Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1489 - 1038: Five Years of Prosperity, Memories of the Gold Shipwright, Old Tales of Treasure Ships, and Heavenly Soldiers of the Upper Country

Chapter 1489: Chapter 1038: Five Years of Prosperity, Memories of the Gold Shipwright, Old Tales of Treasure Ships, and Heavenly Soldiers of the Upper Country

"Uh, what do we plant, what do we eat? ...Sir! I am in Gyeongsang South Province, my family has been shipwrights for generations! I’ve never farmed, and the masters won’t let us have land... As for the surrounding villages, they mostly grow rice, but there’s also millet... As long as there’s no typhoon, flood, or severe drought, the villagers can barely get by, and they can eat rice several times a month..."

The sky gradually darkened, the evening glow a vast gold and red, echoing against the gray and white snowfield. Thousands of miles away from home, Shipwright Kim Sun-su touched his nose, reminiscing about life in his homeland of Korea.

The villagers he spoke of were actually the common people, the lowest of the low, and as for the outcast class that wasn’t considered human, they were untouchable. He didn’t understand them, nor did he wish to. And in his eyes, the Korean villages, though rigidly divided into four classes with sharp class conflicts, didn’t have as much famine, far from the hellish poverty of Wa Country’s villages!

"Ah? Buddha bears witness! Korean villagers can eat rice several times a month?!"

Hearing this, Murakami Kitamichi and Sukeichiro, who came from Ezo land, were incredulous, exchanging glances in disbelief. Seeing their excited reactions, Shipwright Kim Sun-su shrank his neck in fear, nodded and confirmed in a low voice,

"Yes, Sir! There are many mountains to the north, probably less rice is grown there, I’m not sure... but in various parts of Gyeongsang Province, I’ve seen with my own eyes that the villages generally have channels to irrigate the fields! Of course, villages also plant millet, but rice is grown much more extensively... Villagers work hard in the paddies because the masters allow us to turn them into paddies!"

"Oh! Unbelievable, truly unbelievable! Gold Shipwright’s home is so prosperous!"

"Isn’t it! Even ordinary villagers can eat rice several times a month! Their Martial Families must be even more prosperous!"

At this time in the late 15th century, Li’s Chaoxian was experiencing a period of prosperity, with a population of about 8 million. Of course, economic prosperity and reactionary governance were not contradictory. Out of Lee Dynasty’s 8 million, half were the four classes of people, while the remaining half were the non-human outcasts and hidden households, essentially slaves! This nearly half-slave ratio even exceeded the classical military structure of the Kingdom of the Lake...

As the favorite and most loyal vassal of the Ming Dynasty, Li’s Chaoxian gained almost all of Ming’s agricultural and handicraft technology. Within Asia’s technological hierarchy, Korea was second only to the Ming Dynasty, far surpassing Wa Country of that era. Whether it was Korean porcelain, Korean silk, mining, iron and steel smelting, crop rotation, channel construction, or the sea shipbuilding technology obtained from the Ming Dynasty, these were envied by Wa Country, unattainable even by request!

The ash blowing method historically for silver extraction was invented in the Tang Dynasty and reached Korea by the Song Dynasty. For Wa Country, they had to wait until 1530 to introduce it, and it was imported from Korea. As for the sea shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty, it was tightly closed off to Wa Country but lenient to Korea, even allowing the Korean Royal Family access to large ships and small fuchuan. Techniques in building ocean shielding ships in Gyeongsang South Province surpassed Wa Country’s custom ships by at least a generation, learned from the Ming Dynasty...

"Haha! Murakami-kun, Sukeichiro, you haven’t been to Korea, you don’t know... Korea has no Martial Families, nor any decent Samurai! They have Military Households, families that have been soldiers for generations..."

"Eh?! Watanabe-sama, families that have been soldiers for generations? Isn’t that the Martial Family?"

"Ha! How can Korea’s Military Households compare to our country’s Martial Family? Our Martial Family can decide everything in their territory! Meanwhile, Korea’s Military Households are just poor farmers wielding spears, akin to or even lesser than our ashigaru in rural areas..."

"Ah! Can such Military Households even fight? Doesn’t protecting various places in Korea fear attacks from other protectors? I’ve heard Korea is adjacent to the malevolent Yuan Invasion!"

"Uh... Korea has no protectors from various countries, only a king of the Lee Dynasty. As for the malevolent Yuan Invasion..."

Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi touched his bald head, looking at Shipwright Kim Sun-su.

"Gold Shipwright, what if the malevolent Yuan Invasion invades Korea?"

"Ah? Fearsome, man-eating Yuan Invasion invades? What to do?... These are matters of the masters; as a mere shipwright, how could I know? But, it does remind me of an unforgettable old event..."

"Hmm? What old event?..."

"More than twenty years ago, the Large Sealed Boats of the Upper Country Ming came twice across the sea, to confer the title on King Sojong (Yejong), King Gongseong (Seongjong), and they stopped at a port in Gyeongsang Province, having shipwrights help with simple repairs... Wow! Those were truly large ships, twenty times the size of an Ocean Shielding Ship, estimated at four to five thousand loads, practically like floating islands! They say it was called a ’Great Fu Ship,’ also a ’Treasure Ship’!... It was such an eye-opening good ship, a giant ship indeed!..."

"What? A Treasure Ship of Ming as large as twenty Ocean Shielding Ships? Buddha protect us! Could such a large ship truly exist?!"

"Yes! Certainly! White-robed Guanyin as witness!... I saw that ship with my own eyes, unforgettable for a lifetime!..."

Shipwright Kim Sun-su recounted the old story, reminiscing about viewing the treasure ship twenty years ago, his face revealing profound unforgettable admiration and longing. As a shipwright, he knew what made a good ship and understood the challenges of constructing a fine ship, let alone a colossal one! The treasure ship he saw in his youth was almost the pinnacle of his imagination of ships, haunting his dreams repeatedly. His awe for the Upper Country Ming is deeply imprinted in his memory along with that overwhelming treasure ship!

However, he did not know that the conferment of the king of Korea over twenty years ago was the last glorious moment of Zheng He’s treasure ships. A decade ago, during the Chenghua period, to prevent Emperor Xianzong from reviving plans of the South Sea voyage and to halt the resumption of official South Sea trade, civil officials from southeastern provinces unprecedentedly joined forces.

The Minister of War, Xiang Zhong, ordered the destruction of Zheng He’s records of voyages to the Western Ocean and the erasure of all accounts. Under his command, the Longjiang Shipyard in Nanjing, tasked with building treasure ships, was abandoned, and thousands of various shipwrights dispersed. At this time, outside Nanjing City, only the Longjiang Shipyard under the Ministry of Works remained, responsible for building ordinary ships under 400 loads... 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Treasure Ship... Great Fu Ship!... Forty-four zhang and four chi long, eighteen zhang wide, five thousand loads, capable of carrying a thousand people, with a full nine masts... a nine-masted ship! And such a giant ship could travel thirty li in an hour! ...The treasure ship of the Upper Country Ming was truly an unprecedented, extraordinary ship!..."

Shipwright Kim Sun-su raised his head, straightened his chest, and passionately recounted the treasure ship. Then, noticing the expressions of shock, skepticism, and disbelief among the three around him, he couldn’t help but lower his head slowly, hunching over and replying softly.

"Oh! While maintaining the treasure ship, the Two Classes great masters said, ’We must serve the Upper Country Ming’s envoys well! Whatever the envoys command, fulfill it at any cost!’... When saying this, the always lofty great masters of Two Classes were more cautious than ever, even more cautious than when speaking of King Sojong..."

"The masters also said, as long as the envoys of the Upper Country Ming are satisfied, no matter what they fancy, even the daughters of the middle man’s family must be sent over!...’The Upper Country Ming is the heaven and father of Korea! As long as the Upper Country Ming is satisfied, even if Korea’s sky collapses, the Upper Country will hold it up! Even if the Yuan Invasion attacks again, the heavenly soldiers of the Upper Country will help us repel them!’"

"Therefore, White-robed Guanyin bears witness! Watanabe-sama, you asked earlier what to do if the Yuan Invasion invades? Uh, I think, perhaps, possibly, what the masters said is true... The heavenly soldiers of the Upper Country Ming, with such large ships, will surely help us drive back the Yuan Invasion!"