Chapter 292: The New Upstart, Park Deok-hwan

Park Deok-hwan’s current position was “Civil Affairs Assistant” to Feng Zongze, which was effectively the role of a “translator” with an expanded scope of duties. Because Feng Zongze’s Korean was not his native language, and there was also a gap of several hundred years, he sometimes could not express himself very clearly. At such times, Park Deok-hwan, who was fluent in Chinese, was needed to act as a bridge. His younger brother, Park Deok-maeng, was assigned a clerical position in the military administration committee.

Park Deok-hwan’s work was plentiful and arduous. In just a few days, the commoners and government slaves in Jeju town came to know him as the “red man” of the “kūnzéi Wokou.”

Anyone with even a little property in or out of the town—including the shopkeepers of the stores and workshops in the town, and the landlords and pasture owners outside—all came to him with gifts, inviting him to meals and speaking kind words, all for the sake of peace and security. The Park brothers had been here for nearly ten years and were considered semi-local. He knew the ins and outs of Jeju town and its surroundings.

This was not a difficult matter. The Senate generally respected the private property of the natives—even if they wanted to seize it, they would use a variety of economic means. Since they were not prepared to levy exorbitant taxes, Park Deok-hwan was merely making empty promises.

Park Deok-hwan’s awareness was certainly not at the level of “resisting corruption and never being tainted.” He couldn’t help but feel a little conceited. He was busy with work during the day and busy with social engagements at night.

He and his brother had moved into a good house outside the Jeju Garrison and even had a former female government slave to cook and do laundry for them, making him seem like a prominent local figure.

Feng Zongze was not unaware of these things. He secretly monitored his every move through the network of agents that the special commissioner of the Political Security General Bureau had initially developed in the area. Local collaborators like Park Deok-hwan were, on the whole, transitional. Whether they could rise to the level of true naturalized citizen cadres depended on their ability and perceptiveness.

Furthermore, he was willing for Park Deok-hwan to do well—he was a role model now. Without sufficient benefits, they could not recruit enough traitors in a short time. For now, Park Deok-hwan was merely eating, drinking, and accepting small gifts. It hadn’t come to a critical issue of right and wrong. He could tolerate it for the time being.

The great waves wash the sand. At the beginning, the collaborators were a mixed bag, but time would sift out the natives who were suitable for being molded into “new men.” Time would tell if Park Deok-hwan had the qualities to become a “new man.”

Park Deok-hwan was unaware that he was under cold observation. He continued to work with great enthusiasm every day. With his dedicated assistance, the provisional county magistrate’s office in Jeju was the first to resume operations. The commoners and government slaves who had fled also returned to their homes one after another. Shops opened for business, and farmers went back to their fields.

After restoring basic order and the normal functioning of society, Feng Zongze’s first order of business was to investigate the registers of all the government slaves in the Jeju Garrison, basically clarifying the household registration, number of people, gender, age, property, and current employment situation.

The work done by the government slaves on Jeju Island was varied and all-encompassing, from cooking, harvesting seafood, cutting grass, and raising horses and cattle to doing manual labor, farming, and even providing sexual services. Basically, all the products and labor required by the local Joseon government were actually provided by the government slaves. And the largest user of government slaves was the local military farms.

The Joseon court granted each garrison a certain amount of wasteland, which was to be reclaimed by the garrisons themselves and used as military farms. The income from these farms was intended to cover military expenses, with the purpose of supplementing military supplies. In reality, the income from the military farms was often used for the general expenses of the government offices or became the private property of the magistrate. The military farms were all cultivated by female government slaves. Because of the serious abuses in the military farm system, King Seongjong had abolished the system of using government slaves to cultivate military farms, but on Jeju Island, the cultivation of military farms was still done by government slaves.

Because the land on Jeju Island was barren and most areas were not suitable for developing paddy fields, the military farms were mainly dry fields, used for planting barley and buckwheat—wheat was rarely planted in Korea at that time. Most of the Senators still remembered the phrase “flour is a very precious ingredient.”

This portion of the government slaves were effectively state serfs. Feng Zongze believed they were the perfect subjects for Wu Nanhai to implement intensive agriculture and large-scale farming. Both the land and the labor were readily available.

The government slaves responsible for herding and animal husbandry were also taken over by the agricultural department, to be reorganized into a specialized livestock production team by the Agriculture Committee.

The remaining government slaves engaged in handicrafts and serving as runners were directly taken over by the military administration committee and reorganized into a local labor corps.

As a major administrative measure, Feng Zongze posted a notice, issuing the first order in the name of the Senate’s Jeju Military Administration Committee, freeing all government slaves on Jeju Island and making them commoners. In the future, they were not to be called “public lowborns.”

At the same time, the personal tribute of the government slaves was abolished: “Now that you have been freed and become commoners, all the various personal tributes you previously bore are hereby exempted. All accumulated debts to the common people over the years are also no longer to be collected.”

Although this measure was merely a change of status, its significance in winning the hearts of the people was enormous. For the local people, it was quite shocking. The locals privately called these freed government slaves who had regained their commoner status “Kunren commoners”—meaning they had only obtained their commoner status after the arrival of the Kunren Wokou.

From the perspective of the former government slaves, this order was “earth-shaking.” The abolition of their slave status meant they were no longer registered as “lowborns.” Not only was their own status liberated, but their descendants could also live as human beings. Their gratitude was beyond words.

On the day the notice was posted, the Park brothers cried until they were black and blue. That day, they were not the only family to weep.

Freeing the slaves was a nominal measure, while exempting the personal tribute was an economic one. With this two-pronged approach, Feng Zongze had won over the government slaves, who constituted more than a third of the population of Jeju Island.

With his own base of support, it became easier to do things.

He also opened the granaries in the three towns at the same time, providing relief to the most destitute government slaves and commoners, and taking in orphans. For a time, various measures to win the hearts of the people were implemented one after another. The common people’s attitude towards the “Kunren Wokou” gradually changed from fear and suspicion to welcome.

“The next step is to raise troops,” Feng Zongze said to Nangong Wudi.

“As long as there’s food, raising troops is easy.”

Recruiting for the Public Security Army did not take much effort. The new conquerors neither killed people nor plundered—this gave everyone a sufficient sense of security. After observing the contents of their three daily meals, recruiting new soldiers became very simple. In this era of chronic famine, there were countless people who would risk their lives and sell their bodies and freedom just to eat their fill.

Nangong Wudi was very picky about the new recruits. He didn’t want commoners, only those from a government slave background. And they had to be government slaves who had engaged in physical labor. Those who had served around the officials, he considered to be the “privileged class” among the government slaves, “unreliable,” and rejected them all. The age of the new recruits was from sixteen to twenty-two. They had to be taller than 1.5 meters, in basic good health, and physically strong—of course, this was relative.

Even with these conditions, the number of qualified individuals exceeded four hundred. The Jeju Island Forward Committee had originally only planned to recruit three companies. In the end, the three of them decided to accept all who were qualified. There was no such thing as too much cannon fodder. Even if they couldn’t be sent on missions immediately, they were still useful as laborers.

The new recruits underwent a preliminary screening. Those who were literate were selected separately to be trained as administrative cadres. For now, they were all thrown into the training ground for basic training.

The Gwandeokjeong training ground was a hive of activity. The newly recruited Jeju Island Public Security Army soldiers were conducting platoon drills in squads.

With their heads shaved and having undergone the purification process, the new recruits wore the standard uniform of the Public Security Army, a khaki “Soviet-style pullover,” with leggings, and a distinctive “big hat.” They were being herded around the training ground by the drill instructors, learning to march and do drills.

The training content had also been further simplified. Since there were no plans to equip them with firearms for the time being, the Jeju Public Security Army only conducted drills, bayonet practice, and simple tactical coordination training. The weapons they used were standard pikes and machetes.

The instructors were non-commissioned officers and senior soldiers selected from the army and the Public Security Army. Although there was a language barrier, as the Good Soldier Švejk once said, soldier education is all about fists and feet. Especially the instructors from the Public Security Army, who were constantly shouting “Baka!” and “Thump!”

The training ground was crowded with curious onlookers, pointing and commenting on everything. Park Deok-hwan was also among them.

He was not there to watch the fun, but had just received a new task. Feng Zongze wanted him to investigate the inventory of finished bows and arrows, semi-finished products, and raw materials in all the bow and arrow shops in the city. He was also to investigate the number of craftsmen and apprentices in each shop, the size of their business premises, and their approximate financial situation.

After occupying the three towns, a large number of bows and arrows were seized from the government armories in each location. This place was originally an important production center for bows and arrows for the Joseon Dynasty. But Nangong Wudi decided not to equip the Public Security Army with them. Bows and arrows required too much practice and were very specialized weapons. Their combat effectiveness was also no match for rifles. In the future, these public security soldiers would definitely be re-equipped with Southeast Asian rifles, so there was no need to waste energy and time on archery practice.

However, the large number of bows and arrows were excellent trade goods. Nangong Wudi had originally wanted to do business with the Manchu Qing. Although the Manchus were poor and had limited purchasing power, they would certainly welcome essential and consumable war materials like bows and arrows.

Since Jeju Island had such an “industry,” it could be supported and developed as a major export product for the time being.

Thus, Park Deok-hwan was given this task.

Such a task was routine for him—but in the past, he had always been “assisting,” whereas this time, he was officially in charge. He was therefore very excited. After dinner, he returned home and was about to rest when someone came to invite him.

The person who came to invite him was also a former government slave. However, he had had some wealth in the past. After arriving on Jeju, he had bribed the managing clerk and started a small business. Later, he became the agent for a large merchant group from the capital, specifically responsible for their local business operations.