Chapter 225 — Dolhapsok's Reason
Zongwang approached Yeongu, who had taken his seat again.
Perhaps because of the martial display just now, Zongwang could not approach as comfortably as before.
A solemn and dignified air revealed itself from Yeongu.
A weight and force that made others unable to treat him lightly rose from him without his intending it.
There was an aura around him that made it difficult to approach carelessly.
It was a weight that even his clumsy speech and rough curses could not hide.
Zongwang lowered his head.
"I apologize."
"It was not something you did, General."
"I failed to stop it."
"Do those gentlemen listen? Each of them thinks he is so great."
Yeongu's gaze passed over the fallen soldiers of the Eighth Mouke.
Those who think themselves great do not look back.
They believe they may do as they please, and they think their own judgment is military command.
They do not even know they are walking into catastrophe on their own feet.
Yeongu asked, "They will come again, will they not?"
"No. Surely not."
"Someone plotted this. I am worried about the Goryeo people in Huiling Fortress. I fear that the attack on me may continue toward them."
"Surely they would not do that. They have at least that much sense."
Yeongu tilted his head.
"And yet they came charging out like this? To kill me secretly and then pretend not to know? Is this the shape of a country's army? They are simply tribal warriors. Khrhrhr."
Yeongu chuckled, as if he found his own comparison amusing.
Zongwang could not answer and lowered his head.
"I sent men."
"Where?"
"I told them to send troops."
"Oh dear. There are already two mouke, more than two hundred riders, and more still?"
"If Dolhapsok is like this, what will the others be like?"
Yeongu looked at the two mouke Zongwang had brought.
To them, this was someone else's affair.
They stood beneath the same banner of the Jin army, yet their blood ran hot only within their own mouke.
Even when the Eighth Mouke collapsed, they did not move unless the order of their own mouke fell.
To them, it was someone else's affair.
Even inside the same Jin army, if it was not the matter of their own mouke, their blood cooled.
Darkness was descending from the west.
Beneath that light, the two mouke sat on their horses.
Yeongu pointed at them.
"What about those men? Can they not be controlled?"
Zongwang turned his head and let out a sigh.
"I came in haste, so I simply brought them."
"So you called for direct troops that can be controlled?"
"That is so."
"They too think the traitor should be punished, do they not?"
"Something close to that. However, what happened just now must have greatly shocked them."
Yeongu clicked his tongue.
"It would be better if they were not here. Send them back."
"The moment they turn back, they may turn their horses around again. At that point, they will not be allies."
"This is not the army of a country, but a tribal force. Perhaps returning to the tribal age would be more fitting. Do you not even know how to organize an army?"
Zongwang chose his words for a moment, then answered quietly.
"That is so. From three hundred households, they provide one hundred able men. With those one hundred, one mouke is established. The head of a mouke is usually the chief of a small tribe. Sometimes his son takes the position, and sometimes a close kinsman does. So there are times when blood and the words of the village carry more weight than military order."
Yeongu's face hardened coldly.
"Empire is far away. It may be better to give up."
Zongwang pressed his lips tightly together.
Yeongu did not stop.
"Liao at least kept the law of ancient Joseon. We should stop speaking of whose descendants they are and what lineage is legitimate. With this state of affairs, how can anyone say they inherited Gyerim? And if one wishes to claim oneself as carrying on the vein of ancient Joseon, military order must first stand above the private blood of tribes."
Zongwang lost his words.
It was an insult, but when he thought of what had just happened on the field, there was nothing proper with which to refute it.
The mouke had followed the command of its commander, and the other mouke had watched the tragedy of the same army without moving.
The army of a country that claimed it would build an empire was still shaking within tribal blood and village loyalty.
Zongwang lowered his head again.
"I am sorry."
Thoughtless So Cheol-un took out a skewer again and placed dried provisions over the fire.
Yeongu glanced at him.
He did not remember handing it over, yet the man was rummaging through the jerky pouch.
The way he skewered it and stuck it near the fire was so shamelessly natural, as if it were his own.
In the time when there was nothing to say, they watched what he was doing in silence.
Time stopped.
The conversation broke off.
As the jerky cooked, it gave off its smell, and perhaps because it was a fatty part, it sizzled and spat bubbles.
At that peaceful scent, Zongwang closed his eyes.
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The previous day, news had reached Huiling Fortress that Jungnangjang Lee was returning.
That single piece of news brought fierce debate among several generals.
One side argued that they should welcome him and accept his will, changing policy.
The other side raised their voices, saying the traitor must be punished and the path they had walked until now must continue.
The betrayal they spoke of meant acting against the interests of one's own people.
But that logic was not firm from the start.
They were people who believed custom was right.
Those who wish to continue doing things as they have always done do not need persuasion.
They only raise their voices.
Their claim was that the arguments Lee Yeongu put forward while speaking of brother countries blocked the interests of each tribe.
For tribes to plunder after war and obtain what they needed through that plunder had long been regarded as a natural form of economy.
Lee Yeongu was trying to cut off that way.
That was why they found him uncomfortable.
The problem remained bound to the old method of handling the aftermath of war.
The argument on the other side was the complete opposite.
If they wished to build an empire and gain peace and abundance, the ways used until now would never be enough.
At the very least, they had to establish institutions and order equal to Liao's.
But if they followed Liao's path exactly, they would meet the same fate as Liao, now collapsing before Jin's attack.
Even if an empire were built by force, a country built only by that force would collapse again the moment another tribe rose.
To spread tyranny so severe that it would not be strange if any one of the peoples of the steppe rose in revolt, and then speak of empire, was futile.
Some even said that, apart from the Xi people and the Balhae-descended people, how many had truly served Liao from the heart?
The debates that took place throughout Huiling Fortress were ultimately a clash between Lee Yeongu's argument and those who put tribal interest first.
Those who had been gloomy after Lee Yeongu disappeared regained their strength at the news of his return.
Those who disliked him brought out the brand of traitor in order to break that momentum.
The word was betrayal, but the meaning beneath it was plunder, spoils, and the shares of each tribe.
Dolhapsok was a clever man.
His secret attempt to lead troops out and attack Lee Yeongu may have been another solution he had found.
In other words, he tried to remove with blades a man difficult to break with words.
Even if he could not succeed, perhaps he hoped Jungnangjang Lee would be frightened and turn back.
One step ahead of him, Zongwang had ridden out and stood first before Lee Yeongu, trying to protect him.
But Lee Yeongu did not accept that protection.
He went forward alone and faced Dolhapsok's mouke head-on.
Lee Yeongu saw that this was not something that could be settled with words alone.
Those who could accept it would accept it.
Those who could never follow had to be pushed aside.
After Liaodong and the steppe were unified and Liao was brought down, those who wished to survive would come of their own accord.
Until then, he had to distinguish between those who would go together and those who must be left behind.
He could not carry along even those who shook military order by putting their own share first.