There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 308

I didn’t harbor any illusions that the Ming Dynasty would readily offer rewards.

Why?

Because the Ming Dynasty folks were fundamentally shameless.

‘There’s no way the Ming Dynasty would willingly give up their land.’

The Yongle Emperor, who was a master of betrayal, was already dead, but there was no guarantee others wouldn’t do the same.

People change their minds easily.

In extreme terms, they might just tell us to go back now that they’ve gotten what they wanted.

‘Of course, if they do that, we’ll have to show them a bitter taste.’

Didn’t the Song Dynasty lose half its territory to the Jin and Yuan dynasties because of that?

‘But right now, the Ming Dynasty isn’t in a position to be stubborn either.’

There’s one consensus within the Ming court.

That is, they can’t easily give up territory once it’s been established.

The One China principle is strongly in effect.

Considering that, they wouldn’t easily give up Liaodong or Liaoxi, even if they couldn’t defend them.

However, there was a loophole in the One China principle.

‘That’s the One Country, Two Systems.’

That is, the Prince of Shen.

It would remain as Ming territory on the map, but in reality, I would rule as the king of the vassal state.

“There are some additional benefits to this.”

“The lifting of the maritime ban, I presume.”

The Ming Dynasty had restrictions on maritime and foreign trade, and even trade was limited to tributary trade.

But if the so-called Liaodong State was formally Ming territory, it could evade the maritime ban.

‘We still need to be under the Ming umbrella for now.’

We can’t just declare independence and try to compete with Ming right away.

In the meantime, I’ll suck up all the honey I can.

===

“You’re going to carve out a large piece of Liaodong and Liaoxi to create a vassal state and give it to the King of Joseon?”

“That’s right.”

Yang Shiqi, on the other hand, was thinking positively.

“It’s fortunate that they’re not trying to swallow the Great Ming’s territory altogether.”

Yang Shiqi nodded at Jang Bo’s words.

“Above all, the privileges of a prince can be revoked when the opportunity arises.”

King Chungseon, the only person who served as both King of Goryeo and Prince of Shen, couldn’t maintain it for long.

He was pushed out of power and had to hand over the Goryeo throne to his son, King Chungsuk, and the Shen throne to his nephew, Wang Go.

In the process, the Prince of Shen lost much of his original control over Shenyang Road and influence in Liaodong, and was reduced to a nominal position.

Someday, all privileges could be taken away, and they could be left to run only a nominal royal court like other princes.

It’s impossible right now, and it may never happen.

“The only downside is…”

“They might try to interfere in central politics by claiming to be a prince within the Great Ming.”

Yang Shiqi had considered that risk as well.

Just thinking about the mahjong games that the Great Ming’s officials were holding at the Huotongguan [a strategic mountain pass] every day made Yang Shiqi’s head ache.

“Surely they wouldn’t do that.”

But Yang Shiqi tried to suppress his worries.

“The King of Joseon is the uncle of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so he might try to act like an elder of the imperial family, but even the highly regarded princes wouldn’t dare to step out of line, so it’s probably an unnecessary worry.”

Just look at Prince Ying, Zhu Quan, the Crown Prince’s uncle, who is quietly living his life writing poetry.

“If we set a precedent of dividing territory to overcome crises, those with ulterior motives will surely try to use it in the future.”

It was a compromise, but Yang Shiqi came to a conclusion.

From Ming’s perspective, they just needed to buy some time.

Time to reorganize the internal affairs and restore the defense of the north.

‘In about a generation, when the current Great-Grandson ascends the throne.’

The Crown Prince was gentle and had a deep affection for Joseon, so he wouldn’t try to interfere with Joseon’s interests, but the Great-Grandson was different.

Also, by the time of his reign, a considerable amount of time would have passed and Ming’s national power would have recovered.

That was Yang Shiqi’s plan for the future.

===

“You’re going to ascend the throne here in Beijing?”

“That’s right, Uncle.”

The Crown Prince did not ascend the throne until he had retrieved Yongle Emperor’s body and confirmed it with his own eyes, even after hearing of his death.

I don’t know if it’s because of his extreme filial piety or if there’s some political intention hidden behind it.

But the intention of ascending the throne in Beijing was obvious.

‘It must be a sense of crisis.’

It was obvious that Ming’s capital would be returning to Nanjing anyway.

Beijing was destroyed and the Crown Prince hated it.

Most of the court officials next to him were Jiangnan gentry based in Jiangnan [a region south of the Yangtze River known for its wealth and culture].

The Yongle Emperor’s capital relocation project completely lost momentum with his death.

Perhaps Beijing will never be discussed as the capital again.

However, the court officials can’t completely abandon Beijing, which should serve as the headquarters of the Great Wall.

‘Perhaps it will remain as a secondary capital in name only.’

That’s why Yongle Emperor is buried here and the Crown Prince’s enthronement is held in Beijing.

Even future emperors can’t abandon the place where their predecessors are buried and enthroned.

Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi lightly grumbled that he didn’t like the desolation of Beijing.

“Uncle will also attend the enthronement ceremony, right?”

“Of course.”

I nodded.

My existence is also one of the reasons why the Crown Prince is ascending the throne in Beijing.

The King of Joseon, the number one vassal state, was personally attending to support the Crown Prince’s enthronement.

I can’t follow him to Nanjing, can I?

‘Is this also Yang Shiqi’s idea?’

He’s a clever minister, but a cunning man.

I could pretend to be sick and go back to my country to disrupt his grand plan, but there’s no need to splash mud on the Crown Prince, who gets along well with me.

I’ll give him this much service.

‘Because I got that much land.’

The two largest rivers to use as a border in Liaoxi are the Luan River and the Daling River.

Of course, we insisted on the Luan River border.

However, it was pointed out that the Luan River was too close to Beijing.

‘That shameless Yang Shiqi even told me to take the Daling River, didn’t he?’

Damn it.

How far is it from the Liao River to the Daling River that you’re trying to give that away and be done with it?

After a difficult tug-of-war, the border of the vassal state was decided to be up to Jinzhou in the middle.

This was because Ming was in a position where they had to ask us for favors regarding the enthronement.

“In the current situation, it might have been better to give them the Luan River.”

The Crown Prince said with a troubled face.

“Is it because of the Uriyangkhai?”

“There are already many places to worry about, but now that the Uriyangkhai have settled in Daining, I don’t know how far I can go.”

The Uriyangkhai took Daining above Liaoxi.

From the Crown Prince’s point of view, it was obvious that Liaoxi would soon become a mess, so it might have been better to hand over the entire border defense to outsourcing.

However, if the newly enthroned Crown Prince handed over the entire Liaoxi, he didn’t know what he would hear, so he eventually compromised by handing over only half of it.

‘The Crown Prince can’t help but be conscious of the stability of his regime.’

“It’s not just Liaoxi. We need to stop the foreign expeditions immediately and focus on stability.”

The Crown Prince wiped his chubby face with a handkerchief as he spoke.

He had won the throne succession war, but he still had the mission of solving the people’s livelihood problems caused by excessive foreign expeditions and construction projects.

But that wasn’t easy either.

The White Lotus Sect had already started a rebellion in Shandong, so it had to be suppressed, and the northern defenses had to be restored.

“And Annam is also rebelling, isn’t it?”

“So we have to divide our troops again and send them there.”

For the Ming Dynasty, which had already lost its northern army, this was enough to make them cough up blood.

I shook my head and said.

“Annam is of a different race from Ming anyway, and its people are brave, so it’s difficult to continue to rule them.”

I don’t know how long Vietnam was under Ming rule, but I know it didn’t last forever.

Seeing that rebellions are already frequent, it won’t last long.

“Why don’t you just ennoble the king and make him a vassal state, as you initially claimed, and withdraw honorably?”

There’s no benefit to holding on to Vietnam, and the army and money are just being sucked in.

It would be better to give grace to the new dynasty and withdraw while maintaining face as the suzerain state.

“Hmm…”

The Crown Prince pondered deeply.

“I’ll take that to heart. I think it’s better to pull out when we can.”

I watched the Crown Prince, who had taken my sincere advice, nod his head and thought.

‘I wonder if we can get a piece of the pie.’

I’ve already greased the palms of the local clans in that area quite a bit.

Let’s tell them to cooperate with the new Annam government that will be established soon.

===

The Crown Prince set the reign title as Hongxi (洪熙) and ascended the throne in front of the only remaining Tiananmen Gate.

The enthronement ceremony was very grand, as if to wash away the stigma of being a rebel-ridden emperor.

With the King of Joseon and the envoys of the Uriyangkhai attending, he was able to establish quite a bit of prestige.

In addition, I was ennobled as the Prince of Shen by the Hongxi Emperor.

“When the two traitors assassinated and usurped Taejong (太宗, Yongle Emperor) and ravaged the territory, only the Royal Uncle (皇姑叔) Joseon Prince of Shen (朝鮮瀋王) rose up in anger and suppressed the traitors.

Ah! How can we not think of the grace of saving us from ruin (再造之恩). Therefore, we bestow the title of Prince of Shen and grant the land east of Jinzhou as a fief, so that it may be passed down to future generations.”

The Hongxi Emperor personally read out the edict.

Perhaps I am the first King of Joseon to be ennobled by the emperor himself, not an envoy.

Although it’s the title of Prince of Shen, not the King of Joseon, my subjects probably won’t see much difference.

Both sides were able to raise the authority of their countries to the fullest through the enthronement ceremony and the ennoblement ceremony, so it was truly a win-win situation.

“Let’s go back to Nanjing soon.”

As soon as the enthronement ceremony was over, the Hongxi Emperor headed south under the protection of layers of troops.

This was partly because the emperor himself did not like Beijing, but also because he could not leave the capital for too long.

‘Well, I guess it’s the same for me.’

It was also our turn to withdraw our troops and return.

In Hanyang [the capital of Joseon], my father was taking care of Dani and handling state affairs in my place, but it wouldn’t be good for the king’s absence to be too long.

I also had several tasks left.

The Hongxi Emperor made it clear that he intended to run the country with a focus on internal affairs.

For the time being, he would focus on restoring the Great Wall defenses, suppressing rebellions, and stabilizing the interior.

‘The Zheng He voyages will probably be stopped as well.’

Until now, I was burdened by the expansion of the Ming Dynasty, but that’s that.

What about the honey I’ve been sucking sweetly while riding on Zheng He’s fleet until now?

‘I wonder if there’s a way we can take it over.’

In addition, time passed quickly as I pondered ways to stabilize the newly acquired territory.

When passing through Liaodong, I formally opened the royal court in Shenyang and moved all the personnel who had been in charge of Liaodong’s administration in Liaoyang there.

At the same time, I weakened the foundations of the existing ruling forces that had taken root in Liaoyang.

The newly incorporated Jurchens were sent back to their tribes, but their children were sent to study abroad, just as they had been in Bukgye.

Until now, they had been walking a tightrope between Joseon and Ming, but that trick no longer works.

Since all sides are now Joseon territory, there’s nowhere to run, so they’ll obediently offer their children.

I’ll thoroughly brainwash them in Hanyang and send them back.

Having neatly taken care of things, I returned to the mainland in triumph.

“His Majesty is returning in triumph!”

“His Majesty has swept away the rebels and returned!”

The enthusiastic welcome of the capital’s residents.

It was an enthusiastic reception reminiscent of when I went to Hamheung with Yi Seong-gye.

‘Is this the high of a war hero?’

That’s why the people of Dongbukmyeon were so devoted to Yi Seong-gye.

I entered the palace feeling a subtle surge of emotion, but as soon as I entered the palace, an ominous atmosphere enveloped me.

Yi Bang-won, who had come out to greet me, stared at me.

“I heard you were hit by an arrow.”

“······.”

Who reported that so quickly?

I sighed to the heavens.

I hope it’s a bigger rice chest this time.

—

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End

ⓒ Pitkong