The Incorruptible Officer of Ganggye
Officer Bak was young, but he was capable.
His only flaw was that he occasionally talked too much.
Be that as it may, his reports could always be trusted.
Fortunately, the past few years had brought no particular trouble from the north of the Amnok River.
The entire garrison had been on high alert when the Ming Emperor's own punitive expedition had suffered a catastrophic defeat at Tumu Fortress at the hands of the Tatars — the Khan's riders even taking the Son of Heaven himself captive — a few years back.
Thankfully, the northern border defense network, painstakingly built up since the days of the previous king, had held firm.
Had any suspicious movement been detected among the Jurchens, the Yeodundae beacon inside the fort would have relayed an urgent signal straight to Uiju, Anju, Pyongyang, and Songdo before reaching Hanyang, and reinforcements would have been dispatched to crush any tribe daring to raise its hand against Joseon.
"You may go down now, Bak. Keep a sharp watch until the market closes — we must not let the Jurchen plot any mischief today."
Officer Bak offered a salute from horseback, wheeled his mount around, and rode down toward Manpo-jin.
Song Yu-bin turned his gaze back to the Amnok River and coughed dryly, as though something continued to trouble him.
Of late, a faint unease had taken root in a corner of his heart.
Peace with the Jurchens had always been precarious. The chieftain Yi Man-ju, who held the Jianzhou Guard in his iron grip, had spent years unsettling the border with his endless cycle of clash and truce.
Unlike the Joseon lands south of the Amnok, the country to the north was wild and untamed, and the temper of the people who lived there was every bit as stubborn.
The Jurchens do know better than to cross the line, at least. And yet……
In truth, what gnawed at Song Yu-bin's spirits was something else entirely.
As ever, the enemy beyond the border was fearsome enough — but the enemy within was always more insidious.
Today's northern defense system had been built with the blood and sweat of that Tiger Minister, the venerable Kim Jong-seo, and the Tiger of Hamgil Province, Commander Yi Jing-ok.
Those two men, whom Song Yu-bin revered without measure, had been caught in the sinister shadow-play of the Gyeyu year and butchered with monstrous cruelty.
Their places were now filled with the creatures sent by Grand Prince Suyang, newly seated on the throne, and anyone branded a partisan of Kim Jong-seo or Yi Jing-ok had found himself cast aside like a broken straw sack.
Song Yu-bin was one of them.
Being martial to the marrow, Song Yu-bin himself had kept his distance from the political squabbles of Hanyang, devoting himself wholly to the safety of the border folk.
That was not to say no righteous indignation stirred in his breast — at an uncle usurping his nephew's throne, and at that nephew being stripped even of the title of Retired King and demoted to Prince Nosan.
The deaths of Kim Jong-seo and Yi Jing-ok were harder still to reconcile.
The only reason he still kept his post was a sense of duty: the innocent people had to be protected.
And yet…… how utterly lamentable the situation has become.
Song Yu-bin sighed.
Had Suyang's new men entrusted with the border defenses been competent or faithful to their duties, he could have swallowed his grievances well enough.
But they were ignorant of the northern border's realities — worse, they had no wish to learn — and to make matters worse they were arrogant, insolent, and greedy.
Strict military discipline is difficult to establish yet collapses in a single moment.
In the past few years, the discipline of the border garrisons had been growing lax to a degree that already worried seasoned officers like Song Yu-bin.
Yet few dared breathe a word of it aloud.
In Hanyang, officers who had served on the frontier were now regarded with suspicion as potential partisans of Kim Jong-seo or Yi Jing-ok.
In such an atmosphere, insisting that the defenses be inspected was asking to draw pointless suspicion.
Indeed, Song Yu-bin himself had pressed the matter of lax discipline once too often and fallen from his superiors' favor, demoted to a mere garrison officer at Manpo-jin.
Circumstances being what they were, some officers had simply resigned and drifted back to their hometowns, while others drowned their indignation in drink.
But Song Yu-bin had said only this to his old comrades who shared his plight:
If we elders grow disillusioned with our superiors, what becomes of the border when even the mid-ranking officers neglect their duties?
His gaze turned southward.
It was the land where, under the old policy of relocating subjects, men and women who had turned their backs on their hometowns now scratched out a living on the far-distant northern frontier.
In this cold and barren country even the grain refused to grow properly, and every inspection of the nearby villages left him heartsick at the weariness of their lives.
Yet if the border soldiers were to abandon their posts entirely, those people could not sustain even such a life as this.
The western sky was slowly burning red.
He could see the Jurchens who had finished their trading at Manpo-jin filing in a line toward the river crossing.
Thankfully, this round of official border trade seemed to be closing without incident.
Even if only the Beonho Jurchens — those who had submitted to Joseon — were permitted to come and go, how far could anyone truly trust the hearts of the frontier tribes?
"Hmm……?"
Just as he was turning his horse to ride down, something strange caught Song Yu-bin's eye.
Had he seen it wrong……?
No — no, he had not! Far away along the Amnok bank, the reed thicket had swayed.
Song Yu-bin reined in and stared hard, eyes narrowed.
It might well be nothing.
Was the reed thicket not a place where every manner of creature came and went, birds included?
He asked Officer Bak, who was waiting for him:
"Do you see that?"
"Well now……"
Officer Bak narrowed his eyes.
"To my eyes, my lord, they look like nothing more than wild birds."
"That may be. Or they could be smugglers — or spies."
"Shall we conduct a search?"
"We shall. Let's go and see."
To the hostile Jurchen tribes — the Jeokho, who lurked day and night for a chance to raid the border villages — Manpo-jin itself was a thorn in the eye above all thorns.
On market days like this one, sending spies to probe the garrison's strengths and weaknesses was a tempting prize indeed.
It was also the perfect hour for smugglers to slip across the Amnok among the departing Beonho Jurchens.
Whichever it was, this was no matter to leave unwatched.
Hong-wi stared in silence at the rustling reeds.
What could it be?
In the time since leaving Yeongwol and making his way to this place, Hong-wi had changed in more ways than one.
Among them was this: his five senses were sharpening with each passing day.
He could even feel it — a killing intent, emanating from the reed thicket.
A year ago at this season, he would have sensed nothing at all.
Perhaps feeling the same unease, Cha Gyeong-yeon was watching the thicket with a taut face.
He had not yet drawn his blade, but his hand had already drifted to the hilt.
Then, abruptly, the killing intent vanished.
Hong-wi was left bewildered by the sudden shift.
The next instant, he heard the clatter of hoofbeats.
Cha Gyeong-yeon pointed toward a spot, and Hong-wi nodded.
Then dread closed in around them. Whoever would ride at speed in a place like this was either a Jurchen raider or a patrolling officer — and either way, an unwelcome encounter.
The hollow clatter of hooves drew steadily closer.
Convinced that retreat was no longer possible, Hong-wi called out:
"You there — who goes riding? Show yourselves, if you please!"
Presently two mounted officers pushed through the reeds.
The one in front wore a long, flowing beard; the one trailing a few lengths behind was younger.
They looked down upon Hong-wi's party without a word.
A remarkable commander.
Hong-wi inwardly marveled at the bearing of the long-bearded officer.
The man was enormously tall, and his frame matched his height in its fullness — the very picture of what one would call a great man.
But what drew the gasp above all was that magnificent black beard.
So must Guan Yu's beard have looked, in days of old.
Song Yu-bin spoke first.
"If there is a question of identity, it is yours to answer first. I am Song Yu-bin, garrison officer of Ganggye."
Song Yu-bin……
The name was one Hong-wi had heard often enough.
Song Yu-bin studied the three before him, unhurried and deliberate.
First, his eyes settled on Ho-in.
Late teens at most — he could not have passed twenty.
He appeared to have had some training in the martial arts, standing with a certain discipline, though nothing extraordinary.
Then his gaze shifted to Cha Gyeong-yeon.
He started, ever so slightly.
Men of this caliber are not easily found, even among the Armored Guards of the Two Borders.
To the eye, the man might have been gazing at distant mountains, feigning leisure — not a flicker of tension about him.
But to the practiced eyes of a veteran commander like Song Yu-bin, that posture was that of a tiger crouched low, ready to spring at any moment.
A man of genuine craft. Not one to take lightly.
And then the boy who had stepped out between the two of them——
His gaze lingered on Hong-wi for a long while.
He seemed nothing more than a boy who had never formally studied the sword, and yet, strangely, an air about him was far from ordinary.
If anything, it was an aura born of inborn dignity and refinement.
I have felt this before, somewhere……
Troubled by the sense of familiarity, Song Yu-bin asked:
"Have I by chance seen you before, young master, in some other place?"
Ho-in flinched.
Hong-wi, meanwhile, smiled gently.
"If you have never been to Hamheung, then I should think not."
He paused a moment before continuing.
"I am a scholar of the Yi clan, born in Hamheung. The one beside me is my servant, and the other is our guide."
Hamheung was the stronghold of Taejo Yi Seong-gye, and where the old king had briefly lived out his later years — a suitably plausible tale, he judged.
According to what Jang Hui-sun had said earlier, Song Yu-bin had never been stationed in Hamheung. Please — please let the story hold……
Fortunately, Song Yu-bin seemed to let the answer pass without further probing.
"Is that so."
Song Yu-bin examined Hong-wi with a gaze that was courteous, yet sharp and unyielding.
It was the stare of a man who looked straight through to what lay beneath.
"Are you certain of what you have just told me?"
"I am."
Hong-wi answered without a moment's hesitation.
A taut silence hung between them.
At length, Song Yu-bin slowly shook his head.
"You do not strike me as a man who would speak falsehood, young master."
The tension melted away like snow in the sun.
The next moment, however, Song Yu-bin fixed Hong-wi with a stern eye.
"That said, I do not take you for a man who tells the whole truth either. I have spent long years on this frontier contending with Jurchens and every manner of rogue besides — men who lie as they breathe. Not that I boast of it, but I have grown reasonably skilled at sorting truth from falsehood. I would want to believe your words, young master. And yet something does not sit easy with me."
"So it would seem."
Hong-wi conceded the point without protest.
Song Yu-bin gathered himself and pressed on.
"Nevertheless, I will choose to believe you for now. This is the frontier, it is true — but sightseeing is no crime, after all. And we ourselves must return to Ganggye without delay."
Turning to his subordinate, he continued:
"But if you are an honest man, young master, then leave this place quickly, before nightfall — that is, if you do not wish to throw away the life your parents gave you. The Jurchens and bandits roam this land."
He cast a sidelong glance at Cha Gyeong-yeon as he went on.
"……Your guide certainly appears capable, I grant. But a short while ago, up on that rise, we glimpsed some suspicious characters. We were pursuing them when we came upon your party, and they vanished into hiding at once. Thinking on it now, I wonder whether they were not after you."
Hong-wi recalled the killing intent that had flared and then suddenly vanished.
"Then I owe you a debt, officer."
"I did only what is expected of a soldier who draws the state's grain. If you mean to return to Ganggye, I could escort you, should you wish it."
Hong-wi shook his head.
"The offer is kind, but I must decline."
"As you insist."
Song Yu-bin sighed.
Pointing toward distant Manpoguja, he said:
"But do not expect help should trouble find you. My charge is to hold that fort — yet no soldiers are stationed there any longer. We make our patrols from time to time, that is all. Once my men and I withdraw, there will be no soul within tens of ri in any direction to call upon."
"I thank you for your kindness. But it will not be needed. I entrusted my life to heaven long ago."
Hong-wi's answer was serene, detached.
Officer Bak stared at him in open disbelief.
In the young officer's eyes, Hong-wi must have looked like a madman.
The young officer spoke up.
"My lord, you should depart at once. Any further delay and the sun will set before you ever reach Ganggye."
"I know it, Officer Bak!"
Having cut short his subordinate with that brisk reply, Song Yu-bin turned back to Hong-wi once more.
There was less reproach for a stubborn man in his eyes than there was concern.
"There is some story behind you, I perceive. But if I may speak plainly — had you been any other man, I would have taken you for one whose mind was not whole."
"It is not."
Hong-wi bowed at the waist.
"May you ride safe."
Song Yu-bin regarded him for a long, silent moment, then at last wheeled his horse around.
Only when the riders had vanished into the distance did Ho-in release a long breath.
"So that is the Song Yu-bin himself. Truly a man who lives up to his reputation. No wonder the corrupt officers and smugglers give him such a wide berth."
Hong-wi nodded.
Then someone appeared behind them.
"Sweet heavens. What in the world was that? I've lost ten years off my life, I tell you."
"So that man was the Song Yu-bin?"
Jang Hui-sun shuddered as though the mere recollection made his skin crawl.
"The very same. The one they call Song Yu-bin of Manpo."
"He seemed a fine man to me."
"A fine man!"
Jang Hui-sun grumbled.
"Well, to the honest sort, maybe he is. To the likes of us, he's a death god with legs."
"Then I suppose he is a fine man after all."
Ho-in murmured.
Jang Hui-sun shot him a sidelong glare but did not bother to answer.
"Come on, let's get back. Some sleep before daybreak, if you please."
"Still — by his account, someone out there is after us."
"Bound to be. This region is crawling with bandits come over from the other side of the river."
Jang Hui-sun reacted with surprising indifference.
Hong-wi found that odd.
"But they won't strike this shack of ours. That's the unwritten law among smugglers, you see. Even the Jurchens leave smugglers be as a rule — a quick profit now, perhaps, but it earns them nothing in the long run."
"That's a comfort to hear……"
Ho-in said, sounding none too convinced.
"But as the officer said, there's not a soul within tens of ri around here. Which means anyone could cut us down and strip us bare and no one would ever know. That's the problem, isn't it."
Jang Hui-sun made no reply, only turned to look at Hong-wi.
"Now then — enough foolhardy adventures, I beg you. Let's get some sleep. Come tomorrow's sunrise, young master, you'll be standing on Jurchen soil."
Meanwhile, Song Yu-bin and Officer Bak, joined now by their men, were turning onto the road that led back to Ganggye.
Officer Bak addressed his superior.
"Madmen, the lot of them. Of all the places in the world to come sightseeing, they pick this?"
At any other time, Song Yu-bin would have shared the sentiment. Strangely, however, no such feeling came.
Instead, he realized something rough and unyielding had lodged itself in his breast.
What on earth could it be?
Straining to put a name to it, he answered absently:
"Well — he did not strike me as merely a madman, though."
"No, he did not. That's the truth of it. The other two I can't speak to, but that young master…… he did seem different somehow."
Officer Bak frowned, working through the thought.
So it was not I alone who felt it.
Song Yu-bin nodded in silence.
The next moment, he understood that he was in dire trouble.