Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 717

Episode 717: The Second Battle of the Yellow Sea (15)

“Thank you for your hard work…”

Hearing the gloomy voice of Emperor Gyeongtae, the Ye Bu Sang-seo and the negotiation team all knelt on the ground and wailed.

“Hehehe! your majesty! “Please kill the gods!”

“Please punish the incompetence of the minor gods!”

As the negotiating team wailed in unison, all the civil servants and eunuchs in Daejeon, starting with the Cabinet Secretary, knelt down and wailed in unison.

“Please kill me!”

“Hehehe! Please punish the small gods!”

As the cries of his subjects filled Daejeon, Emperor Gyeongtae raised his hand.

“Stop it. This is more of Jim’s fault. That’s why I won’t accuse you of anything. “Please discuss future measures.”

“Hwang Eun is devastated.”

The ministers bowed deeply and expressed their gratitude for Emperor Gyeongtae’s mercy, then stood up and refined their attire.

“Once again, future measures are the problem. There are many issues that need to be dealt with, such as the issue of compensation to be paid to Joseon, relief for those who lost property to the Joseon army, and the reconstruction of the navy that was once again in disarray. The first thing to consider is the issue of compensation. “Because this is where all the problems start.”

All the ministers nodded to Emperor Gyeongtae’s point.

“How much wealth is currently in the national treasury?”

Hobusangseo stepped forward and answered Gyeongtaeje’s question.

“When I first heard the news from Nantong, I immediately looked into it and found that it contained approximately 15 million taels of gold.”

“It’s 15 million taels of gold… how much would it be if converted to silver?”

“It’s 105 million taels of silver.”

“Whoa~. I heard that during the reign of King Seon-je, there was at least 30 million taels of gold in the national treasury even when there was a bad harvest. How can I see Emperor Seon when I die…”

At Emperor Gyeongtae’s lament, the ministers once again knelt down in unison.

“The incompetence of the gods….”

“Stop.”

Before the ministers could finish speaking, Emperor Gyeong raised his hand and cut them off.

“Again, we are in a situation where we must first talk about measures before judging who is at fault. “The police officers should first come up with countermeasures rather than just offering an apology.”

At those words, the Assistant Cabinet Secretary was the first to step forward.

“Joseon requested war reparations equivalent to 70 million taels of gold in silver or other resources designated by Joseon. Considering the exchange rate for gold and silver in Joseon, this amounts to 700 million cat of silver. If compensation is divided over 10 years, 70 million nyang of silver must be paid to Joseon every year. If this amount of silver were to escape, not only the government but also the lives of the people would be shaken. Therefore, I think it is best to replace it with resources rather than silver.”

“Resources… what resources do you think Joseon wants?”

“Here comes rice, sulfur, copper, iron ore, saltpeter.”

“I see…”

As Emperor Gyeong nodded his head, Ho Bu Sang-seo, who was next to him, answered.

“The good news is that we know the prices at which those resources are sold in Joseon through our merchants. Therefore, even if Joseon tries to use shallow tactics, we can block it.”

“Are we saying we should pay a minimum amount of spot silver and replace it with minerals?”

“That’s right.”

Gyeongtaeje thought for a moment about Hobusangseo’s answer and soon made a decision.

“Let the cabinet secretary work with other ministers to replace silver with resources.”

“I follow your orders.”

Gyeongtaeje, who decided on a solution to the compensation issue, moved on to the next step.

“Next is to restore the villages and towns devastated by this war and comfort the people. This is also an agenda item that requires a lot of financial expenditure. Should we raise taxes?”

As soon as Emperor Gyeongtae mentioned ‘tax increase’, the Cabinet Secretary came forward immediately.

“Tax increases are not possible! “If the current situation continues with increased taxes, the public sentiment will change.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m getting it back!”

As many ministers expressed their opposition, Emperor Gyeongtae asked another question.

“But aren’t finances the problem now?”

At Emperor Gyeongtae’s point, Daejeon suddenly became quiet. Emperor Gyeongtae sighed a little as he looked at the expressions of his ministers who had closed their mouths.

“Whoa~. Looking at the expressions on the officers’ faces, it seems like it’s an answer that’s difficult to give rashly. Speak. “I won’t criticize you.”

Even though Emperor Gyeongtae spoke, no one was willing to open their mouths. Eventually, the Cabinet Secretary came forward.

“This is possible if we reduce the budget for national defense.”

“Defense budget?”

“This is not to reduce the entire defense budget, but to preserve the budget for protecting the north but reduce the budget for rebuilding the navy. For the time being, only the remaining naval forces and front lines will be used, and only Nantong, which was excluded from the agreement, will be reconstructed as a military port. Then, although it is not enough, we will be able to secure significant financial resources, and if we save in other areas, it will be possible to cover costs without increasing taxes.”

“Then how will we defend the seas? Should we re-issue the ban on the sea that the Emperor abolished?”

“….”

In response to Emperor Gyeongtae’s question, the Cabinet Secretary was silent for a moment, then closed his eyes and answered.

“I’m leaving it to Joseon.”

“To Joseon?”

“In any case, the situation is such that Joseon has control of the sea, not only in the Yellow Sea but also in the South Sea. Therefore, tell them to keep the sea routes safe.”

Following the words of the Assistant Cabinet Secretary, the left-wing governor stepped forward.

“Are you planning to bring shame to our military? “You’re asking Joseon to protect the sea that we should protect!”

“Anyway, we suffered humiliation from this defeat. What’s the big deal about being humiliated once more? And if you use this well, you can gain many benefits against Joseon!”

Emperor Gyeongtae suddenly showed interest in the words of the assistant cabinet secretary who said, “There are many benefits.”

“There are many benefits… Please tell me in detail.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Cabinet Secretary talked about the benefits he thought.

-By showing weakness to Joseon, you can catch Joseon off guard. Of course, we may not let our guard down from the beginning, but we will definitely let down our guard after at least 20 years.

-If defense is entrusted to Joseon, Joseon will have to expend military funds. This can minimize as much as possible the wealth taken from us benefiting the empire.

Emperor Gyeongtae, who listened to the explanation of the assistant cabinet secretary, stroked his chin and muttered.

“Is it Taogwangyanghoe (????)?”

In response to Emperor Gyeongtae’s question, the Cabinet Secretary immediately bowed his head.

“That’s right. Just as Liu Bei humbled himself and endured it while he was Cao Cao’s guest, we must now thoroughly humble ourselves and endure. “If you wait and gain strength, the opportunity for revenge will come again!”

“Hmm…”

Gyeongtaeje, who was musing while stroking his beard at the words of the assistant cabinet secretary, soon made up his mind.

“I’ll do as Subo says. If you’ve already been humiliated, what’s the big deal about being humiliated once more? Instead, let’s take this incident as a lesson and prepare more thoroughly. “This is the same for the military.”

The left and right governors responded to the Gyeongtaeje’s decision with full authority.

“I follow the Emperor’s command.”

At that time, the minister of illness came forward and offered his condolences to Emperor Gyeongtae.

“your majesty. “I ask, Your Majesty, please allow us to select several of the large ships assigned to the navy and install steam engines on them.”

“A steam engine on a grand duplex? “Tell me why.”

“yes. In the future, it will become natural to attach steam engines to power lines. In that case, we need a lot of soldiers and military officers who are familiar with operating steam engines. This is not something that can be done in a day or two, so you need to train consistently. Also, if we continue to work with steam engines like this, we will be able to create increasingly superior steam engines, and we may even be able to overtake Joseon.”

“I allow it!”

As soon as the sermon on illness had finished speaking, Emperor Gyeongtae gave his permission.

* * *

The post-war recovery plan that Emperor Gyeongtae and his ministers worked together to establish for several days was immediately implemented.

The first people to feel relieved when they saw the restoration policy implemented by the Ming court were the Ming people.

“Whoa~. “I was worried that you might have symptoms…”

“That’s right.”

People who knew the history of the past, where symptoms usually continued after a war ended, heaved a sigh of relief when they heard that there were no symptoms.

“Don’t you think this emperor is a saint?”

“If you look at how the past war and civil war were resolved, you are definitely a successful military leader.”

“Except for hitting Joseon…”

“Shh!”

Before we knew it, there was a proverb going around among the people.

-When the emperor goes crazy, he crosses the Yellow Sea.

It was a proverb that was born in reference to the two times the empire was attacked and suffered painful defeats.

Meanwhile, it was common for literate people living as barbarians to talk about the same topics.

“If taxes had been increased, a civil unrest would have occurred.”

“I agree. “Especially if we lost to Joseon twice and taxes were increased, the people would immediately rise up.”

“Why did people who knew how to think like that think about attacking Joseon… Revenge is good, but protecting the enemy comes first…” * *

*

Meanwhile, the Empire was not all that excited.

“It is good that we received a large amount of compensation, but we are worried about prices…”

Officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of General Affairs were racking their brains over how to manage the silver and resources coming in as compensation.

What was lacking was funds and resources. If used well, it could make up for the empire’s shortcomings, but if it made even the slightest mistake, prices could skyrocket, making the situation even worse.

While the officials of the Ministry of General Affairs and the Ministry of Finance and Economy were contemplating this, Hyang was having a conversation with Wan.

“As expected, Myeong is Myeong.”

“That’s right.”

Wan nodded at Hyang’s words.

700 million taels of silver was a huge amount of money.

With this amount of money, we could develop the new paper without any worries for at least 20 years.

Therefore, the Hyang and ministers thought that it would be too much for the Ming.

So, when the Ming begged, I planned to add a few conditions – such as ‘the empire will be treated as a merchant state’ – as if it were a favor.

But Myeong accepted it. Of course, he proposed to replace it with land, but he did not even mention adjusting the amount itself.

‘As far as I know, the compensation Japan received during the Sino-Japanese War was less than this…’

In history before China’s intervention, Japan, which won the Sino-Japanese War, took over the Liaodong Peninsula and Taiwan and received 200 million taels of silver. I received compensation. This was equivalent to four years’ worth of the Japanese government’s budget at the time.

However, there was one thing that Hyang had forgotten: the annual budget of the Qing Dynasty at the time was 100 million taels of silver. The Qing Dynasty was an agricultural country that had not been properly modernized.

However, as history changed with the intervention of the township, agriculture as well as commerce and industry developed dramatically, and the economic scale also grew significantly.

“Anyway, the only thing that was always lacking was finances, but now that the compensation is coming, it’s like a sweet rain in a drought.”

“That’s right.”

“But you shouldn’t waste it carelessly. “They are still gnashing their teeth and looking for an opportunity to exact revenge.”

“I will keep this in mind. However, it seems that additional construction of assault return ships is unavoidable.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that.”

As compensation came in, the first thing decided was the additional construction of assault return ships.

-Just as the people created the two-headed dragon, other countries will also try to build ironclad ships. Especially why.

-In this situation, it is a problem that there are only two assault ships.

All ministers agreed to the Navy’s claim, and it was decided to build four additional ships.

The number of assault ships increased to 6, with 3 ships assigned to the Inland Sea Fleet and 3 ships assigned to the South Sea Fleet.

With the three ships deployed in this way, the Navy was able to complete the ‘three positions’ of the assault return ship that it had only dreamed of – one ship carrying out missions, one ship training, and one ship maintenance.