Monopolizing Fortunes (220)
Monopolizing Fortunes (220)
"I should fight too. I may not look it, but I'm a body hardened by the battlefield."
"Even though every soldier inside there could become an enemy?"
"What? Th-there look to be well over a hundred thousand of them."
"So stay as far from the fighting as you can. If the provincial commander dies right at the start, that puts us in a difficult spot too."
"I'll be careful, but I won't run."
No Song-guk had nerve, if nothing else. Four military officers appeared, all fully armored.
Two looked to be in their fifties, one in his twenties, and one was middle-aged.
The middle-aged man stepped forward and spoke.
"I heard a new provincial commander had arrived, but since this is the first I've heard of it, I came out to confirm."
Do Tong-dal answered.
"You should have received the imperial warrant, so how can it be the first you've heard of it?"
"We received no warrant, so it can only be the first we've heard of it."
Do Tong-dal first produced his own identity tablet. Surprise rose on the middle-aged man's face after he checked it.
"An Embroidered Uniform Guard deputy commissioner?"
Even within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a deputy commissioner was a man with power enough to knock a bird from the sky.
"Why would someone of deputy commissioner rank come all the way to such a barren place?"
"That's none of your business. The imperial palace has decided on a change of provincial commander, so let's proceed with the formalities at once."
At that, the young man stepped forward.
"Isn't that a fake?"
He was the youngest, but it was clear he was the leader of the four. The only person here who could receive such treatment was Ju Ja-ok, son of Prince Yeongun.
Prince Yeongun was dead, and the fact that he was here instead of rushing there said one thing clearly.
'So he really does mean to rebel right away.'
With that thought, Do Tong-dal asked.
"Who are you?"
Anger rose not only on Ju Ja-ok's face but on the faces of the other three as well.
"Watch your tongue! This is His Highness Ju Ja-ok, son of His Highness Prince Yeongun!"
At the middle-aged man's shout, Do Tong-dal frowned.
"You're the senior fourth-rank deputy commander, I take it? This is a battlefield, and no matter how royal the blood, do you not know that rank comes first on a battlefield? Just from this, I can tell the discipline of the Liaoning army camp is a mess. No wonder the provincial commander is being replaced. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"You wretch! How insolent! It seems you want to die for the crime of insulting the imperial family!"
Then one of the generals in his fifties stepped forward.
"Deputy Commander U, calm yourself for now."
"My apologies, Commander."
Commander Jeon Seo-pyeong spoke to Do Tong-dal.
"Let us go inside and talk."
His scheme was obvious, but Do Tong-dal moved as they intended. As Do Tong-dal's party entered the camp, a mounted unit blocked the rear. The intent to cut off their escape route was unmistakable.
No Song-guk's face was plainly tense, but Do Tong-dal's and Jang Yu-seom's expressions did not change.
"Ah, right!"
Jeon Seo-pyeong turned his horse toward Do Tong-dal and spoke.
"I should also verify the identity tablet of the newly arrived provincial commander."
When Do Tong-dal nodded, No Song-guk took out the identity tablet and showed it.
"My eyes are dim with age, you see. May I examine it closely?"
As No Song-guk handed the identity tablet to Jeon Seo-pyeong, Do Tong-dal took the warrant from his breast.
"You said you hadn't received the warrant, so it's a good thing I brought an extra copy just in case."
Do Tong-dal held out the warrant stamped with the emperor's seal. Ordinarily, to receive anything stamped with the emperor's seal, one must first kneel, cry "Manse" three times, and then receive it respectfully with both hands.
But Jeon Seo-pyeong merely reached out from horseback and took the warrant. At that, No Song-guk suddenly burst out shouting.
"You wretch! How rude! How dare you receive His Imperial Majesty's warrant in such a manner!"
Startled, Jeon Seo-pyeong shot No Song-guk a displeased look, then glanced around.
Most of the soldiers in the camp had nothing whatsoever to do with this power struggle. They were simply good soldiers who faithfully followed orders.
So they were watching with puzzled expressions that said, "What's going on?" Jeon Seo-pyeong, who had glanced at Ju Ja-ok, soon dismounted, performed the proper courtesy, and then received the warrant.
Both the warrant bearing the imperial seal and the identity tablet were genuine beyond any doubt.
They surely wanted to kill Do Tong-dal's party on the spot. The courier who had brought the warrant yesterday had probably died that way.
But now that they had openly received the emperor's warrant, they could not kill him here.
"First, we must go report to Provincial Commander Gwak."
"You should say former provincial commander."
Deputy Commander U Jeon-seung, his displeasure plain, guided them. Ju Ja-ok, who had sent Do Tong-dal and the others ahead, stared blankly at the backs of the three as they went to Gwak Pil-jung.
"What sort of men do they seem?"
"Does that matter?"
"True. Corpses are all the same."
The two did not know. They did not know that Do Tong-dal had the ability to hear their conversation even from ten jang away.
Of course, even without listening to their conversation, he already knew their intent clearly.
Better for them to show their true colors quickly; that would save time. The place U Jeon-seung guided them to was the largest barracks in the camp.
The circular tent, twenty jang on a side, looked spacious enough to hold a hundred men.
When they entered the tent, one man sat alone. A face familiar from a portrait: Provincial Commander Gwak Pil-jung.
As he had felt from the portrait, the narrow eyes, sharp nose, and thin lips revealed a cold nature outright.
Gwak Pil-jung sat in an arrogant posture and did not even rise from his seat. He meant to show with his body that the new provincial commander was unacceptable.
Inside the tent stood a massive table large enough to seat about twenty people. Do Tong-dal picked up one of the chairs placed before the table, set it opposite Gwak Pil-jung, and sat.
He sat with the chair back facing Gwak Pil-jung, reversed—a posture one could never assume before a superior.
"Have you ever seen such rude conduct! However much of an Embroidered Uniform Guard deputy commissioner he may be, what sort of behavior is this before the provincial commander!"
Do Tong-dal did not even look at U Jeon-seung, who had spoken, and kept his gaze fixed on Gwak Pil-jung.
"There's no courtesy to observe toward a man who won't even stand when the new provincial commander arrives."
Gwak Pil-jung's mouth opened.
"How like an arrogant Embroidered Uniform Guard. You think the whole world lies beneath your feet, don't you?"
"It is power entrusted by His Imperial Majesty. To disregard that power is to disregard His Imperial Majesty."
While Do Tong-dal was speaking, people began entering the tent one by one. Ju Ja-ok, Jeon Seo-pyeong, and heavily armed soldiers appeared in succession.
Having already sensed their presence, Do Tong-dal did not even turn his head. The presences entering stopped at thirty.
Do Tong-dal furrowed his brow.
"Only thirty? Aren't you underestimating us too much?"
Gwak Pil-jung looked once at the subordinates who had entered, then spoke.
"To guess the number without even looking. It seems the Embroidered Uniform Guard hasn't rotted away completely after all."
"I'll give you one more ke, so call all of your side. That way we'll have less trouble later."
"There is no side of yours in this camp. No—I should say there is no side of the emperor's."
"Rebellion, then?"
"An emperor not worth serving. He is nothing but a murderer who killed his brothers and even assassinated his own uncle."
"I thought Prince Yeongun wasn't dead?"
Ju Ja-ok burst out shouting.
"You bastards killed him! You did! Today I will cut off your heads and offer them before my father's spirit!"
Do Tong-dal wore a small smile.
"Good."
Gwak Pil-jung asked.
"What is good?"
"That we won't waste time. I was wondering what to do if you dragged things out and tested us."
Gwak Pil-jung stared at Do Tong-dal. His premonition was not good. He had not become provincial commander merely by currying favor.
From the age of twenty-two, he had experienced countless battlefields over some thirty years. His body bore sixteen scars, and the enemies dead by his hand numbered over three hundred.
After surviving that many brushes with death, one develops intuition. Do Tong-dal gave Gwak Pil-jung a very bad intuition.
At some point, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had become little more than a stepping stone for the advancement of the powerful's children.
It was supposed to be an intelligence and armed force, yet the current Embroidered Uniform Guard was a gathering of privileged sons with wretched martial arts and nothing but good parents. Gwak Pil-jung naturally assumed Do Tong-dal was such a man too.
But Do Tong-dal, without a tense expression and even wearing a faint smile, did not look like a privileged son.
Of course, Gwak Pil-jung's bad intuition would not cause today's plan to be canceled.
"You have a look that says you're confident. Do you perhaps have someone outside coming to help?"
Gwak Pil-jung casually probed one possibility. At that, Do Tong-dal's smile deepened.
"No need for that worry. The three of us here are all there is."
"Then you're confident in your martial arts."
"Maybe I'm the greatest under heaven."
Do Tong-dal said something utterly absurd.
"You're the first man I've met who overestimates himself like this."
"I've only ever heard that I underestimate myself, so that's a fresh one. I have one thing to ask."
"Ask King Yama."
"When are the Mongols invading?"
Gwak Pil-jung's eyebrows shot up.
"Why ask me that?"
"That Prince Yeongun was colluding with the Mongols isn't much of a secret to people who know a thing or two. His death was because of that too."
Ju Ja-ok shouted.
"My father is alive!"
"Earlier you were boasting that you'd cut off our heads and offer them before Prince Yeongun's spirit, and now you say he's alive?"
"That's—that's—"
Do Tong-dal asked Gwak Pil-jung.
"You intend to put a fool like that on the throne as emperor just because he has imperial blood."
"Insolence!"
"Enough chatter. Just tell me when the barbarians are coming down. A month? Half a month? Ten days? Shorter than that? Three days? Hm? Three days from now?"
Startled, Gwak Pil-jung said.
"I said nothing."
"We're short on time."
Do Tong-dal spoke to Jang Yu-seom.
"Protect the old provincial commander well."
"Don't worry."
Shing—.
Do Tong-dal rose and drew the Makya Blade. The red blade already seemed to be brimming with blood.
Do Tong-dal turned and spoke to the thirty men in the tent.
"If you kneel now and swear loyalty to His Imperial Majesty, I will let it go as if it never happened."
It was a remark thrown out just in case, and as expected, no one withdrew their hostility.
"Then from this moment, I will charge you with treason and execute you."
Do Tong-dal spun and swung the Makya Blade. Gwak Pil-jung, who had been rising awkwardly in surprise, had his neck severed by the blade aura in the deepest color of the sunset.
No one reacted until his head rolled across the floor and blood spurted up.
"K-kill that wretch at once!"
Ju Ja-ok shouted belatedly. At that, the thirty men rushed at Do Tong-dal all at once.
"That's more like it."
Do Tong-dal didn't like killing men who stood still either. All thirty were soldiers who had roamed battlefields and were masters of military arts in their own right.
Their arts differed in nature from those of the martial world, but if they entered the martial world, they could easily be called masters. Just as Jang Yu-seom had been when he threw himself into the Underworld.
But their opponent was bad. The blade aura extending a full two ja from Do Tong-dal's Makya Blade would look like sorcery to them.
"Yaaaaah—!"
The shout raised to bolster morale soon turned into screams. Those who could still scream were the lucky ones.
Like Gwak Pil-jung, most had their heads sent flying without even realizing how they were dying.
It did not take Do Tong-dal even half a ke to kill the thirty men. He killed thirty alone, and there was not a single dangerous moment. Even Jang Yu-seom, not just No Song-guk, was astonished by that overwhelming force.
Jang Yu-seom could feel once again how different sparring was from real combat.
Wiping the blood from the Makya Blade, Do Tong-dal said.
"We should finish cleaning up, shouldn't we?"
At those words, No Song-guk snapped back to his senses.
"F-finish cleaning up?"
His speech turned polite of its own accord.
"Do you think the followers of Prince Yeongun are only these men? We should clean them out thoroughly while we have the chance. The barbarian invasion is only three days away."
"You were muttering to yourself earlier—really three days? But Gwak Pil-jung gave no answer, did he?"
"He did. With his expression."
No Song-guk, who had been wearing a baffled look, nodded reluctantly. The reason he hesitated a moment was the question of whether this was a joke and whether he should laugh.
But there was no sign of joking on Do Tong-dal's face, and the mood was not one for jokes either.
Do Tong-dal went out of the tent first. The two soldiers standing guard outside wore startled expressions when they saw Do Tong-dal emerge from the tent.
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