Chapter 1047 - The Military Control Commission

Jeju City could serve admirably as a vast refugee camp. Daejeong's county seat offered similar potential. Only Jeongui presented difficulties—unless specialized water facilities were constructed, the town would struggle to support large populations. Rainwater supplementation remained an option, of course; the locals had managed this way for generations.

"We should begin with Jeju City," Feng Zongze said. "The harbor conditions are excellent, and freshwater is abundant." A shadow of hesitation crossed his features. "My only concern is its proximity to the Korean mainland. How capable is the Joseon navy? I've heard their turtle ships are supposedly quite formidable."

Though not a military cadre, Feng Zongze remained acutely aware of base security. With tens of thousands of refugees soon to be concentrated here, Jeju City would become a powder keg. A surprise attack could trigger catastrophe.

The Yi Dynasty's land forces on the island had effectively collapsed. The scattered garrison troops lingering at various outposts were too few and feeble to pose any real threat—ghosts clinging to the bottom of an empty pot.

The true danger lay in a counterattack from the Korean mainland.

Given Jeju Island's strategic position and its long history of Japanese pirate raids, the Yi Dynasty surely maintained contingency plans for counteroffensives should the island fall into hostile hands. Gyeongsang-do and Jeolla-do, which faced Jeju across the strait, both maintained naval forces capable of interfering at any moment.

Feng Zongze had read Five Thousand Years of World History as a child and retained vivid impressions of the legendary turtle ships. For the first two decades of his life, Admiral Yi Sun-sin and his armored vessels had been the only things he associated with ancient Korea.

Historical intelligence from the Grand Library, combined with information the Foreign Intelligence Bureau had extracted from merchants, prisoners, and refugees, painted a comprehensive picture. The Yi Dynasty's main naval strength was distributed across the "Three Southern Provinces": the Left and Right Naval Commands of Gyeongsang-do and Jeolla-do, the Naval Command of Chungcheong-do, and the Ganghwa Island Naval Command.

A glance at the Korean Peninsula's map revealed that despite being surrounded by sea on three sides, Korean maritime defenses primarily faced south and west—toward Japan and the Great Ming respectively. One was a hostile nation that had invaded repeatedly; the other was the suzerain state to which Korea practiced "serving the great." Yet secretly, the Yi Dynasty harbored deep wariness toward both neighbors. The Chungcheong-do Naval Command, responsible for the approaches facing the Great Ming, would not be deployed against them.

As for Ganghwa Island, it served as the historical refuge for successive regimes on the peninsula—a "place of royal sanctuary" where kings fled in times of crisis. Important royal family members were sometimes kept there under protection or surveillance. Prince Gwanghae, deposed several years prior, remained imprisoned on the island even now. The Ganghwa Island Naval Command's mission was to "guard the home front"—it would not be mobilized unless the nation's very foundations were threatened.

Among these naval commands, those of Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do were the strongest, serving as the main force for "preparedness against the Japanese." These were the most likely adversaries the Jeju Expeditionary Force would face.

The most probable source of counterattack was Jeolla-do's naval command, since Jeju Island fell under its administrative jurisdiction. Once news of the island's fall reached the mainland, Jeolla-do forces would almost certainly launch an offensive as a matter of duty.

According to records from the third year of Chongzhen, the Right Naval Command of Jeolla-do possessed nineteen warships. The Left Naval Command was probably similar in scale, putting the combined fleet at no more than forty vessels. Each ship carried approximately eighty-five to one hundred soldiers and sailors, with the Foreign Intelligence Bureau estimating standard displacements of roughly fifty to one hundred tons.

"According to our people at the Grand Library, there's nothing to worry about," Nangong Wudi remarked. "The Joseon navy was just squeezed dry by Sun Yuanhua. Their current strength is quite weak."

The Yi Dynasty's naval power had been virtually annihilated during the two Japanese invasions. Not only had the conflicts consumed their warships, but the prolonged war of attrition had severely depleted Korea's shipbuilding timber. During Prince Gwanghae's reign in the Tianqi era, a court debate had proposed constructing a hundred warships to replenish the navy and strengthen coastal defenses; timber shortages, however, meant only twenty or thirty vessels were actually built.

Then in 1631, Sun Yuanhua had dispatched representatives to Joseon to purchase warships. Though the Yi Dynasty's fleet was already insufficient, their reluctance to offend the Great Ming led them to deliver forty vessels anyway. This brought the dynasty's ship count to critically low levels. If the Left and Right Naval Commands of Jeolla-do managed to field thirty warships, that would already be impressive. The entire Yi Dynasty navy possessed at most fifty to sixty seaworthy vessels—and given the kingdom's difficult circumstances, these ships were likely in poor condition.

Against such an adversary, deploying the four hybrid-powered gunboats seemed excessive. The Special Operations Boat Squadron alone would be more than sufficient to sweep aside the Joseon navy and secure the waters around Jeju Island.

Nangong Wudi was in the midst of his animated presentation on "Why the Joseon Navy Is Not to Be Feared" when Feng Zongze's secretary entered with a report: the Special Reconnaissance Team had delivered their captives—County Magistrate Li Qiu of Daejeong and County Magistrate Choe In-gyeon of Jeongui.

"Hold them under guard for now. Ensure they don't commit suicide," Feng Zongze instructed. The conquest of the three towns had yielded a batch of local officials, but none of the top administrators. Two county magistrates still represented considerable value.

"Shall we interrogate them?"

"Leave that to Political Security Bureau. We needn't concern ourselves with them at the moment—let them stew." Feng Zongze saw no need for personal involvement. The clerks of the Six Offices knew far more about Jeju Island's affairs than the magistrates ever had, and Zhou Dongtian's disciples were far more professional at interrogations. His role as an Exemplar should be devoted to political work.

Unlike the Great Ming, Joseon was currently a place where the Exemplar collective could not easily extend its influence directly. Cultivating pro-Exemplar official factions would prove invaluable for the Council's future operations in Northeast Asia.

The Grand Library, however, had not provided definitive assessments regarding the integrity of Yi Dynasty officials. Without the crucible of dynastic collapse that the Ming had experienced, the true mettle of these officials and scholar-gentry remained untested.

Still, the Yi Dynasty and the Great Ming shared many commonalities—the thought patterns of their bureaucrats and literati were probably not so different.

Lingao already controlled a number of Ming Dynasty civil and military officials who had come to serve either willingly or reluctantly. Though their actual usefulness had yet to be demonstrated, keeping them around cost little. Should the need arise, they could be put to use. The same logic applied to Joseon officials.

For now, Feng Zongze's political attention was directed elsewhere. Among the exiles on Jeju Island were many individuals similar to the Pak brothers. Compared to those still riding high, these fallen souls—bearing criminal labels and having plummeted from the clouds into the abyss—would prove far more useful.

He ordered the clerks responsible for managing the official slaves to compile a comprehensive list of all registered exiles who were former officials or literati, along with their family members.

The Yi Dynasty's factional struggles had been extraordinarily fierce. Beginning with the 1595 succession dispute between Prince Imhae and Prince Gwanghae, over thirty years of continuous strife had raged from court to palace chambers, with hardly a day passing without intense partisan warfare. The Great Northerner, Lesser Northerner, and Westerner factions had risen in succession. After the Great Northerners triumphed, they splintered into Major and Minor Northerner factions; the Minor Northerners subsequently divided into Clean Minor and Murky Minor sub-factions.

Following the downfall of the Great Northerners and the decline of the Minor Northerners, the Westerner faction resurged, engaging in fierce competition with the Southerners. Eight years prior, the "Injo Restoration" had placed the Westerners in power, but this victory prompted the faction to split into the Merit Westerners and Clean Westerners.

After these rounds of mutual attacks and denunciations, the Later Jin's first invasion in 1627—the "Jeongmyo Disturbance"—gave rise to still more divisions: the Young Westerners who advocated peace negotiations, and the Old Westerners who opposed them.

Such intense court factionalism meant officials rose and fell like figures on a revolving lantern. Every round of political struggle produced a new batch of exiles. These fallen bureaucrats might not be qualified builders, but they could at least serve as collaborators during a transitional phase.

After several days of work, Feng Zongze established Military Control Commissions in Jeongui, Daejeong, and Jeju. He personally served as chairman of the Jeju commission. Garrison platoon leaders headed the commissions in the other two counties, with work team leaders serving as vice-chairmen.

Beneath the Military Control Commissions, "Interim County Magistrates" were established. Their structure continued to follow the Yi Dynasty's Six Offices system, even retaining the original petty clerks. Vacancies caused by flight or death were filled by local civilians, allowing the administrative apparatus to resume operations. For the most part, the content and form of governance remained unchanged from Yi Dynasty rule.

The county magistrates were directly controlled by their respective Military Control Commissions, which served as the supreme authority—supervising the interim magistrates and issuing directives.

This approach would inevitably have drawbacks, but qualified naturalized cadres remained in short supply. They could only temporarily rely on the old system to extract local resources. Once Shandong refugees arrived in large numbers, more reliable personnel could be cultivated and selected to gradually replace these temporary institutions.

To constrain the extensive use of personnel from the old system, the military forces of each interim county magistrate—the "Security Army"—were specifically composed of official slaves selected for their "deep suffering and bitter hatred." Former Yi Dynasty soldiers were excluded. A security force composed of such individuals possessed fierce desires for vengeance and would be merciless when striking against the old system and its people.

From the moment they entered the city, the Pak brothers had been extraordinarily active—especially Pak Deok-hwan. He seemed to have completely forgotten his earlier intention to marry and produce heirs. It was as if he had rediscovered meaning in life. Dressed in naturalized personnel uniforms, he worked tirelessly for Feng Zongze day after day—drafting proclamations one moment, inventorying warehouses the next, then leading teams to arrest "hostile elements" before appearing at propaganda briefings. He was so energized that he had no desire to eat or sleep, and his voice had gone completely hoarse.

In truth, much of what the "Chief" had explained to him remained beyond his comprehension. Yet a flame had ignited in his chest: he felt valued by others, feared by others. This alone filled his entire being with strength.

(End of Chapter)