Chapter 164: Toyotomi Tsurumatsu [1] No matter how many times he looked, it was definitely steroid decoction.
The closer they got, the stronger the smell became, until eventually even the rest of the party noticed it.
Dolseok, who had been preaching the steroid decoction in the marketplace right up until yesterday, was the first to flare his nostrils.
"Young Master, this… it is, right?"
"I think so too. What in the world happened here?"
Kanghyeok stroked beneath his chin.
Surely Dongpa from Hanyang had not come all the way here and taught them.
More importantly, judging from the color of the decoction, the concentration was far stronger than the one Dongpa had used.
It was the exact dosage Kanghyeok had made with the deliberate intention of ruining the Japanese commanders.
Is it some kind of local medicine? No, that can't be right.
If it had been, Japan would not have been able to start not only the Imjin War but even the Sengoku period.
They all would have dropped dead on their own before even reaching thirty.
While Kanghyeok still could not get a grasp on it, Dolseok stepped forward again.
True to someone with extraordinary memory, he never missed even the smallest thing.
"One of the bastards over there looks familiar. Don't you remember him?"
"Who? That one? No, I don't remember him at all."
"He was with that Japanese commander, the one called Kuki Yoshitaka."
"Yoshitaka…? Ah, now that you mention it, he does seem a bit familiar… or maybe not."
Just as always, Kanghyeok had not paid much attention to other people while on Tsushima either.
Even now, only a day after leaving, the only faces he could remember at best were Sayaga's and Yoshitoshi's.
The man Dolseok pointed at was not some breathtaking beauty either, so there was no reason he would have stuck in Kanghyeok's mind.
Seeing him still looking uncertain, Dolseok continued.
Unlike Kanghyeok, he looked completely certain.
"He was definitely with them. Look carefully. The way they're boiling that stuff and all… isn't it exactly the same as how you taught those men?"
"That's true. The smell and the color are exactly that steroid decoction."
Even if he could not remember faces, Kanghyeok's memory for medicinal ingredients was twice as good as Dolseok's.
So at least when it came to analyzing steroid decoction, he could be said to be exact.
"It looks like those Yoshitaka bastards came here and taught them. Those sons of bitches were drinking that stuff with great enthusiasm."
"Ah. So that's what happened. Those bastards always got ahead of us and left ahead of us too."
Kanghyeok thought back to Yoshitaka's group happily taking the medicine.
Kuki Moritaka in particular, Yoshitaka's son, had been taking twice the amount Kanghyeok had told him to.
He had probably done that because once he drank it and trained his body, the difference showed immediately.
It did not hurt, and it felt like his body was getting stronger.
From the point of view of people who knew nothing, it would have looked like all gain and no loss.
Those bastards. They don't even know it's poison, and they're spreading it around on their own. Licorice root isn't some precious herb either, so it must have been easy enough to get anywhere.
For once, Kanghyeok wore a deeply satisfied smile.
If things kept going like this, before the war even began, half the samurai could be turned into drug addicts.
Then during the war, they would obviously start dropping dead one after another from unexplained kidney failure, acute myocardial infarction, severe infections, and the like.
If the commanders start dying off, our chances of winning will go up too.
Of course, there was no way to know how much influence this would really have.
For now, he decided to think positively.
There were even stories that when Britain struck Qing China, one reason it was able to gain the upper hand was opium, that monstrous narcotic.
Steroids were not as terrifying as opium, but they would still have quite an effect.
Especially if they were becoming this widespread.
"They're boiling it here too."
Dolseok muttered with a sickened expression.
They had done so even on tiny Iki Island, and also in the port city of Nagato.
Now that they could smell steroid decoction even here in Nagoya, Dolseok's reaction was not especially strange.
"Hmm."
Kanghyeok, on the other hand, could not remain endlessly excited.
Nagoya was a city that had appeared over and over again in dramas about the Imjin War.
Forward base Nagoya… but this is a little strange. Was the Nagoya portrayed in those dramas a different Nagoya?
The Nagoya in those dramas had clearly been an enormous port city.
It had a castle, several large ships, and above all, he remembered it being described as one of Japan's leading cities at the time, with a population of two hundred thousand.
But this place was nothing more than a small fishing village.
That's strange. Maybe the dramas exaggerated too much.
There was no way for Kanghyeok to know.
"Ah, Young Master. We've arrived."
"Mm."
Kanghyeok had always believed it was best to cast aside pointless worries.
Whether this Nagoya was the same Nagoya from the dramas or not was something he had absolutely no way of knowing right now.
So he promptly erased it from his mind.
Instead, he chose to think only pleasant thoughts.
"I wonder what they'll give us here."
"They'll probably lay out a hell of a spread. These Japanese bastards seem to be putting in a lot of effort."
"That's what I'm saying. They're even preparing things exactly to suit our tastes."
In truth, the distance from Dongnae to Nagoya was not that great.
If they had moved diligently, they could have arrived in only a few days.
And yet the party had already taken more than two months.
That was because everywhere they went, they were treated to banquets, sightseeing, and lavish welcoming feasts.
As a result, Hwang Yungil and Kim Seongil, who needed to deliver the state letter quickly and receive a reply, were burning with impatience.
Even now, their expressions were not very bright as they looked at the estate busily preparing for another banquet.
Those old men. Every night they get along just fine while worrying about the country.
At first, because one was of the Easterners and the other of the Westerners, they had been awkward with each other.
But these days, they were practically best friends.
It seemed there were two major incidents that had triggered that.
As for Kim Seongil, Elder Hwang Yungil gave his own blood for his nephew, so… that was a favor he could never repay.
The other was Yoshitoshi's testimony.
Ever since hearing that war was almost certain to break out, they no longer seemed able to let go of their suspicion.
At every place they go, there are no soldiers at all, no military facilities whatsoever… that probably only makes them more suspicious.
If they had seen it all without hearing anything first, they probably would have just let it pass.
But after hearing Yoshitoshi and Kanghyeok speak, it was certainly strange.
How could a country that had gone through war nonstop leave so little trace of it everywhere?
Unless someone was deliberately manipulating what they were shown, it had to be impossible.
It doesn't matter much to me anyway.
Kanghyeok already knew the war would happen, and he even knew roughly when.
He was a bit surprised that it seemed to be coming much faster than he had first expected.
Still, if he counted from the diplomatic mission, there were about two years left.
And it's not as if hurrying would make things happen faster.
The Japanese were hiding their intentions, but outwardly they were treating the party generously.
To reject all of that and race straight to Kyoto would have been a breach of propriety.
It was not even possible anyway.
So, since things had already come to this, Kanghyeok figured he might as well diligently eat the food being offered and build up his strength.
And on the way, half-treat sick Japanese commanders just enough to turn them into future cripples.
"Oh. Look at that. That clam there is…"
Of course, Dolseok and Makbong were not thinking anything like that.
They were simply excited because there was food in front of them.
"They've got giant clams today too."
"Giant clams? Is that the name of that shellfish?"
"Yeah. It'll probably be pretty good. Just like a port city, they've prepared quite a lot of seafood here too."
Kanghyeok looked around the garden where the banquet preparations were in full swing with a satisfied expression.
Almost all the food had been prepared from the kinds Joseon people liked.
At first he had thought perhaps their tastes just happened to overlap, but later he learned that was not the case.
It was thanks to the circular Yoshitoshi, the lord of Tsushima Island, had sent to each daimyō.
He said he had informed them of the foods Joseon people liked.
According to that, it listed in detail not only meats Joseon people enjoyed, such as beef, wild boar, pork, chicken, and pheasant, but also seafood like yellowtail, Spanish mackerel, octopus, shrimp, and crab, as well as vegetables, dried seafood, fruit, and other foods Joseon people liked.
Each daimyō was laying out as many of the items on that list as they could prepare.
So it was clear that the hospitality being shown to the diplomatic mission was no ordinary level of courtesy.
Of course, Kim Seongil described this as a tactic of hiding a dagger behind honeyed words.
In the real history, he was the one who insisted there wouldn't be a war, and now he's the one suspicious of it most strongly.
That alone made Kanghyeok's trip to Japan a considerable success.
That night too, after another lavishly held banquet where everyone ate their fill, Kim Seongil only tightened his grip on suspicion even further.
"As expected, this place too was peaceful to an absurd degree."
"There was not even a single soldier carrying a matchlock."
Hwang Yungil wore much the same expression.
Envoy Heo Seong recorded every bit of their conversation.
From time to time, Kanghyeok's words were recorded too, and they were usually things like this.
"Judging from that daimyō's face earlier, he looked sinister beyond measure."
It was just random nonsense he was throwing out, but because trust in Kanghyeok was so high by now, no one took it lightly.
Even Heo Seong wrote it down with emphasis.
Every night, the party reinforced their suspicions of Japan and continued their long journey.
By the time they finally arrived in Kyoto, it was already midsummer.
"It's hot."
"Summer here is even hotter."
Since the country lay farther south than Joseon, the weather was extremely hot.
Everyone was growing more desperate than ever to deliver the state letter, receive the reply, and leave.
Unexpectedly, however, the person who came out to receive the diplomatic mission was not Hideyoshi himself.
It was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew, a man named Hidetsugu.
The moment he saw the members of the diplomatic mission, he spoke with a troubled expression.
"The Kanpaku is currently away on a campaign to Dosando. For now, I will escort you to a nearby temple."
"A campaign?"
Hwang Yungil asked back, his face full of displeasure.
But Hidetsugu only looked even more troubled than before.
Judging by his acting alone, he might as well have been an actor.
"Yes. He has promised to return soon, so you should not have to wait very long. I apologize for this discourtesy."
"Huh."
Anger rose in him, but there was little he could do about it.
If they said the man was not there, then what could he do?
He could hardly throw a fit and demand they summon someone who was absent.
So the party helplessly made their way to the temple Hidetsugu had prepared for them.
One fortunate thing was that the temple they were led to was very large and also fairly cool.
Moreover, the lavish treatment they had received all along the way continued here without exception.
Small feasts and grand feasts were held almost every other day.
Thanks to that, they were also able to meet Hideyoshi's key figures in Kyoto almost daily.
"Hmm. So how goes the campaign?"
"There is no need to worry. The Kanpaku himself has gone in person."
At Hidetsugu's words, Hwang Yungil looked completely dumbfounded.
Why would he be worried about Hideyoshi?
What he meant was that the man should return quickly.
He turned his head away with a displeased look.
It was a particularly noisy corner even within the lively banquet hall.
"Well now. After drinking the decoction Physician Baek prescribed me, the pain that had tormented me for so long vanished as if washed away."
The man laughing boisterously was the famous Katō Kiyomasa.
He was a commander widely known by the nickname one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake, and true to that name, he was a master of the spear.
Yeoni herself had assessed him this way.
"If I fought him with all I had, I think I could manage a draw."
And was she not the same woman who had confidently said she could defeat everyone else in only a few exchanges?
Because of that, Kanghyeok was putting particular effort into prescribing him the worst possible medicine.
"Haha. It's a medicine you can take continuously, so while I'm here, I'll brew it for you personally."
"You really are too good-hearted for your own good."
"Helping an outstanding warrior like you is my reward, General."
While Kanghyeok busily worked his serpent's tongue, someone came up and whispered something to Kiyomasa.
He did not know what was said, but it was clearly bad news.
The face of Kiyomasa, who had been laughing boisterously until just now, stiffened at once.
"What? Again?"
"Has something happened?"
"Ah. No. I must go at once."
Kiyomasa hurriedly rose to his feet and asked the servant who had brought the news, "How is Lord Tsurumatsu's condition?"
"His face has turned blue, and he is having trouble breathing."
"Mm. Let's go at once."
"Yes."
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