Chapter 214 — A Decision Is Not Easy
Before the darkness deepened, people lit the lamps first.
Beneath the eaves, between the pillars, beside the lattice doors, and at the end of the wooden floor, small oil lamps waited one by one for a hand.
When the little oil bottle was tilted, clear oil flowed in a thin stream into the lamp.
At first, the wick turned black as it became wet, and soon the oil-soaked end swelled roundly.
The hand carrying the flame was careful.
As the red ember attached to the end of a thin bamboo stick approached the lamp, the tip of the wick first gave a very small glow.
It seemed to catch its breath for a moment, and then a yellow flame rose, trembling lightly like an eyelash.
At first, it was a light the size of a bean.
Then it grew to the size of a fingernail.
Soon it became warmth filling the round lamp.
The flame of the oil lamp did not burn fiercely.
It stood quietly upon the oil-soaked wick and slowly pushed its yellow inner light outward.
The darkness did not withdraw all at once.
It thinned first around the circle of light.
The grain of the pillars appeared, the shadows of the lattice doors stretched long across the floor, and the hems of people's clothes rose softly under the yellow light.
The face of the person lighting the lamps sank into that glow as well.
A red tint rose on the tip of the nose and cheeks, and in the eyes, one small flame remained as it was.
Even after withdrawing his hand, he looked at the lamp for a moment.
Each time the yellow flame stirred as if breathing a small breath, the red light on his face moved ever so slightly.
In that moment, the yard, the eaves, and the people stood still like a single painting.
Outside, evening darkness filled upward.
Inside, the yellow light of the lamps quietly widened its place.
The scent of oil remaining on the fingertips mixed with the smell of the burning wick, and the warm light called out people's faces one by one.
"There is no more time, is there?"
Because the matter was difficult, he wanted to draw out time.
He hoped that the things changing with time might turn in his favor.
"I do not decide that time. I am curious about Liao's preparations."
"You do not know? Information from that side?"
"I returned while I was still looking into it."
"There must be chaos on their side as well. Buyeobu has fallen, after all."
"They will mobilize on a large scale."
"Did we perhaps pull the whiskers from a sleeping lion's nose?"
"It is a dying camel."
"How many do you expect them to mobilize?"
"When those bastards mobilize, they speak of one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, do they not? It will go beyond several hundred thousand.
The Tianzuo Emperor's personal expeditionary army, Khitan cavalry, Xi troops, Balhae and Han infantry and auxiliary forces, the emperor's personal guards and escort troops, wagons, horses, military supplies, tents, ceremonial retinues, baggage units, and the troops of subject prefectures and tribes gathered from everywhere—all must be counted. Would it not be five hundred thousand? Seven hundred thousand?"
"How many does Jin have?"
"At the Battle of Huanglongfu, there were around ten thousand riders. Even if they gather everything, they will not reach twenty thousand. Liao's vanguard alone will be over twenty thousand."
Park Geun-su looked up at the dark distance with an empty gaze.
"Is this a war that can be won? If Goryeo joins, will we not fall with them?"
"In every battle so far, the military strength differed by tens to one. Even so, each battle ended in an overwhelming victory."
"And you intend to explain that with military power, combat power, that armor and training and such?"
"Yes."
"I see Liao's actual military strength as about two hundred thousand. Many will follow, but many will be noncombatants. Twenty thousand against two hundred thousand. That means it is a war that cannot be won. That makes me suspicious of your intent in dragging Goryeo into it."
Persuading a person was extremely difficult.
The best way was to add unknown information and make him understand, but Park Geun-su knew the northern situation too well.
"How do you see the victories so far?"
"Chance."
"If chance repeats, it becomes inevitability. All three battles were won overwhelmingly."
"Then it must be time to lose once. This is a matter of weight class. Liao can lose a few times without concern, but if Jin loses once, it is over."
"If we win this time, the situation changes. The tribes attached to Liao will come over to this side. If we win this one battle, everything afterward will simply flow."
"After a few victories, defeat no longer appears to the eye."
This would not do.
"What should be done?"
"Just win among yourselves. Do not involve Goryeo. That is my view."
Yeongu let out a sigh.
It was difficult all the same.
"I wish Goryeo would help. Liao is shaking."
"Shaking? Then start a rebellion."
At the word rebellion, Yeongu's ears perked up.
"Yes? What did you say? A rebellion?"
"The Tianzuo Emperor has lost in the war against the Jurchen, and he has shown no power to settle the court or the army. If Tianzuo is left as he is, Liao's state altars will collapse. He must be changed. Would that not work?"
The proposal was good, but Park Geun-su was speaking as if it were someone else's business.
"Mm. This is my thought, but right now Yelü Yanxi's reputation is not good."
"Who is that?"
Park Geun-su laughed with an incredulous face.
They were discussing Liao, yet Yeongu did not know who Yelü Yanxi was.
"Who do you think he is? He is the current emperor of Liao."
"Ah! How would I know? He never came to me and introduced himself."
"Your liver has climbed out of your belly."
"In any case, I have heard as well that the current emperor is poorly regarded. The Jurchen grit their teeth at him."
Now the conversation seemed possible.
Park Geun-su asked, "What do they say?"
"That the man is a complete mess."
"In what way?"
Yeongu shouted.
He had not immediately understood that Park Geun-su was asking him to speak specifically.
"I said he is a mess."
Park Geun-su shouted even louder.
"How is he a mess, you foolish Jungnangjang?"
Yeongu blinked.
"Ah. They say he is a foolish man and does not attend to government affairs. They say he governs his retainers' remonstrances with punishment, so no one can speak. They say he lost his father when he was young, so the previous emperor pitied him. Originally, the previous emperor intended to make his nephew, Yelü Chun, the crown prince. But the officials opposed it, so this man became emperor."
"Well, that is rather general…"
Park Geun-su grumbled, but Yeongu cut him off.
"Ah! They say this man liked falconry using haedongcheong falcons. Since haedongcheong live on steep cliffs, people often fell to their deaths trying to catch them. When Liao's demands to catch and present haedongcheong worsened, the Jurchen all grew furious and shook with anger."
Unsatisfied, Park Geun-su shouted.
"More!"
When he shouted, Yeongu remembered the times he had been scolded by him when his rank was lower.
"Why do you keep shouting?"
"Because you keep saying useless things. In the palace hall, you spoke so well."
Yeongu turned his head and pretended to look elsewhere as he answered.
"That was because I prepared and memorized it beforehand. If you ask me like this, of course it will not come out immediately."
"You said you studied a great deal and became clever."
Yeongu opened his eyes round and spoke as if revealing a precious secret.
"Mm. That is true. Especially my memory really became much better."
"You stone-headed fool. How could only your memory improve?"
"That is how it feels to me. If I say that is how it is for me, how can a completely different person say it is not?"
Park Geun-su clicked his tongue.
Whether intentional or not, the conversation kept going astray.
"So what about Yelü Yanxi?"
"I said people dislike him. Especially after seeing him beaten so badly in these last three battles, they now think the emperor lacks the ability to bring the situation under control."
Park Geun-su looked disappointed.
"Is there nothing else?"
"He is incompetent, that is all."
"Nothing more?"
"People do not think there is some deeper truth beyond that. He is simply a worthless man. They say the previous emperor tried to make his nephew Yelü Chun emperor, but officials opposed it and made Yelü Yanxi crown prince. People are now saying Yelü Chun would have been better."
From Yeongu, who had been in the north, no special information came out.
He only thought about fighting and knew little else.
At best, his idea was that it would be better if his home country, Goryeo, dispatched troops and helped.
"Jungnangjang Lee."
"Yes, elder brother."
"Mm. You must act in a very multi-sided way."
"How?"
"When you fight, you compare terrain and troop strength and form strategy, yes? War must be handled that way too."
"Ah, yes."
"You expect those bastards to come with a great army?"
"Yes."
"And that is why you are requesting Goryeo's dispatch, because you want to split them."
"That is so."
"What I am saying is, if trust in the emperor has fallen that far to the ground, try plotting a rebellion. If the emperor is not replaced, Jin cannot be stopped. If Goryeo intervenes, Liao is finished. What has the emperor done at all? Yelü Chun should have become emperor. Have words like that enter the core of power."
"Hm. That is a good idea. Yelü Chun. I understand."
"It is an operation in which spies create a rebellion. This too is war. Do not think war is only swinging a sword."
Yeongu clapped his hands in delight.
"A remarkable idea. Ahaha. I am conducting an operation to put psychological pressure on Liao by requesting Goryeo's dispatch. Ahaha."
"What nonsense…"
"I ask once again. This is not my own thought. It is the insight of people who have studied much and see the future. It is a request for Goryeo to play a role in joining with the Jurchen. Even if Goryeo does not dispatch troops, and even if operations through spies do not work, I am confident I can lead the war to victory. But if we think of the time afterward, I believe Jin will come to possess even the Central Plains. If Goryeo does more than merely place one spoon on that table, if it puts forth great effort, then peace may continue not only for the next hundred years, but perhaps for a thousand."
This tightly structured request, with its before and after fully laid out, was not the speech of the foolish Yeongu.
Park Geun-su already knew who the wise men Yeongu had mentioned were.
They were people who lived while embracing the fragments of antiquity.
They believed that the ghosts of Joseon, Buyeo, and Goguryeo were the true substance of their homeland.
Just as there had once been ten countries under Joseon, they thought it natural that Goryeo should embrace Liaodong, Liaoxi, the steppe, and the Central Plains.
They did not think of what had changed over the long passage of history.
Yet their argument touched the same context as the Seogyeong faction.
It was impossible to know how it would appear.
The political situation could be shaken.
Many things had to be considered.
Some of them were now in Jin.
Gradually, more would go there.
Why were they in Jin?
When the Nine Fortresses of the Northeast were being defended, they had fought against Jin.
As Park Geun-su sank into thought, Yeongu waited quietly.
He had gained one more thing.
Spies had to be infiltrated.
Who to send would be decided in a meeting, and the best timing would be after dispatching troops.
His heart grew impatient at the thought that he had to return quickly.