Monopolizing Fortunes (113)
Monopolizing Fortunes (113)
"The saying that two tigers cannot live on one mountain exists for a reason. As everyone knows, at the First Prince's side is the eunuch Tae-jin, who moves like the tongue in his mouth. I understand the Second Prince also has such a person?"
"Grand Academician Jang Chun-man."
"Even I, who was in the imperial palace for barely four days, heard talk of their characters, so Minister Jeon would surely know far better."
They were greedy men who could not rest until they had seized power, wealth, and women—everything. Tae-jin and Jang Chun-man were both the same.
Do Tong-dal continued.
"When the second man's cunning tongue meets the tyrant's killing intent, the first one cast out can only be the third man. History proves it. I apologize, but I will stop here. The decision is yours to make, after all."
Do Tong-dal left the room despite Yang Su-pan calling after him. Watching him go, Yang Su-pan shook his head.
"He isn't normally the sort of friend to speak so bluntly...... Heh heh!"
Jeon Su-bang, who had been deep in thought, asked Yang Su-pan.
"What do you make of Do Tong-dal's words?"
"They are merely one of many possibilities."
"You mean they aren't even worth considering?"
"If that friend's words had no value, I would not have brought him all the way to Beijing."
"Then you intend to give it some thought."
"To be honest, the reason I have come this far is partly Your Excellency's favor, but a large part of it is thanks to that friend Do Tong-dal. In the worst case, I would have been dumped on some mountain and become beast feed, or I would still be serving as county magistrate in Hangzhou."
"You sound as though your mind is already made up. Without even deliberating."
"I should deliberate. I will."
"What sort of deliberation?"
"Of course, about my own course of action......."
Jeon Su-bang cut Yang Su-pan off.
"Not deliberation over which of the three princes to back?"
"Three? Are you also keeping the Third Prince in mind, Your Excellency?"
"It isn't entirely impossible, is it? According to Do Tong-dal, his imperial aura is the strongest, too."
"But isn't the possibility far too remote?"
"It is. His maternal relatives are weak, and his support base is mostly in the provinces. But it's only because they're scattered—if they gathered, wouldn't they amount to something?"
"The problem is that 'something' isn't enough. And how would you gather strength scattered like grains of sand? The first question is whether the Third Prince even has the will to ascend the imperial throne, and the second is a powerful ally. Unless those conditions are met, that scattered strength will never gather. And even if they are met, it will still be difficult."
"You're right. I'm only gauging whether it's possible. Hmm...... the Third Prince......."
"Your Excellency, what are you deliberating?"
Jeon Su-bang's answer came after a brief pause.
"For what, exactly, are we serving as officials of the nation?"
They could have recited the words of the sages one after another, or dressed it up in fine phrases.
But the two men knew each other far too well to say only such embarrassing things.
"Wealth and power."
"Is that truly all it is for you?"
Yang Su-pan leaned back in his chair and stretched his shoulders. It was a gesture that said he would show his heart exactly as it was.
"How could I not still have some of the ambition of my twenties? If I had never dreamed of becoming an official and making a better world, I would be worse than a common street thug. But the gap between what one wants to do and what one can do can sometimes be wider than the sea. As with our present situation."
"If that gap were narrowed because of me, would you follow me?"
"Your Excellency......."
"In a world that's just barely livable, as it is now, officials like us aren't so bad. We're corrupt, but we do our jobs well, don't we?"
"We do our jobs well."
"But in an age of a foolish ruler, officials like us make the world even darker. Merely preserving our positions, as we do now, makes us sinners. I haven't said this to you, but I consider myself a loyal subject in my own way. I am prepared to give my life for His Majesty. But if the First Prince or the Second Prince were to ascend the throne, could I give my life for them?"
Jeon Su-bang shook his head.
"I cannot be certain. A subject who cannot be loyal is a misfortune to his sovereign as well. And is loyalty something directed only at a person? If one is an official, one ought to serve the people with all loyalty too."
"Um...... the bribes......?"
"As a high official, mustn't one maintain a certain dignity?"
"What you've said so far...... do you have the Third Prince in your heart?"
"I do need time to deliberate."
"Given His Majesty the Emperor's condition, there is not much time."
"I know. I know."
* * *
"He's nearly come around."
"Really?"
"Yes. But why that expression? You should be pleased."
"My plan to stay still and live fat and long is about to come fully true, but if things go wrong, my life could end up as short as a mouse's tail."
"My heart is pounding, rather. How many people get to raise someone to the imperial throne with their own hands?"
"I didn't know Censor Yang had that kind of ambition."
"Neither did I. It came about after meeting the Third Prince."
"Isn't that too much of a change for a county magistrate who only cared about money?"
"My changing is one thing. Now reveal your plan for making the Third Prince emperor."
"The foundation is the plan to divide the realm into three. But in this case, we'll have to divide it in two. To do that, the first step is eliminating the single most powerful contender."
Yang Su-pan was startled enough that his face went white.
"You mean to eliminate the First Prince?"
* * *
In the end, led by Ju Seo-in's hand, he came all the way to the Imperial Palace Secret Archive. She had said she would scream if he didn't go with her, so there was no way around it.
He had expected security to be laid on like the most treacherous mountain fastness in the world. But on the way to the Imperial Palace Secret Archive, the Embroidered Uniform Guard sentries whose presence he sensed numbered only five.
And even those were at a fair distance, on a very safe route with no risk of being caught.
"The security of the Imperial Palace Secret Archive, full of treasures, is unexpectedly lax."
At Do Tong-dal's words, Ju Seo-in gave a short laugh.
"Would anyone in the imperial palace try to learn martial arts? To them, the secret manuals in the Imperial Palace Secret Archive are worth less than the Four Books and Five Classics, and the weapons aren't worth as much as a needle."
Indeed, to the imperial family surrounded by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, martial arts were of no use whatsoever, and the officials permitted access to the Imperial Palace Secret Archive were too busy working to have time to learn them.
Still, there were guards protecting the Imperial Palace Secret Archive, so they had to enter through a rear window.
Like the other buildings of the imperial palace, the Imperial Palace Secret Archive also stood on quite a large scale.
Combining the floor areas of all three stories, it easily looked to be a thousand pyeong. The moment he set foot on the first floor, the distinctive musty smell of books stung his nose.
"Incredible."
Bookshelves a full jang high stood in rows along the walls, and tens of thousands of books were packed tightly onto them.
Ju Seo-in followed Do Tong-dal as he looked around the books, and said.
"They aren't all martial arts books. All sorts of miscellaneous books are mixed in too."
Do Tong-dal pulled out a book at chest height. It was because the title, A Woman's Heart, A Spring Dream, was unusual.
He had wondered, 'If it's a martial arts book, what would it contain?' but the moment he opened it, page after page of bare flesh spread out.
"I—I told you there are plenty that aren't martial arts books!"
Ju Seo-in spun around and stepped onto the stairs going up to the second floor. Do Tong-dal, with a short laugh, put the book back in its place and followed Ju Seo-in.
The bookshelves on the second floor were far fewer than on the first, and naturally the number of volumes was only about a third.
"There are some usable books here, at least."
Do Tong-dal skimmed over them roughly. An ordinary martial artist who entered the Imperial Palace Secret Archive would have had his eyes spinning, but Do Tong-dal felt no particular excitement.
"If there's a martial art you want to learn, tell me. I'll specially permit it."
Ju Seo-in spoke as though granting a great favor, but Do Tong-dal's reaction was lukewarm.
"Well. Nothing in particular......."
"Nothing in particular! The martial arts manuals here are things martial artists would stake their lives to obtain!"
"How do you know that?"
"The Chief Eunuch who first showed me this place said so. He died five years ago, though."
"A martial artist might, but I'm not a martial artist."
"Right. You said you were a Hangzhou thug."
Ju Seo-in shrugged. It was a gesture that said she wouldn't ask further since he said so, but she wouldn't simply believe it either.
Ju Seo-in stepped onto the stairs to the third floor and said.
"You look uninterested now, but once you go up here, you'll change your mind."
Unless it was a martial art that would make him tremendously stronger within two or three months, it would be hard to draw Do Tong-dal's interest.
The third floor was not only narrower than the first and second floors, but the number of bookshelves was far smaller as well. The number of books also seemed not to reach even a hundredth of the first floor's.
"This is the martial art I learned."
Ju Seo-in pulled a book from face height.
Secret Shadow, No Trace.
From the title alone, it was a martial art that only an assassin could have learned.
"Why did you learn this martial art?"
"It was at eye level, so it was easy to pull out."
She had simply stumbled onto it.
"They said all the martial arts here were either lost in the martial world or possess priceless value."
"The Chief Eunuch?"
"Yes. The Chief Eunuch."
Do Tong-dal had been passing in front of the bookshelves with an indifferent air, as if touring a dull sightseeing spot, when his steps halted.
Above Do Tong-dal's head, a book with a familiar title was shelved.
'Huh? The Three Severings Blade Art is here too?'
After asking Ju Seo-in's permission, Do Tong-dal pulled the Three Severings Blade Art from the shelf. From the moment the book was halfway out of the shelf, he knew it was different from the secret manual he had always seen.
This manual was far thicker than the one he had received from Namgung Cheol-hyeon.
The thought 'Is it because of the paper quality?' was proven wrong the moment he opened the first page.
Rustle—. Rustle—.
Do Tong-dal's hand, which had been turning the pages, stopped. The cutting section of the Three Severings Blade Art should clearly have ended here. In the manual he possessed, it had.
But the Three Severings Blade Art of the Imperial Palace Martial Repository continued explaining techniques for a long while after that.
"Oho! So if you do it this way, you can swing much faster! Huh? By occupying the four directions of the thirty-six directions, you can make the speed faster and the variations more dazzling?"
Do Tong-dal muttered aloud while unfolding the Three Severings Blade Art into the empty air with his hands.
The Three Severings Blade Art he had received from Namgung Cheol-hyeon was no different from the Thousand Character Classic, only five hundred characters long.
"So this was the original."
As Do Tong-dal muttered and studied the Three Severings Blade Art, Ju Seo-in asked.
"Do you know that martial art?"
Without taking his eyes off the manual, Do Tong-dal answered half-heartedly.
"It's the martial art I learned."
"Then I'll give it to you."
Under Do Tong-dal's gaze, Ju Seo-in continued.
"In exchange, just do one thing for me."
"What?"
"Tell the person who asked you to read her face that Brother Hyeong-seon has the countenance of an emperor."
"What? You want me to tell such an enormous lie?"
"I—I mean, of course it's an enormous lie. But to a martial artist, a martial arts manual is important enough to stake your life on!"
"I said I'm not a martial artist."
"It's important to a thug too! A martial arts manual."
"Getting any stronger than this is useless anyway. Every thug in the Central Plains stronger than me is already on my side."
Flustered, Ju Seo-in bit her lower lip.
"If you don't promise, I'll scream."
Do Tong-dal let out a thin sigh.
"You shouldn't use the same threat twice."
"It won't work?"
"It won't."
"Then I'll give you two manuals. No, three."
When Do Tong-dal showed no sign of giving in, Ju Seo-in suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Come here. I have more to give you besides martial arts manuals!"
Unlike the first and second floors, the third floor was divided into three spaces. Ju Seo-in flung open the door to the left-hand space.
In that instant, A Woman's Heart, A Spring Dream, which he had seen on the first floor, flashed through Do Tong-dal's mind. It wasn't that he was especially lecherous. When a woman drags you into a room, it's a picture any man would naturally imagine.
"Ah...... no, this is a bit awkward......."
"What's awkward?"
The door opened with Ju Seo-in's question, and Do Tong-dal soon saw the weapons hanging all over the walls.
* * *