Subduing the Red Horse Faction 1
The rumor that Seokga Manor’s fifth son, Seok Geum-ryong, had defeated Gun Gyeong-mun, the Blood Ghost Scholar of the Blood Ghost Sect, along with the men under him after they had come for the Ferghana horse, began to spread quietly from mouth to mouth.
Perhaps because of that?
By the time they reached Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, where the enormous horse market was to be held, not a single person had dared look down on them, let alone threaten them.
Geum-ryong’s conviction had proven exactly right: if someone came for what was his, he had to hit back hard.
“We’ve finally arrived!”
“They say the horse market opens tomorrow.”
After a journey filled with hardships, the servant Jang Sam and the Scholar in Blue, Gong Sang-pil, came to report that they had reached the place where the Xi'an horse market would be held.
Since they had arrived a little earlier than planned, they still had a day to spare.
“Good. Still, until we’ve sold the Ferghana horses we brought here, we must not relax or let our guard down for a single moment.”
Geum-ryong soothed the companions who had endured so much with him, while at the same time making it clear that vigilance had to remain absolute.
The reason Geum-ryong still refused to relax was simple.
Something’s off. The Red Horse Faction is being too quiet.
The Red Horse Faction of Hebei.
They had virtually monopolized the horse markets of the Central Plains, and because they were rooted in Hebei Province, just like Seokga Manor, the two sides naturally had a poor relationship.
One reason Seokga Manor had once struggled with horses and eventually given up was also because of the Red Horse Faction, and the Red Horse Faction, unwilling to lose the only reins it held, had always fought back fiercely.
So Geum-ryong had expected them to pull something once Seokga Manor entered the horse market, yet so far there had been no suspicious movement at all.
“Jang Sam. Gong butler. Keep an eye on the Red Horse Faction until the end.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
It would not have been an exaggeration to say they had now reached the halfway point in disposing of the Ferghana horses.
Because the matter involved the survival of Geum-ryong and Bukcheon-won, he vowed to pour every ounce of his attention into it.
Then a day passed, and at last the day arrived when Xi'an’s largest horse market opened.
Hiiiiih!
For that one day alone, the vast and splendid Xi'an area was filled with horses of every breed and size, from tiny donkeys all the way to towering warhorses.
“Oh, look, a Four-White Horse!”
“Even a Round-Head Horse!”
As befitted the largest horse market in Xi'an, all manner of rare and unusual horses that were difficult to see anywhere else flaunted their presence alongside the merchants.
In particular, there was the expensive Four-White Horse, with its pure white markings on all four legs and the stamina to spare, making it ideal for carrying messengers, as well as the Round-Head Horse, whose round mark on its head was said to bring good fortune to the rider. It truly seemed there was nothing missing.
“Whaaaaat!”
“A Ferghana horse!”
“The legendary Ferghana horse! And there are dozens of them!”
But the true highlight, above all else, was naturally the Ferghana horses that Seokga Manor’s Geum-ryong and his party had brought in with such imposing flair, the very finest of famous steeds.
Their bright red coats and the sweat they shed, so red it looked almost like blood, left many onlookers staring in disbelief.
“This is astonishing.”
“Has it been more than ten years since a Ferghana horse appeared at the Xi'an horse market?”
“Even then there were only one or two of them... but dozens?”
“They really would fetch any price.”
Not only the merchants who dealt in horses, but even their servants, gaped open-mouthed in amazement.
Even those long hardened by the horse market could not easily lay eyes on a breed like this Ferghana horse.
Meanwhile, the Red Horse Faction was in an uproar of its own.
“The rumor was true!”
“I thought it was nonsense when I heard the horse-loving young master of the Blood Ghost Sect had met with misfortune.”
“They really are pure-blood Ferghana horses!”
The merchants who had all tied red hero scarves around their heads at once were the men of the Red Horse Faction.
“Faction Head. This is troublesome.”
When the suspicious Ferghana horses appeared before their eyes, the members of the Red Horse Faction all looked to their master, the Red Horse Faction Head, Gui Jong-ak.
They had doubted it, but never imagined the rumor would turn out to be true.
“This... we’ve been caught completely off guard.”
Even the faction head was not exempt from shock and confusion.
In particular, the Red Horse Faction had brought along the rare Four-White Horse and Round-Head Horse today in order to assert their influence over the market.
Was that all?
They had also hauled in a great many fine wild horses of all kinds, along with the Red Horse, their own pride and proprietary breed, developed in-house and considered one of their strongest products, all in an effort to become the stars of the market.
And yet the Ferghana horses had appeared not as one or two, but in the dozens, and they had naturally become the ones pushed aside.
But the surprise lasted only a moment.
“Hmph. Don’t be shaken. In any case, this horse market is already tightly in the grip of our Red Horse Faction... In the end, it will be Seokga Manor that bows its head first.”
Gui Jong-ak of the Red Horse Faction declared confidently, with no shortage of self-assurance.
To those who did not know the Red Horse Faction well, it might have sounded like nonsense, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
Soon, the source and reason for that confidence would be revealed.
* * *
“The Round-Head Horse has been sold for five gold pieces per horse.”
The Xi'an horse market auction, held amid Seokga Manor’s imposing entrance and the Red Horse Faction’s mounting unease, continued to progress.
“That’s right!”
The auction was now reaching its climax.
As the later lots came up, more and more rare horses and breeds appeared, and so far the Red Horse Faction and its head, Gui Jong-ak, had been the winners.
Gui Jong-ak nodded quietly, satisfied with the excellent prices the Round-Head Horse and the Four-White Horse had fetched in the auction hall.
Up to this point, everything had been highly satisfying, but the grand finale remained.
“Now then, next up! The legendary famous horse that never tires even after running all day and sweats blood-like sweat: the Ferghana horse!”
That finale was, of course, the Ferghana horse, the kind of horse one could scarcely hope to see even once.
At last!
As the time approached to bid on the Ferghana horses, Geum-ryong and his party were visibly buzzing with excitement.
To be honest, this was Geum-ryong’s first time taking part in such an auction, and almost everyone with him had no experience either, apart from the Scholar in Blue, Gong Sang-pil.
So he watched the flow with a trembling heart.
Just how much will it go for?
That was what Geum-ryong wanted to know.
The Round-Head Horse had sold for five gold pieces per horse, and the Four-White Horse had gone for a whopping ten gold pieces per horse.
Then the Ferghana horses, at the very least, should fetch several dozen gold pieces per horse, or perhaps even more if things went well, he cautiously predicted.
“Then... let the auction begin!”
With the Xi'an horse market auctioneer’s boisterous announcement, the Ferghana horse auction finally began.
Geum-ryong and his party had expected fierce competition to break out from the very start, but what was this?
“...”
The hall was filling with an unbelievable sight.
Incredibly, instead of a blazing contest, the room had settled into a somber, almost oppressive silence.
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
Caught entirely off guard, even the sharp-witted Gong Sang-pil and the servant Jang Sam, who knew horses better than most, instinctively realized something was going wrong.
“Now then, this isn’t some Ferghana horse that comes along every day. Surely there’s no one?” the auctioneer asked, flustered by the scene before him.
But no matter how long he waited, no one stepped forward to join the bidding.
It felt almost as though they were being deliberately frozen out, and only then did Geum-ryong turn around with an expression that said he had been dealt a blow.
The gaze he turned was, naturally, toward where the Red Horse Faction stood.
Gui Jong-ak, grinning smugly, met Geum-ryong’s glowering stare with a satisfied smile.
Heh, heh. Do you understand now? An auction isn’t favorable simply because the item is good and excellent.
Geum-ryong and his party had assumed the Ferghana horse could smash through the Xi'an horse market by sheer quality alone, but to the cunning and battle-hardened horse dealer Gui Jong-ak, there was a more vicious method at hand.
That method was to intimidate the merchants and auctioneers under his control so no one would place a bid.
No matter how rare or outstanding an item might be, its value rose only when people competed for it and assigned it worth together. If no one participated, it became nothing more than a troublesome burden.
The Red Horse Faction’s filthy method was to dominate the auction itself and force the Ferghana horse down to a paltry price.
“Now then! Is there really no one? If not... the auction will end as is, and the Ferghana horse will be returned to its original owner.”
If no one bid, the item naturally had nowhere else to go but back to its owner.
Even that was strange.
If the Ferghana horse truly had no value, perhaps it would make sense, but frankly, all the horse traders were staring at it with eyes blazing with desire, and yet no one dared move. It made no sense at all.
And then, in that very moment!
Someone slowly raised a hand and attempted to bid.
“I bid.”
That person was, of course, Gui Jong-ak, the Red Horse Faction Head.
Shamelessly, he had kept everyone else from entering the auction until the very end, then made a solitary bid all to himself.
The amount was, astonishingly...
“One gold piece per horse?!”
Incredibly, it came to one gold piece for each Ferghana horse.
“Hah... ha, hahahaha!”
“This is insane!”
At that absurdly low price, Jang Sam, who had poured his heart and soul into caring for the Ferghana horses for dozens of days, as well as Geum-ryong and his party, who had played the major role in securing them, all felt their eyes sting red.
This is truly ridiculous!
Jang Sam was so wronged and furious he could barely breathe.
After all, one gold piece per horse was roughly the price of a decent wild horse with good bloodlines.
No matter how he looked at it, it was not a price worthy of the Ferghana horse’s reputation.
Those damned Red Horse Faction bastards!
Even the comparatively sharp Shin Dan-woo glared at the Red Horse Faction, fully aware that they had been badly done over, but unfortunately violence was strictly forbidden in the Xi'an horse market.
In other words, the Red Horse Faction had the upper hand when it came to underhanded tactics and filthy methods.
“Now then! Any more bids? If not, then naturally the Red Horse Faction side will be awarded the purchase... ”
It seemed as though the Ferghana horse auction would end in such absurd fashion, in crushing despair, when...
“I withdraw from the auction and move on to the afternoon sale!”
At last, Geum-ryong made his decision and spoke in a clear voice.
That too was a proper course of action: even if one had entered the auction, there was no obligation to accept a sale if the price was unacceptable.
In other words, if he disliked the auction’s result, he could refuse to bid and simply walk away.
Of course, because any horse that failed to sell in the Xi'an horse market would be branded as difficult to dispose of elsewhere, one had to be careful.
And yet Geum-ryong boldly declared that he would abandon the current morning auction and move on to the afternoon auction instead.
“The afternoon auction is not for major merchant groups or escort bureaus, but rather for key figures and a small number of merchants... Are you sure you still want to move on to the afternoon auction?”
The auctioneer, flustered, asked once more for Geum-ryong’s intent.
As he had said, the afternoon auction was mostly a small-scale affair, and in a sense it was even harder to get a good price there than in the morning auction.
Even so, Geum-ryong did not waver at all.
“We’ll be going to the afternoon auction, no matter what.”
There was a reason his resolve was so firm.
I’ll stake everything on the next auction.