unclear

Chapter 820 The Bourne Supremacy
At night, two sailboats slowly approached the Han River pier in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, North Korea. They were round-headed, square-tailed, bulky, and had two-masted soft sails, which were different from all the other ships moored nearby, or a little ugly.

But no matter whether the ships were sailing on the river or docked at the pier, when they saw the two sailboats and the huge lanterns hanging on the masts from afar, they all quickly gave up their channels and berths, as if they were carrying big shots who could not be messed with.

"Thanks to the great help from Shopkeeper Wang, we didn't return empty-handed. It would be too rude if I didn't express my gratitude. Please don't refuse. Come to my house and sit for a while. When you come back to report, we will get drunk together!"

After a while, three men with cloaks covering their heads came down from the steps at the bow. Two of them kept inviting the other to the banquet, and their words were very polite and their attitudes were very sincere.

"You two lords, you don't have to be polite. It's already late today, and I have something to present to the West Palace in person. I really can't delay any longer."

"...Oh, in that case, we won't delay Shopkeeper Wang any longer! Someone, quickly send the nobleman to Qingyun Palace!"

As a result, the masked man called Manager Wang only mentioned a name, which made the two people who had tried their best to invite him change their faces. They quickly called the sedan chair waiting on the side and hurriedly sent the person away.

"Sir Governor, what does he mean by this? On the one hand he is being ordered around by Concubine Jin, and on the other hand he is purchasing things for the West Palace. Isn't he afraid of offending both sides?" As the sedan chair went further and further away, the two masked men began to talk in a low voice.

"Gong Lady Jin is after his money; no matter what, Gong Lady Xi is the master's biological mother, and she is Han Chinese, with deep connections in the Ming court. The master, the Northern Party, and the Western Party all want to use his abilities to gain benefits.

You also saw this trip to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Without his personal intervention, most of the cargo on these two ships would not have passed the inspection of the Ming Dynasty Navy."

"Should we continue to keep an eye on him?"

"...Leave one or two behind, and withdraw the rest. The Western party has been active these days, so focus your attention on them first." The man called the governor looked back at the two sailboats that were unloading, seemed a little confused, and hesitated for a while before giving an answer.

Uijinbu was an agency in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea that was specifically set up to investigate major and serious cases for the court. It was under the jurisdiction of the Bingcao and its chief officer was a judge of the first rank.

Does it sound familiar? The Imperial Guard was nominally part of the Ming army, and was also responsible for investigating major crimes, and was also under the Ministry of War.

That’s right, the Uiginbu is the Jinyiwei of Korea. Nominally it is under the command of the Bingcao, but in fact it takes the command of the king. It is a special spy agency with a military background used to maintain rule and eliminate dissidents.

The two hooded men were from the Yijinfu. The taller one was the third in command of the palace, Li Huai, the co-magistrate with a reputation for being able to captivate people.

This time he took a Luo general and followed the ship of the Ming merchant Wang Gui to the capital secretly, mainly for two reasons:
First, under the order of King Yi Hun of Joseon, he secretly purchased muskets and cannons used by the Ming army and looked for craftsmen with such skills to bring back; second, he determined whether Wang Gui, the owner of the Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce, had other intentions and whether he could continue to use them. In fact, these two things turned out to be one thing: investigating Wang Gui's background.

The Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce did not exist for long, starting in the 1615th year of Emperor Jingyang's reign (), with its store located north of Gyeongun Palace. It opened with great fanfare, led by Huang Shi, the Minister of Works, who invited many court officials to attend.

Isn't it a bit unusual for a group of high-ranking Korean officials to congratulate a shop opened by a Ming merchant? No, due to the master-servant status of Ming and Korea, being able to establish a relationship with Ming was a benchmark for showing strength and taste in the Korean officialdom.

North Korean officials with high taste would find ways to get to know famous literati of the Ming Dynasty. They didn't have to visit them often, but if they could collect some of their works and have correspondence with them, they would be considered very impressive.

But having good taste is not necessarily useful in the court. It is not that people do not seek fame in the officialdom, but the most important thing is profit. Therefore, knowing Ming Dynasty literati is not as useful as knowing Ming Dynasty officials.

Knowing Ming Dynasty officials is not as useful as knowing Ming Dynasty merchants. Power added to power may not necessarily lead to good results, but power combined with money will definitely complement each other.

It was also thanks to the connections and power of Huang Shi, the Minister of Works, that the Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce successfully gained a foothold in Seoul, and then it was out of control.

With the growing strength of the Ming navy and the establishment of the Ming customs, maritime smuggling became increasingly difficult. Purchasing goods from the Ming through formal channels required paying a considerable amount of taxes, which increased the cost and the selling price would certainly rise.

Paying taxes is secondary. Every year, the Ming Customs would publish a list of prohibited commodities. All goods on the list were prohibited for private transactions by the public. If discovered, the people and the ship would be detained, the goods would be confiscated, and the people would be forced to perform hard labor.

As a result, many high-profit goods could not only not go through formal channels, but even smuggling became a problem, which made it difficult for Ming merchants doing business in Seoul, and also annoyed the Korean dignitaries who had demand for these goods.

But no matter how uncomfortable or angry they were, Ming merchants and Korean officials could do nothing about the Ming navy. They were the personal army of the Ming emperor, and they would not be persuaded by soft or hard tactics. They could neither beat them nor buy them off, so they could only endure it.

But the arrival of the Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce has given hope to more and more North Korean dignitaries. This small, unimpressive, and unknown store has demonstrated to the entire Seoul and even the entire North Korea that a mountain is not famous for its height, but for its immortals; a river is not famous for its depth, but for its dragons!
The first time it appeared at the Han River wharf, a two-masted ship flying the flag of the Han-Korea Chamber of Commerce arrived with a full shipload of sugar, sugarcane wine, bacon, fine cloth, and raw silk. Not only was the quality high, the quantity was sufficient, and the price was low, more than half of it was sold out at the wharf before it could be transported to the shops.

If these goods were not in short supply or banned commodities, and were not too surprising except for the price advantage, then the three four-wheeled carriages and twenty boxes of armor unloaded from the cabin forced people to admit the fact that Manager Wang of the Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce did have some real skills and courage.

In fact, the more valuable goods had not yet appeared. A few days after the Han-Korean Chamber of Commerce's ship docked, Huang Shi, the Minister of Works, presented the king with two self-ringing clocks as tall as a person. Not only were they exquisitely crafted and ingeniously constructed, they could also play Korean music, making them a national treasure.

In addition, Jin Shanggong, who was the most favored by Li Hun, also received a great gift, including a gold watch that could be worn on the wrist, a mirror that could clearly reflect the face, perfume that could make the body emit a fresh fragrance, and powder that could make the face whiter. What moved Jin Shanggong the most was a box of golden coins, which were worth ten thousand taels of silver!
(End of this chapter)