Joseon Military Officer, Establishing Balhae - Chapter 348



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Episode 348

The launch of the Qing

Hangangbu Military Government Office located in Suwon-hyeon, Hangangbu.

Suwon was a fairly large city where Joseon’s Dohobu was located. Accordingly, it naturally became the location of the Balhae Hangangbu Dohobu Office, and the 3rd Army Corps headquarters, which supervised the southern Korean Peninsula garrison, was also located here.

As the last stop on his southern tour, Taegeon visited the 3rd Corps headquarters in Suwon and received a report on the situation in the southern region.

Since it had not yet been transferred to the civilian government and the military governor system was not functioning properly, all information from each region was gathered in the 3rd Army Corps. Also, countermeasures were established here and delivered to each local military government office. That is why Taegeon visited Suwon.

“About 30% of the resident relocation project remains, and the task of ensuring public order, such as eradicating bandits and piracy, is almost complete. However, the level of interference between towns is still so high that it is hindering traffic, so we are continuing to build up our beasts.”

Lee Ha-ryun responded with a sly smile to the report from Corps Commander Kang Dae-gu.

“Anyway, there are a lot of tigers out there. But aren’t they just joking around for the fun of collecting tiger skins?”

“Oh my! How could that be? Where else can you find so many tigers as Joseon? Tigers are not easy to catch. Also, we can only mobilize a small number of troops, and the mountains are deep, so it is not easy to build up a base.”

Kang Dae-gu responded to Lee Ha-ryun’s joke with a look of resentment.

“Take it slow. If you steadily reduce their numbers, they will eventually end up living only in deep mountains where no one goes. What about the island situation?”

Taegeon had no intention of protecting the tigers that threatened the lives of the people. He did not intend to drive them to the brink of extinction, either. He simply wanted to drastically reduce their numbers in order to utilize the country efficiently.

“As expected, thanks to the lifting of the old Joseon public policy, people have settled on each island. It seems that many have moved here to avoid the greed of corrupt officials. That’s why, according to Giha’s orders, we are only implementing a resident registration program for the islanders and are not encouraging them to move.”

“Well done. If you want to immigrate, of course we should listen, but there’s no reason to induce you first.”

Taegeon was worried that most of Joseon’s islands were empty due to the aftereffects of the empty island policy implemented because of the Japanese pirates. However, when Balhae eliminated the Japanese pirates and the safety of coastal islands was secured, the Joseon government quickly lifted the empty island policy, which seemed to ease his worries.

“Geometry, and merchants are flocking to register the top, but since it is under military control, we have sent them away for now.”

“Who came from where?”

“The merchants of Gaeseong, the merchants of the Han River, and those from Dongrae.”

“I see, that’s what happened.”

Taegeon nodded, as expected.

Although they had not yet developed to the extent of reaching the level of the dogo system of the late Joseon Dynasty, the ‘Songsang’ of Gaeseong, the ‘Gyeonggang merchants’ who were mainly active in the Han River, and the ‘Dongrae merchants’ who operated in Dongrae had been thriving in their respective bases since long ago. The prototypes of these dogos already existed.

“The Balhae merchants came over and started doing business, and they’ve been coming like wild boars that got a discount. It seems like they can’t compete with the existing northern merchants unless they grow in size, so the merchants in their home base are banding together and trying to register the merchants.”

“It seems that the existing Balhae group has united them. Since they are so anxious, we must accept them. I will send the person in charge of the Imagination Department, so proceed immediately.”

“Yes, geometry.”

“How did the additional port selection work go?”

This time, Lee Ha-ryun asked.

It took quite some time for the railroad to be built to the Samnam region. Therefore, until then, the only way to build a logistics network was through shipping. Therefore, each region had to build a port where large cargo ships could enter. In the case of the southern coast, Mokpo Port in Muan County, Chonampo in Gwangyang, Samcheonpo Port in Goseong, Busanpo in Dongrae County, and Yeompo in Ulsan County were already being used as representative ports.

“We decided that the sea in front of Beopseongpo in Yeonggwang, Gunsanjin in Okgu, and Seocheonpo in Seocheon right to the north would be the best. These ports were where Joseon’s transport ships used to go, but since it would be difficult for large ships to enter, we should select an appropriate place in the surrounding area and build a new port. This is the conclusion we reached after investigating together with the Navy.”

“Is the Han River part of Jemulpo in Incheon?”

“Yes, among the areas close to Hanyang, the only place that could have a port is Jemulpo.”

“Okay.”

Tae-Gun briefly glanced at another report prepared by the 3rd Corps and then asked Kang Dae-Gu.

“What is the public sentiment toward Balhae?”

“It’s not that bad, perhaps because taxes haven’t been collected yet. However, many of those who were favorable to Balhae have already moved north, so those who remain are still in a state of disarray. Naturally, the nobles are very dissatisfied.”

“Are the people aware of the tax system and military service policy?”

“I explained it sufficiently and the response was good. It is much better than Joseon. However, they are still unfamiliar with the situation of becoming part of a new country.”

“You mean it’s a matter of the heart, not a matter of policy.”

“Of course. It is so light that it is hard to compare it to the heavy taxes and military service of Joseon. How could there be any complaints? It is only because they do not realize it.”

“I see. Only when more Balhae artifacts are imported will the people become accustomed to the new way of life.”

“We also need to build more schools.”

Lee Ha-ryun smiled and agreed.

“We should proceed in the natural order. The Samnam region will probably remain underdeveloped for quite some time, but people will move on their own. If they want to be educated, they will move to a place where there is a school. So we should first develop the base city.”

Taegeon decided not to be impatient. Urbanization was an inevitable step in the industrialization stage. This phenomenon was already widely observed in the existing Balhae society. The fact that the capital area of ​​Balhae, such as the Hamgyeongdo Yukjin region, which was seen as a remote area in Joseon, had now transformed into the most civilized and populous land was proof of this.

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Eternity of name.

Yeongwonseong was originally the site of Yeongwonwi’s base, and after the defeat by Balhae in the First Liaodong War, it was a castle that was hastily expanded out of fear of Balhae’s westward advance. Originally, Yuan Chonghuan, who would become active much later, built Yeongwonseong as a forward base to protect Shanhaiguan, but this event happened several decades earlier.

Of course, the current Yuan Chonghuan was still an unknown young man who had not yet passed the civil service examination. It was fortunate for the Later Jin and a great misfortune for the Ming Dynasty that a general with such outstanding abilities who was known as the last great general of the Ming Dynasty had not yet taken office.

In the end, this place, Yeongwonseong, also suffered the same fate as Geumjuseong.

After occupying Jinzhou, the Later Jin army, which had surged forward like a raging tide, quickly surrounded Yeongwonseong. In addition, a special force broke through the Liaoxi border through the Haraqin region of Eastern Mongolia and advanced right in front of Shanhaiguan to block the retreat route. The problem was Ming’s response. When something like this happened, some of the 50,000 troops stationed at Shanhaiguan should have been sent to attack the Later Jin army and open the retreat route for the Yeongwonseong army, but the Ming garrison, fearing that Shanhaiguan would be breached, kept the gate tightly shut and just watched blankly. It was as if they had abandoned their allies beyond Shanhaiguan.

In the end, the Ming army of Yeongwon Castle surrendered without even being able to properly fight against the siege attack of the Later Jin army. If only the Later Jin army had not had artillery, they could have held out for quite some time, but the power of the siege artillery made it inevitable that Yeongwon Castle would quickly fall. And the morale of the soldiers hit rock bottom because the road to Shanhai Pass was blocked.

The commander of the Yang Huangqi, Piongdon, reported the results of the battle to Nurhachi.

“We took about 5,000 prisoners, and the remaining 2,000 were killed or seriously wounded.”

“There are more enemies than I thought.”

“It seems that they were scared and withdrew their troops to Sanhae Pass in advance. However, there are many forts between Yeongwonseong and Sanhae Pass, so the troops there are also trapped like rats in a trap. If they are all captured, the number of prisoners will increase.”

The Later Jin was so obsessed with this that it felt like they prioritized capturing prisoners over fighting on the battlefields north of Shanhai Pass.

“How much is that number?”

“About 3 thousand.”

The Ming defense facilities built between Yeongwonseong and Sanhaeguan, including Sodansanbo, Myeoncheonyeongbo, Heukjangsaebo, Jungwooso, and Junghuso, were quite numerous. Although their scale was not as large as Yeongwonseong, Ming had no choice but to deploy troops here to maintain the supply route to Yeongwonseong and to protect the Later Jin border located in the mountainous region.

“That too is less than expected.”

Nurhachi could not hide his disappointment. He asked Hong Taiji.

“How is the conquest of prisoners from Geumjuwi going?”

“Most of the generals came over because they were told that they would be treated equally and their positions would be guaranteed. Now that the generals have come over, the soldiers won’t be a problem.”

“Then I guess we can deploy it in the future battle against Shanhai Pass.”

“Yes, I’m sure that will happen.”

When Nurhachi returned after taking a look around the captured Yeongwonseong, the surrendered Ming generals were waiting for him. Surprisingly, they were Lee Seong-ryang’s sons, Lee Yeo-baek and Lee Yeo-mae, and Lee Yeo-baek’s son, Lee Yeong-bang. Lee Seong-ryang eventually died at the age of 90 this year, and his son and his family were captured by the Later Jin army.

Nurhachi greeted them with a smile. He felt special because they were a family with whom he had a long history.

“Give them food and shelter.”

“Yes, Great Khan!”

As Piongdon withdrew with the surrendered generals, Hong Taiji approached.

“We just received new intelligence from Balhae.”

He handed over a report to Nurhachi.

“Hmm, this… I heard that Balhae and Ming have strengthened their alliance.”

“Huh? So Balhae hit us in the back of the head?”

“That’s not it. Balhae said that they would soon send a messenger to us about this matter. It was in several newspapers, so it must be true.”

The spies of the Later Jin Dynasty operating in Balhae collected Balhae newspapers as part of their espionage activities, just like in Joseon in the past. When important articles came out, they would translate them and quickly deliver them to the Later Jin Dynasty court.

“Honestly, I don’t understand it, but the timing is so clever that I feel like it’s an attempt to keep us in check.”

“Haha! If that were true, you would have stopped supplying weapons a long time ago, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Once we cross the Shanhai Pass, we won’t need Balhae weapons. There are many artisans of firearms and gunpowder in the Ming, so we can capture them and make them ourselves.”

“Yes, I have high expectations too.”

Nurhachi’s gaze turned south.

“We have now achieved our first objective. We have driven Rickdan Khan beyond the Great Wall and taken over right in front of Shanhaiguan.”

The Great Barrier is the Gobi Desert. The Likdan Khan army was driven south across the Gobi Desert towards the future Qinghai Province, so Likdan Khan was no longer a threat.

“Then finally…….”

“Yes. Let’s change the national title to Daecheong and prepare to cross the Sanhae Pass.”

“Hahaha! Okay, I understand.”

Hong Taiji was very pleased.

Two months later, the gold was finally changed to the Qing. Nurhachi changed the national title from Uluhecheon to the Great Qing Empire and ascended to the throne as the Great Khan of Manchuria and Mongolia and the first emperor. The era name was set to Heavenly Mandate, and Nurhachi became the Heavenly Mandate Emperor. Balhae naturally acknowledged this and sent a congratulatory envoy.

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