Chapter 145: Even If You Go to the Red-Light District [1] The ship carrying the party soon glided toward the harbor.
Quite a lot of people had come out in front of the harbor, and it seemed word had been spread widely that the Joseon Tongsinsa party would be arriving. With a rather excited face, Sayaga approached Kanghyeok.
"This is Sasuna Port, the harbor of Tsushima. We've arrived."
Kanghyeok took his eyes off Kim Gu-o, who was barely keeping his eyes open and blinking weakly, and looked straight ahead. Since the panokseon was such a tall ship, simply standing on the deck gave one a clear view of everything in front.
"Huh."
"The crowd is impressive, isn't it?"
"It is. Was word sent ahead?"
"Yes. By the lord's command, preparations were made so there would be no discourtesy in the welcome."
Sayaga even smiled kindly, as if asking to be praised.
Isn't that something you should be telling someone else?
Meanwhile, Kanghyeok looked genuinely unsure how he was supposed to respond. To begin with, his rank was only that of Jikjang. Strictly speaking, it was a position where he ought to think twice before deciding whether he could even speak down to Sayaga. Moreover, were not the real power figures of this Tongsinsa party sitting right beside him? If praise was to be given, it should naturally have come from them.
Though they're not in any condition for that.
Hwang Yungil was drinking oral rehydration solution with hollow eyes. Since it had not been made with taste in mind, it was not pleasant to drink. Kanghyeok had once tried a properly made product before, and even that had not been very good.
This one is obvious without tasting it.
It was probably fishy and unpleasant. Yet Yungil gulped it down as though it were the water of life itself. Because of that, he could not turn his gaze toward the welcoming crowd gathered at the port.
"You little fool, are you alright?"
"It hurts, but... ugh."
Kim Seongil, who was serving as Vice Envoy, was also focused on something else. His only nephew had nearly died and come back to life, so that was only natural. The only difference between him and Hwang Yungil was that Kim Seongil at least spared a sidelong glance toward Sasuna Port.
When Kanghyeok turned his head, Heo Seong, the Secretary Officer, was busy coordinating various details.
At that point, there was no helping it.
Kanghyeok would have to answer instead.
"Well done. You can feel the welcome even from here."
"That is so. In truth, Tsushima has always been an island with very frequent exchanges with Joseon, has it not? Since those exchanges were unintentionally all but cut off, the island has felt deep regret."
That was probably true. At its height, the volume of trade had been enormous. But Kanghyeok had little interest in that sort of thing. He did not know much about it in the first place, and he was not the type to pay much attention to such matters.
"The lord is coming out now."
At last, Kanghyeok pointed to So Yoshitoshi, who had finally woken from his long sleep and was leaving the cabin together with Dolseok. Though the storm had raged, both of them looked perfectly fine. For Yoshitoshi, it was fortunate, since his sense of balance was already ruined anyway, but Dolseok was rather annoying.
That bastard... he really loafed around in comfort the whole way.
Just looking at the oily shine all over his face made Kanghyeok's temper rise. Here he was, the master, smeared with drops of blood here and there instead of oil. So he strode over, ready to smack him once, but Yoshitoshi came running over with a hearty laugh.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I came here so comfortably."
"Ah, yes. Uh..."
Yoshitoshi was quite large and solidly built. As a result, once Kanghyeok was caught by him, he could not move even one step farther.
That dog...
Dolseok, sensing that the mood was unusual, was already busy changing the subject.
"Oh my. My lord, look over there. There are this many people gathered."
"They are all crowds welcoming the Tongsinsa. The very Joseon people such as yourself."
It seemed the two had grown rather close while inside the cabin, because they had already begun chatting warmly. No matter how reckless Kanghyeok was, he could not bring himself to smack Dolseok while he was talking to someone who was a lord of a domain.
Fine. That's his luck, then.
He could only swallow his anger.
Thunk.
A moment later, a heavy jolt struck the ship. At that, Kim Gu-o let out a short scream. It seemed the shock had made the whole ship ring.
"Ugh."
"Are you alright?"
Kanghyeok gently shoved aside Kim Seongil, who hurriedly moved to check on his nephew.
"I'll see to the patient... Vice Envoy, please attend to vice envoy matters."
"Ah."
At that, Kim Seongil looked as though he had just been struck on the head with a hammer. Before anyone knew it, the ship had entered Sasuna Port, and an enormous welcoming crowd surrounded them.
All the common people were wearing clean clothes, and Kanghyeok, who knew nothing, almost fell into this misunderstanding.
What's with this? The people of Tsushima look better off than Joseon.
The appearance of the Joseon people he had seen had been truly miserable. They often wore clothes whose washing date no one could guess, without even being properly washed themselves. At least the yangban wore good clothing, but the commoners were pitiable beyond words. But the people of Tsushima before his eyes were nothing like that.
"Hm."
Seeing Kanghyeok looking away from the patient and letting out exclamations of admiration, Sayaga quietly approached him. So Yoshitoshi, the domain lord, was now surrounded by the guards who had been waiting for him on the island, so Sayaga could finally relax a little.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"No, it's just..."
The words Japan is living much better than I thought would not come out of his mouth. The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. Those wokou guys really had looked like beggars. Hadn't some of them run around wearing nothing but a loincloth? And yet this was such a normal sight.
At Kanghyeok's reaction, Sayaga laughed heartily. Then he leaned close and whispered quietly into his ear.
"Do you think we merely gathered people? They were all ordered to come out wearing new clothes and having washed themselves clean. Anyone who did not meet the standard was not even allowed out here."
"Huh? Why...?"
It was Yeoju behind him who answered Kanghyeok's question. As always, anything academic was her territory.
"Young master, what do you think the meaning of the Tongsinsa is?"
What kind of question was that now? This was the kind of situation Kanghyeok hated most: answering a question with another question. But Sayaga was also waiting for his answer, so Kanghyeok at least pretended to think for a moment.
I haven't got the faintest clue.
He only knew the end result of this Tongsinsa mission: that they would return without gaining much, and then face war.
"Well?"
At Kanghyeok's perfunctory answer, Yeoju wore an expression that said she had expected no less. Truly, this young master excelled only in medicine. In all other things, he was careless.
It's not even that he's stupid, either.
Even in learning Chinese characters, that had been true. At least among the people Yeoju had known, no one had learned letters as quickly as he had.
Well... it can't be helped if he simply has no interest. What could one do? He surely only came to Japan because they offered him an official post.
After arranging her thoughts briefly, she opened her mouth.
"The Tongsinsa is an official diplomatic delegation sent by the royal court to Japan."
"Right. Even I know that."
"And when the Tongsinsa writes of what it saw and experienced in Japan, that becomes the royal court's official impression of Japan."
"Oh."
That was a perspective he had not considered.
"Go on."
Kanghyeok looked at Yeoju with a face showing genuine interest. With a calm expression, Yeoju laid out her knowledge and insight.
"So both countries cannot help but care deeply about it. This is the only chance we have to know Japan, is it not? So..."
Yeoju looked at the civil officials lined up around Kim Seongil and Hwang Yungil. Kanghyeok found himself looking at the civil officials along with her.
"That is why they brought so many record keepers. So that not a single thing would be missed."
When they had come all the way to Japan, Kanghyeok had wondered why so many ink-stained scholars were needed. But hearing Yeoju's explanation, he finally understood.
Yeoju continued speaking to Kanghyeok, who was nodding along with a rather foolish expression.
"But if you think about it from Japan's perspective... this is also Japan's opportunity to show itself to Joseon. That is why they have dressed things up so splendidly. To display their national power."
"It is the same for Joseon as well. Just look carefully at the Tongsinsa procession brought this time."
Sayaga hurriedly cut in. He had likely done so because Yeoju's tone was beginning to sound critical of Japan.
Because of that, Kanghyeok was able to think back on the Tongsinsa procession that had stretched from Hanyang to Busan.
"It was quite splendid. Excessively so."
In Kanghyeok's view, Joseon was not so poor that its people were starving to the point of collapse, but neither was it a wealthy country. There were still people starving to death, and many more who barely managed to fill their stomachs.
Compared to that, the Tongsinsa procession is no joke.
Just then, the members of the Tongsinsa delegation, led by Hwang Yungil and Kim Seongil, were preparing to disembark. But there was no reason to hurry. There were simply too many people who had to get off before them.
Bwoooo—
A solemn pipe note rang out across Sasuna Port.
The murmuring common people fell silent in an instant. They had been overwhelmed by the magnificence of the procession.
Bwoooo—
The pipe sounded again, and the music of dancers, pipes, and drums led the way. Behind them were two men carrying iron flails like those used for threshing rice, and those men were guarded by men carrying nets woven from gold and raw silk.
"Make way!"
Thirty mounted riders followed behind them. After that came a palanquin draped in red velvet, carried by about fifty or sixty men. Inside it, in a gilded box, was the personal letter King Seonjo was sending to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
"A magnificent sight, no matter how many times I see it."
Kanghyeok, who still had a long while to wait before disembarking, muttered to himself.
Back in Joseon, a rank like Jikjang was quite respectable. Riding in a palanquin would not have been inappropriate. But here, there were so many high-ranking officials one could trip over them, so he had to be content with a horse.
"There go the Chief Envoy, the Vice Envoy, and the Secretary Officer."
The three were riding in a line in palanquins. Behind them followed another four hundred cavalrymen and two hundred guards.
Only after that could Kanghyeok's party disembark, together with the Japanese nobles, Sayaga, and the rest.
Looking at the procession, which was almost excessively splendid, Sayaga continued his explanation.
"Look. The common people are terribly astonished, aren't they? No matter that he is a domain lord, even Lord So could not manage a procession this magnificent. Even if the Kanpaku, Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself, came, it likely could not be done."
"Hm."
"For Joseon, it is a display of national strength."
"So that's how it is. Both sides are overreaching."
At Kanghyeok's blunt words, both Yeoju and Sayaga smiled bitterly. In truth, the money spent on sending and receiving a Tongsinsa mission even once was astronomical. And Tsushima, which would have to care for this enormous number of people for the next month, would probably suffer a huge blow.
"But where are we going now?"
Kanghyeok asked as he simply followed the rider in front of him.
"We are going to Izuhara."
"Izuhara."
It was a place name he had never heard before. Naturally so, since he had never been to Tsushima in his life and had never intended to come.
"Yes. It is one of the central districts of Tsushima."
"I see. Ah, is it over there?"
"Yes. Close, isn't it?"
"It is. Hm?"
"What is it?"
"No... that place..."
Kanghyeok pointed at a street lined with buildings hung with red lanterns. The scale was not very large, but Kanghyeok could tell by instinct.
Looks like the kind of place where bad fun happens.
Sure enough, Sayaga's answer was not very different.
"It is the Red-Light District."
He answered with a strangely suggestive smile.
What was the point of reading all those books? The little fellow hanging between a man's legs kept producing testosterone without pause.
Kanghyeok smiled at him as though looking at an accomplice.
"I'm not particularly interested... but among our party, Makbong really likes that sort of thing. Heh heh."
"I see. Heh heh."
"Right. Heh heh."
After laughing like that a few more times, Sayaga answered with a serious face.
"In any case, if you are to begin treating the lord, you will likely have to wait a few days first. You will have to accompany Chief Envoy Hwang Yungil, the Vice Envoy, and the Secretary Officer around here and there."
"I see. Then...?"
"I too obtained leave on the grounds that I suffered on the voyage, so let's go later."
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