Planting Chaos in the Ming Dynasty (6)

To the Ming, Joseon is the most trustworthy of all the barbarians.

Unlike the Japanese, they neither organize wokou and attack the Ming coast nor form bands of mounted bandits and make a habit of plundering like the Jurchens.

When a new state is founded, they even hand the authority to choose its name entirely to the Ming, and whenever a new king ascends the throne, they unfailingly ask for permission, even if only as a formality.

They have served the Ming consistently for decades and have never opposed it.

Moreover, Joseon is a country willing to stake its life on adopting Ming culture and scholarship. In a sense, the men called seonbi in Joseon are more eager than anyone in the Ming to serve Confucius and learn from him.

Even so, deep in the Xuande Emperor's heart, suspicion toward Joseon had taken root and showed no sign of disappearing.

"The Yongle Emperor and the Hongxi Emperor always told me to remain wary of Joseon. Can I really trust them...? I do not know."

There were always numerous eunuchs and palace women in the emperor's quarters within the Forbidden City.

Yet the Xuande Emperor treated them as if they did not exist, speaking aloud to himself as he organized his thoughts.

The eunuchs and palace women in the emperor's quarters were nothing more than machines existing for the emperor's convenience, as one chief state councilor with the name of a salt-field slave from some wretched place once put it.

That was because they were not people who thought and acted according to their own wills like civil or military officials.

Indeed, any eunuch or palace woman who leaked even the slightest secret could be immediately 'disposed of,' so they could not possibly be a source of leaks.

"The Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, once said that Joseon, the descendant of Goguryeo, was a barbarian nation certain to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops and set its sights on the Central Plains the moment the Ming showed the slightest sign of weakness."

From the beginning of Joseon until some time after the Imjin War, the Ming seriously overestimated Joseon's national strength.

They saw it as a frontier barbarian nation capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops whenever it pleased.

So when they received word during the Imjin War that the Japanese had conquered Joseon all the way from Busanjin Fortress to Hanyang in the brief span of about fifteen days, they made the following absurd assumption.

'The King of Joseon has joined hands with the Japanese and is trying to attack the Ming!'

From Joseon's perspective, having been brutally invaded by the Japanese and knocked flat on its back, it was an outrageously unfair thing to say.

But the Ming genuinely believed that Joseon was a powerful nation with the resources to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops at any time. Seeing such a powerful nation breached so easily, they reasonably suspected that it must be putting on a WWE match with the Japanese.

"Yet they have not opposed our Great Ming in all these decades. And from what I have heard about Kim Daebung, the recording secretary who came with this embassy, he even cast aside his pride and flattered a low-ranking eunuch..."

Kim Daebung's flattery toward Wang Zhen was not directed at Wang Zhen alone.

Wang Zhen was the emperor's eunuch—in blunt terms, nothing more than the lowliest of the emperor's slaves.

For a young official serving as recording secretary—someone everyone in the embassy was convinced would someday become Joseon's youngest chief state councilor—to bow his head so deeply before such a person meant...

"The King of Joseon must have ordered it."

That was the obvious conclusion from a common-sense perspective.

An official who had risen to junior fifth rank at the age of just twenty-three, and who was considered capable of becoming a senior official immediately if he so desired.

A man like that needed no careful analysis.

You could simply conclude that he was a man desperate to rise in the world.

His ambition reached the heavens, and because his abilities matched it, he had risen so high at such a young age.

Otherwise, it was impossible to understand.

Why else would such a man endure the disgrace of bowing his head before a low-ranking eunuch?

If he sought to rise further, this incident would shackle him for the rest of his life.

The Xuande Emperor smirked and rechecked the information reported by the Eastern Depot.

"The Eastern Depot cannot know everything about Joseon, but... there is quite a lot on him for a mere junior fifth-rank nobody."

According to the information network the Eastern Depot had planted, Kim Daebung was a loyal subject who had never once bent his principles, whether Grand King Yi Bang-won threatened him with an iron mace or not.

Furthermore, he was said to be a mad dog who, upon seeing a corrupt official, shouted, 'Either you die, or I do,' regardless of the other person's status—a man who had once submitted a single memorial, branded a sitting chief state councilor a traitor, and had him executed.

Thus, the Xuande Emperor's thoughts proceeded as follows.

'Kim Daebung is desperate to rise in the world and wants to become chief state councilor so he can enjoy power for the rest of his life.'

'To achieve this, he is a subject who moves strictly according to the wishes of the King of Joseon.'

'Therefore, just as Kim Daebung's attitude toward a low-ranking Ming eunuch demonstrated, the King of Joseon will obediently do whatever the Ming commands.'

Once he thought this way, the conclusion naturally followed.

There was no need to worry about the 200,000 elite troops of Joseon that Zhu Yuanzhang, a terminal case of delusional disorder and paranoia, had fretted over.

The conclusion itself was amusing.

"Yi Seong-gye once used Jeong Do-jeon to threaten our Great Ming Empire and declare that he would conquer Liaodong, but his son and grandson have long since become dogs who do nothing but yearn for the Ming's favor."

From this point onward, the Xuande Emperor drastically lowered his level of vigilance toward Joseon.

A dog that stands up to a lion without being intimidated and tries to bite it is frightening, but what is there to fear from a dog that only looks at its master and wags its tail?

Even so, the proper diplomatic policy was to tap a stone bridge before crossing it, so the Xuande Emperor decided to call in the Joseon expert he trusted most, seek his advice, and settle the matter in his mind.

"Bring Eunuch Yun here."

Before long, the Joseon eunuch Yun Bong, the most reviled man among Joseon's officials, entered.

"Did you summon me, Your Majesty?"

"Yes. I summoned you because there is something I wish to ask you about Joseon. Do you think I can trust the Joseon of today?"

Yun Bong was the highest-ranking eunuch in the Ming, overseeing both the Eastern Depot, which managed intelligence, and the Directorate of Ceremonial, which performed a role equivalent to Joseon's Royal Secretariat.

And there was only one reason this Joseon-born man had been able to rise to such a position.

'A eunuch must never dare offer the emperor a personal opinion.'

"I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness, but I would not dare offer a personal opinion on matters concerning Joseon."

"Yes, I know that your family remaining in Joseon is being treated very well by the King of Joseon. But as far as I have observed, you have consistently pursued only the interests of the Great Ming, making you a true subject of the Great Ming in both name and deed. So I will ask you directly, rather than the Minister of Rites. Answer me honestly."

The moment the emperor broke the principle that one must not offer a personal opinion, Yun Bong did not panic. Instead, he read the situation from the emperor's eyes and expression.

He then discerned the emperor's intentions.

"Joseon cannot even dream of opposing the Great Ming."

"I asked whether I can trust Joseon, not whether Joseon intends to oppose the Great Ming."

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. Although I was born in Joseon, I have been a subject of the Ming for a very long time. As a result, it has also been a long time since I came to regard Joseon as one of the barbarians. How could I rashly presume to tell Your Majesty whether a barbarian can or cannot be trusted unconditionally?"

The Xuande Emperor smiled when he heard that.

As Yun Bong had said, the Xuande Emperor had never intended to erase his suspicions about Joseon completely, no matter what circumstances arose.

Even Ming officials might climb over the emperor's head someday, which was why the emperor had entrusted eunuchs with the authority to inspect the military and keep those officials in check. How, then, could he trust the King of Joseon?

Although Yun Bong had not answered his question correctly, the Xuande Emperor found it praiseworthy that he had understood his intentions.

"Continue."

"Joseon bestowed considerable wealth, official positions, and even a house upon my family remaining in Joseon in order to win the favor of me, a mere Ming eunuch. Moreover, whenever the embassy passes through various towns, including Pyeongyang, in accordance with an imperial order, they go out of their way to extort large amounts of wealth and behave ferociously, yet the King of Joseon does not even dare protest. Is that not because they fear Your Majesty terribly?"

The Xuande Emperor was extremely pleased to hear this.

"The Eastern Barbarians, Western Rong, Southern Man, and Northern Di are all the same: barbarians. The obedient Eastern Barbarian among them is Joseon."

"Ha-ha, you are Korean, yet you call Joseon an Eastern Barbarian? Then I suppose I have taken in a barbarian. And the emperors of previous generations took barbarians as concubines, too."

"My learning is extremely shallow, but I believe barbarians and humans are distinguished by whether or not they have been civilized. I was civilized by the learning of the Central Kingdom; Joseon simply was not."

Had Confucius heard him, he would have punched him for using his words in such a way to elevate China.

But to the Ming emperor, who was steeped in Sinocentrism, there could be no better flattery.

"Barbarians can be ruled only through a policy of loose rein. Joseon says it will obey the Ming even more diligently from now on, so please bestow imperial grace upon them in return and encourage their proper attitude and conduct. If you do so, they will not even dream of opposing Your Majesty for a long time to come."

"Yun Bong, your wisdom is exceptional. Excellent. Then what do you think should be done with Wang Zhen, the man exalted by Kim Daebung of Joseon? Answer this honestly as well."

Yun Bong knew very well that Wang Zhen would one day take over his position.

If he let fear drive him to suggest that the emperor kill Wang Zhen, Yun Bong would lose the emperor's trust.

Conversely, if he showed Wang Zhen mercy, then even if he were pushed out of his position as chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, he could remain at the emperor's side and continue enjoying power.

'It is better to give up a little than to lose everything.'

"Wang Zhen does not go around boasting about having been greatly praised by Joseon's Kim Daebung. He has let only the bare minimum of people know and has conducted himself with restraint. His behavior can rightly be called a model for eunuchs. Therefore, I do not think it would be right to punish him."

The Xuande Emperor wanted to gain even stronger imperial authority.

To establish truly powerful imperial authority, he thought he would have to minimize, by whatever means necessary, granting mere officials the honor of being the emperor's teacher.

And Wang Zhen was precisely the man he considered useful for that purpose.

Therefore, if Yun Bong had suggested punishing Wang Zhen, the Xuande Emperor would instead have punished Yun Bong himself, but...

'Yun Bong knows his place.'

"Everything you have said is correct. I will grant you fifty nyang of silver, so spend it where necessary."

At the same time, Kim Daebung was secretly speaking with a man who had entered disguised as a laborer.