Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 261
Episode 261 The tree wants to stay still… (4)
Ten days later, Manpojin near Jaseong.
At the tallest communication tower in the middle of Manpojin Fortress, a group of soldiers and military officers were leisurely spending the day.
“Look through the telescope! “Don’t be like those who were taken away because they missed the communication while spying on the Yeojin girls taking a bath like last time!”
“Yes old!”
The soldiers responded loudly to the military officer’s words.
* * *
The large binocular telescope installed on the communication tower – named the Gap-type large telescope – boasted an enormous size.
Therefore, among the soldiers, it was called Janggun-gyeong, comparing it to Janggun artillery.
Its massive size allowed soldiers to quickly and accurately check routine and emergency communications. But there were also drawbacks.
In line with its enormous size, the lenses installed inside were also enormous and caused tremendous fatigue to the soldiers’ eyes.
Therefore, the soldiers had to take turns holding the telescope in two angles (about 30 minutes).
* * *
“uh?”
While receiving the warning, a soldier who was looking around noticed something unusual.
“lily! “A group of horsemen is coming towards the village with all their might!”
“what? “What is that number?”
“three!”
The military officer who received the report had a serious look on his face.
Most of the two or three people who arrived on horseback were those delivering news or going hunting. And those people never ran with all their might.
However, the fact that he was sprinting now meant that something was wrong, so the military officer was very nervous.
At that moment, the soldier who was checking the communication coming from the east shouted.
“Sudden report from the east! The number is…”
The soldier called out the number while looking at the luminous signal sent from the communication tower installed in the east.
The military officer who wrote down the number called by the soldier and checked the contents urgently took a deep breath.
“Sigh! ‘Magnetic attack. ‘More than 3,000 enemies.’ hey! Send communication to the south immediately!”
“Yes, Nari!”
The soldier, who was handed a piece of paper with numbers written on it by a military officer, urgently began manipulating the luminous signal toward the south.
At that time, the soldier observing the village shouted.
“lily! The cavalry is coming here from the village! “The number is one!”
“Blow the emergency trumpet!”
At the officer’s command, a soldier put the horn installed on one side of the communication tower to his mouth and started blowing.
Phew~.
It was a trumpet announcing the start of war.
* * *
After two inspections (4 hours), soldiers burst into the communications office of the General Staff Headquarters.
“It’s urgent! Magnetic attack! “More than 3,000 enemies!”
“It’s urgent! Attack on Muchang! “More than 1,000 enemies!”
“what? Issue an alert!”
“yes!”
The military officer who gave the order grabbed the papers brought by the signal soldiers and ran to where his superiors were.
In the conference room of the General Staff Headquarters after each corner (about 15 minutes), high-ranking commanders and staff members of the General Staff Headquarters and Choi Yun-deok gathered.
“Report the situation.”
“Yes general.”
At Choi Yun-deok’s order, a military officer explained the situation to the commanders.
“Two o’clock in the morning, a surprise attack by the Jurchen tribe began in the north. There are two places that the Jurchen people raided: one is Jaseong and the other is Wuchang. The number of Jurchen people who attacked Jaseong is approximately 3,000, and the number of those who attacked Wuchang is confirmed to be approximately 1,000.”
“What is the identity of the Jurchen tribe that attacked?”
“We are still checking.”
Choi Yun-deok sighed after hearing the military officer’s answer.
“Ha~. After all, something happened after I came back…”
Choi Yun-deok, who spoke words full of regret and regret, looked back at the commanders and staff gathered in the conference room.
“What are the measures?”
“First, we will move the soldiers according to the policy established in advance. “Here’s the game plan.”
Choi Yun-deok sighed after looking at the operation plan handed to him by his staff.
“All of Joseon’s land forces are moving.”
“I can’t help it. “We still don’t have enough soldiers.”
“That’s the problem… Sigh~.”
Choi Yun-deok, who answered briefly, sighed again.
* * *
If the military system established when Joseon was founded and operated properly, the Joseon army should have maintained about 300,000 soldiers.
However, even though only 30 years had passed since its opening, the system was causing disruption on all sides.
Each soldier was assigned five assistants to cover the soldier’s maintenance costs. However, as the soldiers began to treat the children like slaves, many of them left their hometowns and became nomads.
As a result, the burden that should have been shouldered by the servants was shouldered by the soldiers themselves, and even the soldiers left their military service and became nomads or thieves.
As a result, a shortage of troops arose, and in the conquest of Tsushima Island in the first year of King Sejong, all those who knew how to drive a ship or fight, regardless of whether they were nobles or commoners living in Hasam Island, were brought in to fill the insufficient troops.
Therefore, with the beginning of the military regime, a major reform of the military system took place.
The cost of operating and maintaining the military was entirely financed by the government.
In other words, the visible system disappeared.
The government operated the army with finances from taxes paid by the people and gold and silver mined from mines.
What the soldiers wore, wore, and ate was provided by the government, and the bonuses the soldiers received were also paid accurately every month.
As a result, the Joseon army, which had been reduced to 70,000 soldiers including the army and navy, gradually increased its size while focusing on internal stability, and the goal this year (1431, the 13th year of King Sejong’s reign) was to train 100,000 troops.
But then war broke out. In order to repel the invading Jurchen tribes and maintain the northern border, land forces throughout Joseon were forced to leave their garrisons and move, leaving behind only the minimum number of troops.
* * *
“First, let’s move the troops as planned. And let’s quickly find out who the bad guys who did this damn thing are.”
“ancient!”
“And I have to report to His Majesty the Prime Minister, so prepare it right away.”
“All right.”
“I will go to Geunjeongjeon.”
As soon as he spoke, Choi Yun-deok stood up. When Choi Yun-deok stood up, all other commanders and staff members also stood up and gave a military salute.
“Do it as quickly as possible.”
“ancient!”
* * *
After the half-hour demonstration, the Geunjeongjeon was full of tension and fear.
King Sejong, who was sitting at the party house, was oozing out a deep, murderous spirit. This was the second time since the last Beomgwol incident that King Sejong was so desperate.
“okay. “What are the measures for what happened in Jaseong and Wuchang?”
“First, we gave a chase order to the mobile strike force stationed in the nearest area.”
“Chase? “Isn’t it annihilation (striking and destroying the enemy)?”
When King Sejong argued with an expression of disapproval, the ministers muttered to themselves.
‘It’s not like the blood goes anywhere.’
‘I heard you can’t steal seeds…’
Choi Yun-deok explained the reason on behalf of those ministers.
“This is because we still don’t know which tribe the Jurchen people who did this are. The number of Jurchen people who worked together in the east and west numbered approximately 4,000. Of course, with this number, we can annihilate them by mobilizing all of the mobile strike force in the north. However, in order for something like this to never happen again, we need to get it right.”
“That’s right. Still, given the situation in the North so far, aren’t there some influential people?”
“there is. “This is Muntemu and Lee Manju.”
“They! “Pateuk!”
A deeper murderous spirit began to flow from Sejong, who was grinding his teeth.
Hyang, who had been subjected to such cruel treatment under the house, grumbled inwardly.
‘Just live roughly! Why bother doing it! Ah-oh!’
While Hyang was grumbling internally, Sejong moved on.
“So what are our future measures?”
“We are moving the ground forces.”
At Choi Yun-deok’s gesture, the military officer who was waiting came forward with a large ruler.
The military officer who paid the military courtesy to King Sejong stood next to the ruler and began to explain.
“The General Staff Headquarters has drawn up emergency plans in preparation for something like this. According to the plan….”
The military officer passed the marker on the chart with his pointing stick.
When I turned the cover, the map that appeared showed the entire Joseon Dynasty, with numerous arrows moving here and there.
“Currently, a mobile strike force is chasing after the Jurchen tribesmen who are carrying out their work. We are also confirming the identity of the Jurchen people who mobilized Jurchen outposts to carry out the work.
And in order to carry out full-scale suppression, we will mobilize units from one department each from Pyeongan-do and Hamgil-do and begin the operation.”
“Is it an integer?”
The military officer immediately answered King Sejong’s question.
“It’s an integer.”
“Good job.”
After hearing the answer, Sejong nodded, but Kim Jeom’s face was gradually turning white.
‘essence? Integer? ‘What a pure water!’
The smallest unit of Joseon military organization was the five-man unit. And according to the principles of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, the size increased five-fold as the level increased.
Of course, this was a case of filling up the whole number, and normally, the upper echelons minus five were multiples of three.
But now the military officer reported that two units filled with the essence were going into operation. If so, more than 30,000 troops would be mobilized.
Eventually, Kim Jeom joined the conversation.
“Isn’t the number of troops being mobilized too excessive?”
“If the person who did this is Lee Man-ju, this should be the case.”
“Ah…”
Kim Jeom had to keep his mouth shut. The Huligai tribe led by Lee Man-ju numbered over 10,000.
“So are the other arrows filling the empty space?”
“yes.”
The military officer immediately answered King Sejong’s question and continued his explanation with a pointing stick.
In accordance with the order already issued, all land forces throughout Joseon left their garrisons, leaving only the minimum number of troops to be maintained.
Units stationed in Hwanghae-do and Gangwon-do took over the defense of Pyeongan-do and Hamgil-do, and units from Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do formed the reserve unit. And units from Jeolla and Gyeongsang were responsible for the defense around Hanseong.
After listening to the explanation of the operation that followed, Sejong nodded.
“It’s okay. That’s enough to get the job done properly. “Then the problem is supply… are we prepared?”
“Yes, we are taking out the supplies that were already stored away.”
“Good job.”
After hearing the military’s response, King Sejong nodded with satisfaction. And Kim Jeom was doing the math with a yellow face that was more than white.
‘To fill the hole created by military funds…’
“I think this is enough for the military aspect… Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
King Sejong, who called the Minister of Foreign Affairs, immediately gave an order.
“Please go to Beijing immediately. “Go to Beijing as soon as possible and report this incident and assert that our conquest is justified.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And hold out as long as you can and receive the emperor’s answer late.”
“yes?”
He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs who did not properly understand the unexpected order.
Seeing that, Sejong explained the reason.
“Your job is simple. “Do as much as you can to prevent people from interfering!”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately understood King Sejong’s order and responded loudly.
“We will definitely make it happen!”