Monopolizing Fortunes (144)
Monopolizing Fortunes (144)
"Master Bae, you left in such a hurry that you couldn't even have lunch. Please, at least eat some of this."
In Ju Pyeong-seong's hand, extended toward Do Tong-dal, was a piece of dried beef jerky. Do Tong-dal plucked the jerky from that hand as it swayed with the jolting of the carriage.
"Thank you."
"We're the ones who are grateful."
By now, no one in the Hwangdae Merchant Company dared to disregard Do Tong-dal. On the contrary, they addressed him as Master Bae and treated him with the utmost courtesy.
That was because, standing on the edge of a precipice as they were now, Do Tong-dal was the only person who could protect them by force.
Even setting that aside, the sight of him putting the Dongui Martial Hall in its place earlier had been so satisfying that it felt like ten years of pent-up frustration had gone right down.
And so, as far as the people of the Hwangdae Merchant Company were concerned, they could not help but like Do Tong-dal.
Do Tong-dal asked Ju Pyeong-seong.
"By the way, where are we headed?"
Just as when they had gone to the Dongui Martial Hall, they were riding split between passenger carriages and baggage wagons. The one difference from then was that Jang Bu-ok's wife, Go Seon-hwa, had remained at the Dongui Martial Hall.
Most people actually thought Go Seon-hwa's absence was for the best, but no one was tactless enough to say so out loud.
"We are on our way to Chongqing, which borders this Shaanxi Province."
"So the Hwangdae Merchant Company has a base in Chongqing as well, I take it."
"The branch there is not very large, but we have a fair amount of secret reserve funds set aside for emergencies. We should have no trouble getting by for the time being."
Gwak Ji-cheol, the steward riding with them, asked.
"Master Bae, do you think the imperial palace is pursuing our Hwangdae Merchant Company?"
"As you know, I have not been with the Hwangdae Merchant Company for long, so I am in no position to say."
"It cannot be our Hwangdae Merchant Company. Why would we take part in the assassination of the First Prince?"
The initial question had been asked because he wanted to say this.
"If it was the work of the Revenge Society, then the Hwangdae Merchant Company should be safe."
"I think it would be best to use this opportunity to cut ties with the Revenge Society."
Do Tong-dal asked.
"How did a merchant company like Hwangdae end up entangled with a place like the Revenge Society in the first place?"
Gwak Ji-cheol let out a long sigh.
"I suppose I may tell you, Master Bae. Originally, our Hwangdae Merchant Company was a great merchant house of Hunan. But no matter how great a merchant house may be, it is bound to have its ups and downs, and five years ago there was a time of severe crisis. Severe enough that the Hwangdae Merchant Company was staggering. The one who reached out a hand then was the Revenge Society. At first, they approached under the pretext of simply lending us money. And then...... haah—!"
Gwak Ji-cheol caught his breath with a long sigh and continued.
"They forcibly married Lady Go, the daughter of a Revenge Society elder, to the head of the company. Because of that, the former wife, Lady Nam....... Through that affair, our Hwangdae Merchant Company became affiliated with the Revenge Society."
It was a truly pitiable history. Do Tong-dal said.
"Even if things have come to this, the Revenge Society is not likely to permit you to withdraw quietly, is it?"
"Do they even have the presence of mind for that, fighting the imperial palace as they are? And perhaps the Revenge Society may even be destroyed by the imperial palace."
The situation was fluid, but that possibility was not entirely absent. Even if Do Tong-dal had drawn the larger picture, the final brushstroke was still undecided.
"It seems you are confident you can rebuild the Hwangdae Merchant Company."
"Of course. We may not reach a large scale all at once, but I am confident we can restore our former prosperity. The most important thing in business is people, after all."
They were not starting empty-handed, and if they had hidden capital and experience, then it could well turn out that way.
But it would be troublesome if the Revenge Society were to completely let go of the Hwangdae Merchant Company here. And the Revenge Society, which had invested so much effort in the Hwangdae Merchant Company, was not likely to let go willingly either.
'There might also be a way to pursue the Revenge Society and then strike a deal at the right moment.'
By now, the Beggars' Sect would be diligently pursuing the Dongui Martial Hall.
* * *
"I may be a Beggars' Sect Hall Master in name, and you an Elder, but are we really doing tailing work ourselves? This is the sort of thing you give to the kids."
At Dong Mok-gil's grumbling, Hwang Seung-bo said with a serious expression.
"Do you want to be demoted to a provincial branch and sent off to someplace like Sichuan Province?"
"Excuse me? How could that happen?"
"The Sect Leader told me directly. He said that if this tailing fails, he will demote me to a provincial branch and send me to Sichuan. If I go, do you think you'll come out unscathed?"
Startled, Dong Mok-gil pointed at a fork in the mountain path.
"There are tracks over there!"
As the Beggars' Sect stood at the pinnacle of information-gathering, tracking was an indispensable skill they had to possess.
Hwang Seung-bo and Dong Mok-gil were among the top ten tracking masters in the Beggars' Sect.
Of course, they had stepped back from the front lines after becoming an Elder and a Hall Master, but old habits did not simply disappear.
"Judging by the tracks, they're headed toward Hwangjeok-hyeon. If they took this road, that's the only place they could be going."
"Send a messenger pigeon at once. Tell those beggar brats in Hwangjeok-hyeon to keep their eyes peeled. If they lose them, you and I will both be headed to that inhospitable Sichuan."
* * *
The liquor bottle that flew through the air struck the eunuch Jo Tae-song on the head and shattered. Jo Tae-song flattened himself to the floor without even showing a hint of pain.
"Did I not say I did not kill him! I am glad the bastard is dead, but it was not me! Not me!"
"How could this lowly one not know that? But the one who assassinated His Highness the First Prince pointed to the Second Prince, and when we searched the suspected organization, we found a sword, a mask, and clothing!"
"It is a frame-up! What bastards dare frame me!"
"I believe so as well, but the current situation is turning far too unfavorable!"
"Favorable or unfavorable, it does not matter! Who besides me could possibly become emperor!"
"I am sorry to say this, but we have received word that those who had sided with the First Prince are moving toward His Highness the Third Prince."
"The Third Prince? Hyeong-seon?"
"Yes. His Highness the Third Prince has already gathered considerable power."
"How could that wretch? He was groveling out on the frontier, and how long has it been since he entered the Forbidden City using His Majesty's illness as an excuse?"
"Even so, there were a few who followed His Highness the Third Prince, and now that the First Prince's people have joined him in large numbers, he has reached a point where he can no longer be ignored."
"Ha! That little brat covets the imperial throne? I should go right now and teach the wretch some manners!"
As the Second Prince made to spring to his feet, Jo Tae-song hastily stopped him.
"Now is not the time to stir up internal strife! When public opinion is already against us, if you were to strike His Highness the Third Prince, it would not sound good in His Majesty's ears either."
"So you are telling me to just sit and watch Hyeong-seon run wild!"
"For now, clearing your name is the most urgent matter."
"Not clearing my name—I should kill every last one of the bastards who framed me! Wait."
The Second Prince, who had been muttering "Kill them all," and turning the thought over in his mind, dismissed all the attendants.
The Second Prince beckoned to Jo Tae-song, who alone remained.
"Come closer."
Jo Tae-song closed the distance to the Second Prince, blood dripping from where the liquor bottle had struck him.
"Right now, the only people who can ascend to the imperial throne are me and Hyeong-seon, are they not?"
"That is so, but......."
"What if Hyeong-seon were to disappear?"
"Pardon?"
"If it becomes obvious that I will be emperor, who would dare frame me?"
The logic was sound, but murdering a member of the imperial family who could become emperor was a crime punishable by the extermination of three generations of one's family.
Of course, even though Jo Tae-song had no descendants and thus no three generations to worry about, a thick gulp of saliva went down his throat from sheer tension.
"Do you truly wish to handle the matter that way?"
"You have been at my side for twenty years, and you still do not know me?"
The Second Prince was the sort of man who would burn the whole tangled skein rather than patiently untie it.
"It is still too early to resort to such extreme measures......."
"I do not wish to endure a single moment of being cornered. So find a suitable man."
If one set out to find such a person, there was no shortage. After spending long years with someone like the Second Prince, one naturally came to know people skilled at killing.
Just as he was thinking, 'I should consult with the Minister of War,' the Second Prince spoke.
"I will give you until the day after tomorrow. Eliminate Hyeong-seon within that time."
"Pardon? But selecting the right person alone will take three days, and assassination within the imperial palace is impossible."
"Doesn't Hyeong-seon frequently go out on excursions? You just pick the best fighter. Why would selecting a man take time?"
Having lived a life where everything was resolved with a single word or a flick of a finger, he spoke of assassinating the Third Prince just as simply.
But if he were to list the reasons it was impossible, another liquor bottle would surely come flying.
"I will carry it out to the best of my ability."
* * *
The carriage entered through the back gate of a fairly large tile-roofed house. With one wall measuring about fifteen jang in length, it deserved to be called a mansion.
The back-gate side had a spacious courtyard and three large storehouses as well. A middle-aged man who had already been waiting greeted them courteously.
The mansion, with its three buildings arranged in the shape of the character 品, had been cleaned until it looked like a new house.
The waiting servants carried the luggage to each person's quarters.
"After being treated like dirt by those Dongui Martial Hall bastards, it's nice coming here."
As someone said, everyone wore relieved expressions. Do Tong-dal was not only given a large private room but also assigned a personal servant.
He was changing clothes in his room when Jang Bu-ok called him to have a late lunch.
Present at the meal were the steward Gwak Ji-cheol and Hall Master Ju Pyeong-seong. Even though mealtime had passed, Do Tong-dal did not feel particularly hungry, and the three who joined him were the same.
They passed the meal with light small talk until Jang Bu-ok brought up the main subject.
"The reason I invited Master Bae to this table is that there is something I wished to ask."
"What might that be?"
"Will you stand with our Hwangdae Merchant Company?"
"I am already a member of the Hwangdae Merchant Company, so that is an odd question."
"I mean not only in body, but in heart as well."
Do Tong-dal scratched his forehead with his index finger.
"Have you forgotten? I came only to do a job and receive a monthly salary. Things have developed strangely and brought me this far, but nothing seems to have changed from then."
"Something has changed. Have you not become Yeon-seon's master?"
Do Tong-dal let out a faint sigh.
"That is true."
"I opposed it at first, but I am glad I gave in early to Yeon-seon's stubbornness."
"I will not make a very good master."
Whether as Bae Cheong-dong or as Do Tong-dal, those words were sincere.
"I do not expect you, Master Bae, to devote your life to the Hwangdae Merchant Company and swear loyalty right away. Such feelings must well up naturally over time. So I must ask again. Will you remain with the Hwangdae Merchant Company so long as your salary continues without interruption?"
Do Tong-dal thought for a moment, then asked.
"What exactly do you want from me?"
Jang Bu-ok looked at Gwak Ji-cheol and Ju Pyeong-seong on either side of him, then answered.
"I would like you to become the shield of the Hwangdae Merchant Company. Of course, you may select whatever warriors you wish to employ."
"Is the opponent you need to protect the Hwangdae Merchant Company from the Revenge Society?"
"Merchants are bound to make enemies, and for now, that enemy would be the Revenge Society."
"You have firmly resolved to make an enemy of the Revenge Society."
"The time has come to escape their grasp and return to the Hwangdae Merchant Company of old."
"Will that be possible?"
"If the imperial palace is our enemy, would we not be annihilated?"
"And if, somehow, things are resolved with the imperial palace, what do you intend to do?"
Ju Pyeong-seong said.
"Is that not exactly why we need Master Bae?"
"So you are asking me to put my life on the line."
"It is not necessarily that......."
"My martial arts, at best, are about equal to one of the Three Saints of Hwangdae, or at most a little higher if you are generous. So how many experts on the level of the Three Saints of Hwangdae does the Revenge Society have?"
"To be honest, we do not know that ourselves."
"You intend to make them your enemy without even knowing the enemy's exact strength?"
"We will not simply sit idle either. With the money the Hwangdae Merchant Company has, we can hire a fair number of experts."
"Honestly, I took this job at the Hwangdae Merchant Company for the experience, but how much would you have to pay in monthly salary to hire an expert like me?"
There was no one within the Hwangdae Merchant Company who could answer that.
"And those people called martial artists are pointlessly proud, so they are hard to move with money. Experts especially."
"But this is the only method we can think of."
That was the limit of merchants.
"Why are you trying to make the Revenge Society your enemy right now?"
* * *