Chapter 160
Chapter 160
Iron Emperor — Chapter 160
Dae Mu-deok, his hair now streaked with white, came into Jin-cheon's view. A single tear tracing down Mu-deok's cheek was reflected in Jin-cheon's eyes.
The smile drawn at the corner of his lips. Jin-cheon stepped up onto the dais and mirrored the same smile back at him. He turned around, leaving behind Mu-deok's slight nod.
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens, who embraces all people and all things, we offer our respects!"
"Salute!"
Yeon Hwi-garam's voice rang out. At the same moment, the generals' shouts resounded, and the soldiers and commoners bowed their backs.
The voices of countless people. The place that had been nothing but a green plain when they first arrived here now had homes where people lived, and fortress walls to protect them. Those who had been abandoned, those who had left the country that could not protect them, and those who had been cast out had all built their nests here.
"My people..."
Go Jin-cheon was looking upon what had been achieved in that short span of time. What he himself had built, what he would yet build, and what he must protect all entered his eyes.
"Heaven!"
From Dae Mu-deok's lips, Heaven was proclaimed.
He offered rites to Heaven. The descendants of Gauri were called descendants of Heaven, the Descendants of Heaven. It was only natural for the descendants of Heaven to offer rites to Heaven.
Heaven is the father.
"Earth!"
From Dae Mu-deok's lips, Earth was proclaimed.
He offered rites to Earth. All humans return to the earth. And from that earth, new life sprouts, and by it do humans live. The place where life springs forth...
The earth is the mother.
"People!"
From Dae Mu-deok's lips, the People were proclaimed.
Jin-cheon offered rites to the countless people who watched over him. Family, village, and nation can all come into being only because there are people. The will of the people is the will of Heaven. A ruler who fails to fathom the will of the people brings ruin to his country.
The people are the nation itself.
And then he offered rites to the ancestral tablets of the successive generations of sage kings, buried now in a homeland they could no longer reach. That their descendant offered rites here, in this place...
Though this was the Yeolje's wedding, it differed from all bridal ceremonies that had come before. It was true that no one present knew the entirety of the Yeolje's complex nuptial rites, but this was also the first sacred union performed on this land. For that reason, the ceremony had begun in the form of offering rites.
A short while later, soft music began to play, and Eulji, walking with demure steps quite unlike her usual self, ascended the altar supported by court ladies.
The bride did not even reach Jin-cheon's waist, yet her bearing showed no inadequacy for her role as mother of a nation; she did not seem a child. Jin-cheon's eyes as he welcomed his young Yeolhu were gentler than they had ever been.
The skies of Gauri spread a beautiful blue light, as if blessing the union of these two.
* * *
Though it was a state marriage, the ceremony did not drag on. Go Jin-cheon had deliberately simplified it, just as he had wished. Of course, Dae Mu-deok would never have tolerated such a thing, but he had collapsed at a single word from Jin-cheon.
"Dae Mu-deok, do you know the entire ritual procedure?"
"..."
How would a captain of the royal guard know the wedding rites of the Yeoljes? He had, of course, witnessed them before, but seeing them did not mean he could rattle them off from memory, and if he had memorized them to that extent, it would essentially mean he had been lax in his actual duty of protecting the Yeolje. Jin-cheon's next words followed.
"And there is little chance Eulji would stand still through all that time. I saw earlier, too, while she was practicing the rites, she kept looking like she was about to bolt because she needed to piss..."
Mu-deok had no choice but to retreat at that point.
"Hm? What is the matter with General Uru...?"
Gye Ung-sam, who had been moving with a wine cup in hand among the revelry, spoke with a curious air when he saw Uru standing motionless off to one side, clutching a wine jar in each hand.
"Well, you see."
Mong Ryu-hwa picked up Gye Ung-sam's remark with a single line.
"As punishment for having taught Her Highness the Yeolhu the wrong drinking etiquette..."
"Then, what she did earlier..."
"Ku-ha-hat!"
"Kekekek!"
Laughter burst from the generals.
Of course, Uru glared at them, rolling his eyes, but since Yeon Hwi-garam and Buru were among them, he took no further action and only stood there holding the two wine jars.
What Gye Ung-sam was referring to from earlier was the moment during the wedding ceremony when the wine cups were exchanged. Eulji, who had been doing fine up until then, had downed the presented cup in one gulp—it was what she did after that that was the problem.
"Kekekek, the sight of Her Highness the Yeolhu toasting and then flipping the empty cup over her head to shake it dry, truly..."
This was the true identity of the drinking etiquette she had learned from Uru, with whom she usually got along so well. The sight of shaking out an empty wine cup over one's head...
It would likely be the first and last such sight in the history of Gauri state weddings.
And as the drinking party grew merrier with this and that tale, a dubious remark slipped from the lips of Buyeo Gi-yul.
"By the by, I wonder how the wedding night will be spent..."
"..."
* * *
The bridal chamber.
Across all ages and lands, a word that makes the hearts of men and women flutter and makes them wish to steal a glance inside.
Of course... there was no one with the iron nerve to peek into Jin-cheon's bridal chamber, nor anyone with a spare life to wager on it.
In the soft, shimmering lamplight, someone spoke in an odd voice.
"Aww, just a bit more."
A strange fragrance hovered around the youthful voice.
"That is enough."
A voice mixed with firmness. But Eulji did not stop.
"Sniff sniff, have you already come to find me loathsome?"
"...Hah."
A deep, sinking sigh escaped Jin-cheon. A moment later, at Eulji's sobbing, Jin-cheon raised both hands and signaled his consent.
"This is the last one."
Jin-cheon made it known that it was the last. And the voice of admonition that immediately followed...
"Stop shaking it already."
"Hic!"
Eulji, in the middle of shaking her cup over her head, let out a hiccup. The sweetly lingering fruit wine was more than sufficient to tempt Eulji, and the fragrance that wafted from her every time she opened her mouth was the scent of alcohol.
No matter how low the proof, alcohol was alcohol.
Eulji's tongue was already hopelessly twisted. And having now witnessed the act of shaking an empty cup over her head in such a state, Jin-cheon gave up any further thought of stopping her and pressed a hand to his forehead.
'That bastard Uru!'
Anger suddenly surged within Jin-cheon. As Jin-cheon quivered with rage, a hand reached out and tugged at him. It was Eulji.
"Hm?"
Cheeks flushed pink.
Her eyes were filled with a yearning for something. Strength was coiled in the hand Eulji had wrapped around his collar. In an instant, Jin-cheon felt a chill run down his spine and opened his mouth.
"Wha- what is it!"
Facing the flustered Jin-cheon, Eulji's small, plump lips parted.
"Gotta pee."
"..."
Jin-cheon's silence hung throughout the bridal chamber, drifting in the scent of wine.
The next morning, the court ladies stripped away all the bedding from the bridal chamber. The yellow map drawn upon the blanket in a single bold stroke left the court ladies deeply troubled, and two deep lines were etched between Go Jin-cheon's brows.
Consider it! The damp sensation of the blanket when you open your eyes in the morning... Nine times out of ten, it does not put you in a good mood.
And on top of that, what sort of mood would it be if the one who produced it was not a child, but a wife(?)
Jin-cheon entered the great hall, his face carrying a mood no one could possibly understand. The chief ministers, seeing the groom on the morning after, rose one after another and offered words of congratulation.
"We pray that glory may shine upon the future of His Majesty the Yeolje!"
The voices of the generals, led by Dae Mu-deok's opening line, were quietly agitating Jin-cheon's sore spot, and there was a voice that drove in the wedge.
"It seems Her Highness the Yeolhu has learned a vigorous brand of drinking etiquette!"
Eulji Buru.
He was likely making a jest for the benefit of Uru, who was at his side.
But did he know that this one line would directly help dig his own grave? To Buru's remark, Jin-cheon offered a response.
"Taedaesaja Eulji."
"At your service!"
"There will be a full army inspection today."
At Jin-cheon's words, the two Eulji Taedaesajas froze. A sudden full army inspection. No matter how well they did, something was bound to be caught. And when that happened, on whom would the sparks fall?
Buru sat quietly back into his seat, bearing the full weight of the resentment of the commanders under him.
The Yeolje's wedding became a catalyst that solidified the nation's foundation.
Through the splendidly held festivities, the people confirmed their sense of belonging. The archery tournament held during the celebration period served to appoint new talents while also confirming the Gauri army's iron rule: that those with ability are valued and employed without discrimination.
Furthermore, when the winners of each regional archery tournament competed again and a final victor was decided, the enthusiasm of the common people toward him was beyond description.
Of course, the existing Gauri soldiers had been excluded from this tournament.
When it came to archery, they would have swept every prize. Those who had secretly been looking forward to it put aside their disappointment. This was because, in Gauri, winning an archery tournament meant instantly becoming the most envied person and receiving the highest honor.
Another change was Chukguk.
"Run!"
"Yi-yaaaaah!"
The soldiers' movements as they kicked and chased the leather ball made everyone, each and all, go wild.
The movements of the soldiers, each representing his own village, generated a pure competitive drive and a collective consciousness. The commoners who hailed from the continent, experiencing a group game played by kicking a ball with the feet for the first time, had no trouble whatsoever falling even more deeply under its spell.