Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: The Sui Captives' Refusal
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"Honestly, I'm scared."
Seeing him so confident all the time must have gotten to them, because all his subordinates tensed up one by one. Yang Manchun stepped forward to break the heavy mood.
"What do you have to worry about with us here? Right?"
"Of course. That's why I've gathered you and all your men for today."
"So trust us and leave it to us."
"I will. First, we need to do a final check on the defense lines around Liaodong Fortress. And it's important to scout each fortress like Bisa Fortress for any spies inside and either eliminate or recruit them ahead of time."
"Should we increase the number of agents in Chang'an and Luoyang?"
Seon Do-hae spoke up, but after a moment's thought, I shook my head.
"Too far away. Better to bolster our agents near Yuseong instead."
"Understood."
"And set up a map of the Liaodong region here. Make it as close to the actual terrain as possible."
"Like at Nihaseong, right? Got it."
Hearing Seon Do-hae's response, I rose from my chair. I looked at Yang Manchun and the other subordinates gathered around. The vague anxiety I'd felt eased a bit.
The Tang envoy Jin Daedeok, who had met with the Great King, was confined to the guesthouse as planned. We knew he might cause trouble or meet someone if he went out. A few days later, as he'd requested, he headed to Sui Captive Village, where the Sui captives and their descendants lived. When he insisted on going alone, I delivered my prepared line.
"Didn't I tell you last time? Some of them lost family in the previous war and might target the envoy."
"How dare they threaten an envoy of the Great Tang!"
Before Jin Daedeok could finish, a stone flew toward him. Of course, it was thrown by one of Geom Mojam's men, sailing perilously close to his head. I flinched in surprise myself. But it made it feel all too real, and Jin Daedeok was thoroughly terrified. He didn't protest my following him anymore.
Sui Captive Village felt just as familiar after so long. I'd come here once for a terrible reason, but time had faded the bad memories. Ham-a, who'd arrived a few days earlier, greeted me warmly.
"Welcome, Master."
"How does it feel to return to your hometown after so long?"
"It's just as it always was. That's good."
"Good. I trust you've prepared everyone?"
Ham-a nodded as he glanced at the villagers gathering around.
"I've drilled it into them firmly."
"I appreciate it."
Many of the villagers crowding in were unfamiliar. The old man Deong-soe and others I'd met before seemed to have passed away. Jin Daedeok shouted loudly at them, but they just blinked back at him. When he got irritated, the interpreter explained with gestures. Ham-a, who knew some Chinese, whispered to me.
"The Tang envoy's angry that they don't understand him."
"And?"
"The interpreter says they've lived here a long time, and many of the younger ones don't speak Chinese."
"I'll watch from here. Handle it well."
Ham-a bowed and moved off with the villagers. In the center of Sui Captive Village was a small square with a blacksmith for ironwork, a wheelwright's workshop, and a well. Jin Daedeok naturally stopped there on horseback and shouted to the gathered crowd. Ham-a relayed it to me from where I watched at a distance.
"You've suffered long in this foreign land, captive to barbarians. I've come to take you back to the Great Tang."
As in the History of the Three Kingdoms, Jin Daedeok had come to bring back the Sui captives. Ham-a kept translating quietly as I listened.
"Now follow me back to your homeland. Prepare to depart. The Emperor will welcome you."
Jin Daedeok bellowed in a booming voice and awaited the villagers' reaction. But there was no ecstatic cheering or flood of tears about returning home. They all stayed silent, to the point where you could hear coughs. Flustered, Jin Daedeok shouted again.
"Why aren't you rejoicing? Don't you miss your homeland?"
No sooner had Ham-a finished translating than the middle-aged village chief spoke up.
"We live well here as subjects of Goguryeo. We miss our homeland, sure, but our parents and siblings died long ago. What would be the point?"
Jin Daedeok hesitated, clearly taken aback by the chief's words. Then, in an angry voice, he yelled,
"You are sons of China! How can you be content as slaves to the petty eastern state of Goguryeo? Return to the Tang, and the Emperor will welcome you!"
Ham-a relayed it, and Jin Daedeok kept raising his voice, urging them to return. But the villagers didn't budge. The chief said they'd been settled here too long to leave.
"Wherever you settle and live becomes your home. I've forgotten mine long ago."
It was partly because I was watching, but mostly because over thirty years had passed since they'd left their homeland. They'd built new families here and had children. No one wanted to go back.
In actual history, it said ten thousand followed him. I used to think Goguryeo was foolish to let them go. But most were captured in the early 610s and had settled here. By then, they were mostly in their fifties—useless to Goguryeo militarily. They might have turned a blind eye and let them go. Even so, it looked like submission to Tang on the surface, which wouldn't help our image. That's why we had to stop Jin Daedeok from taking the Sui captives. Finally losing his temper, he exploded.
"You ignorant fools! Have you gone mad living with barbarians? How dare you ignore an envoy of the Great Tang!"
The villagers stared at him blankly as he ranted, then began drifting away one by one. Jin Daedeok yelled where they were going, but they ignored him, heading home or scattering to work. Watching him fume, I covered my mouth to hide a laugh. Ham-a said beside me,
"The other villages will be the same. After all this time, who would go back now?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Our village swore loyalty to you, Master. Thank you for giving us a chance to prove it."
Ham-a bowed and headed to the blacksmith where the villagers were. Seeing that, I recalled my early reincarnation days again. Back when I knew nothing and floundered, when I had to kill for the first time and came here in shock, seeking atonement. That's when I realized what I had to do.
Protect the people living their own lives.
I smiled in satisfaction when Jin Daedeok wheeled his horse around and approached, fuming. He barked roughly, and the sweating interpreter replied.
"Lord Jin demands to know why the Sui captives won't listen to him."
"Why ask me? Didn't you see them decide and answer for themselves?"
"Even so, he thinks you've pressured them, Lord Chief."
"Tell him not to spout baseless assumptions."
The interpreter relayed my curt words, and Jin Daedeok's eyes widened. Before he could speak, I cut in.
"I was just watching. Besides, most Sui captives are in their fifties now. They're not much use to us."
As the interpreter translated, Jin Daedeok's expression softened.
"It'd actually help us if they left. They're too old to pay taxes or fight on the battlefield."
"That's true, but..."
"Has Tang ever released other captured tribes? The Great King graciously allowed you to meet them and the captives. If they still refuse, they truly don't want to go."
Jin Daedeok glared at the dispersing villagers and spoke. The interpreter cautiously translated.
"He calls them ignorant fools who can't understand him."
"Earlier he praised them as sons of the Great Tang; now they're pigs and dogs. You can guess the treatment they'd get if they went. Ah, soften that last part."
I smiled at the stunned interpreter and turned away. He hurriedly translated for Jin Daedeok.
"He says he'll visit the other captives."
"There's another village nearby. Tell him we'll go together. And pitch the tents!"
I bellowed, and Geom Mojam echoed it.
"Pitch the tents!"
Geom Mojam's men erected poles and enclosed the area. Jin Daedeok looked ready to explode, but I grinned slyly.
"Tell him I'll lead the way."
That day, Jin Daedeok visited two more villages besides Sui Captive Village. The reactions were the same. No one wanted to return to a homeland abandoned thirty years ago. Even if individuals wanted to, their families wouldn't follow, leaving them to go alone to an uncertain fate. We also spread rumors of his outburst at Sui Captive Village. Few would volunteer knowing they'd get the cold shoulder. In the end, he returned empty-handed.
He seemed to complain to the Great King, but it fell on deaf ears. He'd already lost real power, but more importantly, he saw through Jin Daedeok's true purpose. He knew what cooperating would lead to. As I reported while gazing at the Central Administration Bureau pond, I said to Supreme Central Administrator Bu Sang,
"Smarter than I thought."
Bu Sang chuckled at my words.
"He knows the palace is already under surveillance."
"How will we send Jin Daedeok back?"
"By ship. To Bisa Fortress, then another ship to Dengju."
"Keep him under tight watch."
"Of course. But sending an envoy off with such poor treatment—won't Tang protest?"
"They're set on war and sent him to scout. Proper hospitality wouldn't change the outcome."
"So war it is?"
Tension laced Supreme Central Administrator Bu Sang's voice. Unlike me, who knew it was coming, he still held out hope it wouldn't.
"Given Emperor Li Shimin's situation, it would be weirder if war didn't break out. It's only a matter of time. Shortest: this year or next. Longest: five years."
In real history, war came five years later, in 645. But my reincarnation as Yeon Namsaeng had accelerated things. Just then, I saw Seon Do-hae come running up, out of breath. Panting before me, he said,
"Big trouble."