After issuing orders and returning to his private chambers, Emperor Xuande wore a satisfied smile.
“The Crown Prince of Joseon put too much faith in his own excellence. No, not just the Crown Prince, but his father too.”
It was true that Joseon had shown remarkable growth in recent years. It was also true that as the nation grew wealthy, its military power had grown considerably.
And it was also true that the Crown Prince was connected to all of these developments. As a result, Joseon’s people, regardless of age or gender, showed strong loyalty to their King and Crown Prince.
However, this was only relative prosperity.
In terms of population, economic scale, territory, and military size, Joseon was only about 1/3 of Ming in all aspects.
Of course, this was an incredible capacity compared to Joseon’s population that had just barely surpassed ten million, but it was only relatively incredible.
Therefore, Emperor Xuande mocked the father and son, believing Sejong and Hyang had acted foolishly due to overconfidence in themselves.
“Hahaha! cough cough!”
Unable to contain his joy, Emperor Xuande burst into laughter before breaking into violent coughs. Seeing the blood on the handkerchief he had quickly raised to his mouth, Emperor Xuande muttered.
“Fortunate that I can resolve the Joseon matter before I die. It will be a good gift for later generations…”
***
To carry out Emperor Xuande’s orders, the Grand Secretary led a meeting with the Cabinet, Left and Right Commanders-in-Chief, various Ministers, and the leaders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot.
The atmosphere among those gathered for the meeting was very optimistic.
-Though Joseon’s military power must be considerable given how they decisively defeated the Liaodong army, that must be Joseon’s limit.
This was the common thought they held.
“How many troops can we mobilize immediately?”
To the Grand Secretary’s question, the Minister of War stepped forward to answer.
“We can move 500,000 troops immediately.”
“Isn’t that a bit few?”
“It would take at least three months to gather and move troops stationed in the south and coastal regions.”
“Still seems a bit few…”
“We could reinforce somewhat by withdrawing troops stationed in the north to guard against the Oirat.”
“The Oirat…”
At the Minister of War’s answer, the Grand Secretary stroked his beard while muttering.
Stroking his beard in thought, the Grand Secretary asked the Minister of War again.
“We can’t carelessly withdraw troops with the wolf-like Oirat in the north… 500,000 feels a bit insufficient, so let’s conscript able-bodied men from nearby. About 300,000? What do you think?”
At the Grand Secretary’s words, the Left Commander-in-Chief answered.
“Seems good. With those numbers, we can make the Joseon bastards use up all their gunpowder.”
***
Ming was as familiar with gunpowder weapons as Joseon. Therefore, they took great interest in Joseon’s gunpowder reserves and worked to obtain information.
Through such efforts, they had obtained intelligence that Joseon was importing massive amounts of saltpeter from Tianzhu – specifically the Bengal Sultanate.
As soon as they obtained this information, the greatly concerned Ming immediately moved to counter it.
Their first thought was to pressure Tianzhu to stop selling saltpeter to Joseon.
However, this was impossible. Tianzhu lay outside Ming’s sphere of influence and was powerful in its own right. Additionally, they would certainly profit greatly by playing between Ming and Joseon.
Therefore, what Ming implemented was greatly reducing their sulfur supply to Joseon.
Simultaneously, they investigated how much sulfur Joseon was importing from Japan while quietly putting pressure on the Muromachi Shogunate.
-It’s fine to sell the same amount as before, but don’t sell more. In exchange, we’ll provide more support.
The Muromachi Shogunate accepted Ming’s proposal, and Ouchi who overthrew the Muromachi Shogunate had no choice but to accept Ming’s proposal as well. This was because Ouchi hadn’t yet properly consolidated their power base.
Of course, during this process, Ouchi quickly sent a secret envoy to Joseon.
Upon hearing Ming’s proposal through the secret envoy, Hyang immediately answered.
-Accept Ming’s proposal.
After giving this answer, Hyang turned to the ministers with a sly smile.
“This way Ming will let their guard down. Completely.”
At Hyang’s words, all the ministers nodded with similar smiles.
Recording this scene, the court historian added a note:
-What Flower-holding Smile[1] is this?
And Ming fell for Hyang’s deception.
Befitting descendants of Song who first created gunpowder, Ming knew black powder well. Therefore, they could estimate how much gunpowder could be made from the amount of sulfur coming in from Ming and Japan.
“With this amount…”
Seeing the estimates, Emperor Xuande and Ming’s officials wore relieved expressions. Though the amount of saltpeter Joseon was importing was still considerable – no, even increasing slightly – it would be useless without sulfur.
“The increasing amount must be for storage. But it’s useless without sulfur anyway.”
***
This was why the Left Commander-in-Chief agreed with the Grand Secretary’s proposal.
“According to our intelligence, almost all of Joseon’s forces are armed with gunpowder weapons. Well, given Joseon’s small military numbers and the power of gunpowder weapons, that’s natural.”
As soon as the Left Commander-in-Chief finished speaking, the Right Commander-in-Chief continued.
“Besides, aren’t those Joseon bastards the type to jump up even from sleep at the mention of cannons?”
At the Right Commander-in-Chief’s words, everyone in the meeting room nodded. The Left Commander-in-Chief took up the Right Commander-in-Chief’s words and continued.
“No matter how powerful cannons are, they can’t kill tens of thousands with one shot, and not every gunner can hit their mark every time. Moreover, gunpowder is difficult to both make and store. They must have consumed considerable amounts at the Yalu River, and even if they busily manufacture and supply gunpowder, they’ll have to face our 300,000 we’re sending first. If they keep consuming like that, Joseon will have to face us empty-handed afterward.”
The plan was to use 300,000 as cannon fodder before properly striking at the Joseon army.
***
However, this was Ming’s miscalculation. Joseon had already solved their sulfur shortage problem.
Joseon had actively surveyed for sulfur mines within the Korean peninsula. Thanks to this, they had discovered not a few sulfur mines and were secretly mining them.
Moreover, they had the ultimate card in Great Snow Island. Great Snow Island had sulfur mines with considerable deposits. Not only that, but Joseon also obtained sulfur by refining the water from Great Snow Island’s famous sulfur hot springs.
***
“That resolves the land issue, but what should we do about the sea? I hear Joseon’s navy has very powerful warships?”
To the Grand Secretary’s question, the Right Commander-in-Chief stepped forward to answer.
“Indeed, until recently we were at a disadvantage compared to the Joseon navy. However, we too have continuously launched many warships, and we’re launching Great Fortune ships even more powerful than Joseon’s prized Challenger-class. This means we’ve gained the upper hand in the firepower battles that the Joseon navy boasts about.”
The Right Commander-in-Chief answered with a face full of pride.
***
With the appearance of Challenger-class and Haeung-class vessels, Ming’s navy had no choice but to be wary of the Joseon navy.
Until then, Ming’s naval vessels hadn’t evolved beyond traditional sailing ships. They were just slightly larger than ordinary merchant ships and carried armed soldiers, that was all. They hadn’t considered using cannons at all.
Therefore, the Ming navy until recently was outgunned not only by the Challenger-class and Haeung-class designed for full-scale artillery battles, but even by panokseon.
However, as a naval arms race developed with Joseon, Ming also built and launched large warships designed for artillery battles on a massive scale. Afterward, Ming’s navy could proudly engage in shows of force without being wary of Joseon forces.
***
The Right Commander-in-Chief continued speaking.
“Since Joseon has openly spoken of advancing into Liaodong, they’ll move to control the Yellow Sea. Then probably the naval bases of Hwanghae, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and the Left and Right Naval Commands of Jeolla will move. According to our intelligence, Hwanghae, Gyeonggi, and Chungcheong each have 10 to 15 Haeung-class ships, and Jeolla’s naval bases each have 20 plus 5 Challenger-class vessels. Then at best it would be around 90 ships. So…”
Before the Right Commander-in-Chief could finish, the Grand Secretary raised a question.
“From what I know, isn’t Joseon’s most powerful fleet in Gyeongsang? Why exclude Gyeongsang?”
“Gyeongsang won’t be able to move because of the Japanese pirates. The Japanese won’t miss this opportunity.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to assume the worst case? Hasn’t Joseon already firmly made up their mind?”
At the Grand Secretary’s words, all the other officials nodded as if agreeing.
Seeing the Grand Secretary’s and others’ reactions, the Right Commander-in-Chief answered.
“In that case, we’ll draw the Joseon navy toward Shandong.”
“Toward Shandong?”
“We’ll use the fortress built on the Shandong Peninsula for a pincer attack.”
At the Right Commander-in-Chief’s idea, the Minister of Rites pointed out an issue.
“Shandong is well known to Joseon. Wouldn’t they also know well that there’s a fortress?”
To the Minister of Rites’ point, the Right Commander-in-Chief explained the reasoning.
“They’ll have to come. Given Joseon’s capabilities, their best and only available tactic would be a short decisive battle staking everything. And for this, their best tactic would be to reach here, the Forbidden City, in the shortest time possible. If they come from Liaodong, they’ll get tied down at the Great Wall, so they’ll have no choice but to send forces by sea. To land a large army most quickly, they need a properly built port, and Shandong is the only such place.”
“Ah… I see.”
Nodding at the Right Commander-in-Chief’s explanation, the Minister of Rites muttered with a regretful expression.
“If there were still Joseon people remaining in Shandong, we could have used them effectively, what a shame.”
At the Minister of Rites’ words, the Grand Secretary also nodded.
“Though it would have been an unethical method, it would have been quite effective.”
Heo Hu, who had turned Emperor Xuande’s stomach last time, had evacuated everyone from the Joseon trading post in Shandong on his way back.
During this process, something happened that surprised the Ming people – as soon as Heo Hu mentioned “royal command,” all the Joseon people in the trading post immediately packed their bags without a word.
***
Having heard the Right Commander-in-Chief’s explanation, the Grand Secretary drew a conclusion.
“Hmm… So to summarize, the operation plan is already established, and the issue is timing. Correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Then let’s immediately report to His Majesty and have the imperial edict issued. From now on it’s truly a race against time.”
“Let’s do that.”
Having reached agreement, Ming’s officials sought out Emperor Xuande.
And the next day, Emperor Xuande’s edict was promulgated, and large-scale conscription began in Ming’s northern regions including Beijing.
As Ming also began moving in earnest like this, some young officials carefully expressed doubts.
“Was all this really started by the Eastern King’s unilateral action?”
“Looking at Joseon’s moves so far, they moved after carefully calculating everything. Did Joseon really underestimate our Ming’s strength? Or is it we who have underestimated Joseon?”