Matchlocks and Northern Expedition (3)

Sejong hated the Jurchens.

It was true that they had once made a great contribution to founding Joseon by helping his own grandfather, King Taejo.

But that was all in the past.

Now, they were nothing more than stray dogs living off scraps of meat tossed to them by those Ming bastards...

Yet those stray dogs did not stop there. They frequently kidnapped Joseon subjects living in the north, forced them into slavery, sold them, and even slaughtered them.

They were people who could not be left alone and had to be annihilated.

Sejong spoke in the presence of all the assembled ministers.

"I hate the Jurchen barbarians."

At these words, the ministers swallowed nervously and grew tense.

"The Jurchen barbarians should be content to live by scavenging the scraps of meat tossed to them by those Ming bastards. Yet while picking up those scraps, they cross over into Joseon, plunder our people, kidnap them and turn them into slaves, and even kill them for amusement. As the king of Joseon and the father of all my people, I can never forgive those wretches. One day, I will tear out their livers and chew them up."

Sejong had always cherished and loved his people.

That was what he had learned from his father, King Taejong Yi Bang-won, and he was also naturally very benevolent.

After meeting Kim Daebung and realizing that only the king could care for people who were poor and wandering without knowing where to turn, that love had grown even stronger.

And the greater his love for his people, the greater his hatred of the Jurchen barbarians.

"However, to defeat them and turn their homeland into Joseon territory rather than barbarian land, we must make thorough preparations. If we invade without a plan, we will be doing no more than throwing our soldiers to the barbarians as food."

It was extremely difficult to operate an army well, but it was remarkably easy to get one's own troops slaughtered.

The slightest disruption or negligence in transporting supplies could leave frontline soldiers starving for more than half a month, and even a little laxity in reconnaissance could allow a small ambushing enemy force to rout the entire army.

Sejong himself did not know much about military affairs, but he was at least well aware from looking back through history that armies had often been annihilated for truly trivial reasons.

"What does the Minister of Military Affairs think?"

"I agree, Your Majesty. No matter how many soldiers we have, what use are they if we have neither weapons to arm them nor food to feed them? Furthermore, as State Council Sain Kim Daebung said, even an army of tens of thousands can be wiped out by a single epidemic if we do not manage sanitation thoroughly."

The most famous battle in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the Battle of Red Cliffs, which is generally believed to have been won when Zhuge Liang burned all of Wei's ships with a fire attack...

In fact, the most devastating blows against Wei were dealt by endemic and infectious diseases.

Like Wei's army, the Joseon army could march out to fight the Jurchens, contract an epidemic, and be annihilated without ever even fighting a battle.

"What do we need to conquer the Jurchens?"

"In my opinion, we need matchlocks above all else."

"How many do we need? Tell me a number."

"The more, the better."

"You mean the more we have, the better?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. As you know, most Joseon soldiers are simple farmers who have spent their entire lives farming. They do not even know how to shoot a bow, and even when given a spear, they can do little more than pretend to point it at the enemy... It is practically impossible for such men to stop cavalry with long spears."

It is commonly said that the spear is the easiest and most powerful of all weapons, but that is only true up until the appearance of the gun.

That is because killing a person by stabbing them with a spear requires a certain degree of skill, and stopping an enemy charge with one requires a considerable amount of training.

Of course, it was also true that the barrier to entry was low, since spears did not require the ten months of training needed for archery or the years of practice required for horsemanship...

Anyone could fire a matchlock as long as they knew how to load it, and anyone who was hit would be killed in a single shot...

Since matchlocks required incomparably less effort to train with, they could be said to be far more effective.

"But if they have matchlocks, they can shoot down Xiang Yu, Lü Bu, the Jurchens, or those Japanese bastards with a single shot! What an excellent and wonderful weapon!"

Choe Yun-deok's face had reddened, and his breathing was growing ragged.

And in his mind, a scene was taking shape.

Soldiers who had been farmers only yesterday received military drill and were reborn as soldiers, then killed Jurchen cavalrymen with a single shot from their matchlocks.

Just imagining it made his heart pound.

"To suppress the Jurchens, we must produce as many matchlocks as possible, no matter what, Your Majesty!"

Jo Mal-saeng, who had been standing beside him, stepped forward and supported the Minister of Military Affairs' argument.

"The Jurchen barbarians have ridden horses and fired bows since birth. Though they do not wear armor, their combat power is no different from that of elite soldiers. Most Joseon subjects, however, have been farmers for generations. They do not know how to handle horses or bows, and they have never even fought before. But now that we have military drill and matchlocks, we can turn anyone into an elite soldier with formidable combat power. To turn Joseon's soldiers into elite troops as the Minister of Military Affairs suggested, we need matchlocks in their hands above all else. We must produce as many matchlocks as possible."

"Understood. Then I will first tell the Naesu Byeoljwa to release every bit of money available, so I hope you ministers will follow my example."

Choe Yun-deok was too excited at the thought of pouring a deluge of lead bullets into the Jurchens to notice, but Jo Mal-saeng noticed the countless stinging glares directed at him.

A situation had been created in which everyone who had received a great many perfectly legitimate gifts, including Chief State Councillor Hwang Hui (bribes, by Kim Daebung's standards), would have to disgorge enormous quantities of wealth...

All the anger this would create was about to rain down on him.

'But this is all for the sake of the country and its people.'

But he knew it well.

Serving Joseon was one matter, while having his own fortune stripped away was an entirely separate issue.

"The Jurchens make excellent use of horse archers. Will it not be difficult to counter them with only matchlocks and long spears? Does the Minister of Military Affairs have a plan for this?"

"We have only two ways to defeat horse archers. One is to use archers to counterattack when they approach, and the other is to train cavalry to attack the horse archers."

Heavy cavalry armored their horses as well, so arrows were not much of a threat to them, but most horse archers wore only very light armor, such as armor made of leather.

Since they had to ride around and flee while firing arrows from horseback, it was advantageous for them to keep their bodies light.

Consequently, they were vulnerable to arrows and poor at close-quarters combat.

Thus, Joseon had long dealt with them either by attacking them with cavalry or by sending out archers to counterattack.

"Then we must also devote our efforts to training archers and cavalry."

"Reward archers and cavalrymen who distinguish themselves generously, and there are many commoners throughout the country currently performing corvée labor who are skilled riders. If they distinguish themselves, appoint them specially as Gabsa."

The only commoners throughout Joseon who were currently performing corvée labor were those people.

Those who had once been called baekjeong.

Many of them had been unable to abandon the way of life they had followed as nomads, and many were skilled at riding horses and shooting bows... There must have been many among them capable of serving as elite soldiers.

"Then we shall do so. How many troops should we mobilize?"

"At least twenty-five thousand. Only that many will allow us to kill every last one of the traitors who have turned their backs on Joseon, including Imanju."

Among the court ministers, everyone knew Imanju's grandfather, Ahapchul, whether or not they knew Imanju himself.

Ahapchul had once been worthy of taking a seat among Joseon's founding meritorious subjects for helping Yi Seong-gye, but he returned to his homeland, saying that if he lived in Joseon, he would have to farm for a living and could not do that.

After returning to his homeland, he attached himself to Ming and took the lead in harassing Joseon.

Ahapchul had tormented Joseon for no fewer than three generations...

Everyone who knew him believed that he absolutely had to be killed.

Sejong asked Jo Gye-saeng, the Minister of Taxation.

"Minister of Taxation, is the budget sufficient?"

"Since the taxes flowing into the court have increased considerably, we can comfortably afford up to twenty-five thousand troops."

Jo Mal-saeng and Choe Yun-deok thought to themselves.

The fact that the Minister of Taxation had said they could 'comfortably' afford up to twenty-five thousand meant that they could add ten thousand or more to that number, and that they could push the budget even further...

They thought they ought to go all out on this occasion.

"Your Majesty, I, the Minister of Taxation, believe that the most important thing in leading a war to victory is supply. Even the greatest commander cannot make soldiers fight while starving them."

"You are right."

"Please send Kim Daebung, a Sain of the State Council, to serve under the commander-in-chief and assist him."

The memory of having his budget squeezed by Kim Daebung was still vivid in Minister Min Gye-saeng's mind.

It was true that Kim Daebung implemented policies that anyone would consider excessive and obtained enormous budgets.

Strangely, however, he had a knack for taking only as much as he could without causing problems in the operation of the court.

If such a man were stationed beside the commander-in-chief, he would refrain as much as possible from draining the 'national treasury' dry.

'This is all to protect the national treasury.'

"I shall appoint Kim Daebung, a Sain of the State Council, as a Hogun of the Five Guards and put him in overall charge of the Ministry of Military Affairs' Soksa (direct subordinate departments, roughly equivalent to a central ministry's 'bureaus')."

Kim Daebung, who was working at the State Council, shuddered from a sudden, inexplicable chill at that very moment.