Chapter 242 — The Shadow of Betrayal 1
He had been struck by a stone from someone he did not know.
And even now, he still did not know who it had been.
They held a meeting at dawn and were to depart in the morning.
Samyo Ari and Dolhapsok came running as if to see him off.
Dolhapsok wore a pained expression.
"How did it come to this?"
"What do you mean, how? It sounds like they are telling me to go there and die."
"Would anyone kill you just because you went as a spy?"
"One word saying I went as a spy, and my life is over."
"Who would do that?"
"I have been hit with this trick more than once in the Goryeo camp. I know it."
They were told to form ranks so the number could be counted, and Aribo also came.
But it was strange.
The Wanyan commanders did not come.
They knew their own guilt.
At the smell of a secret plot, Yeongu remembered Seonchunryeong.
At times like this, when an order like this came down, what had I done?
I did as I was told.
But I always did more than that.
He felt sorry for the Balhae soldiers going with him.
He wanted to go and turn everything upside down.
There was noise not far away.
Amid it, chiefs and commanders were slowly coming out, as if to see him off.
Suddenly, he did not want to see them.
They might curse him as narrow-minded and stubborn, but he could not help not wanting to see what he did not want to see.
Perhaps he lacked social skill.
He had lived only in the army since he was young.
Even if he explained and excused himself that way, it did not justify what he had become as an adult.
He only wanted to live without reading others' eyes or caring about their gazes.
How good would it be to live without seeing what one did not want to see?
How good would it be to live without hearing what one did not want to hear?
Piiiiiiik.
He blew the whistle used for fire control.
Why had it been there?
Among the many pouches used by cavalrymen, it had been in the one closest at hand.
All the Balhae soldiers looked at Yeongu.
There were about two hundred of them.
"Nothing to see. Move out!"
Yeongu spurred his horse and headed toward the west gate, and the Balhae soldiers followed after him in confusion.
He could hear the flustered movements of those who had been coming to see him off.
If they were going to do that, they should have acted properly in the meeting instead of sitting quietly without saying a word.
Some two hundred riders passed through the west gate.
The guards at the west gate stood in a line and gave their respects.
"Loyalty."
"Loyalty."
"Loyalty."
"Loyalty."
They were men he had fought beside.
Each face rose before him with a fond name.
Aro.
Hosabo.
Aro.
Pogano.
Heulseongnyeol.
Danggwal.
Salgae.
Sabul-sil.
The pure wishes on their faces felt close enough to touch.
The conduct of those who held power was mostly the same.
They did not see authority as the right to do work.
They only thought of wielding it to suit private desire.
In the end, perhaps the problem lay in the system of organization and rank.
The more numerous and complicated the layers became, the stronger that tendency grew.
He rode while idle thoughts rose without end.
After riding for about half an hour, he slowed the pace.
"Stop!"
The two hundred riders halted.
"We count the men."
"Loyalty."
"Form four ranks across."
"Four ranks across!"
"Four ranks across!"
They were mounted, but they maneuvered more smoothly than men on foot.
The horses bobbed their heads and moved back and forth, and soon four ranks had formed.
Too long.
"Break and reform into eight ranks across!"
"Eight ranks across!"
"Eight ranks across!"
"Eight ranks across!"
"Eight ranks across!"
He swept his gaze across the twenty-five riders in front.
He hated the problem of power, yet organization still had to exist.
"Anyone with experience as an ojang, daejeong, chonggi, or mogeuk, move to the side."
"Move to the side!"
A dozen or so men came out to the side.
Yeongu pointed to the front.
"Ojang."
Six men stepped forward.
"Daejeong!"
Three men stood beside them.
"Chonggi or mogeuk!"
But this time seven men came forward.
"Oh. What is this?"
There were more mogeuk than expected.
Among the submitted men, many had no mogeuk of their own, and Balhae men were often appointed as heads of surrendered men and capitulated groups.
"Front rank, five paces forward."
"Five paces forward."
"Five paces forward."
"Five paces forward."
"Five paces forward."
Yeongu appointed the daejeong and chonggi on the spot.
It was as if someone had matched the personnel in advance.
He appointed two mogeuk, four chonggi, and eight daejeong on the spot.
He told them to appoint their own ojang and ordered them to break and reform.
They were divided into two mogeuk, and each mogeuk was made up of four squads.
Yeongu gathered the fourteen men and explained the strategy.
They were to say they had gone after hearing the Liao summons, be incorporated into the enemy organization, and perform their roles from within.
Aji.
Seokro.
Golli.
Hori.
Ogo.
Poro.
Yeongu memorized the new names.
Most of them had no surnames.
Yeongu organized their tasks into several points.
"First, the present emperor has no ability to suppress the Jin situation.
Even after three defeats, is he not still doing the same things?
He has no ability to preserve the empire."
What does that have to do with me, whether he does or not?
The men stared at him blankly, showing neither liking nor dislike.
Yeongu continued.
"If Yelü Chun had been enthroned from the beginning, things would never have come this far.
The late emperor also wanted to make him crown prince, but he could not because his ministers opposed it.
They placed a slightly lacking man on the emperor's seat so they could push him around as they wished.
It is not too late even now.
He must be replaced."
They were still the same.
Perhaps such a world existed.
Perhaps if one disliked the emperor, one could replace him.
But what did that have to do with them?
"Separate Yelü Yanxi from Great Liao.
Is following Yelü Yanxi the same as protecting Great Liao?
That is the question you must throw at them.
If one emperor's misrule is bringing down the ancestral altars and the state, then the object of loyalty is not the emperor as a single person, but the state of Great Liao.
That is what you must say."
They still showed no sign of understanding.
Yeongu kept speaking.
"We are not turning our backs on Great Liao.
What we are trying to protect is Great Liao itself.
Do you understand?"
"Yes."
The answer was weak.
Yeongu pointed at one man.
"You."
"Loyalty. Ojang Aro."
"Repeat what I said exactly."
The man swallowed.
There was no way he could do it.
It seemed enough for them to understand that they were supposed to say something like that.
Yeongu had no intention of repeating the words himself again and again.
He had pointed to the man, but the man could not repeat it.
Yeongu made all of them try.
It was useless.
At this rate, nothing would work.