The Sacred Autumn Hunt
As if to make up for the ill temper of the previous day, the weather on the day of the great autumn hunt was gloriously clear.
Thanks to that, the people went about their preparations in high spirits.
The hunting ground was the dense forest spread out beneath the Black Mountain north of the village — what the Jurchens called the Sacred Forest.
No fewer than five hundred people had gathered to take part.
Some fifty men, armed with bows and spears and mounted on horseback, would serve as the actual hunters, while the rest would act as beaters, running on foot to drive the game toward them.
A hunt of this scale — this truly is a first for me.
Hong-wi's heart quickened.
One might argue that the hunts he had once joined at Cheonggye Mountain were larger in sheer numbers, but those had been works handed to him on a silver platter by his subordinates. He had led several hunts himself since coming to the Jurchen lands, yet never one with participants numbering in the hundreds.
"I confess I'm curious how men in such numbers move and hunt as one."
Hong-wi murmured the thought aloud.
He knew the answer well enough by now — wild beasts were remarkably sharp of instinct. Let a few hundred people wander about in disorder, and the game would bolt at once.
So how did they intend to move?
Old Kusinu, gray-haired but sharp of ear, caught the musing and chuckled.
"They move in tens, my lord — by niru."
"Niru, you say."
Hong-wi considered for a moment before replying.
"Ah — they take their name from the arrow."
"Just so. Each niru is led by the most experienced man among its ten, and he is called the Niru Ejen — the master of the arrow. The hunt moves in several such niru, and the striking force is the mounted archers. They coordinate with one another by blowing horn calls, moving as a single living thing. You'll see it shortly — it's a magnificent sight indeed. The horsemen chase and drive back whatever game the beaters flush out, encircle it, and bring it down with arrows."
Kusinu sketched the whole maneuver with his hands as he spoke.
It was, in effect, a form of battle.
Hong-wi was quietly astonished.
Their organization is far more refined than I expected.
The Jurchens lagged behind in many aspects of social order, yet when it came to the hunt they possessed a remarkably organic structure. Hunting was tied directly to survival, so they must have been compelled to find the optimal method for success.
And that same method translated directly into fighting power.
While the two of them were deep in this discussion, a young man from the village came running up.
"Elder Kusinu! The Great Chieftain asks for you."
"Tell him I'm coming! Lord Temusi'i, I must beg your leave for a moment."
"Of course."
The moment Elder Kusinu hurried off, Hong-wi leaned close to Cha Gyeong-yeon and murmured,
"Now I understand how the cavalry of Liao, Jin, and Yuan of old wielded such overwhelming power. They trained like this — in conditions indistinguishable from real battle."
"It holds true even now. Hunting is their very livelihood, so in essence they fight a small battle every single day. Each man is already an excellent horseman who's been in the saddle since childhood — and when they maneuver by the tens and hundreds without a hitch, how could anyone stand against them?"
"Quite so. We in Joseon conduct military training through hunts as well, but only occasionally."
"Circumstances differ, so there's no help for it."
"Lord Temusi'i!"
Elder Kusinu came hurrying back sooner than expected.
"The Great Chieftain asks whether you and your companions will join the hunt as well."
"Naturally, of course. My companions and I will ride with you."
Kusinu nodded at Hong-wi's answer.
"Then, as all three of you are mounted, you'll be placed in one of the cavalry niru."
Of the five hundred-odd participants, only about fifty were horsemen, and they would be organized into five niru of ten riders each. Hong-wi's party would join one of them.
"Might I suggest the uturi of the right wing?"
In the hunt, the five cavalry niru — the heart of the whole operation — arrayed themselves around the central core, the Pöre, with two niru on each flank. The body of each wing was called the Meiren, and its outermost tip the uturi.
"Tung Jugang commands the right-wing uturi as Niru Ejen."
"Tung Jugang, you say?"
The main force was customarily stationed on the right wing, so the position went to the most seasoned and dependable warrior available.
"When did he arrive?"
"Before dawn. He came with two companions."
Hong-wi smiled.
"Nothing would please me more than to ride alongside Tung Jugang."
"Very good, my lord."
Kusinu bowed his head and returned toward the central Pöre.
Just then came a voice Hong-wi had long since grown used to hearing.
"Temusi'i!"
"Ah — Tung Jugang."
Tung Jugang broke into a broad grin. The two drew their horses abreast, with Ho-in and Cha Gyeong-yeon following behind.
"I heard you're a Niru Ejen now. I thought I'd get to see your friends today."
"The southern border's been weighing on my mind lately. The others are keeping watch over the village instead — I had my hands full talking them out of throwing a fit about missing the hunt."
Tung Jugang gave a wry smile.
"Why — has something happened?"
"Nothing serious. No, if anything, it's the quiet that unsettles me. A stranger or two has been seen riding past now and again, but by all accounts they haven't troubled anyone who crossed their path. By every appearance, all is calm — and measured against what things were like only days ago, the change makes no sense at all."
He wrinkled his nose.
"Hm. You mean, ever since we cut down Bushuku."
"Perhaps with him dead, the rabble have learned some restraint?"
"That may be. But somehow, this whole stillness feels like the calm before a storm to me. In fact, the reason I only arrived at dawn is that my brothers and I spent yesterday patrolling the southern frontier right up to the last hour."
Hong-wi turned that over in his mind for a moment before speaking.
"There may be good reason for it."
"Reason?"
Tung Jugang tilted his head.
"Hm — you wouldn't have known. Kunaha came here yesterday."
"Kunaha did?"
Tung Jugang reacted at once, like a blade drawn from its sheath.
"Yes... leading a rather grand procession, no less!"
Hong-wi recounted the previous day's events. At the part where Lee Go-nap-hap and Ichigeo had demanded Wolyeong be handed over, Tung Jugang's brow darkened.
"So that's what happened. Had I been there, I'd have wrung Ichigeo's neck on the spot."
Tung Jugang's voice cracked with fury.
Hong-wi was somewhat taken aback by the intensity of his reaction.
"Even so — Ichigeo is the Great Chieftain Onyan Isiha's own brother."
"Half-brother."
Tung Jugang corrected him. He fell silent for a moment, then went on.
"There was a time when he served the Great Chieftain well — he earned real credit for settling Anchuunbugu in its early days. But they quarreled, and he left, taking a handful of followers with him."
"A quarrel over what?"
"I wasn't in a position to know the details, and the elders have never cared to speak of it. But as far as I've gathered, the breach came over what Anchuunbugu should do after Mentemu's passing."
"So that was it!"
Hong-wi considered for a moment.
"As I understand it, the Great Chieftain convened the Izara at that time — mediated the strife that threatened to split the Odoli tribe after Mentemu's death, and in doing so thwarted the schemes of Lee Man-ju, who was plotting to expand his power on the pretext of that division."
"That's the shape of it as I know it, though I can't claim to know everything... From what I've heard, Ichigeo believed Anchuunbugu should have seized that opening and expanded its own power aggressively, rather than playing the mediator."
"Is that so?"
Hong-wi chewed on that a while longer.
"Judged by today's lights, one could almost say Ichigeo was right... seeing what Lee Man-ju is doing in Jianzhou."
"Perhaps. But consider — if a man like the Great Chieftain held one pillar of the Jianzhou Three Guards, do you think Lee Man-ju could run so wild? Yet in the midst of it all, Ichigeo plotted to drag the Great Chieftain down from his chieftain's seat because their visions didn't align. So it's said."
"Shameful!"
"When the truth came out, he was cast out. He should count his spared life as the Great Chieftain's mercy alone. Had he challenged for the chieftain's seat openly, that would be one thing — but what he did was cowardice, pure and simple."
Tung Jugang seethed.
Among the customs of the Jurchens was one that any man who believed himself worthy of the chieftain's seat might freely challenge the chief to a duel for it.
Hong-wi had heard of this custom once before — from Han Ga-ryeong, long ago.
"And then, on top of all that, to demand Wolyeong be handed over to that dog Lee Man-ju. Does the man hear himself?"
Tung Jugang was truly enraged.
Hong-wi found himself reminded anew that Tung Jugang and Wolyeong had been childhood companions, raised side by side since their earliest days.
"Come to think of it, I wonder whether Lee Go-nap-hap and his men will join today's hunt. He seemed to have brought thirty riders or so with him. You're the Niru Ejen of the right-wing uturi — heard anything?"
"Hmm. Nothing on my end."
Tung Jugang tilted his head.
"The word I got was that only our own fifty riders would take part as cavalry this time."
"I see."
Hong-wi nodded. It hardly seemed a matter of great consequence.
"Honestly, the Great Chieftain including you in this hunt is remarkable in itself."
Tung Jugang went on with a thoughtful expression, and Hong-wi chuckled.
"Is it because I'm a Joseon man?"
"Hm? Ah — no, no! Well, I can't say that has nothing to do with it. But more than that..."
Tung Jugang smiled sheepishly.
"The seasonal hunt is no mere hunt — it is a sacred rite in itself. No one may simply walk into the autumn ceremonial hunt held in the Sacred Forest. Not even that Kunaha and his men can force their way in."
"Ah — so that's what you meant."
Hong-wi finally understood.
The next instant, a strange thought struck him.
Even granting that Chahar of Sahalcha had spoken well of him, had Elder Onyan Isiha truly invited him into a rite so sacred that he kept even Lee Go-nap-hap at arm's length?
While Hong-wi was still turning this over, Tung Jugang spotted someone and raised his hand in greeting.
"Ah — Elder Brother Keshine! And Hasutai!"
Hong-wi turned to see two Jurchen warriors approaching, one on a bay horse and one on a black.
The man on the bay had a touch of ash-gray threading through his hair and beard, making him look plainly older than Tung Jugang. That, Hong-wi guessed, must be the one called Elder Brother Keshine.
The warrior on the black horse was of middling height with a lean, airtight sharpness about him, holding a bow in his left hand.
Tung Jugang made the introductions.
"That is Elder Brother Keshine — the eldest of the seven friends who live as my brothers. The one beside him is Hasutai, or Heochir as he's also called. As you can see, he's left-handed — that's where the name comes from — and with a bow there is none finer."
Hasutai meant "left-handed" in the Jurchen tongue.
As Hong-wi nodded, the two riders drew near. Hasutai spoke first, his voice half-cracked and hoarse.
"Elder Brother — who is this man?"
"A man."
Tung Jugang's answer was terse, as though that alone should suffice.
"A man."
Hasutai slowly repeated the words, never taking his eyes off Hong-wi as he studied him.
Keshine chuckled.
"If Jugang here says he's a man, then a man he is, without question."
"...Surely his name is not actually 'Man,' is it?"
Hasutai replied at his own unhurried pace, his gaze still fixed on Hong-wi.
Hong-wi answered.
"I am called Temusi'i."
"Temusi'i?"
Hasutai flinched. Keshine, too, looked at Hong-wi anew.
"That Temusi'i?"
"I can't say what 'that Temusi'i' might refer to... but in any case, I am Temusi'i."
"Temusi'i, is it — a fine name. You came from Joseon, I hear?"
Keshine asked, and Hong-wi nodded.
"That I did."
"Whatever for, taking our people's name as your own? The Koryo men I've known would never go so far."
Koryo men...
Hong-wi gave a small shrug.
"There are reasons enough. I came here resolved to follow the customs of this land — and to lay my bones in it, if it comes to that."
"I see."
Keshine nodded, his expression thoughtful. Hasutai's face betrayed nothing at all.
"Among the Koryo, men like you must be rare... no — I'd say there is none other. This is the first time I've met a man so fluent in our tongue who has even changed his name for it."
Hong-wi answered only with a silent smile.
Keshine extended his hand.
"In any case — allow me to greet you properly. I am Keshine."
"And I, Temusi'i."
As Keshine and Hong-wi clasped hands, Hasutai studied Hong-wi a long moment before finally extending his left hand.
He bit the words out.
"A pleasure... Hasutai."