Chapter 1590: A Humble Envoy

On the orders of the Crown Prince of the Central Dynasty, Busan Port was swiftly closed on the pretext of a plague outbreak within the harbor and the need for reconstruction after storm damage. The merchants in Busan were either expelled from the port or even detained, and for a time the harbor suddenly became much quieter.

However, the port soon bustled again. Over the following days, transport ships laden with soldiers, warhorses, ammunition, and all manner of supplies streamed continuously into the harbor, disgorging their cargoes into the port.

And after spending several days handling a multitude of political affairs, the Crown Prince finally found a moment of leisure and brought a few attendants with him to the port market.

Under his watchful gaze, these transport ships emerged from the mist, their outlines slowly materializing out of the haze, then drew closer and closer to the harbor until at last they came to rest within the port.

Next, the transport ships in the front lowered their gangways, and the soldiers inside marched out in orderly ranks. After disembarking, they reformed their formations under the shouted orders of officers on the shore. Then, the transport ships carrying supplies and ordnance docked, and under the officers' commands, they worked together with the port's civilian laborers to help unload the ships, carrying the matériel off the vessels one load after another.

This scene of bustling yet orderly activity demonstrated both the meticulous care and competence of the Great Han's officials and generals in preparing for war, and fully illustrated the flourishing strength of the Great Han state. One could only imagine how much effort and preparation, from top to bottom, including himself, had gone into readying for this war. In any previous dynasty, they surely would never have possessed the financial and material resources to commit a powerful army, equipped with the finest weapons under heaven, to a war such as this.

Watching these magnificent scenes unfold, the Crown Prince once again felt a surge of deep pride in his heart.

In his hand he held a letter from his Imperial Father, received only the day before. The letter mentioned the things he had done in Goryeo, expressed full approval, and also offered encouragement, urging him to redouble his efforts and do an even better job with the matters that followed.

Though the letter's tone was quite understated, the Crown Prince could read his father's expectations for him in those few plain lines. And it was precisely because of those words in the letter that he felt all his hard work was worthwhile.

However, as the Crown Prince watched, he noticed that among the gaps between the transport ships, a small vessel with a different design seemed to be threading its way through. This boat carried white sails that gleamed somewhat glaringly under the sunlight.

What was going on? Hadn't the port closure order already been issued? How could another ship be sailing into the harbor while the transport ships were unloading? The Crown Prince's mind was suddenly filled with doubt. Had those responsible for enforcing the port closure been derelict in their duty?

He immediately ordered the men beside him to investigate what was happening. At once, small warships surrounded the vessel and forced it to a halt beside a pier.

Under the Crown Prince's gaze, fully armed sailors boarded the ship and then escorted everyone aboard off the vessel one by one.

On his orders, the people from the ship were interrogated, and a short while later, an attendant hurried back to report to him.

Only then did he learn that this ship had been dispatched by the Great Han's Nagasaki mission. And among those on board, besides the mission's staff, there was one other person — none other than the envoy sent by the Japanese Imperial Court to Nagasaki, the very man he had specifically requested be sent to Busan first.

"Bring them all to my temporary residence," the Crown Prince ordered at once. Then, taking his attendants with him, he mounted his horse and rode back ahead.

At this moment, Hashimoto Sanemura was in a state of extreme trepidation.

He had boarded the Great Han trading mission's ship and left Nagasaki the previous afternoon. The Great Han commissioner in Nagasaki had acceded to his request, promising to send him to the Great Han capital to have an audience with the Great Han Son of Heaven.

The moment he stepped aboard, he fell into an irrepressible excitement, for he knew the critical moment had arrived. The fate of the entire Imperial Court rested on his shoulders; he had to use any means available to fulfill the wishes of His Cloistered Majesty and the Lord Udaijin, and to realize the long-cherished aspiration of his ancestors for generations. All through the night he tossed and turned, utterly unable to sleep.

Yet just as he was still dreaming of the future, events took a turn beyond anything he had anticipated. He discovered that the ship he was on had sailed into a harbor after only a single night, and no sooner had the ship entered port than several warships surrounded it. A group of fierce, menacing soldiers boarded the vessel and roughly marched them all off.

Though he possessed little geographical knowledge, Hashimoto Sanemura at least knew that setting out from Japan, one could not reach the Great Han in a single day. His heart was thus instantly filled with anxiety and dread, suspecting that something had gone wrong and that the Shogunate had already discovered their side's conspiracy.

It was not his own life he feared; having resolved to undertake this mission, he had long since set life and death aside. What he truly feared was that he might ruin the great enterprise. If that were the case, he would be a sinner for whom ten thousand deaths would not atone.

He was utterly flustered, yet had no idea what to do. After disembarking, he looked around and found himself in a very strange place. The architecture here was completely different from Japanese styles, and many large ships shuttled through the harbor, making it seem like a busy commercial port. Yet the people disembarking from these large vessels did not look like merchants or sailors, but rather like men in strange yet very uniform clothing, robust and well-trained — they must be soldiers.

Some ships also unloaded horses, far taller and sturdier than the horses he had seen in Japan. And a few ships were even stranger: the cargo they unloaded was, unmistakably, cannons!

Right before his eyes, one mysterious great ship after another poured soldiers and weapons onto the land before him. But although he watched, transfixed, the men escorting him from behind had no interest in conversation and kept shoving him from behind, urging him to hurry along. They were speaking Chinese.

Where in the world was this? What on earth was going on? This utterly alien scene plunged Hashimoto Sanemura into complete bewilderment.

Yet there was little time left for him to marvel. Under the escort of the guards, Hashimoto Sanemura was forced to leave the bustling port and was led inland toward the place where the Crown Prince was staying. As for the ship he had arrived on, its identity having been confirmed, it was taken to anchor within the port, and the people aboard were resettled.

As they ventured further inland, Hashimoto Sanemura noticed that although the surroundings clearly looked like a city, it seemed sparsely populated, with few passersby to be seen. Only men in strange military uniforms moved about everywhere; they were generally tall, with strong and sturdy builds, clearly evidencing that they had always been well supplied.

Along the road, he could also constantly hear an unceasing din. Besides the roaring shouts that coalesced from many voices crying out together, there was from time to time the thunderous boom of cannon fire, so loud it made his ears ache.

One bizarre and dazzling scene after another struck him as increasingly strange, as if in merely a single day's sailing he had arrived in some foreign realm.

"This... this..." Hashimoto Sanemura mustered his courage and addressed the soldier escorting him, but after thinking for a long while, he had no idea how to address the man and could only mumble vaguely, "May I ask where we are now? Have we arrived in the Great Han?"

"No, no, how could this be the Great Han!" a soldier answered impatiently, then gave him another hard shove, urging him to move faster.

Because the Japanese court nobles learned Chinese using Tang-era pronunciations, which had undergone many changes over the centuries, his Chinese accent was somewhat peculiar. The soldier could barely understand him, but only found it somewhat off-putting.

"Then... then where is this? Which country is it? How can you speak Chinese?" Though he knew full well that pressing further was very dangerous, duty-bound, Hashimoto Sanemura boldly continued asking, "Please... please tell me!"

"This is Goryeo. You've come to Goryeo," another soldier interjected, answering his question. "Alright, don't ask any more questions now. We won't tell you even if you do. If His Highness wants you to know something, you'll know everything!"

"This is Goryeo? And His Highness — who is His Highness?!" One shocking piece of news after another left him even more bewildered, and he asked question after question.

Still, he felt somewhat relieved inwardly. At least for now, he had not been betrayed and fallen into the Shogunate's hands; he had merely been sent to Goryeo. But he still did not understand why the Great Han mission in Nagasaki had risked sending him out, only to deliver him to Goryeo, and why there were so many Chinese-speaking soldiers here.

His curiosity, however, was destined to go unsatisfied. The soldiers, by tacit agreement, would no longer discuss any information with him and simply escorted him all the way to the outskirts of the city.

They arrived at a small village, very crudely built. Apart from a few brick-and-tile houses, there were thatched huts everywhere. Beside these dwellings was an enormous construction site, where dozens of wooden structures were rising from the flat ground. Craftsmen and laborers could be seen working everywhere, amid a great clamor.

In order to keep every detail secret, and also to embody the spirit of sharing hardships with the officers and soldiers, the Crown Prince had politely declined the lodgings offered by the local officials of Busan and set up his temporary residence beside a military encampment. Naturally, his own living conditions were somewhat better — it was the original dwelling of a wealthy household in the village.

This military encampment had originally been a small mountain hamlet, forcibly requisitioned to meet the needs of the Great Han army. The residents had either been given relocation payments and moved inland, or been assigned as labor to the Labor Bureau, working at various construction sites to build projects for the Great Han army.

In all fairness, despite all the efforts made, the sudden massing of a great army meant that the living conditions Busan could currently provide for the officers and soldiers were not high. Thus, the Crown Prince's gesture of emulating his Imperial Father by sharing the troops' hardships did indeed achieve the effect of steadying military morale.

Following the Crown Prince's instructions, this envoy of the Japanese Imperial Court was soon brought to the Crown Prince's residence.

The court nobles prized elegance above all, habitually abstaining from productive work and physical labor, so their bodies were generally weak. Hashimoto Sanemura was naturally no exception. The journey on foot had already left him somewhat breathless, yet upon arriving here, he was given no chance to rest before the soldiers brought him into the main hall of the dwelling.

As soon as he entered the hall, he saw a youth seated upright in the main seat, calmly regarding him. This youth wore Han-style clothing, plainly attired, but his expression was stern, and he seemed to possess a dignity that inspired awe without anger, making it impossible to treat him as a mere youth.

Hashimoto Sanemura could tell that he must be of noble status, so despite his whole-body exhaustion, he dared not sit down and merely stood trembling before the youth.

The Crown Prince gently waved a hand, signaling the soldiers to withdraw, then looked back at Hashimoto Sanemura.

"Sit down. You must be tired after walking all this way."

"Thank you..." Hashimoto Sanemura felt as if a great weight had been lifted and immediately sat down.

Then, attendants served tea, and a cup was placed before Hashimoto Sanemura as well. As if granted a great reprieve, he hastily picked up the teacup. Being utterly exhausted and parched, he disregarded all courtly decorum, tilted his head back, and drained the tea in one gulp.

"You are the envoy sent by the Japanese Imperial Court to the Great Han, correct?" Once the other man had somewhat recovered, the Crown Prince calmly asked.

Hearing this question, Hashimoto Sanemura, who had relaxed slightly, suddenly tensed up. But after hesitating a moment, he knew denial was pointless, so he honestly nodded.

"I am indeed an envoy of the Imperial Court, journeying to the Great Han by order of the Cloistered Emperor. I beseech... I beseech you, sir, could you permit me passage so that I may go and have an audience with the Great Han Son of Heaven? I would be eternally grateful."

"What do you wish to see the Great Han Son of Heaven for?" The youth did not answer Hashimoto Sanemura's request, but instead asked another question.

"... My mission is to convey the Cloistered Emperor's greetings to the Son of Heaven of China, so as to strengthen the amicable relations between our two countries." The true purpose of his journey was something he absolutely could not reveal the slightest hint of to an outsider, so he stammered out an excuse for himself.

"The Japanese Imperial Court has had no contact with the Central Plains for several centuries. Why would it suddenly send an envoy to the Great Han? And without any prior notification — this does not resemble formal intercourse between two courts." The Crown Prince was utterly unmoved. "Furthermore, I have heard that nowadays the political power of Japan is concentrated entirely in the hands of the Shogunate, and the Imperial Court is nothing but a puppet. How, then, can your country's Cloistered Emperor dispatch an envoy?"

Such blunt questioning made Hashimoto Sanemura's face flush red.

"Although the Shogunate now usurps governance and arrogates authority, bullying the sovereign, our Imperial Court holds the moral mandate and is the party most qualified to conduct relations with the outside world," he answered with difficulty.

"I am not clear on your country's moral mandate, nor do I wish to debate it. However, you yourself have admitted that your country is now under Shogunate rule, so your Imperial Court probably cannot represent the Shogunate." The Crown Prince still did not accept the other's explanation. "I suggest you turn back. To the Great Han, an envoy from the Shogunate is likely more useful than you; at least they can discuss meaningful topics. Our country already has Shogunate envoys within its borders now, so it would truly be inconvenient to send you into the country as well, lest it provoke disputes between our two nations."

"May I ask who you are, sir, to pass judgment on behalf of the Great Han court?" Hashimoto Sanemura could no longer restrain himself. He abruptly stood, glaring at the youth with barely contained fury. "Whether to accept me as an envoy is for the Great Han court and the Great Han Son of Heaven to decide. What need is there for you to trouble yourself, sir?"

Though he knew full well his life was in the other's hands, the moment he heard the other actually intended to cut short his journey and send him back to Japan, Hashimoto Sanemura could no longer worry about his own safety. "I was sent back to Great Han by the Great Han mission stationed in Nagasaki. I will absolutely not return home before my mission is complete!"

The youth said nothing more, only watched Hashimoto Sanemura in silence, his expression growing more severe by the moment. Just as Hashimoto Sanemura thought he might be about to meet a fatal calamity, the youth suddenly broke into a laugh — and laughed rather freely.

"Haha, this man has some courage after all. No wonder they sent him as an envoy. The Japanese court does still have some talent." As he laughed, he spoke toward a few people who had remained silent in a corner the whole time.

Only then did Hashimoto Sanemura notice them. They all walked over to stand before the youth.

"Envoy, please forgive us," a middle-aged man dressed as a scholar saluted Hashimoto Sanemura. "Having just heard of the envoy's arrival, and not knowing what sort of man the envoy might be, His Highness had no choice but to test the envoy first. Please forgive us."

This middle-aged scholar spoke with a more refined air, which fit the image Hashimoto Sanemura had expected. Yet he was still somewhat dazed, at a loss before the sudden turn of events. "His Highness...?"

"Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Zhang Daoyan, an official of the Great Han court." The middle-aged scholar continued, then turned his gaze to the youth. "And this is His Highness the Crown Prince of our Great Han dynasty."

"His Highness the Crown Prince of Great Han...?" Hashimoto Sanemura froze, staring blankly at the youth. This outcome was even further removed from reality than any he had imagined beforehand, and he naturally found it hard to believe.

"Saying it now, I imagine you won't believe it. But since you'll be staying here for a while regardless, what needs to be made clear will become clear in due time." The Crown Prince smiled faintly. "On this journey of yours, did you bring with you the personal state letter from your country's Cloistered Emperor?"

The Crown Prince acted this way partly to probe the envoy, to see what kind of man he truly was, so as to decide whether to send him back to his country — and partly out of a youthful impulse, wanting to amuse himself at the envoy's expense.

The moment he heard the other mention the Cloistered Emperor's personal state letter, Hashimoto Sanemura could not help but believe a few degrees more. He had never mentioned the state letter to anyone except the two officials at the Great Han trading post. If this youth knew of it, it could only have come through the mission's reports. He might not truly be the Crown Prince, but his status was certainly extraordinary.