Chapter 346. The Hero of the Victory Banquet
The heroes of that day's battle had gathered at the Great Khan's banquet.
Among them were the elderly chiefs of the various Jurchen tribes.
Their influence had diminished somewhat after the tribes were reorganized under the Meng'an and Mouke system, but their voices still could not be ignored.
The commanders of Goryeo were there as well.
The Goryeo court had appointed Kim Busik as Supreme Commander of the Northwest Expeditionary Army, placing him in charge of the northern advance.
In wartime hierarchy, his position was close to that of a Supreme Marshal.
Kim Buui commanded the left army, while Park Geunsu commanded the right.
Kim Busik, a civil official, held the greater authority and legitimacy, while Kim Buui and Park Geunsu directed the actual formations on either wing.
Go Youngchang had once intended to become a king.
He had planned to gather the Balhae soldiers and people of Liaoyang and restore the old name while Liao was wavering.
Youngwoo had blocked that road.
The moment a king was raised, the Balhae people would divide again.
The Go clan and the Dae clan.
Old aristocrats and newly risen military leaders.
Those who had served Liao and those who had joined Jin.
They would all begin to distrust one another.
Such a struggle would not restore Balhae.
It would only reduce the number of Balhae people who remained.
So Youngwoo had offered another road.
Do not raise a royal title first.
Raise military merit first.
Join the war to destroy Liao under the name of the Balhae army.
Bleed in each battle and leave behind achievements.
Once those achievements accumulated, even the new empire would find it difficult to scatter the Balhae people at will.
They could ask for land.
They could ask for their own military designation.
They could gather their people and preserve them.
Go Youngchang had accepted that path.
At Hubodagang, he had led Balhae troops into the Liao center.
Later, he would take the lead in opening the roads through Liaoyang and the Eastern Capital Circuit, and in the campaigns toward Yanjing he would serve as interpreter, guide, and liaison with the gates for Balhae forces.
Go Youngchang, Go Hoewon, Okjeong, and the Balhae commanders occupied one section of the banquet.
They had become one of the pillars of Jin that no one could ignore.
Above them hung a banner bearing the words:
Liaoyang Balhae Commander.
The banquet tent was already full.
The Great Khan's large command pavilion had been raised on high ground at one side of the battlefield.
At its entrance stood the banners of Jin and Goryeo, with a smaller Balhae standard beside them.
Outside, horses and wagons were still moving, and soldiers carrying spoils could be heard shouting to one another.
Inside, however, the heavy warmth that could exist only after victory filled the air.
Aguda sat in the highest place.
Around him were the commanders of the imperial clan and the chiefs of the various tribes.
The Goryeo command also occupied one side.
Kim Busik sat with the composed expression of a civil official.
Kim Buui and Park Geunsu had not even removed their armor, suppressing the exhaustion of battle as they sat.
Go Hoewon and Go Youngchang sat farther back as representatives of the Balhae troops.
Okjeong stood a little behind them, idly touching the thumb ring on her hand as she studied the unfamiliar banquet.
The Jin Meng'an and Mouke commanders, especially the younger officers, sat together on one side.
Wanyan Xiyin, Wanyan Yinge, Wanyan Saligal, and the others were sitting with an almost unnatural degree of decorum.
Anyone seeing them like this might have mistaken them for well-behaved students summoned before a teacher rather than commanders who had been tearing across a battlefield only hours before.
Then they saw Zonghan and Zongwang dragging Youngwoo in by both arms.
The laughter they had been holding back immediately broke loose.
Shoulders shook.
Mouths twitched.
Several finally lowered their heads and snickered openly.
Samyoari, Dolhapsok, Oyeon Porohon, Jeok Janhwi, Daego, and Aribo rose from their seats.
They welcomed Youngwoo with applause.
Seeing blood- and dust-covered commanders actually clapping turned the solemn banquet into something closer to a gathering of friends teasing a returning hero.
"Welcome."
"We've all been waiting."
"So you finally defeated the ledger and made it here."
At that, laughter erupted again among the younger commanders.
Youngwoo was still being hauled in between Zonghan and Zongwang.
Zongwang held one arm.
Zonghan held the other.
It looked at once like an honored escort for a hero of victory and the arrest of a quartermaster who had tried to escape from the banquet.
A short distance away sat the immortals.
They had come without banners or titles.
Baek Ingyeom and Han Jiun sat side by side, with immortals both old and young arranged around them with gentle expressions.
Some had white beards.
Others still possessed the vigor of middle age.
Dust from the battlefield remained on the hems of their robes, and dirt clung to their scabbards.
Yet even inside the command tent, they seemed as calm as men seated beside rocks in the mountains.
Normally, they would never have appeared at a gathering like this.
But Youngwoo had fought today, and the battlefield of Hubodagang had drawn them all the way here.
At the entrance, Zonghan and Zongwang finally released him.
Youngwoo straightened his clothes and walked toward the Great Khan.
He first stood before Aguda and bowed deeply.
There was no trace of a man flaunting his achievements on the battlefield.
He bowed like a commander entering military headquarters, and Aguda silently received the salute.
Then Youngwoo turned toward his master.
Before Baek Ingyeom, he bowed even more deeply.
It was no brief greeting.
He remained bent for a moment.
Within that pause were gratitude, relief, and the reverence accumulated since childhood.
Baek Ingyeom looked at him with a smile.
That gaze alone seemed to loosen some of the strain of Youngwoo's long day.
Next, Youngwoo offered a military salute to the Goryeo command.
Kim Busik nodded.
Kim Buui returned the salute formally.
Park Geunsu tried to suppress a grin, then finally gave up and laughed.
Youngwoo shot him a brief sideways glance.
It was the kind of glance shared only between men who had survived a battlefield together like brothers.
Then came the problem.
Youngwoo turned toward the Jurchen Meng'an and Mouke commanders.
Up to that point, he remained perfectly respectful.
But the moment Samyoari, Dolhapsok, and Aribo began waving at him, his own manner immediately loosened.
Instead of a military salute, he waved an arm broadly.
And he did not stop after once.
He swung both arms in turn, almost bouncing where he stood.
"I'm here! I'm here! They dragged me here!"
The young commanders roared with laughter.
Wanyan Xiyin covered his mouth with one hand.
Aribo clapped until he nearly doubled over.
Laughter broke out again among the younger men.
Dolhapsok pointed at Youngwoo with a bloodstained glove.
"Look at that face. He seems more upset about losing his ledger than losing the emperor."
Samyoari raised his cup and laughed loudly.
"The most frightening man on the battlefield is one like him. He counts men, he counts horses, and then he even counts the silk."
Youngwoo looked at them with an aggrieved expression.
"You have no idea how important that ledger is."
That only made the laughter louder.
It spread all the way through the Great Khan's pavilion.
Even the corner of Aguda's mouth lifted faintly.
For a moment, some of the murderous tension of the battlefield eased.
Youngwoo finally sat among the younger commanders.
Zongwang pushed him into place.
Zonghan pointed to the seat beside him.
Samyoari handed over a cup.
Aribo pulled a plate of meat closer.
The moment Youngwoo sat down, questions and teasing poured in from every direction.
Aribo said,
"They say you reached the emperor himself."
Youngwoo answered regretfully,
"That's what I'm saying. If this arm had only been a little longer, I could have grabbed the bastard."
Samyoari raised his cup and teased him.
"This fellow chased the emperor's banner all the way across the battlefield today. Then the moment he came back, he started counting silk and saddles."
Dolhapsok laughed loudly.
"That is what makes him frightening. During the battle he opens the road from the front, and once it is over he takes care of the army's household from the rear."
Aribo grinned.
"Commander Yi has the face of a man who would reach for a brush before reaching for a wine cup."
Dolhapsok added,
"If we leave him alone, he'll spread a ledger over the meat table."
Samyoari lifted his cup again.
"Then even the Great Khan would have no choice but to listen.
"How many horses we captured today, and how many bundles of silk."
Youngwoo was about to answer when Aguda called to him from the high seat.
"Commander Yi Youngwoo!"