Kim Jong-seo’s eyes sparkled as he presented his thoughts to Hyang.
“Your Majesty, as you have stated, it would indeed be fortuitous if Japan were to fragment into factions. In light of this, I believe it would be prudent to secretly support those powerful lords who harbor strong resentment toward the Ōuchi clan.”
Hyang shook his head at Kim Jong-seo’s suggestion.
“I too had considered such a course of action. However, what appears beneficial at first glance would prove detrimental in the long run. For you see, properly building military strength requires substantial backing, and providing such support inevitably leads to an increase in their overall capabilities.”
The ministers did not immediately grasp Hyang’s meaning. After a moment’s reflection, however, both Min Sin and Kim Jeom exclaimed in understanding.
“Ah!”
Seeing their reaction, Hyang allowed himself a slight smile before speaking. “Left Deputy Prime Minister, share your thoughts.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kim Jeom cleared his throat before continuing. “To increase their capabilities means to implement policies for national wealth and military strength.”
While the other ministers nodded at Kim Jeom’s words, their expressions still showed confusion, as if asking ‘So what?’
Noting their bewilderment, Min Sin interjected. “This isn’t about foreign invasion—it’s civil war. While soldiers may perish, most of the common people who maintain the economy would survive, would they not? In essence, we would be using our resources to fatten Japan.”
“Ah!”
The ministers let out a collective exclamation of understanding as Min Sin finished speaking.
Hyang silently mused to himself, The Imjin War was fought with capabilities cultivated during the Sengoku period. And that wasn’t all—the subsequent civil wars were equally massive in scale!
Japan lost approximately 170,000 troops during the Imjin War and Jeongyu War. The civil wars that followed also mobilized enormous armies. For instance, the Battle of Sekigahara alone involved around 170,000 troops between both sides. This was merely two years after the Japanese invasions had ended, yet they had already replenished their military losses from the wars.
This was clear evidence that Japan’s capabilities were more than sufficient to sustain such losses.
After confirming the ministers’ understanding, Hyang continued. “As the Left Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense have pointed out, strengthening the Ōuchi clan’s opponents would result in using our resources to enrich the Japanese. If we consider Japan’s current capabilities as ten, the Ōuchi clan holds at least six or seven of that strength. In such circumstances, to build up forces capable of challenging the Ōuchi clan, we would need to provide support equivalent to four or five units. To increase the probability of success, we would need to support at least two or three lords. If we assume three lords and aim to build each to a strength of five, how many resources would we need to invest? By my estimation, at least twelve to fifteen units. This would increase Japan’s total capabilities from ten to twenty-two or even twenty-five. No, it would grow even larger as the Ōuchi clan would also strengthen themselves. After accounting for losses from conflicts with the Ōuchi clan, their remaining capabilities would still be seventeen to twenty at minimum. That’s a conservative estimate. In essence, we would be spending our resources to double Japan’s strength. Does this not strike you as a historically foolish endeavor?”
I studied and witnessed such futile efforts in the 21st century.
The United States in the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union in the Afghan War, and later the United States again in Afghanistan in the 21st century had committed similar mistakes.
To maintain pro-American regimes in Vietnam, pro-Soviet regimes in Afghanistan, and later anti-Taliban governments in Afghanistan, the United States and Soviet Union provided massive amounts of supplies, weapons, and funding.
All ended in catastrophic failure.
“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty.”
Kim Jong-seo bowed his head deeply, but Hyang smiled and shook his head.
“No need—I initially had the same thought.”
Hyang elaborated further on his reasoning. “This is why I’m considering the aftermath of the Ōuchi clan consolidating everything. In such a scenario, the probability of Japan’s capabilities growing rapidly would be greatly reduced.”
As several ministers nodded in agreement, Hwangbo In posed another question.
“Your Majesty, considering their recent request, might the Ōuchi clan’s influence be less than we anticipated, or their situation more dire?”
Answering on Hyang’s behalf, Heo Hu responded, “If that were the case, they wouldn’t have settled for merely sending this trivial diplomatic note, even after sending an adopted son. Moreover, the adopted son’s reaction to His Majesty’s proposal will tell us everything. If Minister of Justice’s speculation is correct and their situation is urgent, they would accept immediately without question. If not, they would delay their decision.”
Hyang nodded in agreement. “My thoughts exactly.”
After pausing to wet his throat with a sip of tea, Hyang continued. “The division I spoke of would take at least thirty years to become visible, possibly up to a hundred years. Yet I advocate for this plan because of history’s lessons. Whether we look at the Spring and Autumn period, the Three Kingdoms period of Wei, Shu, and Wu, or our own Three Kingdoms and Later Three Kingdoms periods, we see a pattern. While the era of competing powers often brings devastation through warfare, it equally often leads to economic prosperity. This is because all those vying for hegemony pursue policies of enriching their states and strengthening their militaries. However, once someone achieves hegemony, they typically seek to eliminate the military power of all competitors except their own loyal forces. As a result, the total military strength becomes significantly less than during the period of competing powers. They also lose interest in external affairs, leading to internal decay while ignoring the outside world.”
This was evident in Joseon’s situation after the Japanese and Manchu invasions, as well as in Japan after the Tokugawa shogunate fully established itself.
During the height of the Japanese invasions and just before the Manchu invasions, Joseon had actively developed matchlock gun units. However, as time passed after the Manchu invasions and the international situation stabilized, interest in national defense diminished. Later, during the era of in-law politics, internal problems became severe, leading to collapse under foreign powers.
Japan’s transformation was even more dramatic.
During the Sengoku period, Japanese lords maintained relatively active foreign relations, especially with the West, to survive. This led to the rapid adoption and spread of matchlock guns, the popularity of Western-style armor known as Nanban armor, and a significant increase in the number of Japanese Catholics.
However, after the Tokugawa shogunate fully established itself, Western interactions were drastically reduced. National diplomatic policy became conservative, leading to isolation, and Catholics faced severe persecution, nearly leading to their extinction.
Despite this, Japan’s internal situation remained stable, causing samurai swords to become mere decorations as civil administration became the prevailing trend.
This continued until Commodore Perry forcibly opened their ports, eventually leading to the fall of the shogunate.
“… Therefore, we must take the long view.”
As Hyang concluded, all the ministers nodded in agreement.
“There is a saying that ‘A hundred years is too short for rising prosperity, but a nation can fall in an instant.’ However, while the moment of fall may be brief, the path to that fall takes at least thirty to hundred years. So let us think long-term. This benefits us as well. For now, having just Ming as a nation to constantly watch and guard against is sufficient.”
The ministers unanimously bowed their heads and responded, “Your Majesty’s words are most wise! We believe proceeding according to Your Majesty’s strategy would be most prudent!”
Thus began the development of policies toward the Ōuchi clan, based on Hyang’s “Shackles Strategy.”
That evening, the ministers gathered for drinks at a gisaeng house in Dadong.
As wine cups were passed around and gisaeng songs lifted the mood, Hwangbo In asked Heo Hu, “Lord Minister, may I ask you one thing?”
“Speak your mind.”
“Among His Majesty’s words, do you truly believe a dynastic revolution would be possible?”
Heo Hu responded immediately, “I believe it would be.”
“Even though the Emperor has been a figure of centuries-long lineage, despite lacking real power? Would the Japanese people readily accept such change?”
Heo Hu emptied his wine cup and replied with a slight smile, “Ji-bong has forgotten his own words? The Emperor has lost all real power to the Shogunate. The people’s opposition? From what I understand, only the people of Kyoto and its surrounding areas remain loyal to the Emperor. In other regions, people are more loyal to their local lords than to the Emperor.”
“Still…”
“Think of Gaegyeong. And why do you think those monkey-like Japanese of the Ōuchi clan brought the Emperor out of Kyoto? Aren’t they simply imitating what our Great Founder King Taejo did with the capital relocation?”
Hwangbo In finally nodded in understanding. Watching his reaction, Heo Hu suddenly frowned.
“Speaking of the Great Founder King reminds me—revising the posthumous titles of our previous kings has become quite a headache.”
Hwangbo In’s expression also darkened at these words.
With Joseon’s transformation into the Great Han Federal Empire, the posthumous titles of previous kings needed to be changed. Originally, this should have been completed before declaring the empire, but Hyang had presented them with a challenging task.
- Until now, we have followed Chinese conventions in determining posthumous titles. But now that Joseon has become the Great Han Federal Empire and emerged from China’s shadow, establish our own independent conventions.
For the ministers, this was an unprecedented challenge they had never considered.
As a result, they were now thoroughly examining not only Chinese standards but also the conventions of neighboring countries and even Western practices to determine the best approach.
Two days later, Heo Hu summoned Norihiro.
“His Majesty has reached a decision after careful consideration.”
“Ah! What answer has he given?”
Norihiro waited for the response with an expression mixed with hope and concern. Observing his reaction, Heo Hu began to speak.
“His Majesty said…”
After hearing the Emperor’s conditions through Heo Hu, Norihiro’s expression became troubled.
“Must we absolutely accept these conditions?”
“His Majesty stated thus: ‘While maintaining friendly relations between our Empire and Japan would certainly benefit both nations, maintaining proper boundaries is essential for mutual trust.'”
“Our shogunate has absolutely no intention of betraying our trust with Joseon!”
In response to Norihiro’s protest, Heo Hu adopted a slightly uncomfortable expression and replied, “Of course, we are not unaware of this. However, considering the history between Japan and our nation…”
Heo Hu deliberately left his words hanging, and Norihiro, looking even more troubled, silently cursed.
Those useless thieves!
The ‘thieves’ Norihiro cursed were the wakō pirates.
Looking back through history, wakō had been terrorizing the Korean peninsula since the Three Kingdoms period. Particularly, their raids during the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods were nothing short of terrifying.
Therefore, faced with this indirect response suggesting that ‘perfect trust is impossible,’ Norihiro had no counter-argument.
Finally, Norihiro had no choice but to defer the decision to Mochiyori.
“I understand. I shall report this to the Shogun and return with his answer.”