The Initiation Rite
"There's been something of a stir in Jianzhou lately, you see. That Kunaha of theirs and all the powerful tribes have been hoarding horses and weapons, each one of them."
"Understood."
"Watch out for bandits. You aren't expecting constables to come to the rescue out here, are you? Every man must guard his own hide. Fortunately, the savage bandits will have nothing better than hunting spears, bows, or clubs. Though perhaps they might carry a sword or two?"
"Yes, some of them will."
"Then that's a mercy."
Hong-wi and his companions nodded.
The Jurchens had not yet learned to forge iron implements themselves, so they relied entirely on imports from Joseon or the Ming. Naturally, neither Joseon nor Ming were fools, and both strictly regulated the export of iron. Even the modest amount of iron that did trickle north was needed for far more than weapons, which made iron weaponry a rare and precious commodity in these lands.
"If you find you need anything, seek out Jang Hui-sun."
With that, Hwang Ga turned and departed, Mak-gae trailing behind him.
Ho-in said with evident displeasure, "How reassuring our host has been."
"Oh, come now — what did you expect? This is a lawless land. Bandits bow and scrape to those stronger than them, and for the weak, well, they simply beat them and take everything they own instead."
Cha Gyeong-yeon chuckled heartily.
"Ha! I suppose that makes us the bandits, then."
"In a lawless frontier, a merchant caravan can become a band of raiders, and raiders can become merchants. It's all a matter of a single sheet of paper."
In this lawless land, where no unified power existed and a patchwork of rival tribes competed for dominance, the difference between a trading company and a plundering horde was, indeed, as thin as that. Even tribes that lived 'peacefully' would gladly take up arms once winter squeezed them into hardship and ride out to raid the borders of Joseon and Ming — that was simply the way of things here.
"I suppose so. Still, I can't help worrying how we're going to conduct ourselves in front of these uncivilized savages from here on."
"Ho-in. Don't talk like that."
Cha Gyeong-yeon's voice turned suddenly firm.
Ho-in stared at him blankly. "Whatever do you mean?"
"This business of 'uncivilized' this and 'savage' that. Let's settle it here and now: from today onward, you will never say such a thing again. You intend to live among these people, do you not? It's only natural."
Ho-in did not answer.
"These people live off the grasslands. They break the rough earth, hunt beasts, and raise horses. They may lack letters and learning, but in their place, they pass wisdom from mouth to mouth in song, building it up generation by generation. By the measure of us Joseon folk they may well look backward — but they have their own way of life, their own pride and dignity. In fact, they live bearing the pride of being descendants of the old Golden Empire."
Hong-wi too listened to Cha Gyeong-yeon's words in silence.
"They may have fallen now, but it is precisely that fall which has hardened their pride into something stubborn. To survive, they must bow to Ming and Joseon — and so their gaze upon us is all the more complicated for it. Never forget that even those who seem to grovel before the might of Joseon carry a quiet flame hidden in their breasts. Provoking the hearts of such people — I would not recommend it. Do you understand me?"
"...I understand."
Ho-in answered. Hong-wi nodded as well.
"I hear you well enough. And listening to you, I find I'm not at all certain how to win the hearts of these people. We are strangers to them, after all."
"It won't be easy. But once you win their hearts, no people on earth are more sincere. Because they are born and raised on the harsh land, they love bold heroes of daring. Even our Great King Taejo, though his blood was of Samhan, was once venerated by these very people. Can there be any law that forbids Your Majesty from following in his footsteps?"
"Could I truly dare such a thing?"
Something heavy settled in a corner of Hong-wi's heart.
Could I really follow in the footsteps of that Taejo, Yi Seong-gye?
Cha Gyeong-yeon smiled gently. "Without question, you can. I believe it."
"I believe it too!"
Ho-in cried out after him.
Hong-wi turned to look at them, overcome by a feeling he could hardly name. "Hearing you two say that makes my head swim. But — thank you."
He paused for a moment, then continued. "Isn't that Pushan Hadaru over there? Who are those men he's brought with him?"
Ho-in and Cha Gyeong-yeon turned to look, and there indeed was Pushan Hadaru, plump and finely dressed, accompanied by Ugunai, whom they had met once before — and a whole crowd of men besides. Every last one of them looked mean as a snake.
"Looks like he's gone and rounded up a pack of common thieves," Ho-in muttered.
Truly, it was a strange combination at a glance. The man murmuring something to Pushan Hadaru was fairly large, a burly fellow with a beard that bristled out wild as chestnut burrs. A long knife scar by his left temple and a nose bridge that looked to have been broken and sunken in some past brawl made his face all the more menacing, and his expression was crowded with grievance.
"Those fellows must be the porters Pushan Hadaru spoke of."
"Surely not..."
At Cha Gyeong-yeon's words, Ho-in could not finish. He prayed with all his heart that they were not those porters.
But his earnest hope came to nothing. Pushan Hadaru approached and said with a pleasant smile, "These are the porters who'll be helping you from here on. This one here is their chief."
He clapped the burly man lightly on the shoulder. Ho-in's mouth fell open despite himself. That gang of cutthroats, who look like bandits at a hundred paces?
The burly man stood with his arms crossed, sneering at Hong-wi and his party. Pushan Hadaru went on, "They may look like this, but they're quite useful. They've escorted caravans many a time without a single failure. The best on the floor of Hwangseongpyeong itself. Now then, introduce yourselves."
With that, Pushan Hadaru left the porters behind and strode off haughtily with Ugunai in tow.
'Caravan escorts, is it...? I'd count it a blessing if they didn't strip the caravan themselves.'
Ho-in thought bitterly to himself. Hong-wi, meanwhile, nodded and addressed the burly man. "A pleasure. I am called Temusi-i."
The man shrugged as though he'd heard nothing at all, and a cold wind seemed to blow straight through his manner. "I'uve things te prepare, so we'll be goin' ahead."
He spoke in a gravelly, rolling voice, then turned and walked away without another word. The other porters shuffled after him in a body.
"Well, that's hardly an auspicious sign. This place is dangerous enough as it is, and he's gathered up a lot that looks for all the world like common bandits."
"Once those sorts open their hearts, there's no one more trustworthy, mind you."
"That much may be true."
Ho-in grumbled at Cha Gyeong-yeon's words. "That is, so long as they don't slit our throats first. Looks like I'll be sleeping with a blade in my arms from now on."
"You'd want to do that anywhere in Jurchen lands."
Cha Gyeong-yeon laughed. But Ho-in's worries did not abate. "Will you truly be all right? I only..."
"I'm fine. We've come all this way — what is there left to fail at? Are they any worse than those men of my dear royal uncle? More cunning, perhaps. That's all."
"Your Majesty..."
"After all, I count myself a man who died once already. So what is there left to fear? To hell with it — let's see what they've got."
Hong-wi's voice was low, yet it carried a fierce spirit within it. Ho-in fell silent, and a smile crept across Cha Gyeong-yeon's lips.
The porters under the burly man did, admittedly, do their work. But that was all they did. They clustered together around their chief and paid Hong-wi's instructions no more heed than the wind, obeying only the burly man's commands. Whenever Hong-wi came to inspect the caravan, the porters lowered their eyes in silence — and it was not hard to sense the mocking glances and sneering smirks lurking in that silence.
The burly man himself still refused even to exchange formal introductions, and his determination to keep his distance from Hong-wi's party was plain to anyone who cared to look. No goodwill toward them could be found in him even if one searched with a lantern.
"This really is a problem..."
With matters standing thus, Ho-in's worry was beyond measure. Yet he could hardly bring himself to burden Hong-wi with it, so he sought out Cha Gyeong-yeon instead. Cha was gathering the information needed before their departure and organizing it onto maps. Sahalcha was a remote place, and useful intelligence was scarce. That burly fellow might have known a thing or two, but extracting anything from him now was impossible.
"Brother Cha — is this really going to be all right?"
"What is?"
Cha Gyeong-yeon asked back, feigning ignorance. Ho-in shot him an incredulous look. "Oh, don't play the innocent with me. You know perfectly well. Those Jurchen porters listen to every word that brute says and treat our lord's orders like dust on their ears."
"My, is that all? Think of it as the newcomers' initiation rite — myeonsinrye — being paid to a greenhorn caravan master. By those standards, that much is practically a courtesy."
Cha Gyeong-yeon answered as though it were nothing.
The initiation rite was a kind of hazing the veterans inflicted upon newcomers. Since time immemorial, whenever a fresh hand joined any rough-living organization, the old hands had abused him under the pretext of enforcing discipline. It was a deep-rooted custom even in Joseon — even in the world of officials and scholars, learned men though they were. That even King Taejo of Joseon had once found it necessary to say a word to his ministers about the practice said everything there was to say.
"Out here, green merchants lose their lives on their very first journey more often than not. That brute may be rough, but he has experience, and he's a dependable sort."
"How would you know that?"
"Look at how he prepares things, how he handles his men. The porters move like clockwork at a single flick of his chin, whenever it's his order. That's trust."
"And that trust exists only among themselves — that's the problem..."
Ho-in retorted sourly. "I'm afraid the moment we leave Hwangseongpyeong, they'll drag His Majesty off somewhere secluded and do him harm."
"They won't. That's needless worry."
Cha Gyeong-yeon declared it flatly, but Ho-in pouted his lips in disbelief. "What exactly are you basing that on? What makes you trust them? There's no magistrate in Jianzhou, no constables. And we're carrying goods that fetch a handsome price by Jurchen standards, besides. If those men decide to risk everything and go for our wealth, how are the three of us supposed to hold them off?"
"Think for a moment. Those men were introduced by Pushan Hadaru himself."
Cha Gyeong-yeon read Ho-in's expression and grinned, adding, "Ah, right — of course, the man himself is hardly trustworthy. But he vouched for them with his own name. If they pull some senseless stunt, it would be shaving away Pushan's own reputation. And the Jurchens take reputation very seriously indeed. A man cannot simply introduce anyone at all. It's a matter of credit, you see."
"And you believe savages understand the notion of credit?"
"They care about it far more than we do. They guard not only their own name but the reputation of their whole clan, jealously and always. Those men live every day in a brutal environment. In a place like that, reputation matters more than you'd think. An untrustworthy man is shunned — and a man who is shunned can expect no protection from anyone at all."
At Cha Gyeong-yeon's explanation, Ho-in had no ready answer. "But how can anyone know the heart of a man from the same road? Besides, that burly one... I can't trust that brute either, but what if some of them are men who live only for today?"
"Unless they mean to earn a day's bread in Hwangseongpyeong and then never work again for the rest of their lives, they can't afford any reckless stunt. They'd be marked by every merchant in Jianzhou. We may be Joseon men, but betraying the caravan you're sworn to protect is another matter entirely. That brute may look like a common thief, as you say, but he keeps his men on a tight rein, doesn't he? Who exactly is going to do something reckless?"
That was fair. The porters might look upon Hong-wi with contempt, but at the burly man's word they moved at once and without question. If anything, it was the burly man himself who disdained Hong-wi.
Ho-in sighed. "So you're telling me to simply trust that brute?"
"I'm not saying to let your heart rest easy. Didn't I say so? The initiation rite. They'll be putting you through the wringer properly, those men."
"Honestly, Brother Cha — why do you always talk as if it's somebody else's problem?"
Ho-in was struck speechless with exasperation.
"Now listen, Ho-in."
Cha Gyeong-yeon felt this was the moment to make things unmistakably clear.
"This is not Joseon soil. This is the land of the Jurchens. I've said it again and again — if you mean to survive here, first of all, you must never let them look down on you. I know well enough how you feel about protecting His Majesty."
"But—"
"There is no 'but.' Do you wish for His Majesty to simply be forgotten here, in a wilderness ten thousand li from home, among people not his own? Was that the reason you and your father first escorted him to this place?"
"Of course not!"
"Then His Majesty must not keep turning his back on the fight. What do I mean by that? If he is to be restored as King of Joseon, he has no choice but to rally the Jurchens and build a power base. Which means those untrustworthy, ignorant, rough-handed savages — just as you say — must be brought to His Majesty's side. Their loyalty cannot be bought with wealth. He must show them that he is a man worth following. That alone will do it."
"Hmm..."
"Winning the hearts of those porters? That's nothing at all. If he cannot manage even that, how is he to bend those proud, high-nosed Jurchen chieftains to his will? And that is something only His Majesty himself can do. It is not ours to do for him — and it must not be."
Hong-wi's eyes wavered. Even as resentment simmered within him, Ho-in knew that Cha Gyeong-yeon was right, and the conflict showed in his troubled gaze. Sensing that his words had landed, Cha Gyeong-yeon broke into an easy smile.
"I know full well what's in your heart. I too sincerely wish for His Majesty's success. That's why I'm watching to see how he carries himself. He will do it — without a doubt. But if, by some chance, things go wrong as you fear..."
Cha Gyeong-yeon's voice hardened.
"Then you and I will join our strength and protect him. Simple as that. You have full confidence in that, don't you?"
"Of course I do!"
Ho-in cried out.
What a simple, honest friend this man is. That's his charm, I suppose.
Cha Gyeong-yeon nodded, a trace of amusement lingering at the corner of his mouth. "Good. Keep to that resolve, and we'll be fine."
"...All right."
Ho-in conceded and went on his way.
Cha Gyeong-yeon returned to his own tasks, yet even he found himself quietly preoccupied. What was Hong-wi thinking? He had seemed composed on the surface, but who could say what unease churned beneath it?
I ought to go and ask him what he's thinking, at least once.