What the hell are you up to? (3)
Jwa Gohak stared at Chung Myung, at a loss for words.
“Chief Eunuch Do Hyeon… is someone’s subordinate?”
“Yeah.”
Chung Myung replied nonchalantly.
“You could call it something else, of course. A partnership, a collaboration, whatever. But what difference does that make? If someone ultimately benefits from that bastard’s efforts, then they’re the mastermind.”
“…”
Such thought had never even crossed his mind.
Do Hyeon, the Chief Eunuch.
A man at the very heart of power, whose name made not only crying children in Beijing tremble, but even old men with nothing left to do but lie down in their coffins.
There was someone who could command such a man? Who could ever have imagined it.
It was absurd. Anyone with even a little understanding of how the country was run, of how its officials operated, would immediately realize just how ridiculous that sounded.
‘But…’
If, by some remote chance, it were true, it would explain everything.
Jwa Gohak swallowed hard.
“Even so…”
“Well, what’s the point of debating it among ourselves.”
Chung Myung’s gaze turned to Do Hyeon.
“When we can just ask the man himself.”
Do Hyeon’s gaze sharpened.
He glared at Chung Myung with a chilling ferocity that far surpassed anything he had shown thus far. Of course, Chung Myung was hardly one to be cowed by a mere glare.
“Your delusions have gone too far.”
“Oh.”
Chung Myung smiled, one corner of his mouth lifting.
“Then our Chief Eunuch arranged all this to try sitting on the Dragon Throne himself?”
“…”
“You’re not the sort of man who would do that. Are you?”
“You act as though you know me well.”
“Of course, I don’t know what kind of person you are. But… when you’ve lived long enough, there are things you come to understand.”
“There he goes again.”
“You’re the youngest one here, you idiot.”
“Quiet.”
Chung Myung waved off the jeers coming from Hwasan’s disciples behind him and continued speaking.
“At the very least, you don’t strike me as someone who would entertain the mad dream of becoming Emperor himself.”
Do Hyeon glared at Chung Myung in silence.
“Then there’s only one answer. There’s someone else who will become Emperor. Am I wrong?”
“Just the words you’re spouting now.”
“Hm?”
His face twisted in anger, Do Hyeon spat out the words.
“Are enough to make you guilty of treason, and have all nine degrees of your kin extermina…”
“Oh, that’s fine. I’m an orphan.”
“…”
Do Hyeon quietly closed his mouth. Apparently, even he could think of no suitable response to that.
At the sight, the disciples of Hwasan began whispering among themselves.
“Being an orphan has its advantages.”
“What kind of nonsense is that! You deserve to have stones thrown at you!”
“It’s true, though.”
“Shut your mouth, Geol.”
“Yes.”
Do Hyeon slowly closed his eyes and composed himself.
It was not easy to contain the fury rising within him. He had dealt with countless unreasonable demands from the obstinate ministers at Imperial Court, yet these bastards’ words stirred an altogether different kind of anger.
After taking a small, steadying breath, Do Hyeon spoke again.
“Does an orphan have no life to lose? You act as though you’ve died once already.”
“Oh, how did you know?”
“…”
Chung Myung glanced at the disciples of Hwasan, then pressed his index finger to his lips over his mask.
“I don’t know how you figured it out, but please keep it a secret. I don’t want anyone else to know. Hehe.”
Do Hyeon lightly rubbed his forehead as though his head were throbbing. The others were bad enough, but this man standing before him was truly impossible to deal with.
“I have nothing more to say. If you’re going to kill me, do it.”
“Well, I thought you’d say that.”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“Though you’ll end up dead without us having to do anything.”
“Hm?”
“The reason we’ve had to tread carefully around you until now is that we couldn’t stop you from destroying the evidence, you see?”
“…”
“But what will you do now?”
Chung Myung turned his head and gestured with his chin towards the eight storehouses standing side by side.
“Even the illustrious Chief Eunuch of the Eastern Depot couldn’t make this many weapons disappear overnight, could he?”
“…”
“In other words, all we’d have to do is bring someone with a decent amount of authority here.”
Chung Myung drew the edge of his hand across his throat.
“And you’ll be the one whose entire clan gets wiped out, not me. However great your power may be, this isn’t something you can cover up. Is it?”
Do Hyeon pressed his lips tightly together.
But he could not bring himself to deny Chung Myung’s words.
As Chung Myung had said, no matter how immense Do Hyeon’s power was, this was beyond his ability to cover up. If this came to light, Do Hyeon would follow in the footsteps of all those who had fallen before him. No, his downfall would be so wretched that theirs would pale in comparison.
There was one reason. All the eunuchs’ power came from the Emperor.
Unlike officials bound together by family ties, scholarly lineages, regional connections, and marriage alliances, eunuchs merely wielded the Emperor’s power on his behalf.
The Emperor would not even need to tear Do Hyeon apart himself. Simply withdrawing the power he had bestowed would surely be enough to send everyone who had come to bear a grudge against Do Hyeon charging at him in a frenzy, eager to strip the flesh from his bones.
“Do you still have nothing to say?”
Chung Myung could easily foresee that outcome too, so he pressed Do Hyeon with a smile in his eyes.
But Do Hyeon’s reply was entirely different from what Chung Myung had expected.
“Do as you please.”
“……Huh?”
Chung Myung tilted his head to one side.
“Did you think you could bend me to your will with such threats? I am Do Hyeon.”
Do Hyeon, The Chief Eunuch, glared at Chung Myung for a moment before abruptly turning away.
Then he began walking off as though he had no lingering regrets whatsoever. As though it made no difference to him whether Chung Myung hurled a blade into his back and killed him, or brought someone here and exposed everything.
“Huh?”
It was Chung Myung who found himself taken aback by that attitude.
“Uh… this isn’t how it’s supposed to go?”
Chung Myung tilted his head again.
Fine, he understood. Do Hyeon was astonishingly, almost excessively, manly [here it means courageous, bold, reckless]. Hadn’t Chung Myung already acknowledged that.
But something was strange here. Being excessively manly and being an idiot might seem similar, but they were entirely different things. Had Do Hyeon been a fool, he could never have risen to the lofty position of the Chief Eunuch.
‘However strange it may seem… once you rule out what’s wrong.’
Whatever remained was the answer.
Staring fixedly at Do Hyeon’s retreating figure, Chung Myung spoke in a low voice.
“Aha. It’s already begun.”
At that moment, Do Hyeon’s steadily moving feet came to a halt.
“Something even you can no longer stop, I mean.”
After a moment of silence, Do Hyeon slowly turned his head.
His gaze pierced Chung Myung. After staring fiercely at him for a long while, Do Hyeon spoke.
“Could you take off that mask?”
“….Do you think I could?”
“A shame. I’m growing quite curious about who you really are. Not for official purposes, but out of personal curiosity as well.”
With those words, Do Hyeon turned away again. Then, together with his subordinates, he walked off into the distance.
“Hey.”
Baek Cheon quickly approached Chung Myung.
“Are we really going to let him leave like this?”
“What else? You want to capture the head of the Eastern Depot and torture him?”
“No, I wasn’t suggesting anything that extreme.”
“That isn’t what matters anymore.”
“Huh? Then what does matter?”
Chung Myung turned to look at Baek Cheon.
“What matters is packing up and leaving quickly. Getting as far from Beijing as possible.”
“Wait, why all of a sudden?”
“What have you been listening to this whole time?”
Chung Myung let out a short sigh of frustration.
“This place is about to become a sea of fire.”
“This place?”
“Yeah. The rebel army will be here soon.”
Baek Cheon’s jaw dropped.
“Wh-Why is that suddenly happening?”
“I’m asking what the hell you’ve been listening to. I just explained all of it.”
“You’re the only kind of person who could figure all that out from what was said!”
“Good grief.”
Chung Myung shook his head. Then he began explaining to the disciples of Hwasan who had gathered around him before he knew it.
“There are people who are going to use these weapons, something they’re going to use these weapons to do that will benefit someone, and someone who will ultimately benefit from that entire process. You follow me so far?”
“The ones who’ll use them are soldiers. What they’ll benefit from is a rebellion.”
Chung Myung gave a brief nod at Yu Iseol’s words.
Baek Cheon swallowed hard and asked.
“So who is that person?”
“How would I know.”
“How can you not know that, you bastard!”
“What do you want me to do about something I don’t know?”
Chung Myung replied bluntly.
He had, after all, spent his entire life as a Taoist. How could he know, when he had no idea who was currently at court or how power was distributed within the imperial family.
“What we do know is that it’s someone more powerful than Do Hyeon.”
“I’m asking whether that’s even possible. According to that Grand Secretary, Do Hyeon has almost complete control of the Imperial Court. Where could someone more powerful than him… possibly… uh…”
Baek Cheon’s words grew slower until his jaw dropped and he clutched his forehead.
“There is someone…. Someone like that…”
“There is?”
Baek Cheon nodded.
“A member of the imperial family could do it. No matter how powerful Do Hyeon is, he couldn’t surpass the authority of the imperial family.”
“You’re right. Then some other member of the imperial family must have incited Do Hyeon to…”
“No, that is impossible.”
At that moment, Jwa Gohak’s cold voice cut into their ears.
“Impossible?”
“Yes. The present imperial family lacks that kind of power. To be precise, none of its members has the influence to command Do Hyeon and the imperial army. Everyone who did is already dead.”
“Dead? Who killed them?”
“Who do you think?”
“Ah……”
There was only one person in the world who could put members of the imperial family to death.
“In any case, the imperial family is in disarray at present. I doubt there is anyone among them capable of such a thing.”
A low groan escaped Baek Cheon’s lips.
“Then we’re back to square one… Just who the hell is it?”
“That’s about what I’d expect from you, Sasuk.”
“Agreed.”
“….You bastards.”
Just as Baek Cheon was about to give them a piece of his mind.
“We are not back to square one.”
Jwa Gohak stared intently at Chung Myung, all the blood drained from his face, leaving him so pale he seemed almost blue.
“Dojang.”
“What.”
“You said earlier that whoever stood to benefit from this situation would be the mastermind.”
“That’s what I said. How many times do I have to tell you.”
“And that he would have the power to mobilize the army.”
“Yes, yes! Shall I write it down for you?”
“No. That will do.”
Jwa Gohak closed his eyes. To try to quiet the turmoil raging in his mind.
“…I think I have found the mastermind.”
Baek Cheon turned to Jwa Gohak in surprise.
“What? A moment ago, you said it was impossible?”
“I did not mean it was impossible. I meant there was no one among the imperial family who could do it.”
“That’s true… but if it isn’t a member of the imperial family, surely no one would dare command Do Hyeon?”
“There is no one in this world who could command Do Hyeon. As you can see, that’s simply the kind of man he is.”
The disciples of Hwasan nodded without realizing it. Even a stranger could tell that he was hardly the sort of man to work under someone else.
“There is, however, someone who could join forces with Do Hyeon. Someone with enough power to keep him in check in such an alliance.”
“You said there was no one like that at the Imperial Court.”
“There is no one at Court. But there is in the military.”
“Hm?”
Everyone’s eyes trembled slightly.
“The military?”
“…Yes. Mobilizing a vast army would be difficult even for someone as great as Do Hyeon. It is beyond the power of a mere subject, and would require someone of at least imperial blood. But… if the person mobilizing that army were a military commander rather than a minister at court, there would be no difficulty. He would already have tens of thousands of soldiers under his command who obeyed his orders.”
“Ah……”
“The military cooperated with Do Hyeon? No, would that mean Do Hyeon cooperated with the military instead? But who could it be?”
Jwa Gohak bit his lip before speaking again.
“There are countless generals in the realm, and no small number of them command forces strong enough to threaten Beijing. But among them all, there is only one man to whom even the great Do Hyeon would yield.”
“…Who is that?”
Jwa Gohak looked around at them all. As though he feared even uttering the name.
“…The commander of the Red Banner Army [적기군*], who has defended the northern frontier for decades.”
Jwa Gohak squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to continue.
“The Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong [요동총병관(遼東總兵官)**], Grand General [대장군] Hwangbo Ung [황보웅(皇甫雄)], only… only he could do it.”
________
*Red Banner Army (적기군) and Crimson Banner Army (강기군) seem to be different, because they are written differently.
**總兵官 – an actual military title in ming/qing dynasties. A military officer title of regional chief commander.
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