Chapter 68: Sichuan Tang Family (4)
Chapter 68: Sichuan Tang Family (4)
As I entered Ju Woo-rin’s private residence and made my way toward the guest house, I spotted her passing through the inner courtyard.
She was staring blankly up at the night sky, her feet dangling and kicking rhythmically.
Taken in isolation, she looked exactly like a scholar from a painting.
From her well-tailored academic robes to her pale face, which radiated a quiet strength—if not for her somewhat small stature and frame, no one would ever suspect she was a woman.
It was a disguise so perfect it could deceive even the senses of a Super Peak Master.
I walked over and plopped down beside her, looking up at the night sky just as she was.
"Whew. Feeling any better?"
"What reason would I have to feel bad?"
"Heh."
Ju Woo-rin let out a chuckle as if my response was cute, then turned her gaze toward me.
"There are many scholars who burn with indignation for the sake of the world, but I’ve never had a loyal subject who swallowed his anger for my sake. This is a novel feeling."
"Loyal subject?"
"That is how I describe a friend."
She spoke as if she already had the throne reserved for her.
When I let out a smirk, Ju Woo-rin burst into a fit of giggles.
"We look pathetic, don't we? The way we're acting."
"Is it any different anywhere else people live?"
"It is. And it must be. At the very least, it is a problem if the entire world is as murky as this. Governance should be a foul sludge that only the rulers have to wade through."
"I don't think I could live like that."
"That’s a relief."
As Ju Woo-rin gave a soft smile while watching the stars, I found myself strangely dissatisfied with the sight.
Looking back, there was never any emotion in this girl's laughter.
Her eyes weren't smiling. That was the only way to describe her expression.
She was someone who had grown a bit rusty.
Whether it was the passage of time, the storms of life, or her own circumstances—she was like a fine blade that had been left out in the wind and rain, swaying, gradually wearing down, and slowly gathering rust.
A masterpiece sword that should have shone brilliantly, but had now lost its chance. Princess Yeonhwa, Ju Woo-rin—that was the impression I had of her.
"The further you are from the Imperial Court, the better life is. It’s even better if you can stay away from the government offices entirely."
"Then why do you want to live like this? Why not just shake it all off and leave right now?"
"To where? And how?"
"Anywhere. On foot."
At my words, Ju Woo-rin stared blankly at my face.
Anywhere in the Nine Provinces. Once you leave Hebei, the influence of the Imperial Court drops precipitously.
In the first place, Hebei itself is larger than the Korean Peninsula.
It’s easier to understand if you consider that even in modern Korea, with its CCTVs and electronic administrative networks, there are plenty of missing persons and fugitives.
China is simply too vast. The borders separating each region are so expansive that several countries could fit inside them, and the population is larger than any other nation of the era.
In such a country, tracking down a single person is no easy feat.
So, if Ju Woo-rin truly desired it, smuggling her away and hiding her wouldn't actually be that difficult.
However, after a moment of quiet contemplation, Ju Woo-rin pulled a smile to her lips and shook her head.
"That is a very sweet story. But I cannot do that."
"Why?"
"If I am gone, the Pure Stream Faction cannot remain united."
The Pure Stream Faction was not a single, monolithic entity.
It should be seen as a collection of various Confucian factions intricately intertwined through numerous academies and bloodlines.
The Pure Stream Faction currently supporting Ju Woo-rin was a group handpicked from among those who held the cause of restoration dear.
If I had to label them, they were essentially an extreme restorationist faction.
They desired two main things.
First, to restructure this nation of powerful imperial authority—which had persisted since the founding of the Ming Dynasty—into an environment where the 'sovereign is weak and the ministers are strong' by serving an Emperor they had enthroned themselves.
Second, to stabilize the reign by ousting the current Emperor and his Consort, who were rotting the country from within by indulging in luxury, pleasure, and consorting with all sorts of cults, including the White Lotus Cult.
From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty itself, they could be considered eternal loyalists.
Their intent to correct the nation's destiny was certainly close to a righteous cause.
Therefore, the moment their direct bloodline disappeared, they would scatter.
They would fall into chaos, each trying to enthrone different Imperial Princes or various distant relatives of the Zhu bloodline.
At that moment, the Ming Dynasty's fate would be sealed.
Whether the restoration failed or succeeded, countless nations had collapsed through such a process.
Thus, if Ju Woo-rin disappeared, the Pure Stream Faction would dissolve.
"And, as I said, I want to try becoming it too. The Emperor."
"Fine, let's stop talking about that then. Instead, there's something I want to confirm."
"Confirm? What is it?"
I sat down firmly beside her, looking up at the night sky as I spoke.
"You don't think of the Pure Stream Faction as allies either, do you?"
"There can be no allies in this position. Only immediate enemies and future enemies."
"Right. If that's the case, couldn't we persuade the immediate enemy to take a back seat for a while?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"When things are tangled and complicated, the simplest way to solve it is—"
I raised a finger, poked a spot in the sky, and then slashed downward.
"—to just cut the knot itself."
"And?"
"The goal for me and the Hao Clan is to prevent the reconstruction of the Western Depot. Grand Eunuch Jin Seung-gyeom of the Eastern Depot also wants to keep the Western Depot's revival in check, and the Pure Stream Faction is worried about a new inspection organization directly under the Emperor being born in Beijing. That’s why they called me and the Hao Clan."
"So?"
"Then it's better to head straight for the conclusion."
In the past, the Western Depot tried to secure power by using the Assassination Pavilion and the Five Poisons Sect, but they were stopped.
I didn't know what happened to the Five Poisons Sect, but at the very least, the Assassination Pavilion withdrew from Beijing, and after that, the Eastern Depot took an active role in nullifying the establishment of the Western Depot itself.
And now, seven years later.
The 'Sichuan Tang Family,' which belongs to the same category as those two groups, has entered the fray as a new player.
In fact, this was a wiser choice.
The Sichuan Tang Family was capable of covering everything the Assassination Pavilion and the Five Poisons Sect used to do.
Therefore, the reconstruction of the Western Depot hinges on the technical cooperation of the Sichuan Tang Family.
If we simply flip that around and look at precedent...
"Wouldn't everything become simple if we nullified the deal between the Sichuan Tang Family and the Eunuch Bureau?"
Who is an enemy and who is an ally?
How much of the Pure Stream Faction can be trusted?
To what extent is the Eastern Depot checking the Western Depot, and to what extent are they loyal to the Eunuch Bureau?
In truth, all this information was nothing more than messy, irrelevant variables.
A gentleman should walk the Great Path, and if you set aside the process, every matter can be summarized into cause and effect in a single sentence.
If the reconstruction of the Western Depot is being carried out by the hands of the Sichuan Tang Family...
Then simply searching out and driving away the Tang Family's martial artists would nullify the plan.
However, the important point here was...
"I think there might be a possibility of persuading them without killing them."
At my words, Ju Woo-rin looked at me with a furrowed brow.
More accurately, she looked at the note held in my hand.
"I learned some interesting information from the Hao Clan."
There are three main ways to drive the Sichuan Tang Family out of Beijing.
The first, and most simple and direct method:
Initiate a large-scale sweep by mobilizing the martial forces of the Hebei Peng Family.
The problem that could arise here is that the Eunuch Bureau and the Hebei Peng Family would enter into a full-scale conflict.
The ones currently enjoying the greatest power in Beijing are the Imperial Eunuch Bureau.
Openly clashing with them would never be beneficial for the clan.
Everything requires a justification.
If we use the clan's power to drive out those who entered Beijing at the invitation of the Eunuch Bureau, there will inevitably be consequences.
This is not rational.
If those consequences are fatal, the responsibility will fall on me, the one who spearheaded the operation.
The kind of person who would make this choice would be my second or third older brother.
In other words, it’s a poor strategy.
Second: A more sophisticated way to handle it.
Borrowing the hands of the Hao Clan and the Eastern Depot to push out the Sichuan Tang Family.
The Hao Clan Leader is currently away, but Chief of the General Bureau Baek Seo-ui and Pavilion Lord Geum are here in Beijing.
I haven't accurately grasped the martial prowess of those two, but they are both at least Peak Realm masters.
The only reason they haven't acted directly is that they haven't yet figured out exactly where the Sichuan Tang Family is lurking.
Therefore, one method would be for me, acting as a bridge between the Eastern Depot and the Hao Clan, to pass the Eastern Depot's information to the Hao Clan and strike together with those two groups to drive the Tang Family out.
The problem here is that the credit cannot be discussed.
I’d be doing all the work while the spotlight goes to the Hao Clan.
That’s what happens when you run wild with the martial power of the Ten Great Sects of the Black Dao behind you.
On top of that, there's the issue that the Hao Clan could clash with the Eunuch Bureau.
It’s a burden similar to the first method I mentioned.
Unlike the Peng Family, the Hao Clan is a force that the Eunuch Bureau can suppress at any time.
This is because they aren't based in Hebei and aren't a group that usually shows proper 'sincerity' to the Imperial Court.
Unlike the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance, which is entangled in vested interests with all sorts of noble families in Beijing, the Hao Clan's main consumer base is the lower class of society.
There’s a reason the Hao Clan can't exert much power in Beijing.
The influence of high-ranking nobles in Beijing is simply too overwhelming.
In such a situation, handing the spotlight to the Hao Clan while actually causing a collision between them and the Eunuch Bureau isn't even a mediocre strategy.
It’s exactly the kind of idea my eldest brother would have.
Then what is the best strategy?
Naturally, it’s for me to handle everything alone.
Taking the central role in driving out the Sichuan Tang Family and making sure all the spotlight is on me.
While at the same time, distributing the risk appropriately so as not to be targeted by the Eunuch Bureau.
Where is there such a convenient method, you ask?
"We just have to make the Sichuan Tang Family betray the Eunuch Bureau on their own."
At my words, Ju Woo-rin looked at me as if she were looking at a madman.
Ah, she doesn't know.
Dialogue and persuasion are the basics of the 21st century.
As proven by the countless transmigrators in fiction, transmigrators are inherently apostles of peace.
On top of that, I am a scholar who has deeply studied Confucianism. Mencius taught that 'the benevolent have no enemies,' meaning a virtuous person has no need for weapons.
Therefore, if you combine these, I become a person who loves peace twice as much as the Confucian scholars of this era. It’s a simple syllogism.
Fear not, medieval Chinese people.
I have come not with a sword, but with peace.
If the Sichuan Tang Family simply gives up on the technical cooperation bidding war, the Eunuch Bureau has no justification to be hostile toward me, the Peng Family, or the Hao Clan.
There’s no evidence. And honestly, they wouldn't even suspect us.
Instead, they’ll bare their teeth at the Sichuan Tang Family, who screwed them over.
What about the Sichuan Tang Family? Well, is that my problem?
And what if the Eunuch Bureau gets angry at the Sichuan Tang Family?
Are they the kind of folks who have the leisure to dispatch someone all the way to the Tang Family estate in Chengdu, Sichuan?
Of course, they could if they really wanted to. If they coaxed the Five Army Proclamation Bureau and framed it as treason, it would be possible.
But martial clans aren't idiots; they coexist with the government for a reason.
If the state power truly set its mind to it, it could easily erase a single clan.
However, the 'specific few' monsters who are stronger than the state's maximum military force would inevitably survive that calamity.
If such monsters, having lost their clan, their home, and their kin, were to be filled with rage and harbor a deep grudge, even a Great Eunuch of the Eunuch Bureau wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of his life.
Furthermore, the Eunuch Bureau doesn't have a very wide reputation among the noble families of Beijing compared to the power they hold.
Those guys should have known when to stop their corruption.
If Poison King Tang Mok-yeol were to flip his lid, sneak into Beijing, and declare he was going to wipe out the Eunuch Bureau, honestly, about half of the noble families would gladly offer up their guest houses to him.
That’s why the government basically respects mutual non-aggression with the martial world.
And the Eunuch Bureau's actions this time were clearly crossing that line.
"How do you plan to persuade them?"
"With Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, and Wisdom."
If you subdue an opponent with force, it won't last a day.
But if you move them with supreme etiquette and proper conduct, that is truly a blessed thing. ("He who subdues men by virtue is the one whom they all, in their hearts' core, are pleased to submit to." — Mencius, Gongsun Chou I)
Watch me, Mencius.
Let's start things off here with a full-course service of the North Wind and the Sun, the hot tub and the cold plunge.
*
Around that time, in a secret location near Xizhimen in the inner city of Beijing.
Three letters were secretly delivered to the place where the members of the Sichuan Tang Family had been gathered, agonizing for days.
Tang Mok-han, who stood as the representative of the Tang Family, opened the three letters one by one with a heavy expression.
First, the sentences written in red cinnabar on pitch-black silk could be summarized as follows:
The Hebei Peng Family had discovered their whereabouts.
That alone was enough to make his hands tremble.
In the last 200 years, the number of Orthodox martial artists who had returned alive from the Peng Family's front yard could be counted on one hand.
The Hebei Peng Family were beasts, and like most beasts, they were territorial animals.
It had barely been sixty years since the Righteous-Demonic War ended.
The clan elders who had personally experienced that war and survived would often be so consumed by fear at the mere mention of the Hebei Peng Family that they would wet their blankets in the middle of the night.
If one fears tigers and smallpox, one should naturally fear the Hebei Peng Family as well.
Because those bastards were the equivalent of a tiger's curse.
With trembling hands, Tang Mok-han carefully opened the next letter.
It was a letter written in neat regular script on pure white Taihua paper with a subtle luster.
Just the feel of it in his hand told him it was an incredibly precious item.
The long rhetoric contained within could be summarized as follows:
It was a message that the leaders of two of the Ten Great Sects of the Black Dao—specifically, the heads of the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance faction and the Black Forest July Society faction—were watching them.
They were currently isolated in Beijing, a distant land thousands of miles away from Sichuan (actually about 4,000 li, or roughly 1,000 miles).
They had no allies, were surrounded by Black Path sects, and were under pressure from the eunuchs.
In other words, they were truly besieged on all sides. As a native of the Bashu (Sichuan) region, the very birthplace of the phrase 'besieged on all sides,' he felt a chilling omen and trembled.
The third letter was written on simple yellow paper.
The cursive script, written with a single, swift stroke in an elegant style, seemed to reveal a gallant personality.
Having received two of the worst 'chain letters' imaginable, Tang Mok-han squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before struggling to read the letter.
And soon, his eyes widened.
Below that was an explanation of when and where to come, along with a request to finish their disguise and visit secretly.
There was no way an ordinary scholar in Beijing could send a letter to this location, especially alongside warnings from the Hebei Peng Family and the Hao Clan.
This was a secret location directly guarded by the Eunuch Bureau.
It was essentially a safe house for the eunuchs.
Being able to get a letter into such a place meant that this person's status or ability was by no means ordinary.
Since he was likely to lose his head to either a Peng Family saber or the Hao Clan Leader's blade within a few nights if he just stayed still anyway...
Tang Mok-han decided to head to the place mentioned in the letter. He had no other choice.
*
"To be able to write three letters in completely different handwriting... that is a remarkable skill."
"What are you talking about? I'm proficient in all fifteen styles of calligraphy."
"That is... I'm not sure if I should call it impressive or not."
Ju Woo-rin decided that even if she were to ascend the throne in the future and make great use of the Hebei Peng Family, she would at least never trust any ledgers sent by them.