Chapter 352. Governing According to Custom, Establishing Offices as Circumstances Require
At that moment, Kim Busik of Goryeo quietly raised a hand.
As befitted a civil official, his posture was composed. His voice was low, yet it carried enough weight to cut through the command tent.
"It is reasonable to press our advantage, attack their capitals, and take possession of them. We should indeed do so. But I would dare ask one question.
"Once we take them, who will govern them?"
The command tent fell silent.
It was a sharp question.
Taking a Liao city and governing that city were two different matters.
Once a city fell, its gates, storehouses, and barracks came into the victor's hands.
But then came the people living inside, the clerks in the government offices, tax registers, granaries, waterways and markets, former officials, and newly submitted factions.
A sword could open a city gate.
A sword alone could not make daily life inside the walls continue.
That was what Kim Busik's question meant.
You have only just bound your tribes together and founded a state.
Are you prepared to govern the great and ancient cities of Liao once you take them?
The Eastern, Central, and Supreme Capitals were not mere military camps.
They were old cities bound together by offices, ledgers, storehouses, and people.
The moment they were occupied, war became government.
Youngwoo flinched slightly.
Kim Busik's words were uncomfortable, but they struck the heart of the matter.
Still, the commanders' silence did not come entirely from having grasped the depth of the problem.
They were exhausted.
Their faces said that they wanted to dismount, close their eyes, and hear no more orders.
The greater the victory at Hubodagang, the greater the cost to body and spirit.
When no answer came easily, Kim Busik continued.
"As Commander Yi has said, this is the moment to advance west and accept the cities that submit, one by one.
"And that must be done now.
"Tianzuo has withdrawn as far as Changchun Prefecture and will now head toward the Supreme Capital. The tribal armies have scattered beneath their own banners. Many cities and towns of Liaodong and Liaoxi are watching to see which side they should follow.
"If the victorious army approaches immediately, many gates will open."
Kim Busik traced the road on the map with one finger.
"The spoils of today must not end with the wagons and silk scattered along the imperial road toward Changchun Prefecture.
"The true spoils are the Eastern Capital, Liaoyang Prefecture; the Central Capital, Dading Prefecture; and the Supreme Capital, Linhuang Prefecture.
"Only by taking those cities in succession will the meaning of the victory at Hubodagang become complete.
"Horses, cattle, silver, and silk can become supplies for the next war.
"But cities, subjects, storehouses, and government offices become the strength of a state."
The expressions around the tent gradually changed.
Kim Busik had not risen to oppose Youngwoo.
He was placing Youngwoo's argument within a larger frame.
They had to move now.
But they could not speak only of the strength needed to attack cities.
They also had to prepare the men and methods needed to receive and govern them afterward.
It was the kind of argument a civil official would make.
A man intoxicated by battle saw the next city gate.
A man trained in documents and law saw the ledgers and people beyond that gate.
Kim Busik had pointed directly at that difference.
Several Jin commanders stiffened.
A question about whether they possessed enough ability to govern conquered territory was hardly pleasant to hear.
Jin was still struggling to bind its tribes into a single state, and now this Goryeo official was asking whether they were ready to govern Liao's great capitals.
It was enough to provoke anger.
Yet the truth inside the question was difficult to avoid.
Youngwoo looked at Kim Busik.
Behind that severe face was a strangely gentle gaze.
He was not a man who merely criticized.
He saw what had to be done and tried to frame it in a way that could actually be carried out.
Youngwoo began to understand why this civil official had been placed in a position equivalent to Supreme Marshal of the Goryeo army.
He was a man who looked beyond the momentum of swords and horses and studied the circumstances hidden inside documents, ledgers, and men's words.
Kim Busik spoke slowly.
"Yesterday and the day before, I heard a detailed account of what has happened from our Expeditionary Judge, Kim Yungyeong.
"There were many circumstances that were difficult to understand from written reports alone.
"I heard how the Jin army reformed its military system, how the Goryeo and Balhae forces came to join it, how prisoners and spoils were handled, and what Commander Yi has been doing throughout that process."
The eyes around the gathering moved between Youngwoo and Kim Yungyeong.
Kim Yungyeong lowered his head quietly, looking thoughtful, as though wary that a careless word might distort either what had happened or Kim Busik's judgment of it.
Youngwoo straightened himself despite the wine still reddening his face.
He had always believed that unlearned men like himself should listen carefully to educated civil officials.
Fortunately, he had never possessed the foolishness of believing himself clever enough to do everything personally.
That was also why, even though he could sometimes be misled by bad advice, he rarely clung stubbornly to the belief that he alone was right.
Kim Busik continued.
"Today we won a great battle.
"From this point onward, however, we must do something even more difficult.
"Victory in battle is won through blades and courage.
"Standing upright as an empire requires law, military discipline, reward and prohibition, and an order capable of governing people and cities.
"Today's victory over the great Liao army is enormous.
"But if that victory is to endure, it needs the form of a state beneath it."
Several Jin commanders looked at one another.
Kim Busik never raised his voice.
Even so, each sentence seemed to settle firmly inside the tent.
"We have just spoken of the Eastern Capital, Liaoyang Prefecture; the Supreme Capital, Linhuang Prefecture; and the Central Capital, Dading Prefecture.
"Those places are not merely walls and storehouses.
"They contain government offices, registers, subjects, old aristocrats, clerks, craftsmen, and merchants.
"To take possession of them means taking responsibility for the tomorrow of all those people."
Kim Busik looked toward Aguda.
His gaze remained respectful, but it did not retreat.
"You took up the sword because you wished to live differently from Liao.
"You endured Liao's tyranny, arrogance, endless exactions, and humiliation until you reached this day.
"So now you must ask yourselves:
"How will the state we build differ from Liao?
"How will we treat cities that submit?
"How will we use soldiers who surrender?
"Under what order will we place Balhae people, Han people, Khitans, Xi, and the many Jurchen tribes?"
The breathing inside the tent grew quieter.
Samyoari and Dolhapsok put down their cups.
Zongwang folded his arms and listened.
Zonghan withdrew his hand from the map.
Kim Busik said,
"Fortunately, I have heard that after Hubodagang you prevented private vengeance and disorderly executions.
"You classified prisoners, tended the wounded, and entered the spoils into ledgers.
"That is no small matter.
"Only an army with such discipline can take possession of cities.
"Only an order like that can persuade the people to accept a new ruler."
He paused.
In that silence, the commanders must each have remembered the battlefields they had crossed.
Burned villages.
People dragged away.
Soldiers with eyes red from vengeance.
Hands trembling on sword hilts before helpless prisoners.
Kim Busik spoke again.
"Building an empire does not begin after a city has been captured.
"It begins now, while you are marching toward it.
"Show those who surrender a road to life.
"Give position to those who submit.
"Reward those who earn merit fairly.
"Punish those who seize what they please.
"Then the gates of the Eastern, Supreme, and Central Capitals will open not merely because they fear your strength, but because they see a new order."
It was a distant and difficult matter.
Yet Kim Busik was not using that difficulty as an argument for retreat.
He was seeing the war on a larger scale.
He was binding together the destruction of Liao and the building of an empire as one task.
Several men swallowed.
Another kind of heat entered the tent, which had only moments before been warm with the excitement of victory.
Men who had won with swords now had to think about what came after the sword.
Kim Busik continued.
"In Yanzhou and Yunzhou, Liao used what were called the Southern Administration offices and adopted institutions modeled on those of the Central Plains. The steppe and Liaodong, meanwhile, were governed through the Northern Administration, centered upon institutions suited to those regions.
"I believe that, in its own way, this was an attempt to understand difference.
"So what should we do now?"
Silence answered him.
The weight of the question pressed upon every shoulder.
Kim Busik turned toward Aguda.
"When Liao formed its empire, it actively recruited officials from the Central Plains and from Balhae.
"Liao did not run its empire with Khitans alone.
"It practiced governance according to custom — 因俗而治, and established offices as circumstances required — 隨宜設官."
因俗而治: "Govern according to custom." The principle of administering conquered regions and peoples according to their existing customs and institutions rather than forcing immediate uniformity upon them.
隨宜設官: "Establish offices as circumstances require." The principle of creating administrative offices appropriate to the needs and conditions of each region and population.
"To rule Khitans, Han people, Balhae people, and other groups, Liao used different administrative systems and methods side by side.
"It elevated Han officials such as Han Derang and placed powerful Han families such as the Han, Zhao, Liu, and Ma clans within the Southern Administration.
"Former Balhae aristocratic families such as the Dae and Go clans were retained in the offices and garrisons of Liaodong.
"Balhae commanders such as Go Mohan commanded Khitan, Han, and Balhae soldiers together.
"Because such people worked for Liao, the empire could manage cities, registers, and taxation.
"If you intend to build an empire, you must discard Liao's tyranny while learning how it used people to operate a state.
"You must bring in Han officials from the Central Plains and Balhae administrators, commanders, and scholars, and entrust them with documents, law, taxation, urban administration, diplomacy, and military command."
Wanyan Zonghan drew in a quiet breath.
Until now, his thoughts had always followed the road of war.
Which city to strike first.
Which road should carry the provisions.
Which commander should lead the vanguard.
When it came to destroying an enemy, he could see the road before him.
What happened after a city fell—how its people, offices, and ledgers were to be made to function—was another matter entirely.
Zonghan looked at Kim Busik.
"Should we do the same?
"Use Han officials and Balhae people, and even examine the old Liao offices and keep what is useful?
"Will that truly build a state?"
There was more fear than rejection in the question.
They had taken up arms because they hated Liao.
Now they were being told to learn from the way Liao had used men.
The idea of discarding tyranny while preserving useful institutions made sense to the mind.
In the heart, however, it still lodged like a rough stone.
Kim Busik did not answer immediately.
For a moment, he looked toward the upper part of the tent.
The lamplight swayed slowly against the canvas.
Beneath that light sat cups of victory wine, bloodstained armor, maps, and ledgers.
That was exactly what now stood before Jin.
Sword, wine cup, and ledger had come together in one place.
Kim Busik spoke slowly.
"The day you take a city, you must begin feeding it.
"I do not mean only feeding your soldiers.
"The next morning, the people inside must open their markets.
"Farmers must return to their fields.
"Granary keepers must count the grain.
"Clerks must open the tax registers again.
"Only when those things continue can you truly say that you have taken the city."
He looked directly at Zonghan.
"That is why you use Han officials and Balhae people.
"They know how those things are done.
"They know the household registers inside the city.
"They know how much grain lies in the storehouses.
"They know the waterways, the markets, and the methods of collecting taxes.
"Use them, but bind them under military authority.
"Watch them through ledgers.
"Remove those who have earned the hatred of the people.
"Use those with ability.
"Punish those guilty of serious crimes.
"And show those who newly submit a road by which they can live."
Kim Busik's voice remained low.
Everyone in the tent heard him.
"Taking a city and governing a city are different things.
"When taking a city, soldiers lead.
"When governing it, law and offices must lead.
"If you fail to understand that difference, you may win a city and still fail to hold it for long.
"Rewards bind men of merit.
"Prohibitions restrain those who would seize what they please.
"Government offices allow the people to return to their fields and markets.
"A great state requires all three."
Zonghan slowly let out a deep breath.
His gaze had grown heavier.
A moment ago, he had been thinking about the roads by which they would strike the Supreme, Central, and Eastern Capitals.
Now he had to think about the morning after those cities fell.
Planting a banner upon a wall was one thing.
Making people live beneath that banner was far longer and more difficult.
Kim Busik added,
"Liao was strong for reasons beyond the sword.
"It used Han officials and Balhae people and established offices suited to the customs of each region.
"You must never imitate Liao's tyranny and arrogance.
"If you govern in exactly the same way, then all you will have done is replace the Khitan with the Jurchen. How long would such a state last?
"But you must learn the art of using people to govern a vast land.
"Then rebuild that art within your own military discipline and your own laws."
Wanyan Zonghan slowly nodded.
He understood now that this was a problem they could no longer avoid.
To destroy Liao, Jin would also have to inherit the people and cities Liao had ruled.
From that moment onward, Jin would have to take its first steps from an army of tribes toward the court of an empire.