Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 626
Episode 626: Their Choice (6)
“No, it works!”
However, before Hyang could continue his words, a fierce cry of opposition came out.
Because it was such a harsh shout, all the attention of the Hyang and ministers was focused on the person who shouted.
Lee Sa-cheol was the one who strongly opposed it.
“New Minister of Education, Lee Ja-cheol. I risk my life to speak to Your Majesty! “We absolutely cannot accept their will!”
In response to Lee Sa-cheol’s earnest cry, Hyang became more interested and asked a question.
“No, it works? “Let’s hear the reason.”
In response to Hyang’s question, Lee Sa-cheol answered the reason in a solemn voice.
“your majesty. The Japanese have a nature like that of a golden animal. No, not even Geumsuman can do it. If the beast causes one harm to a person, the Japanese add their cunning to that and cause ten or even a hundred damages. If those people produce a Japanese style rifle, where will the muzzle of the gun go? At first, they will eat it among themselves, but it is certain that they will eventually make their way to our empire! So, we must never give them the license they are talking about!”
Hearing Lee Sa-cheol’s words, Hyang looked around. Quite a few people seemed to agree with Lee Sa-cheol’s words.
Seeing this, Hyang asked Hwang Hee.
“What do you think, Prime Minister?”
Hwang Hee was very nervous after receiving the question. This was because the tone of the scent had completely changed.
‘Considering what has happened to that rich man so far, both unconditional opposition and unconditional approval are traps!’
In the end, Hwang Hee had no choice but to give an ambiguous answer.
“Not everything the Minister of Education says is right, but I think it is worth considering. “It makes sense when you think about the damage the Japanese pirates have caused so far.”
“Hmm…”
Hyang nodded slightly at Hwang Hee’s words and turned her arrow at Lee Sa-cheol again.
“I will ask the Minister of Education. When studying the sutras, there are those who memorize what the teacher has told them, and there are those who search for answers on their own and realize the true truth through the teacher. “Of these two, who do you think will learn more deeply?”
“I’m here.”
“Then do you think those Japanese people won’t take a look at us if we hand over our rifles?”
“….”
“They are the ones who dragged away a large number of Ming craftsmen in the last war with the Ming. Didn’t you think that we would use those craftsmen to tear down the master-style long guns that we had handed over to us? And don’t you think that those who have the knowledge and skills they have worked so hard to acquire will be even more fearful?”
“….”
Lee Sa-cheol’s head lowered more and more as Hyang’s harsh questions continued.
“Of course, there is no one who does not know that the disposition of the Japanese is cunning, faithless, and violent. So are we trying to make enemies of those who have already made peace with us? Why are we trying to increase the benefit of reducing even one enemy? “Is that your loyalty?”
At Hyang’s last question, Lee Sa-cheol fell flat on the floor and shouted.
“No! It’s just that they have not yet learned the virtue of sage and only know the words….”
“Don’t you know that many of the Japanese who were sent from Daenae have already learned from us and returned? And don’t you know where this plan came from?”
“….”
Lee Sa-cheol’s mouth closed tightly again, and Hyang looked down at him with a pitiful expression.
After a while, Hyang turned his gaze towards the ministers and opened his mouth.
“As the Minister of Education said, everyone knows that the Japanese are fierce and cunning. But where are the cunning people? It is human nature to use all kinds of tricks to gain one’s own benefit. No matter how clever we were to hand over a long gun with its frame hidden, anyone with any sense would have ripped it open and examined its frame. Because I would have been like that too. The same goes for the request from this internal affairs committee. Was that request made for no reason? We made that request because we had already inspected the guns we had given us and knew the difficulty of manufacturing them. So the right answer is for us to use this. “If we refuse, as the Minister of Education said, it is only a foolish strategy that will increase our enemies.”
As Hyang finished speaking, all the ministers bowed their heads and answered.
“Your Majesty, what you said is truly right!”
“That’s right!”
While they were bowing their heads like that, on the other hand they were glaring at Lee Sa-cheol and cursing him with their eyes.
“Then what do you think the shackles are?”
Hyang gave a simple answer to Hwang Hee’s question.
“The first fetter is that Joseon will unconditionally produce bullet casings for Eulsik freight cars. Next, if you plan to use first-generation paper cartridges for your Eulsik long gun, we also supply a base plate with silver as the second shackle. Thirdly, the Daenaega emblem will be stamped on the barrels of the Eulsik long rifles and Eulsik freight cars produced by Daenae. If a long gun or freight car without this emblem is found, the government will definitely be held accountable. “Finally, our empire will supply all the steel materials needed to manufacture Japanese-style rifles and Japanese-style wagons.”
“Hmm…”
All the ministers who heard the ‘shackles’ mentioned by Hyang nodded. In the case of the first condition, width, it was a shackle that must be entered. Starting with the Ming Dynasty, many countries are trying to find a method of making silver, but the situation is still unknown. In other words, it was certain that the imperial army would always have the upper hand until other countries began producing too much silver.
Of course, just because the width could be created did not mean that all situations would turn around. It was certain that unless powerful smokeless gunpowder, such as bombs and Deokgap-style gunpowders, were released, the imperial army would be at least half a step ahead.
While there was such a positive response, Minister of Justice Hwang Bo-in pointed out a problem.
“It looks like the family will not accept the third shackles easily. “This is because if done incorrectly, it could be considered interference in internal affairs.”
In response to Hwang Bo-in’s criticism, Hwang Hee stepped forward on Hyang’s behalf.
“No, I will accept it as a good thing internally. What did they mean by that strange word ‘license’? Didn’t they say it was to suppress those who don’t listen to them? On the contrary, if a smuggled gun without the emblem is released, it will be a very good cause for the internal world. But what if you are against it? In that case, it would be said that the general of the Daenai family is a fool.”
“Ah…”
Hwang Bo-in immediately agreed to Hwang Hee’s answer and closed his mouth. Next, Kim Jeom asked a question.
“Are you going to send the steel used in existing rifles and freight cars to be supplied domestically?”
Hyang answered Kim Jeom’s question in a voice full of regret.
“In my opinion, I would like to give you something one grade lower than that. However, if we do that, the difference in performance will be so noticeable that it is better than not giving it at all, so we will provide it at the same level. Of course, looking at the current situation of the empire, they are using better steel than that…”
As Hyang said, the empire was not stopping its research related to iron. Thanks to this, the empire’s steelmaking technology continued to develop, and more diverse types of steel were coming to the market. Thanks to this, the gunpowder weapons equipped by the imperial army became increasingly lighter, stronger, and more lethal.
* * *
In the end, it was decided to follow the town’s thoughts regarding the request to the internal affairs committee.
“Hmm… Come to think of it, I am the Minister of Education.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. “Please ask.”
Lee Sa-cheol tensed up and answered Hyang’s call. It was because of what had just happened.
Looking down at Lee Sa-cheol, who was very nervous, Hyang continued speaking.
“The Ministry of Education is in charge of the education and practical training of those sent to university, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“If the Daenaga clan gains hegemony this time too. Raise the qualification standards for those sent domestically. If your existing qualifications were sufficient to the social school level, then raise them to the middle school level. In return for this, the scope of practical training will be raised from the existing clerk level to administrative officer level.”
“yes?”
Lee Sa-cheol looked at Hyang in surprise at Hyang’s words. Lee Sa-cheol, who held back what he wanted to immediately refute, did his best to choose his words and asked Hyang.
“I am so foolish that it is difficult for me to accurately count Your Majesty’s sacred ground. So, please explain in a little more detail.”
“Tsk!”
As soon as Lee Sa-cheol finished speaking, a scent filled his tongue, and Lee Sa-cheol and the ministers around him were stung.
‘It’s finally out!’
‘Ah-oh! ‘I think I’m going to feed that person a bowl of Chongmyeongtang!’
‘But I don’t understand either.’
The scent that caught my tongue was explained in more detail.
“If you are at the social school level, you are in a hurry to know the words of the old sage, but if you are at the middle school level, isn’t it enough to think about what the sage’s words mean?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to raise your level. “If we do well, we will be able to relieve the poison in the Japanese country.”
The description of the scent was as follows.
– The current goal of the DaeNaega is centralization like an empire.
– Even if those who came from Japan to learn practical skills reach the mid-level executive level, they will be able to improve their level of completion even further than they are now.
– In this process, those who learned and returned from the empire will become the core of power, and many people will follow their example and learn and discuss the scriptures.
“In this process, the empire can aim for two things.”
– The first target will be to change the nature of the Japanese who value military force.
– The second goal is for the Japanese country to fall into chaos again due to the contradictions of the Japanese shogunate.
Hearing Hyang’s words, Hwang Hee immediately started asking questions.
“Did you say it was a contradiction?”
“exactly. “Both the Ming and ours call the generals of the shogunate the King of Japan, but they are not the real kings, are they?”
Heo Hu immediately responded to Hyang’s point.
“There is definitely an emperor in Japan.”
In response to Heo Hu’s answer, Hyang nodded and continued speaking.
“That’s right. Although they call him the King of Japan, if you really look at it, he is a shogunate general who serves the Emperor and receives his orders. According to the records left by envoys who traveled to Japan in the past, the nobles of the Gong family, who served the emperor, compared the generals of the shogunate to Emperor Wu of Wei or the great-grandfather of Tang.”
Hyang suddenly stopped talking and clicked his tongue again.
“Tsk! “I wonder how far the conversation would have gone if our envoy was not there!”
As soon as Hyang finished speaking, the ministers’ faces hardened.
If there is one thing in common between Emperor Cao Cao of Wei and Emperor Gao of Tang, Li Yan, they were all people who established a scarecrow emperor and controlled the government. And this was an issue that Taejo Lee Seong-gye could also be connected to.
Because of this, the faces of all the ministers in Daejeon stiffened.
“These damned bastards need to be punished right away…”
Hwang Hee, unable to control her anger, swore without even realizing it. Seeing Hwang Hee like that, Hyang smiled and
continued speaking.
“Heh! This is just a guess, so let’s not make predictions. In any case, because there is such a fundamental contradiction, the learning of the Japanese must be deepened. If that happens, the Japanese nation will fall into self-destruction. It’s a question of who your loyalty is for. From top to bottom, is it entrepreneurship or lottery? If we do it right, we will be able to divide the Japanese nation into four divisions without getting our hands dirty.”
The ministers who heard Hyang’s explanation seemed to have a vision of what was going to happen.
If Ouchi achieved a certain degree of clear centralization and gained public support, there was a very high possibility that those who advocated a ‘revolution’, led by Confucian school officials, would emerge. If that happened, it was certain that a conflict would arise with those who advocated the preservation of the emperor. In another case, after Neo-Confucianism was fully established, there were people who saw Ouchi’s rise to power as ‘the rise of a loser’ and argued for the reinstatement of the emperor. Even if this were to happen, it was obvious that Japan would fall into chaos.
Hwang Hee, who had been thinking that far, glanced back at Kim Jong Seo. Kim Jong-seo looked at Hwang Hee with sparkling eyes.
“If you do this well….”