Echoes of the Old Days
Kushinu, for his part, gave Hong-wi a long, studying look, as though a shade surprised.
It seemed it had been quite some time since anyone had asked him such a question.
"I once put it to the Great Chieftain as well, but he was never very willing to speak of it."
"Hm, that does not surprise me," Hong-wi said.
At Hong-wi's prompting, Kushinu nodded.
"He regards what happened back then as nothing more than the rashness of youth. Not that he did anything shameful, you understand — he simply doesn't consider it a tale worth boasting of. And above all…"
Kushinu smiled broadly.
"…I only wonder whether Lord Temusi'i would not find it dull. Old men's stories are invariably tedious to the young — tales of one's glory days most of all. For a guest I've only just met, it would make for a rather long telling."
"Please, don't let that concern you. I've always been taught that the tales of the wise hold wisdom within them, and is there not also a saying that an old man's stories carry lessons worth a young man's ear?"
"Heh heh. Is that so? Then a story you shall have."
Kushinu looked thoroughly pleased at Hong-wi's words.
"When we were younger — back when this man's hair was still black — the situation here in Jianzhou was very grave indeed. It's nothing wonderful now either, mind you, but it was worse then. It was the sort of upheaval that comes when an age is dying. In the Central Plains, the Mongols were being driven out by the Han and fleeing north to the steppe, and this land could no more escape the aftershocks than anywhere else."
He smiled faintly as the old days stirred in his memory.
"This man is two years the Great Chieftain's senior, and a year or two before I was born, the army of the Yuan chancellor Naghachu surrendered to the Ming. It would take a long time yet before Jianzhou knew anything like stability again."
Hong-wi nodded. King Taejo, Yi Seong-gye, had risen as a hero in just such an age of chaos, saving Goryeo from crisis — and on the strength of that renown, he had founded Joseon.
"Refugees poured into this land in those days in great numbers. It was then, too, that the Hurigai and the Odoli drifted in from the Ilan Hala. A wild, violent lot they were — not folk accustomed to tilling fields and raising livestock as we were, but folk accustomed to hunting and war. That they ended up seizing the reins of Jianzhou was, when all is said and done, hardly a strange turn of events."
"A rolling stone, then, that dislodged the stone already set in the wall."
"Just so. And yet many hearts were drawn to them all the same — the young ones especially. The young are always that way, are they not? Bewitched by adventure and tales of martial glory… We were among those young men ourselves."
Kushinu smiled, and his eyes seemed to drift back into the fervor of those years.
"And as it happened, there was someone worthy of our admiration waiting there. The Great Chieftain of the Odoli — Lord Tung Mentemu, then rising as the true power of Jianzhou."
"So that is how the two of you came to serve under Mentemu."
"Exactly so. The Great Chieftain and I were both young then — truly young. And Mentemu was at the height of his power, with a rare gift for leading men that you would never expect from the rough Odoli. A truly remarkable man. I suspect that is when the Great Chieftain first believed Lord Mentemu might restore the old glory of the Jin dynasty. Though I say so myself, unworthy as I am."
Kushinu snorted softly and went on.
"If a lawful master was to lead all of Jianzhou and the Jurchen tribes, should it not by rights be the bloodline of Wanyan Akuta?"
Hong-wi smiled without a word. Somehow the old man's manner reminded him of Ho-in.
"Lord Mentemu honored the Great Chieftain greatly, too… Well, it's only natural — no one could afford to slight the Wanyan clan. But a hero knows a hero when he sees one. The Great Chieftain served at Mentemu's side for nearly ten years. Until the day Mentemu died."
"I heard that Mentemu… was betrayed, and killed."
"He was."
Kushinu sighed.
"Who could have imagined that a man like Lord Mentemu would be betrayed and die so senselessly? The Great Chieftain had only just taken a wife at the time. By the time he came running, it was already too late. And — a digression, if you'll forgive it — by that wife he had a son and a daughter. The son, unhappily, died young; the daughter lives still. She is the lady Wolyeong."
"One moment."
Something Wolyeong had once said flashed through Hong-wi's mind.
"Now that you mention it — I heard that Lady Wolyeong's mother was a Joseon woman."
It was a fact that had sat uneasily with him ever since he'd learned it.
Wolyeong had said her mother was Korean. And yet the easiest means to imagine for a Jurchen chieftain taking a Korean woman as wife was marriage by abduction.
Having met Onyan Isiha in person, Hong-wi found it impossible to believe that such a gentle, humane chieftain had raided Joseon and carried a woman off by force.
"Ah! You mean that. It's true — though properly speaking, she was a Goryeo woman."
"A Goryeo woman?"
"That's right. There are many living in the Liaodong lands, but some were settled here in Jianzhou as well. The lady's mother — Lady Yeon of the Yeon clan — was of that Goryeo stock."
"Ah, I see."
At last it made sense to him.
He had heard that when the Goryeo king became a son-in-law of the Yuan dynasty, the title of Prince of Shenyang was conferred alongside it, and that the Shenyang region had been home to many Goryeo war captives and displaced folk.
Hong-wi was quietly relieved.
Then Kushinu asked with a knowing smile, "You had assumed the Great Chieftain had taken a Joseon captive, I take it?"
Hong-wi could only laugh, sheepishly, having no reply.
The old man missed nothing.
Kushinu laughed too.
"It's an easy mistake to make. To Lady Wolyeong and to us, Goryeo and Joseon are one and the same — Joseon has simply taken Goryeo's place now, so it is still the same country, is it not?"
"I suppose that's true."
"And… to be honest with you, many among our people regard the Goryeo folk as not to be trusted. Joseon strikes at our backs whenever the chance offers, and there is also the matter of old times."
"Old times?"
"A long story. When the old men talk, the talk climbs back to the days of old Goryeo — how a general named Yun Gwan betrayed and slaughtered our kinsmen who had crossed into what is now Hamgil Province, and more recently… well, a century past now, when Goryeo sent its army to take that Liaodong fortress over there, they say the Goryeo folk within opened the gates in answer."
The old man was speaking of the Liaodong campaign of King Gongmin's reign, in the twilight years of Goryeo.
Hong-wi knew something of the affair's inner workings as well — after all, none other than Taejo Yi Seong-gye himself had taken part in that campaign.
"So how could anyone be trusted?"
"But Goryeo failed to hold Liaodong in the end and withdrew, did it not? Are those people still there to this day?"
"Hardly anyone alive knows what became of them. Some say they went south with the withdrawing Goryeo army; some say a remnant hides in some corner of the land still. There is no knowing. But because of it, the Goryeo folk scattered in other places could not escape persecution either."
"Hm."
Kushinu fell silent for a moment.
"Even so, our people and the Goryeo folk were never simply blood enemies. That is because Lord Mentemu himself was well disposed toward them — toward the Joseon folk too, if you like. In fact, that very man, that Uls Buka… none other than King Taejo of Joseon, treated with Lord Mentemu as brother to brother."
Hong-wi laughed.
It felt like something from a distant, faded age now, but he remembered hunting on Cheonggye Mountain, and the chieftains of Moryeonwi raising an uproar at the sight of him, crying that Taejo had returned in the flesh.
"There is one man, though, who most certainly despises the Goryeo folk — Lee Man-ju, chieftain of the Hurigai. Small wonder: hasn't that man fought Joseon twice now? They say a number of the Goryeo folk living in Jianzhou served as guides for the Joseon army. And when the Joseon army withdrew, he took his revenge in blood… It is not a tale I ought to be telling aloud, but in the course of it, Lady Oh — the Great Chieftain's wife, and Lady Wolyeong's mother — lost her whole family to Lee Man-ju's blade. Lady Wolyeong does not know."
"So the Great Chieftain has one more reason to hate Man-ju."
Hong-wi nodded. If that was how matters stood, then Onyan Isiha could hardly feel otherwise.
"That is part of it. But your Great Chieftain is a man who knows how to suppress his own feelings for the sake of his clan and those who follow him. And how mysterious the years are, when you think on it! To turn a hot-blooded young warrior into a leader so careful and measured as that."
Kushinu went on.
"But I've wandered from the tale. The Great Chieftain saw Lee Man-ju as an ember that would one day set all of Jianzhou ablaze — and indeed, the man courted war with Joseon, so the danger was all the greater. Around that time the Tung clan was deep in feuds of its own, and word spread that Lord Pan-chya, whose position had grown precarious, might throw in with Lee Man-ju. The Great Chieftain feared that above all. If Pan-chya attached himself to Man-ju, the man might come to grip all of Jianzhou in his fist."
"I heard the Great Chieftain mediated that quarrel."
"He did. Tungshan grumbled, but once Pan-chya had gone over to Lee Man-ju, he saw the danger and reluctantly came to terms. The Great Chieftain convened a great assembly and brokered the reconciliation of the Tung clan. He even succeeded in persuading the Liaodong Regional Military Commission of the Ming."
"Astonishing. To persuade the Regional Military Commission, of all powers."
For the deed of a single Jurchen chieftain, it was truly remarkable.
"In the end, even Lee Man-ju had no choice but to abandon his pact with Pan-chya. A magnificent feat, is it not? He brought peace to Jianzhou with no army at all — with nothing but the tongue in his head. That is something only that man could have done."
Hong-wi nodded again.
"And then, at that very time, sorrowful news came from Anchuunbugu. His father had passed away. And so the Great Chieftain had to return to Anchuunbugu. No one raised any objection to his inheriting the seat of Great Chieftain…"
Kushinu's brow creased.
"…Though on reflection, it was not entirely without objection. There was Ichigeo."
"Ichigeo? Who is he?"
"The Great Chieftain's half-brother. A witless creature, but even he coveted the seat in his heart. With the Great Chieftain away from Anchuunbugu all those years, the wind got into his lungs, as they say."
The next instant, Kushinu gave a scornful snort.
"A truly foolish man! The Great Chieftain's exploits were already known far and wide within Anchuunbugu. In the end, Ichigeo's ambition came to nothing. But he covets the seat still, to this very day — and so he remains no small thorn in our side."
"Why so?"
"Because Temur, the Great Chieftain's only son, died young. Had he lived — had the Great Chieftain left so much as an heir behind him — all would have been well. By our customs, a woman cannot succeed to a chieftain's seat. There are precedents, but once she marries, her standing passes under her husband's authority."
"Then…"
"Just so. For that very reason, Ichigeo has been coming and going at Anchuunbugu with tiresome frequency of late. What troubles me more is that Lee Man-ju, too, is not sitting idle."
"Lee Man-ju?"
"He means to wed his eldest son, his Kunaha, to Lady Wolyeong."
At last, Hong-wi could thread every strand of the truth together.
"So that's it. By marrying his Kunaha to the lady, Lee Man-ju intends to absorb the renown and authority of the Wanyan clan for himself."
"Exactly so. What troubles me more is the rumor that Ichigeo has entered into league with him. What Lee Man-ju desires is the authority carried by Wanyan blood — not Anchuunbugu itself. This place cannot be called a great power in its own right; it is hardly worth Lee Man-ju's coveting. But for a man sprung from a fringe tribe that came down from the northern wastes, the bloodline of the Wanyan is a prize indeed."
"But Ichigeo would covet Anchuunbugu itself. Then the shape of it is this: Ichigeo inherits the seat of Great Chieftain and the headship of the Wanyan clan, and in exchange he hands Lady Wolyeong over to Lee Man-ju's line. Is that the situation?"
"Precisely."
Kushinu nodded.
"Great Chieftain Onyan Isiha knows it full well — he of all people would. There is no one alive who understands our customs and our codes better than he. That is why he convened the great assembly and tried to establish that a woman, too, may head the clan…"
"It would seem things do not go so easily."
"They cannot. However great a man he is, upending a custom as old as ours is no easy thing — and above all, Lee Man-ju stands against it. Vile as the man is, judged by strength alone he is foremost in all Jianzhou. If the Tung clan were truly united, matters might be different… but as they are not, the outlook is dark indeed."
"Truly, these are hard days for you all."
"Sad to say, they are."
And Kushinu shook his head, slowly, from side to side.