Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 639 A Sudden Repentance
dong dong dong!dong dong dong!
"Who is it?!" A barrage of banging on the door instantly roused the Park family's doorman, who was still dozing off, from his rage. "How dare you knock on my Park family's door like that!"

"I am Lee Dong-hwan, the governor of Paju! Something terrible has happened!" Lee Dong-hwan shouted as he pounded on the door. "Open the door! Open the door now!"

"Oh dear! Musa Lee," the gatekeeper of the Park family said angrily as he opened the door. "Has the sky fallen?"

"It's like the sky has fallen!" Normally, when Lee Dong-hwan visited, he would always slip money to the gatekeeper and exchange a few pleasantries. But this time, he practically barged into the Prime Minister's residence, rushing straight in as soon as he entered: "Prime Minister! Prime Minister Park!"

"What are you doing! The Prime Minister is resting right now!" The Park family doorman panicked and quickly chased after Lee Dong-hwan, grabbing his hand.

"Let go!" Lee Dong-hwan, being a strong man, pushed the doorman's door open. "Sangpai Park! Sangpai Park!"

"Hey! Stop right there, you can't go in!" The gatekeeper of the Park family barely managed to steady himself before immediately chasing after them again. "Help! Help!"

Li Donghuan caused quite a commotion, and soon many servants blocked his way.

"What's all this commotion? Do you even know where you are?!" The head butler was furious. He had rushed over without even having time to put on his coat.

"Manager Park, Manager Park!" Far from being intimidated, Lee Dong-hwan lunged forward and grabbed the butler's hand. "Something terrible has happened! Take me to see Prime Minister Park immediately!"

"Who are you?!" Enraged, the butler didn't even recognize the distorted-faced Li Donghuan, only feeling that the person looked somewhat familiar.

"I am Lee Dong-hwan, the Governor of Paju, Lee Dong-hwan!" Lee Dong-hwan was so anxious he seemed to be on fire. "Where is Minister Park?! I need to see Minister Park!"

"Li Donghuan?" The butler finally recognized the familiar face, which wasn't very common. "What happened?"

"Oh dear!" Lee Dong-hwan, though anxious, was not foolish and knew this wasn't the place to talk. "The sky is falling and the earth is collapsing, you need to take me to see Minister Park right now!"

"The Prime Minister was extremely drunk last night and is still resting. You need to tell me what you want to say first!" The steward saw Li Donghuan's anxious and pale face and realized that the matter was serious, so his anger subsided slightly.

Li Donghuan hesitated for a moment. "Okay! But we can't say it here."

"Come with me!" The butler waved away the servants who were surrounding him. Just as he was about to lead Lee Dong-hwan to the quiet room, he saw Park Seung-jong with a sullen face standing in front of them.

"Master." The butler bowed his head and led the servants to the side.

"Lee Yeo-jin, why aren't you in Paju right now? What are you yelling about here?" Park Seung-jong recognized the person as Lee Dong-hwan just by his voice.

"My dear teacher!" Lee Dong-hwan strode up to Park Seung-jong and knelt down with a thud. "Something terrible has happened!"

"What's going on?" Park Seung-jong was startled by Lee Dong-hwan's posture and took a step back.

“You’ll understand once you see this!” Lee Dong-hwan pulled a rolled-up piece of paper from his pocket and held it up to Park Seung-jong.

"Hmph," Park Seung-jong snorted, took the long paper, unfolded it, and immediately froze as if struck by lightning.

--------

Park Seung-jong stood there stunned for a long time, until the servants around him had all been dismissed by the butler, before he muttered to himself, "What on earth is going on? Where did this thing come from?"

“Yesterday afternoon,” Li Donghuan licked his dry, cracked lips with his parched tongue, “one of my subordinates suddenly came to me with this manifesto. I felt it was a matter of great importance, so I personally delivered it to my esteemed teacher.”

"Which subordinate!?" Park Seung-jong asked urgently, a slightly sickly flush quickly rising to his pale face.

"Hiss, his name seems to be Kim, Kim Sung." In his haste, Lee Dong-hwan momentarily forgot his subordinate's name.

"Never mind his name!" Park Seung-jong widened his eyes and waved his hand impatiently. "I'm just asking you, what does he do, and where did he get this thing from!"

“Oh!” Li Donghuan shuddered. “That was a grain officer under my command. He was on his way to the villages under his jurisdiction to collect overdue taxes. He encountered Ming cavalry on his way to Cuijia Village and then saw this proclamation on the wall of Cuijia Village.”

"The Ming cavalry has already..." Park Seung-jong could barely contain his excitement. "...already reached Paju!?"

"Probably, yes." Lee Dong-hwan mechanically shook his head.

"Oh my God!" Park Seung-jong groaned, bowing his head in pain.

His eyes were wide open, his gaze darting erratically across the manifesto. When his eyes finally landed on the word "stripped," Park Seung-jong suddenly felt his heart clench. Then, his mind went blank, his vision went black, and he collapsed forward.

"Master!" Lee Dong-hwan strode up to Park Seung-jong, supporting him with one hand on his shoulder and the other on his back, bending slightly to help him up. "Help! Help!"

"Master!" The butler, who had been waiting nearby, appeared before the two in a flash. Seeing Park Seung-jong rolling his eyes and opening and closing his mouth, he immediately panicked. The butler rushed to Park Seung-jong's side and supported him from the other side. "Chief Lee, what's wrong?!"

"Oh dear, this can't be explained in just a few words!" Li Donghuan said anxiously. "Let's find the physician quickly!"

"Someone! Someone!" the steward shouted, quickly summoning many servants. "Go to the Inner Hospital and fetch Physician Yin and the others!"

"Yes!" Several servants who usually ran errands turned and ran out.

--------

Supported by Lee Dong-hwan and several servants, Park Seung-jong returned to his bedroom. After lying down for a while, Park Seung-jong's eyes, which had been rolled back, slowly closed.

"Father!" Park Seung-jong opened his eyes, and his eldest son, Park Ja-heung, was the first to come over and kneel by the bed, holding his hand.

“Master!” Lee Dong-hwan paused for a moment, then knelt down beside Park Ja-heung.

"master!"

"Grandfather!" After the two of them called out, Park Seung-jong's wives, concubines, children, and grandchildren also gathered around and chattered in greeting.

"Stop howling! It's so noisy! Get out of here!" Park Seung-jong roared, then felt a sharp pain in his philtrum. The chattering immediately stopped. Park Ja-heung and Lee Dong-hwan both breathed a sigh of relief. The old man could be angry and shout, and his voice was so loud; he was clearly not seriously ill.

"Are you deaf?" Park Seung-jong pulled his hand away from Park Ja-heung's grasp, slowly propped himself up, and then shouted again, "Get out of here, all of you!"

"Yes." Park Ja-heung glanced at Lee Dong-hwan, then stood up to face the crowd. "That's all, everyone can go now." With that, he walked towards the door himself.

"Stop right there!" Park Seung-jong said, looking at Park Ja-heung.

“Me?” Park Ja-heung turned around.

"Who else could it be!" Park Seung-jong glared at him.

"Hehe." Park Ja-heung's lips twitched, and he returned to his previous position with an awkward laugh.

“Yojin,” Park Seung-jong asked Lee Dong-hwan, “where is that proclamation?”

"I've got it." Lee Dong-hwan patted his chest.

"Who has seen it?" Park Seung-jong asked again.

“No one saw it. The student picked it up immediately after you fainted.” Lee Dong-hwan glanced at Park Ja-heung subconsciously. Park Ja-heung had rushed over upon hearing the news and asked Lee Dong-hwan what had happened, but Lee Dong-hwan, seeing that there were many people around, just gave a vague answer.

“Very good.” Park Seung-jong nodded, then wearily pointed to Park Ja-heung. “Show it to him.”

"Yes." Lee Dong-hwan took out a proclamation from his pocket and handed it to Park Ja-heung. "Brother Deok-kyu, please take a look."

Park Ja-heung took the manifesto, unfolded it, and was immediately stunned.

After a long while, Park Ja-heung murmured in horror, "Is...is this real?"

Li Donghuan kept shaking his head and body. "One of my grain officers saw with his own eyes groups of Ming cavalry entering the village to deliver a proclamation."

"Then, did you see them?" Park Ja-heung stared wide-eyed, trembling as he placed the manifesto on Park Seung-jong's couch.

"No." Li Donghuan shook his head again like a rattle-drum. "After seeing this proclamation, I immediately rode to the capital."

"Then how can you be so sure that what that person said is true?" Park Ja-heung asked incredulously.

I, Li Donghuan, was taken aback.

"It's over a thousand li from Uiju to Hanyang, how come we only got news today?!" Park Ja-heung lunged forward without warning, startling Lee Dong-hwan into retreating in shock.

"How should I know!" Normally, Li Donghuan would never dare to yell at this young master, but at this moment, he was completely flustered and lost his composure, so he shouted back, "Jin Chengen has several attendants with him, and they all say so, how could it be false!"

"The heavenly army has arrived in Paju!" Park Ja-heung clenched his fists tightly, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably. "What the hell is Park Yeop good for?!"

The reason Park Seung-jong and his son placed Park Yeop in that position was largely to obtain firsthand information from both the Ming and Jin dynasties. Now, the Ming army had silently crossed Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces, and it wasn't until they set foot in Gyeonggi Province that the first person to report came. Park Ja-heung's resentment and anger can be imagined.

However, although Park Yeop welcomed the royal army, he did send someone to the capital to inform them. Unfortunately, the Ming army advanced in three directions simultaneously and, due to the summer southerly winds, prematurely occupied Haeju and Kaesong. The poor messenger, exhausted, was about to rest and change horses at the Kaesong post station when he was detained by Yang Yingchun's Ming troops as soon as he entered.

“I’m afraid it’s not just Paju. You really saw this proclamation yesterday afternoon.” Park Seung-jong looked at Lee Dong-hwan, the panic in his eyes gone. “If the Ming army had kept advancing, they should have passed Goyang by now, passed Goyang!”

"Isn't the Ming army going to march on the capital today?!" Park Ja-heung suddenly turned his head. "Father! Let's escape while we still have time!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Park Seung-jong sneered.

Park Ja-heung said, "Of course, we'll go back to Miryang!" Miryang is located in the southern part of Gyeongsang Province and is the hometown of Park Seung-jong and his son Park Ja-heung. The "Mir" in Park Seung-jong's title of "Prince of Mirchang" was taken from this place.

"Are you going to run away?" Lee Dong-hwan looked at Park Seung-jong, his eyes filled with helplessness.

“There’s no escaping it.” Park Seung-jong sighed. He then took the proclamation and laid it out flat in front of him. “For relatives of the emperor like us, unless we hide in the mountains and escape under assumed names, we’ll be caught and brought back.”

"So what do you plan to do?" Park Seung-jong's calmness immediately put Lee Dong-hwan at ease.

“Let’s go with the flow. Isn’t it clearly written in this proclamation?” Park Seung-jong pointed to the proclamation and said in Chinese, “‘Those who were coerced into following us, if they can repent and reform, will be exempted from punishment.’ Since it says so in the proclamation, then we should repent.”

“Dad! It’s not that easy. We’ve always, always…” Park Ja-heung glanced at Lee Dong-hwan, and finally just sighed, “Oh dear!”

“As the saying goes, one who eats the king’s food should be loyal to the king. As a minister who receives the king’s favor and salary, I should naturally do my best in serving the king. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?” Park Seung-jong said.

“Have you forgotten? You were the one who spearheaded the recommendation of Jiang Hongli!” Park Ja-heung stretched out his hand and pointed sharply at the word “Hongli”.

“What’s wrong with that? Jiang Hongli served four terms as the governor of Hamgyeong Province, and he was credited with raiding enemy strongholds during his tenure. The border defense command also praised him, saying that he had a good reputation and was well-liked by the people of Hamgyeong Province, and was known as a ‘scholar-general.’ What’s wrong with my recommendation based on facts?” Park Seung-jong even slightly recalled the contents of the recommendation letter that he had dictated and that had been written by someone else. “Besides, I didn’t instruct him to do anything. Even if we had some interaction, it was just normal business.”

“No matter how reasonable your words are, what can you do if people don’t listen to you?” Park Ja-heung still looked bewildered and distressed. “And what about me! Three years ago, when the court proposed using troops to support the Celestial Empire, I submitted a memorial in my own name opposing it!”

In the intercalary fourth month of the 46th year of the Wanli reign (1617), on the eve of Nurhaci's attack on Fushun, Li Weihan, then Governor of Liaodong, and Wang Keshou, the Governor-General of Jiliao, successively sent messages and proclamations to Joseon requesting military assistance. Faced with the Liaodong conscription request, King Yi Hun attempted to deflect the issue in court by arguing that "our country is too busy defending its three borders; what benefit would it bring to send weak and untrained soldiers to aid the Celestial Empire?" However, most of the high-ranking officials, including Li Erzhan, the Minister of Rites, and Zheng Renhong, the then Chief State Councilor, advocated sending troops to assist the Ming Dynasty in repaying its kindness in restoring the dynasty. Only seven people in the court and among the common people openly supported the king, including Park Ja-heung, the son of Park Seung-jong.

“Don’t be afraid,” Park Seung-jong said. “Go to Chunchugwan now, find the archived memorials, and burn them!”

Chunchugwan was the official historical archive of the Joseon Dynasty. Its main function was to preserve important national documents and compile the annals of past monarchs. After processing, official documents such as memorials and imperial edicts were usually transferred to Chunchugwan for archiving, serving as original materials for historical records.

"Isn't this just burying your head in the sand? At the time, only a handful of people in the entire capital opposed sending troops. What good was burning the memorials? Alas!" Park Ja-heung lamented, "If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have listened to you back then!"

(End of this chapter)