Chapter 291: The Military Administration Committee

In general, Jeju town could be used as a super refugee camp. Besides that, Daejeong County town could also serve this purpose. Only Jeongui County town could not be effectively utilized unless water supply facilities were specifically built for it. Of course, relying on natural precipitation—”heaven-sent water”—for daily use was not difficult; that was how the local people lived.

“Let’s make use of Jeju town first. Its port conditions are the best, and it has an abundant water supply,” Feng Zongze said, then hesitated. “It’s just a bit close to the Korean mainland. I wonder how strong the Korean navy is? I hear those turtle ships are pretty badass.”

Feng Zongze was not a military cadre, but he was very concerned about the security of the base. Jeju town, teeming with tens of thousands of refugees, would be a huge hornet’s nest. A surprise attack would inevitably cause massive chaos.

Currently, the Joseon land forces on the island had basically collapsed. The remaining garrison troops in some forts were few in number and weak in combat effectiveness. They were merely a spent force and posed no threat.

The greatest danger came from a counterattack from the Korean mainland.

Given Jeju Island’s geographical location and its long history of suffering from Wokou raids, it was unlikely that the Joseon government had no plans for a counterattack and rescue in case of an incident on the island. In particular, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, which faced Jeju across the sea, both had naval forces and could, in principle, cross the sea at any time to intervene.

As a child, Feng Zongze had read Five Thousand Years of World History and had a deep impression of the miraculous turtle ships. For the first twenty years of his life, Yi Sun-sin and the turtle ships were the only impression he had of ancient Korea.

According to historical information provided by the Grand Library and intelligence gathered from merchants, interrogated prisoners, and refugees by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, the main forces of the Joseon navy were distributed in the three southern provinces: the left and right naval commands of Gyeongsang Province, the left and right naval commands of Jeolla Province, and the naval command of Chungcheong Province, as well as the naval command of Ganghwa Island.

A look at a map of Korea would show that although the Korean peninsula is surrounded by sea on three sides, its maritime defense was primarily focused on the south and west. To the south was the Great Ming, and to the west was Japan. One was a hostile country that had invaded multiple times with covetous eyes, and the other was the suzerain state with which they practiced “Sadaejuui” (serving the great). But secretly, the Joseon Dynasty always maintained a strong vigilance against both neighboring countries. Therefore, facing the Great Ming, the Chungcheong naval command, responsible for surveillance, would not be deployed.

As for Ganghwa Island, it was the “backup” of successive Korean dynasties, or more elegantly, the “place of imperial inspection.” In case of a national crisis, the king would flee there. Important members of the royal family, whether for protection or out of precaution, were also sometimes placed there. King Gwanghae, who had been deposed a few years earlier, was imprisoned on the island. The mission of the Ganghwa naval command was to “guard the house.” Without a serious threat to the “foundation of the state,” the Ganghwa naval command would not be mobilized.

Among these naval commands, the forces of Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces were the strongest and the main force for “preparing for the Japanese.” The Jeju Island task force would likely have to face them.

The most likely to launch a counterattack would be the naval command of Jeolla Province, as Jeju Island belonged to Jeolla. Once news of the fall of Jeju reached the Korean mainland, it was their duty, and Jeolla would most likely launch a counterattack.

According to historical records from the third year of the Chongzhen era, the right naval command of Jeolla had a total of nineteen warships. The left command was likely of a similar size, so the total would be no more than forty warships. Each ship had about eighty-five to one hundred soldiers and sailors. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau estimated the standard displacement of these ships to be between fifty and one hundred tons.

Nangong Wudi said, “According to those guys at the Grand Library, they’re nothing to worry about. The Korean navy was just fleeced by Sun Yuanhua. Their strength is very weak right now.”

The Joseon navy’s strength had been exhausted in the two Japanese invasions. The wars had not only depleted their warships but also severely consumed their shipbuilding resources through long-term attrition. During the reign of King Gwanghae in the Tianqi era, the Joseon court once proposed building a hundred warships to replenish the navy and strengthen maritime defense, but due to a shortage of shipbuilding materials, they only managed to build twenty or thirty in the end.

And in 1631, Sun Yuanhua had sent people to the Joseon court to purchase warships. The Joseon’s number of warships was already insufficient, but in order not to offend the Great Ming, they still sent Sun Yuanhua forty warships. This reduced the Joseon’s number of warships to a very low level. It would be good if the left and right naval commands of Jeolla could muster thirty warships. The entire Joseon navy had at most fifty to sixty seaworthy warships. Given the difficult state of the Joseon at the time, the condition of these ships was likely not good either.

Never mind facing them with four hybrid-powered gunboats, even just using the special mission boat squadron would be enough to sweep the Joseon navy and control the waters around Jeju Island.

As Nangong Wudi was eloquently explaining why the “Joseon navy was not to be feared,” Feng Zongze’s secretary came in to report that the special recon team had sent over the captured magistrates of Daejeong County, Yi Gu, and Jeongui County, Choe In-geon.

“Take them down for now and watch them closely. Don’t let them commit suicide,” Feng Zongze quickly instructed. Although they had captured a number of local officials during the occupation of the three towns, they had not captured any of the chief local officials. Capturing two county magistrates was a good catch.

“Should we interrogate them?”

“Let the people from the Political Security Bureau handle the interrogation. We don’t need to deal with them right now. Let them cool their heels for a bit.” Feng Zongze believed that it was not necessary for him to personally intervene at this point. The clerks of the six departments knew the situation on Jeju Island much better than the county magistrates. Zhou Dongtian’s disciples were more professional at interrogation. His main role as a Senator should be in “political work.”

Unlike the Great Ming, Korea was currently a place where the transmigrator group could not directly intervene. Cultivating some pro-Senate official forces would be very useful for the Senate’s future activities in Northeast Asia.

That being said, the Grand Library had not given a clear answer on the integrity of the Joseon officials. The Joseon Dynasty had not experienced the “touchstone” of a dynastic collapse like the Ming, so it was impossible to judge the true character of the officials and scholar-gentry whose names were left in the historical records.

However, the Joseon and the Ming had much in common, and the mindset of their bureaucrats and scholar-gentry should be quite similar.

Currently, Lin’gao controlled a number of Ming civil and military officials, either willingly or unwillingly. Although their usefulness had not yet been demonstrated, keeping them didn’t waste much food. If needed, they could be put to use. The same approach was applied to the Joseon officials.

For the time being, Feng Zongze’s political work was not focused on them. There were still many people like the Park brothers among the exiles on Jeju Island. Compared to those who were currently enjoying success, these people, who bore criminal charges and had fallen from grace, should be of greater use.

He ordered the clerks in charge of the local government slaves to be summoned and instructed them to compile a list of all former officials and scholar-gentry among the registered exiles, along with their families.

The factional strife in the Joseon Dynasty was extremely fierce. Starting from the succession struggle between Prince Imhae and Prince Gwanghae in 1595, for more than thirty years, factional struggles raged from the court to the harem, with hardly a day of peace. The Northerners, Southerners, and Westerners factions emerged one after another. After the Northerners won, they split into the Great Northerners and Small Northerners factions, and the Small Northerners later split into the Clear Small Northerners and the Turbid Small Northerners.

After the demise of the Great Northerners and the decline of the Small Northerners, the Westerners faction rose again and fiercely competed with the Southerners faction. The “Injo Restoration” eight years ago not only brought the Westerners to power but also caused them to split into the Merit Westerners and the Clear Westerners.

This back-and-forth of mutual attacks continued until the first Later Jin invasion in 1627, the “Dingmao Invasion,” which led to the emergence of the Young Westerners, who advocated for peace with the Later Jin, and the Old Westerners, who opposed it.

The fierce factional strife in the court caused officials to rise and fall like a revolving lantern. The success or failure of each political struggle created a batch of exiles. These disgraced officials might not be qualified builders, but they could at least serve as collaborators for a time.

After a few days of work, Feng Zongze established a military administration committee in each of Jeongui, Daejeong, and Jeju. He personally served as the chairman of the one in Jeju. The chairmen of the other two county committees were the resident platoon leaders, with the work team leaders as vice-chairmen.

Under the military administration committee, a “provisional county magistrate’s office” was established. Its structure continued to follow the old Joseon six-department system. Even the clerks of the six departments remained unchanged, with local people filling the vacancies of those who had fled or died. This allowed the original administrative structure to resume operation. Basically, the content and form of their work were no different from under the previous Joseon rule.

The county magistrate’s office was directly controlled by the county military administration committee. Needless to say, the military administration committee was the supreme authority. It supervised the operation of the provisional county magistrate’s office and issued various directives.

This approach certainly had many drawbacks, but for now, they had few qualified naturalized citizen cadres available and could only temporarily rely on the old system to obtain local resources. After a large number of refugees from Shandong arrived, they would train and select more reliable personnel from among them to gradually replace this temporary institution.

As a check on the extensive use of personnel from the old system, the military forces of each provisional county magistrate’s office—the “Public Security Army”—were composed of specially selected government slaves with “deep bitterness and great hatred,” not the former Joseon soldiers. A Public Security Army composed of such people, with their strong desire for revenge, would be ruthless in cracking down on the old system and its personnel.

From the moment they entered the city, the Park brothers were very active, especially Park Deok-hwan. He seemed to have completely forgotten about his desire to marry and have children to “carry on the family line.” He seemed to have found a new meaning in life. He put on the uniform of a naturalized citizen and tirelessly ran errands for Feng Zongze every day. One moment he was writing proclamations, the next he was taking inventory of warehouses. Then he was leading people to arrest “hostile elements,” and then he was appearing at “propaganda and explanation meetings.” He was so excited that he didn’t even want to eat or sleep, and his throat was completely hoarse.

In fact, he didn’t understand the reasoning behind many of the “Chief’s” words. Yet, a flame had been lit in his chest. He felt valued and feared. This alone filled his entire body with strength.