“Well! Now that we’ve sorted out the busy matters of distant places, let’s discuss the concerns closer to home.”
The ministers, who had been taking a brief respite with tea after concluding one round of meetings, immediately straightened their postures at Hyang’s words.
As court eunuchs entered to refill the teapots, Hyang and the ministers shuffled through their documents.
“Shall we start with the east? Or perhaps the south?”
While rifling through the papers before him, Hyang’s question was met first by Jo Mal-saeng.
“We should begin with the north, Your Excellency.”
At Jo’s words, Hyang and the other ministers’ eyes all focused on him.
“The north, you say? Have the Jurchens stirred up trouble again?”
“Further north than the Jurchens, sir. An envoy has arrived from the Oirat. They’re currently being escorted to Hanseong.”
“The Oirat?”The unexpected mention of this entity caused Hyang and the ministers’ expressions to turn grave.
***
At this time, the Oirat and Northern Yuan were more distant to Joseon than the Westerners.
With the fall of the Yuan Empire, the establishment of Ming, and the transition from Goryeo to Joseon, these entities had faded beyond the cognitive sphere of the Joseon people.
Furthermore, the Jurchens occupied the territory between Oirat and Joseon.
Due to these limitations, there had been no direct exchange between Oirat and Joseon.
Yet now, an envoy had come from that very Oirat.
***
“Hmm… Why would they send an envoy?”
In response to Hyang’s question, Kim Jeom spoke up.
“Surely it must be to establish diplomatic relations with our Joseon? The excellence of our goods must be well-known even in those Mongol regions.”
Heo Hu immediately countered Kim Jeom’s suggestion.
“You think those Mongols are only now hearing about our Joseon? They’ve been trading with the Chinese merchants at Masi for over ten years. They would have heard about us long ago.”
Hyang and Hwang Hui nodded at Heo Hu’s point.
***
Joseon was well aware of the trade between Ming and Oirat at Masi. They’d also received word that the scale of trade had grown significantly over time.
Several Joseon merchants had attempted to establish themselves at Masi, but were consistently blocked by the territorial behavior of Chinese merchants.
Consequently, Joseon merchants had to content themselves with selling goods to the Chinese merchants trading at Masi, while the Chinese merchants steadily pocketed hefty intermediary profits.
***
“Then what does Master Heo think is their reason for seeking us out?”
At Kim Jeom’s question, Heo Hu responded with slightly less confidence.
“Well… I suspect they might be requesting military cooperation.”
“Interesting. What makes you think so?”
Hyang’s expression filled with curiosity as he posed the question. Encouraged by Hyang’s more positive reaction than expected, Heo Hu explained his reasoning with greater confidence.
“It’s because of the Masi situation. According to our merchants who’ve reached Masi, the Ming merchants don’t just squeeze our Joseon traders. They’re even harsher with the Mongols.”
“Surely they must know this will eventually come back to bite them?”
I remember hearing about some major incident over this issue?
Hyang posed the question while recalling memories from the 21st century.
However, Hyang had it backwards.
The cause of the “Tumu Crisis” that Hyang knew about was actually created by Oirat’s price gouging combined with the flourishing smuggling around Masi.
Heo Hu responded to Hyang’s observation.
“Of course, they know. But the Oirat and Mongols are just as guilty of overcharging, and there are still many who haven’t forgotten their grudges from the Yuan dynasty era.”
“So everyone’s trying to squeeze everyone else?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
At Heo Hu’s explanation, Hwang Hui, who had been sitting nearby, joined the conversation.
“So you’re saying that amid all this mutual exploitation, relations have deteriorated, and that’s why they’re attempting military exchange with us?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm…”
Stroking his beard while organizing his thoughts after Heo Hu’s response, Hwang Hui turned to Jo Mal-saeng.
“Your Excellency Jo. What do you think?”
To Hwang Hui’s question, Jo Mal-saeng responded with a somewhat troubled expression.
“Well… I don’t think it’s entirely impossible. However, wouldn’t it be unreasonable for us to accept even if Oirat proposes such a thing now?”
At Jo Mal-saeng’s response, everyone gathered in Seunghwadang, starting with Hyang, nodded in agreement.
***
Since King Sejong’s time, Joseon’s power brokers had considered the possibility of a break with Ming highly likely.
Because of this, they had been steadily expanding military preparations. However, the navy was particularly frustrated.
“The more Challenger-class warships we can build, the better, but those damn Chinese are holding us back!”
Trade volume with India and Europe was continuously increasing. While private merchant groups were gradually adding more merchant vessels, the navy was at the center of such long-distance trade.
With the pace of new territory development also accelerating, the navy found itself in a situation of “not having enough ships to do the job.”
The situation was so bad that this joke circulated among naval personnel, regardless of rank:
“Say… you know how that Western religion’s founder supposedly walked on water? If we convert and practice hard enough, maybe we could walk on water too? That’d solve our warship shortage in one go!”
“You want to carry those cannons while walking?”
“…”
To resolve this frustrating situation, they needed to increase the budget even by a single coin, but this repeatedly led to bloody fights due to issues with the army and navy defending the northern border region.
“We can just transport them by ship to Beijing!”
“How many can you fit on those tiny boats? And are you going to stop the Chinese coming over the Great Wall? Or maybe you’re planning to sail that ship over the Wall, like that saying about too many captains steering a boat up a mountain?”
“Shit!”
***
While Joseon’s power holders were proceeding with such military preparations, they viewed military exchange with Oirat negatively.
“That’s right. We mustn’t give them justification even until the moment of final rupture.”
All the ministers, including Hwang Hui, nodded at Hyang’s words.
“Indeed. Above all else, justification is most important in matters between nations.”
Hyang nodded at Hwang Hui’s words.
At that moment, the Minister of Finance, who had been obscured in Kim Jeom’s shadow until then, finally spoke up.
“Could it be about the horses we’re selling to Ming?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
Hyang and Hwang Hui’s heads whipped around at the Finance Minister’s words.
“Why horses?”
The Finance Minister immediately answered Hwang Hui’s question.
“I hear our horses are quite popular in Ming.”
***
Since Joseon’s founding, Ming had demanded substantial numbers of horses as tribute.
This had two purposes: one was to prevent the strengthening of cavalry, Joseon’s core military force, and the other was, surprisingly, because Joseon was good at raising horses.
To address this issue, as soon as Reformation began, Sejong operated horse farms on suitable islands, starting with Jeju and Jindo. And after absorbing the Jurchen tribes in the northeast region, they additionally established horse farms in the Gaema Plateau and nearby plains.
Of course, all of this was pursued in secret. And outwardly, whenever Ming’s envoys arrived, Sejong and his ministers would complain loudly.
“Damn it! We don’t have enough horses either!”
This tug-of-war, maintained through various tricks, finally ended when Joseon began exporting iron horses to Ming.
“We’ll lower the price of essential parts! In exchange, we won’t provide horses as tribute anymore!”
Ming’s envoys showed reluctance at Joseon’s request. However, when Emperor Xuande heard about it, he made a bold decision.
“Instead, have them discount the iron horse parts by ten percent and supply whatever quantity we want. Then we won’t take their horses.”
“Might Your Majesty be showing too much grace?”
When Ming’s cabinet supervisors and ministers expressed concern about Xuande’s decision, he shook his head.
“No, what we need now is to build more iron horses and accelerate the completion of the railway network. Once that’s done, the horses we get from Masi will be sufficient. Execute my orders.”
“We receive Your Imperial command.”
And after making this decision, Xuande muttered alone while looking at a map.
“To win the confrontation with Joseon, we must concentrate as many troops as possible in Liaodong. This can’t be done with horses. Only iron horses make it possible. We must give up small things to gain bigger ones. cough cough!”
After a bout of violent coughing, Xuande barely caught his breath and muttered.
“How difficult and lonely it is. To think there are so few who understand my intentions… If I speak now, there are only fools who’d demand we attack Joseon immediately…”
Thus, the horse tribute disappeared into history.
***
“How many horses are we selling to Ming that they’d send an envoy?”
Hyang asked the Finance Minister with an expression of incomprehension.
In Joseon now, horses were as essential as cattle. If cattle were crucial for farming, horses were vital for commerce and transportation.
In small towns where circular railways couldn’t be installed, horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws transported the people.
Stage coaches also ran between places connected by the national railway network and nearby villages, as well as between provinces.
Peddlers traveling through Joseon’s marketplaces rode carts pulled by donkeys or ponies.
And every household of means had several horses and a couple of luxurious carriages.
As a result, the demand for horses in Joseon always outpaced supply.
The Finance Minister answered Hyang’s question.
“There are several breeds raised on privately operated horse farms that, though small in stature, are strong and popular among Ming merchants.”
“Even so, we’re only talking about a few horses. I don’t understand why they’d send an envoy for that.”
While Hyang still couldn’t comprehend it, the Finance Minister continued.
“Consider Oirat’s situation. They have nothing to sell but horses and sheep – wouldn’t they take issue with our Joseon selling horses?”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm…”
At the Finance Minister’s response, Hyang and the ministers wore thoughtful expressions, finding his reasoning plausible.
After a moment of silence, Hwang Hui spoke up.
“While the Finance Minister’s words have merit, I don’t think they’re quite right. Considering the number of horses Oirat sells at Masi and the number needed throughout Ming, the horses we sell couldn’t possibly be an issue. However…”
“However?”
When Hwang Hui paused, Hyang and all the ministers waited for his next words. After catching his breath briefly, Hwang Hui continued.
“However, it makes for a good excuse for Oirat to send an envoy to our Joseon.”
“So you’re saying they’re ostensibly coming to dispute our horse sales, but have other intentions underneath? Is that right?”
Hwang Hui nodded at Hyang’s question.
“That’s correct. And those hidden intentions would likely be military-related.”