Joseon Military Officer, Establishing Balhae - Chapter 305



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Episode 305

Battle of Gaeju (2)

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every time he heard a deafening explosion, Commander Du Song of the Allied Forces trembled, forgetting his pride. Even though he was quite far away in the rear, the Balhae army’s artillery fire felt incredibly powerful.

Dosong shouted nervously, trying to shake off his fear.

“Why are the rear guards so sloppy!”

“Yes, I have already sent a messenger. He should be here by now.”

The commander of the Gwangnyeong Byeongbi Army, Jang Jeon, answered with a bewildered expression.

The 40,000 or so troops of the Ming army were stationed in the plains south of Gaeju and Daegyeonggang. The length of the position was only about 10 jang from the coast to the eastern mountainous region, so the density of troops was quite high.

Between Ming’s Gaeju and Balhae’s Ungaek, there is a place called Logadun, and to the north of this place is a ‘V’ shaped hill, and this ridge was the border. However, the problem is that the Balhae army occupied this ridge.

The Ming army, which had suffered severe damage from Balhae mortars in the previous Liaodong War, naturally built a base at a sufficient distance from the border and was just waiting for the order to launch an all-out attack.

However, unexpectedly, the Balhae army launched a preemptive attack under Taegeon’s orders. In terms of troop size, the Balhae army was naturally inferior. Therefore, the Ming generals never expected Balhae to attack first, and were struck by lightning.

The tragedy began in the east. The 20th Division of the Balhae Army, stationed at Hashima Ridge, surprised and annihilated the Ming army guarding the eastern mountainous region, and then began to attack the eastern flank of the Ming army camp with artillery.

Du Song hurriedly withdrew the troops deployed on the eastern front a little bit, and at the same time sent a messenger to Yu Jeong, requesting that he rush over immediately and reinforce the weakened front line. However, the ten thousand troops on the eastern front were helplessly attacked by Balhae’s cannons even while retreating.

As he was stamping his feet watching the scene, a messenger arrived with new news.

“The enemy forces in the western and central mountainous areas have also broken away from their positions and are approaching us.”

Dosong frowned after hearing the messenger’s report.

Compared to the eastern part, which was suffering severely, the western and central Ming armies had not yet been exposed to attack, and now it was their turn. If the Balhae army came down from the hilly positions north of Logadun and took up positions, the Ming armies in the central and western fronts would certainly be exposed to powerful artillery attacks.

“General! This is a crisis and an opportunity. If we leave them alone, our central and western armies will also come within range of our artillery fire and eventually have to retreat. Now that the enemy is coming down from the ridge position first, we must send our nimble cavalry first to seize the initiative and charge at the main force, annihilating them in one fell swoop.”

The advice of the commander-in-chief tempted Du Song. Furthermore, when news came that the advance party of the 10,000 troops of the 1st Route Army of Yu Jeong’s rear army had arrived at the Daegyeong River and was crossing the river, Du Song no longer hesitated.

“Issue a full-scale attack order to all troops. Let the cavalry take the lead and destroy the enemy’s vanguard!”

“Yes, General.”

“Also, ask the rear army to help the eastern army attack the enemy as soon as they cross the river!”

As soon as his order was given, the entire army began to move like a huge wave. The 1st Army of the rear, who had rushed in hastily, also swept into this wave without rest.

* * *

Newcows district, British South Formosa.

The British East India Company occupied Matakao (Kaohsiung) in southeastern Formosa and named it Newcows after Cows, a port city on the Isle of Wight in southern England. This idea was inspired by the fact that Formosa was an island. In addition, they began to move their base at Cape Portland to Newcows. Since they had the best natural port terrain in Formosa, which would become the future Kaohsiung Port, they decided to make Newcows the center.

Among its many strongholds in the East, the British East India Company placed the greatest importance on the colony of Southern Formosa.

In the meantime, they had acquired Gaya Island and Sukadana from Borneo, and Singapore from the Sultanate of Johor. They had also acquired several strongholds in the Maluku Islands, but most of these were on borrowed land. The East India Company was still relatively weak, and because it was competing with other European countries, it did not have the capacity to subdue local kingdoms or indigenous groups and take their land. In the meantime, they had succeeded in territorializing South Formosa, so they had no choice but to cherish it even more.

When news reached Newcow that a massive naval battle had been fought between the Ming-Dutch combined fleet and the Balhae navy in the Hani Strait, resulting in Balhae’s victory, Henry Middleton quickly summoned his officers.

“A request for cooperation from Balhae has arrived along with the results of the naval battle. They plan to launch a naval blockade against the Ming coast, so they are asking us not to trade with the Ming until the embargo is lifted.”

“Tch! This isn’t a request for cooperation, it’s a notification.”

When his younger brother David Middleton complained, his older brother took it a step further.

“What kind of notification is this? It’s a threat. Since they said they can’t guarantee your safety, we should consider it as an expression of their intention to attack indiscriminately if you break the policy.”

“Ugh! What the heck is going on? Anyway, because of those Dutch guys…….”

Captain Carling sighed softly. However, their expressions were not so dark. The Dutch East India Company’s advance into Northeast Asia, a thorn in their side, had once again been thwarted by the Balhae Navy.

“Have you heard of Olivier van Noort?”

Governor Middleton asked his officers with a smile.

“Yes, isn’t that the one who successfully traveled around the world? He’s also famous as a pirate captain. I heard he returned via the Strait of Magellan and the Philippines.”

David was the first to pretend to know. With so many ships stopping at ports around the world to exchange news, rumors about someone like Van Noort were bound to spread quickly.

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“Isn’t he the one the Dutch kids hold up as a hero and brag about— gasp! No way?”

Captain Carling was startled and stopped speaking.

“Your guess is correct. He led the Dutch fleet and fought against the Balhae navy. Then he was taken prisoner without being able to move.”

“Hahaha! That went really well.”

“Oh! What good luck… Then he must be working like a slave in Balhae right now.”

David thought of the slave labor, because he too had visited the Hani Islands and seen Dutch sailors working.

“That’s right. Balhae applies such regulations without exception.”

“The Dutch people must have been really hurt. If this gets out to their home country, there’ll be a huge uproar.”

“Anyway, keep in mind that because of this naval battle, the maritime supremacy in Northeast Asia has completely passed to Balhae. Even the Ming Dynasty has lost its naval power, so now we can say that there is no country that can control Balhae.”

Henry Middleton spoke with a tone as firm as nails.

“Yes, of course it should be. And we have been obediently following that order all this time.”

Carling answered. In fact, except for the time of the conquest of South Formosa, the British East India Company had been acting cautiously in Northeast Asia, hiding its position. It was an action based on the judgment that if it fell out of favor with Balhae even once, it would be difficult to avoid the same fate as the Dutch East India Company.

So, they have been refraining from expanding their territory in Formosa. This is because they might provoke Balhae, which has its base in Hani Island and North Formosa. There was already an order from the home country not to cause any conflict with Balhae under any circumstances. There was also the reason that they judged that in the current situation, the benefits gained through peaceful trade were greater than those gained through plunder.

However, this did not mean that the British company lost interest. The natives living to the north adjacent to Newcastle were the Siraya people, and that land was the future Tainan City (Tai Nan City) of Taiwan. In actual history, the reason the Dutch withdrew from the Penghu Islands was because they could move their base to Tainan. In that sense, Tainan, like Newcastle, was a wonderful land worth drooling over.

“In return, they said they would release more Balhae goods, so diligently go back and forth to Choryang to buy goods and bring them back.”

“All right.”

“Then, silk will become more expensive in the future. Balhae will provide porcelain.”

David began to deduce the ramifications of Balhae’s blockade.

“I guess that’s true. Also, the business of exchanging gold and silver to make a profit has been suspended for the time being.”

“Then I think we need to put more effort into growing cash crops, including sugarcane.”

“good idea.”

The British East India Company planned to use South Formosa as a trading post and large plantation.

The company divided Southern Formosa into four major regions. First, the Medina River, which flows through the New Kaus Plain in half—the future Gaoping River in Taiwan—was used as the boundary to divide it into Dongkaus (the future Pingtung County) and West Kaus.

There was also the Portland Cape, the first stronghold at the southern end, and the Phu Son (Tai Tung) region in the east. The southeastern coastal area from Portland Cape to Phu Son was so rugged that there was almost no land for living or farming. However, Phu Son had a wide delta plain formed at the mouth of the Beinan River (Binan River), which was a fairly large stream, and was very useful. That is why the eastern border was drawn up to Phu Son.

The company planned to establish large-scale sugarcane and other crop farms in these four places. In particular, in the Kaus Plain, which was a plain larger than the Buru Plain of the northern part of the southern part of Balhae, the company planned to intensively produce various special crops to be exported to Balhae, such as sugarcane, tea, cinchona, pyrethrum, and cotton.

Of course, the people who worked on these farms were either local indigenous people or workers brought in from Southeast Asia.

“But, you know? You should never take natives as slaves.”

“Yes, of course we should hire them and pay them wages, even if it’s just a little bit.”

David answered with a bitter expression. If the natives were to be taken as slaves, it would be impossible to avoid Balhae’s interference.

The thing that Balhae hated the most was the slave trade. Therefore, if slaves were procured from other places or rumors of slaves being captured locally spread, Balhae was likely to intervene immediately. That is why even in the New Cows region, they were paying wages and working the natives.

“Excuse me, what about Hong Kong Island?”

Captain Carling asked.

“Would the Balhae fleet just leave it alone?”

“I guess so?”

“How about we strike first?”

Governor Middleton shook his head at David’s suggestion.

“When the war ends, trade with the Ming will resume. Will the Ming remain silent? If we can no longer trade with the Ming, that will be a bigger loss than obtaining the island. Furthermore, Balhae will not remain silent.”

“Tch! I guess so.”

“The Balhae fleet may already be attacking Hong Kong Island. We are at war, so would we just leave the Dutch base, which is the enemy’s den, alone?”

“That’s right. Even if I were you, I would attack from there right away.”

David said, smacking his lips in regret.

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