The Second Incursion – Magistrate Bang No-ju's Warning
The magistrate of Anyang visited the Jin estate late at night, three days after the first battle.
From his position, he had carefully drafted and submitted the official report, and he had swiftly completed postwar recovery and the calming of public sentiment.
Things that had never been visible when he strained along crooked paths for promotion now appeared clearly before him.
Following So-un's words—no, his threat—he chose to see matters uprightly, and he felt how much easier the work became.
What does a magistrate do?
He renders judgment on the matters that come before him.
To calculate how such judgments will appear in others' eyes requires many considerations, yet once he asked what truly served Anyang County, most decisions became simple.
If there is no ulterior intent, are not the affairs of the world easy to judge?
Is it not because hope and ambition, greed and indolence, become entangled in one's calculations that bias arises?
With other motives, matters go awry.
It is only natural.
Without other motives, matters grow very simple.
They say the easiest job in the world is to be a civil servant in Joseon.
It becomes difficult because one wishes to remain until old age stains the walls.
It becomes difficult because one seeks advancement.
If one works ready to resign tomorrow, the work is easy.
If one seeks to rise through the present post or to draw a salary forever, many things grow complicated, and harm spreads to those around.
Most of all, the people suffer.
He had met men who claimed they had caused no harm at all.
Listening closely, those were the worst of men.
A private enterprise works better than an office because it has an owner.
He had seen companies without an owner.
From the top to the bottom, all were thieves.
Officials forget that they too have an owner—the people.
A man who swells his neck and points a finger at the one who pays his salary is no true man.
He believes he passed the examinations by his own merit and owes nothing to those from whom he draws pay.
He believes he may sit idly in that seat and never considers that the person before him provides his wage.
Perhaps the fault lies in the examinations.
The subjects are wrong.
They should test the Way of governing the people, not irrelevant learning.
It is easier to become a worthy magistrate because of this nature of the work.
If one adds unnecessary considerations—how the capital will view this, whether phrasing a report thus will make oneself stand out—then one must predict outcomes, weigh competing issues, and calculate priorities.
There are simply more things to consider.
When he resolved to handle matters plainly as they appeared, everything became quicker and easier.
As a magistrate newly awakened to what he had long overlooked, he carried out only what So-un commanded, without compromise.
There was nothing to agonize over.
With no greed, he relayed what was instructed and reported events as they had occurred.
The paperwork became astonishingly simple.
"Ha… that young fellow possesses remarkable insight. How did he know?"
He realized the old saying was true—that one may learn even from the young.
It is stagnation that renders a man incapable; the magistrate himself had passed the metropolitan examination with distinction.
With a single turn of heart, much had changed.
The two men blocking the entrance to the Jin estate did not immediately admit him.
Only days ago, the magistrate had not been an irreconcilable foe, yet he had certainly been an enemy.
While waiting at the gate, he noticed enormous characters carved upon a great stone by the roadside.
"The First House Under Heaven (天下第一家)"
He almost laughed.
Fools who are soon to die prancing about, he thought.
Yet the smaller inscription beside it was not so easily dismissed.
—All of the White Dragon Divine Company—
They were the ones who had turned Anyang into a wasteland.
Writing his report, he had pondered whether to record it plainly: the battle had ended scarcely one shichen after they crossed the bridge.
The name that troubled him as he wrote was the White Dragon Divine Company.
In a single shichen, they had crushed thousands.
The strongest force upon the continent.
The inscription declared that this place was the First House Under Heaven by decree of the White Dragon Divine Company.
"First House Under Heaven, indeed…"
Not knowing the youth's name, the magistrate had called him "the young general."
Word that the magistrate had come to see the young general quickly spread through the estate.
Jin Mu-sik hurried out at the news.
The magistrate ignored the others of the household and waited only for So-un.
The one who had bent him was So-un, not the rest.
It was the last remnant of his pride as magistrate.
"What brings you here?"
The young general he remembered wore thick armor, his helmet lowered to his brow, wielding a slender halberd like a heavenly deity.
The youth who emerged was a scholar with a small sword casually tucked at his waist.
It took the magistrate a moment to confirm that this scholar was the same young general who had threatened him.
He wore white robes loosely, his slim frame almost fragile.
The sword at his waist hung carelessly, as though borne by a novice who knew not how to tend it.
Only upon hearing the voice did he recognize him.
When the youth bowed politely, the magistrate bowed even deeper.
"I, Bang No-ju, magistrate of Anyang, have come seeking the young general."
"Lower your speech.
I am but a humble scholar and will not accept excessive courtesy or titles."
"How could you say such a thing…"
The nightmare of that day returned to the magistrate every night.
He had even wet himself in his sleep, such was his terror.
"Please, come inside."