Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Open Joseon (4)

Although the British army did not enter even one step into the Hanyang capital, the Hanyang marketplace was already half ruined.

Half crumbled houses and furniture were plentiful on all sides, and refugees who sat down with a thud while packing luggage were sprawled on all roads and sleeping soundly.

If the British army had come to Hanyang it would have been more than this. Destruction, massacre, rape, arson would have been committed.

This much was a good defense.

I entered the palace and had a private audience with the king alone.

“Your Majesty. Have you been always in good health?”

“I always had pent-up anger full in the lower abdomen like cancer or boil, but this time some divine doctor came and I vomited three mal of blood but that pent-up anger came out of the body as if washed.”

Is that pent-up anger really from the powerful, or from the invasion of foreign barbarians.

I somehow embraced the unease that it might be the latter and decided to push only the former.

“Since the scabies and midges that were prolonging life by tearing and eating the crumbs that came out of the supreme one’s body fell off this is truly a great great fortune of the ancestral temples.”

“Thank you.”

We briefly exchanged such truly soulless stories like that.

Fitting for the brain of the invasion and the king of the defeated country.

But one cannot end this place like this.

From now on the opportunity for me to have a private audience with Heonjong will be almost none, or this will be the last.

To not waste this precious place.

I threw a gambling move.

“How does Your Majesty plan to rule this country from now on?”

“...Inwardly embrace the people devastated by the harsh rule of the powerful, and outwardly associate with various countries and solidify the internal strength.”

I unfilially shook my head.

“That must not be.”

“Then? Serve Britain and put out an army for you like during the barbarian invasion?”

Heonjong asked back as if flaring up, but I shook my head this time too.

“If it was for Britain’s interest I might have said that is the correct answer, but since this is not the correct answer for Joseon it is wrong.”

“Ha! Will tell the answer for Joseon? Is your intention truly so?”

“I am a body indebted for life to Your Majesty and the people of this country Joseon. I know it is truly rude and presumptuous words... I also think of Your Majesty, the Your Majesty who gave piggyback and put snacks in the mouth, as an older brother and friend.”

The young king had no answer.

After a moment.

“My burden is too heavy.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Until not long ago I was surrounded by the Kim family and Jo family, and countless others besides. I told everyone to withdraw now but still afraid. How far will the king’s order reach in this country? Can I really do the role of king?”

The young man Lee Hwan who put down the monarch’s mask looked very tired just from the voice.

The tension and pent-up anger piled layer by layer were still holding him, and now not only Joseon but Lee Hwan himself was in the same situation of having to advance into the dark world.

“Still there will be no one in this place. Right. If one goes against my words at this point I will immediately send next to Kim Jwageun.”

“······.”

“Younger brother. What story do you want to tell this incompetent older brother? Since you have grown I can’t give piggyback, but the ears are open so I can still listen.”

I raised my head.

“I obtained a truly rare opportunity in this world, having studied all learning of the East and West. Thus there was something I realized.”

“What is it?”

“The East will all perish.”

“Why?”

Surprisingly Lee Hwan instead of getting angry or throwing the inkstone was asking me a ‘question’.

As if why the solution of this equation comes out like this.

As if why the answer to this problem is this.

I intuited.

Lee Hwan was believing me.

I don’t know if it’s the desperation of a person driven into a corner or because of something else, but instead of the detailed procedure of grasping the meaning and intention of my words.

He just tried to believe.

“Ignorant ones will shout like this. Let’s also import Westerners’ guns and cannons and learn the technology to make big ships. Then one will be able to protect the country. Is it wrong?”

“Accurate.”

“The West’s real power does not come from those guns and cannons. As a result of heaven’s time, earth’s advantage, and human harmony all combining, they opened a world completely different from the world so far.

Even if the East learns guns and cannons and ships they will develop more powerful objects again, grow power more with goods extorted from other places in the world, and become infinitely strong like compound interest endlessly swelling. The East does addition, but the West does multiplication. This gap can never be caught up.”

A system like patents where invention and discovery become the foothold for establishing oneself and making a name.

The invisible hand that hedges risk represented by joint-stock companies and financial markets and pulls those who challenge.

A no-weight-class indiscriminate speculation field where even capitalists fight bloody battles over markets and customers and only the most competitive survive.

Tens of millions of modern citizens who completed the regular curriculum essential to run factories and modern industries although useless nonsense in pre-modern agricultural society.

That endless growth and development created by industrialization, modernization, and capitalization combining.

Sucking others’ bone broth by plundering colonies is nothing more than an extremely secondary story.

A pre-modern country has at most thousands tens of thousands of landlords and noble house young masters as the entire talent pool, but a modern country all tens of millions of people become the country’s talent pool to seize the opportunity for status rise and establishing oneself and making a name.

Even the big-nosed guys living in this era are saying vague sounds like ‘our people are awesome’ or ‘Christian ethics are excellent’.

I who contacted the results researched by smart people hundreds of years later through shallow self-help books or YouTube shorts know.

The time to explain all these things was far insufficient, and even if explained whether Heonjong who is not even a modern person would believe this was unknown.

Nevertheless I tried my best to inform him of the modernity that will come in the future.

“Now is the Warring States period. Righteousness and propriety disappear, and powers that became crazy beasts indiscriminately eat weak countries so as not to fall behind other countries, and destroy small countries as if eating rice with only one reason of establishing the country’s prestige.”

“Truly chilling.”

“I hope Joseon becomes a country that eats rather than a country that gets eaten.”

“Didn’t you learn what the fate of countries that forgot benevolence righteousness propriety wisdom and ran wild arrogantly became? What appearance did Qin Shi Huang’s country become?”

“The West will perish someday. But, after Qin perished were the six countries rebuilt?”

Although the day will come when powers stick their heads in trench mud and all die, the day when Indians and Pakistanis laugh hahahoho and use British slaves did not come.

If one falls behind it’s the end.

The ones above will kick away the ladder.

The descendants of the slaves working while getting whipped now will sew Nike soccer balls receiving 6 cents hourly wage 200 years later. South Korea was the only unique exception case. So no matter how much one chatters the sorrow of colony or the emotion of resentment the descendants of those who exploited can’t understand.

I will twist history even to live.

Whether the tearfully poor Joseon will become that advanced country South Korea or not will now change to an unknown area.

So please do your best.

Isn’t a slave owner better than a slave.

“Britain, are you trying to make us a country of slaves like India?”

“Probably so. To leave as their achievement, countless people will try to tear and eat the flesh of this country to expand the country’s territory and obtain the reputation of showing the empire’s power.”

Eastern way Western technology fails.

Only the Meiji Restoration that replaced everything succeeds.

“But as I said through Heungseon-gun, that conflicts with my interest. Therefore I will devote body and mind and help so Joseon can protect sovereignty and become a strong country.”

“If still not?”

“...One has to sell as expensively as possible.”

Heonjong spat out laughter as if absurd and put the long pipe in his mouth.

“Come to think of it Aseul do you smoke tobacco?”

“Smoking is harmful to health and rots the lungs.”

“Now looking Western medicine is poor. King Jeongjo said if one puffs one tobacco the head spins tightly and strength enters the lungs flashingly.”

What is this crazy guy saying? Now 21st century medicine looks like dick?

But I reflexively approached him and struck a match.

“Is this that, match?”

“Yes. No need to use flint.”

“If something like this is laid in every corner of the country all daughters-in-law of Joseon’s eight provinces won’t have to stay up all night to keep the fire.”

- Kkeu. The first thought seeing matches is loving the people spirit. How about you also look and learn a bit, this vicious imperialist.

While I was speechless from absurdity, Heonjong smoothly took out one small long pipe from the side and handed it to me.

“What did you do becoming an official doing state affairs without even learning tobacco? Puff one in front of an adult.”

“According to Joseon’s etiquette smoking tobacco in front of superiors is not etiquette, right?”

“Didn’t you just chatter vigorously. Abandon propriety and transform into a country of beasts. Since it’s the first step of becoming a beast quickly light the fire. Or is there still a piece of Confucius and Mencius teaching left in you so hesitating?”

No, fuck. Lee Ha-eung is like that and the family members of this house are all sophistry default? If I don’t smoke tobacco here it becomes ‘kya as expected Neo-Confucianism 1 win’?

Although absurd where one acquired such a skill without even a person who taught, anyway if told to do it one has to do it so I lit the fire on the long pipe.

Fuck. Really spicy and bitter. It seems just made me eat shit.

“Didn’t you say make a country of lowly people without distinction of high and low? How is the taste of lowly people a bit?”

“Tears well up in the eyes.”

“Come to think of it this is also all the teaching of the Way. All the people receiving teaching and learning and mastering is precisely the thing the country should encourage, so that ‘modern citizen’ is ultimately yangban sound, right?”

Yes? No? Why does the logic suddenly jump so sniff sniff? If I were the professor grading I would have immediately given F looking at this descriptive answer.

“This time I will ask.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What is the most urgent thing in this country now?”

“Training a strong army.”

“Does that come before anything else?”

I tried to nod as politely as possible, but realizing that with the long pipe in the mouth the lack of manners does not disappear at all I half gave up.

“Qing will not stay still right away.”

“Didn’t you say you will protect?”

“Japan also after knowing this cold reality, will soon reach the thought that they must make Joseon slaves to enrich the country and strengthen the army.”

Japan is also tasting the black ship arrival with American express education around now.

“The shogunate also has powerful ministers running rampant, and local powerful clans nurturing dreams of rebellion are plentiful everywhere.”

“This is a story we also know.”

“Then, do you know the fact that those traitors admire Toyotomi Hideyoshi?”

For the first time embarrassment peeked on Lee Hwan’s face.

“Why?”

“The Tokugawa clan ruling Japan now originally took Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s place, right. The traitors are ones who deny Tokugawa’s world, so naturally they regard Toyotomi Hideyoshi who did not open the shogunate and respected the one they call emperor as a loyal righteous man.”

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a named monster almost like a reverse disease god in Joseon.

I don’t know well whether there is Jeonghanron now or not, but by what means would Joseon people confirm up to there? Roughly believing so would be fine, right?

“To block both internal worries and external troubles a stronger army than any other time is needed.”

“That army has all disappeared and is gone.”

The words because of you, were omitted but heard too well.

Now time to enter the main point.

“The world’s best elite soldiers are definitely the British army. If Your Majesty also seeks Britain’s advice in training a new army there will be no shortage in raising the strongest army in the East.”

Military advisory group.

Anyway even if Joseon people raise the Joseon army the output can only be the Joseon army. One must stamp Western style from the skeleton now for a modern army to pop out.

“Although you are an envoy can you make decisions even on serious military state affairs?”

“It may be a somewhat unfamiliar story to Your Majesty, but the government office called <​East India Company> ruling India commands 300,000 great army separately from the British army. A kind of mercenary corps.”

A British army military advisory group is difficult for now even thinking myself.

But how about the East India Company army?

Those guys, because they are full of deficit they cry as soon as they open their mouths, right?

“Your Majesty. If you just stamp the seal here the world’s strongest army will train soldiers for Your Majesty.”

“Uh, um. Suddenly the momentum seems to have changed-”

“If not now there is no opportunity! Cheap price! The East India Company army that destroyed India and burned Guangzhou is remaining on this land now! The strongest strong army as Your Majesty’s royal guard!”

If just eating my personal interest a lot taking the treaty document and returning to London only my head breaks and ends.

But if one entangles the East India Company too?

The shareholders there are all high officials and nobles?

- Hey. Hey hey.

Why?

- That East India Company... isn’t it abolished soon?

That’s why I said if not now there is no opportunity.

Knowing the stock scheduled for delisting why not short.

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