An Unexpected Shipwright
In Changseong, Sima Shang tilted her head the moment she heard my words. “So you’re really building ships?”
“That’s right.”
Sima Shang looked genuinely puzzled. “You’ve got a pretty big merchant group, don’t you? Can’t you just pull the supplies and people from there?”
It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of it. But the merchant group’s foundation lay in the inland states of Zhao and Wei, so their shipwrights wouldn’t be any different from what we had here. Bringing people over from Qi or Chu would be its own headache. Above all, I still didn’t want to reveal my direct ties to the group. Those in the know already understood I had some connection to it, but very few realized I was its true owner. If I kept mobilizing the merchant group so obviously in my own movements, I’d be handing my enemies a trail to follow. Even the way I gathered intelligence from places I couldn’t reach myself and had funds sent back periodically was being handled with extreme caution.
“Won’t everyone with any real power in Handan already know? That the merchant group is run by you and Lord Xinling?”
“Even so, the news probably hasn’t reached Yan.”
“Who knows? When they see that merchant group operating freely across Zhao, Wei, and Yan without any obvious noble backers, don’t you think they’d suspect there are connections I’m not telling them about?”
Sima Shang had a point. In Yan, Grand Tutor Guo Wu had been the one watching over my merchant group, but since Guo Wu himself led the faction that supported me, linking the two wouldn’t be difficult.
“Still, there’s no need to go through the hassle of contacting the merchant group again.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Why not? You need someone to design the ships, right? You said that Yeo Hong-seong person can handle the actual building.”
“Her craftsmanship really was impressive.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll do it.”
This time it was my turn to tilt my head. What did she suddenly mean by that? I hadn’t hidden my expression, so Sima Shang answered my unspoken question in her usual blunt tone.
“What else would I mean? The ship designs, obviously. I know how to make them.”
“Ships?”
I had long since realized that Sima Shang possessed extraordinary talent and excelled in many fields, but even so, I never imagined she would know shipbuilding. After all, she came from Zhao—an inland state—and had lived in Yanmen and Dai, the northernmost regions farthest from any water. She was far closer to the “northern horses” half of the old saying “northern horses, southern boats.” Yet her posture overflowed with such confidence that I couldn’t brush it off as mere bravado or empty words.
“It’s only to the level of knowing how they’re made, of course. I’ve never actually built one myself. There will be plenty of trial and error. Still, it’s better than starting from absolute zero with no foundation whatsoever.”
It was a solid argument. Rather than building blindly with nothing to go on, it would be far more economical and efficient to work with someone who at least possessed the theory.
If we could secure ships quickly, it would also be easier to turn Changseong into one of the merchant group’s bases. The time I spent stuck here, unable to project proper influence outside, would shrink as well.
Killing several birds with one stone.
I sent a silent thanks to the impossibly learned Li Mu, who had even taught Sima Shang knowledge about ships that might never see use, while grasping both her hands tightly and pleading with genuine earnestness.
“I’m counting on you. Please.”
“Eh? Uh, umm… all right.”
Sima Shang looked thoroughly flustered, clearly not expecting me to react with such open delight. The sudden closeness triggered her instincts to pull away, but her fierce pride refused to allow any retreat, so her reason forcibly held her body in place. Caught between the two impulses, she twitched and trembled.
I gazed at her with an expression of deep gratitude, but inside I was smirking. Just as planned. To suddenly press the opponent until they were babbling and then extract the exact answer I wanted—it was a truly devious little trick. After living among people who tried to tear me apart from every direction, being knocked left and right, such schemes now came to me as naturally as breathing.
Well. I had already spent nearly fifteen years in this Warring States era. It was still too early to say I had fully adapted to this barbaric age, but I had certainly begun to melt into it.
“F-first let go of my hands and talk…!”
While I was quietly savoring my own cunning, Sima Shang regained her composure and put real strength into her grip. She must have been quite shaken; despite being stronger than me from constant training, she still fumbled slightly while pulling her hand free. Once she finally freed herself, she rubbed the captured hand with the other and grumbled sullenly.
“Who works someone who just arrived? Honestly.”
She complained even though she would carry out her duties properly.
“Well, if you say you need me that badly, I suppose there’s no helping it.”
There it was. The development had unfolded exactly as I predicted. I had already grasped every one of Sima Shang’s patterns.
“Then I’ll introduce you to Yeo Hong-seong, the one you’ll be working with. You’ve already met the steward, right?”
The county of Changseong had become my fief, which meant all its produce belonged to me. However, the county magistrate who governed it was appointed by the king, so I had placed someone directly under me to supervise Changseong’s administration. I had also entrusted that person with the authority to use my personal assets for county affairs when necessary. I called this role the steward and had appointed Jeon Gwang to it.
After our last discussion about future plans, Jeon Gwang had decided to throw in his lot with me completely. When I immediately gave him the steward position—essentially making him second-in-command among my direct subordinates—he was deeply moved and accepted without hesitation.
Although Jeon Gwang had held considerable influence back in Yan’s Ji Dan, I hadn’t gone far, so there was no major problem. Jing Ke and Nogucheon had grown used to their duties, and Wumyeong handled our martial protection. In this way, a basic hierarchy had formed among my people. Yan’s Ji Dan was left entirely to the fearless trio. For Changseong’s affairs, Jeon Gwang would manage civil administration while Yeo Hong-seong took charge of military matters. On top of that, Jeon Gwang would handle financial oversight such as warehouse management, and ship construction would fall to Yeo Hong-seong.
Incidentally, the contest between Wumyeong and Yeo Hong-seong had ended in her complete victory—three wins out of three matches. After watching it, Jing Ke had remarked with self-deprecating humor that the number of people better with a blade than her had gone from two to three. In their final bout, Yeo Hong-seong had apparently fought with a sword instead of her iron hammer. According to her, Wumyeong fought purely on instinct and, never having properly learned swordsmanship, had clear limits. It sounded like an insult, but since his roots were in being a butcher, it couldn’t be helped. By contrast, Yeo Hong-seong was of Yue royal blood, a veteran of a hundred battles who had received martial training from childhood and experienced every kind of real combat. Even if their physical ability and natural talent were similar, the two had started from completely different places.
“Hmm, so this Yeo Hong-seong is really that strong?”
“It’s no joke. She’s the first person I’ve ever seen beat a tiger.”
“A tiger?”
Sima Shang’s eyes widened in surprise. I wondered if she didn’t believe me, but her next words made me the one doubting reality.
“Uncle Chwal caught tigers in his youth too, apparently. So it must be true.”
“Chwal?”
“Ah, Uncle Li Mu. His real name is Chwal and Mu is his courtesy name. The courtesy name is so famous that everyone just calls him Li Mu.”
Just how much of a monster was our Li Mu? He excelled at administration, turning the declining Yanmen and Dai into places where people could live without worrying about food. He was superb in battle, devouring the Xiongnu and defeating Qin—said to be stronger than the combined strength of all the other states—without even needing a coalition army. He had raised a disciple like Sima Shang… and on top of all that, his pure martial prowess was at the level of tiger-catching.
I must keep Li Mu as an ally at all costs.
Yet even with such a monster on their side, Zhao had been destroyed and Qin had unified the world. Wang Jian, who belonged to the same school of military thought, was in Qin, but from everything I had heard and experienced of Li Mu so far, I doubted even Wang Jian could have beaten him.
Then the result is obvious. Killed after the hunt. He must have been purged internally.
I would either wait for that moment to pull him to my side, or eliminate the faction plotting his purge before it happened. Lian Po, whom I had met last time, was impressive, but he was already quite old.
Just as Li Mu attached Sima Shang to me, it would be good to attach someone to Li Mu as well.
The problem was that I didn’t have a suitable person. Sima Shang had been a tremendous help to me, and we had grown close enough to be friends, so I was happy to keep her at my side. But Li Mu would likely resent it if I attached what amounted to a monitor. If he intended to continue cooperating with me, he would accept even if unhappy, but that would only plant the feeling that neither of us truly trusted the other.
Just as I had revealed our merchant group’s greatest intellectual asset—double-entry bookkeeping—to Sima Shang, I needed to send someone who could stay close without hiding anything. That way, if a crisis suddenly struck Li Mu, we could respond immediately.
In any case, I would focus on that again once I found the right person. For now, I brought Sima Shang to the temporary shipyard.
“Yeo Hong-seong! I’ve brought someone who knows how to build ships!”