What the hell are you up to? (4)
Chung Myung tilted his head to one side.
“Who?”
“General Hwangbo Ung.”
“So who is that?”
Jwa Gohak’s face twisted, contempt filling his eyes.
“Surely you know who General Hwangbo Ung is?”
“…”
“Oh, surely not. You live here in the Central Plains too. How could you possibly not know who General Hwangbo Ung is.”
Chung Myung turned to Baek Cheon with a little smile.
“Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“Ever heard of him?”
Baek Cheon flinched but nodded anyway.
“O-Of course.. I’ve heard of him.”
“Oh, really? What did he just say the man’s name was?”
“Uh… Hwangbo… Was it Hwangbo Seok.”
The disciples of Hwasan clicked their tongues in unison, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand.
“There he goes again. Pretending to know when he doesn’t.”
“I don’t know why Sasuk does that. If you don’t know, you don’t know. What’s so embarrassing about it.”
Baek Cheon whipped his head around and glared at Hwasan’s disciples.
“Have any of you heard of him, then?”
“Well….“
“The name does sound familiar.”
“I-I know him. Isn’t he from the Hwangbo Family.”
As this farce played out seamlessly before him, Jwa Gohak covered his face with both hands.
These crazy Taoist bastards.
Sure, Taoists lived in the mountains, grazing on grass, and the further removed they were from the secular world, the more they were regarded as true practitioners of the Tao, but still…
“At the very least, you should have heard the name Hwangbo Ung!”
“Uh, knowing it wouldn’t help me in life.”
“And do you know who Chung Mun is?”
“We live in different worlds.”
Just as Jwa Gohak was about to protest with an indescribable expression on his face, Hye Yeon smiled gently and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Siju.”
“Yes?”
“It’s quicker for you to accept how they are than to make them understand.”
“…”
“The secret to keeping your peace of mind is to save your energy and simply explain.”
“Ah….“
At the words of Hye Yeon, his senior(?) among Hwasan’s victims, Jwa Gohak nodded as though he had attained a great realization.
Reciting scriptures to a cow would inevitably leave it none the wiser. But if someone knew that and still insisted on reciting scriptures to a cow, whose fault was it really? The cow’s for failing to understand, or the person’s for stubbornly attempting the impossible?
“Grand General Hwangbo Ung. The world calls him the Iron Pillar of the North [북철주(北鐵柱)] or the Old Tiger Who Bars the Way [단도노호(斷道老虎)].”
“The Iron Pillar of the North?”
“The Old Tiger Who Bars the Way?”
Those rather self-explanatory nicknames alone gave them a rough idea of what sort of man he was.
“So he’s a general who guards the north?”
“Yes. He commands the northern army known as the Red Banner Army [적기군(赤旗軍)]. His valor is so unmatched that his fellow generals combine those two nicknames and call him the Fierce Tiger of the North [북방의 맹호]. He is an extraordinary man.”
Jo Geol cautiously nudged Yoon Jong in the side.
“Sahyeong, Sahyeong.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Well… his name is Hwangbo Ung, so why is his nickname a tiger?”
“…”
“If it’s ‘ung – 웅’, doesn’t that mean ‘bear’? Like the Black Bear of the North… or the Old Bear of the North.”
“Please… Please just shut up. I’m begging you.”
“I’m only asking because I’m curious. Curious.”
“I get it, so shut up….”
Desperately ignoring Jo Geol’s incessant muttering, as though he still could not let the matter go, Jwa Gohak continued.
“He is so highly esteemed that he could leave the north and take a post at the Imperial Court whenever he wished. Even the governors of other provinces would bow their heads to him without question. Yet he volunteered to keep watch against foreign enemies in the north and has spent his entire life there. He is quite literally a model soldier.”
“Aha.”
The disciples of Hwasan nodded in understanding.
But Chung Myung narrowed his eyes at those words.
“So.”
“Hm?”
“That model soldier… is the mastermind behind this?”
“That’s precisely why…”
Jwa Gohak gritted his teeth. His expression was difficult to describe in a single word, so many emotions were tangled together in it.
“That’s precisely why I thought it made no sense. But didn’t you say it yourself. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth, however little sense it makes.”
“Hmm.”
Jwa Gohak turned to look in the direction where Do Hyeon had disappeared.
“Someone who can mobilize an army this large. Someone with the prestige and power to lead such a force all the way to Beijing without being stopped. And above all, someone before whom even Do Hyeon, the Chief Eunuch, would step back and bow his head.”
Everyone’s expressions gradually grew serious.
“No matter how I look at it, only one man meets all these conditions. The Red Banner Army guards the north, and this is Beijing. If they turn their horses this way, there is nothing standing between them and Beijing.”
“…..I suppose you’re right.”
“Besides, the Red Banner Army is the largest single military force in the Central Plains. They must guard the north, so they cannot march south with all their troops, but even a fraction of their forces could easily make use of this many weapons.”
“Hmmm.”
“And above all.”
Jwa Gohak’s expression hardened once more as he bit down hard on his lip.
“Considering Hwangbo Ung’s prestige and virtue, even Do Hyeon himself would have no choice but to defer to him. And if we look at it that way, the one remaining question is answered as well.”
“…The one remaining question?”
“Why Do Hyeon would plot a rebellion when he is merely a eunuch. If someone else is to ascend the throne, wouldn’t that explain it?”
Baek Cheon’s jaw dropped.
“S-So what you’re saying is.”
“Yes.”
Jwa Gohak clenched his fist and declared.
“Hwangbo Ung, The Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong, has joined hands with Do Hyeon, the Chief Eunuch, to usurp the Imperial Throne!”
“…”
“That is the only explanation for all of this!”
Jwa Gohak cried out as though coughing up blood. Yet the response was somewhat lukewarm. Taken aback by their reaction, he looked from side to side in bewilderment.
“D-Don’t you believe me?”
“No, well. It’s not that we don’t believe you.”
“I’m telling you it’s certain!”
“Uh, sure. We get it. That must be it.”
As Chung Myung dug around in his ear, Jwa Gohak stared blankly at him.
“Then why aren’t you surprised?”
“Should we be?”
“G-General Hwangbo Ung might usurp the throne!”
“Let him, then.”
“What?”
Chung Myung let out a long, lazy yawn, then shrugged.
“Anyway, today’s the first time I’ve even heard the man’s name.”
“…”
“I’ve never seen the Emperor once in my life either, so what does it matter to me whether he’s replaced or not.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?!”
Baek Cheon suddenly butted in, raising his voice.
“I hear they usually distribute a lot of grain to the common people when there’s a new Emperor.”
“Oh. We should make rice cakes with it.”
“Right? Haha.”
Jwa Gohak’s eyes wavered in bewilderment.
What were these lunatics talking about?
“H-How can you say something so disloyal!”
“Disloyal, my ass. Since when have Taoists pledged loyalty to the state. We’re not people who cultivate that sort of thing in the first place.”
“W-Well, that is true, but.”
“Ugh. I came here thinking something huge was going on, but this isn’t even a war or anything. Just some fellow coming down from the north to attack the Imperial Palace. Isn’t that about all it amounts to?”
“A-About all?”
“We wasted our energy for nothing. Right?”
“Sure did.”
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I’d have gone back, washed my feet, and gotten some sleep.”
“Hmm, hold on. If an army is coming down from the north, couldn’t this turn into a major civil war if things go wrong?”
“This supposedly brilliant general has spent so long preparing for it, would he really let that happen? He’ll wrap it all up in a flash, and the country will get a new name. That’s about it.”
“Well, in that case…….”
“What do you mean, ‘in that case’! Like hell it is! You crazy bastards!”
Jwa Gohak shouted, looking as though his soaring blood pressure might kill him.
“You think changing the country’s name is some everyday occurrence!”
“I’m not saying it’s an everyday occurrence, but is it really that big a deal? It’s not like my name’s changing.”
“Exactly.”
“Grrk……”
Jwa Gohak finally clutched the back of his neck and shuddered.
There really was no reasoning with these lunatics. Did they not understand what it meant for a country’s ancestral temples and altars of state* to pass into new hands.
“M-Monk.”
Driven to despair, Jwa Gohak desperately appealed to Hye Yeon, who at least seemed the most capable of understanding reason among them.
“P-Please explain it to them. These Taoist bastards don’t understand the gravity of the situation at all.”
“Amitabha.”
After a solemn Buddhist chant, Hye Yeon’s expression hardened as he began to speak.
“Certainly, a change in the country’s name is not something to take lightly. All the more so when one considers how much blood might be shed in the process.”
“Exactly!”
“However.”
“Hm? However?”
Hye Yeon nodded with a grave expression.
“There does seem to be some merit to the argument that a swift change in the country’s name might be preferable to a drawn-out affair that leads to civil war. To minimize the loss of life, that might be the better…….”
“What the hell is this crazy excuse for a monk babbling about! You demon!”
They must all be insane. Hadn’t that man said he was from Shaolin Temple, yet here he was spouting utter nonsense. There had to be a limit to how much Hwasan’s influence could rub off on someone.
Just as Jwa Gohak was vowing that if he ever became a high-ranking official, he would raze that place called Hwasan in Shaanxi to the ground without leaving so much as a blade of grass standing, Yoon Jong spoke up.
“More importantly, there’s something strange about this.”
“…..Pardon?”
“At first glance, it seems to make sense, but there’s something that doesn’t hold up if you think about it. You said an army is on its way to Beijing right now?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Jwa Gohak nodded. He even seemed somewhat moved by the thought that at least one of them had been listening seriously.
“Isn’t that strange? They’re already an army, so why would they need this many weapons to march south and attack Beijing? An army should already have weapons.”
“…”
“I could understand if what was stockpiled here were provisions or drinking water, but it makes no sense to need weapons to move an armed force. So couldn’t this theory have been wrong from the outset?”
“Well……”
Jwa Gohak’s face reddened slightly.
“What you just pointed out… is actually the main reason I suspect the Red Banner Army is behind this.”
“What?”
Yoon Jong asked again, looking puzzled by what he meant.
“The Red Banner Army is certainly an elite force. There is probably no army stronger than them in all the Central Plains. They have spent decades fighting foreign forces in the north.”
“And?”
Yoon Jong regarded Jwa Gohak with a suspicious look.
“So… no, not so much because of that, but in any case… for various reasons…… the Red Banner Army is woefully ill-equipped.”
“…”
“It’s gotten to the point where there’s some doubt as to whether they can even fight a proper battle anymore… And since that’s the state they’re in, I thought they would need weapons to attack the Imperial Palace….“
“So, in other words.”
At that moment, Chung Myung’s voice, sounding somewhat ominous, bored into Jwa Gohak’s ears.
“The elite army of the north, who’ve spent decades fighting off foreign enemies and defending the northern borders.”
“…”
“Is poorly equipped? So badly that they can’t even fight a proper war?”
“Well…… that’s.”
“What kind of bullshit is this? Even a dog would laugh at it. Does that make any sense?”
Avoiding Chung Myung’s gaze, Jwa Gohak looked off at the distant sky.
“Explain.”
“…”
“Give me a proper explanation. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll go join their side.”
“Wh-What kind of nonsense is…”
“Then explain!”
Jwa Gohak let out a long sigh.
Then, a story – one that might well be considered a shameful secret – began to spill from his lips.
________
*태묘사직(太廟社稷) – hanja wasn’t provided, but this is what I found. Literally it means 태묘(太廟) – ancestral temple (referring to the reigning dynasty’s ancestors and honoring them); 사직(社稷) – altars of soil and grain, symbolizing the state itself (legitimacy). So when someone is saying that 太廟社稷 are going into someone else’s hands, it means overthrowing or replacing the existing ruling house.
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