He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 148

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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 Guns and Northern Expedition (12)

The Joseon army led by Choi Yun-deok achieved a crushing victory against the Jurchen tribes.

The Ministry of War naturally became festive upon receiving this news.

Jo Mal-saeng shouted “Long live!” at the top of his lungs after hearing the entire contents of the official report that Choi Yun-deok had submitted.

“Long live! Long live! Long live! Those barbarian Jurchen bastards will now grind their teeth just hearing the word Joseon! It feels like a painful tooth has been pulled out.”

This time, the Joseon army achieved a great victory by obtaining 1,378 enemy heads, capturing over 2,000 prisoners, and seizing more than 1,000 horses and cattle combined.

Compared to the first Battle of Pajeogan, the number of heads obtained alone differs by more than six times.

The Jurchen tribes that had been tormenting Joseon won’t be able to even piss in our direction for quite some time.

“Congratulations, Your Excellency.”

“The ones who should receive congratulations are His Majesty and the military officers who fought the Jurchen tribes directly. What right do I have to receive congratulations when all I did from the Ministry of War was help them, hehehe.”

“Wasn’t this victory possible because all the officials of the Ministry of War, including Your Excellency the Minister of War, joined forces?”

Soldiers must eat to advance.

Furthermore, armor and weapons essential for fighting enemies, as well as various consumables, must be supplied at the right time and place for an army to fight properly.

Just because this is achieved doesn’t guarantee victory in war, but it’s an absolute fact that armies without proper supply will inevitably face defeat.

To give an extreme example, the great teacher of darkness and independence army supreme commander Mutaguchi Renya issued operation orders while ignoring supply during the Imphal Operation.

He achieved the great feat of starving to death as many as 20,000 soldiers.

We can laugh and talk about it like this because it happened in a neighboring country, specifically Japan…

What if such a thing had happened in Joseon?

He would have been cursed like Won Gyun for a thousand years.

‘Such a thing must never happen in Joseon.’

“Even an invincible army will lose combat effectiveness or starve to death if supply doesn’t support them. Besides, thanks to Your Excellency’s efforts, we were able to somehow send strict armor, helmets, and shields to the spearmen.”

“I certainly did struggle quite a bit back then.”

Until modern state systems were introduced, it was common sense for weapons and armor used by armies to be brought by the individuals themselves.

Most of those serving as cavalry or military officers bought their own armor and weapons with their own money, and soldiers were no exception.

Of course, war is a somewhat special situation, so weapons are issued to soldiers who couldn’t bring weapons.

However, armor is often not issued because it’s harder to make and more expensive than weapons.

So it almost happened that way this time too, but I insisted that minimal armament was necessary, and Jo Mal-saeng supported my argument, so we could barely manage to equip them with at least that much.

“There was the problem of increased budget, and it was very regrettable that Joseon’s ability to produce goods couldn’t support this either. And if we look for the cause, it lies in the fact that iron production is too low.”

If I had my way, I would have wanted to make full-body armor using iron like scale armor or lamellar armor.

However, although Joseon’s budget had increased and we had expanded the scale of Gungi-si, I hadn’t developed iron smelting technology…

I wanted to equip all the spearmen on the front lines with iron full-body armor, but I couldn’t.

So as a second-best option, I wanted to supply at least breastplates to everyone, but even that was impossible.

Not only was there insufficient iron, but we didn’t have that level of production capacity either.

So with the determination to scrape together all the paper in Hanyang, I gathered it all up to make paper strict armor and sent them equipped with that.

The soldiers on the front lines were able to protect their bodies with paper strict armor and shields, reportedly reducing casualties quite a bit…

‘I shouldn’t be satisfied with just this much.’

“After this war ends, we’ll need to increase the number of iron workers. The court budget is ample, but we couldn’t properly equip soldiers with decent armor due to lack of iron.”

“Yes, Your Excellency. I think the iron worker system also needs major reform.”

During this period, Joseon tried to solve everything through forced labor.

Mines were one of them.

Gold mines and silver mines were closed because of the Ming Dynasty, so excluding those, we’re still forcibly mobilizing people near the mines to extract iron and copper.

“Are you thinking of allowing common people to privately mine iron like Jang Bing-eop?”

Resources like iron, copper, gold, and silver should be monopolized by the state for the time being if possible.

Because there’s no one in current Joseon who has deep understanding of mining.

Therefore, having the state directly lead mining and smelting ore would be more efficient than leaving it to civilians.

We need to monopolize such resources and sell them at appropriate market prices to gain profit, using that as driving force to pursue other policies.

“In the past, the royal court lacked budget so we forcibly mobilized common people during farming off-season to mine iron ore. But now the situation is different, so the state must pay proper wages to those working in the mines.”

“Pay wages.”

“Rather than roughly extracting ore using only corvée labor to save on wages, we must have paid workers mine iron ore year-round to supply more iron for use throughout Joseon.”

It’s no exaggeration to say that national power is determined by how much iron is produced and how much is used.

In today’s world, advancement of iron smelting technology and expansion of iron production are directly connected to military strength enhancement.

“And we must build iron smelters near iron mines to refine iron ore and seriously increase iron production.”

“… That must be done. Then this time it’s the Ministry of Public Works’ turn to work hard.”

“The Ministry of Public Works has Judge Jang (Jang Yeong-sil) and Judge Jeong (Jeong Bun), so they’ll do well.”

When Jang Yeong-sil designs and creates various machines, Jeong Bun will command craftsmen like master carpenters based on those blueprints to build good iron smelters.

Ah, and the territory where the Jurchen tribes lived in the Pajeogan basin is Manchuria, and especially near a place called Hunchun, there are abundant deposits of coal—bituminous coal at that…

I should also work hard to recall the coke processing method from memory, organize it, and hand it over to the Ministry of Public Works.

I can’t remember it perfectly, but if I can properly establish the main outline, the rest will generally be solved through endless repetition and trial by the craftsmen.

The matchlock guns used this time were also weapons that Jang Yeong-sil created through hard work and countless trials.

“And some ministers in the royal court are saying that since we’ve shown the Jurchen tribes a harsh lesson, we should withdraw now. What does Colonel Kim think?”

“Though we’ve largely wiped out the Jurchen tribes, they’re like weeds. Even though we mobilized a large army and properly uprooted them this time, if we withdraw as is, they’ll settle in that region again before long.”

In actual history too, after the first Pajeogan subjugation, the Joseon army judged they had achieved sufficient results and immediately returned.

However, even though the Jurchen tribes had properly tasted Joseon’s harsh lesson, before long they crossed Joseon’s borders again to kidnap people and plunder.

While Joseon is indeed a fearsome existence to them, if they don’t plunder Joseon immediately they’ll starve to death… what choice do they have?

They just cross Joseon’s borders and plunder again.

Having experienced this situation, King Sejong tried to make the Four Counties Six Fortresses into Joseon territory during the second Pajeogan subjugation.

Just like how weeds grow again before long even if you uproot all the weeds and turn the land into wasteland…

He directly experienced that the Jurchen tribes would continue to covet Joseon’s borders unless the Four Counties Six Fortresses became Joseon territory.

“So by any means necessary, we must make the territory we’ve occupied this time into Joseon’s.”

“But the land where the Jurchen tribes live is quite barren, so developing it won’t be easy.”

Of course developing it won’t be easy.

Pyeongan Province and Hamgyeong Province are notorious as lands difficult for people to live in, so turning places like Manchuria into livable land wouldn’t be ordinary work.

Therefore, when King Sejong developed the Four Counties Six Fortresses, he tried to mobilize Joseon’s capabilities to the maximum to make it land where Joseon people could live.

But eventually during King Danjong’s time, the situation arose where the Four Counties Six Fortresses territory was reduced.

To be precise, the Six Fortresses were maintained, but the Four Counties became regions where only military forces were stationed.

However, this problem could also minimize issues and side effects if we borrow the power of commerce.

“For now, it would be good to just station troops there and prepare thoroughly over several years before relocating common people.”

“Not relocating people immediately?”

“Though I’d like to relocate people immediately too, we’d need to clear farmland in rough terrain, and during that time we’d need to prepare food for the people to eat, and we’d need to prepare oxen and farming tools necessary for clearing fields, wouldn’t we?”

Only after completing thorough preparations and implementing the Four Classes of People policy can we make the Four Counties Six Fortresses—no, even parts of Manchuria beyond that—belong to Joseon.

“And looking at the map sent by the Supreme Commander, there’s a region called Haesamwi that borders the sea. It would be good to station some soldiers there as well and use it as a warehouse to store the supplies we receive.”

Haesamwi, in other words, is the Vladivostok region.

There are tremendous timber resources here, and many sables live here as well—considered the finest luxury goods in Joseon.

If we use it as a warehouse and word spreads about these precious resources being there, people will naturally flock to the area.

“This place is close to the Six Fortresses. Therefore, if we occupy this location, maintaining supply lines that extend further inland beyond the Six Fortresses will become much easier.”

No matter what happens, we absolutely must take Manchuria.

Not only does it have natural resources like coal and iron, but there are also granary regions including Yanbian.

We must never let this land, sweet as honey, slip away.

“That sounds like the right approach. And now I think we should gradually report the results of this expedition to the Ming Dynasty. What do you think, Colonel Kim?”

“We should definitely go.”

It’s not yet time for Joseon to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

The opportunity will come soon, but at least not now.

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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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