Chapter 215 — Return and Report
Waiting brought no answer.
There was no way an answer would come.
It was not something he could decide.
What Park Geun-su could not decide, Yeongu concluded for him.
"In any case, I will understand that elder brother will exert himself for those two matters. The decision will come from above anyway, will it not? Please push forward so that His Majesty's meeting with the Great Khan comes about. In the process, let that matter also be accomplished. What was the name of that Liao envoy who came before?"
"I do not know. How would I remember?"
"It was So something."
"Was it not Mal something?"
"So Yajin. Yes. It must have been So Yajin."
"The So clan is the family of the Khitan empresses."
"I should look for that man."
"Why?"
"Since he came all the way here once, would he not be better than someone completely unknown?"
"In my view, he is a loyal subject."
"Exactly. Since he is a man loyal to his country, he will feel sorrow over the current situation. It would be good if we could shake Liao's political situation. I ask this of you."
"What do you mean, ask me? You should do it."
"Elder brother, please handle His Majesty and the shaking of Liao. Goryeo's share must be increased, so that later negotiations are also favorable."
At the word share, Park Geun-su drew in a deep breath.
Yeongu was no longer merely a Jungnangjang.
The range of his thoughts had widened.
Seeing larger matters, he could now also do larger work.
When talk began to move toward Song as well, Park Geun-su waved his hand and stopped it.
Yeongu said, "I will return tomorrow. I leave the rear to you. It would be good if the timing could be matched."
"I will try."
"I will not see you off."
"You really are running wild now."
"Oh, if I am to leave tomorrow, I am busy too. In truth, I do not have time for this. Tomorrow is only a word; I am leaving in three or four double-hours."
Yeongu pushed Park Geun-su on the back.
The endless negotiation of the long night came to an end.
None of them dreamed that the meeting that night would later change history.
What had been a small hope became reality.
Late that night, Yeongu looked over every corner of the household, and at dawn he set out on the road north.
Unlike when he had come, several more people had joined him.
They were men Park Geun-su had sent by royal command.
There were warriors, strategists, and technicians.
Some came to Yeongu's house, while others waited at the relay station at dawn and joined them there.
Meanwhile, Park Geun-su stopped briefly at his own house, brushed only the dust from his collar, and entered the palace early in the morning.
The night air still lingered beneath the eaves, and a thin layer of dawn dew lay across the stone paths of the palace.
The eastern sky brightened blue, revealing the rooflines of the palace buildings one by one.
The palace was waking, but its sounds were pressed low.
Before the king entered the side hall, Park Geun-su went to the royal bedchamber.
When he went where the king's Gyeollyongwi guards guided him, they escorted him in as if they had been waiting.
Had it been someone else, they would have told him to go to the side hall and wait.
They might have made him wait for one reason or another.
But the king, whose trust had deepened, did not stop Park Geun-su from coming to the bedchamber.
A king's sleeping place was somewhere no one could know in advance.
Park Geun-su had become one of the few trusted ministers who were allowed to seek out such a chamber.
His steps, which had been heading toward the side hall, turned toward the bedchamber.
The king had not yet begun state affairs.
Almost no one could come to the bedchamber.
Only a small number of trusted officials could do so.
In front of the outer door of the bedchamber stood the Gyeollyongwi.
Their armor settled coldly under the dawn light, and the scabbards at their waists made a man measure his steps without a word being spoken.
The one holding a spear did not let the spear tip tremble in the slightest, and the one standing by the doorpost did not immediately open the way even after seeing Park Geun-su's face.
Though he was a man of higher station than they, there was no sign of deference.
First, they examined him with their eyes.
Then they checked the badge at his waist.
Last, they sent a glance through the crack of the inner door.
When that brief check ended, the foremost Gyeollyongwi stepped aside.
"He ordered that you be admitted when you came."
His voice was low.
It meant words had already come from within.
Park Geun-su nodded instead of answering and passed through the outer door into the inner courtyard of the bedchamber.
Once he entered the courtyard, the air changed.
The smell of steel and leather outside broke off at the threshold.
Inside, the warmth of rooms kept heated and the faint scent of incense mingled with the dawn air.
Beneath the stone steps, a brazier that had been tended through the night was set down, and within the gray ash, red embers breathed quietly.
Drops of water fell now and then from the end of the eaves, and on the inner lattice doors, lamplight not yet put away remained faintly.
Two Gyeollyongwi walked ahead.
Their steps were not fast, yet each place where they briefly stopped had its own established rule.
At the first door, one man remained.
At the second, another gave a signal.
The eunuch opening the door gathered the ends of his sleeves and pushed the latch without sound.
The wood moved as if releasing a very small breath, and the silk screen was slowly lifted from inside.
The king's bedchamber.
By day, the affairs of all under Heaven came and went there, but this morning, steam from wash water and the scent of freshly ground tea greeted Park Geun-su first.
On one side, the outer robe taken off through the night had been folded neatly.
On the other, a pillow and thin bedding that had not yet been arranged could be seen.
They were things one could not see in the side hall where the throne seat stood.
The king too was a man who woke in the morning, and to guard that body, soldiers with blades stood in layer after layer.
Whenever Park Geun-su saw that contrast, one side of his heart grew heavy.
Outside the door stood guards capable of cutting apart even the sound of one person's breath.
Inside the door remained the loosened time of a king who had just awakened.
The fact that he could pass between those two spaces was his place.
It was not a place obtained by rank alone.
He had reached it by sparing his words, standing on the same side in dangerous moments, and because the king had opened the door of his heart little by little.
From inside, a eunuch came out again and spoke quietly.
"My lord, he orders you to enter."
Park Geun-su straightened his robes.
The eyes of the armored Gyeollyongwi rested on his back, and from inside, there came the sound of silk bedding brushing, as if the king had just risen and sat up.
Steel and incense, dawn and bedchamber, the monarch's authority and private weariness all lay together on either side of one threshold.
Park Geun-su steadied his breath before that threshold, lowered his head, and entered the bedchamber.
"Loyalty. Your Majesty, this subject Park Geun-su is here."
Park Geun-su bowed deeply outside the door.
"Will you come in?"
Park Geun-su answered at once.
"I will wait."
If he entered, he would likely see something unpleasant.
He thought it would be better for both of them.
The king, who had few reservations, had even let him enter the place where he had slept with his concubines.
Once, Park Geun-su had seen the naked king and a concubine by accident while discussing state affairs.
He truly hated that.
"Where is Jungnangjang Lee?"
The urgent question came first through the paper window.
"He said he would depart at dawn today. I added personnel to his party."
"Well done."
From inside came the sound of someone putting on clothes.
There was also a groan as someone rose, and a woman's soft coquettish cry broke faintly.
In a world where most men could take only one woman, the king could freely increase the number of those he took.
It was like a privilege given to one who had conquered the world.
The reason Park Geun-su came all the way to the bedchamber to report was that this was something the king needed to know before entering the side hall.
The king permitted this only to a few trusted men, and the Gyeollyongwi guided them accordingly.
When Park Geun-su was shown to a side room of the bedchamber, the king was seated at a round table.
"Loyalty. I discussed several matters. Jungnangjang Lee requested what is needed to win the war against Liao."
"Hm. He asked for us to dispatch troops, did he not?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. He expected this battle to become the largest battle yet. Since there will be a great decisive engagement, he wished to shake the enemy beforehand. The first part of that is Goryeo's military action. Even if we merely move troops north, they must divide their army. Their force can be cut in half. And…"
"The second?"
"The second is that we discussed planting the seed of rebellion within Khitan. We expose the failures of the current emperor and create a group that seeks to enthrone Yelü Chun, who was originally designated to become emperor. The plan is to have them raise rebellion from the rear when the emperor sets out on campaign."
"That is good. How?"
"We systematically infiltrate spies."
"Good. Do you have a plan?"
"I will prepare one. Jin will also proceed with this."
"Good. What else?"
"He asked that Your Majesty arrange a diplomatic meeting with the Great Khan of Jin."
"Hm. That is necessary."
"Beyond helping them, he even requested the merger of Goryeo and Jin."
"That is the argument of those Seogyeong faction men, is it not? No. We barely patched the political situation after Liaodong shook things up. If that is raised again, the Seogyeong faction will stir, and the Gaegyeong faction will cause an uproar."
"Of course, it must not be expressed outwardly. Please have the Ministry of Rites conduct preliminary discussions and arrange a date."
"Very well. I will send envoys today, and once the date is settled, I will go north."
"Among the returned Nine Fortresses of the Northeast, Seonchunryeong Fortress seems suitable."
"Let us do that."
"There will be ministers who oppose it."
"One cannot refuse to do what must be done simply because people oppose it. Ah, but would he come if we called? The Great Khan?"
"It will likely be difficult. Right now, he has no time to turn his eyes away from the war with Liao."
"That is true. I will go north. Instead, after the great decisive battle you mentioned, he will come down."
"Loyalty."
The king was about to continue speaking when he suddenly turned his head.
The movement was not large.
His gaze merely touched once beyond the inner screen, but the air of the bedchamber seemed to understand first.
The court lady standing low behind the screen gathered both hands respectfully and took one step back.
Before the summons even came out of his mouth, her body had already moved.