Chapter 244 — The Shadow of Betrayal 3
When food was brought, Yeongu only pretended to eat a few pieces.
He chewed one piece of meat for a long time, swallowed it, drank a sip of water, and lay back down on the grass.
Suddenly, every duty had vanished.
The work of looking after the army, reviewing armaments again, correcting the weapon system, calculating supplies, and matching the opinions of commanders had all slipped out of his hands at once.
There was much to do, yet the place where he was supposed to do it had disappeared.
His body seemed to float in empty air.
That made him want to move even less.
Then a group of cavalry came riding in.
The ground announced the vibration first.
A low tremor spread beneath the grass, and the sound of hooves reached him later on the wind.
Yeongu felt it, but he did not rise.
He lay with his eyes closed.
Hosokro came closer and spoke briefly.
"It is Jin troops."
Yeongu muttered without opening his eyes.
"They will pass."
Hosokro spoke again.
"They are coming straight here."
Everything was tiresome.
Yeongu asked in a voice mixed with a sigh.
"What banner?"
"It is Lord Wanyan Zonghan's personal guard."
"What?"
Only then did Yeongu sit up.
"Hiyu."
He sat cross-legged on the grass.
Then he looked into the distance.
At the front of the cavalry riding in with a trail of dust, Wanyan Zonghan's banner could be seen.
Dust spread long beneath the horses' hooves, and the end of the banner trembled sharply in the wind.
Yeongu jerked his chin.
"Go out."
Hosokro immediately straightened.
"Loyalty!"
A short whistle sounded.
His horse, which had been grazing, lifted its head and came running straight toward him.
Before the horse had fully stopped, Hosokro moved alongside it.
He grabbed the mane with one hand, lifted his body as if stepping on the flank of the running horse, and settled onto its back.
The movement was so natural that it looked less like mounting and more like attaching himself to the horse as it moved.
His horsemanship was remarkable.
Hosokro rode about a hundred jang out before slowing.
Ahead of him, the leading scouts of Zonghan's personal guard approached with their horses' heads slightly lowered.
The horses on both sides scented one another's breath, and the riders raised their hands in salute.
Hosokro called out first.
"Loyalty!
I am Hosokro, a Balhae soldier.
I belong to Lord Yi Yeongu."
The opposing scout replied.
"Loyalty.
We are Lord Wanyan Zonghan's personal guard.
He seeks Lord Yi Yeongu."
Hosokro nodded and went straight toward Zonghan.
Zonghan was a little behind the vanguard.
Hosokro saluted from horseback.
"Loyalty.
The Jungnangjang is in a poor mood."
Zonghan laughed shortly.
"I suppose he would be.
What is he doing here?"
"We are repeatedly reciting matters to be memorized."
"What matters?"
Hosokro immediately recited the words he had learned.
"What we are turning away from is not Great Liao.
What we are trying to protect is Great Liao.
Following Tianzuo and protecting the state of Great Liao are not always the same thing."
Zonghan gave a small laugh.
It was exactly like something Yeongu would do.
It was somehow clumsy, yet strangely earnest.
Even if one tried to mock it, that earnestness showed first and made mockery difficult.
"Again."
Hosokro lowered his voice a little more.
"The emperor personally takes the field and gathers hundreds of thousands.
But if he loses, will the emperor take responsibility?
The crime of defeat will fall upon the vanguard and the commanders.
If deposition and enthronement take place, the commanders who would have borne the responsibility for defeat disappear, and meritorious men who saved Great Liao remain.
Look at the commanders who have lost until now.
Look at what happened to them."
Zonghan slowly nodded.
The shape of the words was rough, but the content was clear.
It was easy to tell who had made them.
They were words Yeongu had chewed, swallowed, and spat out again in his own way.
Zonghan led his party closer.
But Yeongu did not come out to greet him.
Usually, when two forces confirmed one another, one came out to the front of the camp, exchanged greetings, and observed proper courtesy.
Yet Yeongu was still sitting cross-legged on the grass.
He saw Zonghan approaching from afar and still did not rise.
Zonghan said quietly.
"He is deeply sulking."
Hosokro answered cautiously.
"Still, he said work is work, and it must be done."
Zonghan kept his gaze on Yeongu and asked.
"What is he so worried about?"
"He said he once fell into a trap through something like this.
Several times, at that.
He said that in such a case, if someone sends just one word to the enemy, his life will vanish in the middle of the enemy camp."
The smile faded slightly from Zonghan's face.
"Such a thing?
Surely not."
Hosokro looked once toward Yeongu, then back at Zonghan.
"He told us to trust no one.
He said there are dozens, no, hundreds of people behind him who might do such a thing."
Those words did not sound like simple sulking.
In Hosokro's voice, there was a deeper tension than in the lines he had just recited.
For a person entering an enemy camp, the enemy was not the only danger.
A single word from an ally, one mistake by an envoy, one small calculation by a commander could be more fatal.
Zonghan loosened the reins.
Only then did he seem to understand a little.
Yeongu was not ignoring courtesy.
He was using his own body to issue a warning.
Treat me as a person.
If you try to use me as a tool, I will not smile according to your etiquette either.
Zonghan dismounted.
Then he gestured for his personal guard to stop at a distance.
He walked forward alone.
Yeongu was still sitting.
Blades of grass clung to the hem of his military clothes, and instead of armor, he wore ordinary garments.
Even so, the place where he sat somehow looked like the middle of a battlefield.