Echoes of a Heroic Age
At Pushan Hadaru's bold guarantee, Lee Go-nap-hap turned to glance at Irongha and Olanggamokya.
Even Irongha, the very man who had demanded three hundred soldiers, wore a faint look of surprise.
A twinge of regret crept over Lee Go-nap-hap.
If I'd known it would turn out this way, I should have asked for four hundred—no, five hundred! Had I known he'd be this easy to squeeze dry...
He silently cursed himself. When Irongha had first named three hundred, Lee Go-nap-hap had only snickered and called it an absurd, impossible demand.
"How much time will I have?"
"Until the Mid-Autumn Festival. You must have everything ready before we march on Anchuunbugu."
The Mid-Autumn Festival. For the Jurchens as much as for the Ming or Joseon, it was one of the year's most cherished holidays—a day of thanksgiving feasts held in honor of heaven and earth for a season of abundance.
Lee Go-nap-hap had resolved to carve his presence into Onyan Isiha's memory on that very day.
"Understood. It shall be done."
Pushan Hadaru withdrew on unsteady legs.
Irongha watched his retreating back for a moment, then turned to Lee Go-nap-hap.
"Well? What do you think, Dudu?"
"The man truly is like a milk cow! I barely gave him a squeeze and look how much came pouring out."
Lee Go-nap-hap squared his shoulders with a smug shrug.
"Merchants really are beyond help. I can't stand the sight of them."
"Quite so."
The two of them traded snickers, laughing Pushan Hadaru to scorn.
Pushan Hadaru, meanwhile, could barely keep his trembling legs beneath him.
It felt as though ash had filled his mouth.
The first to speak was Ugunai.
"My lord, this is unthinkable! How could you possibly—"
"I know what I did!"
Pushan Hadaru snapped, spitting the words out like venom.
"Even if we accept their demand, what exactly does our merchant house stand to gain? And above all, it's a demand we're in no position to grant in the first place!"
"Wumubin."
Pushan Hadaru called back without so much as turning his head.
Wumubin, who had been hurrying after his master and Ugunai with quick little steps, flinched.
"Can it be done?"
Wumubin hesitated. But instinctively, he knew which side he had to take.
"...It isn't impossible."
"Good."
"But if we deliver it, my lord, there will be nothing left of the house's capital. Not a single coin."
Wumubin added the warning with the air of a man covering himself—a record that he had, at the very least, raised his objections. It was possible, yes. But once they had scraped the sum together, the company would have gambled away its last seed money.
"We'll manage that part somehow."
"Outfitting three hundred men in new clothes is impossible even with money in hand. Where, and from whom, are we supposed to procure that much cloth right now?"
Ugunai protested. Pushan Hadaru fell silent, sinking into thought, and Wumubin murmured under his breath.
"Hwang Ga could manage it, I imagine."
"What was that?"
Both Pushan Hadaru and Ugunai whipped their heads around, and Wumubin flinched yet again.
"Hwang Ga?"
Pushan Hadaru frowned, turning the name over in his mind. Now that he thought of it, it made sense.
Hwang Ga had built enormous warehouses on both sides of the Amnok River—in Manpo on the southern bank, and in Hwangseongpyeong on the northern one—and stocked them full of goods. Among the commodities he dealt in, cloth was naturally included.
"My lord, but you must not put yourself in Hwang Ga's debt!"
"Then what would you have me do?"
Pushan Hadaru ground the words out between his teeth. He disliked bowing his head to Hwang Ga as much as any man alive, but there was no other road left. It was far too late to plead difficulty and back out of his promise to Lee Go-nap-hap—and the thought of doing so had never once crossed his mind anyway.
If only he could impress himself upon Lee Go-nap-hap through this opportunity. Gritting his teeth, Pushan Hadaru made up his mind.
"Then we go see Hwang Ga."
Hong-wi accepted Onyan Isiha's offer and decided to linger a while longer at Anchuunbugu.
The purpose of this journey had never been profit but friendship with the Onyan clan, so it was a welcome turn of affairs. After that first night's feast, however, Hong-wi had few chances to meet the Grand Chieftain himself; the duties of his office left the old man little time to spare for guests. Nor did he cross paths with his daughter, Wolyeong—so rarely, in fact, that Hong-wi began to wonder whether their meeting had been nothing more than a dream.
In Onyan Isiha's stead, it was Ashi Kushinu who came to seek him out.
"Well met, Lord Temusi'i. Do you remember me?"
"I do. You are Lord Ashi Kushinu, if I recall rightly?"
"And you remember me still. The Grand Chieftain has entrusted me with your entertainment, my lord."
Kushinu let out a hearty laugh. He was two years older than Onyan Isiha—the eldest man in all of Anchuunbugu. Though his hair had long since gone white, he had attended the Grand Chieftain since his youth, and in his prime, so it was said, he had been a warrior of renowned skill.
"I am deeply ashamed to burden an elder with such trouble."
"Heh, think nothing of it. Just consider it an old man's way of finding someone to talk to."
The two of them made their way into the courtyard of Onyan Isiha's house, where a group of finely dressed Jurchens had gathered. The man at their center drew the eye at once—he looked to be somewhere between his late thirties and forties, large and imposing in build, adorned with lavish ornaments.
"Who is that man?" Hong-wi asked.
"That would be Lord Tungshan, the Dudu of the Jianzhou Left Guard."
"Tungshan?"
Hong-wi was genuinely startled. One of the three great pillars of the Jianzhou Three Guards—a man of that stature had come all this way to call on Onyan Isiha in person.
Tungshan's expressionless gaze flicked once over Hong-wi and Kushinu, then drifted away again.
"The Grand Chieftain is the wisest and most revered of all our people in this age. That is why so many come seeking his counsel or begging his judgment. Most are from Jianzhou, but some travel from as far as the Haeshi Guard or Moryeonwi—even from the Eastern Sea Jurchens, far away in the east."
There was unmistakable pride in Kushinu's face. It was only natural from a loyal retainer who had followed Onyan Isiha since his earliest years—but even allowing for that, the old man's stature seemed no exaggeration.
"Truly remarkable. No wonder the Grand Chieftain is so busy."
"Indeed. So many come calling that even if he receives only chieftains and clan heads, his days are full. Of course, he turns no one away. As a rule, when disputes arise within a village or between villages, they are settled at the level of chieftains and clan heads—but not always."
"I imagine not."
"Strictly speaking, such matters ought to pass to the Dudus of the Jianzhou Three Guards, but the Grand Chieftain's renown is so great that people bring their troubles to him regardless. Even Dudus of the Jianzhou Guard like that man over there come to seek the elder out, on occasion... though not Lee Man-ju."
At the mention of Lee Man-ju, Kushinu's brow knotted in a peculiar scowl. Come to think of it, Hong-wi had heard that relations between the Onyan clan and Lee Man-ju were far from cordial. He resolved to ask about it when the moment was right.
"There was a time when visitors lined up at his gate, but lately the numbers have dwindled."
"Why have they dwindled?"
"Hm. The first reason is that Lee Man-ju despises it."
"Lee Man-ju does?"
Hong-wi deliberately played ignorant, baiting the hook.
"That's so. People go flocking to the venerable Onyan Isiha while passing him over. Until now he has bristled but pretended not to notice; lately, though, his displeasure has grown open and undisguised. If the rumors hold true, he now forbids the tribes under his Jianzhou Guard not only from petitioning the Grand Chieftain for mediation, but from so much as visiting him. Mediation is one thing—but to block even a courtesy call? What manner of sense does that make?"
"Indeed, it seems much as you say."
Hong-wi told him what he had witnessed at Sahalcha. When he had finished, Kushinu heaved a long sigh.
"I had my suspicions, but they say Lee Man-ju's tyranny over the tribute is even crueler than I feared."
"Yes. The chieftain of Ban Village went to him with nothing more than a plea—asking only that the tribute demands be lightened because they had grown unbearable—and he called it treason and razed the entire village to the ground. It defies belief."
"Knowing the man's nature, he is more than capable of it. For the past thirty-odd years he kept comparatively quiet, and we let ourselves believe his madness had worn itself out with age... The Grand Chieftain was right, as it turns out. That wretch has never abandoned his ambition to crush all of Jianzhou beneath his heel. And now every soul must come to see it plainly."
Kushinu let out another long, heavy breath.
"The sad truth is that even we have no way to stop him."
"Is that so? The chieftains of Sahalcha were pinning their hopes on the elder."
"The elder is a wise and enlightened man, without question—but he does not have the armed strength to rein the wretch in. That is the price of binding the Hurigai and the Odoli within the framework of the Jianzhou Three Guards. What they fear above all else is the elder's spiritual authority being joined to military power. On that point, Hurigai and Odoli alike were in perfect agreement. Thanks to it, in fairness, Jianzhou has known a measure of peace all these years."
"But that peace no longer holds. It is trembling even now."
"So it is. And that too is a bitter truth. These days Lee Man-ju wants the elder's influence rooted out of Jianzhou entirely. And do you know what he has done about it? Unable to touch Anchuunbugu itself, he has loosed his ruffians to harass everyone traveling to and from our walls."
Kushinu shook his head and went on.
"Bandits and brigands have been running wild throughout these hills of late. Lee Man-ju washes his hands of it—asks how anyone could go chasing down every common cutthroat—but the whole world knows who stands behind them."
He fixed his gaze steadily on Hong-wi.
"Even so, they have not yet dared violate the borders of Anchuunbugu itself... Come to think of it, I hear you too suffered an indignity of late, Lord Temusi'i?"
"Nothing worth calling an indignity, but it is true. I had the help of a friend named Tung Jugang."
"Ah, Jugang!"
Kushinu's face brightened at once.
"A truly fearless young man. The reason this Anchuunbugu can sleep safe at night is entirely his doing. Without him and his steadfast companions, we could hardly have counted on our safety on the strength of a hollow promise made thirty years ago."
"He seemed so, indeed. A stout and mighty warrior. Might he be a kinsman of the Grand Chieftain?"
"Not by blood. But they are closer than blood. In truth, the Grand Chieftain raised him as if he were his own son. He lost both his parents and was left a orphan with his little brother, wandering with no one in the world—and the elder took the two of them in. The boy is a distant kinsman of Lord Tung Mentemu, you see."
"Tung Mentemu?"
Tung Mentemu—or Tung Menggo Temur, as the chronicles name him—was the great chieftain who had once held all of Jianzhou in his grip and won undying fame for it.
"Then he is a member of the Tung clan even now?"
"Not a close relative, but that's right—a distant cousin of the line. Once Jugang was grown, he struck out on his own to lead a company of his own men, and remarkably, he vowed of his own accord that he would repay the elder's kindness. He swore to raise a stronghold and stand guard over Anchuunbugu. The elder was so touched that he granted him ground to build one, north in Soeburimal."
"That must be a great comfort."
"You'd better believe it. In treacherous times like these, it is a blessing beyond price. Were it not for that boy, the bandits would have dared set their sights on Anchuunbugu itself long ago."
Kushinu laughed.
"The boy forgoes even taking a wife, roams every corner of the land with his companions, and delights in making new friends wherever he goes. He has a true knight-errant's spirit—he takes his pleasure in chastising villains and aiding the good, which in an age like this one is a rare and admirable thing, wouldn't you say?"
"Beyond admiration. He seems a truly extraordinary man."
"He is, truly. I gave him some instruction in his boyhood, but he surpassed me long ago. He went off wandering and came back a genuine hero. I hear he trained for a time under some wandering swordsman as well... Looking at that boy, I cannot help but see the Grand Chieftain as he was in his own youth."
A wistful look drifted across Kushinu's face. As old men do, he seemed to be gazing back on the days when he rode high, on memories that still made his heart pound.
"Those adventures of ours—recall them now and they cannot but put a good taste in the mouth. Tales of heroes' deeds, and love stories that still make the chest ache."
"I would like to hear those stories."
Hong-wi said it before he could stop himself.
He had heard a little about Onyan Isiha even in Hwangseongpyeong, but knew the details of the man's life not at all. Even over the wine the night before, the Grand Chieftain had not been much inclined to speak of his younger days.
He could not bring himself to pass up the chance to hear them firsthand—from a man who had lived that youth at Onyan Isiha's side.