Her Majesty’s Secret Service

081. Departure

I thought that Mr. Yulgok, or rather Yulgok’s younger brother, would visit Dongpyeong-gwan every day. The endless curiosity he showed me during our first meeting made me think that way.

“He’s not coming today… ?”

For the first two days, Yulgok’s younger brother reacted no differently than I expected. While he was eating breakfast, he would suddenly appear and ask to talk.

“Did something happen?”

I was worried because the person who had been visiting me for two days in a row to tell me about European history, customs, and learning suddenly stopped showing up, but I soon realized that my worries were for nothing.

It was the last week of March 1560, more than three days after Yulgok stopped visiting.

I attended a banquet held in the rear garden of Changdeokgung Palace in Joseon. It was a banquet for English envoys held three or four times over the past few weeks. Well, today would be the last day.

The banquet being held now was a farewell banquet to send off the envoys of England.

“haha. “So, have you had any inconveniences so far?”

“Thanks to His Majesty the Prime Minister, I had a truly comfortable stay. Also, thanks to His Majesty the Lord’s help, I was able to obtain all the items I wanted, and I have no way to repay this favor, so I am devastated. “I am truly devastated.”

Trade goods available in Joseon. I received some help from the king in acquiring precious items such as ginseng, ceramics, and especially ‘Joseon celadon.’ The king must have been a king after all, and he saved me ten pieces of celadon and ten roots of ginseng in two weeks.

At first, I thought it was just 10 roots of ginseng, but after seeing the size, that thought dawned on me. One is 50-year-old wild ginseng. The rest were all sturdy guys who had been around for more than 10 years.

The Lord, who was so generous to his son, even gave 50-year-old wild ginseng ‘for free’, calling it a ‘celebration gift’. When I looked at it, it seemed like Joseon was looking down on England, but what did that matter? What’s important is immediate benefit.

I plan to pickle five roots of wild ginseng, including 50-year-old wild ginseng, in honey, make a paste, and take it to the UK. Half of the remaining wild ginseng was disposed of by the Ming Dynasty.

And there was no way to get Joseon celadon from the market, but I don’t know how they got it, but they saved me ten pieces.

As I bowed my head and thanked the king for those things, the official standing next to the king opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty, when I first saw this job, I couldn’t hide the thought that Shin was a rude person born in a foreign country who didn’t know manners. However, after learning manners like this for a short period of time, they seem to be no different from other Joseon people.

“Seeing a person born in a faraway place return to his roots and come back to his true self, this means that His Majesty the Lord’s virtue has reached heaven.”

“Hehe, really?”

Another bureaucrat, who was looking at the flattering bureaucrat, opened his mouth with a disapproving expression.

“Hehe, the ambassador says something strange without even thinking about it.”

“Haha, I wonder if it’s comparable to the idol.”

The two dignitaries glanced at each other and growled, and the king’s expression, which had been smiling happily just a moment ago, crumpled. The king calmed down the two ministers and at the same time called a merchant ship and began to ask him something.

“You guys leave it at that, what a disgrace! “Whoa, Merchant Marine, what are these people doing in England doing now?”

“The governor and vice-minister are attending the banquet, and the chief secretary is said to be on his way to the banquet hall after completing the final arrangements.”

Attending the farewell banquet were the king, Uijeong, and other high-ranking officials of the government.

This banquet was meant to bid farewell to the English envoys, but it was also intended to encourage the envoys who would visit England, a far away country.

Oh, I found out about two days ago that Joseon was sending an envoy to England. They decided it among themselves and spoke as if announcing the results.

I felt a little bad, but I gained one or two things. In addition, it was said that among the people in the delegation, there were people who could speak the Ming language.

I asked if I could borrow some of the staff’s management, and they said they would send a delegation. Isn’t that a bit excessive?

It is said that the person in charge of the Secretary General also holds the official position of Haengdaeosa and is in charge of the mission’s practical affairs. He said he was unable to attend the banquet because he was making final preparations as he was leaving for Dongrae the day after today’s banquet ended.

“Is that so? “Then wait for a while, and when the police chief arrives, have him bring all three at once.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As time passed and the banquet was reaching its peak, a merchant ship announced the arrival of the Secretary. The envoy, envoy, envoy, and secretary who would accompany me to England appeared.

It was the first time the governor and deputy had seen each other, but the chief secretary was a familiar face, as if they had seen it somewhere before. no. This isn’t what I’m used to… .

“Brother, are you surprised?! How has it come to this! haha!”

“uh… Uh… ?”

No, why is this guy sticking out here?

* * *

When the Joseon Dynasty was organizing a mission to send to England, a lot of words were exchanged. From how large it should be to who should be appointed as envoy.

At first, the prevailing opinion was that since it was a return message from the merchant country to a barbarian country on the border, hundreds of delegations should be sent to let people know about Joseon’s majesty. There were no ships in Joseon that could follow the ship.

In the end, the number of envoys was decided to be three envoys and three attendants to accompany them.

After the size of the envoys was decided, there was a lot of noise about who should be the envoys. The king of Joseon, Lee Hwan, intended to appoint the former Minister of Military Affairs, Kwon Cheol, as his official, and Jeong Jong-yeong, the Minister of Public Affairs, as his deputy, but some began to say that it was not etiquette to send a high-ranking magistrate as a government official. .

“Your Majesty, I heard that the country of England is further across the sea than the country of Japan. It is against etiquette to select a second-rank official as the official envoy to such a country. Originally, when sending a Jeongrye envoy to a major country, wasn’t the Jeongsa selected from among the officials of the Jeong 2nd rank, and the Busa selected from among the officials of the Jeong 3rd rank, and called them Jeong 1st and 2nd rank respectively?”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“It would be better to make Jeong Jong-yeong, the Vice Minister, who was originally intended to be the Vice Minister, and to make the instructor of the 3rd grade, who was discussed with Jeong Jong-yeong, as the Vice Minister.”

“You mean lowering the level one by one? Good. Let’s do that.”

“I am devastated.”

“By the way, since we lowered the ranks of government officials and governors, wouldn’t it be right to lower the ranks of chief ministers as well?”

“You are right. “In that case, it would be right to find someone to replace Lee Won-bok of the funeral home.”

“If that’s the case, don’t worry, I’ve already found someone for you. “A while ago, Gwain called Lee aside and recommended him for the position of Chief Secretary, and it was Lee Yi-rao who was recommended at that time.”

“So, are you from the Deoksu family? “As far as I know, among the people of the Deoksu Lee family, all of them who are currently in the position of Vice Minister are abroad, except for this governor.”

“Do you remember the person who submitted the ‘Book of Relocation to the Capital’?”

“Ah, two years ago, during a byeolbyeol… .”

“Now that I think about it, the person who submitted the plan to transfer the capital at that time was clearly a member of the Deoksu Lee family…” .”

“majesty. It is well known that he is an intelligent person, but he has not yet held a government position. Even if the Chief of Staff is lowered one level and appointed as Chief of Staff, I believe it would be difficult to appoint someone who does not hold a government position as Chief of Staff.”

“Wouldn’t it be okay to give Yulgok a government position by giving him the position of Chambong of the Saeokwon or the newly established position of ‘Yinghakhundo’? “He is a talented person who has already passed the state examination twice, so what is the problem?”

To be honest, no one wanted to take the position of Secretary General of a mission heading to an unknown country called ‘England’, which was only known to be a faraway place, and no one knew where it was located.

There were rumors going around that the two people who had been immediately appointed as governor and deputy were pushed out of the conflict and had no choice but to take on those positions.

The reason the ministers opposed it was because it was against the ‘law’, so when Lee Hwan fulfilled the law, the ministers kept their mouths shut and bowed their heads, saying they would follow Lee Hwan’s decision.

In this way, Yulgok suddenly became a government official.

* * *

Dongrae Busanpo, April 1560.

“Huh… There is such a big ship in the world… .”

“Wow, the mast is so big. And what kind of sail… Why are there so many sails?”

When they came down to Dongrae with the delegation and showed the ship ‘Mary’, the government officials, officials, and servants who followed them opened their mouths in admiration.

“Wow… They said it was a boat the size of a house, but that wasn’t the size of a house… .”

“It’s almost like a small castle. It’s like the village is floating… .”

The expression on my face when I looked at them was extremely troubled, and the reason was because of the secretary of the Joseon delegation.

“Wow… Brother, are ships like this common in England!? No, let me change the question. Are ships like this common in Europe?”

“that… Yulgok, we have to load the boat first, so I’ll ask questions later… .”

“ah! Sorry, brother. I made another mistake… .”

The identity of the Secretary who could not attend on the day of the banquet was my distant ancestor, Yulgok Lee I, who now calls himself my younger brother.

When I asked what happened, I was told that I was able to take the position of Chief of Police through the recommendation of Jae Jong-suk.

While I was going down to Dongrae, I was bombarded with Yulgok’s questions, and I couldn’t get over my fatigue.

This happened once. On the way to Dongrae, I told Yulgok about the Catholic doctrine and the contents of the Bible, which I only vaguely knew. When Yulgok heard the story, he heard Confucianism, Buddhist doctrine, and the Catholic doctrine he had vaguely heard about, and asked to discuss the rights and wrongs of those doctrines. They started teasing me.

In the past month traveling from Hanyang to Dongrae, this has happened more than seven times. Damn, my head hurts even thinking about it now.

As I boarded the ship, clutching my head and worrying about how to handle Yulgok on the next voyage, a sailor ran up to me, saluted me, and began reporting.

“We have just completed loading the cargo. As you said, I filled the ceramic box called ‘Celadon’ with cotton and straw, and I put all the pickles I brought separately in the grocery compartment.”

“okay? What about the sailors? “Is everyone here?”

“Yes, all members have completed boarding. “Are the people standing behind you the Joseon delegation you mentioned earlier?”

“I see. You will help the Joseon delegation board the ship and guide them to their assigned cabins. “I also teach you how to use a hammock.”

“that… Sorry, Captain. I’m not familiar with the Korean language yet… To someone else… .”

“Oh, that? You don’t have to worry. “One of the members of the delegation speaks English.”

“Yes, I understand, Captain.”

Who can speak English? Who could it be? That’s the handsome Yulgok teacher.

Some people learned English through hard work for several months, while others learned it on their own by listening to the sailors talking in English.

“[Are you people who lived in Joseon? I was in charge of guidance… .]”

“Look, Yulgok. “What is he talking about?”

“Yes, Captain Jeong. “He is telling us that he will guide us under the orders of his brother.”

The Joseon delegation aboard the ‘Mary’ could not help but be impressed by the ship’s structure. Afterwards, the delegation came out to the deck and received a farewell farewell from the Dongrae governor. As the farewell ceremony for the governor ended, ‘Mary’ left Busanpo and began to head toward her final destination, Myeong.

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*When thinking of Joseon, one usually thinks of white porcelain, but celadon was also made in small numbers. Celadon made around the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the ‘Celadon Lotus Pattern Cup’ and ‘Celadon Lotus Pattern Cup’, have been unearthed, so it can be said that celadon technology still exists in the 16th century at the time of the story.