Chapter 148
The Joseon army led by Choe Yun-deok won an overwhelming victory over the Jurchens.
Naturally, the Ministry of War erupted in celebration upon receiving the news.
After hearing the full contents of Choe Yun-deok’s report, Jo Mal-saeng led a thunderous cry of “Long live!”
“Long live! Long live! Long live! Those barbarian Jurchen bastards will now gnash their teeth whenever they even hear the name Joseon! It feels like a long-aching tooth has finally been pulled.”
This time, the Joseon army won a great victory, taking 1,378 Jurchen heads, capturing more than 2,000 prisoners, and seizing over 1,000 horses and cattle combined.
Even just comparing the number of heads taken with the First Battle of the Pajeo River, the difference was more than sixfold.
The Jurchens who had tormented Joseon would not even dare piss in our direction for the time being.
“Congratulations, my lord.”
“The ones who deserve congratulations are His Majesty and the military officers who fought the Jurchens directly. Why would you say that I, who merely helped them from the Ministry of War, deserve any congratulations? Hahaha.”
“Was this not a victory made possible because every official in the Ministry of War, beginning with you, Minister of War, joined forces?”
An army marches on its stomach.
Furthermore, an army can fight properly only when the armor and weapons essential for fighting the enemy, along with all kinds of consumables, are supplied where and when they are needed.
Although proper supplies did not guarantee victory in war, it was an immutable fact that an army whose supplies were not properly managed would inevitably lose.
To give an extreme example, the revered Grand Marshal of the Dark Independence Army, Mudaguchi Renya-sensei, ordered the Imphal Operation to be carried out while ignoring its supply situation.
He ended up accomplishing the feat of starving more than 20,000 soldiers to death.
We can laugh about it like this because it happened in a neighboring country—and in Japan, of all places...
But what if something like that had happened in Joseon?
They would have cursed us for a thousand years, calling us bastards like Won Gyun.
‘Something like that must never happen in Joseon.’
“Even an invincible army will lose its fighting power or starve to death if its supplies do not support it. Besides, thanks to your efforts, my lord, we were at least able to equip the pikemen with breastplates, helmets, and shields somehow.”
“I certainly did have a hard time with that.”
Until modern state systems were introduced, it was considered standard for soldiers to bring their own weapons and armor.
Even those serving as gap-sa soldiers or military officers generally bought their own armor and weapons with their own money, and ordinary soldiers were no exception.
Of course, war was a somewhat special circumstance, so weapons were issued to soldiers who had been unable to bring their own.
Armor, however, was often not issued because it was more difficult to make than weapons and much more expensive.
That nearly happened this time as well, but I insisted that the soldiers had to be given at least some basic equipment, and Jo Mal-saeng backed my argument, allowing us to barely send them out wearing even that much.
“There was also the problem of the increased budget, and Joseon’s manufacturing capacity could not support it either, which was deeply regrettable. And if we seek the cause of that problem, it lies in the fact that our iron production is far too low.”
I would have liked to make full suits of iron armor, such as dujeong-gap or gyeonbeon-gap.
However, although Joseon’s budget had grown and the Military Equipment Office had been expanded, I had not developed our ironmaking technology as well...
I wanted to outfit every pikeman on the front line with full iron armor, but I could not.
Thus, as the next-best option, I wanted to supply at least breastplates to everyone, but I could not even do that.
We lacked not only the iron, but also the production capacity to make that many.
So I gathered up every scrap of paper in Hanyang, determined to scrape it all together, made paper-and-cloth breastplates, and sent the soldiers out wearing them.
I heard that the frontline soldiers were able to protect themselves with their paper breastplates and shields, considerably reducing their losses...
‘I cannot be satisfied with this much.’
“Once this war is over, we will have to increase the number of iron miners. The court budget is ample, yet we could not properly outfit our soldiers with armor because we lacked iron.”
“Yes, my lord. I believe the iron-miner system also needs to be thoroughly overhauled.”
In this era, Joseon tried to solve everything through corvée labor.
Mines were one such thing.
Gold and silver mines were excluded, since they had been closed because of Ming, but people living near iron and copper mines were still being forcibly mobilized to extract the ore.
“Are you thinking of allowing commoners to mine iron privately, as they do in the ice-cutting trade?”
Resources such as iron, copper, gold, and silver should, if possible, remain under a state monopoly for the time being.
That was because no one in present-day Joseon possessed a deep understanding of mining.
Therefore, having the state take direct charge of mining and smelting the ore would be more efficient than entrusting it to private hands.
We had to monopolize such resources, sell them at reasonable market prices, and use the profits as the driving force behind other policies.
“In the past, the court had no budget, so it forcibly mobilized commoners during the agricultural off-season to mine iron ore. But things are different now, and the state must employ the people working in the mines while paying them proper wages.”
“Pay them wages.”
“Rather than using only corvée labor to mine carelessly in order to save on wages, we need paid workers to mine iron ore throughout the year and supply enough of it for greater use across Joseon.”
It would not be an exaggeration to say that national power was determined by how much iron a country produced and how much it used.
In this world, the development of ironmaking technology and expansion of iron production were directly tied to the expansion of military power.
“And we must build ironworks near the iron mines to smelt the iron ore and substantially increase iron production.”
“...... Then that is what we must do. So is it the Ministry of Works’ turn to suffer greatly this time?”
“The Ministry of Works has Jang Pan-gwan—Jang Yeong-sil—and Jeong Pan-gwan—Jeong Bun—so they will manage it well.”
Once Jang Yeong-sil designed and built the various machines, Jeong Bun would use those blueprints to lead master carpenters and other craftsmen in constructing the ironworks properly.
Ah, and the lands where the Jurchens around the Pajeo River lived were in Manchuria, particularly around a place called Hunchun, where huge deposits of coal—bituminous coal, at that—were buried...
I would also have to diligently dredge up the coke-making process from my memories, organize it, and pass it on to the Ministry of Works.
I might not be able to remember it perfectly, but if I established the broad outline properly, the rest could generally be solved through the artisans’ endless repetition and trial and error.
The matchlocks used this time were also weapons Jang Yeong-sil had created through relentless effort.
“And some of the ministers at court are now saying that, since we have shown the Jurchens a taste of our wrath, we should withdraw. What does Lord Kim Hogun think?”
"Although we have dealt the Jurchens a crushing blow, they are weeds in human form. We may have rooted them out properly this time by mobilizing a great army, but if we withdraw just like this, they will settle in that region again before long."
In actual history, after the First Pajeo River Campaign, the Joseon army had immediately withdrawn, judging that it had achieved sufficient results.
However, even after getting a full taste of Joseon’s wrath, those Jurchen bastards crossed Joseon’s borders again before long and abducted and plundered the people there.
Joseon was certainly a terrifying presence to them, but if they did not raid Joseon right away, they were facing starvation... What else could they do?
They simply crossed the Joseon border and raided again.
That was why King Sejong, having experienced this situation, had tried to turn the Four Counties and Six Garrisons into Joseon territory during the Second Pajeo River Campaign.
Even if every weed were uprooted and the land turned into a wasteland, weeds would grow again before long...
He had personally experienced that the Jurchens would continue eyeing Joseon’s borders as long as the Four Counties and Six Garrisons did not become Joseon territory.
"Therefore, no matter what means we must use, the land we occupied this time must be made Joseon’s."
"But the land where the Jurchens live is so barren that developing it will not be easy."
Of course, developing it would not be easy.
Pyeongan and Hamgyeong Provinces were notorious as lands where it was difficult for people to live, and turning a place like Manchuria into habitable land would be no ordinary task.
Thus, when King Sejong developed the Four Counties and Six Garrisons, he had tried to mobilize Joseon’s strength to the fullest and turn them into lands where Joseans could live.
Yet by the time of King Danjong, the territory of the Four Counties and Six Garrisons had even been reduced.
To be precise, the Six Garrisons were maintained, but the Four Counties became regions where only soldiers were stationed.
However, even these problems and side effects could be minimized by drawing on the power of commerce.
"For now, I believe it would be best to station only troops there and spend several years making thorough preparations before resettling the people."
"You mean without moving the people there immediately?"
"I would like to move people there immediately myself, but we will have to clear farmland in harsh terrain. Would we not also need to prepare food for the people to eat during that time, as well as the oxen and farming tools needed to cultivate the fields?"
Only after making thorough preparations and implementing a resettlement policy could we claim the Four Counties and Six Garrisons—or even part of Manchuria beyond them—as Joseon territory.
"And looking at the map sent by the Commander-in-Chief, there is a region called Haesamwi that borders the sea. It would be good to station some soldiers there as well and use it as a warehouse for storing the supplies we receive."
Haesamwi was another name for the Vladivostok region.
It contained an enormous amount of timber, as well as many sables, which were considered the finest luxury goods in Joseon.
If we used it as a warehouse and word spread that such valuable things could be found there, people would naturally flock to it.
"It is close to the Six Garrisons. Therefore, if we take this place, it will be much easier to maintain a supply line farther inland than the Six Garrisons."
Whatever happened, we had to take Manchuria.
Not only did it have natural resources such as coal and iron, but it also contained fertile agricultural regions such as Yanbian.
We absolutely could not let go of this land of milk and honey.
"That should do, then. And it seems about time we reported the results of this campaign to Ming. What does Lord Kim Hogun think?"
"Of course we should go."
Joseon was not yet in a position to fight Ming.
The opportunity would come soon, but at least for now, it was not yet time.