At the naval command building in Nantong Naval Base.
The negotiation teams from the Empire and Ming took their seats together in the conference room prepared for the negotiations.
The power struggle between both sides was intense from the very beginning of the negotiations.
The first clash was over who would enter the room first.
“Even if you’ve renamed yourselves an empire, Joseon has been our vassal state since ancient times! Naturally, Joseon should enter first!”
“Not Joseon, but the Great Han Federal Empire! And how long has it been since we broke free from being a vassal state, yet you still call us that? Besides, since Ming was the one who requested these negotiations, Ming should obviously enter first and wait!”
“What! If this is how it will be, we refuse to negotiate!”
Upon hearing the Ming envoys’ threats, Kim Jong-seo snorted dismissively and turned to look at Jo Jin-woong.
“Hmph! The Imperial forces should exert themselves more.”
At Kim Jong-seo’s meaningful words, Jo Jin-woong nodded with a sinister smile.
“Indeed.”
Thus, the negotiations collapsed before they even began, and the Imperial forces slowly made their way up the Yangtze River, methodically reducing villages and cities near the river to ashes.
Finally, five days later, someone came from the Ming negotiation team.
“The head of our negotiation team has been replaced. We would like to restart negotiations.”
“Enter first.”
“…We will do so.”
***
The next day, Kim Jong-seo and his party entered the negotiation room.
Inside, the Ming negotiation team was already waiting, their faces tight with suppressed anger.
“You must be tired from your long journey.”
At the Ming negotiation team leader’s words, Kim Jong-seo nodded lightly as he responded.
“Indeed. If only certain people hadn’t engaged in unnecessary provocations, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”
“Kadeuk!” (Sound of grinding teeth)
“Oh my! Do you have a toothache? They say teeth are one of the five blessings, tsk tsk tsk…”
At Kim Jong-seo’s tongue-clicking, the Ming negotiation team leader, who had been grinding his teeth, barely managed to calm his anger and continued.
“I am Zhang Jingguo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, responsible for these negotiations.”
“That sounds like you don’t want to negotiate.”
Kim Jong-seo immediately stood up at Zhang Jingguo’s self-introduction.
“Why are you doing this?”
Zhang Jingguo urgently asked for an explanation, but Kim Jong-seo asked back with a face full of displeasure.
“You should have already received our Empire’s negotiation team roster, correct? And yet, a mere Vice Minister shows up as the lead? You clearly look down on our Empire! I see exactly how Ming approaches these negotiations! This isn’t about negotiation—it’s a call for war!”
With those words, Kim Jong-seo stormed out of the negotiation room.
With negotiations broken off again, the Imperial forces once more began enthusiastically destroying everything in their path.
Finally, after another three days, negotiations resumed when the Minister of Rites stepped forward as the Ming negotiation team representative.
***
“These are the conditions our Empire demands from Ming.”
As Kim Jong-seo finished speaking, Han Myeong-hoe, sitting as an aide, handed over a scroll.
The Minister of Rites unrolled the received scroll, and as soon as he confirmed its contents, he let out a long sigh.
“Huuu~.”
The conditions presented by the Empire were as follows:
- The naval bases of Tianjin, Weihai, and Qingdao shall not be rebuilt.
- No naval bases shall be built north of the Shandong Peninsula, including the three locations mentioned above. However, small ports for commerce or fishing may be established.
- Ming shall limit the number of warships to prevent unnecessary tension between the two countries.
The total number of large warships shall not exceed 20 vessels, and medium and small warships shall not exceed 100 vessels in total.
The construction of super-large warships like the Twin-Headed Flame Dragon is prohibited.
-Ming shall compensate for the economic losses incurred by the Great Han Federal Empire due to this war.
Reparations shall be paid with goods, silver, or other resources equivalent to 70 million taels of gold.
-The types of resources to be paid in lieu of silver shall be designated by the Empire, and their value shall be determined by the Empire. However, Ming officials may be present to verify this process.
“Huuu~.”
As the Minister of Rites continued to sigh deeply, Kim Jong-seo smiled slightly and addressed him.
“Still, hasn’t our Empire been quite generous? Our Emperor is truly benevolent, showing such mercy even to enemies…”
‘Mercy? What nonsense! Who does he think—!’
Forcibly swallowing the words that nearly burst out, the Minister of Rites struggled to speak.
“The reparations are too much.”
“Oh? Is Ming, which immediately paid 50 million taels of gold as reparations after the last war, now complaining?”
“At that time…”
The Minister of Rites couldn’t properly answer and let his words trail off.
***
When the previous war took place, Ming’s national power was at its peak.
With Emperor Xuande’s full support, commerce and industry flourished, and money flowed abundantly from all directions.
Thanks to this, they had the capacity to pay the enormous sum of 50 million taels of gold as reparations.
But now was different. Much of their finances had been spent recovering from damages sustained in the previous war and civil unrest.
And from the moment they recovered from that damage, there had been massive financial expenditures to rebuild naval power, including the construction of Twin-Headed Flame Dragons.
As a result, Ming’s finances were now barely holding on.
‘Hit them hard, get revenge, and collect reparations to ease our financial difficulties.’
This was the purpose behind Ming’s actions this time.
***
“Huuu~.”
Once again letting out a long sigh, the Minister of Rites confronted Kim Jong-seo.
“Let me be frank. Do you think these reparations are reasonable? This wasn’t a full-scale war like the previous one.”
“It was indeed a full-scale war. Just because you didn’t see tens of thousands of troops moving at once as on land doesn’t make it otherwise. Both our Empire and Ming know that the number of troops mobilized was substantial, don’t we?”
Kim Jong-seo’s words were true.
Even the smallest vessels carried around 10 crew members, while much larger ships like Challenger-class warships or large warships equipped with dozens of cannons had at least 300—an average of 500—crew members aboard.
Simply put, this naval battle was a large-scale, full-scale war with tens of thousands of troops mobilized, just like on land.
“I acknowledge that many troops were mobilized. But it wasn’t hundreds of thousands like the previous war, was it? Therefore, it can’t be considered a full-scale war, and I believe the amount of reparations is excessive.”
“Do you know how much a single warship costs? Think about that!”
“None of your ships sank! All the sunken vessels were Ming warships!”
The Minister of Rites, shouting in frustration, had tears welling up from shame. Though he spoke the truth, it was an extremely humiliating fact.
‘To think I must beg while saying such things! How can I bear this shame!’
To the Minister’s words, Kim Jong-seo continued with his perpetual smile.
“By heaven’s blessing, none of our Imperial warships sank. However, many sustained damages both large and small that require repairs. And although the ships avoided sinking, many soldiers died or were injured, so funds are needed to care for them, aren’t they?”
“Even so, it’s too much!”
“Then you shouldn’t have started this in the first place.”
“Eek!”
“Your Excellency!”
“Your Excellency!”
At Kim Jong-seo’s words, the Minister of Rites, who was about to shout something, momentarily lost consciousness and fell backward.
Due to this sudden incident, the negotiations were suspended.
“Would it be acceptable to continue once the Minister recovers his strength?”
At Zhang Jingguo’s request, Kim Jong-seo nodded.
“I accept the Vice Minister’s request. Let’s do that.”
“Then, in the meantime, could you please cease hostilities temporarily?”
To Zhang Jingguo’s words, Kim Jong-seo shook his head.
“If negotiations fail, there will be no ceasefire. However, given the circumstances, I will request a halt to hostilities for two days.”
At Kim Jong-seo’s answer, Zhang Jingguo clasped his hands and bowed deeply.
“I, Zhang, will not forget Your Excellency’s kindness.”
“I hope the Minister recovers quickly and returns to the negotiation table.”
On the third day, the Minister of Rites was able to return to the negotiation room.
Although the Minister had returned, negotiations remained stalled over the reparations clause.
“Very well. Then we will pay the reparations in installments.”
“Installments? Over how many years?”
“Fifty years!”
“Let’s just fight instead. It wouldn’t be bad to see Nanjing while we’re at it.”
“Then how many years would the Empire prefer?”
“Ten years. And I won’t haggle.”
At Kim Jong-seo’s firm answer, the Minister of Rites, after calculating various scenarios, proposed an alternative.
“Fine. Ten years. But! We would like to substitute half the reparations amount with land. We will give you the Shandong Peninsula.”
Upon hearing the Minister’s proposal, Kim Jong-seo rejected it immediately as if it needed no consideration.
“We don’t need land. We’ll only accept silver and resources, paid over ten years.”
Negotiations continued afterward. However, since the Empire held the upper hand in the situation, Ming had no choice but to be dragged along.
Meanwhile, the Imperial forces were steadily conducting shows of force around the Yangtze River.
Eventually, the Ming negotiation team had no choice but to accept the Empire’s conditions.
However, the Empire did make a small concession—increasing the number of large warships from 20 to 40.
“They say it’s to deal with pirates, so we should allow that much.”
“If we’re not careful, the Southeastern Islands and their dependencies could be at risk.”
To Han Myeong-hoe’s words, Kim Jong-seo smiled coldly as he responded.
“If they try anything, Ming won’t even be able to look at the sea. Even though it’s right in front of them.”
“That’s true, but…”
Seeing Han Myeong-hoe still unable to hide his concerns, Kim Jong-seo continued.
“It’s for the same reason we didn’t accept land in these negotiations.”
***
From the moment the naval battle began, the Empire started preparing for negotiations.
-Preparing for negotiations on the assumption of victory carries great risk.
Such opinions were raised, but both Hyang and Wan, as well as the ministers, were optimistic about this.
“If Ming’s cannons and warships performed as well as ours, I’d be worried, but since they don’t, victory is certain.”
Trusting the power of the Imperial Navy, Hyang, Wan, and the ministers were confident of victory.
In this atmosphere, while organizing the conditions to be presented to Ming, the first item to be raised and the first to be excluded was ‘territorial cession.’
“Why? Even if it’s just the Shandong Peninsula, if we acquire it, Ming won’t be able to come near the inner sea!”
To the objections of young officials including Han Myeong-hoe, Kim Jong-seo immediately asked back.
“Do we have the troops to defend it?”
“What?”
Kim Jong-seo explained the reason for excluding territorial cession.
-Taking the Shandong Peninsula as an example, units would need to be formed and stationed there immediately upon receiving it.
-The number of Ming nationals residing in the Shandong Peninsula is too great to evacuate them all.
-Ming will continuously strive to reclaim the Shandong Peninsula, and the Empire would need to commit significant forces to prevent this. This is not an easy task, especially considering the need to cross the sea.
-This is absolutely not a good idea considering the Empire’s situation, especially its population issues.
“…That’s why territorial cession was removed. In about 20-30 years, when the Empire’s population has doubled or tripled from its current size, then it might be worth taking.”
“Ah….”
At Kim Jong-seo’s words, the young officials nodded.
Meanwhile, Hyang explained another reason to Wan.
“If Ming loses in this war again, their people’s discontent will grow considerably. In such a situation, if our Imperial forces were stationed firmly in Shandong or elsewhere, that discontent would turn into hostility and trouble us. But if we take money instead, that discontent and hostility will be directed at the Ming court and emperor who took that money from their own pockets.”