The Personal Expedition
Arc 17: Personal Expedition — Luoyang Sword House
Third Young Master's camp, Military Advisor Division.
"…Even the Gongdong Sect has turned its back on us?"
Jegal Dae-gunsa's white feather fan quivered with open displeasure.
"I-I'm sorry…!"
The messenger from the Military Advisor Division, who had sprinted the entire way to deliver the news, bowed his head even lower.
"You've nothing to apologize for."
Sama Dae-gunsa stepped in so that Jegal Dae-gunsa's rage would not land on the hapless runner, and dismissed him.
"Go. Find out why the rest of the leaders under our command still haven't returned."
The loyalist figures had been confirmed leaving Wongak-jeong—the Eldest Young Master's residence—yet after that their tracks had vanished completely.
"As you command!"
Jegal Dae-gunsa tore his gaze from the messenger's hastily retreating back.
"…Damn it all."
He ground his teeth.
"You say they still haven't returned?"
When Namgung Hyeok-cheon, the Third Young Master's greatest patron, asked, Sama Dae-gunsa only gave a bitter smile.
"The reason they haven't come back is obvious enough."
His wrinkled fingers toyed with his long-cold teacup.
"They failed to keep even one of the sect leaders they went with. What face do they have to hurry back?"
"Spineless cowards…!"
Jegal Dae-gunsa spat the words as though chewing them.
"They're off somewhere holding a council among themselves, waiting for the Military Advisor Division's anger to cool."
The Third Young Master's faction had long been as disordered as it was bloated; organizational discipline had been a joke for far more than a day or two. Namgung Hyeok-cheon lost interest and changed the subject.
"…So we have lost the entirety of the old Nine Sects."
Diancang had stirred the pot, Zhongnan had fallen in line. Hengshan North Stream—left half-abandoned after suffering near-annihilation—had quietly taken the Eldest Young Master's hand. And now even Gongdong had walked away.
"However."
Elder Namgung Hyeok-cheon continued, calm as ever.
"Their share of our total strength was never large."
Ever since becoming subordinate branches of the Luoyang Sword House they had barely kept their lineages alive. Losing the symbolic prestige of the old Nine Sects name, and the way it had been done—like having one's nose cut off while still awake—had wounded their pride deeply. But still.
"What we have newly gained outweighs what we lost."
He rose and stepped before the strategic map of the entire Jungwon Kingdom, shifting the markers this way and that.
"First, forces of formidable power have newly joined our side…"
The banners on the pieces he placed in their camp bore the clear characters of Huashan, Wudang, and Emei.
"Their strength is more than twice that of every sect that betrayed us combined."
Indeed, the pieces for Huashan, Wudang, and Emei outnumbered by more than double those he had just removed for the traitors.
"And the Namgung Clan of Anhui Province will now throw its full strength behind us."
He added a fistful of sword-bearing markers to their formation.
"With this, our forces are more than sufficient. Therefore…"
He stretched out a hand and pointed to the northern territories on the map.
"Why not discuss the northern lands where the Third Young Master will soon make his mark?"
Today's defeat at the Eldest Young Master's hands would stay with them until the day they closed their eyes. Yet Jungwon was vast, and they had already seized a new opportunity. There was no reason to keep chewing over a loss already past.
"Quite so."
Sama Dae-gunsa set his cold cup down with a soft clack, rose, and stood beside him.
"As is known, until recently the situation in the northern lands was extremely chaotic."
"Because of the Northern War."
"Precisely."
In the past the northern tribes had united into one great force and gone to war, yet in the end they, like Jungwon, had gained nothing from the conflict. The aftermath could only be chaos. On the strategic map, tribes bearing flags of every color and shape kept one another in check.
"But the way Sama Dae-gunsa said 'until recently' suggests something has changed."
"It has. At present…"
Sama Dae-gunsa nodded.
"The Yelü tribe—called Yelü in their own tongue—is rapidly expanding its power by subjugating the surrounding tribes."
He spread both hands wide and swept the scattered tribal forces into a single mass.
"Yelü…"
Elder Namgung Hyeok-cheon narrowed his eyes, searching his memory.
"Descendants of the royal house that once founded the Liao Kingdom, if I recall."
"Correct."
If the nomadic tribes of the steppes had begun to gather, history offered only one answer.
"A powerful leader has appeared among them…?"
"Yelü Nüzhu."
Sama Dae-gunsa spoke the Great Chieftain's name as it was phonetically rendered in the language of Jungwon.
"They call him, with dread and reverence…"
Sama Dae-gunsa's eyes narrowed.
"…the 'Terror King.'"
After a brief silence, Elder Namgung Hyeok-cheon gave a quiet snort of derision.
"Crude northern barbarians. A childish name."
"…True enough. Yet whatever the name, we cannot ignore their strength."
Namgung Hyeok-cheon let out a low hum. Had he learned nothing from all the blood spilled in the Northern War, he would not be standing here now.
"According to the latest intelligence from the north, their power has already surpassed that of the Grand General's House of the North—the Moyong Family."
"They have surpassed the Grand General's House…?"
Instead of answering, Sama Dae-gunsa heaped another mound of markers beneath the Yelü banner. Even at a glance their total exceeded the combined strength of the pro-Jungwon tribes led by the Moyong Family.
"…Then we must…"
Namgung Hyeok-cheon stroked his beard as he looked down at the map.
"Put the Third Young Master at the front, aid the Moyong Family of the Grand General's House, eliminate this so-called Terror King, and quell the northern chaos."
Yet Sama Dae-gunsa gave an answer wholly different from what he expected.
"No. Not that."
"…Then what?!"
Namgung Hyeok-cheon snapped his head up and met the eyes of Sama Dae-gunsa, whose smile was so strange it felt almost uncanny.
"The Third Young Master will aid the Terror King so that the Yelü tribe unifies the north…"
As he spoke, Sama Dae-gunsa slowly toppled the markers of the pro-Jungwon northern forces with his hand.
"…and will secure the greatest power in the north as a powerful ally."
The last piece he knocked over was that of the Moyong Family, House of the Northern Grand General.
"…Certainly an attractive strategy, but…"
Namgung Hyeok-cheon wiped cold sweat from his brow without realizing it.
"To eliminate the Moyong Family, House of the Northern Grand General—that could…"
He glanced left and right, then lowered his voice to a whisper.
"…be construed as an act of treason against the current Imperial House."
His voice dropped even further.
"Whether everyone will cooperate with such a plan—"
"No."
Sama Dae-gunsa cut him off with a faint smile.
"The Yelü tribe has no intention of leaving the north. What the Terror King seeks is the position of the new Northern Grand General."
He moved a Yelü marker into the place once occupied by the Moyong Family.
"They, too, have not forgotten the last war."
The result of fighting a Jungwon they had believed corrupt, decadent, and weak had left them with a hard lesson as well.
"Like the Moyong Family of old, they simply want a north of their own, free from Jungwon interference."
"…So that is why they would become the new Northern Grand General."
"Precisely. Valuable inside information obtained from a key figure of the Yelü tribe."
His decision to join hands with the Military Advisor Division had, as expected, been an excellent one.
"If that comes to pass, the Third Young Master will…"
Under Namgung Hyeok-cheon's gaze, Sama Dae-gunsa continued.
"…receive the mighty support of the new Northern Grand General who has unified the north, and…"
His hand moved toward the Imperial Court.
"…even the support of the Imperial House, which will have no choice but to watch the reborn north with great care."
He tapped the Imperial marker with a fingertip and rocked it slowly.
"At the very least, we can certainly prevent the current Emperor from siding with the Eldest Young Master out of personal friendship."
Watching Sama Dae-gunsa's fingertip toy with the Imperial piece, Namgung Hyeok-cheon spoke in a low voice.
"Suppose, just suppose…"
His tone grew still more cautious.
"…that this Terror King is not satisfied with that, and in the future starts a war with Jungwon…?"
The Third Young Master's faction would find itself in a very awkward position.
"And if that happens…?"
The smile at the corners of Sama Dae-gunsa's mouth only deepened.
"Becoming a founding meritorious subject of a 'newborn empire' does not strike me as entirely bad, either."
Namgung Hyeok-cheon's eyelid twitched.
"Heh heh."
And by the time Sama Dae-gunsa returned with a freshly brewed pot of tea, still smiling,
"…Certainly."
the same sort of smile now hung on Namgung Hyeok-cheon's lips as well.
"That would not be so bad either."
"Wouldn't it?"
The two old men grinned at each other, their smiles full of naked ambition.
"…In that case."
"Next we must proceed with the formalities for committing forces to the north."
Sama Dae-gunsa raised one finger.
"First, securing war funds."
"Leave that part to our Namgung Clan."
"I would never dismiss the Namgung Clan, yet will the Namgung Clan alone not be a little short?"
"Have no fear. Those we are currently contacting at the main house will gladly aid us in a matter such as this."
"Oh…?"
A strange light flickered in Sama Dae-gunsa's eyes. It seemed the Namgung Clan was in contact with powers beyond Huashan, Wudang, and Emei.
"Then next…"
"Though they are under our command, they are still forces of the Sword House. Mobilizing them will require the consent of the Elder Council."
"Leave the Elder Council to me."
"Most reassuring."
Once the head of the Military Advisor Division and the Third Young Master's greatest patron had reached agreement, the work could only proceed with uncanny smoothness and speed.
"The Third Young Master will move north the moment he receives our word."
"…Where is the Third Young Master now…"
"…We can move far faster than the Eldest Young Master…"
While the two of them conferred in low voices, Jegal Dae-gunsa's voice cut in.
"Wait…! This is…!"
Namgung Hyeok-cheon and Sama Dae-gunsa both turned toward him.
"Brother Jegal?"
"What is it?"
Throughout their conversation Jegal Dae-gunsa had never once taken his eyes from the Eldest Young Master's forces on the strategic map.
"What a war requires first is funds, and next the consent of the Elder Council."
Namgung Hyeok-cheon and Sama Dae-gunsa exchanged glances and shrugged.
"I believe Elder Namgung and this old man just said as much…"
"Jegal Dae-gunsa. What are you trying to say?"
Jegal Dae-gunsa spoke in a trembling voice.
"The Eldest Young Master first saved the Banker of the Sword House Bank from the brink of dismissal."
"…And so?"
Unlike Namgung Hyeok-cheon, Sama Dae-gunsa's expression was already hardening.
"Then the Eldest Young Master unveiled a faction of his own within the Elder Council."
At that, Namgung Hyeok-cheon's face too began to freeze.
"Next he drew in the Sword House's War Department, which had been growing into more and more of a white elephant, and even pulled over the Nine Sects on our side—sects that were good for little beyond fighting."
Jegal Dae-gunsa lifted his head and met their eyes with a shaking gaze.
"At the same time he seated his own people as the new Luoyang Branch Master and the like, securing his grip on Luoyang more firmly than ever."
"…The Eldest Young Master's ultimate aim…"
The voice that escaped from Namgung Hyeok-cheon, who had finally grasped the situation, was rough, as though it had gone hoarse.
"…was military intervention in the north?"
"Now that I think of it…"
Sama Dae-gunsa gave a hollow laugh.
"The Eldest Young Master had the Fourth Young Master."
He took the Fourth Young Master's marker and set it firmly in the center of Luoyang.
"While the Fourth Young Master holds the secured rear…"
And as Jegal Dae-gunsa picked up Yeon So-hyeon's marker and moved it, he finished the thought.
"…the Eldest Young Master planned to lead the troops himself and personally campaign in the north…!"
The piece bearing the banner of Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon came to rest in the very heart of the northern lands.