Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 716

716. The Second Yellow Sea Battle (14)

The Naval Headquarters in Nantong.

Inside the headquarters’ conference room, negotiation teams from the Empire and the Ming Dynasty were seated, ready to begin.

From the outset, the atmosphere was thick with tension as both sides engaged in a battle of wills.

The initial point of contention was who should enter the room first.

“Even if they’ve renamed themselves an Empire, Joseon has always been our vassal state! Naturally, Joseon should enter first!”

“It’s the Korean Federal Empire! And how long has it been since we broke free from being a vassal? Besides, Ming requested the negotiation, so they should have entered first and waited for us!”

“What! Then we refuse to negotiate!”

Kim Jong-seo, upon hearing the Ming envoys’ threat, snorted and turned to Jo Jin-woong.

“Hmph! The Imperial Army needs to step up their game.”

At Kim Jong-seo’s meaningful remark, Jo Jin-woong smirked and nodded.

“Indeed.”

Thus, the negotiation fell apart before it even began, and the Imperial Army gradually moved up the Yangtze River, systematically turning villages and cities near the river into ashes.

Eventually, five days later, a representative from the Ming negotiation team arrived.

“The head of the negotiation team has been replaced. We wish to resume negotiations.”

“Enter first.”

“…Understood.”

* * *

The next day, Kim Jong-seo and his delegation entered the negotiation room.

Inside, the Ming negotiation team, wearing sour expressions, was already waiting.

“Thank you for coming such a long way.”

Kim Jong-seo nodded lightly at the Ming delegation leader’s greeting and responded.

“Indeed. If someone hadn’t been meddling unnecessarily, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”

“Gnash!”

“Oh, dear! Do you have a problem with your teeth? Good teeth are one of the five blessings [longevity, wealth, health, love of virtue, and a peaceful death], tsk, tsk, tsk….”

The Ming delegation leader, who had been grinding his teeth at Kim Jong-seo’s clucking, barely managed to suppress his anger and continued.

“I am Zhang Jingguo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, responsible for this negotiation.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t want to negotiate.”

Kim Jong-seo immediately rose from his seat at Zhang Jingguo’s introduction.

“Why are you doing this?”

Zhang Jingguo urgently asked the reason, but Kim Jong-seo retorted with a face full of displeasure.

“You should have already received the list of names of our Imperial negotiation team, shouldn’t you? Yet, the Vice Minister is here as the head? You’re making a mockery of the Empire! I see very well Ming’s attitude towards this negotiation! You want war, not negotiation!”

With those words, Kim Jong-seo stormed out of the negotiation room.

With the negotiations breaking down once again, the Imperial Army resumed its destructive rampage.

Finally, three days later, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites stepped forward as the Ming negotiation representative, and negotiations resumed.

* * *

“These are the conditions our Empire demands from Ming.”

As Kim Jong-seo finished speaking, Han Myeong-hoi, who was present as an aide, handed over a scroll.

The Minister of Rites took the scroll, unrolled it, and sighed deeply after reviewing the contents.

“Haa….”

The conditions presented by the Empire were as follows:

– The naval ports of Tianjin, Weihai, and Qingdao will not be rebuilt.

– No naval ports will ever be built north of the Shandong Peninsula, including the three locations above. However, small ports for commerce or fishing are permitted.

– Ming will limit the number of warships to avoid creating unnecessary tension between the two nations.

The total number of large treasure ships shall not exceed 20, and the combined number of medium and small ships shall not exceed 100.

The construction of ultra-large warships like the Twin-Headed Dragon is prohibited.

– Ming will compensate the Korean Federal Empire for the economic losses incurred due to this war.

The compensation will be equivalent to 70 million taels [a unit of currency in Imperial China] of gold, paid in kind, silver, or other resources.

– The types of resources used to compensate in place of silver will be designated by the Empire, and the value will be determined by the Empire. However, Ming officials will be present to verify this process.

“Haa….”

As the Minister of Rites continued to sigh, Kim Jong-seo chuckled and spoke.

“Even so, our Empire has made many concessions, wouldn’t you agree? Our Emperor is truly benevolent, showing such mercy even to the enemy….”

‘Mercy, my foot! Who was it that started all this!’

The Minister of Rites, forcibly swallowing the words that were about to burst out, opened his mouth with difficulty.

“The compensation is too high.”

“Oh? Is Ming, which promptly paid the 50 million taels of gold in compensation from the last war, now complaining?”

“That was….”

The Minister of Rites trailed off, unable to answer properly.

* * *

At the time of the previous war, Ming’s national power was at its peak.

Commerce and industry flourished under Emperor Xuanzong’s full support, and money flowed in from all directions.

Thanks to this, they had the financial capacity to pay a large sum of 50 million taels of gold as compensation.

However, that was not the case now. A large amount of finances had been spent to recover from the damage caused by the previous war and the internal strife.

And, from the moment they recovered from that damage, there had been enormous financial expenditures to rebuild the navy, including the construction of the Twin-Headed Dragon.

In the end, Ming’s finances were barely holding on.

‘Inflict a major blow to avenge ourselves, secure compensation, and ease the financial strain.’

This was Ming’s purpose in starting this incident.

* * *

“Haa….”

The Minister of Rites sighed deeply once more and questioned Kim Jong-seo.

“Let’s be honest. Do you think this compensation is reasonable? It wasn’t a full-scale war like the last one.”

“It is a full-scale war. You just didn’t see tens of thousands of troops moving at once like on land. You know very well that the number of troops mobilized by our Empire and Ming is considerable, don’t you?”

Kim Jong-seo’s words were true.

Even the smallest small ships had about 10 crew members, and the Challenger-class warships or large treasure ships, which were much larger and equipped with dozens of cannons, had at least 300 or an average of 500 crew members.

In short, the naval battle that had just taken place was a large-scale, full-scale war in which tens of thousands of troops were mobilized, just like on land.

“I admit that the number of troops mobilized is large. However, it’s not like the hundreds of thousands that were mobilized in the last war, is it? Naturally, it cannot be considered a full-scale war, and I believe the amount of compensation is excessive.”

“Do you know how much one warship costs? You have to consider that!”

“None of your ships sank! All the sunken warships are from our Ming!”

The Minister of Rites, shouting angrily, teared up in shame. Although he was stating the truth, it was such a shameful fact.

‘To think I have to beg while saying these things! How can I bear this shame!’

Kim Jong-seo, still smiling, responded to the Minister of Rites’ words.

“By divine grace, none of our Empire’s warships sank. However, many ships have suffered minor and major damage and require repairs. And, even if the ships avoided sinking, many soldiers were killed or injured, so we need funds to support them, don’t we?”

“Even so, it’s too much!”

“Then you shouldn’t have started this.”

“Eek!”

“My lord!”

The Minister of Rites, about to shout something at Kim Jong-seo’s words, suddenly lost consciousness and fell backward.

The negotiations were suspended due to the sudden accident.

“How about we resume when the Minister recovers his strength?”

Kim Jong-seo nodded at Zhang Jingguo’s request.

“I will accept the Vice Minister’s request. Let’s do that.”

“Then, in the meantime, could you please suspend hostilities for a while?”

Kim Jong-seo shook his head at Zhang Jingguo’s words.

“There will be no ceasefire if there is no negotiation. However, given the situation, I will request a halt to hostilities for two days.”

Zhang Jingguo bowed deeply with his fists clasped in front of him at Kim Jong-seo’s answer.

“I, Zhang, will not forget your 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 table.

Although the Minister of Rites returned, the negotiations remained stagnant due to the compensation clause.

“Alright. Then we will pay the compensation in installments.”

“Pay in installments? For how many years?”

“50 years!”

“Let’s just fight. It wouldn’t be bad to see Nanjing while we’re at it.”

“Then how many years would the Empire like?”

“10 years. I won’t haggle.”

The Minister of Rites, who had been calculating back and forth at Kim Jong-seo’s firm answer, proposed an alternative.

“Alright. 10 years. But! I would like to replace half of the compensation with land. We will give you the Shandong Peninsula.”

Kim Jong-seo, upon hearing the Minister of Rites’ proposal, immediately refused as if there was no need to think about it.

“We don’t need land. We will only accept silver and resources in installments over 10 years.”

The negotiations continued after that. However, since the Empire held the upper hand, Ming had no choice but to be dragged along.

Even during that time, the Imperial Army was diligently conducting military demonstrations around the Yangtze River.

In the end, the Ming negotiation team had no choice but to accept the Empire’s demands.

However, the Empire also made a slight concession, increasing the number of large treasure ships from 20 to 40.

“They say it’s to deal with pirates, so we should at least allow that much.”

“If we’re not careful, the Southwest Islands and affiliated systems could be in danger.”

Kim Jong-seo smirked at Han Myeong-hoi’s words and responded.

“If that happens, Ming will not be able to see the sea. Even though the sea is right in front of them.”

“That’s true, but….”

Kim Jong-seo continued, seeing that Han Myeong-hoi still couldn’t hide his worries.

“It’s the same reason why we didn’t take land in this negotiation.”

* * *

The Empire began preparing for negotiations from the moment the naval battle began.

– Preparing for negotiations on the premise of victory carries a high risk.

Although such opinions were raised, Minister Hyang, Minister Wan, and other officials were optimistic.

“If Ming’s cannons and warships are as good as ours, then we would be worried, but if not, victory is assured.”

Minister Hyang, Minister Wan, and the other officials were confident of victory because they trusted the power of the Imperial Navy.

Amidst that atmosphere, while organizing the demands to be presented to Ming, the first thing that came up and the first thing that was excluded was ‘territorial cession [the act of ceding land].’

“Why is that? If we get even the Shandong Peninsula, Ming will not be able to come near our inner sea!”

Kim Jong-seo immediately retorted at the opposition from young officials, including Han Myeong-hoi.

“Do we have the troops to defend that place?”

“Yes?”

Kim Jong-seo explained the reason for excluding territorial cession.

– Taking the Shandong Peninsula as an example, as soon as we receive the cession, we must organize and station a unit to defend that place.

– The number of Ming people living on the Shandong Peninsula is too large to evacuate all of them.

– Ming will continue to try to regain the Shandong Peninsula, and to prevent this, the Empire must invest considerable forces. Especially since we have to cross the sea, it is not an easy task.

– This is absolutely not a good thing considering the Empire’s situation, especially the population problem.

“…That’s why I excluded territorial cession. If the Empire’s population increases to two or three times its current size in about 20 to 30 years, then it would be worth taking.”

“Ah….”

The young officials nodded at Kim Jong-seo’s words.

Meanwhile, Minister Hyang explained another reason to Minister Wan.

“If we lose again in this war, the dissatisfaction of the Ming people will also increase considerably. In that situation, if our Imperial Army is firmly entrenched in Shandong or other places, that dissatisfaction will turn into hostility and torment us. However, if we receive money, that dissatisfaction and hostility will be directed towards the Ming court and the Emperor, who took that money from their pockets.”