Chapter 1051 - The Volunteer Corps

To ensure control over this strategic location, Jocheon Harbor was garrisoned by the marines who had accompanied the Second Fleet. The main strength of the fleet had also relocated here from Seongsan—being closer to Jeju City, this port was more convenient for both future refugee resettlement and the fleet's freshwater resupply.

Li Haiping had unceremoniously occupied the finest building in Jocheon: the Jocheon Post Station, which he designated the "Second Fleet Naval Command."

The garrison troops at Jocheon had seen their grain supply cut off. Some had fled to the peninsula; others had surrendered to Li Haiping and naturally became his unpaid laborers. Several hundred official slaves at Jocheon shared the same fate. Though they had all been freed as commoners by a single decree from Feng Zongze, they were immediately organized into the Jocheon Labor Squad, specifically charged with constructing and maintaining the harbor.

The Jocheon station master, Pak Chang-beom, was accustomed to receiving and sending off visitors and possessed intimate knowledge of harbor traffic and tidal schedules. Following the change in regime, he remained in service and took up the post of "Commissioner" for the Jocheon Port District—a title Feng Zongze had invented for his local collaborators. Until the full implementation of the Exemplar Council's cadre system, expedient measures would have to suffice.

Strictly speaking, "Commissioner" was not his invention. It was an official position in the Yi Dynasty, one of a temporary, delegated nature. Feng Zongze found it well-suited to the current jack-of-all-trades status of his collaborators.

Pak Chang-beom harbored no psychological resistance to serving his new masters—indeed, he felt a sense of vindictive satisfaction. He was a genuine examination graduate, and though not of the two-ban aristocracy, he was still of chungin origin. His career should have held promise.

But tragically, Pak Chang-beom had been born in Hamgyeong-do—the birthplace of the Yi Dynasty itself. Yet Yi Seong-gye had remained deeply wary of his fellow provincials, consistently keeping them marginalized. Consequently, officials hailing from Hamgyeong-do could rarely rise within the Yi Dynasty system, typically languishing in low-level positions. During the Imjin and Jeongyyu Japanese invasions, a number of Korean "collaborators" who sided with the Japanese army had been of precisely this origin.

Tainted by his birthplace, Pak Chang-beom had spun his wheels in minor posts ever since receiving his appointment. Six years had passed since his assignment as Jocheon station master, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Serving as a petty official in this land of exiles was scarcely different from being an exile himself. Moreover, the station master's duties, though offering some measure of profit, were exhausting: endless hosting and seeing-off, combined with regular extortion, scolding, and beatings from passing superiors and their arrogant servants. Pak Chang-beom had long seethed with resentment.

When the crop-haired pirates first arrived, he had affected an air of "reluctant compromise" and "enduring humiliation to survive." But as the three towns fell and the main fleet anchored at Jocheon, Pak Chang-beom promptly pledged his allegiance.

His defection was partly motivated by the prospect of greater gain, but even more by his bitterness and hatred toward the court.

Feng Zongze and Li Haiping immediately entrusted him with important responsibilities. Pak Chang-beom worked with tremendous zeal—some notion of "repaying those who recognize one's worth" still flickered in his heart.

At this moment, he was supervising the conscripted "Volunteer Corps" in the port district. To distinguish them from the labor squadrons brought from Shandong and Lingao, the labor teams organized locally on Jeju Island from former official slaves and surrendered or captured soldiers were uniformly called by this name.

The Volunteer Corps received clothing and rations and was used collectively—primarily as laborers on infrastructure projects: road construction, barracks building, and pier work. Currently underway was the expansion and renovation project for Jocheon Harbor. The Volunteer Corps was assisting the Labor Squadron in constructing wooden jetties.

"Time to eat!" As the mealtime call rang out, the laborers of the Volunteer Corps set down their tools one after another and headed toward the mess area.

Large pots, steam rising in white plumes, were carried over by the "Women's Volunteer Corps." Inside was the Volunteer Corps' standard meal: coarse rice mixed with one-third each of buckwheat, barley, and dried sweet potato, cooked together into mixed-grain rice. The side dishes were fermented soybean soup with kelp and miscellaneous fish, plus pickled vegetables.

The Chiefs are feeding these lowborns so well! Pak Chang-beom thought, watching as the "volunteers"—under the shouts and prodding of club-wielding Security Army soldiers—reluctantly formed a line and began receiving their food.

Women from the corps carried over baskets of utensils. Ordinary Korean commoners used wooden tableware; slightly better-off households used lacquered bowls; only the wealthy could afford bronze or porcelain. Wooden utensils were difficult to clean thoroughly, so Feng Zongze had ordered that all local "volunteer personnel" would have their utensils centrally washed—collected after each meal by the Women's Volunteer Corps, cleaned, and disinfected to prevent the spread of disease.

Corps members received food according to supply standards: 500 grams of mixed-grain rice per meal for those performing the heaviest physical labor, with portions decreasing correspondingly for other classifications.

By nutritional standards, the meals provided to the Volunteer Corps were excessively monotonous and nutritionally incomplete. Yet this was the first time these corps members had ever consumed sufficient calories.

The generous portions filled with gratitude not only the former official slaves and soldiers, who had long lived in chronic hunger, but even minor officials like Pak Chang-beom, who normally ate without worry, found it "too lavish."

The Chiefs are so generous—aren't they afraid of eating themselves poor? Pak Chang-beom had once worried inwardly, since much of the grain had come from government stores. It was winter now, and even with good weather, the first harvest would not come until summer. Jeju Island itself produced insufficient food; without outside grain supplies, famine would set in quickly. When that happened, the Chiefs might have no choice but to raise their sails and flee.

However, since witnessing the fleets that arrived every week or two—three ships, five ships—unloading endless barrels, hemp sacks, straw bundles, and crates, he had ceased to worry. The unending flow of supplies also strengthened his resolve to serve the "Chiefs." They exported little but imported vast quantities of goods, while building harbors, constructing buildings, and raising troops... All of this looked like preparations for a long-term stay on Jeju Island.

Pak Chang-beom did not harbor the grandiose dreams of naturalized cadres, hoping that the "crop-headed bandits" would one day "ascend the dragon throne" and he would enjoy the glory of being a founding minister. His expectations were far more modest: he merely hoped these crop-haired pirates would maintain their rule here for a long time, and that he might do better than he had as a miserable Yi Dynasty station master.

"Master, your boxed meal." His household servant delivered the noon meal. There had been no order yet to emancipate "private slaves," but Pak Chang-beom's household had few servants anyway—he could not afford to support many.

The "boxed meal" was a fashionable habit picked up from the Chiefs: a lunch box containing coarse rice and vegetables, convenient for eating anywhere. Pak Chang-beom did not actually need to eat boxed lunches; his home was right in Jocheon, so he could easily return for meals or have a servant deliver food in a traditional food box. But leaders' preferences often become trends. So Pak Chang-beom had taken up lunches in boxed containers as well.

Eating the boxed meal his servant had brought, Pak Chang-beom watched the laborers toiling at the harbor. He had rarely seen a construction project of this scale—the workforce numbered no fewer than three or four thousand. What was the purpose of the Chiefs investing such effort in building this port? Could they be planning to emulate Chancellor Taira of old, invading Korea for a "Land Survey of the Eight Provinces"?

Lost in wild speculation, he suddenly noticed the signal mast atop the watchtower hoisting the "ship approaching" flag. He immediately set down his lunch box and peered out to sea.

The moment the approaching vessels entered his field of vision, Pak Chang-beom relaxed: these were the Chiefs' cargo ships. These massive vessels with their towering masts would arrive in convoys of three to five every week or two, unloading great quantities of goods and sometimes bringing personnel.

On the deck of the lead ship entering Jocheon stood a man.

His age appeared somewhere between thirty and forty—a weathered face that made his exact years difficult to judge. He wore an authentic olive-green M65 field jacket. Anyone approaching would detect an unmistakable smell of horse manure clinging to him.

This was Nick, the Exemplar Council's "horse fanatic."

Finding both the Gaoshan Ridge Ranch and the Changhua Ranch too confining for his ambitions, Nick had finally been presented with the opportunity to spread his wings. The capture of Jeju had not only given the Exemplar Council its first pastureland with suitable climate—it had also delivered a windfall of horses in one stroke.

Without a moment's hesitation—even as Nick was preparing to apply for an inspection visit to Jeju Island—a transfer order from the Personnel Office had already arrived on his desk: proceed immediately to Jeju Island and commence operations.

Nick wasted no time. After packing a simple bag, he handed over his work to the Agriculture Commission, paying especially careful attention to Yang Baogui. The horse-breeding program he and Yang Baogui had been conducting was at a critical stage; were it not for the tens of thousands of horses on Jeju, he truly would have been reluctant to leave at such a time.

"Shengbao, you stay here and lead the junior disciples and ranch hands. You must strictly follow the regulations and manual I've established!" He summoned several of his apprentices for final instructions. Shengbao and Laibao, the two brothers, were among his first cohort of disciples and were now capable of working independently.

"Laibao will accompany me on this assignment," he said. "Go pack up, then report to draw equipment."

He selected four ranch hands as assistants. Though each person's personal baggage was minimal, the accompanying tools and materials filled twenty standard military logistics crates, packed with every implement, device, and medication needed for horse husbandry.

Their party first sailed from Lingao to Hong Kong, then rendezvoused there with personnel from the Cavalry and Logistics Training Units, as well as staff from the Joint Logistics Headquarters' Draught Animal Division. Together, they formed the "Jeju Island Draught Animal Working Group" and set sail for Jeju.

Nick gazed at the verdant island gradually emerging on the horizon, his mind working through plans for how to begin operations locally. As a horse enthusiast, he had visited Jeju Island's ranches in another timeline more than once. He was well acquainted with the local pasture conditions, climate, and horse stock.

The mountainous region around Hallasan offered excellent grazing land, and the climate was well suited for horse breeding. Combined with advanced pasture cultivation and intensive farming methods, supporting a herd of over 100,000 horses would pose no problem whatsoever.

(End of Chapter)