Chapter 211 — A Private Audience
There was much work, so he had to wait a long time.
Only late in the afternoon was he able to have an audience with the king.
The king must have been worn down by a full day of heavy duties.
He smiled weakly with a tired face.
Yeongu felt a little regretful, thinking that if the king studied regularly, his body might be stronger.
"How was this leave?"
At the king's question, Yeongu bowed deeply.
"It was a time in which this humble officer once again realized his own foolishness."
The words were difficult.
More precisely, they sounded as though he was saying that all these difficulties were not because of him.
"We still have not realized that."
Yeongu changed the subject.
The king did not want to work, so he seemed to be picking a quarrel with words unrelated to the matter in order to drag out the time, while Yeongu wanted to finish his business quickly.
"Please restore diplomacy with the Jurchen and arrange a meeting with the Great Khan."
"What are you talking about? Why? Must we now curry favor with Jin? I do not want to."
That was no answer from a king.
Even an idler in the marketplace would not speak that way.
At the words of a man possessing limitless authority and filled with arbitrary will, Yeongu felt a limit he could not express.
He understood.
If those below him, receiving salaries to work, were all like that, how could he keep his mind straight and speak courteously?
First, they spoke at length.
They maximized their own speaking time.
This not only blocked others from speaking, but also kept the king from thinking elsewhere.
If the subject was turned to one side, it moved away from the topic they found difficult.
If one person said no, the rest followed and said no.
Then they insisted it was public opinion, as though everyone's will were similar.
Take just one step out of that room, and an entirely different reality appears.
Yet within the council hall, they echo one another and help one another.
The king could not read every report.
So matters were cut off midway.
They did not cut away unnecessary things or matters they could handle themselves.
They handled matters that way when something would be unfavorable to them if it reached the king.
The king did not know what he truly needed to know, and wasted time on things that did not need to be done.
So now, facing Yeongu, what kind of review could the king possibly have done?
Yeongu spoke firmly.
"This humble officer will return to the north, and I will bring the war to an end. Liao will soon cease to exist."
"Speak sense. Why would Liao cease to exist?"
"If we win just one battle, they will not be able to rise again. They are already staggering."
"So you are telling me to flatter Jin?"
Yeongu swallowed.
Could he say it now?
Or would it be better not to say it at all?
"Please actively consider the matter of joining the two countries."
"What!"
The king was startled.
Without realizing it, he looked around.
He sought someone who might agree with his thoughts, but no one was there.
He himself had made this a private audience.
"Your Majesty. Jin will now destroy Liao and face Song. At that time, we must think seriously about what we should do."
The king's expression twisted.
"What are you telling me to think about?"
"When Balhae fell, we could not help it, and we could not join with it. That led to the emptying of northern territory. Liao entered there, and now Jin has entered. Yet Jin, the Jurchen, were once Mohe. They were the people of Balhae. Balhae, founded in the place from which the people of Goguryeo had been dragged away to Tang, took the Jurchen as its people. And the current Great Khan of the Jurchen is of Silla lineage. They think of us as a brother country. I ask that Your Majesty actively consider joining the countries."
"What do you expect me to do?"
"It would be good to meet the Great Khan of Jin once."
"Hmm. Would he come if summoned?"
"There is no reason he could not, but right now Song is desperate to meet him."
"The world has changed greatly. Very well."
Yeongu added one more sentence.
"If so, I am certain that our Goryeo too can last a thousand years like Silla."
"Is lasting long a good thing?"
"It is nothing less than a thousand years of peace."
"Peace… phew. That is true. Peace is good. We have been at peace for the past hundred years."
The king changed the subject.
"They will still not forbid their atrocities. That was the reason for your resignation. What will you do?"
"I will fight them. I will beat down the men who do not listen. If words do not work, then with force… I had forgotten that simple principle. Because they were another country and the matter was far away, I thought lightly that it was enough. How could that be right?"
"They may say you are overstepping."
"If that cannot be done, they cannot form an empire anyway. They must end as a tribal state."
"A tribal state. Phew… they likely have no leisure yet to think beyond that."
"Shi Jingtang handed over the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. There is no guarantee that another man like him will not appear."
"What are you saying?"
"Song's intent is to recover Yanjing, another name for Beijing, then known as Nanjing Xijinfu. Jin's intent is to help Song do so and destroy Liao. In this, Goryeo is helping Jin. What will the next age look like? Song, having recovered Yanjing, will pay to Jin the annual tribute it once paid to Liao. That cannot be the conclusion of Goryeo's diplomacy. Our country's Taejo the Great said it."
Yeongu stopped speaking for a moment and caught his breath.
He had to use what he had memorized.
"He said, '西京水德調順 爲我國地脈之根本.' Seogyeong's water virtue is harmonious and forms the root of our country's earthly veins. Seogyeong, that is, Pyeongyang, possesses harmonious water virtue and is the root of our land. He also said, '四仲巡駐 留過百日 以致安寧.' At each of the four middle months, one should make a royal inspection tour, stay there for over a hundred days, and thereby bring peace to the country. This is an emphasis on the north. How could we forget it?"
The eyes of the king, who had been answering roughly, flashed.
He was a clever king.
He knew the importance of the matter.
"What are you saying now? Join the countries? Does that make sense?"
"I will change my words. For now, we cooperate, but afterward, we must devote effort toward unification."
"Ah… you truly…"
"This humble officer is a descendant of the ancient immortals of Jo."
"Yes. So I have heard. This is a matter We must consider. It cannot be raised as an agenda item in a council of ministers."
"It would be enough to announce it as a northern royal inspection tour. If Your Majesty says you will go once to see the north, who will object?"
The clever king's eyes shone.
"You must have an intention."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Please lead the army there and prevent Liao from acting rashly. The time will be near the great decisive battle. Please force them to divide their forces."
"Mobilize the army."
"It will be enough to train cavalry and advance in the direction of Zhongdu Daxingfu."
It was not a simple promise.
"If Your Majesty does so, this humble officer will lead the great decisive battle to victory, and through the battles that follow, annihilate Liao."
The king fell silent.
Inside the side hall were only the king and Yeongu.
Because there were few people, the space felt even wider.
The presence beyond the door was distant, and only the wind seeping through the bead curtain moved softly.
The inkstone with its ground ink, the folded documents, and even the thin smoke rising from the incense burner seemed to have stopped in their places.
Such a matter was not something easily decided, even by a king.
One word could open fortresses, move armies, and change people's lives.
Because the king knew that weight, he did not open his mouth.
His silence was deeper than hesitation, and his thoughts remained longer than words.
Yeongu did not urge that silence.
He stood in the middle of the side hall in the bearing of a Jungnangjang.
He had removed the armor of the battlefield, but the posture of a military officer remained as it was.
The round-collared official robe closed neatly beneath his neck, and the belt held his back and stomach straight.
The hwando at his waist had been removed and entrusted before entering the side hall, yet even at his empty waist, the posture of a man who had lived wearing a sword was visible.
On the backs of his hands, emerging from the ends of his sleeves, faint calluses remained from bowstring and spear shaft.
He gauged whether there was room to add more words.
He had already conveyed his intention.
If he spoke more, it would become impatience.
If he stood as he was, his words would settle within the king's silence.
So Yeongu drew in one low breath, then quietly stepped back two paces.
The sound of his feet brushing the wooden floor echoed softly in the side hall.
Even that small sound was clear.
Yeongu brought his heels together and stood upright.
Then he drew his right foot back half a step and slowly lowered one knee.
His knee touched the floor with one dull sound.
The stillness of the side hall made the gesture even clearer.
The Jungnangjang, who had exchanged countless orders on battlefields, lowered himself before the king without the slightest wavering.
His shoulders were broad, and his back was not a body that bent easily, yet before propriety, it folded little by little.
His two hands gathered neatly before his chest, then lowered again.
The sleeves of his official robe hung close to the floor.
Yeongu bent his waist deeply.
At first, it was the height prescribed by ceremony, and in the next moment, it was lower still.
His breath came close to the floor.
His forehead lowered until it almost touched the cold wooden boards.
As he lowered his body, the small metal ornament of his belt struck very softly.
That single sound lingered in the silence.
The king looked down heavily at him.
The man before him was not a subject who placed words first, but a military man who added responsibility with his body.
One knee fixed to the floor, waist bent deeply, head not lifted.
That courtesy was not an act of pressing the king.
It meant he would bear the king's decision.
The weight that could not be carried fully in words was contained in that posture.
"Your Majesty."
Yeongu's voice rose from close to the floor.
Though low and subdued, it passed straight through the empty space of the side hall and reached the king.
"This subject dares to speak again."
He did not raise his head.
Until permission was given, he showed no intention of loosening his posture.
The scent of incense drifted slowly, and the wind outside lightly stirred the end of the bead curtain.
Between them, Yeongu's military salute deepened further.
A military man who had laid down his sword before entering now placed his body upon his words and offered them before the king.
Time passed.
Had he asked for the impossible?
At the very least, the king would be different from officials who thought first of their own livelihood.
It was impossible.
If the countries were joined, who would be king?
That was not something a council could decide.
The side with the stronger military power would win.
Right now, Goryeo might defeat Jin, but could it defeat Jin after Jin had absorbed Liao?
The king's silence grew long.
Yeongu waited for the king's answer while kneeling.
He will not do it.
Then I will turn, run back, and never look behind me again.
Whenever one tries to do something for the country, why does everyone think only of himself?
Just as time seemed to stretch endlessly, the king spoke briefly.
"It is permitted."
Yeongu answered at once.
"Your grace is boundless. This subject will race to the north and drive back those Liao bastards."
Yeongu placed on the floor the paper Lee Jun-hui had given him.
"The Ministry of War was planning these matters."
"Something… hm, unfamiliar."
"I asked that it be done as written."
"It sounds like you are asking me to beat them if they do not do it…"
The king had already made a great decision.
A matter of this size was no longer much of a concern.
He gave a faint laugh, then asked again.
"You mean you want me to beat them as written."
"Your Majesty, please do not forgive disloyalty that this subject cannot bear to report aloud."