If we move now, we are late; if we stay still, we are late
The information Akai brought poured out without tidy order.
Some parts were confirmed.
Others were words that had slipped loose over cups of sake.
They did not connect cleanly, yet Park Seong-jin regarded the arrangement itself as important.
"The shogunate has begun requisitioning ships.
It doesn't seem they intend to cross in a single wave.
Word is they are leaning toward transporting troops in several waves.
The seized ships are gathering in Chōshū Domain.
Chōshū will likely serve as the center of maritime transport.
The Hosokawa side shows the most movement.
They are pulling in every available force.
Kin, marriage ties, even distant branches are being called.
Talk of revenge is spoken openly.
Their collection of information on Goryeo cannons is slow.
They lack material to estimate performance.
They are curious about range, reload speed, even how they are operated aboard ships.
There are rumors they will send capable spies to verify it.
The target has not yet been specified.
Assessments of your strength are divided.
Many think it exaggerated into legend.
Some doubt that such movement is possible for a human body.
Testimony from those who saw it is treated as embellishment.
Letters and envoys are being sent simultaneously to the Kyushu domains.
The primary message is pressure not to cooperate with Goryeo.
Where replies are delayed, they say more men will be sent.
There is a wide gap between spoken threats and actual action."
Akai continued, as if adding an afterthought.
"In Kyoto, the phrase 'a war to preserve face' is used more often than 'total mobilization.'
In those circles, legitimacy is calculated before casualty.
Some daimyō wait for orders to march yet do not fully prepare their troops.
They are watching the board to the very end.
In Chōshū, they greatly fear the movement of Goryeo's navy during the strait crossing.
They consider the possibility of ships being shattered by naval cannon.
Security around the ports has visibly increased.
The phrase 'If we move now, we are late; if we stay still, we are late' is spreading.
So no one steps forward first.
Within the shogunate, there was talk of emptying castles and drawing the fight into the field as a response to cannon.
The words circulate, but no concrete plan has been set."
Akai paused to catch his breath.
It was unstructured, but in Park Seong-jin's mind the branches were already sorted.
"Hey… are you truly intending to fight a war?"
Akai asked carefully.
There was caution in his eyes.
Park looked at him for a moment, then smiled.
The corner of his mouth lifted first.
"That's my trade.
Like you buying and selling goods, lending and collecting coin.
It's a profession."
Akai steadied himself and continued.
"Information works the same way.
I give it here, and I give it there.
I have no intention of hiding that."
"As you should."
Park nodded.
"That way, I'll have something to hear as well."
Akai lowered his head.
He understood the nature of information.
To obtain what one needs, one must offer something the other side finds valuable.
"This could put you at a disadvantage.
Even in equal exchange, they are the mainland, and they have numbers."
"It's fine.
That's what merchants are for.
Say everything you know."
Akai nodded, then swallowed his words.
There was something he had not yet spoken.
"Speak.
What are you hesitating over?"
Park pressed lightly.
Akai drew a long breath.
"You cannot win.
No matter how strong you are."
Park's expression did not change.
"Would you quit trade just because business is bad?"
"That's different.
If trade fails, you change trades.
This is a fight that demands everything.
The numbers are different.
If they mobilize fully, it exceeds two hundred thousand."
"Kyushu forces won't all move.
And two hundred thousand won't all come.
Half will stay behind.
There are men here who won't listen to the shogun."
"Even so, half will march.
Seventy thousand perhaps."
"Hm."
Park nodded.
"We have about twenty thousand here.
At the table, people always multiply.
When you call them to step forward, it's never half."
Akai gave a bitter smile.
"There are always the most spoons when the meal is served."
Silence fell briefly.
"The difference in strength is large."
"Just tell me where their ships gather."
"Chōshū Domain.
Not one place.
Several ports."
"Supplies will gather there too."
"They will."
Akai shifted the topic.
"Will Goryeo reinforcements come?"
Park lowered his head for a moment.
"I don't know."
"You command here with authority, yet at home your treatment seems… lacking."
Park laughed.
"If a bucket leaks here, will it not leak there?
I requested support, but they will have little room.
Politics causes trouble there as well."
"Then overturn it."
"Would that make the pirates vanish?
It is not so broken that it needs overturning."
"And here?
What is different?"
Park shook his head.
"Here, the line has been crossed.
To increase armies, production must follow.
Production has limits.
So they squeeze taxes.
When that fails, they turn to piracy.
They grow their forces that way.
And in that process, the people are driven to the edge of hunger."
"We have lived like that."
"Even so, there is a line that must not be crossed."
His voice lowered.
"Once that line is crossed,
theft becomes upright,
piracy becomes a profession.
A society like that does not endure long."
Akai nodded silently.
It was not a lightly thrown remark.
It was about the standard by which people live.
"So you came to break it?"
Akai asked.
"Yes."
Park lifted his gaze.
"Our forces are fewer.
Even so, if Haotian Shangdi looks down,
this board will tilt our way."
Akai felt something fill the hollow inside him.
The words still flowed as though in jest.
"He has been busy lately.
He hasn't looked long at the people's side."
"That is how it seems if you look briefly."
Park smiled.
"If you look across long time, He sees all.
So this too will pass."
He laughed.
"Ha ha."
It was a youthful laugh.
But not light.
It was not the grim resolve of Japanese warriors.
Not the solemnity of men prepared for death.
It was the bearing of someone who had already read the current beyond the hazard.
He measured disadvantage, yet did not bind himself to it.
That ease and boldness shook men's hearts before the battlefield ever did.