The Korean Stock Exchange: An Interactive AAR

right here SnowKing

Yes, Minister of Cleaning Toilets Amric. Just kidding, I suppose you can be Minister of Re-Education. or Ambassador to China.

SnowKing and Amric, you each now have 10,000 ducats. here is my first installment (pre-1419). If it sound familiar, it is almost the same as my previous failed Korean AAR, I will be using some stuff for that for a while, just because I have it (and deleted it on the forums, so you don't know what's coming).

October 12, 1416. The royal palaces. The chancellor, Kwang Chi, approaches the heir to the throne, Se-jong, who is nine years old, and his tutor. Se-jong will inherit the throne when he comes of age, in two years. Perhaps, Kwang though, that is too early. He will still be just a boy, mentally and physically, when he inherits the throne, and unable to resist the court temptresses when he comes of age physically, having no experience doing so.

Kwang spoke. "How is the boy's education coming along?" he asked the tutor.

"Very well, very well sire," replied the tutor. "He has-"

Kwang cut the tutor off. "You aren't just saying that to keep your head?"

"No sire, no sire, of course not. I am impressed by the boy's grasp of the current situation. He has, well, um....Se-jong, explain to the good chancellor the current situation of Korea"

Sejong cleared his throat in a calmm and confident, almost cocky, manner. "We have a policy of centralization, which is good, and serfdom and aristocracy, which are not. We must keep our centralization high while giving power to the merchants and the serfs, especially if we can capture a center of trade. Our toleration of new ideas is medium. It must be raised if we are to compete with such technological and military giants as China. The quality of our troops is also medium, however it should not matter until we can harness that new Chinese invention, gunpowder. We have slightly defensive, land-oriented tactics which are fine for now."

Kwang Chi raised his eyebrows. "Have you learned this on your own, or been taught this, young Se-jong?"

"Both, Chancellor. My tutor has taken me on a tour of Korea, and we have agreed that these changes need to be made."

"Good. But always remember this: However much good you can do to your own people by achieving perfection, you can do more good to the other people of the world by putting them under Choson rule. Remember this always. Through your reign, keep this in your mind, and the people will sing odes to you long after you have passed through this world, and any normal man would be forgotten."

Se-jong nodded solemnly, and silently vowed to bring plunder, glory and honor (in that order) to the Choson dynasty.

Rules

Country: Korea
Version: 1.07 April 25 beta, with Peter Ebbesen's SSREM mod and Asian manpower mod.
Difficulty/Aggressiveness: Very Hard/Furious
Other: Korea gets Han, Japanese, Manchu, and Cantonese culture added by editing as soon as it captures Shanghai. I also added an event simulating the corruption that overtook Korea around the Literati purges, but enabled its stoppage by a stability hit.
Goals: World Conquest (that's why you can't bet on Korea, of course)
Note: I get Se-jong (7/8/7) until 1450. I am gonna get one heck of a jump-start.

DP settings 1419:
aristocracy = 9 (must remedy!)
centralization = 7 (cool! but how can there be a centralized aristocracy?)
innovative = 5 (wow, again good)
mercantilism = 7 (coldn't care less)
offensive = 4 (couldn't care less)
land = 6 (eventually will go naval, not current concern)
quality = 5 (eventually should go more quality)
serfdom = 8 (eventually free the serfs)

ok. Passpertout, I'll give you 2:1 odds on that (it ties up your money for so long). I'll keep track to of people's money by posting it after every post. When you win or lose a bet, please post the bet and say how much you lost. If you lose a bet and fail to report it within 50 years or invest more money that you have to spend, I will deduct that much money the first time, 2x the second time, 4x the third time, and so on.

Here are a list of bets and odds by the bookmaker. Don't forget you can take either side of the bet.

Samarkand sacked (to gain maps of Europe):

by 1451: 10 to 1
by 1500: 3 to 1
at all (this means even if it isn't the capital): 1 to 3

Byzantium annexed (and I know about it)

by 1450: 1 to 1
by 1470: 1 to 2
by 1492: 1 to 4

Persia emerges:
In January or February 1480: 7 to 1
Before Babur: 2 to 1
From the Timurids: 1 to 1
From the Mughals: 1 to 2

My first owned non-colony non-Confucian province (the most valuable, if I gain more than one in the same peace deal)
Is in the Steppes or Siberia: 11 to 1
Is in India: 3 to 1
Is in mainland SE Asia: 7 to 5
Is a Portugese colony: 10 to 1
Is in Indonesia: 5 to 1
Is a CoT: 1 to 3
Is gained after the BB wars start: 1 to 3

I have also decided to add commodities (wine, tea, etc) to the things that may be trade. You may buy only 500d to 1000d of any particular commodity (the upper limit is due to that large purchases may result in huge market fluctuation). You may also short commodities (don't know if you can do this IRL, but oh well).

You may also buy or short shares of provinces provided that if they change hands, your shares are immediately sold beforehand (wouldn't want you buying Salton immediately before I annex the Navajo, whom I will probably be several infrastructure levels ahead of). Buying or shorting of shares of provinces' tax values is also permitted. I am going to conviently ignore that this would majorly disrupt the local economy. If people press the point, I will slap taxes on these commodities

btw Snow King, you live the the UP? Wow, you really are the Snow King I live near Detroit. A friend of mine is going to Michigan Tech, how close is that to you?

sure Panzeh.

Panzeh: Chief messenger
10000 ducats

Snow King: Ambassador to Nippon
9000 ducats
1000 ducats of Dai Viet's territory

Amric: 10000 ducats

Stroph1: 10000 ducats

J. Passpertout: General of the 1st Cavalry Division
6000 ducats
2000 ducats of shorting Manchu's territory
1000 ducats of Chinese Treasury
1000 ducats on a 2:1 bet that WC will be done by 1790

Ok I am starting.



Se-jong on the second year of his reign surveyed the geopolitics of Asia on January 1, 1419.

China: Big country. He was very confused about its size, however. Nothing much west of the capital at Anhui was known. Rumor had it that if you walked west from Anhui you would end up falling off the edge of the earth, because the world to the west of China was nonexistent. That would be cool.

Reasons to attack them.

They have sheep. The kingdom of Korea contained only one religion – Confused people – and one culture, it was decreed that a minority would have to be created to be oppressed. China only fortified their coastal provinces. That meant that that mighty three-men Korean armies could rampage through central China while the Chinese were too busy picking on the Manchu.

“The Manchu in 1419 were at their peak of greatness. Their strategy at the time was to oppress the polar bears and gain fur wealth. While this worked occasionally, it proved much inferior to the up-and-coming Korean strategy, which was to oppress the sheep. Since the Korean peninsula was lacking in sheep, the Koreans desperately attacked whoever had sheep. Korea in 1419 allied with the Manchu in a war against the Chinese, who had sheep.” – Korea and Manchuria: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Chinese.

The first thing Se-jong did was disband 28000 infantry, reducing army size to 10000 cavalry and 2000 infantry. General Passpertout argued against this, but Se-jong pointed out that the army cost in three months the income in one year of all of Korea. Passpertout relented, though not before ranting at Se-jong's dog about how disastrous the move would be.

The second thing he did was to grant serfs rights. When enraged nobles proclaimed their right to roast serfs over a fire in order to extract money from them (this right was taken away when serfs were given the right not to have that done to them), Se-jong gave a statue of Emu-nem's right hand (middle finger up) to the nobles, and threatened to confiscate their estates.

In the first war of Chinese Aggression, which Korea joined when it allied with Manchu in 1419, the Korean armies slipped past Chinese armies and reached Shanghai. The commander was General Jieng Cho-Passportout, who was almost relieved in his commander following his substantial bets on China and against Manchu. Passpertout was for the most part brilliant, splitting his army into 9000 troops to besiege Shanghai and 2000 cavalry pillaging the Chinese countryside (which had no fortresses). Passpertout captured most of the countryside before being confronted by a 20000 man Chinese army. After he started to retreat, however, a disaster happened that could have wiped out his army.

The whole Chinese army shouted, "You chicken!" to the Korean army. Passpertout turned his mount around and shouted back, "Nobody calls me chicken!. He was about to order an attack before his subordinates gagged him and dragged him onto his mount.

In March of 1422, the siege of Shanghai was complete. By some miracle, the only attack on the besiegers by the Chinese was several 1000-man detachments hurling curses. Their heads were subsequently lobbed into the city.

After that, Korea immediately sued for peace, demanding Shanghai. Se-jong had heard of the treacherous Manchu's attempts to call off the war for some of China territory for themselves! The Chinese accepted the offer, which was the cession of Shanghai to Korea.

Meanwhile, the Korean scientists figured out how to place merchants and how to promote tax collectors. After the war, merchants were dispatched to Shanghai and Kansai, and three tax collectors were promoted. Also, Chiphyonjon, the hall of assembled worthies, was completed, striking a blow against narrowmindedness (innovativeness +1).

In January 1427, China guaranteed our independence. In April 1427, China declared war on us. Go figure.

After General Passpertout again ravaged they country side, the Second War of Chinese Aggression ended in September when China ceded Anhui for peace. Knowing that Korea didn't yet have the manpower for an extended war against the Asian behemoth, Se-jong was pleased.

In 1431, the word Art was coined. Se-jong didn't care, as long as it made money. It did, raising the production efficiency of Korea. It also meant he could build Fine Arts Academies, not that he cared. Se-jong only really cared about places with names starting with B. His bedroom, and the battlefield. Innovation was increased in 1433, to complement better technology.

“Korea by 1432 had learned the principles of sophistication in diplomacy. Always promise to help, and always make it look like you tried, especially when you didn’t. Theatrical flourish is always nice. This was demonstrated when the foreign minister in 1432 rode into Jilin, the capital of Manchu. He rode to the center of the city square, scattered pamphlets proclaiming the end of the Manchu-Korean alliance (the Manchu were rollovers, no help to Korea), and set the statue of the Manchurian leader ablaze. He then rode out of Jilin (only a hundred feet ahead of a pursuing Manchurian force, joined with a regiment, and rode south for six months, to the Ayutthan capital of Bangkok, and proposed to join the Ayutthan alliance. The offer was accepted.” – Miss Manners’ Guide to Negotiation and Extortion

“Se-jong had mastered the art of diplomacy. In 1436, he sent his most beautiful cousin into Malacca and proposed marriage to their king. She then rode back to Korea, and her twin was sent to marry their king. Though they bore a resemblance, none would even say that the twin was nearly as beautiful as she. Se-jong then took his cousin as a mistress. After the Malaccans had taken the bait, and a large dowry arranged, Se-jong proposed a sharing of maps. After the Malaccans accepted, the Korean library possessed not only the maps of Mongol-ruled Asia from the sacking of Anhui fifteen years earlier, but also complete maps of Southeast Asia and good maps of Indonesia. This fully eliminated a slowdown of research due to isolation, and Se-jong was pleased. It left Korea as the premier trader of ideas after China’s decision to close their borders after Zheng He’s journey.” – Korea and the Outside World, 1419 to 1492

Ok. China is at 29 territories.

Chinese treasury went from 500d to 64d (remember, AI spends its money quickly), so 1000d of Chinese Treasury is worth 128d

Manchu territory is at 9 from 10. 2000d of shorting Manchu territory is now worth 2200d.

Dai Viet territory is at 4 from 4. No gains or losses.

So, Passpertout lost 672d. No one else lost or gained anything.