He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 146

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Matchlock Gun and Northern Expedition (10)

Time passed, and the day had finally come for 25,000 Joseon soldiers to set out on the expedition to subjugate the Jurchen Tribes.

Supreme Commander Choi Yun-deok, who was leading them, stood on the platform looking down at the soldiers conducting their parade in perfect rows and columns.

“Truly reliable indeed.”

Ever since drill training was introduced, the Joseon Army had completely changed.

In the past, they would somehow gather a small number of elite soldiers and military officers along with ragtag conscripts who came to fulfill their military service, train them, and form battle formations to fight.

Now everyone could form battle formations quickly and solidly as if they were one body, and it became possible for all units to coordinate as if moved by a single person.

Even Choi Yun-deok couldn’t guess how strong these transformed soldiers would prove to be in actual combat…

But he was confident that with sufficient numbers, they could certainly fight and defeat the Jurchen Tribes, the Japanese, or even Ming Dynasty forces.

“Supreme Commander, don’t the soldiers look truly valiant? And this is just from matching a single step, a single movement.”

“Isn’t that the most important thing? For General Lee Sun-mong, who knows well what separates elite soldiers from ordinary troops, to say such a thing.”

“It’s amazing how that one small thing creates such a big difference. Seeing hundreds of soldiers perfectly matching even their gait as if they were one body… I can only imagine how strong they’ll be on the battlefield. Just thinking about it fills me with anticipation.”

“Whatever you imagine, the results will exceed even that.”

Choi Yun-deok shrugged his shoulders.

“From now on, the Jurchen Tribes won’t even dare to touch places where Joseon people are. The current Joseon Army has become incomparably stronger in quality than those Ming Dynasty forces hastily assembled by conscripting men from military households, even if we can’t say much about quantity.”

“Their individual martial prowess might be stronger though.”

“Individual martial prowess? While that is important… isn’t unity the most crucial factor that determines victory or defeat in war?”

“That’s certainly true. I once had 30 soldiers trained in drill training fight against 100 men who hadn’t learned drill training yet in a mock battle format, with newly conscripted soldiers under my command. Even with the same weapons and armor, the 30 who knew drill training won.”

Choi Yun-deok was secretly shocked.

He knew that drill training was something that instantly transformed soldiers who were nothing more than ragtag troops into proper military men…

But he hadn’t thought there would be such a severe difference in combat effectiveness between those who knew drill training and those who didn’t.

However, not wanting to show his surprise in front of Lee Sun-mong, who had problems with his love of alcohol and womanizing, he answered as if it were nothing.

“The Joseon Army has truly become strong. Incomparably stronger than before.”

“Isn’t this all thanks to that fellow Kim Dae-bung?”

Kim Dae-bung – as soon as Choi Yun-deok heard that name, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Because he felt such regret.

“I had hoped our army would be sent Colonel Kim instead of Jeoljae (Kim Jong-seo) and Jibong (Hwangbo In). It’s such a pity that His Majesty ultimately did not grant permission.”

However, Lee Sun-mong had different thoughts from Choi Yun-deok.

He was afraid of having Kim Dae-bung under his command.

If he were under his command, all administrative matters within the camp would flow smoothly without obstruction, and supplies would be managed brilliantly so that there would absolutely never be an incident of soldiers going hungry during the Jurchen subjugation, but…

It was obvious as fire that he would desperately struggle to find and solve all kinds of problems within the army, and when wrongdoings were exposed, if they weren’t corrected immediately, he would torment him until corrections were made.

Moreover, if he were caught siphoning off military supplies, plunder, or prisoners as slaves…

Until now, even when there was considerable corruption, King Taejong Lee Bang-won had tended to overlook it, but the moment Kim Dae-bung got involved, his own head would immediately be bashed in by an iron mace.

“Director Kim must provide good supplies from the rear so our soldiers won’t go hungry.”

“Indeed, without Colonel Kim, it wouldn’t have been possible to fight while feeding the soldiers to their fill.”

Choi Yun-deok put aside his regrets and looked at the soldiers who had finished the inspection ceremony.

Then he raised high the battle axe hanging at his waist, the symbol of military authority, and declared.

“This is His Majesty’s royal command. Show the Jurchen the terror of Joseon clearly! All forces, advance!”

When he gave the command, the soldiers began marching in perfect formation, maintaining their ranks and files.

With the resolve to completely uproot from this world the Jurchen, one of Joseon’s main enemies.

**

The Jurchen, or more precisely the Jianzhou Jurchen among the Jurchen tribes who bordered Joseon, had become Joseon’s main enemy ever since Lee Seong-gye’s death.

The reason was extremely simple.

Their ancestors and chieftains had made such great contributions to Joseon’s founding that their names were recorded alongside Lee Ji-ran in the first part of the Yongbieocheonga…

Lee Seong-gye had wanted to provide maximum support so they could settle and live in Joseon if they wished.

However, the Jurchen tribal chiefs wanted to return to their previous nomadic lifestyle.

So those who returned to nomadic life chose to live under the Ming Dynasty, which left them alone to live as they pleased and scattered rewards like throwing feed to pigs.

The numerous tribal chiefs gathered here were now listening intently to the words of Meon-teo-mu, the man with the greatest power among the Jianzhou Jurchen.

“You’ve worked hard coming such a long way.”

Lee Man-ju, a former founding contributor who participated in Joseon’s establishment and the man with the greatest power in the Jianzhou Jurchen Suksu tribe.

Although there was no clear hierarchy among the Jurchen tribal chiefs, he naturally acted as their superior due to having the greatest power.

No one raised complaints about this.

While it might be different at other times, now they were in a crisis situation where everyone had to unite.

“As you all well know, Joseon is now preparing to raise a great army with the determination to completely eliminate us from this world. According to the words of the frontier tribes who live pretending to submit to Joseon, tens of thousands of seom of grain to be used as military provisions have been moved to Hamgyeong Province.”

“Does Joseon truly have such power? Commander.”

“From the stories of when my grandfather was alive and the recent tales, it’s true that Joseon shouldn’t have such capacity. But according to recent reports, Joseon’s national power has suddenly grown much stronger over the past few years.”

“Good heavens…”

The reason the Jurchen chose Ming Dynasty over Joseon was absolutely not because Joseon was easy to deal with.

They made that choice simply because it was more economically profitable to align with Ming Dynasty while plundering Joseon’s food and people.

In fact, even in the Battle of Pajeogan where Kim Dae-bung didn’t intervene, Lee Man-ju, who was the chief of a major Jianzhou Jurchen tribe, fell into mortal danger as soon as the Joseon army crossed the Pajeogan and barely escaped with his life.

The situation was so desperate that he couldn’t even save his own wife, and he couldn’t inflict any damage on Joseon whatsoever.

“Therefore, I believe we should not take this situation lightly as merely Joseon crossing the Hamgyeong Province border to subjugate a few tribes.”

From Lee Man-ju’s perspective, from when the Gabyeolcho was intact—that is, when his grandfather Ahapcul turned his back on Joseon—until now, decades later, it was commonly judged among the Jurchen that the current Joseon army was infinitely weaker compared to when King Taejo Lee Seong-gye, often called the ‘Great General,’ was alive.

In the past, when the sound of Gabyeolcho conch horns echoed, thousands or tens of thousands of Japanese Pirates could be immediately trampled under the hooves of war horses…

But the current Joseon army had become infinitely weaker compared to those days.

The armored cavalry and military officers were elite forces, so they would still be strong… but those conscripted for military service.

The regular soldiers who made up the majority of the forces had long since become so weak that they could barely maintain formation after just a few arrow volleys.

“Although the Joseon army has weakened considerably compared to when the Gabyeolcho was intact, they still have enough strength to trample and plunder our territory if they set their minds to it. So we too must achieve a great victory against Joseon to protect our homeland. Furthermore, to capture more Joseon people from the Northern Region as slaves and sell them to Ming Dynasty in exchange for iron and weapons.”

Everyone nodded at Meon-teo-mu’s words.

In truth, it had been long since they had united to fight for a common goal like when Genghis Khan was alive, when Northern Yuan was called the Great Yuan Empire.

But now that they had obtained intelligence that the Joseon army was raising a great force, it was clear they would be defeated one by one if they fought separately as they had been doing.

“While we are infinitely weak when separated from each other, if we unite and fight together, we are certainly strong enough to face and defeat even Ming Dynasty’s elite forces.”

Those words were somewhat true.

The Ming Dynasty was eventually destroyed by the Qing Dynasty.

And in the upcoming Battle of Tumu, the ‘hundreds of thousands of Ming troops’ would be instantly annihilated by the half-obsolete Yuan Dynasty cavalry…

Why did that happen?

The reason wasn’t that the Ming army was weak, but rather that the Mongolian and Jurchen Cavalry were too strong.

“Joseon will never dare to defeat us when we are united as one.”

In the original history, Lee Man-ju had been caught in a sudden attack and couldn’t properly gather the surrounding tribes, so he was busy fleeing.

But now, various tribes were sharpening their swords and preparing for battle with the thought of fighting against Joseon…

“… We will surely achieve victory against Joseon.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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