Preparing for the Worst

"I offer my congratulations on your promotion, my lord."

"Haha. Thank you. Isn't it all because you've helped me so much?"

"Come now. What help could a lowborn wretch like me have been?"

Yi Deok-on took the cup Maksoe poured for him and smiled.

He had been raised to Sajae Siseung—seung of the Sajae Si, junior sixth rank—for the merit of having assisted the old general Yi Gwon at Seogyeong and distinguished himself in the campaign against the Red Turbans. After ten years of shuffling through the lowest posts, he had at last entered the ranks of the chamsang. That was the minimum standing required to attend the morning court held by the sovereign of Goryeo and look upon the royal countenance with one's own eyes. For a man from a country village in southern Gyeongsang, long dismissed as a southern barbarian, becoming a chamsang official was the glory of his house.

"Haven't you risen too high now to share a drinking table with the likes of me? A man of the chamsang sitting elbow to elbow with a lowborn entertainer..."

"Oh, come off it. What do you take me for? When I first came up to Gaegyeong, how much did I owe to you? And now I'm supposed to turn my face away?"

Yi Deok-on and Maksoe tipped their cups and burst out laughing.

Ten years ago, on the strength of merit earned by his son-in-law An Hyeon, he had received a post never written in his stars—Gyeongsi Seoseung, junior eighth rank in the Capital Market Office—and begun his life in Gaegyeong. He had arrived with his body servant Sukji, country bumpkin written all over him. Maksoe had found him a house and even smoothed over the brutal hazing that senior clerks and petty officials inflicted on a new man.

Had it not been for Maksoe, introduced by his in-law An Jigeol, a green rustic like Yi Deok-on would never have adapted so well to life as a minor functionary in the capital. Clerks who sneered at his country origins, colleagues who preened because they had been born in Gaegyeong—none of them dared push too far once they learned that the Masi gang of the back alleys was watching his back. And when the Market Office's work meant bringing to heel the great licensed merchants who had powerful patrons behind them, there was nothing Maksoe could not settle once he stepped in.

Of course, one might also say it was all thanks to that splendid son-in-law of his, the richest man in Goryeo...

"When I first laid eyes on you, my lord, this Maksoe was nothing but a marketplace thug. But the lord and the elder brother looked after us, and you helped us too, and now every one of my brothers lives with a full belly. Isn't that so?"

"We're as good as one family. We ought to help each other. I help you, you help me, and we see to my son-in-law's affairs besides. What could be better?"

"Hahaha. Right you are, my lord!"

Different in station, the two men who had kept company across ten years fit together as they always had. For all his rough and vicious looks, Maksoe always treated the father-in-law of his sky-high lord, An Hyeon, with respect. Yi Deok-on, for his part, truly counted as a friend this man of low entertainer's birth who looked after him all the same, never scolded him no matter how much of a fool he made of himself, and even backed him generously with money. Having been quietly slighted among Gaegyeong's great clans as the son of a country hojang whose ancestors had never produced a single official, he had learned to turn the matter around and see it from the other side.

"Thanks to you, my lord, our business at Byeokrando has gotten a great deal easier. Nobody comes poking through our warehouses and ships, pretending to inspect them..."

"Aigoo. Thanks to you people, no one is going hungry even in this famine. Shouldn't the Sajae Si extend at least that much convenience?"

The Sajae Si handled everything to do with sea and river—fish weirs, fishing boats, and the tribute of seafood to the palace. Profits drawn from sea, river, and mountain fell under its charge, and Byeokrando was no exception. It managed the merchant ships arriving from abroad, collecting taxes, no great sum, and inspecting the goods. Every merchant plying the Jiangnan trade had, at least in name, chosen Maksoe as agent, so the clerks and junior officials of the Sajae Si could not treat him lightly. Still, it was true that once Yi Deok-on came to oversee the office's practical work, matters ran more smoothly than before. From the pansa at the head of the Sajae Si down to the lowest clerk, not one household had gone empty-bellied through this year's brutal famine, and that was thanks to the goodwill Yi Deok-on had spent.

"My lord, what became of that matter of the royal grant for the Gyeongsang estates?"

"Ah, that? Fortunately Lord Seungam took care of it."

At Maksoe's question, Yi Deok-on shrugged and smiled.

Dealings with Gaegyeong's merchants, and keeping working officials from throwing their weight around—those Yi Deok-on could settle smoothly on his own. But private fields, royally granted estates, and negotiations with great merchants whose backing was nothing to scoff at, where the interests of the capital's great clans and men of power cut sharp, always required a political patron. Once it would have been Yi Gwon, Prince of Owon, wearing that sly smile and making the rounds of the court ministers. He had retired and stepped back. Fortunately Yi In-im, risen to the Jaechu on the merit of suppressing the Red Turbans, had stepped forward in his place.

"Lord Seungam certainly handles things quietly and cleanly."

"He does. I'm always learning from the man."

The skill of a negotiator who reconciled the interested parties, promised a suitable share of the profit, sent gifts, and brought a matter to a smooth close; a balanced manner that earned no one's grudge; a habit of working the practical business without ever stepping to the front of power. That was Yi In-im. He had handled with care the vast new farms the An clan had opened, parceling them out appropriately among the royal Inner Treasury, Empress Dowager Hong, and various illustrious houses and men of power, and so removing any grounds for trouble. Of course ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yi In-im, the Seongju Yi clan, and even Yi Gwon, withdrawn to the back rooms, had taken no small share for themselves.

"So the An clan's estates now come to..."

"Seven thousand gyeol. Seven thousand. And the tenant farmers working them number over seventeen thousand..."

For a single house—more precisely, for a house whose members amounted to little more than the son-in-law An Hyeon and the grandson An On, two people, and thus in effect one man—it was far too much land. If the fact became known, every man of power in Goryeo would be drooling. But because the royal house and Goryeo's power-holders had each taken a bite and become landlords themselves, on the surface there was nothing to object to. Southern Gyeongsang was, from Gaegyeong, a remote country corner, far from the eyes of the capital's great clans besides...

The two of them went on tipping their cups. Once the drink had risen in him, Maksoe eased the subject out.

"My lord, have you thought about what I said before?"

"You mean preparing to leave Gaegyeong to escape the Red Turbans?"

"Yes."

Yi Deok-on drained his cup in one swallow and turned it in his fingers.

A letter from his son-in-law An Hyeon, passed to him in secret through Maksoe. It said that the Red Turban host which had besieged Seogyeong was only a portion of the Red Turbans who had taken Liaodong, and that they would set their sights on Goryeo again. A prediction no different from what the old general Yi Gwon, his face full of worry, had pressed on Yi In-im at an earlier drinking table, urging him again and again to prepare. Now even the old general had resigned his post, and the court, flushed with the victory at Seogyeong, had let down its guard.

Yi Deok-on thought of his precious son-in-law's letter, fretting over his father-in-law, and gave a bitter smile.

"Word of the imperial capital of the superior state comes in on the ships that call at Byeokrando. The Red Turban bastards who took Liaodong are straining to break Yongping and push into the Central Plains, but the Yuan court is blocking them tooth and nail."

"Hm..."

"They say that host is over a hundred thousand. If they're pushed out of there, where do they come? The lord himself said the only place left for them is this Goryeo..."

Maksoe watched Yi Deok-on—that amiable, guileless man—emptying his cup in silence, and his face tightened with frustration.

Already Maksoe's younger brothers, the Masi gang, were quietly shifting their kin and their lodgings to Byeokrando. Preparations were finished so that a dozen great ships might always lie there, ready for everyone to get clear in safety. Lord An Hyeon had charged them to prepare thoroughly in advance, lest his people be swept up in a sudden war.

The trouble was that the two most important things the lord had charged him with were not going as he wished.

"Listen. It's been ten years now since I came up to the capital and began drawing the state's stipend. At first I was a country bumpkin, lost in the splendor of life in Gaegyeong, but I've come to feel some sense of duty as an official of the realm."

"My lord..."

"Once a man has eaten the state's grain and become an official, how can his first thought be to abandon his king and his people and run?"

"My lord, why are you doing this? The lord charged me over and over to look after you, his own father-in-law..."

Yi Deok-on smiled and nodded.

"I know very well how filial my son-in-law is, and how kind. Didn't he sail all the way to distant Seogyeong to look after me, all because of this worthless father-in-law?"

"......"

"If I've done two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠things right in my life, the first is that I was given a good and precious daughter. And the second is that I matched that precious girl with a son-in-law worth his weight in gold..."

Yi Deok-on recalled the reading of his son-in-law An Hyeon's four pillars of fate, which his brother-in-law Song Han-gi had interpreted twelve years before.

Song Han-gi's talent truly was exceptional. The Dongpyeong Yi, who for generations had remained no more than country hojang—only yesterday, it seemed, he had worried that he himself was too mediocre to keep the house properly. And now he was a chamsang official, looking upon the king's countenance at every court assembly. Was it not all because he had been blessed with a precious son-in-law? If he had one regret, it was only that he longed to hold in his own arms the grandson On-i, born of Wolbi, the daughter he could have set in his eye without pain.

"Then isn't that all the more reason? While you're getting clear, go to Busanpo and hold the young master yourself..."

"I might lie that I've taken ill and ask for leave. That, perhaps, I could do. But how could I abandon king and people when the realm is in peril and run off alone? I haven't the heart for it."

Maksoe looked at the stubborn Yi Deok-on and beat his chest in frustration.

"My lord, after all you've suffered, what has the realm actually done for you? Isn't this Goryeo a place where youngsters less diligent than you, who've earned no merit at all, climb in no time to the chamsang, and even to the dangsang?"

"Hey now. What if someone hears you..."

Yi Deok-on waved him off and filled Maksoe's cup.

In Gaegyeong, Maksoe saw to every inconvenience, so the only dependent Yi Deok-on had to worry over was Sukji, the single body servant who had followed him up from Busanpo. He enjoyed the splendor of the capital's gisaeng and its pleasures, refused the remarriage others urged on him, and kept not even a concubine. His daughter and his sons were well looked after by that excellent son-in-law, so he was a man with nothing weighing him down. He had only to do his duty as an official eating the state's grain. He was the first of the Dongpyeong Yi to serve at court. How could he show a shameful face to his ancestors and his descendants?

"Enough of that talk. Pour the wine."

"If you say so, I'm the one left in a bind, my lord..."

Between cups passing back and forth, the night deepened.

Maksoe left the drunken Yi Deok-on in the care of his regular gisaeng and slipped quietly out into the night.

A night road under a drizzle. Following the great east-west thoroughfare, he and his party came to a residence near Sungin Gate. Men who had been watching the surroundings in secret came out and bowed their heads to Maksoe.

"Boys, do I reek of liquor?"

"Yes. A little..."

"Damn it all. Nothing for it."

Grumbling, Maksoe handed his wet straw rain-cape and sedge hat to his men. He checked his appearance here and there, then climbed the wall and went into the residence. With careful steps he entered the inner quarters, knelt before the lighted paper-screen door, and spoke low.

"M-Madam. This humble Maksoe."

"Come in."

Maksoe opened the door, taut with nerves, stepped into the inner room lit by an oil lamp, and carefully shut it behind him.

Inside sat Court Lady Bak, passing from middle age into old age, and Lady Lim Ok-geum—elder sister of Lim Pyeong, mother of his lord An Hyeon, stripped of her status and reduced to a commoner—sitting perfectly still. Maksoe flattened himself in a full prostration, then knelt meekly, a posture that did not suit his vicious face.

"Sit at ease. At ease."

"N-no. How would this humble one dare?"

Lady Lim Ok-geum looked at the thoroughly cowed Maksoe without expression.

"You've come again today because of that matter from before?"

"Y-yes, Madam!"

Maksoe swallowed and repeated what he had said to Yi Deok-on.

"All things considered, Busanpo—or, if Busanpo doesn't suit you, Jiangnan outright—would be best. If you go there you can be with the lord, and receive the treatment Madam was always meant to have..."

Lady Lim Ok-geum took her eyes from Maksoe's rambling and fingered the letter that had come to her. A letter written in the Hangul her son, the young lord, had made with his own hand.

A splendid son who, though born of precious blood, had gone down to the countryside alone and built a power greater even than Goryeo's. That child, worrying over a mother who had done nothing for him, had sent her a letter...

Lady Lim Ok-geum quietly stroked the letter her son An Hyeon had sent.

"If Your Ladyship doesn't go, this humble one is a dead man! Th-the elder brother charged me without fail to see Madam safely away..."

"I will see to that matter myself."

"Madam, but..."

"Did I not say I would see to it myself?"

Maksoe, who had been on the verge of tears, swallowed hard at the cold voice. A chill beauty that did not suit a woman of forty. The dignity gathered on that snow-white face sent a shiver down the spine. He flattened himself and trembled.

"Th-this humble one only..."

"I understand your worry well. If I have need of you, I will ask. Know that."

"Yes! Yes, Madam! Th-then this humble one will..."

Maksoe made another full prostration, then edged backward out of the room.

Under the oil lamp, Lady Lim Ok-geum frowned that beautiful face slightly and sank into thought.

While her son roamed the world and laid his foundations, all she had done was call endlessly upon her mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Hong, making her face known and pouring out her devotion. In summer she offered cool ramie garments. In winter she had beautiful fur robes made of precious sable and presented them. At every festival she prepared rare foods with care and brought gifts, working in silence to win the favor of Empress Dowager Hong and the Hong clan.

For a long time Lady Lim Ok-geum had asked for nothing, only fulfilling a daughter-in-law's duty in attending her mother-in-law. The heart of Empress Dowager Hong, who had reckoned that this woman of low slave birth had played her part in ruining the child, had loosened a great deal.

But that alone was not enough.

When the time came for her precious son to recover the station that ought to have been his, what would be required to prove that status? She herself must not remain a woman of low slave birth, nor a body stripped of rank and reduced to a commoner. At the least she had to slip the shackles of her deposition, and if possible recover her original station—the rank of ongju.

Why did the King of Goryeo, Bayan Temür, who stood to her as a younger brother-in-law, treat with such courtesy Princess Deoknyeong, his elder brother's wife, and even Consort Hui, Lady Yun, mother of the nephew she herself had poisoned? Because the station of a former king's consort carried that much justification, and that much meaning. It was also, no doubt, because they had no child to succeed them, and so were no threat...

"They say a strange rumor is circulating in the palace?"

She asked it quietly of Court Lady Bak, who had attended her and been driven from the palace alongside her.

"Yes. There's a rumor, passed in the dark, that the young heir born of Her Highness the Princess has in truth already passed away..."

"Then the heir now in the palace?"

"It seems there's talk that a baby brought in from outside was switched for the dead heir."

Lady Lim Ok-geum tapped the desk with her fingers and fell to thinking.

"The royal physician who attended Her Highness's birth met grass-bandits on his way home to the country and came to grief... and the old court lady who served as midwife ailed and wasted until she breathed her last."

"Mouths stopped, then."

"Before that, there was also word that a court lady ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had been with child left the palace, gave birth outside, and died."

Court Lady Bak, who had spent her whole life in the palace, still kept up her acquaintance with the old court ladies and the eunuchs within. Whatever happened there, it could not escape the eyes of those who worked inside...

"One never knows, so refrain from contact for a while. A long tail gets stepped on. His Majesty seems to be moving to stop mouths, and you could come to harm."

"I will do so."

After sending Court Lady Bak out, Lady Lim Ok-geum sat alone with her thoughts.

The news that the King of Goryeo, Bayan Temür, had gained an heir—and a legitimate eldest son at that, born of a Mongol princess. She had not shown it, but she had been bitterly disappointed. But if what she had just heard was true? It might rather become an opportunity. Only, for the present, she had to wait upon the hour. To seize the chance when Heaven offered it, one had to be ready.

"So the Red Turbans may invade, and Gaegyeong may be in danger..."

Rather than think of fleeing that danger, she pondered how she might turn it to the achievement of her purpose.

"If it comes to that, His Majesty will seek safety for his own person. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager will leave Gaegyeong with him, and they will move together..."

Her younger brother Lim Pyeong had declared that her son's predictions had never once been wrong. Her brother had a foul temper, but he was not a man who talked nonsense. The Red Turbans would surely invade, and Gaegyeong would fall into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠danger.

Lady Lim Ok-geum began to turn that clever head of hers upon the question of how she might win the favor of the Empress Dowager, and of Bayan Temür, King of Goryeo.

"If they take refuge... where will they go?"