Black Corporation: Joseon

“A letter from His Majesty.”

“Isn’t it a bit large to be called a letter?”

Seeing the sizeable wooden box, Hyang grumbled while the eunuch could only bow his head with a bitter smile.

***

With regular communications established, messages traveled between New Territory and Joseon monthly. This was possible thanks to the superior performance of the steam-sailships. In contrast, material transport, which relied on Challenger-class warships, averaged two-month intervals.

Of course, the court had to meticulously drill the navy to maintain this schedule.

The Joseon navy only escaped this pressure after all steam-sailships and Challenger-class warships launched from Wonsan and Dongbyeong Harbor shipyards were redirected to the New Territory route.

And the court had to dispense considerable wealth in overtime pay and performance bonuses to shipyard workers.

***

Hyang and the ministers gathered at Seunghwadang broke the seal on the wooden box sent by Sejong.

“Whew~. I feel this every time, but should we really call this a letter?”

Following bitter smiles and sighs, the ministers also smiled wryly at Hyang’s question.

Inside the box were not envelopes containing letters, but thick volumes of books and maps.

***

The books contained detailed records of progress made since the last report, newly discovered problems, proposed suitable solutions, and items requiring additional support.

From the moment they received Sejong’s reports, the court began moving busily.

First, they updated the pioneer information in Hanseong with newly added exploration data.

Next, they reanalyzed the severity of problems Sejong pointed out and reviewed whether his proposed solutions were appropriate.

Finally, based on results from this process, they adjusted the types and quantities of support materials to send to New Territory.

And everything wrapped up by gathering these materials and sending them to Wonsan before the next supply fleet’s departure.

“It seems we’ve become even busier since His Majesty went to New Territory.”

“Can’t be helped. But aren’t there good points too?”

As the senior officials in charge noted, the intensity of work supporting New Territory’s development increased dramatically. However, the pace of pioneer development began accelerating, and efficiency rose sharply.

Receiving reports on this, Hwang Hui smiled bitterly and commented:

“It’s natural. There’s someone clearly responsible, and that person is well-versed in working people to death… And if we don’t provide proper support, heads will roll starting with the Crown Prince for disloyalty and filial impiety, so of course we move quickly.”

***

“The volume is substantial this time too.”

Seeing the enormous thickness of reports from the box, Kim Jeom muttered with a nauseated expression. Hwang Hui picked up on Kim Jeom’s words.

“The court historians and scribes must have suffered.”

Since there had been no abdication, Sejong was still Joseon’s king. With the king himself moving, half the staff from both the Royal Secretariat and National Records Office had to accompany him to New Territory.

“Having to go to New Territory, isn’t this basically exile?”

“They said there’d be rotations.”

“Still exile is exile.”

“Let’s think positively. How much work could there be in New Territory? Compared to wearing out our arms with endless writing here, wouldn’t it be like living as immortals?”

“Right you are!”

Those who went to New Territory thinking they’d have it easy soon had to sigh with gloomy faces.

“Should have known…”

“With His Majesty being who he is…”

As Hwang Hui had assessed, Sejong was indeed “well-versed in working people to death.”

“This needs organizing.”

The moment the words fell, Royal Secretariat and National Records Office officials had to organize and recopy all documents accumulated in New Territory.

“How is this any different from the Records Office!”

“Records Office? Records Office!”

***

After discussing the Records Office and Royal Secretariat officials who must have suffered preparing these reports, Hyang and the ministers began seriously taking turns reading through them.

After reading through all the newly arrived reports, Hyang and the ministers faced each other with serious expressions.

“What do you think?”

At Hyang’s question, Hwang Hui immediately answered.

“Though it needs more review, wouldn’t it be best to follow His Majesty’s strategy, since he knows the local situation best?”

All ministers nodded at Hwang Hui’s words.

What Sejong sent was a major modification to the pioneer plan established after discovering New Territory.

***

When first establishing the plan, Hyang had actively advocated eastward expansion.

Even if we miss everything else, we can’t miss the Rust Belt around the Great Lakes!

With this determination, Hyang had advocated eastern expansion.

-Just as we discovered unclaimed territory advancing east, the Westerners could discover unclaimed territory advancing west! We must cross the unclaimed territory before then!

With Hyang’s argument accepted, Joseon actively pushed east immediately after establishing the bridgehead.

And the cavalry played the leading role in this eastern advance.

****

After rounding the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and discovering vast plains, Joseon deployed cavalry on a large scale.

The cavalry demonstrated their full capabilities on North America’s vast plains, resulting in reaching the Great Lakes region – named Dahogun in Joseon – within three years of eastern advance.

The cavalry’s mission didn’t end there. They were also tasked with securing the long, thin supply line from the bridgehead to Dahogun firmly as Joseon’s territory.

Tribes hostile to the strange foreigners called Joseon people targeted this supply line, but each time they paid a harsh price.

The cavalry, mounted on huge beasts called horses never before seen, clad in iron armor and armed with gunpowder weapons, spears, and swords, dealt with these attacking tribes as they would the Jurchen.

Simply put, they annihilated them.

The Joseon cavalry, a mix of Jurchen and Joseon people, were literally symbols of terror.

Conversely, these same Joseon cavalry firmly established supply lines while building very friendly relations with and ensuring safety for native tribes seeking peaceful trade.

***

According to the initial plan established primarily by Hyang, after advancing east and establishing an eastern bridgehead, they would push south from there while simultaneously advancing west. As the southern advance began from the east, survey teams would be sent along New Territory’s western coast. Survey teams would also be sent eastward from the western advance route, with the ultimate goal of survey teams from east and west meeting in the middle of New Territory.

“This isn’t something to finish quickly. If New Territory is truly large enough to be called a continent, it will take at least 50 to 100 years.”

At Hyang’s words, Sejong muttered with a slightly daunted expression.

“At least three to four generations… We must stake Joseon’s fate on this.”

“But if we succeed, Ming will have to watch their step with our Joseon.”

“That is true…”

The plan was created after fierce debate based on Hyang’s proposal, but now Sejong was proposing to revise it.

***

Sejong based his plan modification on rapid changes in Western affairs.

-Looking at the rapidly changing Western situation, there must be winners and losers.

-And the losers will certainly look west seeking new opportunities.

Based on this reasoning, Sejong set blocking Western approach by deploying Joseon’s navy on New Territory’s east coast as the completion of phase one.

The next step was building strength centered on eastern Dahogun before advancing south along the east coast.

-If we can secure New Territory’s eastern seas and land as our Joseon’s territory this way, monopolizing New Territory will proceed smoothly.

After repeatedly reading Sejong’s revision over several days, Hyang muttered quietly.

If this works out, it would be perfect claim-staking… The question is how far south to push. Even just dominating North America would take over 30 years in Joseon’s current situation… South America…

Thinking of the human-sacrificing empires of Central and South America, Hyang shook his head.

I can clearly see our yangban lords immediately insisting we must eradicate those people living there… Should we give up on South America? But that saltpeter mine somewhere in Chile keeps bothering me…

After long contemplation, Hyang chose a ‘third way.’

“Going down to South America would probably be impossible during my reign. Let’s pass it to later generations. Best to focus all efforts on digesting North America during my reign. After properly digesting that, I can abdicate and hide away.”

Hyang prioritized his hobbies to the end. Feeling slightly guilty about this decision, Hyang convinced himself:

“Just the results I’ve produced so far should be enough to be called a sage king, right?”

***

Of course, Hyang wasn’t the only one contemplating.

The ministers were also debating Sejong’s revision.

“His Majesty’s revision seems appropriate, but one thing bothers me.”

Kim Jeom pointed at the map of New Territory and continued.

“This way, we’d abandon New Territory’s western coast except for the bridgehead. Wouldn’t it be terrible to do others such a favor?”

Kim Jongso picked up on Kim Jeom’s point.

“With our Joseon’s current capabilities, it’s impossible to attempt New Territory’s western coast too. Budget would be the first problem.”

Following Kim Jongso’s point, Jo Mal-saeng added:

“We’re short on people too. Even though our Joseon’s population exceeded 11 million in the gimi year and we’re approaching 12 million now, aren’t almost 40% minors? This isn’t like you.”

It was an unexpected situation where Kim Jeom, who routinely objected to new policies citing budget concerns, was instead supporting expansion.

Kim Jeom responded to Kim Jongso and Jo Mal-saeng’s objections.

“Of course, the current budget pressure and manpower shortage are serious. But we absolutely cannot abandon it. Wrong move and random fellows might reap the benefits.”

“If it’s the Westerners, we can block them at New Territory’s east coast as in His Majesty’s plan.”

“What about those who might come from this side? How long can we keep it hidden?”

“This side… you mean Ming?”

Kim Jeom nodded at Jo Mal-saeng’s question.

The conference room fell silent at Kim Jeom’s point. All ministers gathered in the room closed their mouths, analyzing the situation with Ming as the reference point.

“Hmm… Perhaps…”

“If it’s Ming…”

Most ministers reached similar conclusions.

-If it’s Ming, it might be possible.

The background for their conclusion was the record of Zheng He’s past ‘Treasure Fleet.’

“Wouldn’t it be difficult even for Ming?”

Then, Kim Jongso raised an objection. Hwang Hui’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“Why?”

“Have you forgotten the Jinpo shipwreck?”

The ministers all exclaimed at Kim Jongso’s point.

“Aha!”

“That’s right!”

The ministers’ faces brightened when the Jinpo, which nearly became a ghost ship after recklessly challenging the Pacific, was mentioned.

***