The Second Chamdokhoe Meeting
“Everyone! Let’s begin the fourth Chamdokhoe gathering.”
At the center of the hall crowded with dozens of people, the master of ceremonies began his opening remarks.
“Before we start, I should let you know that a new face has joined us today at the Chamdokhoe. Please come forward.”
Following the master’s guidance, one person stepped out from the crowd.
And the moment everyone saw him, murmurs rippled through the hall.
“Who is that?!”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize him? That’s Gong Seon-saeng, the director of Baekwon Academy!”
“What?!”
Shocked voices erupted from all sides.
Gong Seon-saeng.
Anyone who ate from the literary rice bowl in Hyeongju would have known him.
Though he never rose through the official ranks, he had founded Baekwon Academy in Hyeongju and spent decades training countless disciples.
Only dozens of students had passed the civil service exams under him, yet the number of those who benefited from his teachings was far greater.
Many of the officials in Hyeongju Prefecture were his disciples, making him, in effect, the great teacher of the entire Hyeongju region.
Among those gathered here, quite a few had studied under him, so every eye in the hall turned toward him.
Amid the whispers, Gong Minwoo stepped to the center and began to speak.
“Greetings. My name is Gong Minwoo. I normally wouldn’t stand before an audience like this, but the book I read recently kept me awake at night.”
Those present thought to themselves.
Even Gong Seon-saeng, who was revered by all, had been captivated by the same book.
“That’s how I learned about this gathering and decided to join. Today, I am not the director of Baekwon Academy, but simply one more reader among you. I hope we can have a frank and open discussion.”
After his brief greeting, Gong Minwoo returned to his seat amid applause.
“Everyone, please calm yourselves.”
As the hall buzzed with excitement over Gong Minwoo’s appearance, the master of ceremonies spoke again.
Soon the murmurs died down.
“It seems you’re all settled. Let me announce today’s discussion topic. It concerns whether the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ that we couldn’t finish yesterday is fiction or not.”
With the master’s words finished, the lively debate began.
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms is pure nonsense!”
“Exactly! How can you stop Cao Cao’s million-strong army with only a few tens of thousands of troops?”
Many nodded in agreement.
But soon voices rose from the opposing side.
“Cao Cao’s million troops might be exaggerated.”
“Right! If the numbers are inflated, it’s not such an outlandish story.”
At first the debate centered on whether Cao Cao’s million troops could be stopped, but gradually it shifted to whether the million troops themselves were fiction.
As the heat of the discussion began to cool.
Gong Minwoo, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“Listening to your opinions makes me want to say a few words myself.”
At that moment, every eye in the hall turned to Gong Minwoo.
The great teacher of Hyeongju.
It was only natural that the university scholar who had raised so many heroes and immortals would speak up.
Even those who had been fiercely debating moments ago fell silent, waiting for his next words.
Gong Minwoo scanned the crowd once, then slowly began to speak.
“First, let me address the million troops we’ve been arguing about. Before I explain, let’s recall the lands Cao Cao once controlled.”
At those words, people began picturing the territories in their minds.
“According to the book, among the lands Cao Cao controlled are the regions of Yuzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Jizhou. Does anyone here know where those are?”
No one answered.
Those lands were all names from the Han dynasty.
With nearly a thousand years passing and the names changed, it was only natural that no one knew them.
Gong Minwoo nodded as if he had expected exactly that.
“Most of you here probably don’t know. I didn’t either at first.”
Gong Minwoo paused for a moment, then looked around at the crowd.
“I searched through countless historical records. And the result was that I was able to guess where those regions are today.”
Gong Minwoo spoke calmly, as if it were nothing, but his words carried great weight.
Because the people gathered here had no idea where those place names even were.
He then slowly stepped forward and unrolled two scrolls.
“Oh! What’s that?!”
When the scrolls were unfurled, gasps of astonishment escaped from the crowd.
After all, the scrolls depicted the entire Central Plains in exquisite detail.
Rivers, mountains, and the exact locations of every commandery and county were clearly marked.
It was a map.
A map so detailed that even ordinary people could hardly afford to see it.
“Did you… make this yourself?”
Someone asked in surprise.
Gong Minwoo shook his head.
“No. I simply borrowed the map kept at Baekwon Academy.”
Gong Minwoo pointed at the center of the map.
“First, look here.”
Everyone’s eyes followed his finger.
“This area is present-day Hunnan. I believe this was Yuzhou during the Han dynasty.”
He shifted his finger slightly.
“And this is Yuzhou.”
Pointing north again.
“Finally, this is Jizhou.”
Gong Minwoo pointed to the three regions in turn, then looked at the crowd.
“Some of you may have noticed, but there is one thing these regions have in common.”
“A common point?”
“They are granary regions.”
The hall fell silent.
“Regions where the most people live and the most grain is produced. Cao Cao took control of those lands.”
“Th… that means…!”
People were shocked.
Gong Minwoo nodded slightly.
“That’s right. It means the million troops in the novel aren’t just fiction. Of course, since it’s a novel, the numbers may be exaggerated, but I believe a force of hundreds of thousands could be supplied from the granaries of Yuzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Jizhou.”
Gong Minwoo pointed to the southern part of the map.
“And there is one more thing that caught my interest.”
When Gong Minwoo said he found something interesting, the eyes of the crowd grew even more serious.
“What does it say at the end of this book?”
At that moment, everyone in the hall recalled the final line that had left them speechless.
[Romance of the Three Kingdoms Part 1 Complete]
People began to guess Gong Minwoo’s intention.
He was clearly referring to the meaning of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” which was not written in the title but implied in the book.
“It’s Chibi! I searched for the location of Chibi, thinking it might be a place name, and finally found it!”
After speaking, Gong Minwoo pointed to a specific area on the map.
“It’s right here.”
Everyone’s eyes followed his finger.
The spot where Gong Minwoo’s finger and the crowd’s gaze met was the Yangtze River.
“In reality, there are red cliffs in that area, and the locals call them Chibi.”
After Gong Minwoo finished speaking, the hall began to stir.
“You mean they actually used the real place name?”
“That’s right.”
Gong Minwoo nodded.
“Of course, that alone doesn’t prove the novel’s content is true. But if the regions Cao Cao controlled correspond to actual place names and Chibi is a real location…”
Gong Minwoo pointed alternately to the north and south of the map.
“Cao Cao, who unified the north, advances south.”
Gong Minwoo’s right index finger stopped at the Yangtze River.
“Liu Bei and Sun Quan stand to block them across the river.”
His left index and middle fingers became Liu Bei and Sun Quan, blocking the right index finger.
Everyone watching the demonstration imagined the battle unfolding exactly as described and burst into admiration for Gong Minwoo’s reasoning.
“If Cao Cao advanced south according to the book’s content and fought the alliance of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, then a battle across the river was inevitable. In other words, the title ‘Chibi’ might refer to a naval battle on the Yangtze rather than a land battle.”
“And the location of that battle might be the very Chibi mentioned at the end of the book.”
At those words, the hall fell deathly silent.
It was a perfectly logical and convincing deduction.
That was why.
Despite the dozens of people present, no one offered any objections to Gong Minwoo’s words.
On the contrary, they waited eagerly for what he would say next.
“And perhaps after that battle…”
Everyone held their breath at Gong Minwoo’s words.
“Isn’t it possible that the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, which only have their names left in historical records, appear? And that those three kingdoms are exactly the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ in this book? That is my belief.”
At that moment, everyone’s eyes widened.
After hearing Gong Minwoo’s reasoning, everything began to connect.
“Indeed…”
“Then the three kingdoms in Romance of the Three Kingdoms…”
“Meant Wei, Shu, and Wu?”
Gasps of realization escaped from all sides.
“However, I myself don’t know.”
Gong Minwoo stroked his beard and slowly shook his head.
“I still can’t figure out what exactly happened at Chibi that allowed Cao Cao’s vast army to be defeated by a force of only a few tens of thousands… No matter how hard I think, I can’t reach a conclusion.”
At those words, everyone let out a sigh.
It was a puzzle where every piece had been fitted except one.
They were so close, yet the most crucial piece was missing.
Chibi.
They still didn’t know what had happened at that very Chibi.
While everyone was stunned into silence, Gong Minwoo spoke again.
“Hmph… It’s embarrassing to say this with my own mouth, but I have always prided myself on being a scholar who doesn’t fall behind anyone in learning.”
He paused for a moment, as if embarrassed by his own words.
Some nodded in agreement.
It wasn’t an exaggeration.
A scholar of Gong Minwoo’s caliber could certainly make such a statement.
“However.”
Gong Minwoo’s gaze fell on the book.
“This is something even I don’t know.”
The hall fell silent.
“Yet the author of this book is different.”
He lightly tapped the book’s cover.
“The author of this book knows things I don’t. The things I only learned after searching through countless historical records and unfolding maps.”
Gong Minwoo spoke without hiding his excitement at the possibility that someone of equal or greater learning than him existed.
“The author of this book must be someone with scholarly ability that doesn’t fall short of mine.”
After pausing, Gong Minwoo smiled faintly and added.
“In fact, that is also the reason I came to this Chamdokhoe.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on him.
“I thought there might be someone here who is connected to the author of the book.”
Hope shone in Gong Minwoo’s eyes.
“Does anyone here know about the author of this book?”
At that moment, the scene shifted.
Lee Munhyuk was being held by the thighs by Zhuge Hualian, who was giving him a “gongma” disguised as training, and crying out in agony.
“Aaaah! My thighs! My thighs!”
“The foundation of all martial arts comes from a sturdy lower body. You have to endure it.”