exports to Great Han, it will not stop forever. Before long it will resume, and then the copper price will no longer be what it is today. The chance to make a great profit will be gone."