Black Corporation: Joseon

To be frank, the Ouchi clan under Mochiyoshi had been under considerable financial strain from purchasing all sorts of war materials from Joseon.

In such circumstances, when Joseon expressed their desire to purchase goods with cash, Mochiyoshi couldn’t help but brighten up.

“Lord Han, what items does Joseon wish to purchase?”

“Cotton is our highest priority, followed by sulfur and copper. We also need some grain, but seeing Japan’s difficult situation, we’ve excluded that.”

“Hmm…”

At Han Myeong-hoe’s words, Mochiyoshi’s expression turned slightly serious.

Shibukawa produces more cotton than us, and we’re buying sulfur and copper ourselves…

Noticing Mochiyoshi’s troubled expression, Han Myeong-hoe quickly continued.

“However, given the current situation in Japan, Joseon cannot freely trade as we wish, can we? We hope you might introduce us to trustworthy domains or facilitate meetings. Our only concern is burdening you when you’re busy with great affairs.”

“Oh! That’s no trouble at all! Just wait a few days! I’ll bring you good news!”

Han Myeong-hoe bowed deeply with a bright expression at Mochiyoshi’s response.

“I’m truly grateful!”

***

“Hey! Show Lord Han to comfortable quarters!”

After sending Han Myeong-hoe out, Mochiyoshi turned to his retainers.

“Isn’t this a wonderful opportunity?”

“Indeed it is!”

“We were worried about an impending crisis, but what a splendid opportunity has arrived! The gods are certainly watching over us!”

The retainers’ expressions suggested all their worries had vanished in an instant. Of course, there were some clueless ones among them.

“Though he brought good news, hasn’t my lord treated him too generously? You’re soon to become the ruler of the realm, and the Joseon people might misinterpret this.”

When one retainer made such a comment, Mochiyoshi’s face turned fierce.

“You fool! Do you think he’s just some simple Joseon envoy? He’s a direct subordinate working right beside the Crown Prince of Joseon! When the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, this man will immediately enter the core of power! Are you looking down on him just because he’s young?”

At Mochiyoshi’s thundering rebuke, the retainer who made the problematic remark immediately prostrated himself.

“I deeply apologize! Please forgive my thoughtless words!”

“Speak thoughtlessly again and I’ll have your head!”

“Thank you for your mercy!”

The retainer, having narrowly escaped death, expressed his gratitude while breaking out in cold sweat.

After putting his retainers in their place, Mochiyoshi summarized the situation.

“Joseon’s current request is like a divine wind sent by the gods. However, even the slightest mistake would squander this golden opportunity, so give it your all.”

“Ha!”

The retainers responded in unison to Mochiyoshi’s words.

***

As Mochiyoshi said, Joseon’s purchase request was like a divine wind for the Ouchi and their allies.

Though they had managed weapon purchases through Ouchi’s payment guarantees on credit, maintaining their expanded armies was an expensive endeavor.

Yet they couldn’t reduce their military forces when hostile domains nearby would surely pounce at the first opportunity.

Ultimately, this financial burden had to fall on the peasants of their domains.

The problem was that the peasants wouldn’t simply accept such increased burdens.

Village headmen from domain villages were already gathering to protest, even threatening the possibility of an ikki^[1] uprising.

This situation had left Japanese lords across the country unable to move in any direction.

Then, amidst this crisis, Joseon’s request came through Ouchi.

“What wonderful news!”

The lords under Ouchi’s influence clapped their hands in joy upon hearing Joseon’s request.

***

During this period, Joseon had largely dominated the Japanese market.

Cotton cloth was a prime example of this.

The cotton and hemp cloth produced through cottage industry couldn’t compete with Joseon’s machine-made cotton cloth.

Though Joseon’s cotton cloth was more expensive than Japanese cotton cloth, it wasn’t so expensive that people would forgo purchasing it. Rather, considering product qualities like durability, it held overwhelming superiority, leading Japanese people to buy Joseon cotton cloth.

The Japanese chose to sell cotton to Joseon instead of weaving cloth themselves.

“Though cotton depletes soil fertility heavily, it’s far more profitable than rice farming!”

“Our paddy fields are on hillsides anyway, making rice farming difficult. Let’s plant cotton!”

As such thinking spread, many Japanese farmers began cultivating cotton.

The domain lords accelerated this trend.

The taxes collected from cotton cultivation exceeded those from rice farming.

Of course, some people sensed danger in this situation.

“Farmland is being used to grow cotton that we can’t even eat. We might starve to death at this rate!”

“We must ban or reduce cotton cultivation immediately!”

Though those opposing cotton cultivation raised their voices, hardly anyone from farmers to lords paid attention.

“What nonsense when cotton is more profitable than growing rice?”

“Rice? We can buy it without worry as long as we have money!”

“Actually, we’ve had fewer instances of starvation since we started growing cotton!”

The counterarguments were true. Once they began cotton cultivation, they could buy any amount of grain they needed with money.

This was Joseon’s calculated move. Purchasing grain from Dai Viet, Siam, and Ming’s Jiangnan region, Joseon supplied it to Japanese lords, who then sold it to their people.

During this process, Joseon didn’t forget to hint to the lords:

-Lower taxes can actually bring greater wealth.

“What nonsense is this?”

The lords who had tilted their heads at Joseon’s words perked up when they saw Ouchi following Joseon’s example by lowering tax rates.

“Ouchi did?”

Ouchi themselves had been equally skeptical. However, they implemented it following Ouchi Morimi’s determination that they must emulate Joseon to develop, along with the strong advocacy of scholars who had returned from studying in Joseon.

The results were excellent. Domain residents’ loyalty increased, and tax revenue began to grow as commerce developed.

Seeing this, other lords began following Ouchi’s precedent one by one.

Paradoxically, as the situation shifted from farmers growing rice themselves to buying it, instances of farmer starvation greatly decreased. They could now fill their bellies by purchasing grain from their lords whenever they had money. With increased economic flexibility from reduced taxes, Japanese commoners began purchasing Joseon goods.

As the situation progressed this way, Joseon steadily earned wealth from Japan. Even when drought struck Ming’s Jiangnan region, they maintained steady grain supplies through Dai Viet and Siam while acquiring wealth, and sold various goods made in Joseon to Japan.

Summarizing this situation, Hyang smiled slyly.

“Who was it that said? ‘Just selling gets you only Walkman, but building factories lets you sell CDPs and even TVs.'”

And Japan’s agriculture, industry, and commerce were becoming increasingly dependent on Joseon.

Later, scholars studying this period of Japanese and Northeast Asian history would evaluate it thus:

-Joseon unleashed a ‘sweet poison’ upon Japan.

***

While Ouchi caught their breath thanks to Joseon’s favor, the shogunate’s situation became increasingly difficult.

Unlike Ouchi, who could accumulate capital internally through the Iwami silver mines, the Muromachi shogunate had accumulated capital through trade with Ming and Joseon.

However, with civil war breaking out, trade with Joseon, who was friendly with Ouchi, had greatly decreased. Though trade with Ming increased to compensate for reduced Joseon trade, profits significantly decreased.

Ming merchants, having achieved a monopoly, began driving hard bargains.

Furthermore, various weapons that were initially provided free of charge now had to be purchased with money.

***

This situation had become unavoidable for Ming as well.

Initially, the thousand iron guns supplied according to Emperor Xuande’s will weren’t excessive.

However, the arms race that erupted as Japan split in two demanded increasingly more iron guns and artillery, which began to burden Ming as well.

Additionally, the flintlock musket captured from the shogunate and delivered to Ming became problematic.

“Previously, wasn’t there a report that Joseon troops’ muskets didn’t use slow match when suppressing the Jianzhou?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“At the time, I thought the report must have been mistaken. I couldn’t imagine how gunpowder could be ignited without a slow match. But there was a way. They got us good.”

As Emperor Xuande stroked the flintlock musket with a bitter expression, the Minister of Rites immediately spoke up.

“We should send envoys to Joseon immediately to protest!”

“No need. If I were Joseon’s king, I would have done the same.”

Rejecting the Minister of Rites’ suggestion, Emperor Xuande handed the musket to the Minister of War and commanded:

“Modify our army’s iron guns in the same way. And devise ways to develop this further. Joseon wouldn’t have released these guns to Japan without thought. Joseon has surely advanced another step. Therefore, we cannot stop either.”

“I receive the imperial command!”

Following Emperor Xuande’s order, they began modifying the Ming army’s iron guns. This process caused disruptions in supplies to Japan.

Even for Ming, Northeast Asia’s greatest economic power, producing new iron guns equal to those supplied to Japan approached wasteful spending.

Emperor Xuande’s cold decision added to this:

“Though expanding influence is important, missing a golden opportunity proves incompetence! We cannot unconditionally support such incompetent ones! Charge them money!”

“We receive the imperial command!”

***

This situation made it increasingly difficult for the shogunate to expand their military.

First month of King Sejong’s 27th year (1445, Year of the Ox)

“We have no choice now! We must settle this before it’s too late!”

“Indeed we must!”

Finally, the shogunate’s leaders began preparing to settle things.

This atmosphere reached Ouchi as well, and Mochiyoshi gathered his retainers.

“The time for the decisive battle has come! Prepare for war! Inform our allied lords as well!”

“Ha!”

***

Meanwhile, in Joseon’s Hanseong, Hyang was muttering while looking at a graph.

“Seeing the declining sales volume, we’ve sold as much as we could. We’ll have to close shop for a while until they properly clash and deplete their resources. But nothing’s as profitable as arms dealing… Should we try selling to Europe?”

Hyang contemplated new markets to explore.