The Provincial Governor's Melancholy, Qingcheng's Stance

“…and thus the standing board of directors shall serve as external advisors to the Sichuan Dang Family’s legal support division, thereby performing the role of watchdogs to ensure that the Dang Family’s course does not stray from the laws of the realm… Who do they take for a fool?”

The Provincial Governor clicked his tongue, face sour as he read the newspaper.

“I’ve heard the tale of boiling the hunting dogs once the wolves are slain, but never one about a hunting dog that drags a tiger along because it refuses to be boiled itself…”

This is a warning aimed squarely at me, isn’t it? Don’t even think of casting me aside lightly—I now have a backer like this.

Taking it as a warning of precisely that sort, the Provincial Governor’s eyes tightened with irritation, then slowly rounded again in surprise.

“And what in the world is this? Seven Astonishing Achievements of the Sichuan Provincial Administration Commissioner: Why We Praise His Excellency the Current Provincial Governor…?”

As if entranced, he read on. Before long the corners of his mouth began to twitch. He was fighting hard to keep the laughter from spilling out.

“Ahem. Well now, they’ve organized it rather nicely.”

The waterworks renovation project and the flood-control works linked to it; the improvements in public hygiene from separating water supply and sewage; the resulting drop in water-borne disease—all carefully laid out with charts, graphs, and statistical tables.

And that was only the beginning. The jobs created by the construction of the State-run Ironworks and the income those workers earned; an explanation of the unfamiliar concept of Sichuan’s annual gross product (GDP), complete with figures showing just how much more prosperous the province had become. One entire page of the newspaper could have been cut out and submitted to His Majesty as the annual report without the slightest embarrassment.

Road improvements, the adjustment of loan interest rates, the ban on Yeowangchae—the article concluded by declaring that the present Provincial Governor’s achievements stood head and shoulders above every predecessor who had ever held the post of Sichuan Provincial Administration Commissioner.

The pieces that followed were of the same stripe:

Blatant praise and courtship directed at the Three Offices that held the reins of power in Sichuan formed the bulk of the content. After those came lighter fare:

The tale of an innkeeper who had been contemplating closure, only to reverse his fortunes completely after becoming a franchise of the Sichuan Dang Family…

The story of a jobless youth with neither skill nor inherited plot of land who became a Baekga-jaengsik deliveryman and now boasted a monthly wage of such-and-such amount…

An article praising Emei Sect’s martial arts while announcing the recruitment of lay disciples.

And so on—advertisements of every kind filled the remaining columns. Of course, in an age that had not yet discovered the utility of newspapers, no one would have thought to place ads first; every last one had been inserted on Hwiyeom’s direct orders.

Entranced, the Provincial Governor read the paper through to the final page. There, under the heading Meeting a Person of Note, appeared the interview record of Bang Un with the Sichuan Daily. He chuckled as he read.

After lingering long over the interview, the Provincial Governor let out a lengthy sigh and nodded.

“So that was the meaning of it… That was the meaning all along.”

His anger had fled. Looking thoroughly outmatched, he shook his head from side to side and folded the newspaper neatly, setting it down on the table with a soft tap.

“I thought you a song thrush kept in my sleeve, yet you were a phoenix chick waiting for the wind that would let you soar.”

He too was a seasoned politician. Looking at the content of the newspaper and the way it had been arranged, only a fool would have failed to grasp what Hwiyeom was saying.

Hwiyeom was telling the Provincial Governor this:

I shall continue to elevate your wealth and renown. But our Dang Family is not your possession. Let us ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠walk as partners in mutual prosperity, not as something you can cast aside the moment the hunt is over. Otherwise, I will show you that the dog you raised can sink its teeth into your throat. No—I have already called a tiger. Try me if you dare.

“Insolent brat. All that ‘Great-Grandfather this, Great-Grandfather that’ coquetry, and then you turn around and slap me in the back of the head.”

The words were curses, yet the Provincial Governor’s expression was not particularly dark. He brushed his fingers over the section that had so grandly praised his achievements, then rang the bell for an official.

“Yes, Your Excellency. For what reason have you summoned me?”

“Cut out this article—this portion—and have it framed.”

“Pardon?”

“I said make a frame for it.”

“Ah—yes, yes.”

Having given the order, the Provincial Governor released a long breath and let out a short laugh.

“Very well. But do not misunderstand, Yeom. Even if the Dang Family is no longer my private goblin’s club, the nature of the work itself means that, in the end, the one the Dang Family must rely on most is still me.”

Well, that was a point on which Hwiyeom’s own thoughts would have to be heard as well. In any case, the Provincial Governor had no choice but to acknowledge the Dang Family’s rise.

“…This damned mess.”

Baekhyeon Jin-in frowned, reflecting that he had been swearing far more often of late. He flung the newspaper he had just finished onto the table as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠though discarding trash and spoke with the look of a man whose head was splitting.

“By what means did the Dang Family manage to bring a former Judicial Commissioner into their fold?”

In the martial world, hierarchy was a matter of life and death; yet the officialdom was even stricter about rank and seniority. Though Bang Un formally held neither authority nor power, a single word from him would send the current Judicial Commissioner dropping his forehead to the floor of his own office. In the hierarchical bureaucracy, the legal circles and the military stood at the absolute pinnacle, did they not?

Bang Un might be a private citizen, yet his influence reached high officials from the Beijing court down to the provincial administrations. Indeed, the present Judicial Commissioner himself was a junior of Bang Un’s own faction.

And now such a titan had publicly taken the side of the Sichuan Dang Family. It meant that, at least within the soil of Sichuan, the Dang Family had become an entity the public power of the state could no longer touch—unless, of course, the Family Head went mad, plotted rebellion, or violated the national law and was impeached.

“If we were to force a confrontation under the banner of ‘martial world affairs, officials do not interfere,’ we might still win by strength… yet it would be a victory that left only wounds. And we lack even a pretext for the fight…”

In that climate, Hong Ilgon—who had been given a free hand to compete with business acumen from the shadows—had been thoroughly routed by the Minjeongwon’s rumor-mongering. He had gone to pick roasted chestnuts from a bonfire and come away with burns on hands and face; for the time being he had no choice but to keep his head down and lie low.

This, truly, was what it meant to be surrounded on all four sides.

“Have you no plan at all?”

Even when Baekhyeon Jin-in pressed the question out of sheer frustration, the elders sat as silent as mutes who had swallowed honey. The truth was that no clever measure existed.

After watching Baekhyeon Jin-in’s face for a long while, one elder finally spoke with caution.

“In martial arts as well, when the enemy’s momentum is overwhelming, one does not meet them head-on; one seeks the way of grafting the pear blossom or of softness overcoming hardness. If we compare the present situation of the Sichuan Dang Family and our Qingcheng, the Dang Family is at the height of its surge, pouring on a fierce offensive.”

“True enough.”

“Yet such momentum cannot last forever, can it? In circumstances like these, rather than clashing face-to-face, would it not be wisest to concentrate for a time on defense and wait until the opponent either makes a mistake or runs short of internal energy?”

“Mm…”

It was an utterly self-preserving argument, yet no sharper alternative presented itself. Armed conflict was sealed off; competing in commercial ability was beyond them; schemes and stratagems had already failed. Hands and feet were both bound.

“Our Qingcheng Sect, when all is said and done, is a Taoist order and a martial order. Though the Dang Family’s recent course appears earth-shaking, it is less the path of a martial house than the path of merchants. In other words, the further the Dang Family expands its enterprises, the fewer pretexts there will be for us to contend with them in the realm of the martial world.”

“…Hmm.”

“We are Taoists and martial artists to begin with; we must not try to fight on the merchants’ ground. If we cultivate our strength and deepen our cultivation, a day will surely come when Sichuan requires the power of Qingcheng.”

“There is reason in that.”

The assertion that Qingcheng’s essence was that of a martial-Taoist order stirred the hearts of Baekhyeon Jin-in and the elders alike. Watching the deranged progress of the Sichuan Dang Family these past few years, they felt they had been momentarily dazzled and led astray.

“Yes. In the end a martial man speaks with the sword.”

“Once it becomes known that we are the strongest in Sichuan, the lay disciples who left us will knock on the mountain gate again to learn the sword.”

“Merchants who desire the protection of a powerful sect will flock to us in droves as well.”

When the elders voiced their agreement, Baekhyeon Jin-in nodded.

“Then it is decided. Yet there is a small difficulty with the method. For a sect to grow strong requires effort measured at least in decades. To solve this, I wish to reveal some of the Crimson Cloud Sword Ghosts as official disciples.”

“What?”

“Sect Leader, that is…”

The elders’ faces passed beyond astonishment into blank shock. Baekhyeon Jin-in’s expression, however, was firm.

“Hear me out first. The Crimson Cloud Sword Ghosts are secret weapons forged from the lessons of our bloody war with the Demonic Cult. Knowing that righteousness alone cannot always destroy evil, we created them to handle the filthy work for the sect from within its shadow.”

“That is so…”

“The Crimson Cloud Sword Ghosts are powerful and useful, yet precisely because they must never be exposed, we paradoxically created them and then could not use them. Thirty years and sixty White Pine Pills went into producing them, yet they have never even been entered upon the official Taoist registers of the Qingcheng Sect. They remain unofficial persons, do they not?”

Baekhyeon Jin-in pressed his case with heated tone and a voice full of conviction.

“Let us bring them into the light. All at once would draw too much notice, so gradually—a few at a time—we will transfer them in as second-generation disciples. Within a few years the martial world will know that our Qingcheng possesses the greatest number of Peak masters among the Nine Sects and One Gang.”

In the martial world, strength was authority, and the wellspring from which money itself was born. In history and tradition as Taoist gates, Kunlun and Qingcheng far outstripped Wudang; yet Wudang was treated as the foremost Taoist order because Wudang was strong, was it not?

When the elders seemed persuaded, Baekhyeon Jin-in turned next to the Finance Hall Master, Baekseon.

“Finance Hall Master.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Contact the Sichuan Daily and arrange an interview for us as well, the way Emei Sect did. It would be good to run pieces on the history of the Qingcheng Sect, or the story of Qingcheng’s First Sword, Martial Brother Baekil.”

“…Will that be all right?”

“So long as their true nature is that of merchants rather than martial artists, they may demur a few times, but they will not refuse in the end. Money will come in, after all.”

Baekhyeon Jin-in smiled in a manner most unbefitting a Taoist.

“Lull the opponent into carelessness, then strike. Even an enemy’s methods, if excellent, ought to be learned.”

When word of this later reached Hong Ilgon, he looked up at the heavens and sighed.

…They say they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠will walk the path of a martial house. Fools. Even if Dangroe alone begins mass production the outlook is already bleak, yet that monster has declared that Dangroe is only the beginning of the rebirth of the hidden-weapon arts. If we do not sever the funding stream that is its source now, it will return as a storm nothing can stop!

While Hong Ilgon thus lamented Qingcheng’s mistaken choice, Hwiyeom was meeting Dang Un-sang with the next business plan in hand.