Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Same Bed Different Dreams

“Stupid. So you ran away?”

“He spouted words that make the hair stand on end just from hearing as if nothing!”

The leader of the Andong Kim clan Kim Jwageun clicked his tongue while listening to the words of his adopted son Kim Byeonggi.

“Shouldn’t we make room to change the words even now?”

“How are the words.”

“Increase the navy, strengthen Ganghwa Island defense, and since Aseul came friendly relations with Britain-”

“By what means?”

In the end Kim Jwageun who made many furrows on his forehead blurted out bluntly.

“How, how much must one increase the navy to block the Westerners’ large ships that annihilated thirty Qing ships with just two ships?”

Although Kim Byeonggi has no way to know about the navy, no matter how he thought it didn’t seem like loading whatever cannons on ships that can be made in Joseon now would repel Western ships.

Nurturing the navy does not become an answer.

Then the remaining is only meeting the enemies on land.

“Ah.”

“Realizing is enough.”

Did they say the position makes the person.

Kim Jwageun who was chewed every day as incompetent but only greedy, after taking on the country’s heavy responsibility and continuously doing official life, a vibe welling from seniority gradually came out.

In his eyes not only domestic power struggles but also external situations were faintly visible.

“Moreover Westerners are far and Qing is close. Can Westerners completely conquer the Central Plains like old barbarians?”

Those guys covet gold and silver treasures, gains through trade and commerce.

And the army eats money just by its existence itself, and an army that went outside the country is especially a burden that melts even a thousand gold gently.

If Westerners sensitive to gains and losses they only come by ship and plunder, there is no matter of occupying Yanjing and deposing the barbarian emperor and ascending Taishan and calling themselves Son of Heaven.

But what about the opposite.

Qing just has to block the Western barbarians flocking like midges, or if not possible hand over the gold and silver treasures they want.

Even if the Qing army cannot subjugate that western region land and pull up roots, at least the power to burn this weak country Joseon land remains.

The war Britain and France talk about?

No different from plunder expeditions of Malgal Khitan etc. that appear in old history books. They just come by ship instead of riding horses.

Their cannons and ships will be strong. That’s why they won the war too.

However the power to completely destroy the country called Joseon ultimately lies with Qing not Westerners.

Isn’t it as clear as seeing fire what is the correct judgment for this country’s ancestral temples and altars?

“Then-”

“However there is no reason for us to cry out rejecting the West and rejecting heresy for no reason.”

That is something the Pungyang Jo clan who need to flatter the Confucian scholars because they are lacking would do, and the Andong Kim clan who bear the heavy responsibility of ruling this country must take practical benefits.

Just as when Japanese troops invaded in the Imjin year they introduced the matchlocks they used, one should be wary of Westerners’ invasion but just separately introduce those outstanding weapons, right?

“Son.”

“Yes, father.”

“Appropriately soothe Aseul. That guy also talks about grace with words but actually harbored a hideous intention, so in the end isn’t it obvious he came to Joseon coveting the profits of lowly business? Tell him if he sells Westerners’ weapons we’ll pay a generous price.”

“That... would be. Understood.”

Since a child not even twenty has no way to have the power to start a war, in the end isn’t it trying to somehow do that trade while laying terrifying threats.

At least he didn’t bring that terrible thing called opium so with just this Joseon’s Way dragged Westerners one step toward human propriety even a little.

Originally merit is merit and private is private.

If Aseul harbored not just goodwill but also a vicious intention there was no reason to treat him well for no reason.

Joseon’s powerful minister was leisurely.

***

The Far East region had a faint concept of ‘trade’.

Not the level of ‘Ah, this is trade. You monkeys don’t know’, just the development is extremely weak or so?

There were timings when trade prospered with Cheonghaejin or Byeoknando or Silk Road, but conversely speaking excluding these specific periods the reality that trade between countries, especially maritime trade is extremely low in this area cannot be denied.

Right away how could the Republic of Korea leap to a top 10 advanced country in the world. A country that has only human resources grew with the one tool of processing trade of importing raw materials and making products and selling them. As me who acted as the frontline warrior of that very trade it is a history that is inevitably regrettable.

But right now I am even more grateful because of that.

Because there are many corners for me to suck.

“You brought all this list with one ship?”

“Yes.”

In the writing I submitted to the Joseon court there was absolutely not a single word or phrase that could be inferred as ‘trade’ or ‘commerce’.

I only wrote ‘a gift to repay the sincerity of carefully looking after the lonely orphan washed up in a poor and desperate situation in the past’.

This is justification.

Ignorant Western guys keep bringing ships and quacking to do business at first meeting so the Joseon government of course refused, but saying to a person who has acquaintance like me who comes and gives a ‘gift’ ‘yes well received now go back’ is absolutely impossible by the nature of the country called Joseon. In fact even 21st century modern countries can’t do that unless it’s a dog mess country of North Korea level.

And Joseon’s high officials tasted a feeling of fainting seeing my ship, the <​Henry>.

“When expressing Westerners’ ships there is always the phrase large ship so I wondered how big a ship, but when this servant went directly to Ganghwa Island to confirm the list Aseul brought that ship was truly the size of a house and the sails were also much larger and more diverse than those attached to our Joseon ships.”

“Does it really not use oars at all?”

“Yes. There were a few cannons loaded on the ship, and according to Aseul’s words they nominally loaded a little to be wary of pirates. However even the cannons loaded on a single merchant ship looked much larger and stronger compared to our cannons.”

“Is there a guarantee that that ship is a merchant ship?”

The rejecting the West rejecting heresy faction who needed an excuse to pick a fight somehow claimed from the beginning that bringing such a ship itself is a kind of armed demonstration.

The <​Henry> is an East Indiamen belonging to the most common trading ships at this time.

In fact their claim is not wrong either, East Indiamen can also be used as warships if things go wrong. Right now to save money they only drew pictures in the cannon places but if one saws that place and makes cannon port compartments and loads cannons full there a warship is completed right away.

Anyway, Joseon quickly transported the goods I ‘presented’ to Hanyang and pondered how to pay the price.

“So much coffee and chocolate!”

“Look at this sugar! My goodness!”

“The amount the whole country will consume over several years came in at once.”

“Look at this cotton cloth. The gloss is truly amazing!”

“Truly amazing. The British cotton cloth Aseul brought is strangely precise and the same in its making.”

The merchants of this country Joseon all stuck to the Andong Kim clan and caused a commotion wanting to receive even part of that vast materials.

But the main interest of Joseon officials was not sugar or something right now.

“The water buffalo horn Aseul brought is truly a vast amount.”

“Horsehair also has quite a mix of low quality but the quantity is very much.”

“So much gunpowder?”

“Since gunpowder can be called the foundation of military state affairs, the gunpowder Aseul brought can be called a truly enormous amount.”

“How can Aseul who is nothing more than a single merchant not even of age handle so much gunpowder? Isn’t it that the British court put hands on Aseul’s coming and going?”

A quantity enough for Joseon to come to its senses.

Originally people think of the other party according to their own circumstances, so naturally recalling ‘did Britain send the ship determined?’ is also an obvious story.

But their expectation was splendidly wrong.

From the beginning this is just a sad case showing how much Joseon only played inside the well.

The endless amount of saltpeter springing from India.

Slaves... no, the enormous amount of sugar and various materials that Indian ‘contract workers’ cultivate sweating blood in plantations.

And even the overwhelming factory products endlessly pouring out by grinding their own workers.

Joseon can absolutely not win in economies of scale.

Even India that once commanded the world’s cotton textile industry lost in competition with Britain that received the industrial revolution buff and fell to a raw material production site, and the only country that can face factory machine industry is the population pig Qing. No, the fact that it is a match itself is absurd.

“According to Aseul’s words Britain has gunpowder overflowing so anyone can easily buy gunpowder if they have wealth.”

“Also he presented a few matchlocks that Britain uses, and there were better parts compared to the matchlocks we are using.”

Originally I thought of selling muskets or cannons a bit too, but my thoughts changed.

There is no need to hand weapons to Joseon for no reason.

Anyway Joseon will not have the capacity to pay the price of this vast materials. There is no loyalty to sell even weapons.

I stuck by Heungseon-gun Lee Ha-eung and was confirming the change in his state of mind.

“How is it?”

“What are you saying.”

“I am nothing more than a single merchant. The ship I brought is a common merchant ship and there will be thousands just in Britain excluding other countries.”

“······.”

“These large ships are all going around various places in the world buying all sorts of wealth and objects until the hold bursts. All of Britain’s wealth and power comes from here.”

Despite hearing the magic word northern expedition Lee Ha-eung did not easily stir.

“No matter how I look, rather than a future where our Joseon accepts Britain’s objects and becomes strong only a future of being eaten by Britain is visible.”

“It might be so.”

Lee Ha-eung glared at me with a terrifying gaze as if he would twist my neck right away.

- Seems like he’ll really kill?

Can’t kill.

The moment he kills me Joseon loses the window to negotiate with the West.

Just seeing a very small fragment of the power of Western powers Joseon people are already intimidated.

France is already doing blackmail threats under the pretext that their missionaries were killed, and Lee Ha-eung is not a thick head enough to make a situation where I die and Britain also joins this blackmail threat.

“If not careful discussion might come out that one must kill you and lock the country’s doors even more firmly.”

Ah. It was worrying that not himself but other guys might kill me.

“Unless unkempt scholars living trapped in a well, I believe even the court officials will not agree with that foolish opinion.”

“So. My concern that this country might be eaten?”

“So that it does not become so this me, me who learned both Eastern and Western learning will become the broker.”

They say the court’s head is bursting right now about how to pay the price. Honestly whether rice or sangpyeong tongbo what value would that have to me.

I proposed pretending not to win ‘can’t you give it in red ginseng?’, and the court was racking their brains since realistically the only thing that can become money for them is red ginseng.

Option 1. Just give some red ginseng.

Option 2. No. Since it was ‘gift’ really just receive the sincerity and wipe the mouth.

In my honest heart I much prefer Joseon choosing 2.

At that moment our British Empire government will declare war on Joseon to protect free trade and the Union Jack.

But Joseon will probably give the price.

Not because they fear Britain that will invade when they eat and wipe the mouth, but because almost all the materials Joseon was suffering from lack of suddenly became abundant just because I one person came and it would be too attractive to lump it as one-time.

“Westerner Lee Aseul listen!!”

And my prediction was not wrong.

I was able to receive a generous amount of red ginseng under the condition of ‘this is only once’ and load it on the Henry ship.

And sure enough.

“Our country originally has no intention of exchanging with Western barbarians, but we saw that if it is one who learned the Way like you Aseul it can be trusted. So-”

The Joseon court inquired whether I could sell Western books of course and gunpowder, water buffalo horn, sulfur, copper etc. various strategic materials once again.

Unofficially to the end.

The first step passed for now.

I showed Joseon people the happiness and necessity of trade.

- Then isn’t this practically opening Joseon? Did you really do it?!

No.

Right now Joseon is lagging in the capacity to pay the price of the next trade.

Even if red ginseng sells expensively to Qing, in the end it is ginseng ginseng. Not a thing that can be cultivated wildly like plantations and pulled out freely?

According to my original plan I monopolize the role of the bridge connecting Joseon and the international market and accumulate vast wealth, and then roll this money into Qing or India side trade to achieve a huge business... but Joseon is truly too much of a beggar country so this snowball doesn’t roll at all.

It’s fucked.

- No, no. Since I earned quite a profit in Joseon, now can’t I just comfortably exclude Joseon and engage in Far East trade?

The jar ghost is not a person but a beast so he doesn’t know well.

Originally 19th century business must have <​monopoly> precede to be proper business.

I absolutely can’t monopolize the Chinese market.

The only thing I can set up a barrier for is only Joseon.

This Joseon must be wealthy for the pie I eat to become that big, but from the start it all got twisted.

For Joseon to raise purchasing power it must join the flow of the industrial revolution, or at least open the lids of gold mines or silver mines on a large scale and dig out minerals abundantly.

A country approaching a population of 20 million being that poor has a problem.

What Joseon needs right now is precisely the method to raise national economic power and achieve growth.

In other words <​strict consulting by experts>.

- Something makes the spine chilly hearing it...?

And if this consulting then as expected the godfather of free trade and democracy, the British Empire is boasting the world’s best performance.

And as for me Arthur Lee a citizen of the Republic of Korea that excellently graduated the strict consulting of the International Monetary Fund, IMF. If not me who would proceed with strict consulting for Joseon without selfish desires?

Tsk, nothing can be done.

Here as expected following the wisdom of the sages, there is no choice but to do one more war with Qing.

- Huh? Huh??

Then enlighten Joseon.

Joseon people!

I will save you from sedo politics and the disorder of the three administrations!!

- Crazy... bastard...

Wait for me!!

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Author's note

Thank you to High School Girl Hunter, rynian0605 for your sponsorships!!