Chapter 184 — An Audience with the King
"Come in. I have been curious about many things."
"I have already reported through written dispatches, Your Majesty. If you ask what you wish to know, I will answer in detail."
Youngwoo straightened himself and saw the group of sangjanggun and daejanggun.
As before, two or so adjutants had formed a wall of iron above them, but there were no archers or swordsmen.
Even so, after suffering it once, shrinking back could not be helped.
"I saw your letter of resignation."
"I am ashamed, Your Majesty."
"I did not accept it."
"Your Majesty!"
"Does a soldier resign over a matter like that?"
"Your Majesty, this subject's disloyalty…"
The king cut off Youngwoo's words.
"Enough. This is not childish sulking."
"Your Majesty, I truly…"
The king cut him off again.
"With the international situation changing like this, how can a soldier of the frontier think only of his own discomfort?"
He gave him no chance to speak.
Youngwoo tried to explain something, but the king did not allow him the opening.
He already knew that his resignation had been submitted.
Youngwoo hurriedly said the next words that came to mind.
"Your Majesty, please look deeply into this matter."
The king cut him off sharply.
"I will not."
Park Geunsu spoke sternly.
"Report the situation there. We are curious how they could win battle after battle like that."
Youngwoo held his breath.
On the faces of the generals standing around him, he felt another kind of distance.
They were soldiers of the same country, yet they were not the same.
Something in their faces felt like iron plating, an unchanging awareness of profit.
It was sharper than that of merchants in the marketplace.
He did not know why he felt it.
He thought along the extension of everything he had experienced until now.
Who could call that feeling unjust?
They plotted among themselves and shared profit.
They took profit from the army's supplies and goods.
Rather than make accurate reports, they selected and shaped reports for their own benefit, then used them.
When ten Jurchens came down for trade, they reported that two hundred warlike Jurchen troops had come down and plundered.
By doing so, they drew out more support.
They obtained horses, soldiers, weapons, and arms, then fattened their bellies with what they siphoned off.
Such work could not be done alone, so adjutants and lower soldiers joined in to accomplish it.
For that purpose, they did not hesitate even to join hands with the enemy.
They promoted only those who could join their schemes and made a world of their own.
They acknowledged no one outside it.
It was not ability or loyalty that mattered.
They selected and raised those who fit their sense of profit and could be loyal to them.
They offered the profit they had skimmed to the higher command here and secured their own positions.
Who among those present would be free from that?
Youngwoo trembled with deep distrust.
They said everything had changed?
Only the men who had worked under those bastards had climbed into the empty seats.
The king urged him.
"Speak. How could they defeat the great state of Liao?"
Youngwoo hesitated, then began his report.
He did not have the ability to strike the core neatly and skillfully.
His report rambled on and on, and they had to interpret it for themselves, but the king and the senior command of the Goryeo army listened to Youngwoo's face-to-face report seriously.
He began from the first battle.
He spoke of receiving those who submitted and organizing them into an army.
He spoke of joining iron plates to make armor, and using that to create the strongest armored cavalry.
He spoke of advancing against the enemy with a small force, splitting the enemy formation, and breaking the command.
He spoke without order, as his memories came.
The current military leadership was quite practical, and they drew out Youngwoo's answers by asking the necessary questions one by one.
They asked about the abilities and characteristics of each general, and he explained.
He explained the source of the iron cavalry's powerful breakthrough strength.
He explained the training used to improve siege capability, the abilities of those trained through it, and the results they had achieved.
He examined the future military direction of the Jurchens and spoke in detail about its influence on Goryeo.
He made them understand that the Jurchens would soon destroy Liao, and that only one great battle remained.
The phrase "great field battle" did not mean anything small.
The Liao emperor would personally lead the army out, and he would bring every tribal force they could mobilize.
The king asked,
"Can they win?"
"They will both fight with all their strength. The outcome of a battlefield cannot be known, but if the present trend continues, Jin will win even if a great army comes."
"Was it the right choice for Goryeo to stay close to Jin?"
"Yes. Liao is quite different from what we knew before."
"How is it different?"
"It has weakened."
"Ah, is that so?"
"When struck from the front, they collapsed easily. They are not the Liao we knew in the past."
"What do you think is the cause?"
"I think they have grown soaked in long peace. Their martial spirit is lacking, and how should I say it… I found that they do not respond well. Many come, but their concentration is weak."
The king asked again.
"Will it end with the destruction of Liao?"
Youngwoo did not know well what would come after that.
Still, it was the king's question.
He had to answer as best he could.
"There has been no contact with Song yet, but once Jin gathers and arranges all of Liao's occupied territories, they will come into contact with Song as well."
The king answered,
"They asked us to let them meet Jin."
"Ah, yes."
"Our envoy went to Song, and there they asked that when he next came, he bring people from Jin with him."
It was a new fact, but it belonged to a field Youngwoo did not know.
"The envoy said he understood and returned, but we cannot arrange for them to meet each other."
Youngwoo almost asked why, then held his tongue.
This was a world where even speaking the facts could turn into difficulty.
"Do you know why?"
"I do not know, Your Majesty."
"If they cooperate with Song, their military strength will grow too large. Song intends to borrow Jin's strength to strike Liao…"
This was not something that could be stopped simply by trying to stop it.
Youngwoo thought that soon enough, Song envoys would make contact with Jin.
If there was intent, it would be achieved.
On the other hand, that would accelerate Liao's fall.
But if Jin lost in the great field battle, Song would not be able to rise again.
It truly was a contest on which heaven and earth would be staked.
His thoughts continued, but he did not speak them aloud.