Unlike other islands, there are very few rugged bays, capes, and headlands on Jeonra Island, and there are flat beaches everywhere. Because it is a typical volcanic island, the entire island was formed by magma eruption.

To put it in a more vivid way, Jeju Island is like an omelette in a pan, and the protruding yolk is Hallasan Mountain. This has led to the lack of natural harbors on the huge Jeju Island, and only a few ports such as Jeju Port are still usable.

Therefore, Jeju Port became the stationed port of Jeolla Right Navy of the Joseon Dynasty on Jeju Island. And Jeju Castle was not far away, so Park Seong-seong, the governor of Jeolla Right Navy, would stay in the castle every time he went to the island and accept the hospitality of those big merchants.

Although Jeju Island was a place for horse breeding and exile during the Joseon Dynasty, Jeju City is very prosperous. Even if it cannot be compared with Jeonju, the capital of the province, the enjoyment you can get here is completely incomparable to Jeonju.

But this time, Park Seong-sung did not go into the city to have fun, but stayed in the navy camp. The governor was very surprised and sent an envoy to ask if someone had made the right envoy unhappy last time.

In the commander's room in the military camp.

Park Sung-sung wore a black net scarf on his head, a small satin jacket called "Chiguli" on top, wide-crotch wide-leg pants called "Bingzhi" on the bottom, and tied the wide trouser legs with a thin belt. He wore a pair of white cloth socks and sat cross-legged in front of a charcoal brazier.

There was a grill pan on the charcoal brazier, with the pork belly and pork skin on it sizzling with oil.

A man dressed similarly but slightly younger sat opposite the roasting pan, turning the roasted pork skin with a copper tongs.

Park Sung-sung sniffed greedily while saying to the clerk kneeling at the door: "Go back and ask Lord Li to rest assured. I just have military information to attend to and cannot leave the barracks without permission. When the enemy situation is resolved, I will naturally go to him for fun."

"I understand. I won't bother you anymore." The clerk bowed and left.

The young man passed the roasted pork skin to Park Sung-sung. Park Sung-sung dipped the pork skin in the soybean paste in the shallow dish, wrapped the pork skin with radish strips and green onion shreds in lettuce leaves, then took a bite and said in a nasal voice with a look of enjoyment:

"Oh, Naomashida, pig skin and soybean paste are a perfect match..."

After saying that, he started chewing.

The young man on the other side asked without paying attention to the atmosphere: "Brother, are we really going to attack the Celestial Empire's fleet?"

"Uh..." Park Sung-seong choked when he heard this, and pointed at the teacup on the table with his eyes rolled.

The young man quickly brought him some barley tea, and Park Sung-seong took it and drank it, then he let out a long sigh and said, "Sung-in, should we talk about this while eating?"

The young man named Cheng Yin was Park Chengxing's younger brother. He relied on his brother to become a naval officer. He lowered his head and said, "Brother, I am wrong. But I am too scared. This dynasty has been founded for 170 years, and no one has ever dared to offend the Celestial Empire."

"Asshole, you have no rules!" Park Sung-seong's eyes widened and he was so angry that he raised his chopsticks to hit him.

"Brother, I am worried about you." Park Sung-in looked at Park Sung-sung eagerly and said, "You are the pillar of our Park family!"

"Alas..." Park Sung-sung finally put his hand down dejectedly, drank a glass of soju depressedly, and sighed: "Someone has something on me. What can I do?"

A month ago, he received an anonymous letter, which listed his income and expenditure in Tianchao Hengtongji item by item and threatened to send the account books to Seoul if he did not do as the letter said.

This could mean the end of Park Sung-sung's life. If those ruthless guys in Wang Jingzhong knew that he had 300,000 taels of silver deposited in the Celestial Empire, they would definitely confiscate his property and wipe out his entire family.

~~

In the naval camp on Jeju Island, in the commander's room.

"Is it scary to send it to Seoul?" Park Sung-in asked puzzledly, "It's not like my brother made the money alone. The big guys in Beijing also got a share. They should help cover it up."

"Of course it's scary." At this point, Park Sung-seong had nothing to hide from his brother. "Everyone in the yangban class knows that this Jeolla Right Naval Governor is a very lucrative position. I was able to snatch it from others because I agreed to give them 80% of the profits and keep only 20%. Others wanted 30% or even 40%, but the adults thought I was sensible and not greedy, so they let me be the governor."

He smiled bitterly and said, "In the past two years, I have donated a total of 120,000 taels of silver to the capital, and the adults are quite satisfied. If the adults knew that in addition to the 20,000 taels I sent back home, I also deposited another 300,000 taels in the Celestial Empire, what do you think would happen?"

"Ah, so many?" Park Sung-in was so scared that he dropped the clip in his hand. He didn't expect Oppa to be so brave.

"Don't be so loud, don't you want to live?" Park Sung-sung quickly covered his brother's mouth. You know, the total military pay and military expenditure of the entire Joseon Navy is only 50,000 taels a year... If the soldiers outside knew that the commander actually ate 300,000 taels alone and only let them drink some soup, they would definitely roast the two brothers alive.

"I asked my predecessor, and they never paid more than 50,000 taels a year. Who knew I was destined to become rich? Soon after I took office, the nine great families of the Celestial Empire started fighting among themselves, and the maritime trade from Jiangnan to Japan was cut off. Now the Japanese can only buy goods from our Jeju Island, and the maritime trade on the island has become extremely popular."

Park Sung-sung licked his lips and lowered his voice, "The number of smuggling ships entering and leaving Jeju Island has increased by more than three or four times, so our commission has naturally increased several times. However, I asked those sea merchants to deposit most of their money into the Celestial Empire's account, and only a small part of them paid in cash."

He sighed and said, "Brother, I am not greedy for money. I am worried that the nobles in the capital will kick me out after seeing that the benefits of this position have increased several times."

Park Sung-in thought, if this isn’t greed for money, what is it?

But he said with worry on his face: "Then we can't attack the fleet of the Celestial Empire. Once the Celestial Empire investigates, the king will be punished, so who can protect Oppa?"

"I know, I know, I won't take that risk..." Park Sung-sung nodded with a bitter face, and suddenly pointed at the baking tray and exclaimed: "It's burnt..."

"Oh my, what a pity." Park Sung-in quickly took the burnt pork belly out of the baking tray and was about to throw it away with a look of regret.

"Don't throw it away, you prodigal son. There's still something edible." Park Sung-sung was quick to grab the black pork belly and carefully scrape off the burnt part with copper scissors. He then dipped it in thick soybean paste, added radish strips and scallions, wrapped it in lettuce, took a bite and said, "It doesn't taste burnt anymore."

"Brother is still good at managing life." Park Sung-in was full of admiration and followed his elder brother's example to prepare the remaining pork belly. The two brothers then wrapped it in vegetable leaves and ate it up.

Then they patted their bellies together and leaned on the wooden floor.

Park Sung-sung burped and said, "I'm fine."

"I'm fine too." Park Sung-in also burped and asked, "Brother, you haven't finished yet."

"Of course I'm not that stupid to send the navy to attack the Celestial Empire's fleet." Park Chengxing crossed his legs and picked his teeth with a toothpick while saying, "Although the other party promised that they would be responsible for all consequences, it's better not to provoke the Celestial Empire's fleet if possible."

After a pause, he leaned over and whispered to his brother, "I asked Boss Jin to contact the Mishima pirates."

"Ah?" Park Sung-in was shocked again.

The so-called "Three Islands of Japanese Pirates" by Koreans refer to the three islands of Tsushima, Iki and Hirado, which are only 400 miles away from Jeju Island. These three islands belonged to the Hirado Domain of Japan, a samurai group famous for its navy.

Because the Goryeo Kingdom had assisted the Yuan Dynasty in its conquest of Japan, after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, they often invaded the coast of Korea, and were therefore called "Three Island Pirates" by Korea.

However, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period in Japan, the Southern Dynasty supported by the Hirado clan was at a disadvantage for a long time and its economy was suppressed by the stronger Northern Dynasty. The original political revenge and looting against Korea turned into pure piracy against Korea and the southeastern coast of China.

Among the Japanese pirates who invaded the Ming Dynasty, the "real Japanese" mainly came from here.

~~

Joseon set up many beacons and water forts on Jeju Island and its surrounding islands, and even the navy of Jeolla Province was to defend against the Japanese pirates on these three islands.

But the amazing thing is that a hundred years later, the Korean navy and the Japanese pirates in Mishima actually colluded with each other and made a fortune from smuggling. In recent years, there has indeed been no Japanese invasion, which shows that if we want to achieve great harmony, we still have to make money together.

"What did the Japanese say in response?" Park Sung-in asked nervously.

"The Japanese have been robbing the coast of China for many years, and China has never sent troops to attack them. So they are not afraid of China's power at all. When they heard that there was a fat sheep on the sea, they came out in full force without saying a word." Park Chengxing thought for a moment and said, "They have been waiting east of Marado Island for two days."

As he said this, he looked at the almanac on the wall and said, "According to the news from the Celestial Empire, the fleet set sail from Chongming yesterday. If nothing unexpected happens, the two sides should meet tomorrow morning."

"I see." Park Sung-in suddenly realized. No wonder his brother ordered all the navy to return to the camp and be on guard. It turned out that he was afraid of encountering the Japanese pirate fleet.

"Protecting Jeju Island from harm is the duty of our Joseon navy. When the enemy situation is unclear, we choose to temporarily avoid the attack and prevent the Japanese pirates from landing. This is very reasonable." Park Chengxing said seriously: "As for the Celestial Empire's fleet, didn't the Ming Dynasty not put a single ship to sea? We didn't know that they were attacked in the waters near Jeju, which is also very reasonable."

"It's reasonable, very reasonable." Park Sung-in felt relieved, but then he scratched his head and said, "But the Japanese pirates are cunning and they bully the weak and fear the strong. What if they run into a snag with the Celestial Empire's fleet and turn around to plunder Jeju Island? Li Zhoumu is the brother-in-law of the prefect. If he tries to pass the buck, we may not be his opponent."

"Well, that makes sense." Park Sung-sung scratched his feet in agreement, thought for a moment and said, "How about this, you take ten ships to the area around Gapado Island, remove the flags, disguise them as civilian ships, and line up with your back to Jeju Island. Don't interfere in their battle, just drive the ships away, and don't allow them to approach Jeju Island."

"Including the ships of the Celestial Empire?"

"Of course, if the Chinese come to the island and ask for help, do you think I should rescue them or not?" Park Sung-sung said as if it was a matter of course.

"Okay, I understand." Park Sung-in nodded, stood up, dressed neatly, and took the boat out to sea.

P.S. I still update twice a day, but those who understand will understand. The time and energy I spent on these two updates is equivalent to writing four updates. I have been writing since this morning until just now...