Chapter 159
Strictly speaking, Wang Zhen is the treacherous minister, while the officials who dislike him are the loyal ministers.
In fact, the men known as the Three Yangs, who were appointed early in the Xuande Emperor’s reign and served him throughout it, went down in history as excellent officials.
But just as General Yi Sun-sin becomes a demon from the Japanese perspective, Ming’s loyal officials are villains from Joseon’s perspective.
Because if those men make Ming prosper, Ming will try by any means necessary to stop us from taking Manchuria.
Thus, the treacherous minister Wang Zhen, who will ruin Ming in the future, is the greatest loyal subject in Joseon’s eyes.
Even without our doing anything, he takes care of all our rivals for us. If that is not a loyal subject, what is?
“There are certainly still quite a few treacherous ministers in Ming.”
Wang Zhen furrowed his brow and began complaining, eventually growing angry.
“His Imperial Majesty personally selected a lowly man like me as Tutor and said he would appoint loyal subjects widely to benefit the country, but... Several grand ministers still routinely look down on me simply because I am a eunuch. One of them even submitted a memorial saying that appointing me Tutor was an act of defiance against the late Hongwu Emperor’s final instructions and that I should be dismissed immediately.”
It seems Ming has quite a few loyal officials as well.
Those grand ministers had recognized early on that that bastard Wang Zhen was the sort who would ruin the country, and yet they dared impeach him even at the risk of defying the emperor’s wishes.
I must not rashly make an enemy of Ming until the Xuande Emperor dies.
We still lack the strength to withstand people like that if they make sound judgments while crushing Joseon.
Even as I thought that, I enthusiastically played along with Wang Zhen’s complaints as much as possible.
“What? Have they truly lost their minds? The Hongwu Emperor’s warning not to place eunuchs in important positions was meant to guard against the harm eunuchs could cause, was it not? He did not mean that a man of noble character like you, Lord Tutor, should not be kept close. His Imperial Majesty personally recognized that you were an outstanding man and said he would appoint you and make good use of you, yet an official dared to oppose him. It is truly lamentable.”
“That is exactly what I have been saying. I have lived until now without great shame before Heaven, yet those treacherous ministers take the tiniest speck of dust on me and inflate it until it is as large as a mountain, then impeach me over it... My heart feels as though it is being torn apart.”
“I, too, was once impeached by a fellow possessed by the ghost of Goryeo, Ryu Jeong-hyeon, for an utterly absurd reason. So I believe I understand your feelings very well, Lord Tutor.”
“I suppose loyal subjects of the same kind really do understand each other, Chief Secretary.”
Wang Zhen gripped my hand tightly.
What does that fellow think of me?
Did he think that, among all the people in Joseon, only the loyal subject Kim Daebung understood the heart of a loyal subject like himself—a Zhuge Liang or Yue Fei reborn in Ming...?
Wang Zhen continued in a solemn voice, his face filled with resolve.
“Do not worry, Chief Secretary. No matter how much the treacherous ministers swarming through the court slander Joseon, how could His Imperial Majesty doubt the sincere loyalty of His Majesty the King of Joseon? For your sake, Chief Secretary, I will tell you how to clear up this misunderstanding.”
“Thank you, Lord Tutor.”
I only had to buy into Wang Zhen once, and its rise has been truly terrifying.
This fellow is still nothing more than the Crown Prince’s tutor (a position that could be replaced at any time), but seeing how he was already trying to help me like this...
Once the Zhengtong Emperor ascends at a young age and takes real power, I cannot even imagine how generous a man he will become, handing over to Joseon whatever he can.
“His Imperial Majesty wants assurance that Joseon will not betray Ming.”
“What sort of assurance?”
“Sending court maidens or eunuchs, or paying tribute in gold or silver... It should be sufficient if Joseon proves its loyalty in some such manner.”
“Neither I nor His Highness the Crown Prince here can make a decision on such a matter alone.”
“I understand that very well.”
Of course, that was because Wang Zhen was a treacherous minister and a eunuch.
Before he became a eunuch, this man had worked as a teacher in the county where he lived.
And not at a private academy, but at a county office officially recognized by the state.
By Korean standards, that made him an elite with roughly the equivalent of a doctorate.
Besides, one could not be stupid and hope to become a treacherous minister in the first place.
How could a fool seize power simply by trusting in the emperor’s protection?
If he tried that, the others would hit him from behind and leave him a corpse.
“Chief Secretary, once everything goes well, please visit my residence sometime. I will treat you to famous wines and rare delicacies from across Ming.”
“I look forward to it, Lord Tutor.”
“Were you not the one who recognized and acknowledged my worth when I was at my lowest, Chief Secretary? If you ever encounter difficulties in the future, please tell me at any time. Unless it would harm the country, I will help as much as I can.”
It was immensely reassuring that this man was not a subject of Joseon.
As expected, Wang Zhen shines brightest when he is in Ming rather than Joseon.
Yes, do not forget this feeling in the future.
After finishing his conversation with me, Wang Zhen paid his respects to Choe Yun-deok and Munjong before leaving.
At that point, Munjong asked me a question, his face filled with puzzlement.
“What sort of person are you, Chief Secretary? I simply cannot understand how you managed to charm Ming’s Tutor so thoroughly.”
“Anyone, as long as he is human, finds it impossible to forget the kindness of someone who helped and encouraged him at his most difficult moment.”
There is just one additional condition.
Namely, they must not be rivals.
I am a Joseon official, while Wang Zhen is a eunuch of Ming, so even if we wanted to fight over our respective interests... we cannot clash because we belong to different countries.
So Wang Zhen’s heart must be filled with nothing but goodwill toward me.
‘If we had been rivals, we could never have gotten along as well as we do now.’
“Now we must hurry back and finish the work we have to do. We need to report to His Highness that this problem has arisen and explain the solution we have come up with.”
Now that we knew the cause of the problem, all that remained was to find a solution.
**
When we returned to Huitongguan, I gathered Choe Yun-deok and the Crown Prince in one place and began our discussion.
“For now, Ming is testing Joseon’s loyalty. Therefore, we must offer them a token proving that Joseon will never betray them.”
“You are right.”
“Deputy Envoy, have you thought of an alternative?”
“Since ancient times, this is how our Joseon has dealt with Ming whenever it made unreasonable demands.”
Choe Yun-deok furrowed his brow and sighed.
“We offered tribute women and eunuchs, valuables including gold and silver, or a large number of warhorses, thereby proving our loyalty. I wonder if we should do the same this time.”
In the original history, this was the last time Joseon offered tribute women and eunuchs; afterward, the practice of sending tribute women disappeared from Joseon’s diplomatic relations with Ming altogether.
But I know that only because I know history.
The Joseon ministers, including Choe Yun-deok, would think that they might have to continue offering tribute women in the future as well.
‘Once you have done it once, you end up doing it twice, then three times.’
At those words, Munjong burst into anger.
“Though I am young and do not know as much as the Deputy Envoy and Chief Secretary, I know one thing for certain: the suffering endured by those sent as tribute women or eunuchs, and by their families, is far too great. No matter how many banquets the state holds to console them, or how lavishly it rewards the families left behind, how much comfort could that offer people who must live with the pain of being torn away from their families and spending the rest of their lives lonely and in hardship in a foreign land? As the Crown Prince of a country, how can I force such a sacrifice upon the people?”
Choe Yun-deok lowered his head as he listened.
But Choe Yun-deok had only said that there had been cases like that.
Since he had committed no crime, Munjong did not rebuke him any further.
“Unlike before, the court now has some wealth to spare, so it would be best to offer tribute in silver and gold and dispel His Imperial Majesty’s suspicions.”
We may not have gold, but we can get silver by raiding Tsushima.
If the lord of Tsushima says he does not want to give us silver, I can either go see him myself or send him a letter...
‘Yes, I will tell Joseon and Ming that you are a pathetic nobody who is not even the shugo of Tsushima.’ If I warned him to that effect, he would send us a huge amount on his own.
“Then it would be best to tell the court that we should offer silver as tribute. In addition, it would be good for Joseon to declare war on Northern Yuan.”
“Declare war on Northern Yuan?”
“Northern Yuan cannot attack Joseon, which is so far away, anyway. But Northern Yuan is unquestionably Ming’s primary enemy. If we declare war on them, His Imperial Majesty will no longer suspect Joseon, which will have sworn to fight the same enemy as Ming.”
After careful deliberation, we submitted the alternative to the royal court.
It was approved as written and forwarded to the Ming emperor.