Black Corporation: Joseon

As Hyang spoke, a memory of a Japanese film he had seen in the 21st century flashed through his mind.

It was a scene from a film glorifying a Japanese naval commander during World War II. People worn down by the Great Depression were in bars, hoping for war to break out. They felt this way because of their memories of the great profits they had made during World War I.

This was why this aspect worried Hyang.

The real problem is when the entire nation starts desiring war.

Hyang addressed the Four.

“I’ve thought of the same approach you suggested. And I guarantee a similar report will come up from the Ministry of Finance. So, if you truly want to earn the title of ‘Lord,’ come back with ideas on how to prevent the people from falling into militarism.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Four gathered their reports and left the room. Watching them leave, Hyang muttered quietly.

“Indeed… they do have talent…”

In the history before Hyang’s intervention, Han Myeong-hoe and Gwon Ram had operated at the core of power during the reigns of Sejo and Seongjong. While they had the advantage of being Sejo’s most trusted confidants, their long-term grip on power was also due to their own abilities.

Ha Wi-ji and Seong Sam-mun were those who had received King Sejong’s dying wish to look after the young King Danjong.

It must have been Sejong’s decision after judging that although they were young, they would be the ones to take over after Hwangbo In and Kim Jongseo retired.

***

Three days later, in the conference room of Seunghwadang, the Ministry of Defense, represented by Jo Mal-saeng, gave their presentation.

The presenter was Lee Jing-ok, who had been promoted to Deputy Chief of the General Staff.

“First, I will explain the current status of our Joseon military.”

According to Lee Jing-ok’s explanation, the current situation of the Joseon military was as follows:

-Total strength of the Joseon military is 250,000.

Of these, 150,000 are in the army and naval infantry, and 100,000 in the navy.

-The army and naval infantry composition ratio shows 45,000 cavalry, 45,000 gun troops, 40,000 artillery, 10,000 engineers, and 10,000 in other branches.

-In terms of deployment, 80,000 are stationed in the north. Of these, 50,000 are in the northeastern region and 30,000 in the Yalu River region.

-For the navy, the composition shows 40,000 serving on ships, 30,000 defending homeland and external naval bases. There are 15,000 engineers, and 15,000 handling administration, supply, maintenance, and other miscellaneous duties.

-As a special note, among the engineers serving in the navy, 15,000 combat troops are currently active in New Frontier.

The army also has one division’s worth of long-range reconnaissance units active in New Frontier.

When the report reached this point, Kim Jeom spoke up.

“The proportion of artillery is quite high?”

To Kim Jeom’s observation, Jo Mal-saeng stepped forward to answer.

“It can’t be helped. Artillery is the core of our military power.”

***

During this period, countries adjacent to Joseon, or rather, any country that knew anything about the Joseon military, all made similar assessments:

‘These people are obsessed with cannons’

Wherever Joseon forces were stationed, no matter how small the location, artillery was deployed.

To what extent? Even at checkpoints between the fortresses and garrisons defending the north, each squad of troops had two units of artillery soldiers and two artillery pieces deployed with them.

The artillery they used wasn’t the cannons launcher for siege warfare or large fortress cannons, but small grape-shot cannons.

The grape-shot cannon was also Hyang’s creation. This cannon, which could fire more than 30 bird egg rounds at once, was the world’s first to adopt a breech-loading system. Thanks to this, it boasted a much faster firing rate than other artillery pieces.

Of course, there were those who argued that making grape-shot cannons was unnecessary when they already had the Type-Eul War Wagon – known as the Gatling gun in the history before Hyang’s intervention – and the cannons. In particular, many argued that grape-shot cannons were useless as they were only effective within 20 jang (about 60 meters).

However, both the Type-Eul War Wagon and the large launcher were quite sizeable. They also required many skilled soldiers to operate. For example, the cannons had to be loaded with gunpowder just before use. Skilled operators were essential to execute this smoothly in urgent combat situations.

The grape-shot cannon, on the other hand, was very small. Its operation was also simple: open the breech, insert the pouch of bird egg rounds and powder cartridge, close the breech, and pull the trigger. Because of this, it could be operated with basic training, and was adopted due to the advantages of its rapid fire rate.

Thus, this grape-shot cannon, when deployed at checkpoints, came to serve the role of a machine gun.

However, this didn’t mean Joseon’s artillery obsession disappeared even after proper machine guns were developed in later history.

***

“I’ll say it again, artillery is the core of our military power. Artillery is absolutely necessary to compensate for our insufficient manpower.”

At Jo Mal-saeng’s answer, Kim Jeom closed his mouth.

Lee Jing-ok’s explanation continued.

“I will now explain about the reserve forces.”

-If men between 14 and 35 years of age are conscripted, Joseon can mobilize about 2.8 million reserves.

At Lee Jing-ok’s explanation, Hyang muttered internally.

14 years old… Since we count age by full years now, that would be 15 or 16 by yearly count. In the 21st century, this would be perfect fodder for criticism about child soldiers.

***

In this period of Joseon, 14 years old was generally considered the age of adulthood. For common people, proving adulthood involved lifting the village’s “lifting stone” to demonstrate they could carry their own weight, and then treating neighbors to food.

Interestingly, as the Four Classes School and Middle School became widespread, the method of proving adulthood changed.

The trend became that one was naturally recognized as an adult upon graduating from the Four Classes School and entering Middle School.

“Hey, you…”

It wasn’t strange at all for boys and girls in Middle School uniforms ( to use such speech patterns while maintaining serious expressions.

Seeing this sight during his secret outings, Hyang smiled slightly and muttered to himself.

Was it like this in my grandfather’s time too?

Hyang recalled his grandfather’s story about how, even in the history before his intervention, when middle school entrance exams existed, students were considered half-adults just by entering middle school.

***

Kim Jeom challenged Lee Jing-ok’s statement again.

“Surely you don’t intend to conscript all 2.8 million? That would be the end of Joseon regardless of whether we win or lose the war!”

Lee Jing-ok immediately responded to Kim Jeom’s words.

“This is the second-worst case scenario.”

“Second-worst? Then what’s the worst? Are you planning to drag in every able-bodied man in Joseon?”

“If necessary, that’s what we must do.”

“Hah…”

At Lee Jing-ok’s calm response, Kim Jeom clutched his chest in distress.

Kim Jeom wasn’t the only one who turned pale at Lee Jing-ok’s answer. The other ministers’ faces showed similar expressions. Seeing this, Choi Yoon-deok hurriedly joined the conversation.

“What was just mentioned are the worst and second-worst scenarios. Haven’t we been working all this time to prevent such cases, and isn’t that why we’re putting our heads together now?”

Following the military elder Choi Yoon-deok’s comment, Hyang jumped in.

“Exactly. Isn’t the military’s presentation about the second-worst case scenario? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

At Hyang’s point, Kim Jeom bowed his head and responded.

“My apologies. I momentarily lost my reason at the unexpectedly large numbers.”

“I’ll take it as a sign of how much you value human life.”

At Hyang’s words, Kim Jeom bowed his head again.

“I am deeply grateful for your generous interpretation.”

After settling the matter thus, Hyang asked Lee Jing-ok.

“If something happens, we’ll need to stop up to 300,000 with just 30,000, which would certainly be impossible even with firepower and terrain advantages, so what are the response plans?”

Pointing at various spots on the map hanging beside him with his command stick, Lee Jing-ok answered Hyang’s question.

“First, according to the operational plans, we’ll immediately send troops up from the capital region and the three southern provinces. Fortunately, calculations show that with the railroad, this will take less than half the time it used to. Simultaneously, we’ll move about 10,000 from the northeastern region to disrupt Liaodong’s rear. However, this is just emergency treatment, and mobilization of reserves will be necessary. According to military calculations, we need to mobilize at least 500,000 immediately to minimize our casualties.”

“Hmm…”

At Lee Jing-ok’s explanation, the ministers nodded. It was a basic principle of military strategy that the stronger one’s forces, the fewer casualties they would suffer.

“About 500,000…”

As Kim Jeom was nodding and muttering, Lee Jing-ok continued.

“The problem is that our gun troops currently use two types of rifles. While units stationed in the north have completely switched to Type-Eul rifles, only half of the units in the capital region have been converted. The remaining half in the capital region, the three southern provinces, and the rifles allocated for reserves are still Type-Gap rifles.”

As soon as Lee Jing-ok finished speaking, the Minister of Finance jumped in.

“I will immediately submit a budget proposal for execution.”

Hyang responded to the Finance Minister’s words.

“I will approve it as soon as it comes up.”

As soon as one hurdle was cleared, another appeared.

“There is another problem. We only have supplies for 100,000 reserves.”

At Lee Jing-ok’s point, Kim Jeom turned to the Finance Minister, who immediately spoke up.

“I will draft and submit a proposal for this aspect as well.”

To the Finance Minister’s words, Lee Jing-ok pointed out another problem.

“Budget is important, but time is also an issue. In the worst case, things could happen next spring.”

At Lee Jing-ok’s observation, Hwang Hui asked for the basis.

“What is your reasoning?”

“While the Jurchen are skilled in horsemanship, they are weak at conducting battles with organized formations under military command. Considering the time needed to train them in this, teach them to operate guns and artillery, and the timing favorable for river crossing, it points to next spring.”

The ministers nodded at Lee Jing-ok’s answer.

Spring would be just after winter’s dry season. At that time, crossing the Yalu River would be possible with less effort than expected.

At Lee Jing-ok’s point, Kim Jeom turned to the Finance Minister, who spoke up.

“We’ve discussed this issue at the Ministry of Finance as well. The alternative we came up with was to actively utilize merchant groups. We would entrust the production of supplies like swords and uniforms, except for guns and artillery which cannot be freely manufactured by civilians, to merchant groups.”

“Can merchant groups meet the timeline?”

To Hwang Hui’s question, Kim Jeom answered instead.

“Many merchant groups have idle hands due to blocked trade routes to Europe. They should be more than capable.”

The ministers nodded at Kim Jeom’s answer. However, Hwang Hui slightly furrowed his brow.

While it’s certainly a good alternative, something feels off. What is it?

As Hwang Hui was wrinkling his face trying to identify what bothered him, Hyang spoke up.

“I’ve received similar proposals before, but there’s an issue.”

Hyang repeated the same point he had made to the Four. Hearing Hyang’s point, Kim Jeom and the Finance Minister showed expressions of sudden realization, while Hwang Hui finally jumped in with a brightened face.

“Indeed! I felt something was off, and that was exactly it!”

Hwang Hui summarized the issue with a bright expression.

“In the current situation, utilizing merchant groups is the only answer! However, we must prepare countermeasures for the issue Your Highness mentioned. Only then can we prevent going down the wrong path!”

At Hwang Hui’s words, the ministers looked at Hyang and muttered internally.

The Crown Prince has done it again.

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