Chapter 158 — Aftermath: Persuasion
Youngwoo lightly greeted them as he lifted the tent flap.
"I was in the middle of an important conversation, so I will continue from there first. I think it would be good for all of you to hear it as well."
Wanyan Zonghan came in with Xiyin and Sarigal.
There was some difference in age among them, but their generation and standing were similar.
They belonged to the generation after Aguda and Ogemai.
Youngwoo spoke while guiding them to their seats.
"We were talking about the brutality of the Jin army. I may not be fair in this matter. I was never mistreated by the Liao army myself. Lord Zongwang says such acts are natural because of the grudges built up over the years. I imagine many of you feel much the same. Of course, not all cases are the same. Still, when I saw men beating enemies to death even after they had lost the strength to resist, my heart ached."
Wanyan Sarigal said the same thing Zongwang had said.
"That sounds strange coming from the man who stands at the very front and breaks the enemy himself."
"My thought is that turning all of them into corpses is not the best answer. If we can use them, we should spare them and make use of them. If we kill them all, then perhaps for that moment the old hatred will feel relieved. But will it truly be relieved?"
It was a question anyone would have to answer with no.
Wanyan Yinga answered.
"No. Our goal is greater, nobler, and more magnificent than that."
Youngwoo almost laughed at the word magnificent, but held it back.
Yinga was a man who spoke for the integration of the tribes.
Youngwoo wanted to respect the position from which he spoke of that greatness.
"That is right. Some must be used as craftsmen, some as soldiers, and some as officials. If conquered people are treated cruelly and driven into misery, we will follow the same path as Liao."
Youngwoo's speech had become more fluent now.
He paused and looked around.
The others seemed to be accepting his words.
"We must end cruel punishments and take them in according to a plan. Of course, killing enemy commanders may be necessary. Their will to resist must be broken. The power base of the royal clan must be thoroughly destroyed. But other peoples, officials, military commanders, and craftsmen must be preserved and made ours. Liaodong is already short of people. To move farther, we will absolutely need them. Above all, if we act exactly like Liao, then even if we destroy Liao, we will walk the same road. What reason would there be for us not to?"
The room fell silent.
Youngwoo continued.
Of course, it would be a matter of the distant future, but Jin too would become like Liao.
For now, the banner of founding still fluttered high, but one day it would face the resistance of many peoples and fail to suppress them.
If harsh measures piled up resentment, then in the end Jin would be swallowed by another tribe that rose in the same way.
The words were excessive, but the idea of a shared fate was something anyone could understand.
If I treat other peoples this way, what reason would they have not to do the same to me?
It would have been harder to find a reason why they would not.
Sarigal spoke.
"This land has always been that way. Jungnangjang, you say we must not do this, but terrible retaliation followed by retaliation is meant to break their will to rise again. That is why harsher punishment is given to the heads of armies, royal clans, and noble houses, especially the Yelü and Xiao clans."
Youngwoo changed the direction of the topic.
"Does it not feel wasteful?"
"Those people?"
"To build the shape of a state, you need many people. We do not even have enough men to staff the Three Departments and Six Ministries. What about an institution like Liao's Privy Council? I am saying we should take them in."
Wanyan Zonghan noticed that Youngwoo was not simply venting dissatisfaction and asked.
"You mean to take all of them in? Because we lack people?"
"If you kill a man and seize his possessions, you gain the effect of one act of plunder. It is necessary to render them unable to rise again, but it should be done selectively. This is difficult to explain. I mean we must absorb them in large numbers and build the structure of an empire. Conquest itself is a process of absorption and assimilation."
Wanyan Yinga, the gentlest among them, lifted his palm.
It was a habit he had when speaking before his father and uncles.
"Well, that may be difficult at once. I understand that we must change, but after victory, how can we stop the fierce desire to avenge old wrongs?"
Youngwoo forced a smile.
To him, a man without that old hatred, it looked like terrible slaughter, but he did not say that directly.
"The empire is in decline. It will fall. It will be very difficult for Liao to rise again. That will not be because of bitter revenge alone."
Those words could not quiet the anger in the room.
The sons of important nobles had been dragged away to Liao.
It had likely been a political measure to prevent the rise of Jin.
To those who suffered it, Liao was an enemy whose death would not feel enough.
"Our population is small. In this vast land, it is hard even to see another human face. It is more useful to absorb people than to kill them."
Wanyan Xiyin agreed.
"That is certainly true. Half the work cannot be done because there are no people. We issue orders, but there is no one to carry them out."
It was a remark worthy of Wanyan Xiyin, who was solidifying his place as an adviser and deputy.
Encouraged by that, Youngwoo listed his reasons.
"There have been many tribal states like this. We must become systematic. We must use the experience and methods of people who have worked within a system. Even the many goods from Buyeobu cannot be properly divided. If we simply say, 'This is yours, that is yours,' then ninety percent of what that organization had built disappears. Administrative and technical personnel must be secured."
They were young commanders, so they accepted the point quickly.
Wanyan Zonghan agreed.
"Administration and technical skill are urgently needed. If left as it is, Buyeobu will return to a savage land."
Youngwoo continued.
"Liao is a state that has endured for two hundred years. It already has the structure of a state. Use that manpower as it is. The present cruelty is excessive. Please set the direction toward large-scale absorption and use. If an area full of administrative documents is handed over to a raw Jurchen country warrior, he will use them as kindling. The system they built at great cost will become nothing more than one evening's warmth. Does that not feel wasteful? It is like taking their gold and burying it in the ground. Cool the hatred and use everything they have to the fullest. Truly, the cruelty is hard to watch. They cut off a man's head and drag it behind a horse. What good comes of that? However wrong he was, did he do enough wrong to deserve that? He was merely one person inside Liao's administrative or military system."
The room had no answer.
They had heard that Youngwoo was a man who wandered in his speech and had to be understood carefully.
But now, strangely, each word pierced the listener's chest.
Perhaps the thing people hate most in the world is having their error pointed out.
Zongwang said,
"The Xiao and Yelü clans must be eliminated."
Youngwoo changed the tone.
"Whew. Would ordering them to change their surnames be enough?"
At Youngwoo's joke, the room broke into low laughter.
They were young and healthy men.
If blood never dried from their hands, it would become a great obstacle to growing into an empire.
Youngwoo spoke one final time.
"Liao will now fall to Jin. What about Jin?"
Nothing lasts forever.
Jin too would fall someday.
That day would be far in the future, but Jin could not escape fate.
Zonghan said,
"We too will fall. But it will not be in our generation."
"Then let me ask it this way. Who will bring Jin down? Who will strike the final blow?"
At Youngwoo's unusually organized line of reasoning, the room swallowed in silence.
"Would it not likely come from among the peoples of the grasslands who suffer under your oppression?"
Wanyan Sarigal said,
"Would it not be a central empire like Song?"
"Of course, we cannot dismiss that concern. But what I am trying to say is that it will begin from oppression of the other peoples as well. Liao coerced you. And now Liao is falling to you. Yet you are doing the same thing elsewhere. The very same thing as Liao. Are you confident that you will not become like Liao?"
They wanted to say no.
They wanted to say they were different.
Many thoughts stirred in them.
Then Youngwoo spoke as though drawing a conclusion.