Gunpowder and Sanitation (1)

Honestly, the policy I’d been pursuing toward Japan was basically a policy of encouraging Japanese pirates.

Historians will read the memorial I submitted under Jo Mal-saeng’s name and judge it like this.

‘Until now, the Japanese pirates had nowhere proper to dispose of the luxury goods and slaves they seized from Ming coastal cities, so trade had been sluggish. But after free trade was permitted in Jeongui-hyeon on Jeju Island, trade in Ming slaves and luxury goods flourished there, and the pirates’ momentum grew by the day.’

In other words, the Japanese bastards’ economic activity would pick up once they secured the huge market that was Joseon.

Kim Jeong-rang.

Yes, Minister of War, sir.

Let’s walk for a bit.

Jo Mal-saeng took me to a secluded place where no one was around.

If Jo Mal-saeng had been a man and I a woman, it would have been a highly suspicious setup.

It would have looked like I was sneaking off to become secret friends with some man old enough to be my uncle...