Joseon Military Officer, Establishing Balhae - Chapter 325



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Episode 325

The Three Kingdoms (2)

Nurhachi asked Hong Taiji.

“You said you had sufficient discussions with the King of Balhae?”

“Yes. After talking to me today, you may meet the King of Balhae tomorrow. I have already received his permission.”

Nurhachi frowned when he saw Hong Taiji addressing Taigen in such a high regard.

“How? Did you force surrender?”

“That’s a bit complicated. It’s true that we joined hands with the Ming and invaded first, so we have to take responsibility. We’ll definitely have to pay a price for that.”

“Whew! This is what I was prepared for. Even if you ask me to sacrifice my country, I have nothing to say.”

Nurhachi spoke with a bewildered expression, as if muttering aloud. Then, realizing that Hong Taiji’s expression was indifferent, he found this strange and asked:

“But your expression isn’t that dark?”

“The King of Balhae’s intentions were quite profound. He will certainly hold you accountable, but he will also provide assistance.”

“I’m so frustrated. Tell me quickly what we talked about.”

“Yes, Father.”

Hong Taiji looked straight into Nurhachi’s eyes.

Nurhachi instinctively knew from the look on his son’s face that he had a difficult decision to make.

“We will have to give up a lot of land.”

“Phew! Then that’s it.”

“First, King Taewang of Balhae decided to use the Liao River as the standard. This includes the West Liao River and the Sarmoron River.”

The Seoyoha and Sarmoron rivers are connected waterways, so drawing a line along them greatly simplifies the border, which is a good thing.

In the case of the Liao River, in the future, China built a levee to divert the mouth of the Liao River to the Shuangtai River, which is located further west than it is now, but the current Liao River flows out into the Liaodong Bay Sea through the future Yonggu River, which is located further east. Also, because it is a river flowing through the Great Plains, the water flow of the Liao River changes frequently.

“Then doesn’t that mean you’re going to take away not only our Manchurian homeland, but also Guwalcha and Horchin?”

Nurhachi shouted, forgetting his own situation.

“Father, we are now in a situation where we will lose our country. Is that territory the problem? Even if they give us all the land they want, we still have western Liaodong, part of Eastern Mongolia, and Southern Mongolia.”

“Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

“And the northern border is made up of the ridges of the Hinggan Mountains.”

Hinggan is a Jurchen word that refers to the Greater Khingan Mountains. If the Greater Khingan Mountains ridge is set as the border, the northern border of the Later Jin territory will be eastern Khalkha Mongolia, not the Songnen Plain.

“Still, it’s so unfair. All of our Manchurian territories have been taken away.”

Nurhachi’s eyes were now slightly wet. The whites of his eyes were red from anger and shame.

“There’s one more thing. Listen without getting angry.”

“Phew! Okay.”

“You must be courteous in the face of defeat.”

“for example?”

“You must kneel before the King and apologize.”

“What? Your knees?”

Nurhachi’s face turned red.

“Wouldn’t it be better than giving up? If only I could apologize and end it.”

Taegeon had no intention of receiving back the humiliation that Joseon suffered during the Byeongjahoran. It never happened and it would never happen again. He also instinctively hated such a cumbersome procedure. However, Nurhachi set a condition that Taegeon had to kneel before him and ask for forgiveness, as he needed a symbolic procedure to subdue the Later Jin, which had attacked Balhae first.

“What is the procedure after that?”

“We will treat you as a brother nation. We will become your younger brothers.”

“It’s a bit harsh to have to kneel down and apologize, and then become a younger brother.”

“Father, the next step is important. In exchange for handing over most of Manchuria to Balhae, you want us to take over the Central Plains.”

“Lord, Central Plains?”

Nurhachi’s eyes widened.

“Yes. I’m telling you to cross the Shanhai Pass.”

Nurhachi’s facial muscles twitched. In fact, advancing into the Central Plains was something Nurhachi wished for as much as unifying Manchuria. However, he soon realized Taegeon’s intentions and became angry.

“This is a strategy. Isn’t this a ploy to use us to drain the power of the people?”

“Actually, I thought the same thing and protested. Then King Taewang of Balhae said he would provide sufficient help.”

“Help me? What?”

“The Balhae army has now already occupied Gwangnyeong.”

“Already Gwangnyeong? That’s fast. Wait! Why, Gwangnyeong? Ah! So that’s why you said western Liaodong.”

Nurhachi immediately pointed out what Hong Taiji had found puzzling, and at the same time he also understood Taiji’s intentions.

“Yes, Father.”

“So, are you saying that Balhae will conquer the region west of Yohwa and hand it over to us?”

“Yes.”

“Well, isn’t this an amazing offer?”

Giving half of the Liaodong Plain was a rather radical proposal. Although most of the Liaodong Plain was uncultivated land with many wetlands and frequent flooding, it was so fertile that if it was well managed, it could become a granary. Nurhachi was well aware of this possibility.

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“Where is the best place to support a population as the Yohe River basin? The land of Horqin is also a great plain or in the north, so it is cold and close to grassland. In contrast, the Yohe River basin is a very good place to cultivate as farmland.”

Nurhachi mistakenly assumed that Balhae would take over all of the lands of the Ming Dynasty’s Liaodong Taoist Empire. If that happened, the Later Jin would lose most of its lands in Manchuria. However, if Balhae ceded the region west of the Liao River, the Later Jin would still be a country with a foothold in Manchuria.

“That’s not all.”

Hong Taiji’s voice became brighter as Nurhachi showed interest.

“We will provide matchlock guns, cannons, shells, gunpowder, and even instructors.”

“Oooh! A cannon?”

Nurhachi’s eyes grew even bigger. Possessing gunpowder weapons was also something he had longed for. Balhae was a reckless country, and even if he wanted to strike, he could not help but hesitate because he was afraid of gunpowder weapons. Furthermore, since he had already fought Balhae, he knew the power of gunpowder weapons, and he wanted it even more desperately.

“Of course, these aren’t the new cannons they’re using this time, they’re the old ones. The ones we saw at the Battle of Ula Castle.”

“I guess so. But where is it? And what was the name of that cannon?”

“These are siege guns and self-propelled guns. Self-propelled guns are firearms used by even the most powerful armies.”

The Jamopo (bulanggi) was one of the main weapons of the Ming army. However, the siege gun, or Hongipo, was not yet in use by the Ming army. The Ming army introduced the Hongipo only six years later in 1618.

“Then how do you support that?”

“The initial shipment will be provided free of charge, but once it crosses the Shanhai Pass, it will be provided for a fee.”

“Haha! That’s great. If only we could afford it. Didn’t we never get to see it before?”

“And there’s more. It’s a very big gift.”

“gift?”

“It’s a person.”

“People? Then, like Ula last time..”

“Yes, that’s right. Take all the people living in our territory. Also, the Manchurians, Mongolians, and Han Chinese living in the Liaodong region newly occupied by Balhae. However, we cannot take the people of Goguryeo, Balhae, and Joseon descent. On the contrary, we must send the people of Goryeo descent from the western region of Liaohe.”

“Hahaha! That’s amazing.”

Nurhachi was laughing heartily.

“Could this be a phone call?”

“I think so too. Wouldn’t our population increase significantly compared to before the war?”

Since about 30% of the people living in Liaodong were Koreans, or Koryo people, this meant that the Later Jin could take 70% of the population. Nurhachi was openly delighted because the population of the southern Liaodong region was incomparably larger than that of northern Manchuria.

“Then we can settle the residents in the Yoha region and have them cultivate the land.”

Nurhachi had already begun to plan for the future.

* * *

September 30th in the Balhae calendar.

In the end, Nurhachi decided to accept all of Balhae’s conditions. At Balhae’s request, Nurhachi summoned the royal family and all of their generals to Mongolia. It was to hold an official ceremony for peace.

Taegeon named the Mongolian crater ‘Yongmu’ and had a wooden platform built at the place where the ceremony was to be held. He also placed numerous flags and surrounded it with Balhae soldiers dressed in uniform.

Nurhachi’s younger brother Shurhachi and his son Amin, Nurhachi’s eldest son Chuying, second son Darshan, fifth son Mangultai, and eighth son Hong Taiji stood in the front row on the right side of the ceremony hall, followed by generals representing the Later Jin dynasty.

Shurhachi, knowing the significance of this event, felt humiliated but showed interest in the conquest of the Balhae soldiers.

“Their clothes are unusual.”

“Yes, the gold buttons and decorations look nice.”

His son Amin answered.

“Those things on that hill must be their guns.”

The atmosphere that the Balhae army created today was very threatening and splendid. Therefore, the minds of the Later Jin leaders could not help but be very complicated.

As soon as the gong rang, Nurhachi, stripped of his armor, appeared first on the stage. He clasped his hands together and stood respectfully facing the stage.

“older brother…….”

Shurhachi trembled as anger and humiliation welled up in him.

Again, majestic music flowed through the hall. As the military band played a piece paying homage to the King, Taegeon, dressed in formal attire, appeared and sat on a chair on the stage, just as he had done in Seoul.

Nurhachi immediately knelt down before Taegeon and bowed his head.

Then, Chief Min Su-ho and the commander of the Beolli Corps took turns reading the apology written by Nurhachi himself in Goryeo and Donghae languages.

When Shurhachi first heard Balhae, he did not understand English, but when he heard the familiar Jurchen language, he eventually burst into tears. It was a short story admitting his mistake and asking for forgiveness, but the fact that Nurhachi, who considered himself an emperor equal to the Ming emperor, knelt down and apologized was humiliating in itself.

“I, I wish I hadn’t drawn that picture…….”

Amin said in a trembling voice.

Next to Taegeon, the painters were sitting, diligently painting this scene. This was also humiliating, because it was clear that this scene would be passed down from generation to generation.

Taegeon came down from the platform, took Nurhachi’s hand and helped him up. Then he took him up to the platform and sat him down on the prepared chair.

Taegeon spoke softly to Nurhachi.

“Thank you for your patience.”

“it’s okay.”

“Let’s get along well now, as we discussed yesterday. Let’s resume trade.”

“Thank you.”

The fact that trade was being resumed also pleased Nurhachi, because it was clear that he would now gain more from trading with Balhae than with the Ming.

“Our army has advanced to Sol-ling-ha. So now, your army will take over that front line. We will send you weapons and instructors soon.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Nurhachi’s expression softened considerably. Now that the humiliating procedure was over, he only had to accept the gift.

With today’s event, the Liaodong War has come to a complete end. As a result, Balhae’s northern territory has doubled, making it a true territorial power. And as the final task of this war, only Joseon remains.

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