At the Minister of Rites’ assertion, all the ministers fell silent in thought.
After a long silence, the Cabinet Assistant Counselor was the first to speak.
“It seems the current situation is forcing us to make unwanted choices.”
All the ministers nodded at the Cabinet Assistant Counselor’s words.
“Well then, let’s revise based on the Minister of Rites’ proposal. Beyond the 800,000, how many more can we add?”
To the Cabinet Assistant Counselor’s question, the Left Commander calculated briefly and answered.
“250,000. We can pull out 100,000 cavalry and 150,000 infantry.”
At the Left Commander’s answer, the Minister of War threw out a question.
“100,000 cavalry? Isn’t that all the forces dealing with the Tartars?”
To the Minister of War’s question, the Left Commander immediately nodded.
“Correct. And the 150,000 infantry are troops guarding the Great Wall.”
“How could you!”
The Minister of War shouted at the Left Commander’s calm response. However, the Left Commander continued speaking with the same composed expression.
“We could barely manage timing for the 800,000 somehow. But didn’t the Minister of War say additional troops would be impossible? To meet that timing, we can only pull from troops who have already completed training.”
“Have you forgotten this will create problems for northern defense?”
To the Minister of War’s point, the Left Commander continued his explanation.
“If we operate purely defensively, we can hold out.”
The Left Commander stood up and walked to the map hanging on one side.
The Left Commander tapped the eastern portion of the Great Wall drawn on the map with his palm.
“According to our information, Joseon has already entered Liaodong. This means our greatest enemy is time. Therefore, we must advance the infantry units stationed in this eastern section of the wall to Liaodong, and gradually move units from the west eastward to fill the gaps. Naturally, our northern defense forces will weaken, but we must accept this. Our current situation is…”
The Left Commander paused briefly, took several deep breaths, and concluded.
“We lack the ability to face both the northern Tartars and Joseon simultaneously. Therefore, we must commit all our highly mobile northern cavalry and the units stationed in the far eastern wall to the war with Joseon. These already trained elites should be able to overwhelm Joseon sufficiently. Meanwhile, the north must hold out with purely defensive operations. That is the reality we face now.”
At the Left Commander’s words, the Cabinet Assistant Counselor showed a dejected expression.
“We boasted of a 3 million strong army, yet now we’re in a situation where we must only defend due to lack of troops… This is absurd.”
At the Cabinet Assistant Counselor’s words, the Minister of Revenue nodded and muttered.
“I’m beyond anger to the point of dejection. No, I can’t contain my anger at myself. We forgot why the ancients left us the saying ‘look again after four years’…”
The Minister of Revenue couldn’t contain his regret.
***
While the Ministry of Personnel handled state administration, it was the Ministry of Revenue’s responsibility to verify Ming’s economic situation for accurate tax administration, as well as handle finance, revenue, and expenditure-related tasks.
Naturally, the Ministry of Revenue’s officials and minister didn’t just hear about Ming’s economic growth through words – they felt it physically. Everyone in the Ministry of Revenue couldn’t hide their pride seeing the economic scale and currency usage growing faster each year.
“Our Ming is truly the center of the world! All wealth under heaven flows to us!”
Intoxicated by economic development beyond their imagined limits, they had forgotten about Joseon.
Rather, they had ridiculed the ‘self-produce, self-buy’ movement arising among the common people.
“Ha! How much can they sell in that palm-sized country!”
“They’re just a country that makes and sells luxury goods and strange devices like iron horses!”
Now they had been driven to a critical crisis by the country they had ridiculed so.
***
The meeting continued at length, but ultimately plans were settled around the Left Commander’s proposal.
“What about mobilizing the Embroidered Uniform Guard troops? Aren’t they unmatched in elite training?”
The Minister of Rites proposed mobilizing the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but the Minister of War and both commanders all shook their heads.
“The Embroidered Uniform Guard is our final bastion! They absolutely must not leave Beijing!”
“Indeed! In the current situation, if the north is breached, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would be the only force to defend Beijing!”
“If the north is breached while the Embroidered Uniform Guard is absent, we’ll just have to sit and watch the moment of our nation’s downfall!”
Finally, the Minister of Rites’ proposal was nullified.
***
The Cabinet Assistant Counselor personally took the document outlining the plan to Emperor Xuande.
Unable to even come out to the main hall and receiving treatment in his bedchamber, Emperor Xuande examined the contents of the plan personally submitted by the Cabinet Assistant Counselor.
After examining the contents several times, Emperor Xuande let out a long sigh.
“Haah~. So in the end, there’s no answer except ‘removing the lower stone to prop up the upper’?”
At Emperor Xuande’s question, the Cabinet Assistant Counselor prostrated himself and bowed his head.
“Though we did our best, we couldn’t think of any better plans! Please punish our incompetence!”
“Huu~.”
Seeing the Cabinet Assistant Counselor pleading his own guilt, Emperor Xuande sighed again and held out the document.
“Execute it as written. We too think there is no other way in the current situation. Do your utmost to succeed.”
“We will stake our lives on its success!”
After the Cabinet Assistant Counselor withdrew with approval, Emperor Xuande ordered the eunuchs standing nearby.
“Wait outside. I wish to be alone for a moment.”
Left alone in the bedchamber after the eunuchs departed, Emperor Xuande muttered with a gloomy expression.
“I expected an easy victory, but now we face a life-or-death battle… Where did things go wrong? How did I end up like Xiang Yu?”
Emperor Xuande couldn’t understand the current crisis.
From military power to economic strength supporting the war, Ming was overwhelmingly superior to Joseon in every aspect.
Therefore, from the beginning of planning, Emperor Xuande hadn’t even considered large-scale conscription of the people.
“Three million soldiers! Though we could mobilize all for border defense issues, we can mobilize minimum 1 million, maximum 1.5 million without problems! Even that much should be sufficient to deal with Joseon which can only mobilize about 300,000!”
However, situations didn’t flow according to his intentions.
The invasion of Joseon using Zhu Qizhen ended in failure, and conversely, Joseon advanced into Liaodong. The carefully nurtured navy was annihilated in just one naval battle.
As the nation’s waist was cut more than half by the rampaging Japanese pirates pushed in by Joseon, state affairs fell into partial paralysis.
“Just why? Why? Where from?”
Emperor Xuande suffered, unable to understand where he had made his first wrong move.
***
Meanwhile, there were those in Hanseong who had similar questions. Most representative were the Wan brothers.
“Common sense says such a situation simply couldn’t happen…”
“Right, brother. What kind of country is Ming? A country that easily overwhelms our Joseon’s capabilities. How did Grandfather and Father create such a situation?”
Unable to find proper answers even putting their heads together, the three brothers sought out Hyang.
“…Therefore, we have come to Father. Please give us your teachings.”
To Wan’s request as representative, Hyang looked at the brothers with his arms folded.
“Have you examined the Office of Records’s records?”
“We examined the records concerning ‘Eastward Expansion’.”
“Then you should know?”
“Even after reading the records, we still don’t quite understand the current situation.”
“Which part?”
“The part where Ming collapses so easily.”
To Wan’s answer, Hyang immediately replied.
“It appears easy because the preparation time and mindset were different.”
“Pardon?”
Hyang began giving a special lecture to the three brothers. The Four who happened to be present started sparkling their eyes.
What an unexpected fortune!
Hyang sitting before them was one who had been active since the beginning of the Reformation along with King Sejong. Getting a proper explanation through him was unprecedented luck.
After wetting his throat briefly, Hyang began his explanation:
-From the start of the Reformation and establishing ‘Eastward Expansion,’ Joseon was prepared for conflict with Ming.
However, looking at the process before and after this invasion started by Zhu Qizhen, Ming’s preparation time was not long.
-Because we were prepared for conflict from the start, we systematically executed the foundational work needed to properly carry this out.
Foundational work means everything related to military system reform, strengthening communication methods, weapons improvement, reserve force creation, training, mobilization, and supply.
Because we prepared this systematically from the start, not only officials but even the common people became familiar with the situation.
Therefore, even when massive troop mobilization occurred quickly like this time, no major confusion appeared.
-Additionally, we continuously examined Ming’s situation to find weak points, and deliberated on the optimal means to exploit these.
After explaining various other things, Hyang concluded thus:
“Because we worked hard deliberating to find the best moves, this result emerged.”
As soon as Hyang finished speaking, Wan immediately asked a question.
“If we didn’t use methods like this time and instead Joseon and Ming clashed head-on, what would happen?”
“Head-on collision? You mean a situation where Ming prepares properly, we prepare properly, and we engage in full-scale war?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then either Joseon would win very painfully or it would end in a ceasefire full of wounds. Worst case would be defeat. Because Ming overwhelms us in every aspect except technology.”
“Then is strategy the only way for a small country to achieve victory against a large country?”
At Wan’s question, Hyang’s expression turned fierce.
“What do you think the orthodox method in military science means? It means hiding your weaknesses as much as possible while attacking the enemy’s weaknesses with all your might. Achieving victory before fighting and winning with minimal casualties is the orthodox method. Stubbornly insisting on full-scale war without examining Heaven’s timing, geographical advantages, and human factors is merely a foolish strategy.”
At Hyang’s point, Wan bowed his head and answered.
“This son was foolish.”
“Think once more about everything.”
“I will engrave it in my bones and heart.”
As soon as Wan finished answering, Du asked Hyang.
“Then can a small country always defeat a large country if they use the methods our Joseon used?”
“It would depend on the case. If the problematic large country acts intoxicated with its own power like current Ming, it would be useful, but if not, it would be useless.”
The best examples would be Qing during the imperialist era, and America after getting hit at Pearl Harbor.
Qing, which only believed in its own power during the imperialist era, became tasty prey for the European powers. Conversely, America, which took one hit at Pearl Harbor, immediately entered total war footing and paid Germany and Japan back in kind.
Though even mighty America got beaten for over a year…
***
While Emperor Xuande in Beijing was reviewing what mistakes he had made, Ming’s situation continued to worsen.
The 100,000 Japanese who had landed on the Shandong Peninsula were turning Ming’s central regions into chaos.
The Regional Military Commissioners of the provinces in that region mobilized troops to stop the Japanese, but defeats were more common than victories.
What especially worsened the situation was that among the plundering Japanese were considerable numbers wielding iron guns.
The Japanese, who had become familiar with iron guns and gun troops through their recent civil war, operated gun troops more skillfully than Ming’s gun troops.
***
While Ming’s central regions were being turned to chaos by the Japanese, the final hour was also approaching for Zhu Qizhen in Liaodong.
The Joseon army commanded by Choi Yoon-deok had finally arrived before Liaodong fortress.