There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 376

377. The Queen Dowager (3)

The Wae [Japanese] ships, busily plundering from Ming [China], were small but surprisingly handpicked by Ouchi [a powerful Japanese clan].

They had mobilized a large number of Sekibune (関船) [a type of Japanese warship], built in the 1380s, which were considered state-of-the-art warships for the time.

These were the same ships that would later become known as the main force of the Wae [Japanese] army during the Imjin War [Japanese invasions of Korea, 1592-1598].

It was a big decision for Ouchi, but they would surely be defeated if they faced the Joseon [Korean] or Ryukyu [Okinawan] fleets.

However, these were not fleets meant to engage in naval battles against enemy fleets.

That was the job of a dignified nation’s army.

These were merely pirates, and they didn’t need ships that could fight and win against strong opponents.

They only needed to be lighter and faster, to strike where there were no enemies.

The pirate fleet, which roamed the southern coast of China, returned to Jeju Island [a Korean island], their intermediate base.

They planned to use up the goods and people they had plundered there, replenish their water and food supplies, and then set sail again.

Their area of operation was limited to the port, but the mere fact that they could prepare to set sail again without returning to Japan was a huge advantage.

As a result, Jeju Island had become a huge market where loot from various pirate groups was traded.

‘Should I head towards Shandong [a Chinese province] this time…?’

Yokotake Yorifusa, who was skimming through the Ming Dynasty [Chinese] map provided by Joseon [Korea], frowned as he noticed something strange.

“It seems like there are fewer ships?”

“Ah, it seems some haven’t returned yet.”

The difference between an army and a gang lies in discipline.

And the Wae [Japanese] pirates they had unleashed were closer to the latter.

Blinded by a series of jackpots, some were starting to disobey their direct superiors.

“Where did they go?”

“It seems they went to Joseon [Korea].”

Yorifusa clicked his tongue.

Privateer pirates were still pirates.

He had expected that some of them, with their short-sightedness and greed, would turn their swords against them, since he had let them run wild.

‘I just hope this doesn’t backfire on us.’

It would be a shame if such a good business were to be banned.

Fortunately, his subordinates would soon receive a good ‘lesson’, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to control their deviations in the future.

* * *

Originally, Joseon [Korea] used 13 types of ships, including large, medium-large, medium, and fast ships.

Even then, the ships of this period were built with irregular specifications, and there were special ship types such as the Chuwae Byeolmengseon (追倭別孟船) [ships specifically for chasing Japanese pirates] and Chuwae Byeolseon (追倭別船) [ships specifically for chasing Japanese pirates], making their operation difficult.

In the original history, this led to the development of Byeongjoseon (兵漕船) [military transport ships], or Maengseon [a type of Korean warship], which combined military and transport functions, unifying the ship types and using them until the Panokseon [a sturdy, oar-and-sail powered Korean warship] became the mainstream.

However, the story was a little different here.

Joseon [Korea] was able to copy the Treasure Ships used by Zheng He’s [a Chinese admiral] fleet through Joseon [Korean] engineers who had been sent to Ming Dynasty [China] for studies.

The benefits of the Treasure Ships, which could handle both domestic transport and ocean navigation without difficulty, became apparent, and Cheonghaejin [a fictional Korean naval base] began mass-producing them, quickly turning the existing ships into burdens.

They couldn’t compete with their new juniors in terms of transport volume or combat power.

While the ships operated by Cheonghaejin [a fictional Korean naval base] were moving to India, the Middle East, and even Europe, steadily absorbing their influence and developing, the existing ships were losing their merit even in Joseon’s [Korea’s] own waters.

It was only natural that there was talk of abolishing the coastal navy altogether, as it was only consuming costs.

“The Wae [Japanese] invaders no longer act wildly, Cheonghaejin [a fictional Korean naval base] is entirely in charge of transport, and the naval bases (Suyeong, 水營) [Korean naval bases] are of no help in sea battles.

Wouldn’t it be better to abolish the coastal navy altogether?”

“That is correct. In recent years, the naval forces of each province have been of no help, and only burden the people with heavy labor.”

“The navy is shunned as a lowly service, which is an old problem. We have left it alone until now because there was no other way, but how can it be right to make the people criminals?”

Ijae also agreed.

The existing warships were no longer useful, and the manpower to operate the ships was becoming increasingly specialized.

It was developing into an area that the local navy, which barely managed to juggle their livelihoods and rotations with military service, could not keep up with.

‘I suddenly feel that Admiral Yi Sun-sin [a famous Korean admiral], who wreaked havoc with such a navy, is amazing.’

Therefore, I had no intention of letting the people on the coast suffer just to maintain ships that were not very useful.

However, as soon as I tried to get rid of the existing ships, voices began to emerge from each town with a naval base.

“Are they going to burn the ships soon?”

“Yes. They say the country doesn’t need them anymore.”

“……! Sir, can’t you give them to us?”

“What?”

“The country may not need them because they have many large ships, but even these ships are very useful to us.”

“We can use them for fishing and transporting goods.”

They would welcome the chance to get rid of their naval service with open arms, but they also felt it was a waste to get rid of perfectly good ships, so they poured out their appeals.

There were some officials who sternly rebuked them, saying, ‘How dare you object to what the country has decided!’ but at least the story reached the court.

“There is some truth to their words.”

“They are warships, after all. How can it make sense for them to operate them?”

The officials who had been saying until recently that they didn’t need such warships and should get rid of them were shocked when they received a request to hand over the warships.

However, Ijae didn’t think it was an unreasonable request.

When I thought about it, it was a waste to burn perfectly good ships, and it didn’t cost any extra money.

I could think of it as giving severance pay to those who had worked hard.

‘The navy is said to be the toughest of the military services.’

The officials’ concerns were the same.

What significant threat could thin ships made of a single plank of wood pose? They wouldn’t even be properly armed.

‘Besides, this is a good opportunity to revitalize the private fishing industry.’

As a result, the ships held by each province were transferred to the fisheries cooperatives formed by the disbanded former navy and used for civilian purposes.

The fish markets that had been forming little by little began to grow rapidly around the former naval bases, and trade in seafood, as well as by-products such as salted seafood and compost, increased.

However, there was an even more noticeable change than those things.

As Ijae had expected, the transferred warships were not used for entirely peaceful purposes.

“Is this also a warship?”

“Then it will be enough to punish those who come to our neighborhood and sweep away the fish!”

The members of the fisheries cooperative, who had gained courage by acquiring warships, took active steps to protect their fishing rights.

The targets ranged from fishermen from other regions who had not joined our local fisheries cooperative to preposterous Hwangdangseon (荒唐船) [absurd ships] who had drifted in without knowing the situation.

As a result.

“What is this? I heard there was no Joseon [Korean] navy here!”

“You detestable Wae [Japanese] bastards, you’ve been quiet for a while, but you’ve finally invaded! Let’s show them the bitter taste of our fisheries cooperative!”

The Wae [Japanese] pirates, who had secretly turned towards Joseon [Korea] to make another killing, had to fight a life-or-death battle with the fishermen who suddenly appeared with warships.

Although the higher-ups, bloated with food, had judged that they were not worth operating and had thrown them away, these ships were clearly warships that had been used to hunt down Wae [Japanese] pirates until the early Joseon [Korean] period.

Also, those who operated them were mostly from the navy, although they had been forced to bear the burden of service.

“Get on board, get on board!”

“Knock them all down!”

A force that was not particularly lacking to fight against the Wae [Japanese] pirates.

They soon faced the Wae [Japanese] pirates who had invaded without knowing what was going on and displayed the spirit of Imjeonmutaee (臨戰無退) [facing battle without retreat, a Korean idiom], never retreating in the face of battle.

Although all the cannons had been removed, the enemy was also a pushover without gunpowder.

From boarding to ramming to close combat, the cooperative members re-enacted the battles they had become accustomed to while serving in the navy.

“These guys are fighting better than I thought?”

“If we had gone to Ming [China] instead of Joseon [Korea], we would have plundered and run away a long time ago!”

“This can’t be happening! I clearly heard that Joseon [Korea] had abolished the navy!”

The local naval bases that had been disbanded after much deliberation were naturally reorganized into a privatized coast guard, although no one had intended it.

The Wae [Japanese] pirates had to feel the spirit of Chungmugong [posthumous title of Admiral Yi Sun-sin], who had not yet been born, from the cooperative members, who were twice as brave as when they were forced to serve as sailors, and run away.

The fate of their colleagues who had failed to escape was obvious, but those who had succeeded in escaping could not be said to have had a particularly good life.

A stern disciplinary action from headquarters awaited them back home.

“I told you to attack Ming [China], but you went to Joseon [Korea]? I have to show you the strictness of military orders!”

It was funny to talk about military orders to pirates, but Ouchi [a powerful Japanese clan], the subcontractor who had received a claim from the client, had no choice but to grit his teeth, sort out the defective products.

After those who were caught pirating in Joseon [Korea] were all beheaded by Ouchi [a powerful Japanese clan], the Wae [Japanese] pirates’ deviation from their route was virtually non-existent.

These deviations ended as a brief incident, but strangely enough, it began to stimulate anti-Ming [Chinese] sentiment within Joseon [Korea].

The beginning was the press guidelines.

* * *

The gist of the Korean language maintenance project, in which old ministers such as Seong Seok-rin and Kwon Geun were involved, was the compilation of a Korean dictionary and the establishment of orthography.

In addition, the introduction of punctuation marks also occupied a major part of the project.

The punctuation marks that were invented in that way were once despised for degrading the quality of writing with letters that had never been heard of or seen before.

However, due to their convenience, they quickly spread from the Korean-speaking population, who had no aversion to using new letters, and the media, which had to attract people’s attention, joined in.

Crude newspapers began to publish articles plastered with exclamation marks, and now even Yeoheung Sunbo, which claimed to be a newspaper for respectable intellectuals, was cautiously trying to get on board.

This is inevitable in times like these, when public opinion is running high.

– Continued invasions by the Ming Dynasty [China]?! Ming [Chinese] bandits invade Hainam [a Chinese island]!

– Suffering fishermen… Devastated by repeated looting and arson!

The Wae [Japanese] pirates who invaded the Joseon [Korean] coast and were repelled were also disguised as pirates instigated by the ruthless Ming [Chinese] emperor.

The reason why this kind of information distortion occurred was simple.

Newspapers only circulated a little within the capital, and branch offices and correspondents were still a distant dream.

In the end, they had no choice but to eavesdrop on reports coming into the court and write articles, so it was not difficult for the court, which held all the information, to turn the Wae [Japanese] pirates into Chinese pirates.

Naturally, public opinion within Joseon [Korea] began to turn against the Ming Dynasty [China].

“The Ming [Chinese] people call us Joseon [Korean] people ‘Hotbaji’!”

The market was a place for trading, but because many people came and went, a platform (演壇) [a raised platform] was also set up for officials to make announcements.

Usually, they would be soliciting customers, saying that they would serve them at a low price, or that a famous singer (歌妓) [Korean female entertainer] would be singing on such and such a day, but now it was different.

“What is ‘Hotbaji’? It’s a word that means we are people who can be treated any way they want! Are we ‘Hotbaji’, everyone?”

The touts who were around him immediately rolled up their sleeves at the sound of the voice shouting with even a megaphone.

“You bastards!”

“They keep saying they are a great power, but it seems like their guts are swollen too!”

Following the touts’ lead, the sound of ‘That’s right, that’s right’ echoed.

The newspapers report on the Ming Dynasty’s [China’s] acts of aggression every day, and they are constantly hitting us, so public opinion against the Ming Dynasty [China] has no choice but to boil over.

The Taoist, who was watching the heated scene, slightly lifted his bamboo hat and said.

“These days, people blame the Ming Dynasty [China] even if they fall on the street.”

“Hmm.”

Of course, I instigated all of this.

‘It’s a self-sacrificing plan to unify public opinion.’

I nodded and thought.